IRG ISKCON REFORM GROUP OF NORTH AMERICA

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founder-Acarya of the Hare Krishna Movement

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today.

I read the article by Hrsikesananda das with great interest. I wanted to give a little history to explain how the worship of Srila Prabhupada evolved to a separate Guru Puja. Prior to 1974 Srila Prabhupada was worshipped by each devotee in the temple around the time of greeting the Deities by offering a flower to His picture on the Vyasasana in the Temple room.

In April or May of 1974 in Bombay after Srila Prabhupada's morning walk when he came to greet the Deities the devotees who had not gone on the walk led by Tamal Krishna asked Srila Prabhupada to sit down on the Vyasasana. At this point Manasvi das sang Sri Guru Carana Padma and I think Tamal Krishna offered arati.

This was the first Guru Puja on a daily basis. We started to hold the ceremony every day in Bombay and to the best of my knowledge and memory Srila Prabhupada approved of the worship and it spread to other centers around the world. We offered this Guru Puja to Srila Prabhupada as a form of recognition of his unique position as one of the greatest Acharyas that had ever appeared in this world and Srila Prabhupada accepted the worship in all humility.

This is a far cry from the bogus simultaneous guru puja and other forms of guru puja that have been foisted upon Srila Prabhupada's movement for the self aggrandizement of unqualified men with huge egos in an illegal position.

The proof that Srila Prabhupada was never personally interested in this worship and accepted it only as a way of engaging us in Krishnas service is revealed in a story which happened to me personally. I had cut my foot in Bombay and I was wearing a bandage around my foot I came to Guru Puja late that morning because I had to change the dressing.During that whole time Srila Prabhupada completely ignored his worship and gave me his complete attention. I had taken shelter of him I was in a foreign country under his protection and he took this responsibility seriously. When I look back on this incident I can honestly say I have never before and never since felt so loved in my entire life as I did at that moment.

I realize that Hrsikesananda das is just trying to give some instructions on etiquette. However, I personally feel, and I think any true disciple will agree that Srila Prabhupada more than deserves our worship on a daily basis in fact we should worship him every second of the day. As for unqualified gurus they should just give up their post altogether what to speak of daily worship. I hope this short history helps to clarify how the daily Guru Puja of Srila Prabhupada became a tradition in ISKCON.