srila prabhupada

We will be celebrating Sri Vyasa Puja, the 127th appearance day of Srila Prabhupada on September 8th 2023 (Friday).

As instructed by Srila Prabhupada it’s an important duty and a great opportunity to glorify and thank the spiritual master on the auspicious occasion of Vyasa puja. So I request you to take maximum benefit of this opportunity by writing a homage unto our Spiritual Master Srila Prabhupada. 

This homage can include Srila Prabhupada’s influence in your Krishna-conscious life, your realizations, reciprocation by Srila Prabhupada, expression of gratitude to Srila Prabhupada, glorification of Srila Prabhupada, references and quotes from Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam and so on. 

For further detailed guidelines on how to write a Vyasa puja homage, you can read here.

If you wish to read any of the previous Vyasa puja homages by other devotees, you can read 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 here.

Please find the volume-wise ebook and the GBC members’ and Temple Presidents’ offerings ebooks on this Drive.

homage offering

Instructions On How You Can Write Your Offering

General:

  • The Vyasapuja offering is meant for glorifying the Spiritual Master. So offerings need to be made in that mood and not be used as a platform for airing one’s grievances.
  • You can read the previous years’ Vyasapuja offerings written by senior devotees which can give you some ideas of how to express yourself. Kindly write your offering by yourself.
  • You may copy brief verses/quotations if any are required from Veda-base. Please retain the diacritics if any. Kindly mention the name of the book, chapter number, and verse number or any reference number, like it’s usually written in Srila Prabhupada’s books. Ex: SB 6.4.15.  Kindly include the English translation if the verse is not well known. For ex:

mukam karoti vachalam
pangum langhayate girim
yat-kripa tam aham vande
shri-gurum dina-taranam

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, the deliverer of the fallen souls. His mercy turns dumb into eloquent speakers and enables the lame to cross mountains.”

  • Kindly write all quotations in italics only. If you quote a verse from outside Veda-base or compose any original Sanskrit verse, kindly include diacritics.
  • Kindly do not reuse or edit an offering from previous years, or copy someone else’s writing.
  • Kindly do not vent grievances or criticize devotees. Vyasa Puja is meant for glorifying Srila Prabhupada and let us kindly maintain the same mood. 
  • Length: Kindly make sure your word limit doesn’t cross a maximum of 750 words – lesser is perfectly fine. So please keep your writing concise and sharp. In case you are writing a poem, limit the lines in the poem to a maximum of forty lines only (including the line and paragraph spacing). If you exceed the limits the length would be edited to our standards with a simple intimation. It would be better if you keep this in mind even before you compose the offering to avoid any length editions from our side.

Opening: 

Opening of an offering can be like this. “Dear (Srila Prabhupada / My Guru Maharaj / My Spiritual Master). Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to you on this auspicious day of your vyasapuja.” This is equally acceptable as an opening to your offering,

Or anything equivalent to the above. 

Contents:

  • We can glorify the role of Srila Prabhupada in our life as well as express your indebtedness towards him.
  • The content can also include the challenges you face in your day to day life, and how you are able to manage them by the grace of Srila Prabhupada and his teachings.
  • The offering may also include  philosophy of guru-tattva, pastimes of Srila Prabhupada, transcendental qualities of Srila Prabhupada, personal reciprocations of the Srila Prabhupada experienced by devotees, your hopes and aspirations for Srila Prabhupada in the year ahead, your prayers and gratitude to Srila Prabhupada etc.,

Ending:

It would be nice to show one’s appreciation and desire to please, by some nice phrase such as “Your humble servant” or something similar, followed by your initiated name (if initiated) or your legal name (prefixed by “Bhakta” if men / “Bhaktin” if women). In case of legal name, mention your initials after your name only. Ex: Bhaktin Shailaja M S / Bhakta Raghuram P/ Bhaktin Suma Manikyam/ Bhakta Prashanth Mulkatte.