Glorification of HH Niranjana Swami on Vyasa-puja Day

Offering Vyasa Puja homage

0:00Dear Niranjana Swami, please accept my most humble obeisances, all glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. I'm very happy to speak a few words of my deeply felt, heartfelt appreciation to you on this day of Vyasa Puja.

0:21It's not easy to glorify you because on ordinary days because you don't like it and you always somehow rather anyway don't allow it to happen. But on this day you are duty bound to see it and to hear.

0:44So I'm taking advantage of this situation and I wanted to say a few words glorifying you. I will not be as eloquent as Madhavananda Prabhu. I can never be as eloquent as him. But nevertheless, I'll try my best.

1:10And as Madhavananda Prabhu says, I will become a Vinodapatra, I will become a Joker.

Honoring total personal integrity

1:17But still uh I hope it will be a good joke. So uh I was thinking a little bit what to say today and the only word which comes to my mind immediately when I think about you.

1:46Besides all other wonderful qualities which you have, but one very prominent quality and very important quality which I see in you manifest again and again and again is your total complete integrity.

2:09And it's so rare in this day and age to see somebody who is so totally, completely sincere, honest, and you know doesn't have any you know duplicity.

2:34This integrity of yours is an amazing quality because it allows you to behave very consistently in variety of different situations and always be correct.

2:55You know, sometimes the situation is very trying, very difficult uh oftentimes actually. And I've seen you in uh in difficult situation, I've seen you dealing with different people in many, many varieties of situations.

3:19I've seen you dealing with some difficult issues on the GBC. I don't want to spoil your Vyasa Puja Day by mentioning this name GBC,

Speaking and acting from heart

3:35but still I thought I should mention it. uh what I see that you always have the right solution. You always have this completely uh you you're tuned in and you find a very correct solution to a very difficult situation.

4:00Your words are always coming from the heart.

4:05You know, I'm being a preacher, know that sometimes we have to speak from the mind. You know, we have to speak something which we prepared beforehand, and I know how it feels it feels terrible when you just speak from the mind.

4:29But I've never seen you speaking from the mind, I've never heard you speaking from the mind. Whenever I hear you speaking or dealing with a situation in particular, I feel that there is a touch of heart in it.

4:46You invest your heart in it. No wonder that your heart is not so healthy because you have to invest your heart in so many difficult situations. But that's an amazing quality of yours. Whatever you do, you do with the heart.

5:05You're not doing it with the mind, you're not doing it with any other part of your body, you're doing it with your heart, dedicated heart, completely pure heart.

5:23And as Madhavananda Prabhu said, yeah, this is what we are all for here on those days of Yasapuja, and not only on those days of Yasapuja, we're here to learn from you. I personally learn from you.

5:42I take any opportunity to come and to be with you, to sit close to you, because for me it's uh it's my saving grace. It's something I cherish.

Learning from spiritual examples

6:05And basically, I learn every second of my association with you. And I hope I follow you. Mm uh I try. I try. Whenever there is a difficult situation, I try to remember you and see how would you behave in this situation.

6:32But I definitely try. I hope I don't imitate you, but I try to follow you with it's difficult. Whenever I try to follow you, whenever I really try to follow you, I understand how difficult it is.

6:55How difficult it is to be true to yourself and to be in touch with the heart and not with the mind.

7:08So you have chosen this very difficult life of complete integrity but it's glorious because so many people have the opportunity to learn from you.

Maintaining integrity through health crises

7:22And I want to thank you again and again and again for giving such an example of complete total integrity, dedication, and everything else.

7:41This year I've seen you in a difficult situation when you had a health crisis, and I also again observed how you're going through this very difficult situation, very difficult situation, very painful situation, with such a complete complete integrity.

8:08So anyway, I just wanted to thank you for this opportunity to be able to learn from you.

8:16And I hope that at the end I will be able to follow your footsteps and to be able to also place my heart into whatever situation I'm experiencing in my life and goes through.

8:44So that's just a few words which I wanted to say to you by glorifying this one quality of yours. And it's again very rare. So thank you very much. Śrīla Niranjan Mahārāja ki jaya! Śrīpāda ki jaya!