Tattva-viveka
Vyasa Puja 2009
Nitaisundara Das - March 8, 2009 2:38 pm
Yamuna Dasi - March 9, 2009 9:14 pm
Dear devotees,
the Vyasa Puja of Tripurari Maharaj was celebrated also in the Sofia temple at the previous Sunday program. Would you like me to post here some photos from the Bulgarian celebration?
Nitaisundara Das - March 10, 2009 3:05 am
I've been getting some emails about how some characters on the VP site are displaying all funky. I have not been able to figure it out yet, but at least in firefox if you refresh the page, it seems like everything then displays correctly. Hopefully we can sort it out soon. Sorry.
Rathi Krishna Dasa - March 10, 2009 2:00 pm
I've been getting some emails about how some characters on the VP site are displaying all funky. I have not been able to figure it out yet, but at least in firefox if you refresh the page, it seems like everything then displays correctly. Hopefully we can sort it out soon. Sorry.
This one gets me all the time too. It's the apostrophes and quotation marks.
Try these instead.
Take away the space and after the & for these. Even with the code tags they render properly.
& lsquo;= left single quote
& rsquo; = right single quote
& ldquo; = left double quote
& rdquo; = right double quote
& #39; = apostrophe
Here's a cheatsheet if you like.
Gaurangi-priya Devi - March 10, 2009 3:07 pm
On Saturday we celebrated Gurumaharaj's Vyasa-puja here in North Carolina. We had a nice group of 14 devotees. We chanted bhajans, talked to Gurumaharaj on the phone (which was a real treat), read offerings, and had an awesome potluck Ekadasi feast while listening to the lecture live on our phone. It was wonderful being with those who share the same inspiration. We are now eagerly awaiting Gurumaharaj's visit here.
Some photos of our gathering. Jai Vyasa-puja!! Jai Gurumaharaj!!
Madan Gopal cooking.
Bhajans.
Lakshman joining in the kirtan with parents Rasikananda and Krisangi.
Gandharvika.
Offering feast to Gurumaharaj.
Reading offerings.
Gandharvika serving out.
Honoring prasad!
Vrindaranya Dasi - March 10, 2009 3:18 pm
Dear devotees,the Vyasa Puja of Tripurari Maharaj was celebrated also in the Sofia temple at the previous Sunday program. Would you like me to post here some photos from the Bulgarian celebration?
By all means.
Great photos, Gaurangi! Thank you!
Syama Gopala Dasa - March 10, 2009 6:39 pm
It has to do with the file format, text is not always text. And yes Rathi Krishna, as you show below using these tags is the proper way, ultimately.
Use Taco HTML for MAC, it is freeware and saves new files in the proper text format.
This one gets me all the time too. It's the apostrophes and quotation marks.
Try these instead.
Take away the space and after the & for these. Even with the code tags they render properly.
& lsquo;= left single quote
& rsquo; = right single quote
& ldquo; = left double quote
& rdquo; = right double quote
& #39; = apostrophe
Here's a cheatsheet if you like.
Nitaisundara Das - March 10, 2009 9:35 pm
It has to do with the file format, text is not always text. And yes Rathi Krishna, as you show below using these tags is the proper way, ultimately.
Use Taco HTML for MAC, it is freeware and saves new files in the proper text format.
I find your advice a little suspect since you sent me the offerings and said they were done 
, But I will try this all out tonight hopefully.
Yamuna Dasi - March 11, 2009 9:17 pm
OK, here are some photos from the Vyasa Puja celebration in Sofia, Bulgaria:
The altar with Mahaprabhu, Giriraj and Krishna Padaka (this is a self manifested perfect foot shape self appeared stone found in Struma river in Bulgaria at Pastuh village ("pastuh" means "shepherd of sheep or cows), which looked as it is placed now on the altar looks like a man foot, but looked from another angle is like a dancing female foot):
A non-typical pushpanjali offering in front of two pictures instead of one, because I was not able to chose between the two best photo portraits of Maharaj which I received - at one of them he is with a calf (Krishna lila) and at the other one is preaching (Chaitanya lila), so finally I left them both:
Of course a cake! What's a birthday without a cake?
And we were singing the song:
Tumhin mere mandir
Tumhin meri puja
Tumhin mere devadatta
Tumhin mere Gurudeva.
You are my temple
You are my puja
You are God-given to me
You are my Gurudeva.
And here is Mahaprabhu dressed for Gaura Purnima with those very first set of clothes about which I was writing the story... with the hidden peacock feather at the back side of His turban:
and His secret peacock feather which I was able to make a picture of sneaking behind the paravan of the pujari when she was preparing Him for the abishek - what you see brownish and twisted is the peackock feather, which can be seen only from behind and is completely invisible when the turban is on Mahaprabhu's head:
A strange story happened when the pujari wanted after the abishek to dress Mahaprabhu with the new clothes - they were damaged by a candle, burnt a little bit... seemes that Mahaprabhu didn't want His clothes to be changed...
Gaura-Vijaya Das - March 11, 2009 11:31 pm
Thanks for sharing great pics.
Guru-nistha Das - March 12, 2009 4:10 am
I really like reading Vyasa puja offerings. It reminds me of the real connection among the students of Guru Maharaj. We might be friends on a relative level too, but the real heart of the connection is seva to Guru Maharaj, and that's what we really are about. The offerings give a nice sneak peek behind the veil of externals.
I wanted to post some short excerpts from the offerings that really struck a chord in me but I'm going to start with one from Guru Maharaja's article from the site:
Vaishnavism is a feeling. If you have the feeling, you recognize it wherever and in whatever package it presents itself.
Tadiya Dasi - March 12, 2009 4:16 pm
Gurunistha,
Funny you should mention that particular line from Guru Maharaja's article because it struck me, too, when I was reading the article on faith.
I second you on how nice and inspiring it is to read the Vyasa-puja offerings of everyone. There were a couple that made me cry, actually, because they were so filled with love and real feeling for Gurudeva. Now, that's a feeling I'd like to cultivate Something to aspire to!
I also loved seeing the photos of everyone (of myself, not so much 
) , and all the other wonderful photos in the Vyasa-puja page, as well! The photos with Guru Maharaj and the cows - sweet! :Cool:
Tadiya Dasi - March 12, 2009 4:18 pm
And, Yamuna, your cake decoration made me smile Nice idea!
Yamuna Dasi - March 12, 2009 6:45 pm
And, Yamuna, your cake decoration made me smileNice idea!
Tadiya, the devotees were "chanting" the last part of "OM" while contributing for the disappearance of the cake... it was really fast!
Yamuna Dasi - March 12, 2009 6:55 pm
I was also impressed by the quote from Maharaja's article:
"Vaishnavism is a feeling. If you have the feeling, you recognize it wherever and in whatever package it presents itself. "
but in a bit different way.
It seems to me that maybe it's valid only at the higher or even highest levels of spiritual vision. We are more disposed to view and recognize as "devotees" rather those who are "birds of our feather" or those who are close to our mood, and not so much those who are different.
Which brought me to the idea that maybe we have "some feeling" but not "the feeling"
Guru-nistha Das - March 13, 2009 4:29 pm
From Audarya-lila's offering, a nice idea for a gift:
I intend to dive deep into Hari Kirtan during the festivities this year as a sincere offering to your lotus feet.