HH Gopal Krishna Maharaj Triobhav Utsav| HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | April 14, 2026
This is the second celebration of the disappearance of Gopal Krishna Maharaj. As everyone is aware, he has played a very important role in the expansion of ISKCON in India. In fact, we see that the whole of Delhi, which is a huge city, is covered with about 18 temples, all due to the inspiration of Gopal Krishna Maharaj. And of course, he has also been preaching and managing in Maharashtra, Mumbai and in Gujarat as well. If we examine his words and instructions, we see that primarily he wanted people to simply follow the instructions of Srila Prabhupad. In fact, he kept instructions very simple. And this is also the lesson we learn from all of our Acharyas.
So everyday we do Srila Prabhupad’s Guru Puja. And we pray there that the feet of Guru are the ultimate shelter. And by taking shelter of those feet, we get perfection in devotional service. This is not a new concept, it is being stated in the Upanishads. Of course, it is not simply a statement about Bhakti, it is a statement for all types of knowledge conveyed through the Vedic literature. And what that means, apart from the poetic expression of taking shelter of lotus feet, it actually means that we are willing to follow the instructions. So you can literally touch the feet or roll on the dust of the feet of the Acharya, but that is not enough. Certainly, it is beneficial for us. But taking shelter of the lotus feet ultimately means following instructions. So, you can take the foot dust forever, but you don’t follow the instructions, that means nothing. And, if you don’t take the foot dust, but you follow the instructions, that is everything.
So, Srila Prabhupad in one of his vyasya puja offerings to Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur after his disappearance, was writing that, what is the use of offering all these fruits and flowers? And what he meant by that is that, the followers of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur were worshipping him physically, but they were not following his instructions. Instead of expanding one movement, they divided it into many parts. So then, what was the use of the worship?
Srila Prabhupad gave many instructions. And of course, he didn’t want us to deviate from the scriptures. And therefore, he gave many books like Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. So, in that way, those instructions are without any dispute. But, one of his primary other instructions was to keep ISKCON unified. So, he gives the example of a group of sticks. And if you take a stick, you can break it. If you have a group of sticks, you cannot break it. So ISKCON, as one unified movement, is strong, when it divides up, then it becomes weak. So this was one of Prabhupad’s main instructions.
And as I mentioned, Gopal Krishna Maharaj emphasized this a lot. What does that mean in practical terms? We will see that, there are reasons for dividing. People have different opinions. People may be possessive of a certain temple. So, unity means, we have to give up all of these separate endeavours. We have to give up our individual goals in pursuance of the common goal. We have to sacrifice individual opinions for the common opinion. That is sometimes a challenge. Everybody still has their individual identity and their individual ideas. But, the whole point of devotional service is, we are willing to sacrifice all of that. So, when we say, take shelter of the lotus feet of Guru, taking shelter means we give up self-interest.
There is also another unfortunate phenomenon. Disciples are very devoted to Guru, because you should surrender to the lotus feet of Guru. But, they become so devoted, that they cannot surrender to anybody else. They cannot surrender to a higher authority. They cannot even surrender to Srila Prabhupad. So, though there is devotion to Guru, we also have to see the general structure of our society. And ultimately, the final surrender is to Srila Prabhupad. And it is for that purpose, that every day we do Guru Puja to Srila Prabhupad.
And as I said, Gopal Krishna Maharaj always emphasized that one should be devoted to following Prabhupad’s instruction and keep the society together. So, in commemorating Gopal Krishna Maharaj, then in expressing your devotion, you should understand that your primary goal is to follow that instruction.
So, in Guruvastakam it says, if you satisfy Guru, then everything is successful. So, if as disciples you can think of ways to fulfill that order of Gopal Krishna Maharaj and Srila Prabhupad, then your devotional service is also successful.
Hare Krsna!