World Vaisnava Association

One day before Goura Purnima in the holy place Sreedham Mayapur a great Number of Gaudiya Vaisnavas met in the Ashram called Gopinath Gaudiya Math to hold the second World conference in the tradition of the Visva Vaisnava Raj Sabha.
The meeting was held in the Ashram of Parama Pujyapada Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj who is also the president of the WVA and who is the seniormost disciple of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada the former President of the Visva Vaisnava Raja Sabha.
The meeting was attended by over one thouthand Vaisnavas and was headed by the president himself. It was noticed that many senior Acaryas personally attended, who could not come personally to the Foundationmeeting in Kartik 94.

The speakers on this occasion were in the sequence of their talk:
Introduction of the secretary of the WVA to the second meeting.

• Srila Bhakti Vallabh Tirtha Maharaj, Acarya of the Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math
• Srila Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Maharaj, Acarya of the Sri Chaitanya Mission
• Srila Bhakti Promod Puri Maharaj, Acarya of the Gopinath Gaudiya Math
• Srila Bhakti Suhrid Akinchana Maharaj, Acarya of the Gaudiya Sangha
• Srila Bhakti Vikash Sajjan Maharaj, Acarya in the Chaitanya Math
• Srila Bhakti Prasun Puri Maharaj, of the Chaitanya Math
• Srila Bhakti Vaibhava Sagar Maharaj, Acarya in the Chaitanya Math

Many other Acaryas and qualified speakers did not get an opportunity to speak due to shortage of time.
Many Bhajans were sung to begin the meeting and at the end Harinam Samkirtan was held.
In the end, prasadam was distributed to the attending Members.
In and around the meeting different proposals were discussed by the founding members.
It was decided to attempt to hold the Vrindavan meetings in the Govindajitemple of Srila Rupa Goswami the protector of our Sampradaya on the day of Rama Ekadasi, Kartik month
It was also decided to hold the next festival in Mayapur in Srivas Angam in connection with a five day WVA Mela which gives the opportunity to all members to exhibit their preachingwork to all the other members and to the public.
It was appreciated that the WVA publication center in San Francisco under the guidance of Sriman Ram das das had published the first WVA Passport to introduce the WVA to all new and potential members.
It was also recognized that the WVA had received the contribution of Sriman Kriparama das in Miami, USA to volunteer and to set up the WVA Internet Homepage.
All members were informed how they could connect with that service and that by sending in Materials to the Headquarter their information could be included in this data base and thus made available to the whole Internet world.
Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati would be so happy to see all the Vaisnava literature made available to the world through the modern technological system of the Computer Internet.
No less than 40 Sannyasis attended the meeting in Mayapur and representatives of almost all Vaisnava missions.
Still, we are just in a very humble beginning. Major Vaisnava movement such as Iskcon, Gaudiya Samiti and Gaudiya Mission sent representatives, but were not represented by their Acaryas. As it was decided when the last meeting concluded. We beg all the Vaisnavas to come forward and to contribute to this effort to increase the ties of Vaisnava Families and friendship we need so much to overcome the influence of the age of Kali. All the members of the Chaitanya tree should share their accomplishments and the enlightenment of their Acaryas with the people all over the world. It is time to let the love of the Vaisnavas reach all souls and to try to involve them in the Samkirtan movement of Sriman Mahaprabhu. All great preachers have praised the nonsectarian nature of the Vaisnava Philosophy. As Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur put in in the Bhagavata speech. "Party spirit is the enemy of truth."

So we are all determined to go on and include all our beloved Vaisnavas from all over the world in this effort of the WVA. We pray to soon get their association for the benefit of all of us.

Please accept my most humble dandavat pranams at your feet.

Many devotees may ask:
What is the purpose of the WVA?
Why do we want all the Vaisnavas to cooperate?
What practical things do we hope to accomplish?
What need is there for such an association?

The answer is:
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupad.

Since the disappearance of our beloved Parama Gurudev Srila Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupad, great darkness has fallen over this world. The symptom of that darkness is that the incredible preaching spirit of Srila Prabhupad is almost lost. Srila Prabhupad was preaching personified. His appearance in this mundane world and the powerful mission he created was meant to change the consciousness of the whole world. He was not interested in presiding over a few Maths or having a few hundred disciples or even a few thousand disciples. Srila Prabhupad wanted to bring the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to every door of every home in every town and village of the world, regardless of caste, creed or color.
Srila Prabhupad understood that until the west had been conquered, the east would not respect their own spiritual heritage with the same importance. Western culture is inundating the whole world with the propaganda that technology can replace God. Srila Prabhupad preached that every piece of modern technology should be used only by and for the Lord's devotees and only for His service. The teaching of Srila Prabhupad was, that everywhere, everyone and everything be engaged in the divine service of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

The purpose of the WVA is to remove the dark cloud which has fallen over the world due to the disappearance of our great Param-guru.
No doubt, the spirit of Srila Prabhupad continued in the noble lives of our Gurudevs, the many disciples of Srila Prabhupad such as Srila Bhaktivilasa Tirtha Maharaj, Srila Bhaktidayita Madhava Maharaj, Srila Bhaktisaranga Gosvami Maharaj, Srila Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhar Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Yajavar Maharaj and many other great souls who gave light and shelter to the fallen souls. And how glorious was the wonderful contribution of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaj to fulfill the most cherished dream of Srila Sarasvati Thakur to translate and preach Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya-Charitamrta world-wide, so that everyone can know and relish the treasure of Bharata-bhumi: the sweetness of Mahaprabhu and Krishna.

But after those stalwarts have rejoined their Lord we feel that same darkness is covering the world again.
The WVA aspires to unite all Vaisnavas in the line of Srila Sarasvati Thakur and to reawaken his awesome, incredible magnanimous mercy dormant in all of us, his descendants. He came from the highest plane of Divine service, Radhadasyam, appearing in Mahaprabhu's movement to give the world service connection to Gauranga-lila and Krsna-lila. Our eternal debt and duty to His Divine Grace is to dedicate ourselves to his dynamic, universal preaching program. We hope and pray the WVA will become the voice of Srila Sarasvati Thakur and through his disciples and grand-disciples inspire all of us -- each one of us -- to give up any impediment that hinders the Divine mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and work together to spread it all over the world.

I was asked: What hinders this mission?
Today we see so many wonderful diksa-gurus and siksa-gurus sitting here united, but sometimes we hear and see that the members of some missions only show respect to their own Gurudev.
But who is Gurudev? Acharyo'mam vijaniyan. He is not only one person appearing in one form. He is Krsna who appears in many forms to save all conditioned souls. They are all the most confidential servitors of Sri Krsna.
Once Lord Brahma went to visit the Supreme Lord Krsna in Dvaraka. At the door he was asked: which Lord Brahma are you? He was shocked and surprised. He thought he was the only one. Later, Lord Krsna called in many other Brahmas, some having hundreds and even thousands of heads. Then he could understand. Similarly, we see so many beloved representatives of Krsna here today and we realize we are just one small part of His preaching mission.
Our hope is that this Holy association (WVA) will broaden our view, so that many problems which may exist now or which may arise in the future will be resolved by pure sadhu-sanga.
We humbly pray that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupad bless this holy assembly and shower all of us with his special mercy -- an insatiable desire to make the whole world an extension of the divine plane of eternal service from which he descended.

The editors