The next day was Vyasa-puja, Prabhupada's seventy-fourth birthday, and he went to the Tokyo ISKCON temple. The temple was only two rooms-one for living, one for worshiping-with Japanese grass mats on the floor. Prabhupada sat to the right of the altar, looking at Lord Jagannatha, while his disciples sat on the floor before him, singing Gurv-aṣṭaka prayers glorifying the spiritual master. None of them, however, knew exactly how to conduct the Vyasa-puja ceremony, and after a while they ended the kirtana. In the painfully awkward moments that followed, the devotees realized they were supposed to do something special. But what?
Prabhupada appeared angry: "Don't you have pushpa-yatra? Isn't prasadam ready?" The devotees looked at one another. "This is not Vyasa-puja," Prabhupada said. "You have not been to Vyasa-puja before? Don't you know how to celebrate the Vyasa-puja, how to honor the spiritual master?" One of the sannyasis began to cry. "Tamala Krishna," Prabhupada said, "didn't you see how I observed my Guru Maharaja's birthday? Where is pushpa?" (Pushpa is Sanskrit for "flowers.")
Puṣpa?pushpa? Tamala Krishna decided Prabhupada must mean puṣpanna, a fancy rice dish. "I'm not sure," he said.
"What kind of Vyasa-puja is this with no pushpa?" Prabhupada asked.
"We can get some, Prabhupada," Tamala Krishna offered.
Tamala Krishna grabbed Sudama. "Prabhupada wants prasadam. He wants pushpanna rice." They ran into the kitchen and hurriedly started the rice.
Meanwhile, in the temple the devotees struggled through their version of a Vyasa-puja ceremony. Kirtanananda Swami stood and began to read aloud from the introduction of Krishna, the Reservoir of Pleasure, which included a short biography of Prabhupada. But Prabhupada interrupted, scolding his disciples for concocting and for acting improperly. "If you don't know," he said, "then why didn't you ask me how to do this properly?"
The Japanese guests present didn't understand English, but they could see the spiritual master was disturbed. Prabhupada explained that in devotional service everything must be done properly, according to the parampara method, without concocting. "We will observe Vyasa-puja again tomorrow," he said. "Come to my room. I will tell you what to do."
The next day, after a simple, traditional ceremony, the devotees felt ecstatic. Afterward they agreed: when one displeases his spiritual master, there is no happiness; but as soon as the spiritual master is pleased, the disciple becomes blissful.
[Ref. Book: 'Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita by HH SSDG, Vol. 4, Chapter 31: A Threat Against ISKCON]
Jaya Srila Prabhupada!
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