CC Adi 7.73–75, 8.21 – Radhastami Initiation Lecture—The Ten Offenses

Giriraj Swami: Whenever there is not some specific chanting or hearing, we will do japa.

[Chanting]

So now we will do ācamana. So, with your left hand, you put three drops of water in your right hand. Do it three times and then throw the water to the side. Put one more drop and throw it to the side right away.

[Chanting mantra for yajña]

apavitraḥ pavitro vā
sarvāvasthāṁ gato ‘pi vā
yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ
sa bāhyābhyantaraḥ śuciḥ

I repeat the same process again: three drops in the right hand, then throw, and one more.

The meaning of the verse which we have just recited is, purified or unpurified or even having passed through all situations. One who remembers the lotus-eyed Supreme Personality of Godhead is purified within and without. So, as Srila Prabhupada often explains twelve forms of Krishna consciousness is the platform of consciousness. Without Krishna consciousness, there can be no Krishna consciousness. So there are basically two stages of consciousness: pure and impure. Pure consciousness is Krishna consciousness, and impure consciousness is material consciousness. Krishna consciousness is both the means and the end. Krishna consciousness is the means of purification, and it is also the end because when we are completely purified, we will be perfectly Krishna conscious. To maintain external cleanliness, we should take baths, wear clean cloth, and so on. But to maintain internal cleanliness, we should especially chant the holy names of Krishna.

Today, some devotees are being initiated into the disciplic succession. According to the science of bhakti-yoga, the first item is, ādau guru-pāda-āśraya, one should take shelter of spiritual master; then śikṣeti, to take instructions from him and dīkṣeti, take initiation from him. Altogether, there are sixty-four items of devotional service, and of the sixty-four, ten are preliminaries. Of the ten, three are most essential, and they are to take shelter of the spiritual master, take instruction from him, and serve him and take initiation from him. As Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Prabhupada arranged, there are actually two stages of initiation. The first is initiation into the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and the second is initiation into the chanting of the Gayatri mantra. Today, some devotees are sitting for the first initiation, and some are sitting for the second initiation. Actually, the chanting of the holy names of the Lord is the main process in devotional service, and simply by chanting the holy names of Krishna, one can achieve all perfection. But still, there are some offenses that one may commit while chanting Hare Krishna, and by committing such offenses, one cannot get the results of chanting, which is love for Krishna, very quickly.

Therefore, we will read the list of offenses and discuss some of the offenses so we can be careful to avoid them. If we chant the holy name and at the same time avoid offenses, then very quickly we will achieve the desired results of kṛṣṇa-prema.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaitacandra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaitacandra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaitacandra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Reading from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Seven. I will read a few verses before we come to the discussion of the offenses.

TEXT 73

kṛṣṇa-mantra haite habe saṁsāra-mocana
kṛṣṇa-nāma haite pābe kṛṣṇera caraṇa

TRANSLATION

“ ‘Simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa one can obtain freedom from material existence. Indeed, simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra one will be able to see the lotus feet of the Lord.

TEXT 74

nāma vinu kali-kāle nāhi āra dharma
sarva-mantra-sāra nāma, ei śāstra-marma

TRANSLATION

“ ‘In this Age of Kali there is no religious principle other than the chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all Vedic hymns. This is the purport of all scriptures.’

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

 ‘In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.’

COMMENT

Now we come to Ādi-līlā, Chapter Eight.

TEXT 21

svatantra īśvara prema-nigūḍha-bhāṇdāra
bilāila yāre tāre, nā kaila vicāra

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, is fully independent. Therefore, although it is the most confidentially stored benediction, He can distribute love of Godhead to anyone and everyone without consideration.

TEXT 22

Whether he is offensive or inoffensive, anyone who even now chants śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda is immediately overwhelmed with ecstasy, and tears fill his eyes.

TEXT 23

Simply by talking of Nityānanda Prabhu one awakens his love for Kṛṣṇa. Thus all his bodily limbs are agitated by ecstasy, and tears flow from his eyes like the waters of the Ganges.

TEXT 24

‘kṛṣṇa-nāma’ kare aparādhera vicāra
kṛṣṇa balile aparādhīra nā haya vikāra

TRANSLATION

There are offenses to be considered while chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Therefore simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa one does not become ecstatic.

COMMENT

The purport is that in the chanting of the holy name of the Lord Krishna, there are offenses to be considered, and if one commits offenses while chanting the holy names of Krishna, he will not feel ecstatic. But in the chanting of the holy names of the Pancha-tattva, there are no offenses to be considered, and therefore, by chanting the holy names of the Pancha-tattva, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda, one immediately becomes ecstatic and when one becomes ecstatic, naturally he will not commit any offenses. Then he can chant the holy name of Krishna without offense. Therefore, before we chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, we generally begin by chanting the holy names of the Pancha-tattva so that we can become ecstatic and free from offenses in order to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra properly.

Purport by Srila Prabhupada

It is very beneficial to chant the names śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda before chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra because by chanting these two holy names — śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda — one immediately becomes ecstatic, and if he then chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra he becomes free of offenses.

There are ten offenses to avoid in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. The first offense is to blaspheme great personalities who are engaged in distributing the holy name of the Lord. It is said in the śāstra (Cc. Antya 7.11), kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana: one cannot distribute the holy names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra unless he is empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore one should not criticize or blaspheme a devotee who is thus engaged.

Śrī Padma Purāṇa states:

satāṁ nindā nāmnaḥ paramam aparādhaṁ vitanute
yataḥ khyātiṁ yātaṁ katham u sahate tad-vigarhām

To blaspheme the great saintly persons who are engaged in preaching the glories of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is the worst offense at the lotus feet of the holy name. One should not criticize a preacher of the glories of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. If one does so, he is an offender. The Nāma-prabhu, who is identical with Kṛṣṇa, will never tolerate such blasphemous activities, even from one who passes as a great devotee.

COMMENT

So the holy name of Krishna is Krishna Himself, and those who spread the glories of the holy name are rendering the best service to the Lord. Therefore, if we criticize a preacher of the glory of the holy name or the glory of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then the holy name, who is Krishna, will become angry. He will not tolerate such an offense against a preacher. Therefore, we should be very careful not to criticize or blaspheme devotees who have dedicated their lives to propagating the holy name. Directly or indirectly, every devotee who is sincerely serving the mission of Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON, he is somehow or other engaged in spreading the glories of the holy name. So we should not criticize or blaspheme any Vaishnava. If we blaspheme any Vaishnava, then the holy name, who is Krishna himself, will become angry. He will become angry, and we will not be able to get the full benefit of chanting the holy name.

If by chance we do commit an offense against the Vaishnava, we should approach the Vaishnava very humbly, submissively, and sincerely ask him to forgive us. We should glorify the Vaishnava. The negative side is don’t criticize Vaishnava, but the positive side is to glorify Vaishnava, praise Vaishnava, and serve Vaishnava. If we are engaged in such service to the Vaishnava and glorification of the Vaishnava, then we will have little scope to be blasphemous or criticize them.

PURPORT (continued)

The second nāmāparādha is described as follows:

śivasya śrī-viṣṇor ya iha guṇa-nāmādi-sakalaṁ
dhiyā bhinnaṁ paśyet sa khalu hari-nāmāhita-karaḥ

In this material world, the holy name of Viṣṇu is all-auspicious. Viṣṇu’s name, form, qualities, and pastimes are all transcendental, absolute knowledge. Therefore, if one tries to separate the Absolute Personality of Godhead from His holy name or His transcendental form, qualities, and pastimes, thinking them to be material, that is offensive. 

COMMENT

So, Srila Prabhupada used to criticize strongly commentators on the Bhagavad-gītā who tried to separate Krishna from His form because on the absolute platform, there is no difference between Krishna’s inside and Krishna’s outside. Krishna is all pure, transcendental, both inside and outside. Anyone who does not understand the absolute nature of Krishna is ignorant and foolish. In fact, Lord Krishna himself declares in the Bhagavad-gītā,

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
mama bhūta-maheśvaram

That if one thinks that Krishna has assumed a material form, he is mūḍhā, fool, rascal. So, that learned scholars commented on Bhagavad-gītā that it is not to person Krishna that we must surrender, but it is to the unknown, unknowable, nameless, formless, which is speaking through Krishna. Such persons are completely ignorant of the science of Krishna, of the fact that Krishna is absolute, and there is no difference between Krishna’s inside and Krishna’s outside. Such people mislead people away from the instruction of Krishna in the Gītā. Srila Prabhupada says it would be as if he would say, “Bring me a glass of water,” and someone else would say, “No, no, don’t give the water to Swamiji; throw the water on the white wall behind Swamiji.”

So Krishna said clearly, “Surrender to me,” but the commentator says, “No, don’t surrender to the person Krishna, you have to surrender to something behind Krishna, which is speaking through Krishna. So they say everything is one, advaitavāda, everything is one. But Krishna is not one; Krishna and Krishna’s form are not one. Everything else is one but Krishna and Krishna’s form are not one. So, they are mūḍhā, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam. And, they are offenders. It just so happened that when Srila Prabhupada came to Madras, we arranged for him to meet with the commentator on the Bhagavad-gītā who said it is not to the person Krishna that we must surrender. The commentator was almost completely paralyzed; he couldn’t do anything himself and had to have a nurse to help him. So, there are some effect of nāma-aparādha, suffering due to nāma-aparādha.

PURPORT (continued)

Similarly, to think that the names of demigods such as Lord Śiva are as good as the name of Lord Viṣṇu — or, in other words, to think that Lord Śiva and the other demigods are other forms of God and are therefore equal to Viṣṇu — is also blasphemous. This is the second offense at the lotus feet of the holy name of the Lord.

COMMENT

So we know that Krishna is the Supreme Independent Personality of Godhead, and all others are His servants. ekala īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtyayāre, only Krishna is the supreme controller, and all others, including the biggest demigods, Brahma and Shiva, are servants of the Supreme Lord Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

The third offense at the lotus feet of the holy name, which is called guror avajñā, is to consider the spiritual master to be material and therefore to envy his exalted position.

COMMENT

So one must have faith in the spiritual master as the representative of Krishna, that when the spiritual master speaks, actually Krishna is speaking. The spiritual master simply repeats the instructions of Krishna, and therefore, we should take the instructions of the spiritual master as the instructions of Krishna with full faith and surrender. Otherwise, if we disobey the instructions of the spiritual master because we think that the spiritual master is an ordinary human being just like us, who is subject to the four defects of the conditioned souls just like us, therefore we think we don’t have to follow his instructions, we commit offense.

PURPORT (continued)

The fourth offense (śruti-śāstra-nindanam) is to blaspheme Vedic literatures such as the four Vedas and the Purāṇas. 

COMMENT

So we should have faith in the Vedic scriptures. If we do not have faith in the Vedic authority, we cannot be devotees. So the negative side is we should not doubt the Vedic scriptures; we should not criticize the Vedic conclusions. And the positive side is that we should read the Vedic scriptures; we should attend the Bhāgavatam class. Otherwise, if we don’t read the scriptures and we don’t attend the classes, it is a subtle offense as well. So we should read. Sometimes when devotees take their vows, they pledge to read for one hour every day, and Srila Prabhupada has arranged in the morning program that for about one hour we hear the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So we should hear the Vedic literatures; we should study Srila Prabhupada’s books and discuss books which contain the essence of all Vedic literature and the conclusions of all previous acharyas.

PURPORT (continued)

The fifth offense (artha-vādaḥ) is to consider the glories of the holy name to be exaggerations.

COMMENT

One devotee commented that if we don’t chant the holy names without offense, we will think that the glories of the holy name are exaggerations because we won’t get the real benefits of the chanting. So when we hear about the benefits of the chanting, we will think that the benefits have been exaggerated. But actually, the benefits are not exaggerated; we should chant with quality. We should chant with quality, then we will be able to perceive the real benefits of the chanting.

PURPORT (continued)

Similarly, the sixth offense (hari-nāmni kalpanam) is to consider the holy name of the Lord to be imaginary.

COMMENT

The impersonalists think that Krishna is imaginary or Krishna is ordinary, and they also think the holy name is imaginary or the holy name is ordinary. Like one such impersonalist commented that the real essence of chanting Hare Krishna is in the silence that comes between Hare and Krishna. In other word, they think that the Hare Krishna maha-mantra is imaginary, it is nonsense. And that one should silently meditate on the impersonal and become one with the person. So, that is another offense.

PURPORT (continued)

The seventh offense is described as follows:

nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhir
na vidyate tasya yamair hi śuddhiḥ

To think that since the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra can counteract all sinful reactions one may therefore go on with his sinful activities and at the same time chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra to neutralize them is the greatest offense at the lotus feet of hari-nāma.

COMMENT

So blaspheming Vaishnavas is the worst offense, and committing sin on the strength of chanting is the greatest offense. One may have engaged in sinful activities before he surrendered to Krishna, before he surrendered to guru, but when he surrenders to Krishna through the spiritual master and agrees to chant the holy name, he simultaneously vows to give up sinful activities. But in spite of surrendering to the spiritual master and Krishna and promising to give up all sinful activities, if he again commits sinful activities thinking, Oh, I am a devotee, I can chant Hare Krishna, Krishna will excuse me, that is the worst offense. It is all right that we engaged in sinful activities in the past, so now we’ve surrendered to the Lord, we have taken to the process of chanting, so now we should not commit sins anymore. And if we think we can take advantage of the fact that we are chanting and deliberately commit sin and think that we can neutralize the effect by chanting, that is the greatest offense.

PURPORT (continued)

The eighth offense is stated thus:

dharma-vrata-tyāga-hutādi-sarva-
śubha-kriyā-sāmyam api pramādaḥ

It is offensive to consider the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra to be a religious ritualistic ceremony. Performing religious ceremonies, following vows and practicing renunciation and sacrifice are all materialistic auspicious activities. The chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra must not be compared to such materialistic religiosity. This is an offense at the lotus feet of the holy name of the Lord.

COMMENT

So when Srimati Lilavati Munshi invited Srila Prabhupada to be the chief guest at Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, she arranged some of other guest to meet Srila Prabhupada before the program. So, one of the person told to Srila Prabhupada that he would gather people together and request them to chant the holy name, and by chanting the holy name, they would become free from all material diseases. Sometimes the Christians are very famous for gathering people together and telling the people that if you just accept Jesus Christ in your life, you will be free from all of your maladies. And sometimes they even stage performances in halls or on television where the person is crippled, cannot walk without crutches, and then the preacher will say, “Do you accept Jesus Christ in your life? Do you accept Jesus Christ as your savior?” And they say, “Yes, yes,” and the preacher will say, “Throw away your crutches, walk,” and then he will throw away his crutches and walk. But bhakti, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is not meant for any type of material benefit, and to utilize the holy name of the Lord for personal material benefit is an offense.

So the man approached Srila Prabhupada that you are calling people together and asking them to chant the holy name, and I am calling people together and asking them to chant the holy name, so we should join together. And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, but your proposal is against our principles. The holy name is Krishna himself, so we are servants of the holy name, we are servants of Krishna, not that we want to make Krishna our servant, make the holy name our servant to fulfill our desires. That is an offense. That means we want to be the Lord, and we are meant to fulfill Krishna’s desires. Krishna is the Lord and we are the servant, we are meant to fulfil Krishna’s desire.” So when we chant the holy name, we have only one prayer, and that is, ‘My dear Lord, my dear energy of the Lord, please engage me in your service.’ The devotee has no other desires because we are calling Krishna’s name, ‘ Hare Krishna! O Srimati Radharani, O Lord Krishna,’ and if they answer, ‘Yes, what do you want?’ So what will we say? ‘I want a new house, I want a new car, at least a new VCR.’ No, we are not going to ask Radha and Krishna for anything material. Then what do you want? You call my name, what do you want? ‘My Lord, I only want your service, nothing else.’

PURPORT (continued)

The ninth offense is described as follows:

aśraddadhāne vimukhe ‘py aśṛṇvati
yaś copadeśaḥ śiva-nāmāparādhaḥ

It is an offense to preach the glories of the holy name among persons who have no intelligence or no faith in the subject matter. Such people should be given the chance to hear the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, but in the beginning they should not be instructed about the glories or the spiritual significance of the holy name. By constant hearing of the holy name, their hearts will be purified, and then they will be able to understand the transcendental position of the holy name.

COMMENT

In the beginning, we should not preach the glories of the holy name to persons who have no intelligence or no faith to understand. First, they have to have faith in the Vedic authority. They have to understand that every conditioned soul has four defects and, therefore, he cannot achieve perfect knowledge by themselves. However, the Vedas are beyond the defects of conditioned souls, and thus the knowledge in the Vedas is perfect. If we want perfect knowledge, we must approach the perfect person, Krishna, or obtain knowledge from the perfect person, which is Vedic knowledge. When they have faith in the authority of the Vedas, we can tell them about the glories of the holy name because they will have faith. But if they don’t have faith, they will think that we are in illusion and will criticize us more. So, we should not preach to the faithless, but we can ask them to chant Hare Krishna because by chanting Hare Krishna, they will become purified. When they become purified, they will be able to develop faith in the Vedic scriptures and in the holy name. So, we invite everyone to chant Hare Krishna, but until they have some faith in the Vedic process and sadhu, shastra, guru-vākya, we should not preach about the glory of the name.

PURPORT (continued)

The tenth offense is as follows:

śrute ‘pi nāma-māhātmye yaḥ prīti-rahito naraḥ
ahaṁ-mamādi-paramo nāmni so ‘py aparādha-kṛt

If one has heard the glories of the transcendental holy name of the Lord but nevertheless continues in a materialistic concept of life, thinking “I am this body and everything belonging to this body is mine [ahaṁ mameti],” and does not show respect and love for the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, that is an offense.

COMMENT

Generally, materialistic persons identify with the body: “I am this body,” and they identify with the expansions of the body as theirs: “This is my wife, this is my husband, this is my friend, this is my enemy, this is my house, this is my car.” We are always absorbed in such thoughts. Even when we chant, we don’t hear the holy name, but we hear our mind: “Oh, what about my wife? What about my husband? What about my children? What about my friend? What about my enemy? What about my food, money, bills, debts?” So many things. To be thinking about such things while chanting is an offense. Of course, the clearing of offenses is a gradual process, so we may not expect that the offenses will be cleared at once. But we should understand that the holy name is Krishna. When I chant the holy name, I am actually associating with Krishna. And when I am associating with Krishna, what is the question of so many worries? What is the question of so many words? You are with Krishna, who will take care of everything for you if you surrender to Him. So why should you worry? When one is actually surrendered to Krishna, he understands that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the holy name is Krishna Himself. He puts his full faith in the holy name, he puts his full faith in Krishna, then he can chant with full freedom and full attention. He is not worried about anything because he knows Krishna will take care. Krishna will take care doesn’t mean that we don’t work also. We work also, we make our efforts, but we have no anxiety because we know that Krishna is there, and He will help us.

Actually, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains that anxiety or fear arises from the conception that something exists independent of Krishna. But when we are fixed in the conviction that nothing exists separate from Krishna, that in one sense everything is Krishna, then we have no fear and no anxiety, even if we face some calamities or some apparent reversal, devotees see it as Krishna. The devotee sees tat te ‘nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo, that whatever difficulty he is suffering is the mercy of Krishna. Krishna has put him into the difficulty so that he will surrender to Krishna more, so that he will give up false material attachments, so that he will become more serious about Krishna consciousness. Therefore, the devotee has no anxiety in any situation because in every situation he sees the hand of Krishna. He sees the mercy of the Lord, and he is satisfied; api tulyāt darśanam, that the pure devotee is always with Krishna. When he chants the holy name, he is with Krishna, and therefore he doesn’t mind if he is in heaven or hell or in Vaikuntha. He doesn’t mind where he is because when he chants the holy name, he is in the spiritual world with Krishna, and therefore he has no fear, he has no anxiety, but he is peaceful and equipoised in every situation.

After someone has chanted the holy name for some time and continues to refrain from sinful activities, he can be considered eligible to receive initiation into the Gayatri mantra and be accepted for brahminical initiation to do deity worship. Srila Prabhupada used to say, “One cannot enter into fire unless he is fire.” According to Bhagavad-gītā, imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam, Krishna originally instructed the Bhagavad-gītā to sun-god Vivasvan. That means there is the person, who is the sun god, and he lives in the sun planet. But unless one is fire, one cannot enter fire. If we even go near the sun, we will burn to ashes, what to speak of enter into the sun. But the sun-god lives in the sun planet because his body is made of fire. So, if we want to enter the service of brahman, we have to become brahman. Therefore, brahman jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ, one who knows brahman, he is brahman. One attains the platform of brahman by this process of bhakti.

māṁ ca yo ‘vyabhicāreṇa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

When one is unfailingly engaged in devotional service, unhesitatingly engaged in devotional service, he comes to the platform of brahman. He transcends the modes of nature. When one is on the brahman platform, he can serve the supreme brahman. As soon as we deviate from chanting the holy names, as soon as we deviate from the regulative principles, we fall down. Just as we do not accept caste brahmans who do not follow the regulative principles but think that they are brahmans by thread, even if a devotee is initiated as a brahman, if he cannot maintain the brahminical qualities, if he cannot maintain the transcendental platform by chanting the holy name and following the regulative principles, then he is not a brahman. He is not a brahman. We should be qualified by constant engagement in the service of the Lord and by maintaining the brahminical principles of cleanliness, truthfulness, and so on. Then we are fit to serve the supreme spirit on the spiritual platform, or in other words, we are eligible to perform the worship of the deity.

We have all gathered here today by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, we’ve come in contact with devotees. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, we have heard the message of Krishna. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, we have taken up the practice of devotional service. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, we are engaged in the best service to Krishna, which is the spreading of Krishna consciousness throughout the world. We should always remember our debt to Srila Prabhupada. By initiation, we are being connected to him through his humble servants, and through initiations, we are being connected to all of the previous acharyas through Srila Prabhupada, and through Srila Prabhupada ultimately to Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai and Sri Radha-Krishna.

So, we are being initiated into Srila Prabhupada’s family. In a family, there are many family members: brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, and we have our relationship with them all. We have our service to them all, so we should honor, appreciate, and serve them all as family members of Srila Prabhupada, who is supreme father or grandfather. Whatever vows we are taking today and whatever relationship we are formalizing today, it is all within the context of the instructions of Srila Prabhupada, the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, and the movement of Srila Prabhupada or the institutions called ISKCON. Whatever we do, we should always remain faithful to the conclusions of Srila Prabhupada and the mission of Srila Prabhupada and not accept any other conclusion or any other mission. Then we will be safe in our spiritual life, and we will remain together eternally in Srila Prabhupada’s association. Hare Krishna.

So now we will request the initiates to come forward and take their vows and receive their beads and names. Part of the process of initiation involves taking vows before the deities, before the spiritual master, and before the Vaishnava. At the same time, one is given a name that indicates that one is a servant of Krishna. It is said that if one fails to accept such a name at the time of initiation, he will remain in the bodily concept of life. So we also receive a name that indicates that we are servants of the Lord.

You can begin by offering obeisances to Srila Prabhupada and coming here, offering obeisances and taking your vows. And offering obeisances to all deities and taking the blessings of Vaishnavas, especially senior devotees. So I will announce the order in advance so that when one is coming forward, the other can go to the Srila Prabhupada.

[Initiation ceremony starts]