Ratha-yatra and Initiations

Giriraj Swami: Please repeat after me.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama
Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Jaya Jagannatha

Jaya Jagannatha

Jaya Jagannatha

So, we have gathered on the most auspicious occasion of Jagannatha Ratha-yatra. Lord Jagannatha is Krishna, in a very special form, a very ecstatic form. There are different explanations of how Lord Jagannatha assumed the form that we see, and I will tell just one of those stories based on a tradition in Orissa. As you may know, Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and He appeared on earth about five thousand years ago. And when he was on earth, He played the part of the perfect person. I mean, He is the perfect person, but He engaged in nara-līlā, human-like past-times. And from His birth until the age of fifteen, He enjoyed as a cowherd boy in Vrindavan, enjoying loving relationships with various pure devotees, liberated personalities. And out of them, the person who loved Krishna the most, whose love was the most pure, was Srimati Radharani.

So, when we worship Krishna in Vrindavan as a cowherd boy with Radharani, that is Radha-Kalachandji. Later, Krishna left Vrindavan and went to stay with His, you could say original father and mother, Vasudeva and Devaki in Dwarka. And on the occasion of a lunar eclipse, Krishna and His sister Subhadra, and His brother Balarama got on chariots and went to Kurukshetra, to observe the eclipse. And Krishna, with His brother Balarama and sister Subhadra is Lord Jagannatha. When the devotees in Vrindavan, Srimati Radharani and others heard that Krishna was going to be in Kurukshetra which was much closer to Vrindavan than Dwarka, they decided to go to Kurukshetra, to meet Krishna. But when Radharani saw Krishna in Kurukshetra, dressed as a royal prince not with His peacock feather and flute in His hands. . . And when she saw Him surrounded by elephants, and horses, and chariots, and warriors, she missed the beautiful, sweet village atmosphere of Vrindavan. She wanted to take Krishna with her, back to Vrindavan so that they could enjoy loving exchanges as they had in their childhood, in the forest of Vrindavan, on the banks of Yamuna river, at Govardhana hill.

So, this festival of Ratha-yatra was observed five hundred years ago by Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He is the founder of the Hare Krishna movement. According to scripture, He is Krishna Himself but He came as a devotee to show us in the present age of Kali-yuga, how to worship Krishna. And how to realize our eternal spiritual identities.

So, the main process that He gave us was the chanting of the holy name: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Ram, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. He gave us the philosophy of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He gave us the association of devotees. He revealed to us the significance and importance of holy places like Mayapur, Vrindavan, and Jagannatha Puri. And He gave us the process of deity worship and observance of Ratha-yatra is part of that process of deity worship. And it was especially observed by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself in Puri. And when He observed the Ratha-yatra, He was in the mood of Radharani, feeling separation from Krishna and wanting to bring Krishna back to Vrindavan. So, His mood in pulling the chariot was the mood of Radharani, trying to pull Krishna back to Vrindavan.

So, this festival has a lot of feeling for our devotees. We may not have those feelings but if we just join in the chanting, and dancing, and taking of prasāda, we will make progress toward that ultimate goal of developing love, feelings of separation from Krishna. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu manifested those feelings especially in Jagannatha Puri and His next followers, the Six Gosvamis, they were also in the same mood of separation.

he rādhe! he vraja-devike! ca lalite! he nanda-suno! Kutaḥ

śrī-govardhana-pādapa-tale

“Are you by the Govardhana hill or are you on the banks of the Yamunā river?”

Ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau

“The six Gosvamis were wandering all over Vrndāvana and loudly shouting, oh Radha, oh Krishna, where are you?”

Vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

“We offer our obeisances to these six Gosvamis.”

So, feelings of separation are necessary. We feel separation when there is some attachment. For example, if we have some money and we lose it. We will think about that money. Where did my money go? Or if we are devotees and we misplaced our beads, our chanting beads, or japa mala—where are my beads? Where did they go? Where did I leave them, because we have some attachment. If there’s no attachment, we cannot have feelings of separation. And our whole process is to develop attachment for Krishna and His devotees.

So, in the beginning we may not have such attachment or such feelings, but we participate in these festivals and chant, and dance, and take prasāda, and pull the ropes, and listen to talks about Krishna. And that will gradually move us forward along the path. But these activities are quickly effective when we make Krishna the goal of our life. If we take Krishna consciousness as our religion, something we do on Sunday or on holidays, that’s good, it’s a beginning. But mixing Krishna consciousness with material activities dilutes the potency of the process. But if we are firmly determined that I must become Krishna conscious in this lifetime; I do not want to come back again and take birth in this material world and suffer. I don’t want to be subject to being tossed by the waves of material nature, I want to become Krishna conscious in this life—then we can make progress, better progress. We can actually take to the process.

In the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna says, yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām,“That those who are freed from sinful reactions and who have engaged in pious activities, they are free from the dualities of delusion and they can engage in devotional service.”

So, we are all suffering sinful reactions. It is due to sinful reactions that we suffer, and it is due to sinful reactions that we have doubts, that we remain in duality. Should I become Krishna conscious or should I try to enjoy the world? We have doubts, we are in duality. Krishna consciousness is good, but will I really be able to be successful? And what if I put my efforts into  Krishna consciousness and I’m not successful? So that’s duality. That type of duality afflicts people who are not free from sinful actions and reactions. Or we think what if I surrender to Krishna, will He really take care of me? So many doubts, this is duality. And this duality continues as long as we have sinful reactions.

So, to become free from sinful reactions, we engage in these activities of chanting, dancing, honoring prasāda, hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā. And as we become purified, we become free from these doubts and dualities, and then we can wholeheartedly take to the process. Now, someone may say or think, “but I have material desires. What about me?” Sometimes, people worship demigods for the fulfillment of their material desires. They worship Lord Shiva or goddess Durga or Ganesh. And this type of worship is recommended for people who are less intelligent, who have material desires.

So that eventually, they can come to the worship of Vishnu or Krishna because even in the worship of demigods, Vishnu is always there. He presides over every sacrifice. Whatever benefits the demigods give, they can give it only with the sanction of Vishnu or Krishna. But after prescribing so many different deities, to worship for different purposes. Worshiping the sun, Surya, the sun god for good health. I need not elaborate, but so many deities, to worship for so many different purposes. But then Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that, for liberation from this miserable cycle of repeated birth and death, one should worship Vishnu.

And further Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says:

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā

mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ

tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena

yajeta puruṣaṁ param

Akāmaḥ means [Unintelligible 00:20:48]. Tīvreṇa means with great intensity, the word tivra is related to the rays of the sun, the pure, unobscured rays of the sun are very powerful. So, one engages in bhakti-yoga, tīvreṇa, with great intensity. It doesn’t matter whether he has no desires or is full of material desires or desires liberation, he will achieve the supreme destination, if he engages intensely. And that requires some effort, that requires some determination. It also requires association.  

If we’re associating with materialistic people all the time, we are bound to be influenced by them. Man is a social animal. We need company but if we keep company with devotees, especially pure devotees, then by their association, by their influence, by hearing their instructions, and following their instructions we can also become a pure devotee. Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ—our desires develop from our association and therefore the association of devotees is so important. Srila Prabhupada said that 90 percent of Krishna consciousness is association.

So, you have to make the effort to associate with pure devotees. Specifically, in the process of chanting, and hearing about Krishna and rendering service to Krishna and His devotees, not socially. Socially is okay, but we need to chant and hear about Krishna, to learn about Krishna, to serve Krishna, to make advancement.

So, there are different stages in that process of spiritual progress. The first is śraddhā, adau śraddhā. One develops some faith and attraction. Many of you have some śraddhā, that’s why you’re here.

Adau śraddhā tato sādhu-saṅga, when one gets that, develops some faith and attraction that comes from associating with devotees; but that may be in a more casual way or sporadic way. But when one actually develops firm faith, śraddhā, then tato sādhu-saṅga. Then he will associate more regularly with devotees, more systematically. And then, he’ll think as one young man approached me during the festival today: “I’m feeling very inspired. Now, I want to take initiation. I want to be serious.”

So, adau śraddhā tato sādhu-saṅga, then bhajana-kriyā, “I want to fully adopt the process of devotional service bhakti-yoga and take initiation.”

So, today, as part of the Ratha-yatra festival, we will be having an initiation ceremony, two fortunate souls will be receiving initiation from His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami maharaja. And this marks a very significant point in the sojourn of the living entity within the material world. Lord Chaitanya instructs:

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja.

Brahmāṇḍa bhramite—means within the universes. Some people think there’s only one universe. But according to this verse, brahmāṇḍa bhramite—within the multitude of universes. kona bhāgyavān jīva—A living entity, when he becomes fortunate, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja—By the mercy of Guru and Krishna, he gets the bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed of devotional service, the seed of the creeper of devotion.

So, this is a most significant event. The Vedas will tell us that everyone gets a mother and father, but it is only a very rare fortunate soul who gets a spiritual master. Bhāgyavān kona bhāgyavān jīva, fortunate. What is that fortune? What makes someone fortunate? Many devotional scholars have commented on this word but the conclusion is that one becomes fortunate by rendering service to pure devotees.

So that’s why, you are already fortunate, you’ve come to the Ratha-yatra. You’ve pulled the chariot. You’ve done service for the festival, for the devotees, for the dieties. So, that is adding to your spiritual bank account. Every little service, it’s like putting one cent in your spiritual bank account. It’s not much but if you keep making deposits, one cent, one cent, one cent, one cent, it adds up. Eventually, you will have a hundred dollars in the bank. You can actually do something with it.

So, yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ, when one is freed from sinful actions and reactions. Janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām, and has engaged in pious activities. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has explained that there are three categories of pious activities. There is, unmukha-bhoga sukriti that means, a pious activity that leads to material enjoyment. Then there is, mukti-unmukha sukriti, pious activities that lead to impersonal liberation and there’s, bhakti-unmukha sukriti, pious activities that lead to bhakti. And what is that bhakti-unmukha-sukriti? It is serving pure devotees. You may not even know that you are serving a pure devotee. You may not even know what a pure devotee is. But by cooperating with him or her, helping him or her, you get some pious credit. Pulling the ropes of the chariot, one cent. Well, with inflation, I mean Prabhupada said one cent, we’ll say one dollar, even ten dollars. Okay one dollar, pull the rope. Take some prasāda, another dollar in your spiritual bank account. Offer some water to a devotee, another deposit and all those deposits add up. And when they reach a certain point, you can do something with those pious credits.

And eventually, you can come to that stage of surrendering to Krishna through His representative, the spiritual master and take initiation. So, Initiation is a very serious commitment. It’s not something light.

As Srila Prabhupada said, one should not accept a guru as a fashion. “There are so many others who are getting initiated by a guru, I also have a guru.” Like, “Oh, so many people have iPhones, I’ll also get an iPhone.” Because iPhones, I mean they can have some utility.

I’m not. . . but as a fashion. So many people do things as a fashion because others are doing it. We should not accept a guru as a fashion, or to get some social acceptance, or prestige. We should accept a guru because we are very serious, to put an end to the repetition of birth and death. We are very serious, to realize our eternal spiritual identity in this very life. tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet, one must approach a spiritual master. Śreya uttamam—the highest benefit. Then one should approach a spiritual master. Śreyas, there are two words, śreyas and preyas. Śreyas means ultimate benefit and preyas means immediate gratification.

So, some people approach a guru for preyas, some immediate gratification. “Oh, I’m suffering from some disease, guruji bless me, cure me of my disease.” As Srila Prabhupada said, “You don’t need a guru to cure your disease, you need a doctor.” Or, “I need a husband for my daughter, or a wife for my son, please give me your blessings.” You don’t need a guru for that. You need, I don’t know, a match maker, a good website or something, I don’t know. You don’t need a guru for that. So many material blessings we want, and we approach a saintly person or a guru for material blessings. That is preyas not śreyas. One should approach a spiritual master, śreya uttamam, when one is inquisitive, into the ultimate benefit of life.

So, these new initiates, we believe have come forward, to his divine grace, His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami Maharaja for guidance on how to realize the ultimate goal of life. How to become a pure devotee of Krishna, how to serve Krishna in pure love, how to serve the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with pure consciousness and go back home, back to Godhead at the end of this lifetime. That should be our determination.

[Unintelligible 00:37:38]

So, there’s another verse also in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, very similar to the one I quoted that says that, “Chanting the holy name, following the ways of the great acharyas is the doubtless and fearless method to achieve success. Whether one has no desires or is full of desires or desires liberation.” The same idea, very similar verse.

So, as Srila Prabhupada and our previous acharyas have conceived of the initiation process, there are two divisions, the first is hari-nāma initiation—the initiation into the chanting of the holy name of Krishna. And then the second part is Gayatri dīkṣā; after one has been steady in chanting the holy name and following the regulative principles for some time, he may be awarded a second initiation and given the Gayatri mantra. Then the person becomes eligible to worship the deity.

So, now we shall request His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami Maharaja to speak a little about the holy name and the ten offenses or any other topic that seems appropriate for this auspicious occasion. Hare Krishna.

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: Today, we are celebrating Ratha-yatra as Maharaja was saying, a very auspicious day and we are also offering initiation. First initiation of hari-nāma initiation to [Unintelligible 00:43:14–00:43:20] and Vinod Bihari will be getting his second initiation from His Holiness Giriraj Maharaja.

As maharaja was saying that this material world offers many obstacles and our Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā was feeling very perplexed in his attempt and approached Krishna. He said, “I accept you now. Now I’m confused, kārpaṇya-doṣa, I’m confused about my duty and I don’t know what’s best for me. Please instruct me. Now I am a disciple, śiṣya. Now, I'm a disciple surrendering on to you.”

So, these gentlemen have approached us for initiation into the paramparā and today we will accept them on behalf of Srila Prabhupada and paramparā into our disciplic succession. And chanting of Hare Krishna, it is stated by lord Chaitanya nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis, that there are no hard and fast rules for chanting Hare Krishna. And that sarva-śaktis, all the shaktis or potency that the lord has, is contained within the name.

So, these gentlemen have completed at least one year of chanting Hare Krishna maha-mantra on their beads, sixteen rounds per day and have followed four regulative principles. Even though there are no hard and fast rules, we have our four regulative principles which are no gambling, no meat eating, no intoxication, and no illicit sex. I remember reading a book by Satsvarupa Maharaja and he was saying that, prior to coming to Krishna consciousness, we did not even know that these things were sinful. By coming to Krishna consciousness and coming into the association of Srila Prabhupada, we were taught what is right and what is wrong. Along with those rules and regulations come ten offenses.

So, it seems like there are some rules which we must follow. So, if one gets serious just as a child when he is a baby, he will be directed by the father and mother out of harm’s way, but as they grow, more and more direction is given till they can fly on their own and hopefully, they fly properly.

So, the first offense against the holy name is, to blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives to the propagation of the holy name of the Lord—so one has to be very careful. I know one devotee was talking to me and he says, people come to Krishna consciousness and we cannot choose our brothers and sisters. Sometimes, they may be a little odd.

Sometimes, they may be a little annoying. Sometimes, they may be very blissful. Sometimes, they may be very great. There’s all varieties, just like in our own family. Sometimes, we have those who we appreciate. And sometimes, we have those who are less appreciated. But in Krishna consciousness, we realize that when one comes to the point of placing himself under the care of a bona-fide spiritual master and under the shelter of Srila Prabhupada or the ISKCON movement, that this is very important and great step and these people have to be respected.

One should not blaspheme them, one should not criticize them. The example is given that if someone is in the shower, you don’t complain that he is dirty. He is in the shower, getting cleaned up and you say, “Prabhu, you are covered with dirt,” “No.” Sometimes, he may be in a position as a friend. There are different classifications of devotees. And one makes friends with others of his own caliber to advance in Krishna consciousness. And sometimes, friends assist other friends by pointing out defects, similarly the father may correct the son, the spiritual master may correct the disciple or senior devotee may do so, but that is out of service. It has to be done very carefully and very tactfully with great expertise, in order to not commit offense.

So, we do not commit offense at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava. We have to be very careful and appreciate each and every person who’s coming into contact with this Krishna consciousness movement and somehow or another, and on whatever level dedicating their lives to serving Krishna.

The second offense is to consider demigods like Lord Indra, Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma to be equal to, or independent of the name Lord Vishnu or Lord Krishna. The demigods, this time yesterday I was reading in Bhāgavatam. Excuse me, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that even Lord Brahma, the first living entity of this universe, he is a jiva soul. He is just empowered by Krishna to create the material situation. They cannot offer liberation; even Brahma was asked by Hiranyakasipu who performed many great austerities to please give me immortality and Lord Brahma says, “I do not possess immortality myself. Therefore, how can I give it to you?” Of course Hiranyakasipu tried to go around the back door, that’s a different story. But devotees, they go to Krishna, we are respectful of the demigods as we are of every living entity. Every living entity has to be respected because the Supersoul is there in their hearts also.

So, devotees should respect every living entity, what to speak of demigods? But we do not equate to demigods, to be equal to, or independent of Krishna.

The third offense is, to blaspheme the spiritual master or disobey the spiritual master’s orders or to consider our spiritual master to be an ordinary personality. It describes that the spiritual master may look a little odd, may come from an obscure background, may have different material peculiarities. But this is like the Ganges water, somehow or another it looks dirty. One understands Ganges to be pure and does not hesitate to take bath for purification.

So, one has to follow the orders of the spiritual master with one’s life and soul. Srila Prabhupada heard that verse. Vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana.

And we read the Purport by Visvanatha Cakravarti. That one should take the instructions of the spiritual master as one’s life and soul. So, one should take that direction of guru as one’s life and soul, and execute it properly, and not find fault, and not consider the spiritual master to be an ordinary person. But to be the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in servitorship. It’s a service rendered to the disciple by the spiritual master, to guide him or her in their spiritual quest, in spiritual life. And it is an honor today, to be here to assist these gentlemen in their pursuit. And we accept them in that way on behalf of our spiritual master.

The fourth offense is to blaspheme the Vedic literature or any of the literature in pursuance of the Vedic version.

The fifth offense is to consider the glories of chanting Hare Krishna to be exaggeration. There are many, what would you call it? Glories of the holy name given in the scriptures. And one should not think that they are to make us feel good. But they actually have a purpose, they actually help us understand that by doing this nāma-kīrtana, this nāma-saṅkīrtana, this chanting of the holy name, that we will receive our benefit. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-nirvāpaṇaṁ, that will cleanse the heart. The heart is impure due to material attachment and by chanting the holy name all that misgivings will go away. All that, the anarthas will be removed.

The sixth offense is to give some interpretation on the holy name of the Lord. To think it’s something else.

The seventh offense is to commit sins on the strength of chanting Hare Krishna. Just like. . . it’s mentioned that one who chants Hare Krishna cannot commit enough sins in one lifetime to. . . how do you say it? Once chanting of Hare Krishna can overcome all kinds of sins. So, one should not think, Hare Krishna and then commit all kinds of sins. You should not do this. This is considered to be very poor behavior and one should not commit sinful activities on the strength of chanting Hare Krishna. Thinking that, I can wash away all the bad things and then just go on with my daily sinful life. One should take seriously to the chanting of Hare Krishna avoiding these offenses. One should not consider the chanting of Hare Krishna to be one of the auspicious, ritualistic activities which is mentioned in the Vedas.

There are so many activities which are listed in the scriptures. Some of them are scriptural, some of them are customary. Some of them are. . . just like we were describing the other day, when Nanda Maharaja was approached by Krishna. Is this something which is scriptural or is this something which is just our family tradition? There are so many different things that we hear and that we do. And we should not think that chanting of Hare Krishna is just another thing like that. But that the chanting of Hare Krishna is:

harer nāma harer nāma

harer nāmaiva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva

nāsty eva gatir anyathā

“In this age of Kali, It is the only way for the purification of the heart. And not just a ritualistic activity which is mentioned in the Vedas.”

The ninth offense is to preach the glories of the Lord to the faithless. I just read today, to initiate someone who is not faithful to the chanting of Hare Krishna is considered to be an offense. So, I was thinking these gentlemen are very faithful, they have been chanting this Hare Krishna mantra quite regularly now for some time and shown steadfastness in their pursuit of spiritual life and have come to the point of earning their right, to chant, to get this initiation. We don’t want to spread the glories of holy name to the faithless persons. They will misuse it. Just as you give a valuable thing to an improper person, they will misuse it; so, to that someone who is given the glories of the holy name, they will only misuse it.

The tenth offense is to not have complete faith in chanting Hare Krishna and to maintain material attachments even after hearing so many instructions on the matter. We hear so many instructions about this material world and we should not think that this chanting of Hare Krishna will not eradicate all those activities. It is also considered to be an offense to be inattentive while chanting. When we want to chant Hare Krishna, one has to be very attentive. One should not be doing other things while chanting Hare Krishna. One should set aside a particular time, place, and schedule for chanting the holy names. We learn in the japa reform, to make our sacred space, wherever it may be. One should sit down firmly or sometime you might want to walk and chant, that’s okay. But particularly, a time and place which is dedicated to the holy name of the Lord, and to have faith in that, and to have attention in chanting.

In the end of the third chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna says to Arjuna that higher than the gross elements are the senses, and higher than the senses is the mind, and higher than the mind is the intelligence, and higher than the intelligence is the soul proper. One should by deliberate Krishna consciousness, deliberate; in other words,  a deliberate act, perform devotional service.

So, one should deliberately chant this Hare Krishna maha-mantra with a firm conviction that this mantra will give me all desires. Everything will come from this chanting of Hare Krishna and one should take it very seriously, and take it in a very powerful mood, understanding that I’m connecting myself to the disciplic succession through this nāma-kīrtana, this chanting of Hare Krishna.

So, these are the ten offenses that we must avoid even though there are no hard and fast rules. So, when I was reading today, Bhaktivinoda Thakura was saying that one should understand these ten offenses. One should memorize them. You should memorize these ten offenses and concentrate. Most of these offenses are committed, not when you are sitting down with your beads and your bead bag and chanting, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Most of these offenses can be committed when one is engaged in his daily activities. Offenses to the Vaishnavas, thinking of the demigods, guru-aparādha, śāstra-aparādha, all these different things.

So, one molds his life in such a way so that he does not forget Krishna in any circumstance. And he continuously has the holy name vibrating on his tongue, within his mind, within his heart and we chant from the heart, the seed of the bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed within the heart. And from the heart we chant this Hare Krishna mantra and we become purified, the intelligence becomes purified, the mind becomes purified, the senses become purified. And we get the opportunity to go back home back to Godhead in this lifetime. It’s an amazing process. It’s just like shenai, shenai—step by step, gradually we ply through and there will be obstacles. Just like in the eighth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā where Krishna says to Arjuna: you think of me alone and you perform this duty. And if you think of me alone, you’ll come to me at the time of death. Prabhupada says that in the purport to the maha-mantra. He says that we should incessantly and constantly chant the holy names but there will be impediments along the way, but we should be tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā, we should be tolerant as a tree and humble like the grass.

And in this way, kīrtanīya sadā hariḥ, we can chant the holy names of lord constantly.

So, we appreciate everybody coming here to the festival and participating in this initiation. We ask you to kindly give your best wishes and if you have blessings to also give blessings to the initiates that they will be able to complete their vows, and to perform this Krishna consciousness throughout the rest of their life which they are committing to today.

So now, Giriraj Maharaja said he’d like to say a little something about second initiation. And then we will give out the beads and names to the new initiates.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna, jaya. Very enthusiastic. Yes, as we mentioned earlier, after receiving the first initiation and chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra regularly for some time and following the regulative principles for some time, the disciple may be offered the second initiation which makes him eligible to worship the deity. Of course, anyone can worship the deity by seeing the deity being worshiped—that’s also deity worship. Anyone who comes and sees the deities, takes part in the ārati, takes part in the kirtan. They are also engaging in deity worship. But to enter the deity room and to touch the body of the lord, one must have second initiation. The idea is that one should be steady in Krishna consciousness.

māṁ ca yo ‘vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

One who is fully engaged in devotional service unfailing, and also in all circumstances who does not fall down, he comes to the Brahman platform.

So, Krishna’s brahman, the supreme brahman and to serve the supreme brahman, we must be on the brahman platform. Like one who enters into fire, one must be fire. Otherwise, one is not considered eligible to touch the deity, if one does not maintain the standard of, at least chanting sixteen rounds and following the four principles.

So, this is also a wonderful opportunity to increase one’s love for Krishna and increase one’s attachment for Krishna by rendering personal service. We should always be conscious that we are dealing with Krishna. The deity is Krishna, when we chant the holy name, also we should be conscious that we are dealing with Krishna, the holy name is Krishna. And in that mood of respect and devotion, we can chant the holy name nicely and serve the deity nicely. So, we wish you all success, new first initiates, and new second initiates. I didn’t think of it till now, because I mean we are just seeing everyone here as devotees, as spirit souls, but we used to preach in South Africa. I still go to South Africa and South Africa for many years was under the apartheid system. Where the blacks were kept with the blacks, the whites were kept with the whites, the Indians were kept with the Indians and they weren’t allowed to mix. It was actually against the law—for a white person to spend a night in an Indian township, or a black township, it was against the law.

So, it was very risky for our devotees who went on saṅkīrtana. Because in our saṅkīrtana party, there could be a white, a black, an Indian. And technically they would not be allowed to spend the night in the same township. So, they took great risks and sometimes they faced some frightening situations but they persevered. And we always thought that the Ratha-yatra would be the perfect festival for South Africa, because we have Jagannatha, who’s black, and Subhadra who’s yellow and Balarama, who’s white, and they are all together. And we had that today, and just our initiates here, not that we think in those terms but it struck me just a few minutes ago. We have a black, and a white, and an Indian. By Lord Jagannatha mercy, we are all united. Hare Krishna.

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: Who do you want to come first ? Who should come first? Who’s come first, Bal? I guess you can come this way and then offer your obeisances. Make sure I got the right beads here.

So, today you are asking for  initiation and we ask you to make certain vows and vows are to follow the four regulative principles and to chant sixteen rounds every day and I want to know if you agree to do that.

Initiate: Yes, I do.

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: You do. What are the four regulative principles?  

Initiate: No meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication, and no illicit sex.

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: And chanting?

Initiate: Sixteen rounds every day.  

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: Sixteen rounds every day and you promise to do this. I also ask you to remain loyal to Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON for the rest of your life. And we on the behalf of Srila Prabhupada and the disciplic succession we accept you as an initiated disciple today and we give you the name Jagannatha Kripa dasa.

Devotees: Hare Rama

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: Offer obeisances.

Devotees: Jagannatha Kripa dasa, ki jaya.

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: It’s Kripa, Jagannatha Kripa. Hare Krishna. Gajairad, come over. His name is Gajairad. He does have the biggest śikhā I’ve ever seen. You should offer obeisances.

So today, you are requesting for initiation and according to initiation, we request you to follow four regulated principles, to chant sixteen rounds per day and you are going to do that for the rest of your life? What are those four regulative principles?

Initiate: No meat eating, fish, or eggs, no gambling, no intoxication and no illicit sex.

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: And chanting.

Initiate: Sixteen rounds every day.

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: Attentively.

Initiate: Yes.

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: Attentively. So, on the behalf of Srila Prabhupada and the disciplic succession I accept you as my duly initiated disciple and your new name from now on, will be Balarama Sakti dasa.