Initiation

Giriraj Swami: We have gathered on a most sacred and blessed occasion. First we are in the midst of twelve-hour continuous kirtan that began at eleven in the morning and will continue until an unspecified time after twelve hours. In the midst of this sacred and joyous festival we are conducting an initiation ceremony for several devotees. 

In Lord Chaitanya’s instructions to Srila Rupa Gosvami, He said, brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja: The living entities are wandering within the material universe or universes. Sometimes, according to their karma, they are elevated to a higher planetary system and sometimes, according to their karma, they are plunged into a lower status of life. And out of many millions and billions of such living entities one who is fortunate receives the seed of devotional service by the mercy of guru and Krishna. This occurrence is extremely rare and valuable. If we consider how many billions and trillions and zillions of living entities there are, so many are not even in a human form of life. And those who have attained the rare human form of life, there are so many who have not gotten the association of devotees or have not availed of the opportunity to associate with devotees. 

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam states that when one’s term of bondage in conditional life comes to an end he is given the association of devotees. Now ordinarily one would think that the order should be reversed that when one gains the association of devotees his or her bondage in the material world comes to an end but our acharyas explain that it is stated the other way to emphasize how effective the association of devotees is that associating with devotees and finishing one’s bondage in the material world occur practically simultaneously. 

Srila Rupa Gosvami tells us, ādau śraddhā, first comes sraddha which means faith and attraction. Faith and attraction, specifically in the messages of Krishna related to devotional service, as we see from pure devotees, that is the beginning. And then sādhu-saṅga, one associates regularly with sadhus or devotees and after associating with them for some time, as many of you are doing, one appreciates even more the value of Krishna consciousness and the value of bhakti-yoga as the means to attain the goal of pure Krishna consciousness or love for Krishna. Then one will want to come forward to take initiation. And as described in the scriptures there is a period of mutual testing between the perspective disciple and the perspective guru so each can be assured of the position of the other and of the efficacy of the relationship.

In olden days, gurus would have an ashram and they would personally train all of their disciples, but in more recent times, acharyas have travelled all over India and initiated disciples. Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, he established a major preaching institution called the Gaudiya Matha and Srila Prabhupada, continuing the work of his spiritual master in the spirit of his spiritual master, formed ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. It was not possible for Srila Prabhupada to personally train each and every disciple but he had his organization—temple presidents, zonal secretaries—who did that on his behalf. They would examine the perspective candidates and recommend then and after initiation they would help guide them and engage them in service.

So Srila Prabhupada’s position is unique. He is the founder-acharya of ISKCON and the primary śikṣā-guru of all devotees in ISKCON. He is the person whom his followers and succeeding generations of followers will bring their followers.

There are examples in other sampradāya of Madhvacharya from the Madhva-sampradāya and Ramanujacharya in the Sri-sampradāya who have that position in which their followers, succeeding generations of followers, bring their followers or disciples to them, to the founder-acharya of that sampradāya—Madhvacharya or Ramanujacharya. Now it could be said that Srila Prabhupada’s position in ISKCON is the same and I would say that is true, it is the same, but some thoughtful devotees have considered whether we could say that it is true even beyond ISKCON, and that is a deep question that could be considered and discussed.

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Srila Krishnadasa Kavirāja Gosvami describes the Chaitanya tree. The Chaitanya tree is a metaphor for all of the devotees who are connected to Lord Chaitanya. Lord Chaitanya is the root of the tree, He is the gardener, He tends the tree. In a sense He is everything. And the tree has certain major trunks like Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Acharya Prabhu, Gadadhara Prabhu. And then there are limbs and the limb of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami—they are seen together—is described as the best of all. Why? Srila Krishnadasa Kavirāja Gosvami says, he mentions a few things, one is that they trained a large number of disciples and established temples and holy places of worship and it is specifically mentioned more than once that they delivered people in paścima deśa. That means the western countries. That refers to the western regions of India. There is another statement that beginning with Mayapur as you go west the people become more and more fallen. So the significance of Rupa and Sanatana delivering people in paścima deśa is that those people were considered more fallen and therefore their service in delivering them was considered the best and therefore of all of the limbs or branches of the Chaitanya tree they were considered the best or the greatest.

Continuing the same logic, Srila Prabhupada went even beyond Western India, way beyond Western India I might say, across the ocean to New York City, San Francisco, and eventually to practically every continent on the planet. So what must be the potency of someone who could deliver people not just paścima deśa meaning Maharashtra and Gujarat, but paścima deśa meaning England, Germany, America, Japan, and Africa, Australia. The idea of this discussion is that within ISKCON there is no question, Srila Prabhupada is the founder-acharya, he is the person who is delivering all of us, but by this analysis one could conclude that even in terms of the Chaitanya tree in general he is a branch or a limb like Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami who are considered the biggest or best of all. This is not a matter of pride. In fact there is a statement in shastra that one should keep one’s guru hidden. The purport to the statement is that if one advertises his or her guru, he can or she can fall into the trap of pride, false prestige, “Oh, I am a disciple of So-and-so. He is a big guru or a good guru and I am his disciple so I am also big, I am also special.”

Now we don’t necessarily follow that injunction strictly but we should try to adopt the humble mood that the injunction is supposed to safeguard. It may be similar to the injunction that one should not disclose one’s vratas—Kartika-vrata, other vrata—otherwise one can become proud, “Oh, you are chanting so many rounds. Oh, you are doing so much austerity.” And then you become proud and then everything goes to hell, the whole purpose is defeated.

So we are not Srila Prabhupada’s followers, disciples and grand-disciples, because we are great, because we have done anything great, but we are simply the recipients of extremely powerful causeless mercy. Of course it is to our credit that we have come to the association of devotees and stayed in the association of devotees, that much we have done, and we should continue, but what we are really doing is just putting ourselves in a position where we can receive that mercy. Of course whatever instructions we receive it is our duty to try our best to execute them. I was recently reading a book that had a number of quotations from His Holiness Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja and in one statement he said very emphatically that we cannot make any advancement by our efforts. Whatever advancement we make is only by mercy. Anyone who sincerely tries to chant the holy name with attention and full absorption knows that it is only by mercy that we can have any taste for the holy name and any focus. Even devotees who distribute books or in any way take risks and do things beyond their normal capacity experience that it is only by mercy that they are able to be successful.

So one devotee asked His Holiness Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja that, “If everything depends on mercy, why do we even perform all the austerities that we perform and make all the efforts that we make?” and Maharaja replied, “Because we have been ordered to do so. So it is our duty. We must do our duty. But our actual advancement does not come from our efforts; it comes from mercy.”

So we are here by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, we are continuing to whatever extent by Prabhupada’s mercy, and we will continue by Prabhupada’s mercy. But that is not to deny the role of his servants who are extending his mercy but it is just to call attention to the fact of his special position and extraordinarily powerful mercy. 

So by great fortune brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja, a living entity gets the association of devotees and develops some faith and attraction to the messages of Krishna and then comes forward to take initiation. That stage is called bhajana-kriyā. One comes forward to take initiation and systematically pursue the process of purification that you could say is anisthita-bhajana-kriyā, that one is engaging in devotional service but one is not completely steady. And that lack of steadiness can be in terms of one’s bodily activities. One would hope that one would keep one’s body engaged in devotional service but Kali-yuga is so strong and we are so weak even with our bodies we don’t always stay engaged. There is the Internet—so many things. And then our words. We may keep our body engaged but what comes out of our mouth. We may be cutting vegetables in the kitchen for Krishna but what comes out of our mouth while we are cutting in the kitchen. It may not be favorable to devotional service. And then the mind. We may be sitting in kirtan with our bodies, we may be enunciating the holy name with our faculty of speech but our mind is wandering. That is very difficult. 

So these are different types of anisthita or unsteadiness and the stage that one must go through to become more steady is called anartha-nivṛtti. Anartha means “unwanted things” and nivṛtti means “eradication” or “destruction.” And the main process for anartha-nivṛtti is offenseless chanting of the holy names. We will be hearing more about the ten offenses from His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami. But one of the offenses called pramāda or inattention is considered very crucial, most crucial. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that if one can overcome the offense of chanting inattentively he can destroy all the other offenses but if he chants inattentively which is an offense then the other offenses are given a chance to flourish. And the constant endeavor to chant with attention, without offense defines the clearing stage of devotional service or the clearing stage of chanting. By that chanting one’s anartha will be destroyed. Then one will be steady and then the further stages come easily but that stage of anartha-nivṛtti is very troublesome, difficult, but it certainly can be faced with attentive chanting and associating with pure devotees. In the association of pure devotees everything becomes easier. Krishna gives us so many facilities—the holy dhāma, Sri Vrndavan-dhama, Sri Mayapur-dhama. 

[Screeching sound in the background]

So, that harsh sound, screeching sound, it is like an anartha. We were just sitting peacefully discussing Krishna and suddenly there is this harsh screeching sound and our minds are distracted but we chanted the holy names: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, and it stopped. So this is a lesson for us in a practical demonstration that if we chant supporting each other will full enthusiasm and heart these anarthas will disappear and we can proceed very peacefully and relatively smoothly in Krishna consciousness.

The initiation is significant because it indicates the acceptance of the disciple by the spiritual master and the acceptance of the spiritual master by the disciple. Although Srila Prabhupada offered his mercy freely to everyone he did not initiate everyone. One had to be recommended, somehow one had to consciously, deliberately accept Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada consciously and deliberately accepted his disciples and that function is being extended through paramparā. It is a very major step and significant act both on the part of the disciple and the spiritual master. When the spiritual master accepts a disciple, it means that Krishna accepted him or her. So it’s a very big deal and that is taking place for some individuals at this very moment. 

As the process of initiation has been developed in Kali-yuga there are two stages of it. One is what Prabhupada called the first initiation into the chanting of the holy name—hari-nāma—and the other is the second initiation or initiation into the chanting of the Gayatri mantra or dīkṣā. It is said in shastra that dīkṣā-kāle that at the time of initiation Krishna accepts the disciple to be as good as Himself. What does that mean? It means that to serve brahman—and Krishna is the Supreme brahman—one must be brahman. To enter fire one must be fire. But it doesn’t mean that you’ve fully reached that stage but you’ve reached a point in the development of that quality and you have a chance to continue further. You are given a chance to serve the deity. How could you serve the deity if there is no purification because Krishna is the supreme pure. 

So a number of devotees today have just received yesterday or will receive today the mantras for second initiation. They are being initiated as brahmans and the first two qualities of brahmans are satyaṁ and śaucam. Who knows what satyaṁ means? Truthfulness. And what is the supreme truth? Krishna. Being truthful means speaking about Krishna or things in relation to Krishna, seeing their relationship with Krishna. And śaucam means cleanliness and cleanliness is of two kinds. External. It means we keep our bodies clean, our clothes clean, everything clean externally by washing. And we keep clean internally by chanting and hearing about Krishna, serving Krishna’s devotees, and especially chanting the holy names, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Last year when we had a festival over the Memorial Day weekend with His Holiness Indradyumna Swami Maharaja, he gave the example of spring-cleaning. During the winter it is hard to really clean the house because it is cold outside. So you have to keep the doors closed, accept the minimal, keep the windows closed. A lot of dust accumulates inside the house. So he said in the same way because we are in the contaminated atmosphere of the material world in Kali-yuga, dust tends to settle in our hearts, and these festivals—and we are in the midst of one now. Today’s twelve-hour kirtan and we always have festival and there is going to be another one over the Memorial Day weekend, sādhu-saṅga retreat in Austin—so Maharaja said these festivals are like spring-cleaning, you open up all the doors, all the windows, you take all the stuff out of the house, get rid of the stuff that’s accumulated over the winter that you don’t want to hold onto, and you just clean, you just hose down everything, and just flush out all the dirt and dust, and this is like a special opportunity. So he was appealing to all the devotees to take full advantage of the kirtan festival to really chant and dance and give themselves fully to that process of cleansing.

So, Srila Prabhupada and his followers, of course it is all by the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Pancha-tattva and all the devotees of Mahaprabhu, but in an immediate sense they’ve given us every facility. We are not lacking in any facility whatsoever. So we just have to take full advantage and throw ourselves into the process with intensity. Don’t hold back and the mercy will flow. Hare Krishna.

Now I will request my dear friend and śikṣā-guru, His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami to enlighten us further.