NOI 5 – Initiation Ceremony

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Today is a most significant event in the life of a devotee, the occasion of dīkṣā. Our acharyas have divided the process of initiation into two sections. First initiation, which is called hari-nāma, and second initiation, which is called dīkṣā. After the disciple has received first initiation and shown himself to be steady in the execution of devotional service, according to his vow at the time of first initiation, he can be awarded second initiation. And upon being awarded second initiation, one is eligible to worship the Deity. The Deity, of course, is spiritual, Krishna. And to properly worship Krishna, one must be on the spiritual path by chanting these prescribed numbers of rounds of Hare Krishna maha-mantra daily, following the four basic restricted principles, and in general, following the process of bhakti-yoga.

In the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, where Lord Krishna says daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya, that this material nature, consisting of the three modes, is very difficult to overcome. mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te One who surrenders can easily cross over maya. So that process of surrendering to Krishna is called bhakti-yoga. In the Fourteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Krishna says, brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham, that I am the basis of the impersonal form, one may come to the brahman platform and aspire to merge and become one with Krishna. But devotees go beyond brahma-jyoti to render personal service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. mam ca yo ‘vyabhicarena bhakti yogena sevate One who is engaged in unfailing, unflinching devotional service, brahma-bhuyaya kalpate, he comes to the platform of brahman and one cannot serve the Supreme brahman unless he is on the path of brahman. Brahman means spiritual. One cannot serve the Supreme Spirit unless one is on spiritual platform.

Srila Prabhupada has described this process in an elaborate purport to a verse on Srila Rupa Gosvami Upadeśāmṛta Nectar of Instruction. I will read from that purport it is very instructive in terms of what is taking place in the ceremony today and in terms of how in general each one of us can and should progress in Krishna Consciousness. So I will read the verse,

TEXT 5

kṛṣṇeti yasya giri taṁ manasādriyeta
dīkṣāsti cet praṇatibhiś ca bhajantam īśam
śuśrūṣayā bhajana-vijñam ananyam anya-
nindādi-śūnya-hṛdam īpsita-saṅga-labdhyā

TRANSLATION

One should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, one should offer humble obeisances to the devotee who has undergone spiritual initiation [dīkṣā] and is engaged in worshiping the Deity, and one should associate with and faithfully serve that pure devotee who is advanced in undeviated devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others.

COMMENT

This verse also explains how you should relate to different categories of devotees. So there is a long description of all of the purport in the Nectar of Instruction quite long elaborates, but we will bypass the preliminary discussion and come to the specific discussion on initiation.

PURPORT

In this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement a chance is given to everyone without discrimination of caste, creed, or color. Everyone is invited to join this movement, sit with us, take prasāda and hear about Kṛṣṇa. When we see that someone is actually interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and wants to be initiated, we accept him as a disciple for the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. When a neophyte devotee is actually initiated and engaged in devotional service by the orders of the spiritual master, he should be accepted immediately as a bona fide Vaiṣṇava, and obeisances should be offered unto him. Out of many such Vaiṣṇavas, one may be found to be very seriously engaged in the service of the Lord and strictly following all the regulative principles, chanting the prescribed number of rounds on japa beads and always thinking of how to expand the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Such a Vaiṣṇava should be accepted as an uttama-adhikārī, a highly advanced devotee, and his association should always be sought.

The process by which a devotee becomes attached to Kṛṣṇa is described in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya 4.192):

dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa
sei-kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama

“At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders to the service of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa accepts him to be as good as He Himself.”

This verse, we call it a verse now, but this statement is made by Lord Chaitanya to Srila Sanatana Gosvami When Srila Sanatana Gosvami had a disease that causes itching sores that ooze some liquid, and feeling that his body was contaminated and polluted, He wanted to avoid Lord Chaitanya’s touch. But Lord Chaitanya would forcibly embrace him, even though His body would become smeared by the oozing liquids from Sanatana Gosvami skin. And this caused such deep pain to Sanatana Gosvami that he was ready to leave. And Lord Chaitanya chided him for his desire to give up his body which he consider to be abominal, and He spoke these words - dīkṣā-kāle. At the time of initiation, bhakta kare, the devotee who does ātma-samarpaṇa, fully surrenders himself, sei-kāle, at that time, kṛṣṇa tāre kare, kṛṣṇa accepts him, ātma-sama, to be on the same level as he himself. 

PURPORT (continued)

Dīkṣā, or spiritual initiation, is explained in the Bhakti-sandarbha (283) by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī:

divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt
kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam
tasmād dīkṣeti sā proktā
deśikais tattva-kovidaiḥ

“By dīkṣā one gradually becomes disinterested in material enjoyment and gradually becomes interested in spiritual life.”

COMMENT

So divyaṁ jñānaṁ that means spiritual knowledge we sing this in the guru vandanaṁ prayers to spiritual master divya-jñāna hṛdye prakāśito to get buy his mercy, spiritual knowledge that will manifest in the heart, divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt so initiation is the process by which spiritual knowledge is given. kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam, it is the process by which sin is destroyed. tasmād dīkṣeti sā proktā deśikais tattva-kovidaiḥ Thus the process of initiation of dīkṣā is seen by those who are learned and know the truth and Srila Prabhupada makes it practical in terms of the Krishna consciousness movement.

PURPORT (continued)

We have seen many practical examples of this, especially in Europe and America. Many students who come to us from rich and respectable families quickly lose all interest in material enjoyment and become very eager to enter into spiritual life. Although they come from very wealthy families, many of them accept living conditions that are not very comfortable. Indeed, for Kṛṣṇa’s sake they are prepared to accept any living condition as long as they can live in the temple and associate with the Vaiṣṇavas. When one becomes so disinterested in material enjoyment, he becomes fit for initiation by the spiritual master.

COMMENT

There is an incident that both demonstrates this principle and also exhibits Srila Prabhupada’s perspective, which is the same perspective as we have related here in the purport. But Srila Prabhupada had a friend in Bombay called Dr. C.P Patel. When the devotees first came to the Juhu Land, initially they were just living on the terraces of tenement buildings, but then, under Prabhupada’s instructions, they built very simple chātāi huts. So Dr. Patel, when he saw these devotees from America and Europe living in this condition, he felt some sort of appreciation for them and sympathy for them. 

And although he was a very proud man, because he had been educated in England, which was quite rare in his time, but more than that, when he was in England, he maintained his Vaishnava principles. He didn’t become influenced by the ways of the west. But he was so moved by the austerities of the devotees that he took up a collection which was quite pain for him and he put together a set of twelve mattresses and not much more than that, just cloth filled with cotton, and twelve blankets, twelve mosquito nets, and maybe twelve pillows they were not ready-made, but just some cloth stuffed with cotton. 

But living in the ashrama, gradually the articles began to disappear. One pillow disappeared, two blankets, and after a few years, there was nothing left of the hard earned donation. So on a morning walk on Juhu Beach, he complained to Srila Prabhupada, and Srila Prabhupada replied, “Do you know why there is nothing left of the donation? These devotees are not interested in material comforts. They are interested only in chanting the holy names and serving the spiritual master. And as long as they can do that, they don’t care about any material comforts.” And he said, that mukti which you are so eager for, Dr. Patel was a little bit of an impersonalist, although he claimed to be a Vaishnava, he was a bit of an impersonalist, and Prabhupada knew that that is what he really wanted. So he said, that mukti which you are so eager to achieve, these devotees, they already have that they are not interested in the material needs. So what Srila Prabhupada said to the purport is very similar. Of course, on a higher level, there is the principle of yukta-vairāgya, which is accepting things that can be used in Krishna’s service. But in terms of personal comforts, of course, one may need a certain degree of physical support to keep one’s body and soul fit to serve Krishna otherwise devotees are not interested in anything but Krishna’s service. When one becomes so disinterested in material enjoyment, he becomes fit for initiation by the spiritual master.

PURPORT (continued)

For the advancement of spiritual life Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.1.13) prescribes: tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena ca damena ca. When a person is serious about accepting dīkṣā, he must be prepared to practice austerity, celibacy, and control of the mind and body. If one is so prepared and is desirous of receiving spiritual enlightenment (divyaṁ jñānam), he is fit for being initiated. Divyaṁ jñānam is technically called tad-vijñāna, or knowledge about the Supreme. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: when one is interested in the transcendental subject matter of the Absolute Truth, he should be initiated. Such a person should approach a spiritual master in order to take dīkṣā. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.3.21) also prescribes: tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. “When one is actually interested in the transcendental science of the Absolute Truth, he should approach a spiritual master.”

COMMENT

So this eagerness is a common thread in the descriptions of the qualifications of the disciple eagerness for transcendental knowledge. And in the verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that knowledge is called śreya, śreya uttamam there are two different Sanskrit śreyas and preyas. Śreyas means ultimate benefit and preyas means immediate gratification. That is what children generally like to play. Sort of an odd example, but just last night I got an email from one of the congregational devotees saying that Friday was his son’s birthday. And his son, and I am going to be in Houston, so his son said that if Giriraj Swami is ready to come to my birthday party, we can have a satsaṅga at home with Giriraj Swami. Otherwise, if he is not prepared to come, then I want to go with my friends. So, a little bit of emotional blackmail there. But that is good. I mean, he is a fortunate child to have that idea. But generally, children want immediate gratification, they want to enjoy, they want to play. And when the parents say, you have to go to school, I mean, it depends, there could be exceptions, but they may not want to go to school. But the parents say, no, you have to go to school, because if you don’t study, if you don’t learn, you will have a hard time later in life. You won’t be able to be successful in life later on and suffer.

So spiritually, people are like children. They don’t want discipline, they don’t want to make sacrifices, they want to play. There is a common saying in material society that the one who has the most toys at the end of day wins, in other words, at the end of the day, in this context, at the end of your life, whoever has most toys in other words whoever has accumulated the most material possessions wins he is successful, the use of the word toy is actually very appropriate, because they are toys. They are trifles. They have no real significance to them. So people are like children. They just want toys. They just want to play and enjoy sense gratifications. But the pure devotee and Supreme Lord, they see these children are just wasted, wasting their valuable human form of life, playing like children or enjoying like animals. They should be convinced of the value of spiritual life, so that they don’t end up going round and round and round in a cycle of repeated birth and death. And therefore, the devotees should propagate and go to great lengths to take great trouble to try to impress these facts on fallen souls, children. And those who assist them, they develop the same qualities as also stated in the Second Canto, syān mahat-sevayā viprāḥ, by Serving the great souls who are free from vice. vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ One develops attraction or taste for messages of Vasudeva or Krishna. And that taste, Srila Prabhupada says that taste is the preliminary qualification for entering the kingdom of God.

So we may not have taste, because we are fallen we are beginners. And so one way to develop that taste is syān mahat-sevayā by serving great souls And the other way is by chanting, even though we don’t have taste There is a saying in Upadeśāmṛta Rupa Gosvami says, that holy names and qualities and pastimes of Krishna are sweet like sugarcane, rock candy. But one who is afflicted by the disease of jaundice or ignorance avidya, he cannot taste the sweetness. When someone’s tongue is infected by jaundice, sweet things taste bitter. But the Ayurvedic cure for jaundice is rock candy. But even though it tastes bitter at first, by taking the rock candy, gradually one’s disease becomes cured. And as one is being cured and returns to normal health, he or she is able to taste the rock candy as it is sweet and it gets sweeter and sweeter and when one purifies he tastes nectar.

So we need to engage in these two processes, serving pure devotees and chanting the holy names with attention. It is difficult, but we have to try. And these two processes will cleanse the heart ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ, and as the heart is cleansed, one develops these qualities of an advanced devotee. And one of them is nindā-śūnya, that one’s heart is freed from the propensity of Srila Prabhupada says to criticize others nindā, criticize, blasphemy, find faults. So that is a very important point in spiritual progress to appreciate devotees. There is nothing in this verse that allows for criticizing devotees.

I mean, the verse mentions different categories, those on the Neophyte platform. One may not associate with them intimately but one should honor them mentally. And if someone is actually initiated and properly engaged in devotional service then you have to offer obeisances, and if someone is advanced, and because of devoid of propensity to criticize others in different Srila Prabhupada says always [Unintelligible 00:38:03], chanting the prescribed number of the rounds and follow the regulative principles, so then one should seek that devotee’s association. It is a gradual process, and we can see how we are advancing by these different qualities and we should work on them, especially that nindā, sadhu-nindā, the first offense in the chanting of the holy name, blasphemy and criticizing devotees. Of course, if one is in the position of a teacher, one may have to correct devotees, but that should be done [Unintelligible 00:39:00]. So let us read one or two more paragraphs.

PURPORT (continued)

One should not accept a spiritual master without following his instructions. Nor should one accept a spiritual master just to make a fashionable show of spiritual life.

COMMENT

In other words, it can sort of be a fashion to have a guru and to be fashionable one may accept a spiritual master, who may or may not be bonafide. One should not accept a guru as a matter of fashion. [Unintelligible 00:40:06] and one should not accept a guru if one not prepared to follow the instructions.

PURPORT (continued)

The inquiries one makes should strictly pertain to transcendental science (jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam).

COMMENT

There are, especially in India, people think that by the blessings of the Guru, they can get material benefits so they approach the guru to bless his ashirvada, and that is not the reason, that is not the proper reason to approach guru for the ask. They might think a guru has Extraordinary insight into the future so they ask if it is a good investment. 

So, not that, I guess. śreya uttamam, ultimately. Yes

PURPORT (continued)

The word uttamam refers to that which is above material knowledge. Tama means “the darkness of this material world,” and ut means “transcendental.” Generally people are very interested in inquiring about mundane subject matters, but when one has lost such interest and is simply interested in transcendental subject matters, he is quite fit for being initiated.

COMMENT

Sometimes Srila Prabhupada complains that people, he would have darshan hours, at a very regulated and full schedule, but he would have darshan hours for some important clients, but sometimes he would complain they just come and they waste my time. They come, they say, Swamiji, how is your health? Prabhupada says they see that my health is not good but they come and ask Swamiji how is your health? So, he cited the example of Sri Aurobindo, who apparently give darshan once a year [Unintelligible 00:43:08] Prabhupada said that he felt he should do that, then he said if he did that people will get upset, Swamiji is big man he has no time for us so Prabhupada said I can’t do that now when the new temple open then I can, now I am just a humble person. So, we should not waste our time, and we should not waste the devotee’s time by inquiring uselessly about material knowledge. Uselessly means without relationship to Krishna Consciousness material benefits not sreyas.

PURPORT (continued)

When one is actually initiated by the bona fide spiritual master and when he seriously engages in the service of the Lord, he should be accepted as a madhyama-adhikārī.

The chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa is so sublime that if one chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra offenselessly, carefully avoiding the ten offenses, he can certainly be gradually elevated to the point of understanding that there is no difference between the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself.

COMMENT

This is the critical point. When one comes to that understanding, he is considered liberated. And we can see to what extent we actually realize that the holy name of the Lord and Lord Himself is the same. When we chant the holy name, we are actually praying to the Lord and His energy Srimati Radha and Krishna to engage us in their service. So one devotee compared chanting to, of course there are many ways of looking at chanting, it is also like crying cry of a genuine child, genuine cry of a child for its mother [Unintelligible 00:46:15]. But in another way, he said it is like a job interview. If you go for an interview for a job, you are going to be very clean, very well-dressed, and very attentive. Can you imagine if you went for a job interview and you are sitting across the table from the CEO or the human resource director, whatever it is, you are dozing? What chance is there that you’ll get the job and you’ll be sitting for the interview. So we are chanting, we are applying for service to Radha and Krishna. So when we realize that the holy name of Krishna is Krishna Himself, then we have really reached a significant stage in our devotional service.

I mean, of course it can be like that Srila Prabhupada said if you are tired and you are chanting then you can walk and chant anyway it is not ideal but if there is no time to chant you can walk and chant. So the chanting of the holy names of Krishna is so sublime that if one chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra offenselessly, carefully avoiding the ten offenses, he can certainly be gradually elevated to the point of understanding that there is no difference between the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself.

PURPORT (continued)

One who has reached such an understanding should be very much respected by neophyte devotees. One should know for certain that without chanting the holy name of the Lord offenselessly, one cannot be a proper candidate for advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.69) it is said:

yāhāra komala śraddhā, se ‘kaniṣṭha’ jana
krame krame teṅho bhakta ha-ibe ‘uttama’

“One whose faith is soft and pliable is called a neophyte, but by gradually following the process, he will rise to the platform of a first-class devotee.” Everyone begins his devotional life from the neophyte stage, but if one properly finishes chanting the prescribed number of rounds of hari-nāma, he is elevated step by step to the highest platform, uttama-adhikārī. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement prescribes sixteen rounds daily because people in the Western countries cannot concentrate for long periods while chanting on beads. but because we are trying to serve the Supreme Lord with all seriousness and without duplicity, we can expect the mercy of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is famous as patita-pāvana, the deliverer of the fallen.

COMMENT

So there is more, but we won’t read further. This last statement is also very important. That Lord Chaitanya, Gaura-Nitai, Lord Chaitanya is known as the patita-pāvana, the savior of fallen, deliverer of fallen. So even though we are flawed from a certain perspective, from a certain perspective anyone who doesn’t chant sixty-four rounds is fallen, but because we are sincerely trying our best to serve guru and Gauranga without duplicity, we can accept their mercy. So today is a very special day for Ananta deva dasa. He received first initiation. Do you remember when you received your first initiation?

Devotee 1: Absolutely. March 2009.

Giriraj Swami: So that was about five and a half years. And how long were you practicing bhakti before you were initiated?

Devotee 1: We moved to the temple there in June 2005.

Giriraj Swami: So about ten years altogether. So, Ananta deva has shown himself to be very steady. He has had health problems, but still he is remaining strict in self-determination to do his service. And I’ve been getting letters every now and then for the last two years because [Unintelligible 00:52:59] so there is no coming forward like the first initiation, there is taking vows, getting their beads but it is a very significant event. After the ceremony will give him the Gayatri mantras. Although there is no very specific climactic moment, beads are handed over. I request you all to give your wholehearted blessing and wishes to Ananta deva.

Anantdeva Prabhu ki jaya! 

So now we will proceed with the fire ceremony. This is also an essential part of the ceremony. In essence, offering the grains into the fire is offering ourselves in surrender to Krishna. Ātmā-samarpan Surrendering Oneself ātmā, atmā-samarpan Krishna accepts you at the same level that means He is prepared to accept your service. Hare Krishna.