Initiation Ceremony

Giriraj Swami: Today is a very special day, perhaps the most important day in the life of the living entity within the material world, when he or she makes the firm commitment to go back home, back to Godhead by being connected with the guru-paramparā. Generally, on such occasions Srila Prabhupada would discuss two aspects of the ceremony. One is the acceptance of a spiritual master and the other is the proper chanting of the holy name, which includes a discussion of the ten offenses. I will read a verse and purport on each subject from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. In fact, the verse that I am going to read about the spiritual master was quoted by Srila Prabhupada in his initiation letter to me. This is Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā, Chapter Nineteen, “The Lord instructs Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī,” Text One Fifty-one. Please repeat.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Again, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Chapter Nineteen,

TEXT 151

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva

guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

TRANSLATION

“According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

When we speak of brahmāṇḍa, we refer to the whole universe, or to the cluster of many millions of universes. In all the universes there are innumerable planets, and there are innumerable living entities upon those planets — in the air, on land and in the water. There are millions and trillions of living entities everywhere, and they are engaged by māyā in suffering and enjoying the results of their fruitive activity, life after life. This is the position of the materially conditioned living entities. Out of many of these living entities, one who is actually fortunate (bhāgyavān) comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.

Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone’s heart, and if one desires something, Kṛṣṇa fulfills one’s desire. If the living entity by chance or fortune comes in contact with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and wishes to associate with that movement, Kṛṣṇa, who is situated in everyone’s heart, gives him the chance to meet a bona fide spiritual master. This is called guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to bestow His mercy upon all living entities, and as soon as a living entity desires the Lord’s mercy, the Lord immediately gives him an opportunity to meet a bona fide spiritual master. Such a fortunate person is fortified by both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master. He is helped from within by Kṛṣṇa and from without by the spiritual master. Both are prepared to help the sincere living being become free from material bondage.

How one can become this fortunate can be seen in the life of Śrīla Nārada Muni. In his previous life he was born of a maidservant. Although he was not born into a prestigious position, his mother was fortunately engaged in rendering service to some Vaiṣṇavas. When these Vaiṣṇavas were resting during the Cāturmāsya period, the boy Nārada took the opportunity to engage in their service. Taking compassion upon the boy, the Vaiṣṇavas offered him the remnants of their food. By serving these Vaiṣṇavas and obeying their orders, the boy became the object of their sympathy, and by the Vaiṣṇavas’ unknown mercy, he gradually became a pure devotee. In the next life he was Nārada Muni, the most exalted of Vaiṣṇavas and the most important guru and ācārya of Vaiṣṇavas.

Following in the footsteps of Nārada Muni, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is rendering service to humanity by giving everyone a chance to come in contact with Kṛṣṇa. If one is fortunate, he becomes intimately related with this movement. Then, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, one’s life becomes successful. Everyone has dormant kṛṣṇa-bhakti — love for Kṛṣṇa — and in the association of good devotees, that love is revealed. As stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.107):

nitya-siddha-kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya

Dormant devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is within everyone. Simply by associating with devotees, hearing their good instructions and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dormant love for Kṛṣṇa is awakened. In this way one acquires the seed of devotional service. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja.

COMMENT

This section of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta describes how, by the mercy of guru and kṛṣṇa-prasāda, one gets the seed of devotional service. Lord Chaitanya explains that when one receives the seed, he should become a gardener, mālī hañā, sow the seed and water the seed by chanting and hearing about Krishna. You might sow a seed, but if you don’t water it, it will dry up, it will not fructify. The watering is śravaṇa-kīrtana, chanting and hearing about Krishna. But Lord Chaitanya also advises that we should beware of unwanted creepers or weeds that may grow up alongside the devotional creeper. And he says that these weeds may resemble the devotional creeper, they may appear exactly like the devotional creeper, but we have to be very careful to be able to distinguish between the actual devotional creeper and the unwanted weeds. Therefore, we require the association of mature devotees who can help us distinguish.

In the beginning, depending on one’s background, one will have different types of bad habits, and after coming to the association of devotees, he or she will give up eating meat, fish, or eggs, taking intoxicants, gambling or speculating, engaging in illicit activities. But even after giving up those gross sinful activities, one may have subtle anarthas or unwanted activities and desires, and they may resemble devotional activities. Or one may convince oneself or delude oneself into believing that they are devotional. Therefore, it is important to associate with mature devotees who can help one to distinguish.

Lord Chaitanya says the varieties of these upāsaka, these unwanted creepers, are unlimited but he mentions six in particular. And one is jīva-hiṁsana; hiṁsana means violence and in one way, jīva-hiṁsana means to do violence to other living entities, which is manifested in eating flesh, the flesh of other creatures. But jīva-hiṁsana can also be taken as Srila Prabhupada and his Guru Maharaja, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura have explained, it can be taken to mean “The stopping of the preaching of Krishna consciousness” which, in a way, is doing violence to others. They are suffering in the material world and the only way that they can get relief, ultimately, is to become Krishna conscious. So we don’t inform them about Krishna consciousness, we are, in effect, allowing them to suffer violence in the material world, under the material nature. Other unwanted creepers that Lord Chaitanya mentions are lābha, puja, and pratiṣṭhöādi. That is the desire for mundane profit, mundane worship, and mundane position. Those weeds can be manifest even in a spiritual organization or an organization that is meant for spiritual advancement. So if we have that desire, puja, we want to be worshiped or praised by others, that is a weed. Lābha, if we want some material profit, it could be money or it could be some other type of material gain. That is also an unwanted creeper. And pratiṣṭhādi, position or distinction.

We should be aware that these are unwanted creepers, and as Lord Chaitanya says, we should keep them away from our devotional creepers. And if we don’t, then the watering will nourish those weeds. The weeds will suck up water that is meant for the devotional creeper and use it for their own development. So we have to be very careful and, of course, the primary process is to chant without offense. We will be discussing the ten offenses, but Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that if we chant attentively, that is one of the offenses, to chant inattentively. If we chant attentively, then the other offenses will be eradicated, and if we don’t chant attentively, in other words, if we chant negligently, inattentively, the other offenses can flourish. That is very important. We are assuming that these devotees have been chanting sixteen rounds every day for some time, but it is very important to chant with attention and without committing offenses. We will discuss those in more detail shortly.

These are the upāsaka, the unwanted creepers. Then Lord Chaitanya says that one may very carefully cultivate one’s garden, but if a hātī mātā, if a maddened elephant comes into one’s garden, then he can uproot and trample all the nice plants that one has been cultivating in no time. That hātī mātā, that mad elephant is the offense of vaiṣṇava-aparādha. By serious vaiṣṇava-aparādha, one can completely destroy all of one’s spiritual cultivation. So how do we protect ourselves from that? Lord Chaitanya says that to protect the creeper from the mad elephant, one has to fence it. And what is the fencing? The fencing is the circle of pure devotees. If we stay in the circle of pure devotees, then we will be protected from that maddened elephant, which can take the shape of breaking the regulative principles, disobeying the orders of the spiritual master. Those are or can be indications of an offensive mentality. So that association is necessary, and that means real association, chanting and hearing, not just socializing. One should be ready to be corrected.

The Upadeśāmṛta by Rupa Gosvami explains practically the whole process of spiritual advancement in just eleven verses, and he explains how we should associate with each other in six loving exchanges. Two of those are guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati. That means “To reveal one’s mind in confidence, and inquire confidentially.” When we are sincere, part of our intelligence will be to know what we don’t know, and we should be able to reveal our mind in confidence and inquire confidentially, so that our doubts can be removed and we can be properly guided in our activities. That is important, to be introspective in terms of our own mental activities and bodily activities. Kalachandji dasa, I believe, told me about a football coach or someone, and on his shirt he had it written “Often wrong, never in doubt.” We should not be in that position, we should be humble and feel that we need guidance and not be overconfident of what could be some sort of mental speculation.

Of course, we should also be bold and courageous when we really are being properly guided and empowered. Lord Chaitanya says that if we continue to tend to the devotional creeper in this way, the creeper will grow and grow, it will pierce the coverings of the universe, and ultimately, take shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna in the spiritual sky. but Lord Chaitanya says “Even then, one must continue the process of chanting and hearing.” Even if we have attained Krishna, we continue the process of chanting and hearing, and in fact, it becomes more relishable, we never stop that. We have such opportunities, and it is our hope, wish, and desire that these two students and everyone here will be able to chant and hear purely and cultivate their devotional creepers so that they ultimately do reach the lotus feet of Krishna. But amidst everything, we must always chant the holy names, with attention

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Now, we will read the next verse, which is about the ten offenses. This is also from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

We shall read Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā Chapter Eight, “The Author Receives the Orders of Kṛṣṇa and Guru,”

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.

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.

COMMENT

And as a rule, we always do chant the Pancha-tattva mantra before we chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Many devotees, after every round, chant the Pancha-tattva mantra.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

Incidentally, in some temples, the devotees read the list of the ten offenses. The briefest form is in The Nectar of Devotion, and the first offense is to blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives to propagating the holy name of the Lord. The idea is that by reciting the ten offenses before chanting, one reminds oneself of them and can avoid them.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

Now, if we do that with the more advanced devotees or more empowered devotees, the result will be more damaging. But actually we should not do it with any devotee. Every devotee in ISKCON, directly or indirectly, is engaged in propagating the holy name of the Lord, so we should not blaspheme any of them. If one is in the responsibility of a teacher, or even a friend, one may have to correct one’s student or friend, but that should not be done with envy or malice to hurt the person or to build oneself up by pushing another person down, but out of genuine care to help them.

PURPORT (continued)

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

These preachers are servants of the holy name, and by criticizing them or blaspheming them, one causes pain to the holy name. It is said that Krishna feels more pain when His devotees are offended than when He is offended Himself. Just like if it is very hot outside and you are walking barefoot on the road or on the hot sand, you feel that heat more on the soles of your feet than you will on your head. In that way, Krishna feels more pain when the devotees, who are situated in His lotus feet, are offended than He does when He is offended Himself, although it is very harmful to do either.

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

Someone might claim that he believes in God, but he doesn’t believe there is any substance to the holy name or to the deity or to the descriptions of the Lord. In other words, he is making a distinction, separating the Lord from His name, form, qualities, pastimes, and so on. That is an offense, that is the second offense, that is one form of the second offense.

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.

COMMENT

This is very common among Hindus, and with so many yoga centers and so much kirtan in America now, it is the same. They don’t distinguish, they think Krishna, Rama, Durga, and Shiva are all equally good, and that is an offense. That is something that we have to inform people about or enlighten people about. But maybe two or three years ago at the sādhu-saṅga retreat in Boone, North Carolina, there was a lady who had an online video magazine about yoga. She asked me some questions and I explained very frankly that there is a difference between the holy name of Krishna or Vishnu and the names of the demigods, and that one gets a different result from chanting them. Even the result one gets from chanting Hare Krishna is somewhat obscured if one thinks that it is the same as chanting Shiva Shiva or Durga Durga.

There was a newspaper editor in India named Khushwant Singh and he was the editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, which is like Life Magazine, when Life Magazine was a good thing in America. There was a debate between an Austrian sannyasi of the impersonal school, named Agehananda Bharati, and some devotees. So Khushwant Singh published an article in The Illustrated Weekly called “Hare Krishna versus Shiva Shiva” to make us all look silly, like “How silly arguing over these things.” And I wrote Srila Prabhupada and I explained what Khushwant Singh was doing through this presentation, and Prabhupada said “Yes, Bharati is a fool but Singh is a demon.” Anyway, we have to try to present that because there is so much of this going on in yoga studios and kirtan groups. But at least, to begin with, we shouldn’t be confused about what is what.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

Or as stated in The Nectar of Devotion, to consider the names of the demigods like Lord Brahma or Lord Shiva to be equal to or independent of the holy name of Lord Vishnu.

PURPORT (continued)

This is the second offense at the lotus feet of the holy name of the Lord.

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

Guror avajñā really means “To disobey the orders of the spiritual master” and the most pernicious reason that one would disobey the orders is if one is envious and considers him to be an ordinary material person. In ISKCON all the teachers repeat Srila Prabhupada’s instructions by definition, but in some quarters there is doubt about Srila Prabhupada, and that is actually very offensive and very damaging.

PURPORT (continued)

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

COMMENT

Some devotees have commented that to not attend the classes on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā, not to read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā is an offense in a negative way. Okay, one might not openly decry the scriptures but one is being offensive by not hearing them or reading them. Repeating is also very important. In the very early days of ISKCON, one of the devotees heard that the moon is churned from the ocean of milk, and that devotee did not know how to understand that. So the devotee asked Srila Prabhupada and he said “Just repeat, the moon is churned from the ocean of milk.” So he did it, Prabhupada said “Repeat it again.” This happened a few times and then Srila Prabhupada said, “Now do you understand?” The devotee said “Yes, the moon is churned from the ocean of milk.” There is a value to repeating what one has heard, a definite value. His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami always said that when you repeat what you have heard, then you realize what you have heard. The realization of what you have read.

PURPORT (continued)

The fifth offense (artha-vādaḥ) is to consider the glories of the holy name to be exaggerations. Similarly, the sixth offense (hari-nāmni kalpanam) is to consider the holy name of the Lord to be imaginary.

COMMENT

If one chants with offense, inattentively, then one won’t experience the real benefit of chanting. One won’t feel the purification of heart and the gladdening of the spirit that should come from chanting. One won’t have taste, and consequently, one might think, Oh, all these things about the holy name are exaggerated or imaginary. As I mentioned the other day when we had initiations here, His Holiness Sacinandana Swami detected this sort of malady in ISKCON that because people were not chanting properly, they weren’t really experiencing the nectar of the holy name. He said there is schizophrenia in ISKCON. We have this very high philosophy and we preach this very high philosophy, but we don’t actually experience what we tell people, so it causes schizophrenia. So he started having these japa retreats or holy name retreats so that people could really learn how to chant properly and experience it, and then that duality wouldn’t be there. It is our basic motto, “Chant and be happy.” I have seen others do the same thing, a japa retreat, they will say “Chant and be happy.”

There are different ways of chanting, there is attentive, inattentive, or which couldn’t pronounce it properly. So we would list those on the board and then we would say “Okay, if you chant this way, inattentively, negligently, doing other things, are you going to feel happy? No. But if you are following the other list, you will feel happy.” We want to feel happy so we should chant properly. Recently I heard one devotee say “The worst round you chant is better than the best round you don’t chant.” In any case we should chant, and if you keep chanting, it will have an effect, but it will act much more quickly if you chant without offense.

There was a movement, a group of devotees in Hawaii, and they have the philosophy that “If you just chant, it doesn’t matter what else you do,” and they were not very strict in many regards. When Srila Prabhupada came, the devotees who were following more strictly approached him, told him about this group and asked what his position was. He told the story of the king and his prime minister. Maybe not prime minister, but minister. The king had made a challenge, you could say, that anyone who can spend the night in the freezing cold river overnight will get a reward from the king. This one yogi took the challenge and stayed up the whole night in that freezing cold river, and he wanted his reward. The king came and he saw that in the distance there was a house on a hill, and on the balcony of that house, was a little lamp, a little candle, you could say. So the king said “I am sorry, I am not going to pay you because there was a flame over there and you were getting heat from the flame. You didn’t actually meet the challenge properly, you cheated.” Then the minister said “This is not proper of the king, he is trying to cheat this sincere soul.”

Then later the king had an appointment and he wanted the minister to accompany him. The minister said “I am just cooking some rice and as soon as I have my meal, I will come with you.” So the king was waiting and waiting and he kept saying “What is happening? What is taking so long?” And he said “It still hasn’t cooked.” This went on for a while and the king was getting very impatient. Finally, he burst into the room and saw that there was a tripod and the flame was down and the pot of rice was on this tripod way up high, just under the ceiling. So the king said, “What is this? How are you going to cook the rice when it is so high up and the flame is way down there?” So the minister said “Well, if that yogi could get so much heat from the balcony of a house, on a hill, in the distance, to keep warm at night in the river, then I can also cook the rice like this.” Then the king understood what the minister was saying and said “Okay, I will give him his reward.”

But Srila Prabhupada was making the point by telling the story that if you are serious about chanting, if you are serious about cooking rice, you will put the rice pot right in the fire. Putting the rice pot in the fire is chanting and following the regulative principles, following the instructions of the spiritual master, the scripture. And if one does all the other things and chants, engages in sinful activities and disobeys the other instructions of the spiritual master, one can say one is chanting, but it won’t have much effect. It is like having the fire down here and the pot of rice up there. Eventually something will happen, but it will take a long time. The idea is that to chant and follow the entire process of bhakti-yoga, then it will have an effect and we won’t think it is imaginary or exaggerated.

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

We hope that devotees won’t engage in such an offensive pattern of behavior, to engage in sinful activities and be like, “Oh well, I will just chant and that will neutralize the effects” because it doesn’t work. In fact, the sin is compounded by that offense so it is worse. But it can also have subtle expressions that one thinks, Oh, I am a devotee, I can do this, I can do that and of course, if one is really on the liberated platform and is properly directed, he can do things that may be considered immoral in the material sense. But Rupa Gosvami says that devotees should behave in the mode of goodness, they should be honest and have all the good qualities of brahmans. And if someone thinks, Oh, I can steal from the devotee, okay, stealing flowers from non-devotees, that is another category or another subcategory, because there could be repercussions to that also. But stealing from devotees, I have seen it, some devotees think, I am a devotee, he is a devotee and she is a devotee, so I can steal this, I can look in their drawers or I can read their mail. These are offensive activities and it is a subtle manifestation of “I am a devotee, I can do these things, I don’t have to follow ordinary morality or ethical behavior.”

I remember that quite early on, after Prabhupada left, I was visiting England and His Holiness Sivarama Swami was having a iṣṭagoṣṭhī with the devotees on Vaishnava etiquette. He mentioned that things like opening someone else’s mail, reading someone else’s mail are against Vaishnava etiquette. Vaishnava really means more proper than ordinary people. Of course, I have heard this is in every tradition. I mentioned it to someone that sometimes devotees see some other devotee’s bad behavior and will say “Oh, if this is what being a devotee is, I don’t even want to be a devotee.” I mentioned this to a Christian, and the Christian said “Well, we hear the same thing, ‘If that is what it means to be a Christian, I don’t even want to be a Christian.’” So we should be exemplary, we should be the type of person people want to live with.

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.

COMMENT

In other words, one can engage in those activities to get some material benefit.

PURPORT (continued)

The chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra must not be compared to such materialistic religiosity.

COMMENT

In other words, you shouldn’t use the chanting for material gain.

PURPORT (continued)

This is an offense at the lotus feet of the holy name of the Lord.

COMMENT

Sanskrit is such sometimes, even English but especially Sanskrit, depending on how the words are combined, can have different meanings. That is why there are so many meanings of the same verse. Lord Chaitanya gave sixty-four meanings to the Rama verse or something. But this word, pramādaḥ, that comes at the end of this means inattention. So sometimes you read the ten offenses and it is also an offense to be inattentive, but that is in there in some ways that some authorities translate to Sanskrit that that is one of the offenses.

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

If even devotees can think that all the glories of the holy name are exaggerated or imaginary, then what to speak of an ordinary person? So if we straight away describe the glories of the holy name to someone who has no faith or interest, that is an offense because we are encouraging them to be offensive, which is an offense.

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

In the bodily concept of life each one of us thinks we are the center of the universe and everything is meant for our pleasure. Bhurijana Prabhu says it is like everyone is walking around, say, three billion—- what is the population now? How much? Eight or nine billion? It has increased! Wow! So it is like having eight billion people walking around, and each one internally, they may not come out and say it, but internally each one is really thinking Excuse me, I have an important announcement to make. I am the center of the universe, and all of you are supposed to do exactly what I want. I can imagine eight billion people all wanting to make that announcement. Or as Bhurijana Prabhu said, “Everyone walks around as if their life is a movie and they are the hero or the heroine, and they want everyone else to play supporting roles in the movie to support their heroic enjoyment and achievements.” This is our material disease and proper chanting will remove that and with negligent chanting it can continue.

I also quoted the other day that Mahatma Prabhu mentioned that one devotee used to feel that “Oh, this chanting is getting in the way of my life. I want to go on with my life, I have to chant these rounds.” But after a while, when he came to really appreciate what the chanting is, he said, “Now I feel that my life is getting in the way of my chanting. I really want to chant and all these mundane duties and obligations are getting in the way of my chanting.” We come with that bodily concept of life, ahaṁ mameti, “I and Mine,” but chanting will remove that and then we will chant with love like Prabhupada says. And if we hold onto that bodily concept of life, even while chanting, it is like watering the weeds. If you hold onto that bodily concept of life, even while chanting, that is an offense and then you will continue in that “I and Mine” mentality, and you won’t be able to relish the holy name and chant. As Prabhupada says, “Respect and love.”

“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 Krishna maha-mantra, that is an offense.”

It is important to discuss chanting and discuss the offenses. Many devotees have written books about chanting and offenses. I always keep these on my table because this one by Bhurijana Prabhu called Japa, there are many. I have a whole shelf of books about japa. And then there are these real nice little ones compiled from the teachings of Kadamba Kanana Swami, Nothing But the Holy Name, real short sweet little things. You can read these things and it will help you to focus on the chanting. I keep them there, even if I don’t read them, they remind me of what is in them and have some effect to help me to chant.

In a way I am tempted to ask if there are questions but I am also afraid to because I don’t know where it might lead. Once in Laguna Beach I had that idea, Tukaram  said “You can’t do that here, it won’t work here” [Laughter]. All right, well, we will carry on. We can always have informal questions and answers. Now we are coming to the stage where the new initiates will take their vows and receive their new names. To begin, some initiated devotees, you should take off your old neck beads. . .