CC Adi 8.31; SB 3.15.25 – Spiritual Initiations

Giriraj Swami: So, we have gathered on the most auspicious occasion of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s disappearance day, for the most auspicious acceptance of Bhakta Vishal and Bhaktin Shweta into our disciplic succession, coming from Krishna through Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the six Gosvamis, then Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada, and his followers.

To find a bona fide spiritual master is a very rare occurrence, or I should say to take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master is a very rare occurrence. It is compared to a turtle in the ocean. He’s in the ocean, and on the ocean, there’s a wooden board, and in that board, there is a hole. So, the chances of coming to the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master are like the chance of a turtle in that vast ocean, coming up under that one board, coming up through the hole, and finding shelter on that board.

So, today’s initiation is hari-nāma initiation—initiation into the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. And Srila Prabhupada would always discuss the ten offenses at initiation. And so, following in his footsteps, we will also discuss them by reading a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Fifteen: “Description of the Kingdom of God,” Text Twenty-Five.

TEXT 25

yac ca vrajanty animiṣām ṛṣabhānuvṛttyā

dūre yamā hy upari naḥ spṛhaṇīya-śīlāḥ

bhartur mithaḥ suyaśasaḥ kathanānurāga-

vaiklavya-bāṣpa-kalayā pulakī-kṛtāṅgāḥ

TRANSLATION

Persons whose bodily features change in ecstasy and who breathe heavily and perspire due to hearing the glories of the Lord are promoted to the kingdom of God, even though they do not care for meditation and other austerities. The kingdom of God is above the material universes, and it is desired by Brahmā and other demigods.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

It is clearly stated herein that the kingdom of God is above the material universes. Just as there are many hundreds of thousands of higher planets above this earth, so there are many millions and billions of spiritual planets belonging to the spiritual sky. Brahmājī states herein that the spiritual kingdom is above the kingdom of the demigods. One can enter the kingdom of the Supreme Lord only when one is highly developed in desirable qualities. All good qualities develop in the person of a devotee. It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto, Eighteenth Chapter, verse 12, that anyone who is Kṛṣṇa conscious is endowed with all the good qualities of the demigods.

COMMENT

Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcana sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ.

PURPORT (continued)

In the material world the qualities of the demigods are highly appreciated, just as, even in our experience, the qualities of a gentleman are more highly appreciated than the qualities of a man in ignorance or in a lower condition of life. The qualities of the demigods in the higher planets are far superior to the qualities of the inhabitants of this earth.

Brahmājī confirms herewith that only persons who have developed the desirable qualities can enter into the kingdom of God. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the devotee’s desirable qualities are described to be twenty-six in number. They are stated as follows: He is very kind; he does not quarrel with anyone; he accepts Kṛṣṇa consciousness as the highest goal of life; he is equal to everyone; he is faultless; he is magnanimous, mild and always clean, internally and externally; he does not profess to possess anything in this material world; he is a benefactor to all living entities; he is peaceful and is a soul completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa; he has no material desire to fulfill; he is meek and humble, always steady, and has conquered the sensual activities; he does not eat more than required to maintain body and soul together; he is never mad after material identity; he is respectful to all others and does not demand respect for himself; he is

grave, compassionate, friendly, poetic, expert in all activities, and silent in nonsense. Similarly, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Third Canto, Twenty-fifth Chapter, verse 21, the qualifications of a saintly person are mentioned. It is said there that a saintly person eligible to enter into the kingdom of God is very tolerant and very kind to all living entities. He is not partial; he is kind both to human beings and animals. He is not such a fool that he will kill a goat Nārāyaṇa to feed a human Nārāyaṇa, or daridra-nārāyaṇa. He is kind to all living entities; therefore he has no enemy. He is very peaceful. These are the qualities of persons who are eligible to enter into the kingdom of God.

COMMENT

Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ. Srila Prabhupada spoke on this verse in Juhu, and he related it to. . . Of course, it describes the qualities of sadhu, sadhu bhushanam. He related it to how we should deal in that very challenging situation.

PURPORT (continued)

That such a person gradually becomes liberated and enters the kingdom of God is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto, Fifth Chapter, verse 2. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto, Third Chapter, verse 24, also states that if a person does not cry or exhibit bodily changes after chanting the holy name of God without offense, it is to be understood that he is hardhearted and therefore his heart does not change even after he chants the holy name of God, Hare Kṛṣṇa. These bodily changes can take place due to ecstasy when we offenselessly chant the holy names of God: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

It may be noted that there are ten offenses we should avoid. The first offense is to decry persons who try in their lives to broadcast the glories of the Lord. People must be educated in understanding the glories of the Supreme; therefore the devotees who engage in preaching the glories of the Lord are never to be decried. It is the greatest offense. Furthermore, the holy name of Viṣṇu is the most auspicious name, and His pastimes are also nondifferent from the holy name of the Lord. There are many foolish persons who say that one can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or chant the name of Kālī or Durgā or Śiva because they are all the same. If one thinks that the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the names and activities of the demigods are on the same level, or if one accepts the holy name of Viṣṇu to be a material sound vibration, that is also an offense. The third offense is to think of the spiritual master who spreads the glories of the Lord as an ordinary human being.

COMMENT

And consequently, to disobey his instructions.

PURPORT (continued)

The fourth offense is to consider the Vedic literatures, such as the Purāṇas or other transcendentally revealed scriptures, to be ordinary books of knowledge.

The fifth offense is to think that devotees have given artificial importance to the holy name of God. The actual fact is that the Lord is nondifferent from His name. The highest realization of spiritual value is to chant the holy name of God, as prescribed for the age — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

COMMENT

In simple terms, to consider the glories of the holy name to be imagination or exaggeration.

PURPORT (continued)

The sixth offense is to give some interpretation on the holy name of the Lord. The seventh offense is to act sinfully on the strength of chanting the holy name of God. It is understood that one can be freed from all sinful reaction simply by chanting the holy name of God, but if one thinks that he is therefore at liberty to commit all kinds of sinful acts, that is a symptom of offense.

COMMENT

In other words, to commit sin on the strength of chanting. It’s true that by chanting, you become free from sinful reactions, but if you try to take advantage of that and intentionally commit sins with the idea of neutralizing the effects by chanting, that’s an offense, and it doesn’t work, also.

PURPORT (continued)

The eighth offense is to equate the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa with other spiritual activities, such as meditation, austerity, penance or sacrifice.

COMMENT

Or to consider the holy names as one of the auspicious ritualistic activities mentioned in the Vedas as karma-kāṇḍa.

PURPORT (continued)

They cannot be equated at any level. The ninth offense is to specifically glorify the importance of the holy name before persons who have no interest. The tenth offense is to be attached to the misconception of possessing something, or to accept the body as one’s self, while executing the process of spiritual cultivation.

COMMENT

And again, it depends on how the Sanskrit is read, but sometimes it is said that it’s an offense, of course, it is an offense, to be inattentive while chanting. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that if one chants attentively, that will eradicate all the other offenses. And if one does not chant attentively, in other words, one chants inattentively or negligently, then that enables the other offenses to flourish.

PURPORT (continued)

When one is free from all ten of these offenses in chanting the holy name of God, he develops the ecstatic bodily features called pulakāśru. Pulaka means “symptoms of happiness,” and aśru means “tears in the eyes.” The symptoms of happiness and tears in the eyes must appear in a person who has chanted the holy name offenselessly.

COMMENT

Although Srila Prabhupada has quoted Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, that a pure devotee may not manifest these bodily symptoms, but that his advancement is manifested in his freedom from material desires and attachments.

PURPORT (continued)

Here in this verse it is stated that those who have actually developed the symptoms of happiness and tears in the eyes by chanting the glories of the Lord are eligible to enter the kingdom of God. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that if one does not develop these symptoms while chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, it is to be understood that he is still offensive. Caitanya-caritāmṛta suggests a nice remedy in this connection. There it is said in verse 31, Chapter Eight, of Ādi-līlā, that if anyone takes shelter of Lord Caitanya and just chants the holy name of the Lord, Hare Kṛṣṇa, he becomes freed from all offenses.

COMMENT

So, there’s a whole discussion there, but I’ll read what Srila Prabhupada mentioned, because it gives a nice remedy, as he said, for offensive chanting. I’ll read a few of these purports, as they are all interconnected. So, this is Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Eight. We’ll start with Text Twenty-Nine and Thirty.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

TEXT 28

anāyāse bhava-kṣaya, kṛṣṇera sevana
eka kṛṣṇa-nāmera phale pāi eta dhana

COMMENT

What does mean, eka kṛṣṇa-nāmera?

Devotee: One name.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, one name. Bhurijana Prabhu emphasizes this in his seminars on japa, that if you just chant one name without offense, you get so much benefit.

TRANSLATION

As a result of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one makes such great advancement in spiritual life that simultaneously his material existence terminates and he receives love of Godhead. The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that by chanting even one name, one very easily achieves these transcendental riches.

TEXT 29–30

hena kṛṣṇa-nāma yadi laya bahu-bāra

tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe aśrudhāra

tabe jāni, aparādha tāhāte pracura

kṛṣṇa-nāma-bīja tāhe nā kare aṅkura

TRANSLATION

If one chants the exalted holy name of the Lord again and again and yet his love for the Supreme Lord does not develop and tears do not appear in his eyes, it is evident that because of his offenses in chanting, the seed of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa does not sprout.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

If one chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra offensively, one does not achieve the desired result. Therefore one should carefully avoid the offenses, which have already been described in connection with verse 24.

COMMENT

And which we also just read.

TEXT 31

caitanya-nityānande nāhi e-saba vicāra

nāma laite prema dena, vahe aśrudhāra

TRANSLATION

But if one only chants, with some slight faith, the holy names of Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda, very quickly he is cleansed of all offenses. Thus as soon as he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, he feels the ecstasy of love for God.

COMMENT

So, we always chant the Pancha-tattva mantra first. When Srila Prabhupada was first beginning his preaching in the West, he said we chant this mantra first, so that the Pancha-tattva mantra will help us to chant the Hare Krishna mantra.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura remarks in this connection that if one takes shelter of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda, following Their instructions to become more tolerant than the tree and humbler than the grass, and in this way chants the holy name of the Lord, very soon he achieves the platform of transcendental loving service to the Lord, and tears appear in his eyes. There are offenses to be considered in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, but there are no such considerations in chanting the names of Gaura-Nityānanda. Therefore, if one chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra but his life is still full of sinful activities, it will be very difficult for him to achieve the platform of loving service to the Lord. But if in spite of being an offender one chants the holy names of Gaura-Nityānanda, he is very quickly freed from the reactions to his offenses. Therefore, one should first approach Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda, or worship Guru-Gaurāṅga, and then come to the stage of worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, our students are first advised to worship Guru-Gaurāṅga, and then, when they are somewhat advanced, the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity is installed, and they are engaged in the worship of the Lord.

COMMENT

So, this is a nice remedy. So, it’s a long purport. I’ll just read the last paragraph.

PURPORT (continued)

It should be noted in this connection that the holy names of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Gaurasundara are both identical with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore one should not consider one name to be more potent than the other. Considering the position of the people of this age, however, the chanting of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s name is more essential than the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra because Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the most magnanimous incarnation and His mercy is very easily achieved. Therefore one must first take shelter of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by chanting śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. By serving Gaura-Nityānanda one is freed from the entanglements of material existence and thus becomes qualified to worship the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity.

COMMENT

Okay, very good. We have read a lot. His Holiness Sacinandana Swami observed that although we have such a high philosophy, a perfect philosophy and high philosophy, sometimes devotees do not actually experience what the scriptures say they should. And he noted that the reason was that they don’t chant properly. As he described it with his German accent, it’s sort of like schizophrenia, that they have this very high philosophy that’s supposed to bring all these wonderful results, but they’re actually on a different platform. And that inspired him to take up these japa retreats and the holy name retreats, so that devotees could actually chant the way they’re supposed to, and then actually feel the way they’re supposed to, and not have this split personality.

So now, are there any questions or comments? Yes?

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, in the beginning of the talk, you gave the analogy of the turtle and the chances of it popping itself in between that little hole. And I was thinking about what Prahlada Maharaja mentioned, that it’s not by our own efforts, but the efforts of others, that we get the most in devotional service. So, I just wanted to clarify, what is the real reason of getting the mercy of the spiritual master? How does this work?

Giriraj Swami: Prahlada Maharaja says matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā. So, matiḥ means inclination—inclination towards Krishna or Krishna consciousness. Matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā, you cannot get that by the efforts of others or by one’s own efforts or by the combined efforts of oneself and others, but one can get it only by bathing oneself, abhiseka, by bathing oneself in the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee. So, that’s how. I mean, there’s a whole progression that brings one to that point, and a lot of it is what they call ajñāta-sukṛti, or pious activities performed without knowledge, like many people served Srila Prabhupada. They didn’t know who he was. Anyway, there’s so many examples, but they would do a little something for him. They didn’t know who he was, what a devotee is, what devotional service is, who’s Krishna, or anything, but that goes to their spiritual bank account. Like Prabhupada says, it’s one cent, one cent, one cent, and eventually, it adds up and you can do something with it. So, when one’s sukṛti accumulates to a certain extent, one can engage in devotional service, and also be free from sinful activities. All right. So, now, we will call forward the new initiates to take their vows.

So, first offer your obeisances to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. You can both come together. So, what are the four rules that you promise to follow every day for the rest of your life?

Bhakta Vishal: No meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication, and no illicit sex.

Giriraj Swami: Okay. Can you expand on that a little?

Bhakta Vishal: No meat-eating, including fish and eggs. No intoxication, including tea, coffee, and other intoxicants.

Giriraj Swami: Okay, and there is one that goes with gambling. It’s mental speculation. What are the four rules that you promise to follow?

Bhaktin Shweta: No meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling, no illicit sex.

Giriraj Swami: Okay. And how many rounds minimum do you promise to chant?

Bhakta Vishal: Sixteen rounds minimum daily.

Giriraj Swami: Okay, you seem to be in sync. And is there anything else you would like to say?

Bhakta Vishal: I would also like to try my best to systematically study Srila Prabhupada’s books to the best of my ability. And also, thank you for accepting me and us as your initiated disciples. It took a lot of time—my fault, but I always felt sheltered, actually, even though I wasn’t even aspiring at that point. I was just a small boy helping out my mom cutting vegetables for you, but still, I felt completely sheltered. So, thank you so much. Anything else you would like to say?

Bhaktin Shweta: I will try my best to chant maximum rounds on Ekādaśī, and I will try my best to serve more and more devotees to please Srila Prabhupada.

Giriraj Swami: Very nice, wonderful. I think it’s understood that you’ll be connected with ISKCON and try to spread Krishna consciousness.

So, Bhakta Vishal, on behalf of Srila Prabhupada and the guru-paramparā, I’m pleased to accept you as my duly initiated disciple, and henceforth, you shall be known as Vraja Bihari dasa.

Bhaktin Shweta: His father is Vrindavan Bihari.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, his uncle is Vinoda Bihari.

On behalf of Srila Prabhupada and the guru-paramparā, I am pleased to accept you as my duly initiated disciple, and henceforth, you shall be known as Shweta Manjari dasi. Mañjarīs are most dear servants of Radha and Krishna, and Sweta Manjari in caitanya-līlā is Bhagavat Acharya. Bhagavad Acharya’s name was Raghunatha. Anyway, it is very nicely described in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. And Chaitanya Bhagavat, Lord Chaitanya went to his house, and He was reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in such a way that Lord Chaitanya felt complete ecstasy for twenty-three hours continuously. And afterwards, He said, “No one can recite Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam like you, and then He gave him the name Bhagavat Acharya. So, Bhagavat Acharya in kṛṣṇa-līlā is Sweta Manjari.

Shweta Manjari devi dasi ki jaya! Vraja Bihari ki jaya!

Devotee: His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!