Geneva Fraser’s Initiation

Giriraj Swami: We have gathered on the auspicious occasion of Govardhana-puja for the special event in the life of our dear Geneva Fraser initiation. During initiations, Srila Prabhupada would speak about the ten offenses against the holy name, because we are initiating Geneva into the chanting of the holy name, Hari Nama. And so I will read one verse and purport from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in which Srila Prabhupada discusses the ten offenses and other important topics relating to our spiritual life, and today in particular to Geneva’s spiritual life, but to all of our spiritual life.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

So we read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Three, Chapter Fifteen: “Description of the Kingdom of God.”

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. 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.

COMMENT

So, I will just read that one verse actually that Srila Prabhupada mentioned here. This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.18.12.

yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā
sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ
harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā
manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ

TRANSLATION

All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept in the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord’s material energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?

COMMENT

So here in today’s verse the word is Silah, good qualities. And Srila Prabhupada is picking up on that very important word in the purport. And as we read the list of desirable qualities, we should check ourselves to see how we are doing in terms of these qualities. So back to the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

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 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; 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 desires to fulfill; he is meek and humble, 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 and friendly; he is 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 kind to all living entities. He is not partial; he is kind both to human beings and to animals. He is not such a fool that he will kill a goat Nārāyaṇa to feed a human Nārāyaṇa, or daridra-nārāyaṇa. He is very 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. That such a person gradually becomes liberated and enters the kingdom of God is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto, Fifth Chapter, verse 2.

COMMENT

Now, I will read that one very important verse; very beautiful verse [SB 5.5.2].

mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes
tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam
mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā
vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye

TRANSLATION

One can attain the path of liberation from material bondage only by rendering service to highly advanced spiritual personalities. For those who are not interested in such activities, associating with mahātmās, who associate with people fond of women and sex, the path to hell is wide open. The mahātmās are equipoised. They do not see any difference between one living entity and another. They are very peaceful and are fully engaged in devotional service. They are devoid of anger, and they work for the benefit of everyone. They do not behave in any abominable way. Such people are known as mahātmās.

COMMENT

Anyone surrendered to Krishna is considered to be mahatma,

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante 

jñānavān māṁ prapadyate 

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti 

sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ

Now we come to the chanting.

PURPORT (continued)

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 that 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.

COMMENT

So to get the real effect of chanting we should chant without offense.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

So this offense is sādhu-nindā; to blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name of the Lord.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

So some years ago there was an article in The Illustrated Weekly of India which then the editor was Khushwant Singh, who was actually a demon. And he published an account by an Austrian sannyasi initiated in the Advaita, impersonal sect named Agehananda Bharati. And in this article, Bharati gave his version of a debate he had with our Hridayananda dasa Gosvami Maharaja, And the editor titled the piece “Hare Krishna versus Shiva Shiva and Khushwant Singh’s idea, because he was an atheist for sure, Khushwant Singh’s idea was actually to make us all look foolish, “oh how silly, they are arguing whether Hare Krishna is better or Shiva Shiva is better.” So I wrote Srila Prabhupada my assessment of the situation and he said, “Yes you are right, Bharati is a fool but Singh is a demon.”

So there are many foolish persons who say that one can chant Hare Krishna or chant the name of Kali or Durga or Shiva 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, if one accepts the holy name of Vishnu to be a material sound vibration, that is also an offense. Yes, to consider the names of the demigods such as Lord Brahma or Lord Shiva to be equal to or independent of the holy name of Vishnu. 

PURPORT (continued)

The third offense is to think of the spiritual master who spreads the glories of the Lord as an ordinary human being.

COMMENT

The third offense is guror avajñā, which means to disobey the orders of the spiritual master. And here Srila Prabhupada describes the underlying psychology of disobeying the order of the spiritual master, which is to think of the spiritual master as an ordinary human being.

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.

COMMENT

Although this is called śruti-śāstra-nindanam, to blaspheme the Vedic literatures or literatures and persons of the Vedic version, but it’s also a subtle offense not to read the Vedic literatures, not to read Srila Prabhupada’s books, not to attend classes that discuss the Vedic literatures or Srila Prabhupada’s books.

PURPORT (continued)

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

Srila Prabhupada quotes the full Hare Krishna maha-mantra twice in the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

The sixth offense is to give some interpretation on the holy name of God. 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 neutralize the effect by chanting, that is a symptom of offense. The eighth offense is to equate the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa with other spiritual activities, such as meditation, austerity, penance or sacrifice. 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.

COMMENT

In other words, to preach the glories of the holy name to the faithless.

PURPORT (continued)

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

In The Nectar of Devotion, the tenth offense is rendered as, to not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy names and to maintain material attachments even in spite of hearing so many instructions on the matter. The process of chanting is the process of purification ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, cleansing the dirt from the mirror of the mind. And Srila Prabhupada says the first dirt is to identify with the body, to think that I am, the body. And so by chanting we should be elevated beyond the bodily concept of life and free from concepts of I, me, and mine. 

Sanskrit is such a language that it can be divided in different ways with different meanings and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, in his analysis of the ten offences, has considered the ninth offense to be pramāda, which is inattention. And he says that if one is inattentive while chanting then all the other offenses can flourish, and if one is attentive while chanting then all the other offenses will be destroyed. So that is most important, to be attentive while chanting.

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. 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.

COMMENT

That is what we want, that is what we need; a nice remedy.

PURPORT (continued)

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

And therefore before we chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra, we chant the Pancha-tattva mantra. śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

So now I will read exactly what Ādi-līlā Chapter Eight verse Thirty-one says; well Text Thirty is important, Twenty-nine and Thirty. 

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 Parbhupada

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

COMMENT

Text Thirty-one, which is what Srila Prabhupada mentioned in his purport. 

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

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 there is a very nice remedy in this connection, and there is an elaborate purport here which I will not read now. 

So now, we will request Bhaktin Geneva to come forward and take her vows and receive her beads and her new name, but before that I will chant on her beads. I decided to save this for the initiation program itself, so if any of you have beads you can join me in chanting on beads or you can chant on your fingers.

Hare Krishna.

So Bhaktin Geneva, you can offer your obeisances to Srila Prabhupada and then come forward to take your vows. Has one of the ladies put your new neck beads on you? Okay, good, all right. So what are the four regulated principles that you vowed to follow every day for the rest of your life?

Devotee: No meat eating including eggs, no intoxication, no gambling, and no illicit sex.

Giriraj Swami: And how many rounds?

Devotee: I will chant a minimum of 16 rounds every day.

Giriraj Swami: Good, and is there anything else you would like to say on the auspicious occasion in this August assembly?

Devotee: Thank you for accepting me.

Giriraj Swami: And of course read Srila Prabhupada’s books and stay in ISKCON, associate with the devotees in ISKCON and serve in ISKCON.

So on behalf of Srila Prabhupada and the guru-paramparā, I am pleased to accept you as my duly initiated disciple and henceforth your name shall be, Barsana dasi. [Unintelligible 00:44:18]

Barsana Dasi ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! 

Welcome. Of course you were already part of Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual family, but now you are officially part of Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual family, so congratulations. 

If there is nothing else, we can conclude with Vaishnava praṇāma. Let us offer respectful obeisances unto all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord who are just like desired trees, to fulfill the desires of everyone they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.

[Prayers]

All glories to Srila Prabhupada, all glories to your service.

Hare Krishna. Thank you Ramanuja Prabhu and all the devotees in the community there who have been supporting Barsana dasi in her spiritual efforts 

Hare Krishna.