SB 3.15.25 – Initiation of Priya Radha Dasi

Giriraj Swami: Thank you for that eloquent explanation of dīkṣā. Srila Rupa Gosvami has given the complete science of bhakti-yoga in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, and according to the science the first three items are:

1. One must accept a bona fide spiritual master 

2. One must take initiation from him 

3. One must serve him

4. One must receive instructions from the spiritual master and make inquiries in order to learn devotional service, and

5. One must follow in the footsteps of the previous acharyas and follow the directions given by the spiritual master.

And the Sanskrit is guru-pādāśraya, dīkṣā, gurura sevana sad-dharma-śikṣā-pṛcchā, sādhu-mārgānugamana

So all together Srila Rupa Gosvami enumerates sixty-four items of devotional service and of those sixty-four, twenty are preliminary and The Nectar of Devotion which is Srila Prabhupada’s summary study of the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Srila Prabhupada says, all together, Srila Rupa Gosvami mentions twenty items. These are the twenty preliminary items and all of them are very important. Out of the twenty, the first three namely:

1. Accepting the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master 

2. Taking initiation from him and 

3. Serving him with respect and reverence

are the most important. And under each of these Srila Prabhupada, in The Nectar of Devotion, again which is the summary study of Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, gives evidence. So under accepting the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, The Nectar of Devotion says:

READING from The Nectar of Devotion

In the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, third chapter, verse 21, Prabuddha tells Mahārāja Nimi, “My dear King, please know for certain that in the material world there is no happiness. It is simply a mistake to think that there is happiness here, because this place is full of nothing but miserable conditions. Any person who is seriously desirous of achieving real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of a spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and arguments and thus be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters. Everyone should try to find such a bona fide spiritual master in order to fulfill his mission of life, which is to transfer himself to the plane of spiritual bliss.”

COMMENT

Then under accepting initiation from the spiritual master and receiving instructions from him:

READING (continued)

Sage Prabuddha continued to speak to the king as follows: “My dear king, a disciple has to accept the spiritual master not only as spiritual master, but also as the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Supersoul. In other words, the disciple should accept the spiritual master as God,

COMMENT

Not that he is God of course.

READING (continued)

. . . because he is the external manifestation of Kṛṣṇa. This is confirmed in every scripture, and a disciple should accept the spiritual master as such. One should learn Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam seriously and with all respect and veneration for the spiritual master. Hearing and speaking Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the religious process that elevates one to the platform of serving and loving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

The attitude of the disciple should be to satisfy the bona fide spiritual master. Then it will be very easy for him to understand spiritual knowledge. This is confirmed in the Vedas, and Rūpa Gosvāmī will further explain that for a person who has unflinching faith in God and the spiritual master, everything becomes revealed very easily.

COMMENT

And then the next item, serving the spiritual master with faith and confidence: 

READING

Regarding accepting initiation from the spiritual master, in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, seventeenth chapter, verse 27, it is stated by Lord Kṛṣṇa, “My dear Uddhava, the spiritual master must be accepted not only as My representative, but as My very self. He should never be considered on the same level with an ordinary human being. One should never be envious of the spiritual master, as one may be envious of an ordinary man. The spiritual master should always be seen as the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and by serving the spiritual master one is able to serve all the demigods.” 

COMMENT

And there are so many verses in Caitanya-caritāmṛta about initiation, but because we already heard such a nice explanation I think I will just read a little bit to save time. So the process by which a devotee becomes attached to Krishna is described in Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya-līlā, 4. 192.

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

TRANSLATION

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

COMMENT

Dīkṣā or spiritual initiation is explained in the Bhakti-sandarbha 283 by Srila Jiva Gosvami. 

READING (continued)

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

By diksha, one gradually becomes disinterested in material enjoyment and becomes interested in spiritual life. And in a subsequent text Srila Prabhupada gives a slightly different translation, and it is such an important verse that I will read that verse and translation given by Srila Prabhupada, and the purport to text 108 of Madhya-lila Chapter Fiveteen.

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

“Dīkṣā is the process by which one can awaken his transcendental knowledge and vanquish all reactions caused by sinful activity. A person expert in the study of the revealed scriptures knows this process as dīkṣā.” 

COMMENT

 So this is a very auspicious occasion. Of course, it is already auspicious because it is the last day of Kartik Pūrṇimā which is the day of Sri Krishna Rasayatra, Tulsi-Shaligram vivāha, and it is also the appearance day of Sri Nimbarkacarya. So Srila Prabhupada, at initiations, would generally speak about the ten offenses because we are initiating a devotee into the chanting of the holy name. And to get the full effect of chanting, one should avoid the ten offenses. So I will read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, of course there are many places where Srila Prabhupada discusses the ten offenses in his purports, but today I have chosen Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Three, Chapter Fifteen: “Description of the Kingdom of God.” Text Twenty-five. And again excuse me, I will be back in one minute.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

So again, 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. 

COMMENT

I will just read that verse; it is a very important verse.

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 at 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 external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?

COMMENT

So now coming back to the Srila Prabhupada’s purport here:

PURPORT (continued)

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.

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:

COMMENT

So my dear devotees, we can make a mental check on ourselves to see how we are doing in terms of these twenty-six desirable qualities of the devotee.

PURPORT (continued)

They are 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; no one can find fault in his character; 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 very grave, very compassionate and very friendly; he is poetic; he is expert in all activities; and he is 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. 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. 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.

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.

COMMENT

This is sādhu-nindā and as rendered in The Nectar of Devotion to blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name of the Lord. And Srila Prabhupada says in the purport, it is the greatest offense. Then number two.

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

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

PURPORT (continued)

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

COMMENT

This is called guror avagya which means to disobey the orders of the spiritual master. And here in the purport, Srila Prabhupada explains the psychology of the person who will commit guror avagya, disobey the orders of the spiritual master and that is, that he thinks of the spiritual master and spreads the glories of the Lord 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. 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

So in this purport, Srila Prabhupada has quoted the entire Hare Krishna maha-mantra twice.

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 sins and neutralize them 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.

COMMENT

Or as stated in The Nectar of Devotion to consider the chanting of Hare Krishna is one of the auspicious ritualistic activities mentioned in the Vedas as karma-kāṇḍa.

PURPORT (continued)

The ninth offense is to specifically glorify the importance of the holy name before persons who have no interest.

COMMENT

Or as rendered in The Nectar of Devotion 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

So the tenth offense is rendered in The Nectar of Devotion to not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions on the matter. So yes to not have complete faith in the holy name is an offense and it goes with maintaining material attachments. Because if we had full faith in the holy name, we would realize that all of our desires can be fulfilled by the holy name; by Krishna who is not different from the holy name.

Now, Srila Prabhupada instructed devotees after maṅgala-ārati and before japa, that they should recite the list of 10 offenses from The Nectar of Devotion. And generally after reciting the list, the devotee will add—it is also an offense to be inattentive while chanting. Now Sanskrit is such a language that it can be divided in different ways and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has derived inattention as the ninth offense. And he says that if one is inattentive while chanting all the other offenses can flourish or will flourish, but if one is attentive while chanting all the other offenses will be destroyed. So chanting offenselessly and specifically chanting attentively is most important.

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 need; 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 this nice remedy is so important that now I would like to read Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā Chapter Eight, verse Thirty-one.

caitanya-nityānande nāhi e-saba vicāra
nāma laite prema dena, vahe aśrudhāra

COMMENT

It follows the previous verse the previous verses together Text Twenty-nine and Thirty. 

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

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.

COMMENT

And then Text Thirty-one, which Srila Prabhupada mentioned.

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 of God.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura remarks in this connection that if one takes shelter of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda, follows 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.

COMMENT

It should be noted in this connection that the holy names of Lord Krishna 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 Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s name is more essential than the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, because Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the most magnanimous incarnation and his mercy is very easily achieved. Therefore, one must first take shelter of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by chanting Sri Kṛiṣhṇa-Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri-Advaita Gadadhara Srivasadi-Gaura-Bhakta-vṛinda. By serving Gur Nityananda, one is freed from the entanglements of material existence and thus becomes qualified to worship the Radha-Krishna deity. So as a rule, we always chant the Pancha-tattva mantra as, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda before we chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

Of course in kirtan we certainly chant the Pancha-tattva mantra before we chant the Hare Krishna mantra. But even in japa, I myself and many experienced devotees chant the Pancha-tattva mantra before every round of chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. 

So now we will come to the stage during which Pavitra Mataji will take her vows and receive her beads and her new name and I will be back in a minute for that part of the program.

So, what are the four regulated principles that you vow to follow every day for the rest of your life?

Devotee: Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja.

namaḥ oṁ viṣṇupādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale 

prabhupādāti-priya-śrī- girirājāya svāmine 

suvaktre śāstra-vijñāya dṛḍha-sādhana-śāline 

rādhā-rāsavihāribhyām bhaktebhyaś cātma-dāyine

The four regulative principles I will follow are: No meat eating including fish and eggs, no intoxication, no gambling, and no illicit sex.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, and included in intoxicants?

Devotee: No tea and coffee.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, no coffee and tea. Very good; and how many rounds?

Devotee: I will chant sixteen rounds daily minimum. I will read Srila Prabhupada’s books daily and never leave ISKCON.

Giriraj Swami: Wonderful, beautiful. And is there anything else you would like to say on this auspicious occasion?

Devotee: I would like to thank you guru Maharaja, for accepting me as your duly initiated disciple and connecting me to Prabhupada and all the guru-paramparā. 

Giriraj Swami: So now, Srila Prabhupada and the guru-paramparā are pleased to accept you as my duly initiated disciple. Henceforth, you shall be known as Priya Radha dasi.

A very ecstatic occasion. So I don’t know if there is anything more to be said or done. I understand that there will be a feast for the devotees and I don’t want to come in the way of that. Before we conclude, we chant Vaishnava praṇāma.

Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord, who are like desire trees who can fulfill the desires of everyone and are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls. 

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca 

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

Anant koti Vaishnava vrinda ki jaya

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya

Hare Krishna

Devotee: Thank you so much Maharaja. It was a beautiful ceremony. So many devotees are here. I think we have about twenty or thirty devotees here in Srila Prabhupada’s darshan room, and we have about sixty devotees online and it is all been recorded for the rest of eternity, so many more devotees will see. So thank you so much Maharaja for taking the time to be here today and making this ceremony happen. We hope Maharaja, that you will be here at Bhaktivedanta manor very, very soon as things open up. All the devotees are very eager to receive you and hear from you, and have the opportunity to serve you. So please do remember us in your travel plans and come to London as soon as possible.

Giriraj Swami: I will. I always stop in London on my way to India, so as soon as the circumstances allow I love to come and spend time with you.