SB 3.15.25 – Initiation Ceremony

Giriraj Swami: So we welcome you to our Sunday program here at ISKCON, Houston. This evening the program will be special in the sense that we will be giving initiation to some devotees; first initiation and second initiation. Generally, on the occasion of initiations Srila Prabhupada would speak about the ten offenses against the holy name and so I have chosen a verse and purport in which Srila Prabhupada discusses the ten offenses and gives other important instructions for devotees. So I will read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Fifteen: “Description of the Kingdom of God.” But first I will sing the maṅgala-ācaraṇa prayers and lead a short kirtan.

[Prayers]

So as I mentioned, at initiations Srila Prabhupada would speak about the ten offenses against the holy name and so I will read a verse and purport in which Srila Prabhupada discusses the ten offenses and also gives other important instructions for devotees. 

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

[SB 3.15.25]

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 akiñcanā

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.

COMMENT

So I will read the list. And as I do so, my dear devotees please check yourselves to what extent you are manifesting or not manifesting these desirable qualities—twenty six qualities of a devotee. 

PURPORT (continued)

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; 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; 

COMMENT

amāninā māna-dena. 

PURPORT (continued)

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 (titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ). 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. 

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. 

COMMENT

So please listen attentively.

PURPORT (continued)

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

It is called sādhu-nindā. 

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

There was like popular weekly magazine in India called The Illustrated Weekly of India. And the editor was a fellow named Kushwant Singh who was an atheist. And he ran an article called “Hare Krishna versus Shiva-Shiva.” The article was an account by Agehananda Bharati who was Austrian but who had taken initiation into an impersonal sampradāya. And so the article was Bharati’s account of his discussion with our Hridayananda dasa Gosvami. And Kushwant Singh, by titling the article Hare Krishna versus Shiva-Shiva, intended to make both parties look foolish—like how silly arguing Hare Krishna versus Shiva-Shiva. And so I wrote Srila Prabhupada that I think that Kushwant Singh has done this deliberately to make us all look bad. And Srila Prabhupada said, “You are right. Bharati is a fool but Singh is a demon.” So,

PURPORT (continued)

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, that is 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

So this explanation of the offense describes the psychology behind the third offense which is guror avajñā, which means to disobey the orders of the spiritual master and the psychology behind disobeying the orders of the spiritual master is to think of him 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

So there are different degrees of offenses, I won’t take the time to describe them in detail, but the most serious offense is an offense committed with the body and then the next or you could say less serious is offense committed with words; sometimes this is rendered as to blaspheme the Vedic literatures or literatures and pursuance of the Vedic version. And then the most subtle offense is an offense committed within the mind. 

So the fourth offense is to consider the Vedic literatures, such as the Purāṇas or other transcendentally revealed scriptures, to be ordinary books of knowledge. So a subtle manifestation of this offense would be to not read the books, to not attend the classes on the scriptures. We should read the 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

You can see in this one purport Srila Prabhupada has quoted the entire maha-mantra twice. I will read that; it is so important.

PURPORT (continued)

The highest realization of spiritual value is to chant the holy name of God, as prescribed for the age.. 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 is a symptom of offense.

COMMENT

As this is to commit sin on the strength of chanting Hare Krishna, it is a very offensive mentality, it is a sinful mentality—that one becomes freed from sinful reactions by chanting and therefore one thinks, Well I can engage in sinful activities and then I will just neutralize the effects by chanting. And that does not work. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that even in ordinary penance that does not work. And furthermore, one is implicated in the offense of committing sin on the strength of chanting. We should never do that.

PURPORT (continued)

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

And this sometimes is described as to consider the chanting of Hare Krishna one of the auspicious, ritualistic activities mentioned in the Vedas as fruitive activity, karma-kāṇḍa. In Bombay, Srila Prabhupada was invited by Srimati Kanaiyalal Munshi, Lilavati Munshi who was the head of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and the theme of the conference was that all of the world’s problems can be solved by the Bhagavad-gītā. And before the conference began, she invited her special guests to her library to speak informally before the session began in the evening. So there was one man who, I don’t remember his name but he had long white hair and a long white beard, and he said to Srila Prabhupada that he was having gatherings of people in which he told them that if they chant the holy names they will be cured of their physical diseases. And he said to Srila Prabhupada, “You are gathering people together and I am gathering people together. You are getting people to chant the holy names, I am getting people to chant the holy names. We should cooperate.”

And Srila Prabhupada said, “No. What you are proposing is against our principles because the holy name of Krishna is Krishna Himself. And we are servants of the holy name. We cannot engage Krishna or the holy name in our service to cure us of our physical diseases.” 

So yes, that is this one, the eighth offense—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. 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 fruitive activity.

PURPORT (continued)

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

COMMENT

Or to preach the glories of the holy name to the faithless. There was one conversation between Srila Prabhupada and a professor in Sweden. And during the conversation one of the devotees started to speak about the glories of the holy name and Srila Prabhupada stopped him. And he said that this is an offense because he doesn’t have faith in the holy name. So it is an offense to preach the glories of the holy name to the faithless. First we have to create faith by logic and reason and argument, then we can speak about the glories of the holy name.

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 in The Nectar of Devotion this is rendered as- to not have complete faith in the chanting of Hare Krishna and to maintain material attachments even after so many understanding, so many instructions in the matter. We are chanting to cleanse the heart—ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam—to become free from material attachments. And if we hold on to material attachments while chanting it is offensive to the holy name and it is contradictory to the whole effort. And the two go together—to not have complete faith in the chanting of Hare Krishna and to maintain material attachments because if we had complete faith in the chanting of Hare Krishna, we would know that the holy name can fulfil all of our desires. And therefore there is no need to remain attached to material things because, we can use them in Krishna’s service, but you shouldn’t be attached to them for sense gratification.

It is not an offense to have material attachments, it is an anartha, but it is not an offense. But to maintain those material attachments while chanting is an offense. 

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.

COMMENT

And that is our goal.

PURPORT (continued)

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—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

So the Pancha-tattva do not consider offenses, and therefore, in kirtan and even in japa we chant the Pancha-tattva mantra, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda / śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, before we chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and we pray to the Pancha-tattva to help us to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra without offense. And we also get special mercy when we serve Pancha-tattva by spreading Krishna consciousness, preaching cleanses the heart. And our spiritual practices and preaching support each other. The more we preach the more our heart becomes cleansed.