SB 3.15.25 – Initiation

[00:27:52]

Giriraj Swami: My dear devotees, we are about to perform the initiation of four candidates. And as is the tradition on the occasion of initiations Srila Prabhupada would speak about the ten offenses because the devotees are being initiated into the chanting of the holy name, and to get the benefit, they must avoid the ten offenses. And Srila Prabhupada discusses the ten offenses in various verses and purports. And today I will read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Fifteen: “Description of the Kingdom of God.”

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

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. 

yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā

sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ

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, as you hear this list you can check yourself, to what extent you are developing these qualities or manifesting these qualities.

PURPORT (continued)

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. 

titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ

suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām

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 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 Krishna. 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. 

COMMENT

Of these offenses, sādhu-nindā- to criticize or blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy names 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 there is a popular weekly magazine in India called The Illustrated Weekly of India and the editor was Khushwant Singh who was a demon, and he published an article by one Agehānanda Bhāratī who was an Austrian sannyasi in a Mayavadi school. And he titled the article “Hare Krishna versus Shiva Shiva.” And in the article Dr. Bharati gave his account of his debate with our Hridayananda dasa Gosvami. And the editor, by titling the article “Hare Krishna versus Shiva Shiva” wanted to make us all look foolish, “Oh how silly that they are arguing whether one should chant Hare Krishna or Shiva Shiva or not.” So I could understand that the editor was trying to make us all look foolish. So I wrote Srila Prabhupada and he agreed with me. He wrote back, “Yes, Bharati is a fool but Singh is a demon.” And that is mentioned here:

There are many foolish persons who say that one can chant Hare Kṛiṣhṇa or chant the name of Kālī or Durgā or Śiva because they are all the same.’

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

So the third offense is guror-avajñā which means to disobey the orders of the spiritual master. And here Srila Prabhupada explains the psychology that would underlay someone disobeying the orders of the spiritual master namely thinking that the spiritual master is 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

Yes, there are different types of offenses. The worst is an offense committed with the body, and the next worse is an offense committed with words, and then the next of the least severe is offense committed within the mind. So sometimes this fourth offense is rendered to blaspheme the Vedic literatures or literatures and pursuant of the Vedic version but it is also a subtle offense not to read the Vedic literature, not to attend the classes of the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and so on.

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

See, Srila Prabhupada has quoted the full Hare Krishna mantra twice in this one 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 is a symptom of offense.

COMMENT

Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ—to commit sin on the strength of chanting, to think that because by chanting one becomes freed from sinful reactions; one can commit sins and then neutralize the effects by chanting. So that is a very offensive to commit sin on the strength of chanting Hare Krishna. 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. They cannot be equated at any level. 

COMMENT

In 1973 in Bombay, there was a meeting at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan convened by Srimati Kanhaiyalal Munshi and the theme of the conference was that the Bhagavad-gītā can solve all problems. And before the session began she invited the different participants to meet with her and with one another in her library. So one of the men, I don’t remember his name but he had long grey hair and a beard, and he said to Srila Prabhupada that he was holding large gatherings and getting people to chant the holy names and telling them that if they did so they would be cured from their physical diseases. So he said to Srila Prabhupada, “I am gathering people together and you are 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 doing is against our principles, the holy name of God is God Himself and we are servants of God, we do not try to use God to fulfill our material purposes.” So it is the eight offense.

PURPORT (continued)

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

COMMENT

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 yes, to not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy names and to maintain material attachments even after understanding so many instructions in the matter. It is not an offense to have material attachments, it is an anartha, it is definitely an anartha but it is not an offense. But it is an offense to hold on to those material attachments while chanting the holy names, because the idea of chanting the holy names is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam—to cleanse the consciousness of material attachments.

Srila Prabhupada instructed us to recite the ten offenses in the morning after maṅgala-ārati, before japa. And generally the devotees read the list from The Nectar of Devotion. and then a devotee will add- “It is also an offense to be inattentive while chanting,” which is true. Sanskrit is such a language that the words can be combined and divided in different ways. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, in his discussion of tenth offense discusses inattention, pramāda as the ninth offense. And he says that if one is attentive while chanting all the other offenses will be eradicated and if one is inattentive while chanting all the other offenses will flourish. So we should be attentive while we chant.

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—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 is such an important point that I will read from that section of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Actually there is a whole discussion. I will start with Text Twenty-four; very interesting.

TEXT 24

‘kṛṣṇa-nāma’ kare aparādhera vicāra

kṛṣṇa balile aparādhīra nā haya vikāra

There are offenses to be considered while chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Therefore simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa one does not become ecstatic.

COMMENT

 And in the purport Srila Prabhupada discusses the ten offenses. So then,

TEXT 29 and 30

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 in connection with verse 24.

COMMENT

And now Text Thirty-one, which is the verse to which Srila Prabhupada referred in the other purport.

caitanya-nityānande nāhi e-saba vicāra

nāma laite prema dena, vahe aśrudhāra

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

I won’t read the whole purport. It is a long purport. But I will read the beginning of the purport.

PURPORT

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.

COMMENT

So before we chant the Hare Krishna mantra in kirtan, and many devotees including myself even before we chant a round of japa we chant the Pancha-tattva mantra.

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya 

prabhu-nityānanda

śrī-advaita gadādhara 

śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare

hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare