19890622 Bhagavad-gītā 4.10 (Initiation Ceremony Lecture)

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Maharāja on June 22nd 1989 in Helsinki, FInland. The class begins from a reading from the Bhagavad-gītā  chapter 4 verse 10.

vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā
man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ
bahavo jñāna-tapasā
pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ

Translation: Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me – and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.

Purport: As described above, it is very difficult for a person who is too materially affected to understand the personal nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Generally, people who are attached to the bodily conception of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand how the Supreme can be a person. Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. In the materialistic concept, the body is perishable, full of ignorance and completely miserable. Therefore, people in general keep this same bodily idea in mind when they are informed of the personal form of the Lord. For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme. Consequently they consider the Supreme to be impersonal. And because they are too materially absorbed, the conception of retaining the personality after liberation from matter frightens them. When they are informed that spiritual life is also individual and personal, they become afraid of becoming persons again, and so they naturally prefer a kind of merging into the impersonal void. Generally, they compare the living entities to the bubbles of the ocean, which merge into the ocean. That is the highest perfection of spiritual existence attainable without individual personality. This is a kind of fearful stage of life, devoid of perfect knowledge of spiritual existence. Furthermore there are many persons who cannot understand spiritual existence at all. Being embarrassed by so many theories and by contradictions of various types of philosophical speculation, they become disgusted or angry and foolishly conclude that there is no supreme cause and that everything is ultimately void. Such people are in a diseased condition of life. Some people are too materially attached and therefore do not give attention to spiritual life, some of them want to merge into the supreme spiritual cause, and some of them disbelieve in everything, being angry at all sorts of spiritual speculation out of hopelessness. This last class of men take to the shelter of some kind of intoxication, and their affective hallucinations are sometimes accepted as spiritual vision. One has to get rid of all three stages of material consciousness: attachment to material life, fear of a spiritual personal identity, and the conception of void that arises from frustration in life. To get free from these three stages of the material concept of life, one has to take complete shelter of the Lord, guided by the bona fide spiritual master, and follow the disciplines and regulative principles of devotional life. The last stage of the devotional life is called bhāva, or transcendental love of Godhead.

According to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.4.15–16), the science of devotional service:

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-
saṅgo ’tha bhajana-kriyā
tato ’nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt
tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ
athāsaktis tato bhāvas
tataḥ premābhyudañcati
sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ
prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ

“In the beginning one must have a preliminary desire for self-realization. This will bring one to the stage of trying to associate with persons who are spiritually elevated. In the next stage one becomes initiated by an elevated spiritual master, and under his instruction the neophyte devotee begins the process of devotional service. By execution of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master, one becomes free from all material attachment, attains steadiness in self-realization, and acquires a taste for hearing about the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This taste leads one further forward to attachment for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is matured in bhāva, or the preliminary stage of transcendental love of God. Real love for God is called prema, the highest perfectional stage of life.” In the prema stage there is constant engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. So, by the slow process of devotional service, under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, one can attain the highest stage, being freed from all material attachment, from the fearfulness of one’s individual spiritual personality, and from the frustrations that result in void philosophy. Then one can ultimately attain to the abode of the Supreme Lord.

Thus ends the translations and purport to text 10 chapter 4 of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is - Transcendental Knowledge

Jayapatākā Swami: So sometimes we hear people say they don’t want anything they’re doing, any spiritual process that has a group of people or organization because they want to remain aloof. Here the Lord states that due to fear, attachment, or anger one should not give up following the authorized path. Fear may be because one is shy, out of being shy you’re timid they don’t surrender to Kṛṣṇa or guru. They don’t approach the guru and request the guru to give shelter or rather fear they don’t want to belong to any organization. Out of some fear they’re hesitating to surrender. We should be afraid of māyā, we should not be afraid of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is our real well-wisher. So Prabhupāda explained here the different types of persons who due to attachment they’re not surrendering to Kṛṣṇa.

So today we’re having a initiation ceremony which is based on surrendering to Kṛṣṇa through the medium of the spiritual master. So that’s a very serious commitment one surrenders to the spiritual master then Kṛṣṇa is accepting one on the spiritual platform. And whatever one does, because there is a bond between the guru and disciple, the guru has to receive reaction if the disciple doesn’t follow perfectly. If the disciple follows properly then there’s no problem. So in the system the stage is explained here by Śrīla Prabhupāda, first we need to have a desire, then we associate, then we become initiated by elevated spiritual master, someone following elevated spiritual master. In this way by following the instructions of the guru the disciple can advance. So this is a stage that everyone has to go through in order to achieve love for Kṛṣṇa one needs to take shelter of guru and Kṛṣṇa.

In the Nectar of Devotion 6th chapter the first 10 principles of devotional service are mentioned as number one is to take the guru āśraya or shelter of bonafide spiritual master and the second principle is to take initiation from the spiritual master. Then the third is to enquire like this and to hear the instructions. So out of the ten most basic important principles of devotional service the first six are in relationship with spiritual master. The guru is actually favourably mercifully inclined toward the disciple. Gadādhara Prabhu took initiation from Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi because he had committed offences to Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi and he thought since a because guru is always forgiving the disciple, it’s better I accept him as a guru and then I will be forgiven. So then Lord Caitanya was personally present and personally He approved and He conducted the initiation ceremony for Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi and Gadādhara prabhu. Actually Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi was Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja in the previous life. In this life he came to be the guru of Gadādhara. In other words king Vṛṣabhānu is the father of Rādhārāṇī and Rādhārāṇī came as Gadādhara Prabhu, so then Vṛṣabhānu came as Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi. So where he was the father in the previous yuga, in this yuga he was the spiritual father.

So the guru is a spiritual father for the disciple and the scripture is the mother. So they are born and they’re blessed also to be born by the spirit. The disciples take the spiritual master to be the spiritual father. Many times Prabhupāda write letters to his disciples ‘My dear spiritual son or my dear spiritual daughter’ and then give their name. The difference that in the material world there is a generation gap between the father and mother and the children and many times there is not a good understanding between them. Śrīla Prabhupāda one time was mentioning how, he said I’m physically very old person and you all of you are very young people most of you and you are still although there’s such a vast age difference there’s such a close relationship between us. So I can only understand that this relationship is not material because material relationship wouldn’t go between persons who are so, has such a great age difference and background difference, so the relationship is transcendental. And of course all the Prabhupāda disciples could experience that, that the relationship was transcendental.

Then there is another circumstance where Lord Caitanya when He was Nimāi pandit He wasn’t manifesting ecstasies. He was just chanting occasionally but mainly He was doing some material scholastic activities, He became the greatest scholar in Navadvīpa. And when He went to do the last rights for His father's death anniversary called śrāddha or piṇḍa-dāna He happened to meet Īśvara Purīpāda. And he then requested him for His initiation. This is the system that once needs to approach the spiritual master giving up fear and shyness and timidity and request for shelter or request for initiation. The guru doesn’t approach a disciple under normal circumstances. But the disciple approaches the spiritual master for first and second initiation. So when Lord Caitanya took initiation he became a changed person, He started to chant in ecstasy, befuddled. It was like a complete change now as Lord Caitanya was walking, as He was worshipping the lotus footprints of Lord Viṣṇu with the sacred water, His eyes were filled with tears and tears are pouring down. All of a sudden He developed pure love of Kṛṣṇa. But Lord Caitanya after He returned to Navadvīpa then everyone was surprised that after His initiation He was such a changed person. Actually Lord Caitanya knew Isvara Puri before, Isvara Puri had visited His house and stayed there for sometime and discussed with His father Jagannātha Miśra about Kṛṣṇa conscious topics. And that time Lord Caitanya had the opportunity to serve him but it was not the time for Him to take initiation, He took initiation when he went to Gaya.

Gaya is the name of a demon, Gayāsura. Gayāsura was a demon who was causing all the problems and when the Lord defeated him and put His foot on his chest so the demon said he would stay there without moving. So it’s a big food print there and that footprint is supposed to be actually on the chest of the demon. And there is, where this temple is on top of the hill which is on oblong hill like in the shape of some gigantic giant. But you just see road maybe, but supposed to be that the demon became a hill where he said that as long as there pūjā going on everyday, as long as someone comes and worships the lotus feet, at least one person everyday, he will remain there. But if one day goes by nobody comes to do worship he’ll jump up, ah! So so far everyday at least one person comes and does pūjā. The priests are very someone doesn’t doesn’t show up by a certain time that all will get worried. And they take the water from the river which is called the Phalgu river. We use phalgu-vairāgya very often cause Lord Caitanya referred to false renunciation, artificial renunciation as phalgu- vairāgya that the word ‘phalgu’ comes from the Phalgu river. The Phalgu river has no visible water, it’s just sand. But if you dig just half a meter below the sand you can have as much water as you want. All the water is flowing in the sand. It was a curse by Sītā-devī where this river lost the water went under. So this example of phalgu-vairāgya mean when someone outwardly showing he’s very austere, very renounced, no material desire. But if you dig a little bit beneath the surface find the big false ego, so many material desires. So Lord Caitanya what is it? Better to be honest and try to gradually purify oneself from dirt we have realising one’s position and become purified in developing a higher taste rather putting on the false show of renunciation when actually we have so many desires under the surface. So that word ‘phalgu’ comes from this river.

So this is the place where Lord Caitanya took His initiation from Īśvara Purī. Advaita Gosvāmī He was initiated by Mādhavendra Purī, you must be knowing how He took initiation? Of course, He had taken the ritualistic ceremonies for being a brāhmaṇa but He never taken a Vaiṣṇava initiating guru. So Advaita Gosvāmī He was already devotee, He was reading. So one day He was in his house reading the Bhāgavatam in his courtyard and Advaita Gosvāmi’s house is a little bit on the side of the Ganges in the beautiful forest. So Mādhavendra Purī was only Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī in fact the whole north India. But everywhere he went people would ask him to give them blessing, for material blessings. So if he went to the house holders and materialistic people then never asked him anything spiritual. So he had fired up and if he went to the sannyāsīs they’re all māyāvādīs and they all say everything one, we’re all God, that was worse. So he couldn’t go with the other sannyāsīs cause he is the only one Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī and he couldn’t find any Vaiṣṇavas. Cause that time so many people were materially religious and not Vaiṣṇava. So he just avoided the normal path and went off on the side, so somehow he ended up right in the āśrama of Advaita Gosvāmī. Advaita Gosvāmī is reading His Bhāgavatam with his tilaka and everything. And here in comes Mādhavendra Purī, He looks up and there he sees this as a sannyāsī with a Vaiṣṇava tilaka, a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī with a tridaṇḍī. So looks Advaita, Advaita looks at him and Mādhavendra Purī was amazed actually he’s a Vaiṣṇava, wore Vaiṣṇava tilaka and he is reading the Bhāgavatam. So both of them were very startled to see a Vaiṣṇava face to face (laughing) because they didn’t see any Vaiṣṇava for so long, it was so austere.

So then immediately Advaita Gosvāmī jumped up and he received the Mādhavendra Purī bathed his feet, gave him a seat. It’s customary whenever a sannyāsī comes his feet should be bathed. The water is sprinkled over the head of the gṛhasthas or the neighbour persons. So then He received the Mādhavendra Purī and they started to discuss and within no time they could recognise that Advaita Gosvāmī was dedicated to being a devotee of the Lord. And then Advaita Gosvāmī could understand that Mādhavendra Purī had Kṛṣṇa-prema, he had pure love of Kṛṣṇa. Normally this process would take a year of mutual testing or knowing the disciple and the guru should be really completely sure but Advaita Gosvāmī being Advaita Gosvāmī and Mādhavendra Purī being Mādhavendra Purī they could recognise each other within a few days or a few moments. So then Advaita Gosvāmī asked him to please stay for some time but sannyāsī generally don’t stay, he agreed to stay for a short time, then he requested initiation. And around about this time the Haridāsa Ṭhākura also accepted initiation. Then there was initiation ceremony, yajña and everything Mādhavendra Purī fully initiated Advaita Gosvāmī. So although he didn’t see Mādhavendra Purī much, I don’t know if he saw at all but shouldn't have much, but he would every year put on various festivals. In fact one festival is the disappearance festival of Mādhavendra Purī when he left this world on Govinda Dvādaśi the 12th day of the rising moon just before Gaura pūrṇimā. So then Advaita Gosvāmī put on a big festival every year and one year Lord Caitanya personally visited that festival.

So even though Advaita Gosvāmī was the only disciple, He and His wife, of Mādhavendra Purī but he still put on big Vyāsa Pūjā, big disappearance festival. Lord Caitanya was amazed that in a disappearance festival he constructed temporary houses and one more house is filled with vegetables, another house is filled with yogurt and they’re cooking so much of bhoga that it was filling up the houses, different type of preparations, different types of bhoga. And invited so many Vaiṣṇavas to come and they’re lecturing from Bhāgavatam and having big kīrtanas and hundreds of Vaiṣṇavas were coming in big festival. Lord Caitanya saw, they’re offering hundreds of preparations to all the deities. All the women were cooking hundreds of preparations for Mādhavendra Purī. Even though Mādhavendra Purī wasn’t there, direct initiating guru, but he was accepted as initiating guru or as a guru, bonafide guru in the disciplic succession. So everyone took the opportunity of serving him. And of course Mādhavendra Purī was also the senior most spiritual master in the disciplic succession. Where everyone was participating in the festival and Lord Caitanya was so satisfied with all the arrangements. How thousands of people are being fed prasādam, how hundreds and hundreds of devotees were all chanting and they continued classes and chanting was going on. Where He said that “Anyone who takes prasādam here in the house of Advaita in this place on this anniversary, 12th day of the rising moon that he will get love for Govinda”.

So that’s now in Māyāpur the, couple of years ago I went to that place and the priest said that, he pulled out the Caitanya-bhāgavata and showed me the pastime. Said read you see all this, so I said okay, Lord Caitanya He said, anyone who takes prasādam here on this day gets love for Kṛṣṇa. So verdict is so easily awarded Kṛṣṇa, just you take prasādam. But we’re so, we’re not able to put on a big festival, so request you to please take charge. Will give you the key for the temple, that day it’s your temple. You arrange everything, you distribute as much prasāda that everyone gets love of Kṛṣṇa. So since that time, past two three years we’ve been doing, this year all the Russian devotees came and they’re all distributing prasādam (laughing). But it’s actually a big fight, who can get the bucket (laughing). Everyone wants to distribute the prasādam, in fact some forget to take and have to eat a little bit (laughing). Those are big scramble for getting the bucket.

20,000 devotees! We have to escape quick because it’s more and more keep coming (laughing). We can only feed 20, 25,000. But that was all so, Advaita Gosvāmī showed that or even though he was his one or two disciples of Mādhavendra Purī. But he put on this big festival on, invited all the Vaiṣṇavas and everyone else participated in it. Had a great transcendental ecstasy and how this even pleased Lord Caitanya so much to see his devotion for guru and how all the devotees are working together serving a Vaiṣṇava. Other than this Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura he developed faith in Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura, sorry Lokanātha, Lokanātha Gosvāmī. But Lokanātha had taken a vow that he would never initiate anyone. Being initiating guru is got many problems to it. So some great Vaiṣṇavas they would never initiate anyone, so he decided he wouldn’t initiate anyone. So it’s a long story how Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura came, was serving him. He said what do you want? He said I want to be your disciple, said I took a vow I won’t take any disciples, so get out of here. He said well okay then don’t accept me, but that doesn’t mean still I can serve you, please let me serve you. But even then he said no no then if you serve me you may also want to take initiation in the future, so you, so he rolled him out. But Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura was determined to take initiation from Lokanātha Gosvāmī who was one of the direct persons of Lord Caitanya. Specifically ordered by Lord Caitanya to go to Vṛndāvana, very advanced Vaiṣṇava. He is considered on a similar level as the six Gosvāmīs but just that he took a vow he didn’t want to take disciples.

So then when Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura would do for three years he was serving that whenever in the morning he had to go, to go the bathroom, he cleaned up the whole āśrama. He come back everything will be all clean neat but he never see who did it. When he would go to library he would go to the bathroom and clean that place up, clean up the night stuff and other things. So then this is going on a total three years but finally Lokanath he said I’m gonna see who’s doing them. So he hid, then he saw it was Narottama, he came out, what are you doing? I told you that you shouldn’t do this! He said well doesn’t matter, I’m one side surrender to you and I know from all the authorities you’re actually bona fide spiritual master therefore I want to serve you. So whether you accept me or not but I’m still dedicated. He said you defeated me, he said that I may have taken a vow but if I reject someone who’s that sincere and had that much desire then Kṛṣṇa will not pleased with me just sticking to some vow. So you act with me to defeat I had to break my vow so then he gave him initiation and accepted him as disciple. He’s his only disciple.

Of course sometimes Lord Caitanya ordered some spiritual master to take disciples, He told Sāraṅga Ṭhākura many times you take a disciple but he just never gave anybody initiation and one day Lord Caitanya told him, listen! I told you should start to be a guru and take a disciple. So he took a vow, next day the first person I meet, I’m gonna preach to that person, give him the mantra and initiate him right on the spot. Just started to follow Lord Caitanya’s order. So he went down to the Ganges and it was still 3 AM in the morning before maṅgala-āratī so all dark and then someone bumped against him. So he said, you’re ready to take initiation? You have any objection for being a disciple? He didin’t say anything cause he was a dead body floating in the Ganges. So he didn’t object, so he just pulled him over and said the mantra in the ear (laughing)

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! The dead body came back to life (laughing)! Jumped up! And said now you’ve given me my spiritual life and you’ve given me back my material life, so I owe everything to you. So what do you mean I gave you back your material life? So I was dead, I left the body I was, and he said so and so, gave his previous name and everything. I was actually going to get married, I went down to the wedding party, took a bath in the river and somehow, I slipped and drowned and this is my dead body was floating and I was already on my way to the next body and you chanted, brought me back to the body and here I am! Back alive! And I owe everything to you! So he gave him the name Murāri, so he became very famous Murāri Ṭhākura, Sāraṅga Murāri. Because he already passed through death once he was fearless. He grow up and would just tell tigers, if the tiger meet him (Roaring!) right on the path chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! Haribol! Haribol! and tiger start jumping up and thing (laughing). He was just a fearless you know he got anything and just got it to chant, he has such power. And Murāri Ṭhākura was present when Nityānanda Prabhu went, he was at Pāṇihāti.

So of course there are great mahā-puruṣas but process of initiation was very important step is when the whole disciplic succession of course also accepting one through that bonafide guru. Disciple is accepted by Prabhupāda and by all of the disciplic succession. And thus one has the obligation to preach and to serve to satisfy one’s spiritual master as well as the previous ācāryas, to satisfy you father, grandfather, great great grandfather, great great great grandfather, great great great great grandfather spiritual masters. And our Prabhupāda expressed that this is the secret of success is to satisfy one’s spiritual master and the previous spiritual masters. That’s why he would always try to do things which are pleasing to the previous spiritual masters. Like building Māyāpur, he knew this is very pleasing to his guru and to all the previous gurus. So when you take initiation we’re supposed to avoid the ten offences to the holy name.

First is to blaspheme the devotees, second is to consider the demigods equal to Kṛṣṇa, third is to disobey the guru, fourth is to blaspheme the Vedic scriptures, fifth is to give the interpretation to give some material, mundane interpretation to the glories of the holy name. The sixth is to consider the holy name, the glories of the holy name to be an exaggeration. The seventh is to sin on the strength of the chanting. That means we make a plan to commit some bad karma and then I’ll chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and counteract it. If we accidentally commit bad karmas and we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa we can counteract it. But if we make a plan that’s, it doesn’t work, it’s a offence. The eighth is to consider the chanting of the holy names as a one of the pious activities recommended in the Vedas, ritualistic activities. The chanting of the holy name is Kṛṣṇa Himself, so it’s much greater inconceivable matter, you can’t compare it with the material pious activity. And Prabhupāda gave a nice reply He said Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra gives us Kṛṣṇa prema. Punay karma or pious activities gives only some temporary love. Actually chanting is nectarian even without any result. Śrīla Prabhupāda once said that chanting means more chanting. I other words chanting itself is the greatest thing. This was her reply. Ninth is to explain the glories of the holy name to the faithless. Tenth offence? Even after we hear so many instructions on the glories of the holy name that still we maintain material attachments. We don’t put our faith in our holy name, that’s offensive. Or if we're inattentive while chanting. So one has to avoid these offences to the holy name when you’re chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

On offenses: If we’re completely attentive while we chant then how can we be offensive or speculative doing in any other offences. If we have full faith in the holy name and we just fix our mind in the holy name we don’t need to do any of these other things which are offensive and no reason. We should know the glories of the holy name and very carefully chant and hear the mantra attentively so then we can avoid other offences.

We should make an effort not to do the nonsense. So you don’t make any effort, not to do any nonsense and again and again we ask. Kṛṣṇa will forgive us. At one point He may not forgive us, but our side we have to make special effort to avoid. Then if still somehow we do some nonsense we can ask for forgiveness and keep on chanting, that’s alright. But we should try, we shouldn’t think that our only way that, I can do the nonsense and ask Kṛṣṇa, He’ll forgive me.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!