19990117 Arrival and Initiation Address

The following is an initiation lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 17th 1999 in Kṛṣṇa-kathā Deśa.

Jayapatākā Swami: […] Sometimes one sees in India, Gītā-jñāna-yajñas, jñāna-yajñas are very popular and the speakers are promoting jñāna-yoga. We are following here the process of bhakti-yoga, which includes jñāna automatically. But according to the system of jñāna-mārga as given by Śaṅkarācārya, in order to achieve mokṣa, you have to take sannyāsa. Now how many people, out of the thousands of people that go to jñāna-yajñas, how many are prepared to take sannyāsa? The process of jñāna means that you say jagan mithyā brahma satyaṁ, “the world is false, Absolute is true.” But in the process of bhakti we don’t find that verse that jagan-mithyā, it says jagata asat brahma sat, that this material world is asat. It is temporary. It is not false, but it is temporary. In that sense it is illusory. You think something is permanent, but it is not permanent. But it is the energy of Kṛṣṇa. How can it be false? Nothing that comes from Kṛṣṇa is false.

So, when we are in this temporary world, if we are able to create something which is permanent, that is very good. Just like say someone gets a temporary job in the Gulf as an expatriate. Have you ever met anyone in that situation? But they work and they like to build something permanent in India or in their homeland, buy a house, get some land. Relative to having something like landed property and a means of existence, once you finish your work, that is considered permanent. Of course, that is also temporary (laughter) but just as an example, it is more permanent. So, we take that while we are in this material world, we are actually just expatriates in the spiritual world. We really belong in the spiritual world. That is where we come from. That is our eternal abode to be with Kṛṣṇa in Vaikuṇṭha and Goloka.

While we are here in this temporary world, we have the opportunity to again regain our eternal residence back in the spiritual world at the end of this lifetime. So, that is why I said that side by side, we survive in this material world. We make our secure situation as much as you can have in the material world. You be peaceful, you be happy. At the same time, you go on with your spiritual development, with your Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So that at the end of life you can go back to home, back to Godhead. And meanwhile, while you are developing, you are experiencing a spiritual happiness. It is a very simple concept. One doesn’t lose actually anything. At the same time, one gains everything.

So other aspect, of course, is that people say, “Why you are doing this? You are so young. You should wait till you are about three days before your death”, because they think that spiritual life is suffering. So why would anybody want to suffer? Wait till the last possible moment and then do spiritual life. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu showed that actually spiritual life is blissful. In bhakti-yoga, spiritual life is ecstatic. Ānandamayo ’bhyāsāt, even in the ninth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa explains,

rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ
pavitram idam uttamam
pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ
su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam
[Bg. 9.2]

Su-sukham, it is very joyfully performed. In other words, if you are doing your spiritual life properly, it is not suffering, it is joyfully performed. In the intermediate, when we are in neophytes and we are very much attached to many bad habits in the material world, then getting over those bad habits and getting properly situated in proper spiritual practices, there is a transitional period where it appears difficult and it is somewhat difficult depending on each individual.

That is the phase where people think this is suffering. But actually, once someone develops a taste for chanting, develops their spiritual rhythm, their spiritual habits, it is very joyfully performed, su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam. There may be many joyful things. People do happy things on the vacation, but they are not avyayam, they are not indestructible. We were in Australia, and we had two Ratha-yātrās. One in daytime, on 30^th of December on the beach, and one that city requested us to do a ratha along with their parade, end of the parade. We had a ratha on 31^st of December at 10 in the evening because people in the West on New Year’s Eve and even modern Indians are doing, they are having parties.

But in the West, they get so wild that they were killing each other and smashing the stores down. So, the city wanted to do something to engage the people in less destructive activities. So, they started this parade. But it wasn’t fully successful. So, they asked the Hare Kṛṣṇas, if we would do kīrtana, have a ratha at the end of the parade. Then it makes the whole atmosphere very peaceful. So, they requested us and for three years now they have been having this ratha. So, it is a different type of environment. I mean, normally the ratha, it is a very religious festival. People are in a very pious mood. Like India, we do Ratha-yātrā. Everybody is coming and they are offering their prayers. This is a mad place. People are tamas mode but the devotees, they are chanting. We are in a spiritual mode but the other people around, they are in a mad situation. But when they see the devotees, they are all trying to be happy. They see the devotees are chanting. They see these people are happier than we are. They are trying to be happy by intoxication, by dancing in the club. We are dancing, but we are dancing the kīrtana. So they come and join us. In fact, they want to come and embrace. I have to have a group of people around me. I was leading the kīrtana that nobody comes in their lubricated state and just embraces (laughter) but we actually had thousands of people singing and dancing Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is what preaching is like in the West. It is different than India, it is…

But I remember that in Caitanya-caritāmṛta or Caitanya-bhāgavata, there was a time when Lord Caitanya was walking with His followers. And there were some drunkards. They saw Lord Caitanya and they started to mimic, “Oh, look at Gaurahari! Oh, He dances so nice.” And one started dancing behind, you know, he was drunkard. And some of the devotees were getting very angry. This is offensive to Lord Caitanya. He is making fun, but he is actually, you know, in a jolly mood. And he is chanting,

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

You know, they never get it straight. And then he went back and sat with his friends. So, the devotee said to Lord Caitanya, “Why didn’t you let us stop him? I mean, he was being offensive.” He said, “No, he is a drunkard. He is not offensive. Actually, his drinking will wear off tomorrow. The effect of the alcohol. But the fact that he chanted, ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’, that will stay with him forever.” So even we are getting the drunken people to chant so that next day they have headache, and they are sick and what do they do? There is no happiness you see in that. But the fact that they chanted ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’, that stays with him forever.

So, this is a process which is really joyfully performed. And those who... even the other process might be difficult. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He has given a process which is simply blissful. There is a song by one of our ācāryas,

parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana
nitāi gauracandra
saba avatāra-sāra śiromaṇi kevala ānanda-kanda

Parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana, this Supremely merciful avatāra, These two Lords – Nitāi Gauracandra. Nityānanda Prabhu, who is Balarāma incarnation, come as a bhakta. And Lord Gaurāṅga, who is Kṛṣṇa, who come as a devotee; so, saba avatāra-sāra śiromaṇi - of all the incarnations, they are sāra śiromaṇi, they are their crown jewel, the topmost. Why? Because they gave the process that is kevala ānanda-kanda. Every avatāra is giving mokṣa, they are giving some tapasya, they are giving some different dharmas.

But Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, you read Gītā, Bhāgavata, you sing and dance in ecstasy, you feast on kṛṣṇa-prasāda, you have festivals. It is all the nectar part, kevala ānanda-kanda, just the nectar part. None of the difficult things are there. Because in Kali-yuga, even living is so difficult. People are not at all inclined to do anything religious. Practically very few people are inclined. So, Lord Caitanya made it very easy. “Okay, at least you do these blissful things. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, dance, you see, Take prasāda.” I think everybody is ready for prasāda. So, I will end the class here. Do these things. These are all the blissful things. So, we like to let people see, we actually have rules and regulations that is there. Especially those who want to get back in this one lifetime.

Then they are… once they develop a taste, then they accept these vows of initiation. We don’t want to scare people off that they have to follow all these things before they can chant. Let people know this is very blissful. Let them chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and experience. Once they actually get a taste for it, then they will also want to. “How can I maintain this?” If you just chant and then you start, you again do some sinful activities, you lose that natural happiness you get from chanting. So then when someone wants to maintain that happiness all the time, then they are ripe to learn about following their rules and regulations. And when somebody is already become more advanced and they really want to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and follow a śuddha-sattva lifestyle can be as a householder, can be as a brahmacārī.

Today we have here one is a brahmacārī and two are householders. So of course, so, he is brahmacārī, but he is maintaining his parents in India and Bangladesh. Whichever way one might be living, it is alright but one should go on being Kṛṣṇa conscious. So that in a nutshell is some message. It is as serious as was explained by Nanda Kumāra Dāsa. It is a serious commitment. If you want to go forward with the commitment and then pick up your neck beads. Someone can tie their neck beads around their neck. This means that they are protected.

Was there initiation ceremony here in Qatar before? I was always thinking this. We are giving code name for each of the places here. So I thought this was well, Bahrain, we call Balarāma-deśa. So, this could be Kṛṣṇa-deśa because it is Qatar. Then we heard that Mahā-Viṣṇu Dāsa said it is a Kṛṣṇa-kathā. So, that is nice. Qatar (sounds like kathā) kathā, Kṛṣṇa-kathā. So, we can call this as the Kṛṣṇa-kathā Deśa.

(Śrīla Guru Mahārāja starts chanting the mantras chanted during the process of initiation)

Jayapatākā Swami: Who is here standing longer? You are here first. (In Bengali) Offer your respectful obeisances. So, today, we are having an initiation ceremony and also shelter ceremony. This is considered to be second birth. The first birth, one gets is from his birth-parents. Once, one takes Harināma initiation, then the spiritual master is considered as one’s spiritual father and the śāstras, the standard scriptures are considered to be the mother. (to the devotee) You want big or medium size? What do you want? Big or small or medium? What are the four regulative principles that you are committed to follow all your life? You have to say what are the four regulative principles that you have to follow all your life. Did you do the ācamana yet? The mantras for purification? oṁ, repeat,

oṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā
yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bahyābhyantaraḥ śuciḥ
śrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu

Okay, in your right hand, take a little water, say, ‘Śrī Viṣṇu’ and drink it. Take another little water and then throw it. Let her come also, she also has to be purified, śrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu, oṁ… this is the mudrā for taking it,

oṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā
yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bahyābhyantaraḥ śuciḥ
śrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu

oṁ śrī nārāyaṇāya namaḥ
oṁ śrī mādhavāya namaḥ
oṁ śrī govindāya namaḥ

Okay, tell me what are the four restrictions. [Aside: Done, just once and it is okay, done] So what are they? The four regulative principles, you have to say. How many times are you supposed to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra daily? Are you fixed in your vow to help me in fulfilling the desire of Śrīla Prabhupāda, to please him by fulfilling his mission? Okay so your name is Padmanābha Nitāi Dāsa. (Haribol! Jaya! Ācārayapāda kī! Jaya!) Go and pay obeisances to Kṛṣṇa, pray obeisances in front of the Deity.

Sudhā and Bharatan, Hare Kṛṣṇa. What are the four regulative principles you are committed to following the rest of your life? How many rounds minimum per day? And you are committed to pleasing Śrīla Prabhupāda and helping me to fulfill this mission? So, your name I got from the thousand names of Bālājī. You are getting a promotion. Now you have become the servant of the older brother of Bharata. Your name is Bharatāgraja Harī Dāsa. Agraja means older brother of, so the older brother of Bharata is Lord Rāma. It is also the name of Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa and Rāma is non-different.

Your name means that you are the servitor of Rādhārāṇī who has got a form of a nectarian form, a beautiful form. Your name is Sūdhāṅgī Rādhīkā Devī Dāsī. The photographers weren’t fast enough. Did he get his? Pay your praṇāma to Śrīla Prabhupāda and okay, hold it. At the time of initiation, we are to give a new name. But sometimes they already have names which are spiritual. So out of respect for the parents, we like to keep link sometimes.