20220619 Prīti Lakṣṇam Program and Initiation Address

The following is a Prītī Lakṣaṇam program initiation address given at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore India, by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 19th, 2022.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: So today now we are observing the initiation ceremony. And this means we are connecting our souls to the disciplic succession. We are in the Brahmā-Madhva-Śrī-Caitanya-Mahāprabhu-sampradāya. And they have revealed that the summum bonum is Kṛṣṇa Himself. Lord Brahmā said:

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam 
(Bs. 5.1)

The Supreme Godhead is Kṛṣṇa, and He is the cause of all causes. Taking initiation means to practice bhakti-yoga and serve Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa was one then He expanded Himself into various energies. So, the pleasure potency or āhlādini-śakti is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. She is the source of the gopīs, of the queens of Dvārakā, of the Lakṣmīs of Vaikuṇṭha. Kṛṣṇa expands Himself to Balarāma, catur-vyūha Nārāyaṇa and the puruṣa-avatāras.

So taking initiation means that we accept that Kṛṣṇa is our shelter. Prior to initiation we have a step called āśraya or shelter. So, everyone has a chance to try out for at least one year how this process works. You see, being in the material world this human life is a chance to get out into the spiritual world. We are the spirit energy in the body and when that spirit, ātmā, leaves the body, the body is dead. Then we take another birth depending on our consciousness. If we are habituated to thinking about Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, then we go to the spiritual world. If we think of any of the Nārāyaṇa avatāras or Lord Rāma then we go to the spiritual world to Their planet.

Bharata Mahārāja was the emperor, the ruler of the world, son of a Viṣṇu avatāra. And he left the whole kingdom and went to the forest to meditate. But a mother deer she leaped over into the river, died and gave birth to a fawn. And he took up that baby deer and cared for it. When he died the deer was licking his face. So instead of thinking about Kṛṣṇa, he thought about the deer. Because of that he took birth as a deer, but he remembered his previous birth what happened. So, he thought I made a big mistake by becoming affectionate towards the baby deer.

Then in the next birth, he took birth as Jaḍa Bharata, a brāhmaṇa but he did not talk to anyone. So, they thought he was mentally ill, dumb. But he did not want to make any mistake. He was just thinking about Kṛṣṇa. Then his parents did not know what to do with him, they put him out in the field to scare away birds. A group of dacoits thought that this is a dumb human, a man animal, let us sacrifice him to Bhadra Kālī. Then they bathed him, dressed him in white and they were about to chop off his head. But Goddess Kālī realized he is a great soul, he has disguised himself as dumb. She came alive from the mūrti and cut the head off the dacoit. She had many assistants or sakhīs and they cut the heads of all the other dacoits. And they were tossing the heads around like balls! Jaḍa Bharata he went back to the field.

Then one king he was being carried on a palanquin. And one of his bearers of the palanquin was limping. They saw Jaḍa Bharata was very stout and strong in the field, they same come on and lift the palanquin. But Jaḍa Bharata he did not want to do any sin, he was skipping over the ants. And the king said, “What are you doing you idiot? You fatso!” And Jaḍa Bharata replied, “I am not fat or skinny, I am not the body, I am a spirit soul.” The king said, “Stop, stop the palanquin, stop it, stop!” He jumped out and paid his daṇḍavats to Jaḍa Bharata. He said, “You are not speaking like an ordinary person, you are speaking high philosophy. So please forgive me for my offences.” Anyway, there is a whole section in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about this.

So we have been in this material world for many, many births through 8 million 400 thousand species of life. And human birth is an opportunity to get back home back to Godhead. You are taking initiation, this is a step in that direction. You started out as a student but eventually you have to become a master. But you will always be a student to your guru but you have to be a master in your own right. So you have to learn Kṛṣṇa consciousness very carefully. And like one should study Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam very carefully.

You see the older devotees, I want to establish them as masters, but they have not read, they don’t have the degrees. Why I am mentioning this to you, so that all you new devotees start your education Bhakti-śāstri, Bhakti-vaibhava, Bhakti-vedānta, Bhakti-Sārvabhauma when you have time. They have been doing this in Hosur. Already somebody in their 20s is having a Bhakti-vedānta degree. Don’t leave it to later, later you will have more service and have less time. Even we would like to make Bengaluru a Kṛṣṇa conscious city, so each of you have to be Kṛṣṇa conscious and read śāstra. Most devotees have not read all of Śrīla Prabhupāda books. Several devotees have read the books five times, ten times. Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by Kṛṣṇa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is spoken about Kṛṣṇa. These are books, which are literary incarnations of Kṛṣṇa. Read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and have unlimited bliss! Haribol! This is the way to protect yourself with the vaccine against māyā. So I won’t speak more because it is late but it is my humble request. And those who are gṛhasthas make your house centered on Kṛṣṇa. Read Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, have Deities in your house, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.. harināma, then the Yamadūtas will not go near your house! The Viṣṇudūtas will take you back to Kṛṣṇaloka. We want this to be your last life in this material world. So as Mādhava Kānta dāsa has been explaining prior to initiation, there are two steps, aspiring and shelter. Those who take shelter there is a checklist of things you should learn before you take initiation. Like how to offer food for Kṛṣṇa. This is something you need to do, you need to eat, so you offer your food to Kṛṣṇa. You heard the ten offences, you have to chant and avoid the ten offences. If you have any questions, we will have a question-and-answer period in the evening.