20221016 Initiation Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: Who is here from Gujarat? Who is from Maharashtra? Danyavād! All glories to Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā, Sudarśana cakra kī jaya! All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda! Today we are having first and second initiations and we are also having aspiring and shelter ceremonies. So, first I will give a short talk and then I will chant the mantra. And then we will have the different ceremonies.

In London Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving a lecture, he said how his gurudeva sent a sannyāsī to England but he was not so successful. Śrīla Prabhupāda sent three gṛhastha couples and they were very successful. They had made contact with the Beatles group and rocked London. So he said that he wanted all his gṛhastha followers to become paramahaṁsas. So previously mainly the brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs were doing all the pracāra. But since the time of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura Nāmahaṭṭas and recently Bhakti-vṛkṣa groups are very active. And many of the gṛhastha devotees are helping in the preaching. So, that is an important improvement. And we need that all the gṛhasthas, all the devotees should study Śrīla Prabhupāda books. And they should get the degrees – Bhakti-śāstri, Bhakti-vaibhava, Bhakti-vedānta, etc. This way we will be able to follow Lord Caitanya’s order. Lord Caitanya ordered, Yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa (Cc. Madhya 7.128). How can you tell Kṛṣṇa’s upadeśa if you do not read Bhagavad-gītā? Bhagavad-gītā is Kṛṣṇa’s upadeśa. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavata Purāṇa is about Kṛṣṇa and His devotees. So in this way one can know what Lord Kṛṣṇa’s upadeśa is.

Normally, in this world, people are thinking they are the body. And that the comfort of the body is the goal of life. But actually, what is the real problem of life? That janma, mṛtyu, jarā, vyādhi. Birth, death, old age and disease. So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, bhakti-yoga can solve all these problems. If we are Kṛṣṇa conscious, then we go back to Kṛṣṇa. And in the spiritual world there is no birth, no death, no old age and no disease.

We just heard someone’s father passed away in his sleep. These things, in the material world Prahlāda Mahārāja said it is like a grinding stone, it grinds us. And then in every birth I have taken there are two things I have to endure. I lose association with dear ones and I was thinking, I lost association with Śrīla Prabhupāda! And another problem Prahlāda Mahārāja said that I am forced to accept things I do not want. So, our solution is that this should be our last birth. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, you go back to Godhead. And by chanting we get spiritual happiness. How much happiness there is in chanting or serving Kṛṣṇa is beyond calculation!

So, this month is the Dāmodara month. This month any service you do for Kṛṣṇa, you get 100 times the result. Haribol! That means like a special sale! 100 times! If you want to buy like an Innova car, how much is it? 32 lakh rupees. So, if you take just 1% how much is it? Toyota Innova new car worth 32 lakhs you get for 25,000 rupees! This is just a comparison! Actually, the Innova car after sometime will wear out. But the blessing you get from Kṛṣṇa it never wears out! So I would like all of you to go back to the spiritual world after this life. And with you fourteen generations, they go back. Your father, grandfather, great grandfather. Your child, your grandchild, their child. But even then you will not be happy, you want your neighbor also to go back to Godhead. So like this we want to deliver the whole world! India had this opportunity but the West did not know about it. And India is copying the West! So Śrīla Prabhupāda, he went to the West. And spread Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And now as a result, India is also copying the West! By copying Kṛṣṇa consciousness! If the foreigners do, why not we? Anyway, Lord Caitanya taught,

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra
(Cc. Ādi 9.41)

And now many Indians are in America working for IT companies. Google, Microsoft. Many are working. In the West they want Indians to help in preaching. He was preaching in the Middle East, Mathureśa Prabhu. He came back here and he is also continuing. Vaṁśīdhāra Viśāla dāsa, he went to England and he saw all the preaching was going on here. So here he is also preaching. We want all you devotees to be very, very serious about practicing and spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We think we are the body, we should know we are the eternal, spirit soul. And we have a body. We are not the body. We have the body. As long as we have the body, in pain we feel the pain, in pleasure we feel the pleasure. But that is not the real happiness we want. And certainly, we don’t want the unhappiness. But we are getting unhappiness. Kṛṣṇa described the material world as duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam [Bg. 8.15], temporary. So, happiness is not permanent, sadness is not permanent in this world. But if we are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we can always be happy.

Once I had a high fever and it was very painful for my body. Then I was listening to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lecture of Nectar of Devotion, in Vṛndāvana. I felt so much happiness! My body was suffering like anything, but I was feeling bliss! I could really understand by personal realization that I am not this body! I want you all to experience this transcendental bliss!

Alright! I see devotees have their plates. That is giving special offering. That is for nivedanam. All kinds of nivedanam, lamp nivedanam, puṣpa-nivedanam, bhoga-nivedanam, what kind of nivedanam are you doing? You will be giving the highest of all – ātma-nivedanam. Haribol! This means this life is meant to serve Kṛṣṇa. Only one life – we lead many lives. Sometimes we go up, sometimes we go down, sometimes the same. I heard one lecture where someone says, I want to take rebirth in India. But there is no guarantee you will be a human in your next birth. Maybe a tree in India! Or stray dogs! They are also India! So, I remember one person, next birth I want to be born in Svargaloka or America! So they think that America is like svarga! Although America has lot of problems. And even svarga, if you go you have to come back. We don’t want svarga, we don’t want America, we want to go back to the spiritual world. But I see many people taking initiations and I hope you will follow all the vows. I am taking a big risk, if you don’t go back, I will have to come back maybe. So please be very careful and follow bhakti-yoga very diligently. I am taking this risk because I want to see you go back! I may have to stay because of some of you not following! But I am taking that risk, but I hope you would also be very serious and get back. Hare Kṛṣṇa! Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!

I will chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra after chanting the Pañca-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!