20231207 Initiation Address

The following is an initiation ceremony class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 7th, 2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class was given at the Namahatta auditorium.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa! Many devotees have come from very far away. Ordinarily, it is dry here but today it is raining. Today we have gathered here for you to take initiation. For staying attached to our guru-paramparā, this ceremony is being conducted. Hope all of you would have taken shelter earlier, and that is why you are getting initiated today. I am reducing the number of new disciples I take. Now His Holiness Gaurāṅga Prema Mahārāja is a guru and there will be many more gurus. Those who have taken shelter from me, I will give them initiation. But if someone has taken shelter but wants to change guru, they can do that, but there is a system by which it can be done. Before initiation the devotee will have to wait for six months. From now on I will not take aspiring etc. His Holiness Gaurāṅga Prema Mahārāja will take them.

Now I am reading the tenth canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam – I have already read it five or six times or maybe more. Rukmiṇī wrote a letter to Kṛṣṇa. It was a long, beautiful letter. I am saying that in short as the letter she wrote was long. She sent the letter. The essence of the letter was that she glorified Kṛṣṇa and expressed her desire to surrender unto Him and become His wife. You may kidnap me like a demon because My brother is wanting to give me in hand to Śiśupāla. There is a custom in my family that I go to the temple of Ambikā before my marriage, which is outside the palace. You may please come there and take me away. So she entered the temple and paid obeisances to the Devī, saying that I offer my obeisances to your husband, Lord Śiva, your two sons, Kārtikeya and Gaṇeśa. There was an old lady who was accompanying Her and she told Rukmiṇī to wish for whatever was her greatest desire to the Devī. So Rukmiṇī expressed her desire that Kṛṣṇa be her husband. I want Kṛṣṇa. The gopīs did prayers to Kātyāyanī for Kṛṣṇa. Rukmiṇī went to the Devī, Kārtikeya and Gaṇeśa and prayed for Kṛṣṇa. In Bengal Kālī-pūjā, Durgā-pūjā are all very famous. But She prayed to the Devī for Kṛṣṇa. So anyone who desires to have Kṛṣṇa, they should pray to the Devī for that, if Kṛṣṇa wills. But many of us ask for material things like wealth, children, house, etc. We should only ask for service to Kṛṣṇa. We should take the names of Kṛṣṇa, worship Kṛṣṇa, have children for Kṛṣṇa.

In the Sat-kriyā-sāra-dīpikā book, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī has written about a saṁskāra call garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. The gṛhasthas pray to the Lord that they should get a Kṛṣṇa conscious, good health, long lived, good child. So they should follow this garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. Whatever we do, we do for the service of Kṛṣṇa. Now garbhādhāna-saṁskāra cannot be observed on full moon and new moon days and also on Aṣṭamī, and Ekādaśī. And also, on special days like Narasiṁha-caturdaśī, etc.

When you take initiation, you make the promise that whatever you do you will do for Kṛṣṇa.  Some days ago, there was an email when a lady said she wanted to marry a brahmacārī. But the brahmacārī did not want to marry her. But she insisted she wanted to get married to him. I offered to her that I would help her find another husband. But she got angry, and said you are lying to me. She said she does not chant 16 rounds, do not follow the regulative principles and showed me a video of her holding and eating fish. I told her that if she behaves like this, then I cannot help her. Then she wrote back that she did bite the fish but did not eat it! Crazy! So one should not lie. We are serving the representative of Kṛṣṇa, that is why it is not advisable to lie. There is a Bengali saying: Drink water underwater on the day of fasting! The person went to the river and dipped into the water and saw no one was watching him and he drank a few sips of water, slurp, slurp! Then he came out and thought no one had seen him. But Kṛṣṇa is in our heart, does He not know what we are doing? This way, hiding and doing things is not right. Whatever we do, we should always be truthful in front of the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya, They will appreciate that in this Kali-yuga.

There was a dacoit gang they wanted to go to Lord Nityānanda and rob Him off His jewelry. Three times they tried but could not succeed and faced different obstacles. The leader of the dacoits, he came to Lord Nityānanda and wanted to surrender to Him. But the other devotees there said, he is a dacoit, should we believe him? They could be secret spies and they always tell lies. Then Lord Nityānanda asked the dacoit leader, what is your realization? He said, “I am a dacoit. We are bad people. We had come to rob You. To take away all Your decorative jewelry from You but You have taught us a lesson and we understood that You are not an ordinary person. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is why I want to surrender unto You. Please forgive all My offences.” No dacoit ever surrenders like this and accepts his misdoings. But this dacoit said very frankly and cried and held Lord Nityānanda’s feet and surrendered. Lord Nityānanda then held him and embraced him! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! So that way, when we are in the temple or anywhere, we cannot keep anything confidential from the Lord. If we be truthful then the Lord will be happy with us. In Kali-yuga no one can say they have not done any sins. Everyone has committed less or more sins. Now, Nitāi Gaura came to deliver the sinful and fallen and take them back to Goloka Vṛndāvana!

You must have heard all what was spoken today with devotion. One thing, unmarried boys and girls, we have a Vaiṣṇava Marriage Bureau, to assist you. I don’t know if we have this in the Nāmahaṭṭa or not. If you find some partner, and are happy, that is okay. But if you want you can approach the Marriage Bureau and give your photo and other particulars to them.

Now I will chant the Harināma.