20231212 Initiation Address

The following is an Initiation Ceremany by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja, on December 12th, 2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The Ceremony was held in Nāmahaṭṭa 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!

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

hari haraye namaḥ kṛṣṇa yādavāya namaḥ
gopāla govinda rāma śrī-madhusūdana

Nitāi-Gaura Haribol! 

Jayapatākā Swami: Today devotees have come from Murshidabad, Birbhum, Ekacakra Dhāma, Bankura, and South 24-Parganas.

One sādhu brought Nitāi-Gaura Deities from Navadvīpa to Māyāpur.

Then the Deities were not installed.

Then there was a discussion that we wanted those Deities.

I hear the Deities have gone to Ekacakra.

I went to Ekacakra but there they said that the Deities have gone to Murshidabad.

Then we went to Murshidabad and there was an āśrama there.

There was a temple of Rāmacandra Kavirāja and there were many bābājīs and sādhus there.

It was not their responsibility to worship the Deities and they could not think about it.

The head Mahanta we asked, and he agreed and he told his devotees to give the Deities.

We brought those Deities and installed them on our boat.

Śrīla Prabhupāda went there and offered worship.

Then on the boat we went to many places.

This was south 24-Parganas.

These Deities have not got anywhere but Murshidabad, 24-Paraganas, Bankura, Gaṅgā-sāgara.

Some other places the Deities went. 

I heard that Śrīla Prabhupāda said it is useful to worship the installed Deities.

Our darśana is thinking but arcana is practical – do worship, decorate, do abhiṣeka, offering, etc.

there are many services that the gṛhasthas do, many of the sins committed get removed and their attachment to the installed Deity increases.

How many of you have Deities at home?

Mostly women! This way, it is good for gṛhasthas to chant and preach but when they are not able to preach, service to the Deities is good.

If they don’t have Deities, they can have pictures. 

Today you were told about the offences to the holy name and also the advantages of taking initiation were talked about.

You are all very fortunate, these places you have come are in the Gaura-maṇḍala.

Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura said: 

gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi jebā jāne cintāmaṇi
tāra haya vraja-bhūme vāsa

You do the parikramā in the temple and at the back near the Pañca-tattva there is a picture, Nitāi Gaura, Advaita Gosāñī, Śrīvāsa-ādi many devotees are dancing and chanting with Them.

Here the Supreme Personality of Godhead has come in the form of a devotee.

And He was dancing with the devotees! The Lord is also called Triyuga.

Because in the Satya, Tretā and Dvāpara yugas He appears openly.

But in Kali-yuga He comes but in a secret way – channa-avatāra.

Think about it, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came, who is Kṛṣṇa Himself and He was dancing with the devotees, Gaurāṅga!

Nityānanda!

Advaita Gosāñī! They were so fortunate that devotees got to dance and chant with the Lord in kīrtana eternally. 

But Kṛṣṇa had said in the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa that five thousand years after the beginning of Kali-yuga, will be the beginning of the ten thousand years Golden Age.

Then people will majorly be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Now 5,000 years have passed . Śrīla Prabhupāda came and preached all over the world.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he had said that devotees from different countries will come and do parikramā in Māyāpur.

And people from Āryadeśa, India will also come and do parikramā.

His Holiness Gaurāṅga Prema Mahārāja is a devotee of Nāmahaṭṭa.

There will be two parties majorly one the national and other international devotees and they will have a union.

They will embrace each other “Jaya Śacīnandana! Jaya Śacīnandana!”

Who is from which country, who is of what caste, all these are not of significance, only the thoughts of Lord Gaurāṅga.

Now, a devotee has come from Detroit, America.

There he lives in a farm.

But he does harināma with cymbals and mṛdaṅga there. People come and here also you do.

But if people in the West do this, that has a special realization of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s preaching there.

He lives in a gośālā.

Americans come and do cow cuddling. They give some donation.

Generally, people eat cow and their calf.

But once they cuddle the calf they say they will not eat the calf in our life again.

Now we are leaving this culture in the world.

One of our devotees there, Abhaycaraṇa Nimāi, if you want to hug the cow, he can arrange that for you. 

We can think that Lord Caitanya was here 500 years ago.

How can we get His association?

Kṛṣṇa was 5,000 years ago, how will we get His association?

Now Kṛṣṇa’s name, Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, Kṛṣṇa’s qualities, whatever is linked with Kṛṣṇa, and that way we can get the association of Kṛṣṇa. 

Kṛṣṇa was in Vṛndāvana for 15 years with the vraja-vāsīs.

But the rest of their lives the vraja-vāsīs meditated on Kṛṣṇa in separation.

Kṛṣṇa said that He did not take even one step out of Vṛndāvana.

The vraja-vāsīs have so much love and affection for Kṛṣṇa, they are non-different from Kṛṣṇa.

This way we also can get the association of Caitanyadeva.

So they always think of Kṛṣṇa in the mood of separation, vipralambha.

If we think of Kṛṣṇa in separation that means staying in the association of Kṛṣṇa.

Thinking of Caitanyadeva, thinking of the devotees, there is so much bliss!

This way, Lord Caitanya taught us that all the time we can stay in the association of Kṛṣṇa in separation.

Yaśodā Maiyā prepared ghee and butter and would do kṛṣṇa-bhajana vocally. 

Now husband and wife in the Nāmahaṭṭa in various ways chanting and dancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the bliss we get is unlimited.

In the kīrtana adhivāsa they sing – ānander sīmā nai, ānander sīmā nāi, nirānanda dūre jāy, nirānanda dūre jāy.

Today those who are getting initiated are going to be absolved of all your sins!

But your oath will be that you will not sin any more.

Especially, committing sins will not work.

There are four regulative principles, they will not work. 

Śrīla Prabhupāda said in a lecture that their followers who were gṛhasthas should be paramahaṁsas.

That means all the time you will think about Gaurāṅga and Kṛṣṇa.

And he said that his gurudeva, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was the son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.

So all the gṛhasthas please bring up ācārya children.

We need a lot of ācāryas.

Pray to the Lord that you will observe the gārbhadāna-saṁskāra and pray to have Kṛṣṇa conscious children, good health, long lived, Kṛṣṇa conscious good son.

Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī had written in the Sat-kriyā-saṁsara-dīpikā.

The brahmacārīs should know this and tell all the devotees.

The first saṁskāra is very easy and is called gārbhadāna-saṁskāra.

That can only be observed by gṛhasthas.

Not by brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs.

If you think of the Lord, of the ācāryas, then your life will be perfected. 

In ISKCON it is said that in the presence of the guru, the disciple cannot initiate.

But if the guru orders then they can initiate.

I am old now and in the future, those who have already taken shelter I will initiate them. But my senior disciples in the future will initiate.

His Holiness Gaurāṅga Prema Mahārāja is now a guru.

And we will have more.

Now, gradually he will start.

In the future I will give less initiations.

I am told that time is up!

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!