20260508 Initiation Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: So today we are observing the initiation ceremony here. And I was told we would have to leave this hall soon. So I am supposed to give a short class! Here are the Vaiṣṇavīs and there the Vaiṣṇavas! So, the difference and Vaiṣṇavas or Vaiṣṇavīs and the ordinary people is that one thinks that one is the body and tries to get bodily happiness and one knows that they are the eternal spirit soul and have different bodies. The body needs certain things, but they want to have it for the pleasure of guru and Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda there are differences like that. If one chants Hare Kṛṣṇa his whole life, then they go back to the spiritual world! I told Śrīla Prabhupāda that my pūrvāśrama father said he would send me to the American Army and go to Vietnam. So I asked him, “What should I do?” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “Better you join Kṛṣṇa’s army!” So I have joined Kṛṣṇa’s army and there is no return! So when people are getting initiated, they should know whether they are getting initiated by a General in Kṛṣṇa’s Army! They have to fight this war with fire! We don’t use missiles and machine guns – we use Harināma! We don’t want to serve our senses, we don’t want to be go-dāsas. Go-svāmī means we use the senses in the serve of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Śrīla Prabhupāda. So, the gṛhasthas, they can also use their senses for Kṛṣṇa. And in all the other āśramas also, they can use their senses to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa. So that is the difference between the Vaiṣṇavas and Vaiṣṇavīs and ordinary people.

So if you want to take repeated birth and death, if you want to be under the laws of karma, then do not take initiation. You can leave now! But if you want to go back to Godhead in this life, then you have to take the option of serving Kṛṣṇa. So, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a gradual process. Sādhana-bhakti has eight levels: śraddhā, sādhu-saṅgha, bhajana-kriyā . . . since I have little time, I cannot talk of all the levels. On the third level bhajana-kriyā, one takes initiation. Chanting, and avoiding breaking the regulative principles and engaging in devotional service. Like this, then one takes vows at the time of initiation. Have you taken your vows? Who has taken their vows? So, Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that chant 16 rounds and following the principles of no intoxication, meat eating, gambling and illicit sex, these are very important and have to be following throughout the whole life. So everyone has to receive some instructions from their dīkṣā-guru. So these instructions are given. I am also a śikṣā-guru, and I give śikṣā to my disciples. Some disciples ask if they can take so and so as their śikṣā-guru. The point is that there are two kinds of śikṣā-gurus, and one can have many śikṣā-gurus. I recently asked my disciples they can say who their śikṣā-gurus are – three to five of them. Some devotees they are the sons and daughters of Kṛṣṇa conscious parents. So, they are their natural śikṣā-gurus! It is a custom that one should not take dīkṣā from their parents. So, although Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had many disciples, he did not give initiation to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. And Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, his mother grabbed his hand when she was dying and said, “Please spread Lord Caitanya’s mission all over the world!” We wish every parent was like that! Isn’t she a śikṣā-guru! I did not have parents like that. Sūta Gosvāmī was said he was half bred – he was partly śūdra and partly brāhmaṇa. I am purebred! Mleccha by birth! But Śrīla Prabhupāda was so kind, he gave us the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra! He gave us initiation and engaged in devotional service. And made us Vaiṣṇavas and Vaiṣṇavīs! Now I don’t appear before you as a material person, but as a Vaiṣṇava! The devotees who are taking first initiation and who are taking second. First initiates should commit themselves that they will fight against Māyā! That they will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and do all their service to please Lord Kṛṣṇa! Second initiates, they are reconfirming their vows of their first initiation and now are very seriously committing to following the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. People ask, how do you keep your enthusiasm? What is the question of, how do you keep it??!! Śrīla Prabhupāda at the age of almost 70, he crossed the oceans, and he had seas sickness and heart attacks. He prayed to Lord Kṛṣṇa, I surrender to You, I am not intelligent, I have no ability. Simply by your mercy, these mlecchas and yanavas of the Western world will get the taste of Kṛṣṇa consciousness! So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he sacrificed so much for us! I mean, unbelievable! He could easily have stayed in Vṛndāvana at the Rādhā Dāmodara temple and go back to Godhead! He did not have to go around the world, he did not have to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the UK, in the USA, Canada. I met Śrīla Prabhupāda in Canada. He did not have to do all this! He did it only to please guru and Kṛṣṇa! So please dedicate yourselves to this movement, to having the shelter of Lord Kṛṣṇa! I was just talking to Śacīnandana Swami, and I was telling him that here over 3000 people are doing Kīrtana-melā, nāma-yajña. He also said that in Germany they are doing a kīrtana on Saturday and Sunday. So we are seeing the whole world is divided by war and disturbances and Śrīla Prabhupāda said the only hope is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement! So, I thank all of you very much for being here. This is a very movement! This is the greatest charity! People by chanting can get liberated and go back to Godhead! And they can make the world peaceful!

This was predicted in the Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa that there will be a ten-thousand-year Golden Age where the people would be Kṛṣṇa conscious. That will started, 5000 years after the Dvāpara-yuga. Now is the time! We need to bring it in! We need to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! We can do nothing but Kṛṣṇa could do everything! So, it is very important. Time up?

Your destination to the spiritual world is guaranteed if you keep chanting! I was saying there were eight levels of sādhana-bhakti – there is bhajana-kriyā, then anartha-nivṛtti, niṣṭhā, very carefully following, then nāma-ruci – tasting the bliss of chanting, one becomes attached – āsakti, then bhāva or rati. That is 99% Kṛṣṇa conscious. If one is not careful even at that level one can fall-down, but it is very rare! Bharata Mahārāja, he fell down in one sense because he was attached to a deer. But this is the preliminary stage of love of Godhead. One is crying, tears flowing from their eyes, hairs standing on end, etc. Who would like to get bhāva? Then from there when Kṛṣṇa blesses one achieves prema – that is a 100% Kṛṣṇa conscious. Bhāva and rati are like silver coin and prema is like a gold coin! So we want all of you to be Kṛṣṇa conscious and go back to Godhead!

Haribol!

I will say the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra three times, and you can repeat. The ladies who are taking initiation should keep their right ears open:

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

Those who are taking second initiation are reconfirming their vows, please stand up.