Initiations

Prabhupāda: They have got neckbeads?

Pradyumna: Everyone has their neckbeads? Yes. Bhakta Adhīra?

Devotee (1): Kṛṣṅa dāsa.

Prabhupāda: His family? [indistinct discussion]

Kṛṣṅa dāsa [child]: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Pradyumna: His name is Abhayāśraya.

Prabhupāda: [Hindi] So kya niyama hai?

Adhīra: [says four rules in Hindi]

Prabhupāda: Abhayāśraya.

Devotees: Jaya. [applause]

Pradyumna: Bhakta Allen?

Devotee (1): He's not present.

Pradyumna: Ātmānanda? Ātma-tattva dāsa.

Prabhupāda: [Hindi] Kya niyama hai?

Ātmānanda: No meat-eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex, no gambling.

Prabhupāda: [Hindi] [indistinct discussion] Ātmānanda dāsa.

Pradyumna: Ātma-tattva dāsa.

Prabhupāda: Ātma-tattva dāsa.

Devotees: Jaya!

Pradyumna: Lakshmana? Bhakta Lakshmana?

Devotee (1): Pay full obeisances.

Hari-śauri: Daṅḍavats.

Devotee (1): Fall flat.

Prabhupāda: [Hindi] Kya niyama hai?

Lakshmana: [Hindi]

Pradyumna: Lakṣmīśa dāsa.

Prabhupāda: Lakṣmīśa dāsa.

Devotee: Laksmīśvara.

Devotees: Jaya.

Pradyumna: Robin?

Prabhupāda: While coming they should be careful not to touch feet anything. These people, they do not know. Especially...

Lokanātha: [Hindi] Do not touch any of these things with your feet.

Prabhupāda: What are the rules and regulations?

Robin: No egg or fish, no meat-eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication and no gambling.

Pradyumna: Atīndra dāsa.

Prabhupāda: Atīndra dāsa.

Devotee: Atīndra dāsa.

Devotees: Jaya.

Pradyumna: Roger?

Prabhupāda: Walk very carefully. You should come very carefully to get beads.

Lokanātha: Excuse me, prabhus. I'll repeat one more time, do not touch any of these things. Be careful.

Prabhupāda: Not touch nor cross.

Lokanātha: Not even go over it. It is offensive. Please make a way.

Prabhupāda: What are the rules?

Roger: No intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling, no illicit sex. Chant sixteen rounds daily.

Pradyumna: Revatī-kumāra.

Prabhupāda: Revatī-kumāra dāsa.

Devotee: Revatī-kumāra dāsa.

Devotees: Jaya.

Pradyumna: Satyānanda?

Lokanātha: Namaḥ oṁ should be uttered, should be a vibration. Otherwise, Nectar of Devotion says it's offense. [Hindi]

Satyānanda: [Hindi] ...chāya, coffee, cigarettes, bīḍī, gañja. [Hindi]

Pradyumna: Siddhārtha dāsa.

Prabhupāda: Siddhārtha dāsa.

Devotee: Siddhārtha dāsa.

Devotees: Jaya.

Pradyumna: Dharma?

Lokanātha: Prabhupāda? These are his beads you were chanting on before.

Prabhupāda: No shaving?

Lokanātha: He's Tejiyas's man. I don't know. He is just a visitor, householder. He's in business.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Give him initiation. [Hindi about shaving]

Lokanātha: [indistinct] initiation, he should do it first?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Lokanātha: I'll ask him.

Devotee: Jaya, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Nobody said to him? You did not know? Let him shave up. Then we shall... You should. You are introducing, you did not know? Then who has introduced?

Lokanātha: Tejiyas.

Prabhupāda: Tejiyas is not saying, and you also not detect? You should be very careful. If you remain ignorant, all ignorant, then where is progress? Everything ignorant I have to find out. So many big, big monkeys, nobody could find out. Big, big monkey, big, big belly. You also did not. That's all... Who is next?

Pradyumna: Anyone else? That is all, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So? [Hindi conversation] [break] Yes. Because some of them, they could not follow Hindi.

Pradyumna: I'll just do it fast. First nāma-aparādha is [Sanskrit verse] Paramam aparādham The saints, the saintly persons who are spreading the glories of the holy name, if we abuse them, if we make offense at the people who are spreading the glories of the holy name, then the holy name will never tolerate that. How can the holy name tolerate the abuse of those who are spreading the glories of the holy name? So we must understand that a saintly person, a sādhu, satām, spreading the glories of Kṛṣṅa, talking about Kṛṣṅa, must never be offended. Must always be very careful. Sādhu-saṅga [Cc Madhya 22.83].

[The root cause of devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṅa is association with advanced devotees. Even when one’s dormant love for Kṛṣṅa awakens, association with devotees is still most essential.]

You must know how to associate with the sādhus, to always honor them and worship them and not to make offense. The second offense is that we should not put the..., understand that the names of Śrī Kṛṣṅa or Viṣṅu-tattva personalities, which are completely spiritual, are the same as the material designations of jīvas like ourselves. There's Viṣṅu-tattva, there is jīva. Viṣṅu-tattva is God; jīva is this ordinary living entity. The name of the Supreme is the same as the Supreme. The name of the jīva is different from the jīva. So we should not confuse these. We should understand the name of Viṣṅu is the same as Viṣṅu. The name of jīva is not the same. So the names of demigods—the demigods are also jīvas—their names are not spiritual. If we call names of some demigods, it will not do us the same spiritual..., it will not give us this spiritual result as calling the name of Kṛṣṅa.

Prabhupāda: Therefore during the time of initiation we change the name. A spiritual name is given. Go on.

Pradyumna: Because that spiritual name has..., because the name of Kṛṣṅa, a name of Hari, has the spiritual potency; therefore we use the name of Hari as much as possible. Hari dāsa...

Prabhupāda: Dāsa. Not that name, but the name's servant. Dāsa. When one is named Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa dāsa, he is servant of Kṛṣṅa. Not that Kṛṣṅa. If he thinks, "I have become Kṛṣṅa," that is Māyāvāda. Kṛṣṅa dāsa. Go on.

Pradyumna: The next offense is guror avajñā, to neglect or disrespect the orders of the spiritual master. Because the spiritual master is the external representation of the internal Kṛṣṅa, whatever the spiritual master says is to be taken as exactly what Kṛṣṅa's desire is. Kṛṣṅa is within all of us as Paramātmā, but because we cannot see Him, because He is adhokṣaja, or above our senses, therefore that same Kṛṣṅa within appears without as the spiritual master, and he gives us instructions, and these are taken to be the same as Kṛṣṅa's instructions. So to disrespect the orders of the guru is not to make any progress on the spiritual path. Na gatiḥ kuto 'pi. There can be no gatiḥ, there can be no spiritual achievement without following the orders of the spiritual master, because the order of the spiritual master is the same as Kṛṣṅa's order. Śruti-śāstra-nindanam. One should not make blasphemy the śruti, which are the Vedas, and śāstra, the śāstras which follow the Vedas. This is Mahābhārata, the Purāṅas, the itihāsa, the smṛti. Śruti-smṛti. These are the two eyes. It is said the brāhmaṅa has two eyes: one is śruti, one is smṛti. So by these śāstras we can understand, because the śāstras are made by God, because they are emanating from God; therefore they are perfect. As Kṛṣṅa...

Prabhupāda: Not different. Not different from God.

Pradyumna: Because God is perfect, because Kṛṣṅa is perfect, therefore His words and His ideas are also perfect. So these śāstras are the words of God. So they are also perfect. So the śruti-śāstra-nindanam means to think that there may be something wrong in the scripture or to take one verse out of Bhagavad-gītā and reject another verse. Because it is all coming from Kṛṣṅa and is all-perfect, therefore everything is perfect within it. We must accept everything. We must accept it without any..., as being without any fault. So śruti-śāstra-nindanam. We should not think that it has any imperfection, that "This may be wrong." Śruti-śāstra-nindanam hari-nāmni kalpanam. We should not think that the..., should not speculate on the nature of the holy name.

Prabhupāda: Go on, next. Nāmnād balād pāpa-buddhiḥ.

Pradyumna: Nāmnād balād pāpa-buddhir na tasya śuddhiḥ, na tasya vidyate śuddhir yamaiḥ. Of one who makes... The next offense is that..., if by chanting the holy name one becomes relieved from all his past sinful reactions, so if one thinks that "I will perform sinful activities. I'll have illicit sex, I'll eat meat, fish..." [break] [end]