Initiation Class – ISKCON Pandharpur
Guru Purnima – 20 July 2024

This is a moment of great joy because today is your initiation day. This means it is your birthday! Happy Birthday to you! And how will you become truly happy? By chanting Hare Krishna, as Srila Prabhupada would often say: ‘Chant Hare Krishna and be happy.’

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

We must chant the holy name and always remember it. In this way, we will go back to Godhead. The joy of going back to Godhead is beyond words, and then everything will be joyful. This is the kind of joy we are experiencing today with those being initiated. In Western countries, when devotees celebrate birthdays, they sing, ‘Happy Birthday to you, and may you never take birth again.’
I don’t think you understood what I said. Happy birthday to you on your birthday and along with that, I pray and I hope that you all do not have to take birth again. May you never ever take birth again. Would you like to take birth again? No, you will not want to, yes? So then what must you do?

harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha

Translation
In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.(CC Madhya 6.242)

Today you are about to obtain the Supreme Lord! In what form will you attain the Supreme Lord?

kali kale nama rupe krsna avatara
nama haite haya sarva jagat nistara

Translation
In this Age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krsna maha mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Krsna. Simply by chanting the holy name, one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered. (CC Adi 17.22)

In Kaliyuga the Lord comes in His form as the holy name and so be sure that the Lord will incarnate for each one of you. When the Lord appears in every age, sambhavami yuge yuge,He comes in His different incarnations, such as Lord Rama in Ayodhya. The Lord then comes as Lord Krishna in Mathura or Vrindavan, or Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Mayapur.

When we reflect on it, we see that Lord Rama came for the benefit of the entire universe, just as Krishna came to Vrindavana for the same purpose. Similarly, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in Mayapur with this same intention. The Lord also manifests as His holy name, and today, He will appear in this way for all of you.

Then you will all attain your own Krishna, though in truth, you already have Him. The Lord says, ‘sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto’—’I am seated in everyone’s heart.’ Each of you has your own Lord, just as during the Rasa Lila, where the Lord expanded Himself to be with each Gopi.

Each Gopi had her own Krishna and for each Gopi there was one Krishna. One may question, If the Lord expands Himself to be with each Gopi, why does He not do so for us? He has already done that. You all have your own Lord and that He is one, He becomes many, eko bahu syam. As many living entities are there in the material world, the Supreme Lord expands to be with all those living entities and resides in their hearts.

When the conditioned soul is sent to the material world by the Lord, according to his own desires, the Lord does not leave him to go alone into the material world. The Lord goes with that soul.Just like a small child is never left alone by the parents, and especially the mother will never leave the child alone. She will go everywhere with her child. If the child is going to school, she will accompany him to school.If the child needs to go anywhere, then the mother will surely go with the child, and she looks after him and protects him always. In the same way the Supreme Lord is always with us, staying near us all the time and taking care of us. This Lord is in the lotus of our hearts and He also talks to us. He wants us to listen to what He says

‘mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca, – from Me comes remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.’ The Lord keeps reminding us since we have forgotten Him. If one does not want to remember the Supreme Lord then that is another thing, in which case the Lord helps us to forget Him, according to our own desire. Some people say, ‘Oh God doesn’t exist. There is no such thing as God.’

Those who think in this way do so by the will of the Lord. It is the Supreme Lord who inspires these thoughts. If we were certain that the Lord is watching us at every moment, we wouldn’t commit sinful acts. Some may say, ‘There is no God, and if there is, shoot Him!’ They believe that without a Supreme Lord to witness their actions, they won’t face consequences. But even those who deny God’s existence are driven by His will, as He allows them to think according to their desires. The Lord wishes to communicate with us, but when we don’t listen, He comes in the form of the Guru to guide us externally.

The spiritual master is the representative of the Supreme Lord and he represents the Lord. Whatever the Lord wanted to say to us, He says, but we were not listening to Him. That is why the spiritual master comes to meets us to repeat the same things that the Lord is telling us. In doing so, the spiritual master continues to make the living entity understand and persuades him to take up the path of devotional service.

These are the same teachings that Lord Krishna spoke to Arjuna when, by the will of the Lord, Arjuna briefly fell into Maya. Confused and reluctant to follow the Lord’s order, Arjuna hesitated to perform his duty as a warrior, which was to fight his enemies.

For a few moments the Supreme Lord did some magic and Arjuna said, ‘No! No!na ca sreyo ‘nupasyami hatva sva janam ahave’

na ca sreyo ‘nupasyami
hatva sva janam ahave
na kankse vijayam krsna
na ca rajyam sukhani ca

Translation
I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, nor can I, my dear Kṛṣṇa, desire any subsequent victory, kingdom, or happiness.
(BG 1.31)

Arjuna said, ‘Oh Lord, You are telling me to fight, but my throat is drying up, mukham cha parishushyati. My whole body is shuddering and gandivam sramsate hastat,my bow, the Gandiva, is slipping from my hand and you are telling me to fight!’ In this way the confused Arjuna had to become free from his misunderstanding. Finally he agreed and said, ‘sisyas te ‘ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.’

Arjuna asked the Lord to speak to him for his benefit and ours. The Lord is krishnam vande jagadgurum. The Supreme Lord became Arjuna’s spiritual master, and although the Lord was trying to do the same for us by giving us instructions on what is right and wrong, we could not understand.

That is why the Lord sends His representative, the spiritual master to repeat the same instructions in a way in which we can understand them better. The Supreme Lord who is sitting so close to us in our own hearts tried to give us instructions, but we did not listen or understand His message. That is why we continue having births after births in this material world.

punarapi jananam punarapi maranam punarapi janani jathare sayanam,
iha samsare bahudusare krpaya’pare pahi murare

Translation
Being born again, dying again, and again lying in the mother’s womb; this samsara is extremely difficult to cross over. Save me, O destroyer of Mura, through your infinite compassion.(Bhaja Govindam Adi Shankaracharya Verse 21)

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavān jiva
guru krsna prasade paya bhakti lata bija

Translation
“According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service(CC Madhya 19.151)

We are caught in the cycle of birth and death, endlessly going round and round in this universe. To put a stop to this, what does the Lord do for the souls trapped in this cycle? He sends us a spiritual master, or sends us to a spiritual master, making us truly fortunate!

Has the Lord made you all fortunate or not? Today, we witness the rise of fortune for the devotees being initiated, as they receive the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, which will breathe new life into them. You will come alive again and begin to live your life as it is meant to be lived. After all, what kind of life is there without Krishna?

Living without Krishna is like dying, so we must conquer birth and death and move forward. Today, you are being initiated, but you’ve already been chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra for a long time, which is why you are here today. You were students, and now you are becoming disciples. Your counselors and temple authorities must have trained you well to reach this point.

Who knows how long you’ve been chanting sixteen rounds of Japa? The requirement is at least two years of chanting and following the four regulative principles, which you have vowed to uphold. We abstain from intoxicants—including tea and coffee—meat eating, illicit sex, and gambling. We do not take any intoxicants, not even drinking tea and that means coffee also. Sometimes people ask me to have some tea and I tell them that I do not drink tea and coffeee. These are the four pillars of religion, striyah suna panam dyuta yatra papas catur vidha – these are the four kinds of sinful and where Kali resides.
When we engage in these activities, we become servants of Kali.

But today, you’ve renounced your positions as agents of Kali and are joining the guru parampara, becoming disciples of a guru. From now on, you are no longer servants of Kali, but you must be strong, uphold your vows, and avoid offenses against the holy name.

Chant Krishna’s name without offense—aparadha sunya ho’ye loha krsna nama. How should one chant the holy name? Without offense. How many offenses are allowed? Zero. This won’t happen overnight, so you must practice diligently so that the day will soon come in your life.

kabe ha’be bolo se dina amar
aparadha ghuci’, suddha name ruci,
kripa bale ha’be hridoye sancar

Translation
When, oh when will that day be mine? When my offenses ceasing, taste for the name increasing, when in my heart will your mercy shine, when, oh when will that day be mine?(Kabe habe Saranagati 1)

When will that day come in our lives, when what? When we will be able to chant without offense. Aparadha, offenses must be sunya, zero. When Aparadha is guci, zero then one will get ruci for the holy name, attachment. Then we will be able to taste the holy name. Is the holy name easy to be attached to or not? Is it sweet or not? We say yes, but why is the holy name so sweet?

Because Harinama is Hari, the Supreme Lord and is the Lord sweet or not? Madhura dhipater akhilam madhuram, everything about the Lord is sweet. Because the Lord is sweet, His name must be sweet. There is no doubt because the Lord’s name is also the Lord. These confidential talks may continue, but because we carry on committing offenses in chanting the holy name, the sweet name will no longer seem sweet to us.

It can also taste bitter, so we must be alert. I have also seen that some devotees who chantthe holy name, stop chanting. They no longer want to chant. They do not have the desire. Why is this? Because we continue to commit offenses and if we carry on in this way, we will not get attachment to the holy name. Therefore we must be alert.There are ten offenses to the holy name. Who here knows the ten offenses?

Devotee: To blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name of the Lord..

So one must not only guard against offenses to great devotees, but one must not offend any devotee, or rather all living entities.

Devotee: To consider the names of demigods like Lord Shiva or Lord Brahma to be equal to or independent of the name of the Lord Vishnu.

Devotee: To disobey the orders of the spiritual master.

Devotee: To blaspheme the Vedic scriptures or scriptures in pursuance of the Vedic version.

Devotee: To consider the glories of chanting Hare Krishna to be an imagination.

Maharaja: And?

Devotee: To give some interpretations to the holy name of the Lord.

Devotee: To commit sinful activities on the strength of the holy name.

Devotee: To consider the chanting of Hare Krishna to be one of the auspicious ritualistic activities which are offered in the Vedas as fruitive activities (Karma kanda).

Devotee: To instruct a faithless person about the glories of the holy name

Devotee: To not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions on this matter.

It is also an offense to be inattentive while chanting.

Maharaja: Then what is said at the end?

Devotee: Every devotee who claims to be a Vaisnava must guard against these offenses in order to quickly achieve the desired success.

At the end we can add,

vancha-kalpatarubhyash cha
kripa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namaha

Translation
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees and can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.

Ananta koti vaisnava vrinda ki jaya!
All glories to the assembled devotees!

Are you all ready to receive Harinama initiation? Also some devotees are receiving Brahman initiation today. They are sitting wrapped in a different coloredchaddar. You will be given separate instructions and I will meet you all separately and at that time I willspeak on the greatness of the confidential Gayatri Mantra and how one should make oneself worthy of chant this mantra.