680521 - Lecture Initiation - Boston

Lectures by Date, 1968

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

680521IN-BOSTON - May 21, 1968 - 39:18 Minutes

Prabhupāda: This verse is, namaḥ: "I offer my respectful . . ."Namaḥ means "I offer my respectful obeisances." Apavitraḥ means "uncleanliness," and pavitra means "cleanliness." So either one is in cleanliness or uncleanliness, it doesn’t matter. Yaḥ, anyone who chants or remembers puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ . . .

Puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ means Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa. Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ: anyone, either in cleanliness or uncleanliness, it doesn’t matter, if he remembers or chants the name of Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa, yaḥ smaret puṇḍarī . . . sa, that person, bahya—bahya means "externally,"abhyantaraḥ, "internally."

There are two things: externally, internally. So that person becomes purified, bahyābhyantaraḥ śuciḥ. Śuciḥ means "purified." The power is so great that simply by remembering and chanting one becomes purified, and therefore three times we chant this śrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu śrī-viṣṇu. This is the purport of this mantra.

Now, as I repeat, you chant. (responsive word-by-word chanting by devotees)

vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca

śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam

sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ

śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine.

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-sarasvatīti nāmine

śrī-vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayitāya kṛpābdhaye

kṛṣṇa-sambandha-vijñāna-dāyine prabhave namaḥ

mādhuryojjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-varāya te

mādhuryojjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-varāya te

I forget. Ah, guru . . .

rūpānuga-viruddhāpasiddhānta-dhvānta-hāriṇe

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-sarasvatīti nāmine

śrī-vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayitāya kṛpābdhaye

kṛṣṇa-sambandha-vijñāna-dāyine prabhave namaḥ

mādhuryojjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-bhaktida

śrī-gaura-karuṇā-śakti-vigrahāya namo 'stu te

namas te gaura-vāṇī-śrī-mūrtaye dīna-tāriṇe

rūpānuga-viruddhāpasiddhānta-dhvānta-hāriṇe

namo gaura-kiśorāya sākṣād-vairāgya-mūrtaye

vipralambha-rasāmbhode pādāmbujāya te namaḥ

namo bhaktivinodāya sac-cid-ānanda-nāmine

gaura-śakti-svarūpāya rūpānuga-varāya te

nama gaurāvirbhāva-bhūmes tvaṁ nirdeṣṭā saj-jana-priyaḥ

vaiṣṇava-sārvabhaumaḥ ṣrī-jagannāthāya te namaḥ

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te

kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ

pañca-tattvātmakaṁ kṛṣṇaṁ bhakta-rūpa-svarūpakam

bhaktāvatāraṁ bhaktākhyaṁ namāmi bhakta-śaktikam

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

jayatāṁ suratau paṅgor mama manda-mater gate

mat-sarvasva-padāmbhojau rādhā-madana-mohanau

dīvyad-vṛndāraṇya-kalpa-drumādhaḥ

śrīmad-ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau

śrī-śrī-rādhā-śrīla-govinda-devau

preṣṭhālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi

śrīmān rāsa-rasārambhī vaṁśī-vaṭa-taṭa-sthitaḥ

karṣan veṇu-svanair gopīr gopīnāthaḥśriye 'stu naḥ

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari

vṛṣabhānu-sute devī praṇamāmi hari-priye

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare

hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare

hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare

Now give up . . . (pause) (japa)

(break) Initiation . . . initiation does not mean that it is a ceremony and it is finished. No. It is progressing. It is progressing just like education. It is progressing. So in the first beginning, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12, Śikṣāṣṭaka 1), just to cleanse oneself from the understanding of material identification, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa.

So at least for one year chanting regularly, observing the rules and regulation, one comes to the platform of spiritual platform. And then, another initiation, this is called dīkṣā. That is also dīkṣā, that is first process. This dīkṣā, second process, is not very essential. The essential is to chant. In this age, there is no need of this second initiation. But those who are going to be recognized as properly initiated, so this second installment was introduced by Sanātana Gosvāmī. Dīkṣā-vidhānena dvijatvaṁ (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 2.12), his twice birth he’s completed.

And so far men are concerned, they are offered the sacred thread. Not the woman. The idea is woman, every woman, is supposed to be married. Of course, in your country it is not very compulsory, not very essential. In India is still, but it is gradually declining. Unless a woman is married, his life is frustrated on his debt. Even one woman is diseased or something like that—nobody cares to marry such girl—then the system is that she marries one banana tree in order to get the certificate that she’s married.

So marriage is so much compulsory according to Vedic civilization for woman. Woman’s independence is never allowed by Vedic smṛti. Smṛti means regulation, Vedic regulation. Woman must be under the care of father so long she is not married, and then in her youthful age she must be under the care of the proper husband, and she must be under the care of elderly children in old age.

Now you will see how much husband takes care of the wife, how much it is obliging. You will see from the history of Rāmāyaṇa. Rāma . . . Lord Rāmacandra’s wife was kidnapped by Rāvaṇa. So it is not that the husband or like, "My one wife has gone; I can marry for the second time. There are many women I can . . ." No. He fought to the last, and He vanquished the whole family of Rāvaṇa to get out Sītā. This is husband’s responsibility.

So the idea spread here. So many women in this country say that, "We are not going to be slave, slave of some man." They say like that. India also there is some of these modern girls. One of my friend’s daughter, she was studying in M.A. and she was not willing to marry, so that my friend in my householder life, that friend called the daughter before me and he told me, "Abhay Babu," that she, "she’s not willing to marry." So I asked that girl, "Why you are not willing to marry? What is the reason?" "Oh, I’m not going to be a slave."

This is also in India. But the śāstra does not allow that. It is not slavery, actually—it is grand protection. If the husband is nice, then wife’s position is very secure. Just like a king, and the woman whom the king marries, she becomes at once queen, without any endeavor, and she gets all the respect of the husband. Just see Rāmacandra. Rāmacandra was very young kṣatriya, fighter, everything. Sītā has no such record. But Sītā has got the same respect as Rāma—Sītā-Rāma. Now we have heard so many activities of Kṛṣṇa, nothing of Rādhārāṇī, but Rādhārāṇī is still as good as Kṛṣṇa.

So this combination, Vedic idea that woman must be under the . . . they have got three stages of life. First stage under the father, second stage under the husband. Therefore initiation, to the woman, there is no need of, I mean to say, sacred thread, because she’s considered to be the half body of her husband. She’s half-shareholder in everything of the husband; therefore there was no necessity.

Even you’ll find in the picture of Rāmacandra and Sītā, Rāmacandra has got sacred thread but Sītā hasn’t got. That is the system. So this is Vedic system, that woman is given the mantra but not the sacred thread. Even she’s born of a brāhmaṇa father, there is no such system. No. In the Bhagavad-gītā you’ll find, strī-śūdra-dvijabandhūnāṁ (SB 1.4.25).

māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya

ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ

striyo śūdrā tathā vaiśyās

te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim

(BG 9.32)

For . . . from becoming Kṛṣṇa consciousness there is no, I mean to say, deter, anything that can hamper for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. But so far this Vedic system is . . . and this offering of sacred thread, formerly in the Vedic age it was offered only to the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, higher class, not to the śūdrās.

So at the present moment everyone is śūdrā. Then why the sacred thread is offered? No, the sacred thread is not offered to the śūdrā, it is offered to the highest brāhmaṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And how? Because in India the caste system is by birth. But that is not recognized. So even one is not born in a brāhmaṇa family, a kṣatriya family, still Sanātana Gosvāmī says that by the process of initiation, any man can become a twice-born brāhmaṇa. How?

yathā kāñcanatāṁ yāti

kāṁsyaṁ rasa-vidhānataḥ

(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 2.12)

If you can chemically manipulate the bell metal, then it becomes gold. It is chemical process. Similarly, by this purificatory process of . . .

(aside) Try to sit down like that. You have to learn from him. No, your case is different.

So the whole thing is purificatory process. We are pure soul. Somehow or other we are in contamination of, in this material world. Now we have to elevate from this fallen condition to our spiritual status, then we shall be eligible to enter into the spiritual kingdom. Just like—one example—that the oil and water, it never mixes. You have seen it? That if you take one bucketful of water and put some oil, it will not mix. But collect that oil and put with oil, and it will mix immediately.

Similarly, because we are spirit soul, in the material world we are unable to adjust, that . . . so we always misadjustment. Nobody can be happy. This evening we were discussing this point with that boy, Joe, who came to tape-record. There were two one-and-a-half-hour conversations. He says that, "We Americans, we have decided that there is no God. If there is God, He is dead." And this is first-class rascaldom. God cannot be dead, and if anyone thinks like that, he’s fool number one. Bring anyone, I shall talk with him. I can challenge with him, and God is neither dead.

So this is the going-on misconception of life. Majority. "It is folly to be wise when ignorance is bliss." So, majority people are godless, animal life. Out of that a small quantity of our society may, at least in this country, be struggling for becoming Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter. We don’t want . . . if somebody comes, that’s all right.

My Guru Mahārāja used to say: "If I can deliver one soul from the clutches of māyā, then my whole mission is successful." Yes. So similarly, we are also trying to get out of this material . . . So whatever you are receiving as initiation from me, from my humble service, try to perform. Don’t neglect it, it is not very difficult. Try to follow. Make life successful. Never mind in whatever conditions you are, the mission should be to get out of the clutches of māyā.

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī

mama māyā duratyayā

mām eva ye prapadyante

māyām etāṁ taranti te

(BG 7.14)

The open formula is that the . . . to get out of the clutches of māyā is very, very, very, very, very, very difficult, but mām eva. Kṛṣṇa says: "One who surrenders unto Me becomes fully Kṛṣṇa conscious,"māyām etāṁ taranti te.

So that should be our business. We are a brahmacārī, a gṛhastha and vānaprastha, sannyāsa. So sannyāsa may not be accepted; that doesn’t matter. Those who are brahmacārīs, please follow the rules. If to remain as brahmacārī is disturbing, get yourself married—live peacefully, husband and wife. Of course for woman, there is no such rule for becoming brahmacārī, because every girl was compulsorily married by the father.

But anyway, if you can remain brahmacāriṇī that is very nice, very nice. But if not, get yourself married, live peacefully. Don’t be disturbed. Don’t be implicated. Remain always pure, because we are aiming to be promoted in the purest kingdom, spiritual kingdom. So we should always remember that, that we are making progress in a different line.

So conscious on Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is there. Kṛṣṇa is very kind. If anyone is serious and, I mean to . . . good faith, and you love with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will guide. Kṛṣṇa is with you. Simply He wants to see that you are sincere, and everything will come. There is no difficulty.

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ

bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam

(BG 10.10)

"One who is engaged in the devotional service of Me in faith and love," teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti . . . buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ. In buddhi-yoga. The yoga system, but not haṭha-yoga—buddhi-yoga. Buddhi-yoga. The buddhi-yoga means this bhakti-yoga. This is very intelligent yoga. Why it is called buddhi-yoga? Buddhi means "intelligent." Others, they are so much taking trouble exercising and pressing nose and so many other things, but still they are unsuccessful. Anything done intellectually is better.

So this is called buddhi-yoga. Bhakti-yoga, buddhi-yoga. Simply to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, and everything is complete. Therefore it is called buddhi-yoga, very intelligent yoga. Buddhi-yoga dadāmi taṁ. Kṛṣṇa does not say that haṭha-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ. Haṭha-yogaṁ—no. No haṭha-yoga. No jñāna-yoga. Buddhi-yoga dadāmi taṁ. That is Kṛṣṇa’s gift: buddhi-yoga. You’ll find this word in the Bhagavad-gītā. He never says that "I’ll give in jñāna-yogaṁ, karma-yogaṁ, dhyāna-yogaṁ or haṭha-yogaṁ," or this yogaṁ or that yogaṁ.

Only Buddhi-yoga. And buddhi-yoga is bhakti-yoga. Why? That buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ yena mām upayānti te. That, "I’ll give in that intelligent yoga by which he can come to Me." And what is that yoga by which one can go to Him? That is bhakti. That is in other places:

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti

yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ

(BG 18.55)

So buddhi-yogaṁor bhakti-yogaṁ, the same thing. Or "Those who are intelligent, they can take to this yoga system, bhakti-yoga, and by which one can approach Me." It is declared in many places of the authoritative scripture, that there is . . . now just like Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, "I am speaking to you this system of Bhagavad-gītā, yoga," bhakto 'si, "because you are My devotee."

He doesn’t say: "Because you are warrior, you are kṣatriya, you are Hindu, you are Indian." Not all these nonsense. He said, bhakto 'si: "Because you are My bhakta." So bhakta, anyone can become bhakta. There is no question of becoming Indian, kṣatriya, brāhmaṇa, or this or that. Anyone can become bhakta. How anyone can become bhakta? That is also stated in Bhagavad-gītā:

māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya

ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ

(BG 9.32)

"Any living creature, born in any sinful family, doesn’t matter. If he takes My shelter,"te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, "he also attains the highest perfection."

So there is no such restriction. Everything is there spoken by Kṛṣṇa. So we are doing just according to the Bhagavad-gītā. Simply we have to know where these things are available. Execute this bhakti-yoga, this kīrtana and this mantra, and chanting, and never mind in whatever occupation you are engaged; that doesn’t matter. Be happy. I may be present or not present, the guidance is always there. So you can make progress very peacefully, nice. All right. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Why you stop?

(devotees chant japa) (break)

Prabhupāda: Distribute prasādam, and this ṭīkā. (devotees chanting japa) So now we have to make program for starting (laughs) . . . (indistinct) . . . policy.

Devotee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Tomorrow just at five-thirty.

Devotee: Should we speak about it tomorrow?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Devotee: The program?

Prabhupāda: Yes. After coming back, we make our program.

Devotee: Okay.

Prabhupāda: Now about the printing of Teachings, that must be immediately.

Devotee: Yes, I’ll do that.

Prabhupāda: If somebody wants to eat this banana, one can eat.

Devotee: Yes.

Vaikuṇṭha: Swamījī, how’s my new spiritual name spelled?

Prabhupāda: Vaikuṇṭha, V-a-i-k-u-n-t-h-a.

Satsvarūpa: Vaikuṇṭha dāsa? Is that it?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Vaikuṇṭha dāsa brahmacārī. Yes.

Mādhavī-latā: Swamījī, could you tell me how to spell my name?

Prabhupāda: Yes. M-a-d-h-a-v-i, Mādhavī. Latā, l-a-t-a.

Devotee: Swami . . .

Prabhupāda: Accha! Distribute it. Come on, eat. Everyone. No. I’ve taken. Everyone can take some, little, little. You can take, divide it. You’re not taking?

Devotee: It’s solid.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. Yes? Where is Annapūrṇā?

Satsvarūpa: Outside.

Prabhupāda: Outside?

Satsvarūpa: The smoke is too much.

Prabhupāda: What is the name of that boy in Montreal who . . . English boy?

Devotee: Śivānanda?

Prabhupāda: Śivānanda is English boy?

Devotee: Oh, English boy?

Prabhupāda: He has got . . . He has come from England?

Woman Devotee: I think his name is Chris.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Woman Devotee: I think his name is Chris.

Prabhupāda: He's there?

Woman Devotee: I don’t know if he’s still there.

Prabhupāda: Annapūrṇā, you’re not eating this banana? Accha. So Annapūrṇā, can you help in opening a branch in London? Huh?

Annapūrṇā: . . . (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: After Montreal I shall go to London, and you also. So make program like that. Then if it is favorable, then I shall call some of you there in London, set up a branch. Maybe Kṛṣṇa’s desire is like that.

Devotee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: And you are going . . . you are going to Germany?

Devotee: Yes. That would be nice.

Devotees: (offer obeisances)

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine

Hare Kṛṣṇa.

(break) (japa) (end)