20220504 Initiation Ceremony Address

The following is an initiation ceremony address given by HH Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 4th, 2022 at ISKCON Patna, Bihar, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Jaya Śrī Śrī Nityānanda! Śrī Śrī Gaurāṅga! Jaya Śrī Rādhā Bāṅkebihārī Lalitā Viśākhā! Jaya Sītā Rāmacandra Lakṣmaṇa Hanumān! All of us are observing a special ceremony in front of the Lord. There are many ways we can offer something to the Lord. bhoga-nivedana, puṣpa-nivedana, But today we will be doing the greatest offering, ātmā-nivedanam, we are going to offer ourselves for the service of Lord Caitanya,Lord Kṛṣṇa – Rādhā-Bāṅkebihārī, Sītā-Rāmacandra, Lakṣmaṇa Hanumān. Ātma-nivedana means offering thoughts, words and deeds to the Lord. And in one sense bhakti-yoga is very simple. In one sense, it is very difficult. Because one has to be completely serious. You have to perform devotional service 24-hours a day. There is no question of committing suicide because we offered our body to the Lord. By this process whether we are a gṛhastha or vairāgī we can still achieve success. But Lord Caitanya said gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko. And that is why gṛhasthas, husband and wife may be able to do things in a Kṛṣṇa conscious way. They pray to the Deities for a Kṛṣṇa conscious healthy, child. And mother and father, they give their energy to see that their child becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious. So if one child goes back to Godhead, he or she takes 14 generations with them. 7 previous and 7 future.

I saw one drama in Chennai performed by children. Two were playing as Yamadūtas and one girl she played the role of Yamarāja.She had worn fake mustache. The Yamadūtas were complaining, “We go to the Kṛṣṇa conscious houses and the husband and wife, they have Deities in the house, Nitāi-Gaura, Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, so what can we do? They are all chanting the holy names. They teach the children to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. So they have the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in their house. So, we cannot take them to hell. Cannot take them to be punished! So we should look for another job or what?” Haribol! It was a very nice drama. We want our devotees to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. And thus they go back to the spiritual world and not have to take birth again and again. We have to do things in a Kṛṣṇa conscious way. Otherwise, we are forced to take birth again and again. So we are very happy that today people are taking initiation. They are promising to eat vegetarian food, avoid intoxication, avoid illicit sex and avoid gambling. This situation in this material world is that we are advised to do some sinful acts. By being a devotee, by chanting, by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, we can avoid these sinful acts. And in this way in Kali-yuga actually, it is recommended to be a gṛhastha. But some of us take a risk and be vairāgīs. But everybody should focus keeping Kṛṣṇa in the center. And this way, they can cross over this material world.

♫