20240320 Initiation Address

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

Jayapatākā Swami: Today is Ekādaśī, Āmalakī Ekādaśī. Even one very fallen hunter, who observed this Ekādaśī, and as a result he got a higher birth as a king. And after that since he was Kṛṣṇa conscious, he went back to Godhead.

I went to Kolkata from Māyāpur because I had some bad symptoms of chronic kidney disease. But, I took one day’s complete rest and my serious symptoms were gone. The Apollo nephrologist said that I was ‘too’ healthy to be admitted! But I should go home and rest.

So we are having this initiation program because people have been waiting for a long time for initiation. We want that the initiation ceremony go a bit fast. I guess you have heard what is the meaning of initiation. We are in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Lord Caitanya wanted that all the people in this Kali-yuga should get love of Kṛṣṇa. To fulfill that desire, Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda went all around the world. Those people who are initiated, they are helping me to fulfill Śrīla Prabhupāda’s and Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s desires. Everything you do, you should think, how can I do this to please Kṛṣṇa? Things like japa and devotional service, those are automatically Kṛṣṇa conscious. So, gṛhasthas, they can have connection with their wives, but it is recommended that they do garbhādāna-saṁskāra. That is mentioned in the Sat-kriyā-śāra-dīpikā, it is a small procedure. And many people come up to me and say, we are gṛhasthas, we tried but we don’t have any children, please, may we have a child. But if we pray to Kṛṣṇa, we should pray to have a Kṛṣṇa conscious child. There are many kinds of children who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious. And we want to have Kṛṣṇa conscious children who would become ācāryas. So, this initiation is more than Harināma, it is the first initiation and includes more than half of the pāñcarātrika initiation. And some disciples are taking second initiation. So those who are taking first should prepare to take second later. So while we are giving first initiation, those who are taking second will be instructed what to do. So now I will chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, so please keep your right ears open and hear it:

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