20240709 Initiation Address

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: Many of you are probably here for the first time. Now that Kali-yuga is going on, there is one special process for every yuga – Satya-yuga was meditation, Tretā-yuga was sacrifice, Dvāpara-yuga was devotional service. In this Age of Kali, it is Harināma, chanting the holy names. If you think that Harināma is a fabrication of Kali-yuga, that is not right. The Lord and His names are non-different. That is why the Harināma is the main focus in first initiation. And I hope that you will do Harināma all through your life. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had come to establish the Harināma. The initiation ceremony taking place today has many rituals we perform. We don’t just do Harināma alone.

How many of you have taken the oath? Raise your hands. (Devotees: Haribol)

You will all be given a spiritual name. You will be given spiritual names and also given a japa-mālā. Generally, the people think how will I be able to get materially happy? That way, they will have to take birth again and again in this material world. Those who want to serve the Lord and those who want to follow the process of bhakti, the first of this is śravaṇam and kīrtanam. We first hear Harināma and then do kīrtana. There are nine processes of devotional service. But we have to do Harināma side by side. This way if we are determined in our service to the Lord then we can go to Bhagavata-dhāma, Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma, Goloka-dhāma at the end of our life.

This material world is a world of māyā, illusion. Nothing of these stays with us. We have a special facility here that we can do devotional service to the Lord. The way we do devotional service, the way we love the Lord, in that way we are able to do service to the Lord and please Him. I hope that all of you will always chant the names of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When I came, I saw many people were chanting in the Ratha-yātrā. This way, the process for Kali-yuga is chanting Harināma. I hope that all of you will always chant Harināma. I will end my short talk now. Hare Kṛṣṇa!