20250331 Initiation Address

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

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we understand that I will be speaking in English and it will be simultaneously translated in different Indian languages. Taking initiation, you are connecting with the guru-paramparā. So I am told that parallel translation is going on. So, this presentation of translation in different languages, is going on and we want that devotees, they hear the language and simultaneously it is translated in different dialects. Into Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, etc. So, the idea is that we take in a variety of languages and so devotees from different parts of South India can hear different translations. The various languages have different dialects. So we want to have the devotees understand what is being said in their respective language.

Now, Lord Caitanya, He knew Sanskrit, Bengali and Odia. So, He knows all the languages. And He is having the different languages at His finger tips! Lord Caitanya, He knows all the languages. He was wanting that people would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and He was encouraging everyone to chant the holy names. In this Age of Kali, the Lord chants the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. And these holy names are given in different dialects. He predicted that the Personality of Godhead, His name will be sung, all over the world, in every town and village. So someone asked me, does the Lord know Tamil? He knows all languages. He can even speak to the animals, to the trees, to the bumblebees. There was a tiger in Vṛndāvana and Lord Caitanya, He told the tiger to go! So the tiger left. So, He has great ability. So, you can pray to the Lord in your mother tongue and He will understand.

Our system is that people would take the initiation and the Lord would give them a spiritual name. And usually the name they are awarded is starting with the same letter of their material name. If your name starts with a ‘G’ then your spiritual name will also start with ‘G’. So, Kṛṣṇa, He wants to see that your spiritual name has the same beginning as your material name. Like if your name is starting with ‘G’, some spiritual name will be given which starts with ‘G’. If your name starts with ‘S’ then your spiritual name will also start with ‘S’. If someone wants a particular name, that has to be asked for in advance.

So the process here is that devotees would come up and I will give them the beads. And then they go back to their seats. I will chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

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

Haribol!