20260104 Question-and-Answer Session

So, any questions?

So these few days we did not have any meetings. But today, although there was no meeting, I thought I would speak longer. I don’t know, why last night my blood pressure went very low and they had to wake me up three times and tell me that I take medicine and salt water and keep my blood pressure up. I don’t know, they haven’t told me they have any medicine to lift my blood pressure up at night. So they had given me some medicine to raise my blood pressure. But then I stopped that, because during the day my blood pressure would rise dangerously high! So night time it goes low, daytime goes high! So this is my situation.

Question: If the holy name is already fully powerful and accessible to everyone,  why do I need a guru to formally give it to me in an initiation ceremony? If we can receive all necessary instructions through śikṣā, then why is Harināma initiation considered recommended in our line? Is its function merely formalistic or does the act of initiation transmits a spiritual potency required for perfection?

Jayapataka Swami: You see, our first initiation is not only Harināma. The puraścaryā  aspects of initiation are divided between first and second initiations. But even though different Gauḍīya Maṭhas  they offer Harināma and dīkṣā, they consider that  taking the Harināma from a guru is more effective. And that one also follows a particular guru, then we should also take second initiation. Now, in the Harināma, we get the Harināma and the beads. But in the first initiation of ISKCON, we get the Harināma, beads, take vows, we take also the fire yajña, get a spiritual name, neck beads. They don’t do those things when they just give Harināma. So that is why we don’t say Harināma, we say first initiation and second initiation. People who take second initiation should be qualified, they should know the philosophy. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying they should have Bhakti-śāstrī. At a certain date, I started requiring Bhakti-śāstrī for second initiation. So, some may have the second initiation without Bhakti-śāstrī, if they took before. But they should also get the Bhakti-śāstrī. I would like all my disciples to complete their puraścaryā or vidhi, by taking the second initiation. So, maybe if someone is chanting and it is recommended by all the scriptures that we should take a guru, if they are in the process of leaving a guru and they leave their body maybe by chanting, that is enough. But if one is envious, hateful, distantful, like that some negative aspect, I don’t need a guru, then that is offensive! So in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad and different Upaniṣads it says that we need a guru. And having faith in guru and Kṛṣṇa is the perfection of life! All the secrets of the Vedic literatures are revealed. Non devotees cannot understand the glories of Kṛṣṇa, unless we are a devotee these things are not revealed to us! You see that some non devotees say I don’t understand your śāstras.

I don’t know how many of you reside in Māyāpur and how many do not reside in Māyāpur? So we are trying to have different kinds of online preaching in the future. Since Māyāpur is the world Headquarters, we would not like to preach only in Indian languages but also in different foreign languages. Now online we can do that in Russian, Chinese, Spanish, French, etc. and also in India in the different langauges. So we would like devotees to volunteer to do this kind of preaching. Maybe you can apply to my office, to me that you are willing to do this type of preaching. Nāma-niṣṭhā dāsa in Mangaluru, he says he has 400 devotees all over India, he preaches in different Indian languages. We have 7500 residents in Māyāpur, how many of them are going to preach? 400? So anyway, he says that in one year he gets like 70,000 people or something! How many books have we distributed? If we have online preaching, 100,000  how many books? 100,000 Bhagavad-gītās?  So we want to do this in Bengali and all the Indian languages and also the foreign languages. My problem is I cannot think small!! I think BIG!! I inherited that from Śrīla Prabhupāda!

I offer all of you my best wishes and blessings. Kṛṣṇe matir astu!

I request His Holiness Bhakti Vijaya Bhāgavata Swami speak to us about the transcendental book distribution.