20260517 Initiation Address

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

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa! Who is taking initiation today? Have you taken your vows? So I joined the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in 1968. My pūrvāśrama father said, comeback immediately! Otherwise, I will send you to the draft and you can die in Vietnam! I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, “What should I do?” At that time, I was in Montreal. He said, “Better you join Kṛṣṇa’ Army!” That is what I did! And I am still a member! Maybe I am one of the Generals or something and GBC member. Anyways so those who are taking initiation, taking shelter, you are taking initiation from a General!!! So you have to be very serious yogīs and yoginīs. You practice bhakti-yoga and in Kali-yuga there is no hope except Harināma! Sometimes devotees ask me if they can reduce their chanting. But we want to chant more and more! 16 rounds is a minimum! So that is why I say that all the time, you can chant, that is good. I chant when I take prasāda, I have a digital machine and in my mind I am chanting, morning I chanted 216 mantras, that is two rounds. So, in the afternoon, I chanted 416 mantras. So today I chanted 1500 mantras on my counter. Right hand is paresis, that means partially paralyzed. So somehow or another I am trying to chant 1728 mantras every day, i.e. 16 rounds. Of course, you chant and do your rounds. Those who are taking second initiation, they cannot carry over the Gāyatrī mantra. They don’t say . . . So, we want to be very careful, we want to be protected. Māyā teaches us that we are the body. And Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly said, you are not the body. We are spirit souls, we have the body, we have a direct relationship with Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He comes to associate with us as His holy name! So our name is different than ourselves. But Kṛṣṇa is Absolute! His name is not different from His-self. So, when you chant His name you are personally associated with Kṛṣṇa and we get Kṛṣṇa’s mercy! So when we associate with Kṛṣṇa we become godly. So we can feel different. So in India there is this “Bhajan-clubbing”. It is a fad! So people chant and dance for three or four hours. So we can chant and dance to:

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

It is not a material name, so you can do that. For a material name you cannot do that – “John! John! John! John!” Now it is a fashion that that some gave the name Pinky. Any Pinky’s here?! She is initiated, I changed her name! Spiritual names are those of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. If someone has the name of Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā, Balarāma I thought to keep their names. We are just declaring war against Kali. You are going to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa! There is a saying in Bengali – ānandera sīmā nāi, nirānande dūre jāy. There is no limit to the bliss and unhappiness goes far away – chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy! So I will chant the mahā-mantra three times. Those ladies who are taking initiation keep your right ear uncovered.

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