Initiation: Nurturing the Seed of Kṛṣṇa-prema
By Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāja, excerpted from Affectionate Guidance.
Sādhu-saṅga, if we can follow, it will give us relief from so many things. It will give a very good result in the future. But all depends upon śraddhā, faith. Ādau śraddhā, tataḥ sādhu-saṅga.1 First faith, then the saintly association is ours. And the translation of śraddhā is more than just ‘faith’. It is actually affectionate faith.
Chanting the Holy Name is also like this. We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, but are we really chanting? Or are we just creating a completely material sound vibration?
Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī has described this very nicely: ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi
na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ.2 How should we chant? Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ.3 He will reveal Himself. When He is happy with us, He will feel, “Here is My dancing stage”. If we properly prepare that stage, He will happily come to dance on our tongues. We cannot expect to catch the Holy Name with our mundane tongue. The Holy Name is transcendental, and we cannot catch it by the use of our mundane senses.
This is why Guru Mahārāja gave much importance to service life. Sevā is service. The attitude of service is necessary. And when we are firm in our service attitude, the stage will be automatically built in our bodies. So many say they are initiated, but have they got real initiation or not? In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-lila, 4.192, it is said:
dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa
sei-kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama
When one is initiated by a genuine Guru, because the Guru is non-different from Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will take the full charge of the disciple. And when Kṛṣṇa does that, nothing mundane can remain. Ātma-sama means transcendental. Kṛṣṇa makes him transcendental. When he surrenders to the Guru, Kṛṣṇa makes him transcendental. Sei deha kare tāra cid-ānanda-maya4 — his form appears the same, but it is transformed to a transcendental form. We see this devotee seated here, but his form is transcendental. Sei deha means ‘that body’, takes a transcendental form. Then aprākṛta-dehe tāṅra caraṇa bhajaya5 — after that, the disciple does bhajan, divine service, and Kṛṣṇa accepts his service.
So where is the justification of all this? If everyone says it is all false, then will no one take initiation? But another part of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-lila, 19.151, explains to us that this is a certain stage of development.
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
Premṇo hi bīja-pradam. The Guru takes the responsibility to give the seed of Kṛṣṇa-prema, Love of God. So we are not to be hopeless! Now if we are given the seed, if we plant it properly, it will gradually become transcendental. This is the inner meaning.
So we cannot be hopeless. The other day I said that we have got two very great Gurus — one is Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja and one is Śrīla Guru Mahārāja. So we have no doubt that we have also got the real seed. The seed is genuine — we see that all over the world people are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is a fact — everybody knows now. Even in Russia, there also they know about Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu. Also in Hungary. And this consciousness was given by Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja, and Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja consideredŚrīla Guru Mahārāja as his Guru. So we have no doubt that we have not only got a great Guru, but we have two great Gurus.
They are karṇa-dhāra6 —they are our Guardians. The Guru is the captain of the ship. If we do not follow the orders of the captain, that is our defect, not his. So we should now try to plant that seed properly. That duty is called bhajana-kriyā or proper performance of devotional duties and services. Through that, anartha-nivṛtti or purification will automatically come.
- Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.4.15 [↩]
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 17.136 [↩]
- Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234 [↩]
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-lila, 4.193 [↩]
- Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-lila, 4.193 [↩]
- Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.22 [↩]
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