Expanding the Spiritual Family

The more that the spiritual family of Krishna's devotees grows bigger and bigger, the more the world atmosphere becomes blessed with auspiciousness. Therefore it is most auspicious every time that a new devotee is initiated into the Krishna consciousness movement. Yesterday in Tallinn I initiated as my disciple Bhaktin Karolin, a young college student from Tartu, Estonia. I have given her the new name, Kishori devi dasi. Kishori is name for Srimati Radharani as a young girl. So Bhaktin Karolin is now Kishori devi dasi, the servant of Srimati Radharani.

Initiation is the formal linking between the disciple and the spiritual master. It is through this link that one becomes solidly connected with Krishna. It is something plugging a lamp into a wall socket. The disciple is like the lamp. The spiritual master is like the wall socket. And Krishna is like the powerhouse.

If someone wants to be initiated they must be solidly fixed in chanting at least 16 rounds daily of the Hare Krishna mahamantra on japa beads, and they must also strictly avoid illicit sex life, meat eating, intoxication, and gambling.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Initiation Ceremony for Kishori devi dasi
Tallinn, Estonia 26 April 2008Sankarshan Das Initiation Ceremony for Kishori devi dasi

Sankarshan Das Initiation Ceremony for Kishori devi dasi

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Is Hearing and Chanting the Center?

Dear Teacher,

I offer my respectful obeisances unto you.

Is it that hearing and chanting Hare Krishna mantra is the most important regulative principles among all devotional methods?

Is it that hearing and chanting Hare Krishna is the center, and all others such as no illicit sex, no meat eating, no intoxication, no gambling, reading Srila Prabhupada's books, etc all serve as making the chanting smooth and powerful and effective? Right?

Your most humble servant,

from China

Answer: Yes

Your understanding is correct.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Sparrow Who Conquered the Ocean

Image
In his purport to Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, Text 24 Srila Prabhupada wonderfully teaches us the power of determinations by telling us the story of the little sparrow who conquered the ocean: "As for determination, one should follow the example of the sparrow who lost her eggs in the waves of the ocean. A sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean did not even consider her appeal. So the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news of her activity spread, and at last Garuda, the gigantic bird carrier of Lord Visnu, heard it. He became compassionate toward his small sister bird, and so he came to see the sparrow. Garuda was very pleased by the determination of the small sparrow, and he promised to help. Thus Garuda at once asked t
Read more

Heart Melting Reunion with Amarendra and Gayatri

Image
On Friday 26 June 2015 I was blessed with the greatest good fortune of meeting with two of the dearest devotees of my entire life, His Grace Amarendra Prabhu and his good wife, Srimati Gayatri devi dasi. I am eternally indebted to these great souls for how much they helped me in my spiritual life when I was a young devotee. When I was young brahmacari monk in 1973 I joined with the two of them in Gainesville, Florida. We were a three person preaching center, and they were just like a mother and father to me. I had so many wonderful Krishna conscious experiences in their association that I can hardly begin to describe them here. But at least may it suffice for me to say for now that Gayatri taught me what it means to be a soft-hearted devotee of the Lord and she gave me my first cooking lesson, teaching me how to make cauliflower pakoras, and Amarendra taught me the art of how to preach strongly, intelligently, and coolly to defeat opposing arguments. Recently Gayatri almost died. But
Read more

Misguided Fools Say that Masturbation is Healthy

Image
Foolish modern day materialists recommend masturbation as follows: "Masturbation is a common activity. It’s a natural and safe way to explore your body, feel pleasure, and release built-up sexual tension. It occurs among people of all backgrounds, genders, and races. Despite the myths, there are actually no physically harmful side effects of masturbation." They are wrong. To get a proper understanding on this this topic read the question and answer section below. Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom Question: What are the Ill Effects of Masturbation? Since you answered questions related to understanding the real need of sex in a human being's life, so I also request you to please enlighten us with the knowledge about semen conservation, it's importance, and the consequences of frequently releasing it thorough sex or masturbation. Since today most of the youth are indulged in mansturbation and they think it to be good in comparison to doing sex with some female for
Read more