20080826 || Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (4.28.31) || Madurai, India #JayapatakaSwamiArchives

Translation by his divine grace Eisni Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada My dear King Prachina Bodhishat, the sons of Malaya Dwaja gave birth to many thousands and thousands of sons. And all of these have been protecting the entire world up to the end of one Manu's lifespan and even afterward. In the next verse 32 in the purport it says in the last two paragraphs, From Bhakti Lotha the son Vira Chuta is born. And from Vira Chuta the next son Itma Vaha. The word Idma Vaha refers to one who carries wood for burning and a sacrifice when approaching his spiritual master. The point is that Bhakti Lotha, the cult of devotion, fixes one in his spiritual position. One so fixed never comes down. And he begets children who are strict followers of the Shastic injunctions as said in the Vedas Samitpani Strotriyam Brahman Ishtam. In the line of devotional service, those who are initiated are strict followers of the Vedic principle. Vedic Scriptural injunctions so today we read text 31, chapter 28 Canto for Shimad Bhagavatam and in the matter of Paranjala becomes a woman in his next life. This is Read today on 26 August 2008, 522nd year of our beloved Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spoken at the Radha Mathurapati Mandir in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, the planet of Bharat Varsha. And we're to the west of the Salt Ocean English class with the Tamil translation, the divine language Tamil Tamil, which is created by Lord Shiva. I think Nandri wanna come. Today we're having an initiation ceremony in Madurai for the southern Tamil Nadu. We read here how the descendants of Manu have protected the earth like that the disciple descendants of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his divine grace, our Vaicharam Bhaktived Swami Prabhupada are meant to protect the world so that people can be saved from their unhappiness and can get a spiritual direction in their life. Ka taught Viviswan, Viviswan taught Manu taught Xvaku, the king of the world. In this way Bhagavad Gita was handed down 40 million years ago. But the disciple that somehow that real meaning of the Bhagavad Gita got lost. So Lord Krishna spoke to bhagavad Gita again 5000 years ago. If the message of Bhagavad Gita can stay intact more or less 40 million years. That's pretty good. Lord Krishna comes down every Yuga in different forms. Thus he re establishes that disciplic succession. Mahaprabhu, one of his roles was he was the Yuga avatar and he gave us the Yuga Dharma. Yuga Dharma is chanting the holy names of Hadith. So this Maha mantra is the incarnation of the Lord in the form of sound. Sabda Brahman, Absolute truth in sound. Many Vedic mantras begin with the Omkara. And in some of the Upanishads there is restriction who can chant, who cannot chant these mantras. Also, Hare Krishna Mantra is given twice at least in the Vedas. Once in the Akali Sanjan Upanishad, it's given with the Hari Ram first. So at the time. Then there's also one given in the Puranas which are Smriti Shastra with Hare Krishna first. So sometimes people say that only the Upanishads can be chanted by Brahmanas. But we chant the Hare Krishna first. So that's from the Puranas, Puranasastra. There are no restriction apart from that. Lord Caitanya wanted to have Hare Krishna first. So like this Hare Krishna Mah Mantra, there is no restriction. Anybody can chant it. But some people were so fallen that even they're not able to chant Hare Kaj. They want, they could chant, but they don't want. Somehow it doesn't come from their lips. So then Prabhupada said they can chant the Panchatatva Mantra and they get purified and later they'll be able to chant Hare Krishna. We met him, I think it was a Bangalore or somewhere. There was someone, he was such so much drunkard he couldn't chant Hare Krishna. We had him repeat Panchatatra Mantra and then he got cured from his intoxication habit. We don't give this Panchatatra Mantra in initiation, but we request everyone to chant it. We give the Hare Krishna ma Mantra in initiation. That's called the first initiation or the Hari Rama initiation. And Prabhupada in this initiation he includes at least five aspects of the Purascharya or the Samskara for purification. So the like we wear the neck bead, we get the Japamala beads, we get a new spiritual name. We surrender to the spiritual master and the Guru Parampara. And what's the fifth one? And we take vows to follow the spiritual path and be strict. So this links eternal bond between the disciplic succession, the Guru and the disciple here, like the manus, are handing down the message of Ka Bhakti from father to son. Like that. There's two kinds of disciplic succession. One is called the seminal. This is a succession which is from father to son. Parents should teach their children to be Ka conscious. This family succession is one kind of sibling succession. Of course, in India there are many families like that that they still maintain their family traditions. But the tradition should also be according to shastra. Otherwise sometimes some speculation enters into the family tradition. And after some time the family tradition is no longer very accurate. Once there was a young girl, she was getting married. Then there was a cat who came by the yagya and was making a noise and acting very crazy. Oh no, a cat. Meow. Then the priest said, put the cat under a basket. Later when she became a mother and her on the child was going to be married, she remembered that when she was married they put the cat under a basket. She don't know why. She was young girl at that time. She said, our family tradition, there must be a cat put under the basket. So all the boys are running around trying to find a cat and they bring a cat and put under the basket. Okay, Family tradition maintained. But it wasn't actual family tradition. It was just some crazy cat was creating a disturbance. They put it under a basket. But now from that time, the family new tradition was you had to have a cat under a basket. So what we do that should be based upon shastra also. Otherwise some kind of speculation like that will enter into the tradition. So like that the parampara gets broken. Once I was chanting Hare Krishna and Prabhupada's Guru Puja and Mayapur Otana. So I was chanting, but I wanted everyone to chant. I was saying bolo bolo Bengali. Bolo means chant chant. What do you say in Samuel Chalanga? Then Prabhupada called me over two, three times. I was saying molo. He called me. So don't add any new words. Otherwise pretty soon we'll have a new mantra. The Hare Krishna Bolo Bolo mantra. That time I was a chella. So I'm still chella. But that time my guru taught me, don't add new words. Now if I do that, then chant bolo, bolo, chalami, chalami something. Then chalongo. Then everyone may do all Guru is doing. So we have to do so. Hare Krishna Mah mantra. 16 names, 32 syllables, no extra names. So Prabhupada was very careful. He was very Cautious Bengal. Many different Sampradayas chanting different speculated mantras. This is their chanting behind the Vrindavan temple. That's the three deities, Nitai, Gor and Radhisham. And Krishna, Balaram. Anyway, so then also you got Sri Krishna, Chaitanya, Prabhu, Nithyananda, Hare Krishna, Hare Ram, Sidadi, Govinda. You get like so many different names that people speculated. The Prabhupada asked why they are chopping the mantras up. But they chop up Shigesha, Caitanya. They take part of this mantra, part of another mantra. Then they throw in Ragovinda. So I asked the big pandit from that Sampradaya, why you are chopping up the mantras like this? So then he said, you see, Hare Krishna, Harirang, Srikeshn, Chaitanya, Prabhu, very popular in Bengal and Orissa. And Hare Krishna, Hari Ram more or less all of India. And Radharag Govinda, especially in Vrindavan in northern India. So we have something for everyone. I said, it's like, I mean a good business tactic. We're not banyas that we are just making mantra for good publicity. Good business marketing technique. We have to chant according to what the Acharyas give us, what the Shastra gives us. So when you get the mantra, don't chop it up. Shikish Prabhupada said, we can also chant one other kirtan mantra that was favorite of Lord Chaitanya. Other than this, regular Kirtans, these are the main mantras. Especially Panchatatu and Hare Krishna. Other than that, we have Bhajans that we sing. That should also be the ones written by the Acharyas or following properly in the mood of the Acharyas. Some other sampradayas give the Hare Krishna mantra. I met one person. He was initiated by another Sampradaya not connected with Lord Chaitanya. He said he was chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram, Hare Ram Ram Ram, hari Hari for 26 years. But he wasn't feeling any taste. I said, do you follow the Lord Chaitanya? I said, no, we don't know about Lord Chaitanya. I gave him the Panchatatra Mantra. You chant this before you chant Hare Ka. After three months I went to that place again. And he. He came running to me. He fell down saying obeisances and grabbed my feet. Then he began to cry. What you have done for me. What you have done. Now when I chant Hare Krishna, I am feeling so much bliss after chanting Chaitanya Mahabhapu's mantra. So you're very fortunate here because your local leader here, Shankar Dhari Prabhu, he very strict that no deviations translation do that. Who can do it? So very happy to be here to see so many nice devotees. I'm thinking I should spend less time traveling internationally and more time here in Madurai and India. Somehow I have this curse that I had to travel. Prabhupada said he was cursed by his disciples. So then he told me that now you have to take this curse. He said the sannyasis have to take the curse. But I was the sannyasi right in front of him. Today we're having this initiation. So we'll also speak about the 10 offenses. Those should be avoided. I won't speak now someone else can say also. The importantest verse is for me. We need that the parampara should be continued. This is the big problem with this Riktic system that some years ago somebody tried to spread that it eliminates the parampara system. So that we believe in the parampara system. Prabhupada said that his disciples would initiate the devotees who would become initiate disciples. Who would be his grand disciple, Disciple of his disciple. This is important. We want to continue that not only the mantra shall be passed down, but the practices, the bhakti, the teachings, all these things, the Prabhupada's culture, these things should be handed down. This is being initiated. As Prabhupada said. It's a glorious thing. It means one's going back to godhead in this lifetime if they, of course, they need to follow the vows that they've taken. And at the same time it means they are being accepted by the disciplic succession. The guru is acting as an agent. So that's a responsibility also to see that the parampara is carried forward. Just as we read today in this Bhagavatam, how the manus are protecting the world. Prabhupada wanted that the Iskcon movement would be known as the savior of the world. Today we have also a few people, some people taking second initiation. Which means that they're getting the empowerment to perform yagyas sacrifices. This is our Anandamay. Gauranga Das is doing yajnas. They can learn from him and others how to do sacrifices, how to worship the deities that are installed. It's called Pancharatriki initiation. So the first is called Bhagavati initiation. Bhagavati because it follows the process of chanting Hare Ka and the Bhagavacham and the second initiation is following the Pancharatric scriptures. There's a verse shruti, there's a verse shuti smithi puranadi Pancharatik, didi bhina, aykante kare bhakti, utpa, tayva kalpati that if we don't follow the scriptures, the Shruttis, the Smritis, the Puranas and other bona fide Vedic literatures. If we don't follow the Pancharatric vidhis then our pure devotional service will be disturbed and destroyed. So our Bhakti is not a sentimental thing. It's something we have sentiments but we follow the system given by Shastra. So our system for worshipping the deities is using the Pancharatriki system. This system was given by Narada Muni in five nights he gave the instructions. So it's called Pancha Ratri five night instructions. But also the most in the Sri Sampradaya. Other Sampradayas many are following this Pancharatriki system. Some do the Veda Agamans, but that's very difficult in Kali Yuga. Pancharatric system is recommended for Kali Yuga. So like this also DK we take initiation. We have a Diksha guru but we also have many other Siksha gurus who are helping us. We should always be respectful to the Sikhsha gurus. Also many Vaishnavas who are helping us. Somebody after getting initiation, very proud and thinks I have my guru and they disrespect the others who help them. That's a very neophyte attitude. They should respect all the devotees who are helping them. When we take the first initiation, the second and any other initiation we should take from same guru. Otherwise if he's maybe sometime he will leave the world. Then we take from the same Sampradaya. We want people to be very fixed up in the Prabhupada's culture. Sometimes people ask me who to take as a guru, how to choose. He said, first thing is to decide that you want to be in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Parampara and Srila Prabhupada as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu special representative in his Parampara. Then whoever inspires you more in Srila Prabhupada's teachings, you can take from him. This is our system. We want everyone to be very faithful to Prabhupada. We have some preliminary steps before initiation. Hari Bhakti Bilas said there should be one to three years of trial training. So first, when one is chanting 16 rounds for six months, they get trained up in Srila Prabhupada teachings and his mood. Then after that we can choose one of his representatives as our personal guru. We take his shelter. That's called Guru Aasraya, taking shelter of the guru. Then we can practice that by following this system, whether it's working for us, whether we're advancing. Then sometime after that we have to ask for the initiation. Candidate has to ask, they have to want it. No force for some people. So that's what Guru Ashwai means. We have Guru Ashwai candidates today. Also some people, they're not able to get up to the 16 rounds very fast because maybe many household duties or many too much work or whatever reason. Maybe there are students a lot of studies, they can only chant eight rounds. Or they are young mothers and the babies are taking too much time. Or Maybe they're chanting 16 rounds but they're not able to follow all the rules for one reason or another. So 1992 ISKCON said that people who are in ISKCON for one year, but they're not yet able to take the Guru Ashray because of some of these practical problems. But they aspire to take Guru Ashwai and initiation in the future from a particular guru that they can be considered aspirants for the guru. That means accepting the guru as a siksha guru, but whom they want to take diksha from. So that way they can start to develop a personal relationship and he can help them also to come up to the standard. Especially for the congregational devotees and the children of devotees and the young people. So we also on this initiation day, sometimes we give blessings if there are people aspiring in the future to be initiated and take shelter. So like that, these are the different programs they're having today. I don't know if there's any other samskaras scheduled Anaprasan or first grade, six month babies, eight month pregnancy, fourth, sixth or eighth gradual porcupine. Because we want to keep the families do all these things because it's very good for the tradition of Manu children. Also of a good Ka conscious couple, they also become Ka conscious. So these Samskaras help that. How many of you are grihastas? How many of you will probably be Grihastas in the future? So how many of you want to have Krishna conscious children for your children to be Ka consciousness? So that's why you want to be Ka conscious. Give a good example and give them as much blessings as possible. Also by these Samskaras, when they're in the womb, they can't do anything for themselves. But you can do samskara to give them a blessing. And then when they're young, up to five years, they're not able to do much for themselves. You can help them by different Samskaras, taking the first grains, Vidya, rumba, beginning the education. Mum done cutting the hairs, what else? 16 Samskaras keep you all busy. And the main, they also say Dasam Samskara, 10 main ones. It's a good opportunity to get dressed up. The ladies can wear their good sarees, men can wear their nice cloth, have a nice feast. Yeah. The materialists, they have their parties. We have our samskaras festivals, spiritual party, we call it a festival. Actually, this initiation for those who are not born in a Guija family, then we also give them Upanayanam and they can get the sacred thread. Because by chanting Hare Ka for one year, it's considered they develop all these sattvic qualities. So they are qualified to get the upanayanam. Those who already have upanayanam, they don't have to take off their Brahmin thread. We're giving seven mantras. One is the Upanayan mantra, the Savitri Gayatri, the other six are Pancharatri mantras. I'm gradually getting old. So I hope that all my first initiated disciples, as many as are qualified, can get the second initiation while I'm still on the planet. Sometimes the disciples want me to reconfirm their Upanayanam. I give them, speak that mantra to them also. Again, in Bangladesh, so many Hindus left and came to India. But so most of the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, they all left some places. And one island called Hatia Dweep, or there's an island, no, in Bangladesh. Bangladesh, there's an island there called some islands Sandipatia. These islands have many Hindus, but they have no Brahmin, no Kshatriya and no Vaishya. Only they had. So the one person who was going to do the weddings, Vibha, has Samskara is also important. So there was one carpenter there, he was a Sudra. He was the highest caste because all the rest were below Sudra. So he would perform the weddings. That's why they ask us, could you please. We want to be initiated so that we can actually do it in a proper and trained. We can do in a proper Vedic way. Here in South India, no shortage of Brahmins. One time we went to one of the Temples here, nearby Madurai. And one of the priests came up to me, elderly priest, he told me, please, I have one intelligent son. Please get him a job in America. I said, but you're a priest. You're so fortunate. You're serving the deities. Why do you want to send him to the Mlachadesh? No. He said, I have one less intelligent son. He's a priest, but I'm intelligent one. I want him to get job overseas. This is what's happening in our country that before the be a priest was considered that we should be the most intelligent people. So like that it's hard to find people. Even they may be born in a Brahmin family who are practicing the Brahminical tradition. If anywhere a little bit in South India they do. But rest of India, even our Brahmin family, they are not vegetarian. So how they can do Samskara? Still Vedic culture somewhat protected in South India. Srila Bhakti Siddhanda Sarajatakur said, if he has to be born on this planet again, he wants to be born in South India. But we are also making Brahmanas and Vaishnavas and Brahmanas so they can continue on with our Vaishnava tradition and with all this Pancharatri Samskaras and things. One important thing that it mentions here is how a good ka conscious family, husband and wife can produce also ka conscious children. What happens normally to get people married, there are so many considerations. Caste, education, financial condition that they don't think so much about their spiritual condition. So sometimes just okay, this caste is good. Good family, rich family, educated. She's got her b calm. So let's get my son to marry her. But she's not a devotee. She doesn't chant. Maybe she's not a pure vegetarian in Bengal like this one aspiring disciple was brought home by their parents and got married to one girl. She promised, yes, I'll be vegetarian. I'll practice your dharma. After one year they had a baby. Then she started eating non veg again. The husband came to me, what to do Now I have baby I'm attached to. But now she eats non veg. She said, you know, I came from non veg family. I promised. Yes, I promised. And I tried for one year. But now I cannot do anymore. Another one, he was from Jaipur, working in America. Put an ad in a newspaper. One devotee wife. So this lady applied. Yes, I'm a devotee. I marry you. Caste was okay, education, wealth. So then they went to see her. She was in the Radha Govinda temple. She has a bead babe. And then she's chanting. So they thought, okay, she's a devotee, let's marry her to our son. So they got married. Then as she came to America, got her green card, her residency. Then she's. They find that she's chanting. Not Hare Krishna, she's chanting Sairam. Sairam. She's Sai Baba devotee. Not Hari Ram Sairam. And she's shouting at her parents. She has no culture on the money. So many problems. I can tell you like this. But there will be another class. Won't be Bhagavatam class. Please don't neglect. Try to find a devotee first. Should be is Ka conscious devotee. We have so many devotees in different parts of India. The world. Then you can see about caste and education. Other things first. Whether it's a girl or same for girls for the boy. Actually there's a lot of boys looking for girls. Lot of girls looking for boys in our Ka Conscious movement. So when you take initiation, you want to have Ka conscious children. You have to have a Ka conscious spouse. Of course, sometimes if you cannot find, you do the best you can. Vegetarian everything. But you should investigate a little bit. Make sure what they really are also like. We have agreement between Radanath Swami and myself that my disciple can also marry his disciple. He's got 5,000 congregation. Anyway, for being initiated, a lot of responsibilities and a lot of good fortune. Thank you for watching our videos. Be sure to subscribe to our channel. We publish new videos every day. And don't forget to like and share our channel.