Initiation from within the heart

Srila Prabhupada: Because Krishna is situated in everyone's heart. Actually, He is the spiritual master, caitya-guru.

Srila Prabhupada: Therefore God is called caitya-guru, the spiritual master within the heart. And the physical spiritual master is God's mercy. If God sees that you are sincere, He will give you a spiritual master who can give you protection. He will help you from within and without, without in the physical form of spiritual master, and within as the spiritual master within the heart.

O'Grady: The problem is to find this friend. The problem is to find this spiritual master.

Srila Prabhupada: No, there is no problem. The problem is if you are sincere. Yes. That is stated. Because actually you have got problems, but God is within your heart. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrid-dese arjuna tistahati. God is not far away. God is within your heart. So if you are sincere, then God will give you spiritual master. If He knows that now you are sincere, then He will give you a spiritual master.

O'Grady: O.K. Thank you. That I know.

- Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady--May 23, 1974, Rome

"Because Krsna is situated in everyone's heart. Actually, He is the spiritual master, caitya-guru. So in order to help us, He comes out as physical spiritual master." (Lecture, 28/5/74)

"Therefore God is called caitya-guru, the spiritual master within the heart. And the physical spiritual master is God's mercy." (Room Conversation, 23/5/74)

"Regarding your question of Paramatma: you are fortunate enough for your sincere service, Krishna as Paramatma Who is sitting within your heart is now dictating. Krishna is so kind that He wants to help us as Spiritual Master in two ways. He helps us from within as Caitya Guru and He expands Himself externally as Siksa Guru (as instructor) and diksa Guru (initiator). So the principle is that whatever you are instructed by the Caitya Guru internally may be confirmed by the instructor or initiator externally. Then your progress will be complete." (Srila Prabhupada Letter to Sivananda, 05-21-69)

At this stage, Krsna, or the Supersoul, dictates from within, while from without the devotee is helped by the spiritual master, who is the bona fide representative of Krsna. From within He helps the devotee as caitya, for He is seated within the heart of everyone. Understanding that God is seated within everyone's heart is not, however, sufficient. One has to be acquainted with God from both within and without, and one must take dictation from within and without to act in Krsna consciousness. This is the highest perfectional stage of the human form of life and the topmost perfection of all yoga.

'Tanhara carana age kariye vandana mantra guru.' Who gives mantra is diksa-guru. Ara yata siksa-guru-gana, there is siksa-guru and all [Vaisnavas] are siksa-gurus who are giving bhajana-siksa, who are giving the glories of devotion. [So there are different types of guru:] diksa-guru, siksa guru who gives Krsna-tattva and all other things, then bhajana-guru, and also caitya-guru. Krsna Himself is caitya-guru.

"One who is sincere and pure gets an opportunity to consult with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His Paramatma feature sitting within everyone's heart. The Paramatma is always the caitya-guru, the spiritual master within, and He comes before one externally as the instructor and initiator spiritual master. The Lord can reside within the heart, and He can also come out before a person and give him instructions. Thus the spiritual master is not different from the Supersoul sitting within the heart. An uncontaminated soul or living entity can get a chance to meet the Paramatma face to face. Just as one gets a chance to consult with the Paramatma within his heart, one also gets a chance to see Him actually situated before him. Then one can take instructions from the Supersoul directly." (SB 4.28.52 : PURPORT )

"Well initiation or no initiation, first thing is knowledge... knowledge. Initiation is formality. Just like you go to a school for knowledge, and admission is formality. That is not very important thing." (Srila Prabhupada Press Interview, 10-16-76, Chandigarh)

"A disciple's relationship with a bona fide diksa guru is eternal, but getting handed beads and throwing grain and a banana in a fire is merely an empty ritual that is over as soon as the ashes are scattered. The Lord in the heart always knows our sincerity and as Caitya guru will reveal Himself and send guru according to our degree of sincerity.

1. SB 7.2.47 purport, "the intelligence gets inspiration from the Supersoul (dadami buddhi-yogam tam) [Bg 10.10]. In the synonyms to Cc Madhya 11.117 Prabhupada translates the word "prerana" as inspiration, yanre—in whomever; krpa—mercy; kari'—bestowing; karena—does; hrdaye—in the heart; prerana—inspiration; krsna-asraya—shelter of Lord Krsna; haya—there is. He translates the verse, "The man to whom the Lord shows His mercy by inspiring him within the heart takes shelter only of Lord Krsna…" In classical Sanskrit prerana means "motivation" or "instigation;" in Hindi, and Bengali it means "urge," or "inspiration."

Cc Adi 1.100 elaborates. The synonyms: diya—giving; bhakti-rasa—devotional inspiration. Translation: "the Lord instills the mellows of transcendental loving service into the heart of a living being," and by implication inspires the devotee.

WHAT IS INITATION?
March 10, 2002 by roy-barrios

This seems like a simple question since so many devotees have taken initiation. But I have asked a few devotees and they seem not to really understand what is real initiation. So this is my humble attempt to try to understand what is real initiation.

It seems that initiation is two fold, but that’s when we look at it from the material point of view. First we have the initiation ceremony or ritual. The ceremony seems fairly simple to understand that it is a formality of the guru accepting the disciple and the disciple accepting the guru. That is, of course, a very serious commitment and never to be taken lightly. Now we must ask what does formality mean?

I use the word formality because a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada “how important is formal initiation?” And Srila Prabhupada said “formal initiation means to accept officially to abide by the orders of Krsna and his representatives, that is formal initiation.”

Also Srila Prabhupada said “initiation or no initiation, first thing is knowledge. Initiation is a formality. Just like you go to school for knowledge and admission is formality, that is not a very important thing.

So now we have a glimpse of what is the ritual or formality or initiation. So now we must ask what is beyond this; what is real initiation. To try to shed some light on this, let’s examine some purports by Srila Prabhupada from the Caitanya Caritamrta.

First He says the spiritual master awakens the sleeping living entity to his original consciousness so that he can worship Lord Visnu. This is the purpose of diksa or initiation. Initiation means receiving the pure knowledge of spiritual consciousness. [Madhya-Lila 9.61,purport]

Second He says diksa actually means initiating a disciple with transcendental knowledge by which he becomes freed from all material contamination. [Madhya-Lila 4.111, purport]

So it seems that real initiation deals with the giving of transcendental knowledge from the guru and the receiving of transcendental knowledge by the disciple. And also important and which binds the initiation and fulfills the commitment is our sincerity, determination and our submission to the guru.

Also to understand initiation further, Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati one said: “Submission to the Absolute is not real unless it is also itself Absolute. It is on the plane of the Absolute that the disciple is required to submit completely to the good preceptor. On the material plane, there can be no such thing as complete submission.” So now it seems that we must also understand that this real initiation is absolutely on the transcendental platform.

So from this we can see what is real initiation. When I ask myself who is giving me this transcendental initiation, the answer keeps coming up Srila Prabhupada. I recommend that you ask yourself the same question.

So in closing we must pay all obeisances to the savior of the universe, Srila Prabhupada, for His purports of transcendental knowledge.

Roy

What exactly is -- initiation??

750520mw.mel Conversations 383020/530501
Devotee (3): Srila Prabhupada, if one goes to the temple, if one attends the temple regularly and inquires from the devotees about the devotional principles, and because of some reason, it's not necessarily... it's not convenient for him to live in the temple at that time, and he is living with people...
Prabhupada: No, no, you live in temple or without temple, if you follow the instruction, that is wanted. If you live without temple and chant sixteen rounds and observe the regulative principle, that's all right. It doesn't require that you should live in the temple. And if you live in the temple and do all nonsense, then what is the use of living in the temple?
Devotee: Is it wrong to think of initiation then? Or initiated also?
(?)
Prabhupada: Their "thinking" means they are not fixed up. That very word suggest that they are not fixed up. Oh, initiation can take place anywhere.

[In the above convesation we see Srila Prabhupada stressing that initiation can take place anywhere.
Many devotees think that initiation has to take place ONLY in a temple with the fire sacrifice, all your family members,TP, GBC sanction, etc. Yet here Srila Prabhupada states that initiation can take place anywhere.
Why is that?
Because initiation means it is an affair of the heart when the aspirant decides he or she wants to be guided by the Param para disciplic sucession as delivered down thru eternal time. When THAT time comes, THAT moment in time is considered "initiation". Then a formal initiation can take place later, even decades later or 11 years, as was Srila Prabhupada's personal case.]

761210DB.HYD Lectures 240636/530501
So anyway, from 1922 [when he first met Bhaktisiddhanta maharaj] to 1933 practically I was not initiated, but I got the impression of preaching Caitanya Mahaprabhu's cult. That I was thinking. And that was the initiation by my Guru Maharaja. Then officially I was initiated in 1933 because in 1923 I left Calcutta. I started my business at Allahabad. So I was always thinking of my Guru Maharaja, that "I met a very nice sadhu." Although I was doing business I never forgot him.

[So above is the proof by Srila Prabhupada himself. He states that he first met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaj in 1923, at which point he considered himself "initiated" even though he waited until 11 years later for the formal initiation, due to business concerns which took him out of Calcutta and away from Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaj.]

761016iv.cha Conversations 452898/530501
Interviewer: What is the procedure of the movement? Do you initiate yourself all the disciples or do your other disciples also do that? Prabhupada: Well, initiation or no initiation, first thing is knowledge. (break) ...knowledge. Initiation is formality. Just like you go to a school for knowledge, and admission is formality. That is not very important thing.... So our this movement is successful...

[In this conversation Srila Prabhupada states that for initiation, the first thing is knowledge, not the bananna throw into the sacred fire. First we have to be convinced about what we are hearing and doing, then that conviction becomes our desire for initiation within the heart by following the teachings laid down by the acaryas in our sampradaya.]

"The Supreme Lord is not obtained by expert explanations, by vast intelligence, or even by much hearing. He is obtained only by one whom He Himself chooses. To such a person, He manifests His own form." (SB 10.13.54 PURPORT)