On the auspicious ocaasion of Srivas Acarya's Appearance Day we held initiation ceremony in which 25 devotees were initiated by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Prabhupada is the initiating guru of the society and he confirms it in the following quote:
Prahupada: "Yes, I am the spiritual master of this institution, and all the members of the society, they're supposed to be my disciples. They follow the rules and regulations which I ask them to follow, and they are initiated by me spiritually."
March 12, 1968, San Francisco
The devotees who were going to be initiated
Devotees taking part in fire sacrifice
A Gurukul Student getting his initiated beads and names
A devotee receiving initiation
Lord Jagannath, Shubhadra and Baladeva on this occasion
Some grhastha devotees taking initiation
"Asking for alms- an important part of this ceremony"
Sankirtan
A group photo of the initiated devotees
Instructions given by Srila Prabhupada to the initiated devotees
"No addiction to indulgence in any form of intoxication, including coffee, tea and cigarettesNo illicit sexual relationships
Must be strictly vegetarian
No gambling
And the other standard practices for initiated devotees:
Must attend evening and morning classes
Should not extensively mix with non-devotees
Should not eat food cooked by non-devotees
Should not waste time in idle talks
Should not become engaged in frivolous sports
Should always chant and sing the Lord's Holy Names
Chanting as enunciated by Lord Caitanya is the only means for spiritual realization in this age of dissension. So chant at least 16 rounds daily, and for other help you can ask assistance from your elderly God-brothers.
Hope you are well."
Letter to: Sacisuta — Allston, Mass 30 May, 1968
As His Divine Grace did authorize his senior disciples to continue ACT as a Ritvik Representative of the Acaraya, as these Ritvik Acarayas are no longer following Srila Prabhupada's Instructions, the question is that
ReplyDeleteIs there any specific instructions that a temple president of any where can perform such activities of the Ritvik officiating i.e. name giving, ist and 2nd initiations etc. on behalf of Srila Prabhupada ?
Respected Learned Readers ;
ReplyDeletePAMHO,
It has been quite a while when I ask the question ;
” Is there any such particular and/or specific instructions from HDG. Srila Prabhupada that a temple president of any where can also perform such activities of the Ritvik officiating i.e. name giving, ist and 2nd initiations etc. on behalf of Srila Prabhupada ? ”
It seems that there is NONE any particular or specific such Instructions from HDG. Srila Prabhupada to the Temple Presidents of Iskcon world wide because there was no such need. There is no doubt about it.
However, there is perhaps a reason for it. The reason seemingly appears that during Srila Prabhupada’s manifested lila such rittvik initiations were already being performed on Srila Prabhupada behalf not only by the persons named in July 9th Letter but also by sannyasis, GBCs including Temple Presidents as well who happened to be responsible and reliable persons on the occasion of such initiation ceremonies.
Thus, the Temple Presidents are / were totally working as a Puppet of HDG. Srila Prabhupada as He desires and explains clearly as follows ;
“As I am puppet of my Guru Maharaja, if you become my puppet, then that is success. Our success is there when we become puppet of the predecessor. To live in the society of devotees and to become puppet of the predecessor acarya, that is success. So we are trying to do that. Krishna consciousness society and serve the predecessor. That’s all.” (Conversation 4-19-73).
As Srila Prabhupada says ; “I shall remain your personal guidance, physically present or not physically, as I am getting personal guidance from my guru maharaja” (Srila Prabhupada to Tamal Krishna, 14 July 1977).
Therefore, all of us must hear from our Jagat Guru His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada ki jaya.
Hare Krishna.
YS….. Amar Puri.
Hare Krishna. Yes. Any temple President who is totally fixed on that Srila Prabhupada is the only true diksa guru, should be able to do or arrange for ritvik initiation ceremonies for Srila Prabhupada on own individual voluntary initiative. It is urgent devotees have all facilities to have such ceremonies performed. having said this, the ceremony is not the most important and even necessary. True initiation is most importnata dn necessary. That is tthat ne must understand the philosophy well, particularly guru tatta siddhanta.
ReplyDeletePrabhu Mahatma dasa,
DeleteHare Krishna. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Of course, Initiation ceremony formality is for the Sankalpa in front of the Fire, Diksa Guru Srila Prabhupada and the Lord Himself besides the association of other devotees certainly increasing the level of enthusiasm of the new Initiate in the Krsna conscious activities in order to make further continuous progress in cultivating Krsna consciousness.
Hare Krishna. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.