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initiation

Posted by Madhura Nag Chaudhury on May 2, 2012 at 5:05pm in Krishna

Hare Krishna everyone!

Its wonderful to be in this space sharing my thoughts with you all..

I have a question in my mind for which i am seeking an answer and will need your help..

My question is if someone has taken initiation outside iskcon (earlier in his life when he was not perfect in consciousness)and his guru is still present...but he still aspires to advance further in Krishna consciousness and perfect himself ....and for this purpose wants to take initiatio in Iskcon.. will he be eligible for it?

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Replies

  • Volunteer
    anand patel April 21, 2013 at 2:13pm

    TWICE-BORN.‏

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    SECOND BIRTH.‏

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS ON INITIATION‏.

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    Q.  WHAT IS FIRST INITIATION AND WHAT IS SECOND INITIATION‏ ?

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

  • Volunteer
    anand patel May 4, 2012 at 3:47pm

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

    • Alka > anand patel May 8, 2012 at 7:36pm

      Hare Krishna dear devotees

      I found this nice discussion on "Initiation from Heart" .

      http://www.harekrsna.org/gbc/black/heart-initiation.htm

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

      Vishnu - the super soul within the heartSrila 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.

      "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."

      Hare Krishna

      Initiation from within the heart
      A website to expose bogus gurus, sannyasis, murderers, and other criminals in the ISKCON Isk_con-Society. Radhanath Swami (Richard Slavin) ordered an…
      • Pramod Govindan > Alka May 9, 2012 at 12:00am

        Hare Krishna Alka mathaji,

        Thank you for the nice information.. We were actually thinking in the same line, but Prabhupada's words in the link give us more confidence now to grow in KC... Thank you so much..

        -Your servant

  • Volunteer
    anand patel May 4, 2012 at 3:45pm

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

  • Volunteer
    anand patel May 4, 2012 at 3:43pm

    http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...

  • Volunteer
    anand patel May 4, 2012 at 3:43pm

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  • Madhura Nag Chaudhury May 2, 2012 at 5:41pm

    Hare Krishna,
    Thank you for the answer...i have another question which stems from this and which i find very perplexing...kindly answer this..
    how to make out if someone is a bonafide spiritual master? There are so many sampradayas...it is very difficult to understand who is a bonafide spiritual master? As far as my knowledge goes the last bonafide spiritual master was his divine grace Srila Prabhupada...and his disciples in Iskcon are in disciplic succession to him...so can anyone outside Iskcon be considered as a bonafide spiritual master? I really dont know much about it...so kindly enlighten me and forgive me if i have said anything which may be is not appropriate...

    • Volunteer
      rakesh roshan > Madhura Nag Chaudhury May 2, 2012 at 6:01pm

      Hare Krsna

      Humble obeisances

      There are 4 bonafide sampradayas- Rudra Sampradaya, Sri Sampradaya, Kumara Sampradaya and Gaudiya Madhava smpraydaya which ISKCON belongs to. All these 4 sampradayas are bonafide and if u take initiation under them, it is completely fine. Any sampradaya other than these are not right.

      Srila Prabhupada was a bonafide spiritual master and all present spiritual masters authorized by GBC of ISKCON are bonafide. The same goes in other sampradayas, those who are authorized by that sampradaya are bonafide. A bonafide spiritual master is one whose teachings are in line with

      -Shashtras- we have Bhagvada Gita As It Is and Srimad Bhagavatam given by Srila Prabhupada to verify

      -other bonafide spiritual masters

      - Acharyas in the past- we have books of Srila Bhakti Sidhanta Saraswati Thakur and some other bonafide acharyas to verify.

      Rupa goswami has given the definition of a spiritual master as " one who is able to control the 6 urges ( tongue,belly, and 4 more, he is allowed to make disciples all over the world."

      your servant

      • Alka > rakesh roshan May 2, 2012 at 6:41pm

        Hare Krishna prabhuji's/mataji

        Since the subject is initiation, I have few questions. I am eager to know as I feel initiation would bring us closer to Lord Krishna and we would be putting more effort towards KC.

        I understand that one needs to be very stringent when initiated. So..

        1) How do I decide I am ready for initiation?

        2) Following 4 regulative principles and chanting 16 rounds is good enough for initiation?.

        3) What about putting tilak? Do we need to put it all the time. If one cannot put tilak all the time then does it stop them from taking initiation.

        4) What about eating(vegetarian food) outside once in a while ? Does that stop one from taking initiation?

        5) And what about eating onion/garlic outside, does that also stop from taking initiation.

        6) What about during traveling, we might not be able to serve food to Krishna 2 times, take care of the deities at home. Do we need somebody else to take care of deities at home when we are travelling.

        7) What is the minimum number of hours we need to spend on Krishna after initiation. I heard in some lecture that at least 4 hours is expected.

        8) Any other tips are welcome.

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