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Balarama Jayanti Initiation Lecture by HH Radhanath Swami ,

Villa Vrindavan, Italy

HH Radhanath Swami:

On behalf of His Divine Grace  AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and the great acaryas of our Brahma Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya, on this holy occasion of Sri Balarama Jayanti, in Sri Villa Vrindavan, we commence the ceremony of initiation. We began this holy ceremony with the invocation of a verse from the holy scriptures:

Om apavitrahi.

 
This verse encapsulates the very purpose of initiation and the very purpose of life. Whether we are in a pure state or a very impure state, or even having passed through any kind of situation before us or in the past, whatever we have done or has been done to us, whatever family we are born in, whatever pleasures and pains, pious or sins we have done in the past, anyone, or everyone, simply by remembering the beautiful Personality of Godhead can become purified within and without.

Because the Absolute Truth, Sri Krsna, is pavitra, the supreme pure, simply by connecting to that purity we become purified. There is no extent of contamination that can possibly resist the purifying power of Krsna because Krsna is all-attractive and can attract the hearts of anyone and everyone through this process of purification. And Krsna has appeared in this age of kali in the holy name.

Kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avatara

Lord Caitanya taught us "namnam akari bahuda nija sarva-saktis, the Lord has many names. And in each of those names the Lord has invested his full transcendental potencies. The Sanskrit word mantra means that which trayate, liberates our mind. That sound vibration which reconnects to our own spiritual connection and liberates the mind is called a mantra.

Lord Balarama's appearance day is a very special time. Lord Balarama appeared as Lord Caitanya. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave an instruction to Thakur Haridas and Nityanananda Prabhu: Go everywhere to everyone, do not consider who is fit and unfit, on my behalf give them this message, chant the names of the Lord, worship Krsna, remember Krsna and share Krsna with others. Krsna is your original supreme mother and father, the real treasure of your life. Krsna is our life and soul. Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa went house to house begging people to take the name of Krsna and become liberated.

And Nityananda Prabhu told everybody that just do this and I will become your servant, forever you will become my life and soul. And when Lord Caitanya would see people trying to cleanse their hearts-the Lord is atmarama, self-satisified but is also karuna-sindhu an unlimited ocean of mercy. Not like the oceans of this world, the ocean of compassion of the Lord has not bottom or shores. Still the Lord descends into this world again and again because he wants us to be happy, not happy in the illusions of birth and death, but happy in the eternal quality of the soul which is to eternally love God.

Wherever Lord Caitanya saw people chanting the names of the Lord he would decorate them with candana and garlands, embrace them, and weep saying you are my life and soul.

Bharata bhumite manusya janma hoilo jar,

janma sarthaka kori koro para-upakara,

There is nothing that pleases me more than for one to assist me in distributing these fruits of love of God, I have unlimited fruits, just one fruit is enough to satisfy one person eternally, I am giving them for free, all I'm asking is for you to accept them. With tears of compassion he is begging all of us to please help me distribute these fruits of love of God.

In the holy place of Prayag, where the three holy rivers of Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvati meet, Lord Caitanya met with Rupa Goswami. Rupa Goswami composed a beautiful verse upon seeing the lord in that place:

Namo maha-vadanyaya krsna prema pradayate
Krsnaya krsna caitanya namne gaura tvise namah

That Lord Krsna is most merciful, but in this age of Kali, in this beautiful golden form of Lord Caitanya, you have expanded your mercy like never before.

On the banks of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers, Lord Caitanya taught the world the simple method of revivng that prema bhakti within the heart. He tells Rupa Goswami:

Brahmanada bhramite kono bhagyavana jiva
Guru krsna prasade paya bhakti lata bija

This bhakt-lata-bija, the seed of devotion, is in the heart of everybody. The living entities wander in 8,4000,000 species, they wander from species to species and planet to planet. When one becomes very fortunate he comes in
contact with a  genuine guru.

adau sraddha tatha sadhu-sango 'tha bhajana kriya

In the association of devotees one comes in contact with the guru who awakens that inclination, that seed of devotion within the heart. There is nothing so precious as that seed of bhakti that is within us. It is trillions of times more powerful than the fame or pleasures of this world. But it is lying in a dormant state within us. In the association of sadhus it is awakened. Therefore it is said:

sadhu-sanga sadhu-sanga sadhu sarva sastra kaya
lava matra sadhu-sanga sarva siddhi haya

That there Is nothing more precious than the association of a saintly person as it opens the doors of liberation. The great spiritual masters teach how to cultivate the bhakti lata bija. . . we must water it for the fruit to mature.

We need sunlight, the light of the association of saintly people. And on a daily basis, we must water it. What is the water? Sravanan kirtanam visno, smaranam pada-sevanam. The process of devotion, especially hearing the glories of the Lord and chanting the glories of the Lord is the most powerful.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya asked Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, of the nine processes of devotional service, of all the different forms of yoga, which is the most important?

Lord Caitanya explained, to nurture the seed of love of God within us, the most important is kirtanam, the chanting of the holy name. Harer-nama harer-nama, harinamaiva kevalam, in this age of Kali-yuga, for the purpose of awakening divine love, this is the most powerful way.

Kaler-dosa nidhe rajan, this Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, but the scriptures says there is one benediction that anyone and everyone simply by chanting God's name with sincere devotion, can attain the perfection of liberation. Nama cintamani krsnas. . . the rasa, the love, is non different than the Lord. Golokera prema dhana. . . this divine mantra has descended from the spiritual world to bring us there.

As we water the seed of love within our hearts, it begins to grow, it becomes a little sprout. In the beginning states, it is very fragile. We must protect it from being trampled on by our previous bad habits, by engaging in immoral activities, by acting in egoistic, selfish ways, by criticizing or causing harm to other living  beings. A devotee of the Lord should be very, very sensitive not to cause unnecessary pain to any living creature, by our word, by our actions, and as far as possible, even by our thoughts. One should avoid committing offenses to devotees, to anyone.

Illicit sex, Intoxication, Gambling, Meat eating, these things very much inhibit the growing of the seed of love of God. At the time of initiation, we take vows to refrain from those things that drive our consciousness down. We also vow to regularly chant the names of the Lord. Just like a garden, long with the flower, many weeds will begin to grow. We must have knowledge in order to be able to discriminate between the seed of devotion and weeds, which sometimes look identical.

We have discussed some of these weeds. These anarthas, these unwanted tendancies within our own hearts. The tendencies of selfish desire, criticizing, fault-finding. And the tendency to simply waste our time with mundane activities. The nature of the mind and the ego is to justify our unwanted tendencies in such a way that we convince ourselves and others that this is a very special quality of mine.

As far as possible we must uporot these weeds and continue to pour the water of kirtana and japa and seva, to serve all others in body, mind and words without selfish expectations, and by continuing like this that little creeper grows into a very strong tree of devotion.

In course of time it grows beyond all the layers of material existence, it crosses the Viraja, the border river between the material and spiritual worlds and it enters into the brahmajyoti, the infinite unlimited light of the Absolute Truth, that place where there is no birth, death or suffering, where there is asolute and total peace, that place which many transcendentalists seek as the ultimate goal of life.

The gardener continues to water the root of the tree and it grows beyond the brahmajyoti and enters into the spiritual world, the eternal residence of Sri Bhagavan, the all-attractive lord of our hearts, and there the fruit of prema ripens fully. And it is offered at the feet of Sri Sri Radha Govinda and they taste it and give us that fruit. When we taste it, it is anandambudhi-vardhanam,  the ecstasy that we have always been wating for, an unlimited ocean of ananda.

All this is happening why we are sitting here in Italy doing our sadhana, or wherever you may be from. This incredible experience of offering pure love to Krsna all happens in your heart while you are doing bhakti. When we taste that ecstatic prema bhakti, we feel such love and  compassion we simply want to share that with everyone. Not in a sectarian egoistic judgemental way, but in a spirit of humility and compassion as the servant of servant of all beings.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave in this context a simple formula by which we can access the full power of the holy names of the Lord:

Trnadapi sunicena, taroriva sahisnuna
Amanina manadena kirtaniya sada harih

To aspire to be humble like a blade of grass, to be forgiving and tolerant like  a tree. We step on the grass and it gest right back up to make it nice for us next time. And the tree, in the summer stands in the sun to give us shade, in the winter stands in the cold and give us wood to keep us warm. Even if you cut it down it gives us wood to build a house. There is noone more tolerant and with a better service attitude than a tree. And then to give all respect to others and not expect any for oneself.

Simply by following this simple formula we can access the full power of God's grace. To give up our lower habits and committ ourselves to the purification of our hearts.

Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-acarya of our society. And we are all trying to serve him in sharing this prema bhakti with the world. We all have different unique roles. We may be serving as a diksa guru, siksa guru, GBC, temple president, regional secretary, mother, father, teacher, pujari. Whatever it is, we are united to help Srila Prabhupada to give this gift of prema bhakti to the world. We should really try to create such a family of respect and honor. And together to offer that respect and honor to all living beings.

Thank you very much.