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Sunday, 30 June 1974

Srila Prabhupada was scheduled to perform an initiation ceremony for six young devotees early in the morning. He entered the temple room a little before 7am. A devotee rang a large brass ship's bell suspended from the ceiling, and the folding white doors opened, revealing the Deity room filled with clouds of fragrant frankincense. Prabhupada offered full prostrated obeisances, then stood, glancing lovingly at the Deities.

In the front of the altar, decorated with lengths of carnation garlands, stood the small Deities of Radha and Krsna on a marble platform, surrounded by metallic lotus petals. On the front right-hand side of the altar was a large framed picture of Lord Caitanya and His associates, and on the left a picture of Srila Prabhupada. Behind them stood Radha-Vallabha, the beautiful Deities of Radha and Krsna that Prabhupada had installed the year before. Above Them, and behind in a raised section of the altar, stood Jagannatha, Balarama and Subhadra in Their new Ratha-yatra outfit.

Prabhupada turned and walked to his seat, briefly lowering his head as a devotee placed a garland of red roses and camelias around his neck. A large coloured canopy hung from the ceiling above a small brick-bordered sacrificial fire pit. Prabhupada appeared relaxed and jolly, as he sat with the morning sun streaming through the yellow curtains behind him and dancing off the stained glass windows above.

Madhudvisa led a particularly exuberant guru puja kirtana. Prabhupada played his karatals enthusiastically, occasionally smiling beneficently at Madhudvisa. At the end of the kirtana, Srila Prabhupada spoke encouragingly.

"So I would just like to say that you are very fortunate to have a very nice, qualified leader here, Madhudvisa Maharaja. He chants Hare Krsna very nicely. You all do whatever he tells you to do, that will please me, and you will advance very nicely. My request is that you all just follow Madhudvisa Maharaja." The devotees cheered and chanted Jaya! and Haribol!

Prabhupada had decided to give an initiation lecture based on Chapter 7 of Bhagavad-gita, verse 1. Prabhupada explained that when Krsna says: "mad-asrayah -- take shelter of Me" -- He means 'take shelter of My representative, guru'.

"Not that 'I am now very much advanced. I don't require any help from my guru', as some are doing. This is rascaldom. You cannot get Krsna by overcoming guru. That is not possible. Therefore Caitanya-caritamrta, says 'guru krsna krpaya paya'. We should always remember that by the mercy of Krsna we get guru, and by the mercy of guru we get Krsna, so we have to seek mercies of both of them."

The business of the disciple, Prabhupada pointed out, was to please the guru. "If he is satisfied, then Krsna becomes immediately satisfied because he is the agent. That is very easy to understand. Suppose you are working in the office. Your immediate boss, the superintendent, if he is pleased, that means the managing director is also pleased. You haven't got to please the managing director separately. If you please his representative, and the managing director sees the report, 'Yes, this man is working nicely,' then he accepts."

Pleasing the guru, Prabhupada explained, meant strictly following his orders, especially those given at initiation. "Whatever sinful activities you have done, that is squared up; now account closed. Now you begin a new life, devotional life. And if you stick to the principle as it is instructed, 'do not have illicit sex, do not have intoxicants, do not eat meat, do not play gambling, speculate.' You promise before Krsna and before the spiritual master, before the Vaisnavas, so many witnesses, and if you violate, then you can understand what you are doing. You promise before the Deity. Krsna is not different. So when initiation takes place we promise so many things, but if we do not follow, if we do not keep our promise, that is a great fault."

Accidental falldowns were excused, Prabhupada said. But he warned against the "cheating process". "Suppose a smoker has taken to Krsna consciousness. He has promised that: 'I shall not smoke.' But all of a sudden, suppose his friends induce him, 'Ah, what is that? Smoke today .. ' So sometimes you become induced. But we should always remember that 'I have taken this vow. Why should I be induced by my friends to smoke?' That is very nice. But even if by mistake you do that, that can be excused, but not wilfully; 'Now nobody is seeing. Krsna is not here. Let me smoke now.' Not that. Krsna's eyes are everywhere. You cannot escape Krsna's eyes."


- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu