Question: When Does One Become a Disciple?If one has accepted someone as one's spiritual master and has decided to serve him wholeheartedly and follow his instructions, is it that from that time onwards he is his spiritual master? Or is it only after the fire sacrifice initiation ceremony that he becomes a disciple?Your servant,GeetikaAnswer: When He Surrenders to Sri GuruThe real meaning of being a disciple is to be fully surrendered to the orders and instructions of the spiritual master. As soon as one does this he is immediately as good as initiated. But still the initiation ceremony is required to formalize the guru/disciple relationship. This ceremony signs and seals the contract. Just like in my life, one fateful glorious morning in Austin, Texas in 1971 I accepted Srila Prabhupada into my heart as my eternal spiritual master, but still I had to wait for several months before he formally initiated me by chanting on my beads and giving me a spiritual name.The Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (2.6) confirms the necessity of initiation:adīkṣitasya vāmoru kṛtaṁ sarvaṁ nirarthakampaśu-yonim avāpnoti dīkṣā-virahito janaḥ"Unless one is initiated by a bona fide spiritual master, all his devotional activities are useless. A person who is not properly initiated can descend again into the animal species."The essence of the guru/disciple relationship is to be fully surrendered to follow the instructions of the spiritual master. The initiation ceremony is when the disciple formally vows to be surrendered to the spiritual master's orders for all of eternity and the spiritual master agrees to take that particular disciple back to home, back to Godhead.Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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