Initiation (?)

[Guest guest]

Janesvara wrote:

 

> I will agree to call him a bhakta. His initiated name is Prsnigarbha dasa.

> His nickname would probably be Prsni most of the time to those familiar

> with him. I will go as far as calling him Bhakta Prsni Prabhu. Bhakta is

> not meant to be a demeaning word in my book ever. Indeed, it is a very

> advanced human title which he is eligible for.

 

I agree that bhakta is a great compliment, and if said in the right mood, I

would definately take it as such myself. You can of course deal with Prsni

as you like, but if she is now a woman, I have no problems with that.

 

Another thing is "initiated" names. My initiated name is Jatukarnya das, but

I look at myself as a bhakta, an uninitiated devotee. People can call me

Jatu or Jatukarnya, no problem, because that is the name many know me by,

and I like it. But my spiritual master left, and showed that he was not

qualified of having disciples in our parampara (that does not mean that he

is a useless guy, it just means that he is not an uttama adhikari, which one

is supposed to be to initiate in our parampara).

 

People can go around telling me that I am still initiated and connected to

the parampara through bona fide diksa initiation, since my spiritual master

was in "good standing" when he initiated me. That sounds to me like

nonsense. It is unheard of in the history of our parampara, a bona fide guru

cannot fall down, which means that my spiritual master was never in "good

standing" as a guru. That means that my initiation is not valid, the diksa

connection to the parampara is not there. If someone says I am wrong, I

would like to see quotes from sastra proving the opposite.

 

One can still say that the vows made before Krishna are valid. I agree that

it is definately not good to break any vow, but if one cannot keep all of

them for the rest of the life anyway (which I unfortunately believe is the

case with most initiated devotees), it may be wise to see what one actually

can do, instead of going into denial and thus cheat oneself and others.

Certain things just cannot be done artificially, and I believe that

following initiation vows is one of these things. Either one is on a level

where one can follow them, and that is great, or one is not, and then it is

just a question of time before that manifests.

 

After my spiritual master left, I have been re-evaluating my life. I know

that I want to be a devotee, and I am working to become one. I have set new

standards for myself, and so far I manage to keep those standards pretty

well. I feel like I can grow up spiritually from this experience, not that I

have to "grow down", as I see so many of my previous god-brothers and

sisters are doing.

 

Anyone else who cares to contemplate on this issue? Maybe the ones who have

commited no sins since initiation can throw the first rock? (Just joking. I

would really like a discussion on this, if others are interested.)

 

Ys

Jkd