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681201IN.LA
Talk, Initiation Lecture,
and Ten Offenses Lecture

Los Angeles, December 1, 1968
Prabhupada: ...worship prevents snake biting. That is a village worship. So in every demigod worship there are drum beaters. So a party of drum beaters were engaged, and when the fees, bill, of the drum beaters was to be paid, the demigod Mansa(?) was sold. They could not pay the bills. Similarly, we may print our books, but the binding charges are so high, then it will cost more than getting it from Japan. (chuckles) Jayananda looks like Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. (laughter) Yes. He was tall and stout and strong, Caitanya Mahaprabhu. (laughing) Yes. Very good. And in Vrndavana, when Kirtanananda was given sannyasa, he was looking so nice with this dress and danda, oh, practically all the devotees of Vrndavana came to offer him respect. Yes. On Janmastami day I offered him sannyasa. So many devotees came to see in the temple. So there was a big crowd. He was looking very nice. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was also very fair-complexioned. So with this dress, persons with fair complexion looks very nice, very attractive. People are not attracted with this dress in kirtana party? (laughs) This bare head with tilaka and this dress, they will know that they are coming from, directly from the kingdom of God. (laughs) Actually it is so. They have forgotten God; otherwise they would have received these brahmacaris so nicely. In India, oh, you'll be received just like gods with this dress. Hundreds and thousands of people will come to receive you. Yes. That is sufficient. (kirtana) So how Birabhadra is feeling? (Birabhadra answers?) He has got pains in the body?
Visnujana: He's all right.
Prabhupada: All right. Eating all right? Eating? (Birabhadra answers; Prabhupada can't hear) Hm? Chanting all right? All right. Thanks. (chuckles) I was just searching you, missing you. You are here. (chuckles) Thank you. Hare Krsna. (japa) Do like that. As I have done. Yes. Take water. Yes. Little, little. Yes. Once more. Three times. Yes. Yes. Take water. Take water little, wash hand, throw it here. That's all. Like that. Now you do it like that. Little, little. Keep it here. (chants with devotees responding:)
nama apavitrah pavitra va
sarvavastham gato 'pi va
yah smaret pundarikaksam
sa bahyabhyantarah sucih
sri visnu sri visnu sri visnu
Now do it again like that. Keep there.
nama apavitrah pavitra va
sarvavastham gato 'pi va
yah smaret pundarikaksam
sa bahyabhyantarah sucih
sri visnu sri visnu sri visnu
Do it again. (repeats mantra again)
Now the purport of this mantra I have several times explained, again explaining. Namah. Namah means surrender. Namah om namah, this is the way of chanting Vedic mantra. Om means addressing the Absolute, and namah means "I am surrendering." Every Vedic mantra is begun om namah. Om means addressing. So this mantra is chanted with surrender, namah. Nothing can be done without surrender because our, this conditional life is rebellious life. We have rebelled against the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead. That is conditioned life. There are so many theses to support this rebellious condition. Somebody is thinking that "I am one with God"; somebody is thinking, "God is dead"; somebody is thinking, "There is no God"; somebody is thinking, "Why you are searching God? There are so many Gods loitering in the street." So in this way many theses are there. All of them are different symptoms of rebellious condition. The sum and substance... Just like atheists, they are boldly saying, "There is no God." Now..., but the impersonalists saying, "There may be God, but He has no head, He has no tail. That's all." So in this way our condition is rebellious condition. Therefore Bhagavad-gita instructs that "You surrender." Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. So without surrender, there is no question of making any spiritual progress. Just like a person who has rebelled against the governmentthe first condition is to surrender; otherwise there is no question of mercy from the government. Similarly anyone, the living entity, any one of us who has rebelled against the supremacy of the Lord, the beginning of spiritual life is surrender.
So this mantra, initiation, namah. Namah means surrender. And who can surrender? Surrender, one who has understood the Lord, he can surrender, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. After many, many births of cultivation of knowledge, when one is perfectly wise, at that time he surrenders. The perfection of acquiring knowledge, or wisdom, is to surrender. So, namah. Namah means "I surrender." And what is your condition? Never mind what is that condition. Apavitrah pavitro va. Apavitrah means contaminated, and pavitra means liberated. So we have two conditions. Either... Just like either we are healthy or we are diseased. There is no third condition. Crude example. Similarly, the living entities, they have two conditions. One condition is liberation, another condition is contaminated. Therefore living entity is called marginal, in between contamination and liberation. Either a living entity can be contaminated or liberated. There is no third condition. Therefore this mantra says, apavitrah pavitro va. Either contaminated or liberated, it doesn't matter. Om namo apavitrah pavitro, sarvavastham. Sarva means all; avastham means condition. In any condition. Sarvavastham gato 'pi va. In whatever condition you may be. Because two conditions there are. For the living entities... The living entity is in the marginal position. Either he can be in material nature or in the spiritual nature. The spiritual nature means liberation, and material nature means contamination. So in this mantra it is said, either of the condition, never mind. Either you are in material condition or spiritual condition. Sarvavastham gato 'pi va. Va means either; yah, anyone; smaret, smaret means remembers; pundarikaksam, pundarikaksam means whose eyes are just like lotus petal. That means Krsna or Visnu. Yah smaret pundarikaksam sa bahya... Bahya means externally. Externally, this body. Abhyantaram. Abhyantaram means internally. Internally I am spirit. Just like internally, within this dress, I am internally. Externally I am this dress. Similarly, yah smaret pundarikaksam. Either he is in the bodily concept of life or he is in the spiritual concept of life, either he is contaminated or he is liberatedin any condition, one who remembers Krsna or Visnu, bahyabhyantaram, he immediately becomes purified internally and externally. This is the substance of this mantra.
And at the last we are chanting sri visnu sri visnu sri visnu. Because it may not be misunderstood that in this verse it is said that yah smaret pundarikaksam, "anyone who remembers the lotus-eyed." So somebody may think, "My such and such lover is lotus-eyed," or in that way, lotus-eyed. There may be so many lotus-eyed. Therefore at last it is specifically said, sri visnu sri visnu sri visnu. "Lotus-eyed" means Visnu, not anybody else. Sri visnu sri visnu. This is the basic principle of devotional life. In Narada Pancaratra it is recommended... We are explaining these things in Nectar of Devotion. The basic principle of purification is smartavyah satato visnuh: always one has to remember Visnu or Krsna. Krsna and Visnu the same. When you speak Krsna, it includes Visnu. So smartavyah satato visnu vismartavyah na jatucit. We shall not forget Visnu even for a moment. This is the basic principle of devotional life. Some way or other, we have to remember always Krsna. Then whatever condition we may be, we are pure. Sa bahyabhyantaram sucih. This chanting helps us always remembering Krsna. As soon as we chant Hare Krsna, hear, immediately we remember. So, so long I remember, I am sucih, I am pure, no material contamination. Therefore if I continue my life in that pure stage, then I am eligible for going back to Godhead. Because nobody can enter in the kingdom of God without being completely pure. Completely pure means anyabhilasita-sunyam [Brs. 1.1.11], no material desire. Here in the material world, we manufacture so many plans to be happy, material desires. Somebody's thinking, "I shall be happy in this way." Somebody's thinking... There is no question of happiness here. The place is contaminated. In a contaminated... Just like in an infected place you cannot be happy. The medical officer will ask you to leave that place, that "This quarter has been infected by the disease. Better you leave, you go somewhere else." That is the treatment. Infected place must be left immediately. So similarly, this world, this material world of three modes of different qualities, you have to keep yourself always antiseptic, pure, by remembering Krsna. That is the process. As soon as you forget Krsna, immediately the infection, maya, immediately affects you. Krsna bhuliya jiva bhoga-vancha kare.
What is that maya? Maya means to plan how to become materially happy. This is maya. All the people of the world, they are simply making plan how they will be happy within this material world. That's all. This is maya. The history of the whole world studied, it is experience that the Roman Empire planned, the British Empire planned, the... So many empires, they flourish sometimes. All fail. The Britishers, they were, two hundred years ago, they were planning to rule over this vast land of America. George Washington declared independence; their plan failed. Similarly, in India they were planning to exploit. Now Gandhi's movement made it fail. So this is bigger plan. Similarly smaller plan also. There are many... Individually, we make so many plans that "I shall be happy in this way, in that way, in that way." So this plan-making business is maya, because that will never be successful. Trace out the history of the whole world. Nobody has become happy. Hitler made a plan, so great a plan. You see? He was frustrated. So the sane man, intelligent man... Therefore Bhagavad-gita says that a person who is actually intelligent, wise... How a man becomes wise? After being baffled or frustrated many, many times, he can understand this is not the process. And the Vedanta-sutra also places the first, athato brahma jijnasa. When one is frustrated in all plan-making business, for him, the Vedanta-sutra gives him the opportunity, "Now your all plans have failed. Come here." Athato brahma jijnasa: "Now try to understand what is Brahman." This is the first aphorism of Vedanta-sutra. Just try to understand Brahman. So in this way... This initiation also. Initiation means the first beginning, how to become purified. This is initiation. Because this devotional service means the process of purification. Now every one of you, individually you can understand how you are becoming purified from your past life. That is practical. Yes. How you are becoming purified. So this initiation means the beginning of purificatory process. And the purificatory process, what is that? This mantra, yah smaret pundarikaksam sa bahyabhyantaram sucih. Anyone who always remembers, or whenever he remembers, if not always, as soon as he remembers, pundarikaksam sa bahyabhyantaram sucih, he becomes immediately purified internally and externally.
So those who are going to be initiated today, they should remember that... Not only theyall of us should remember. It is not that we have passed all examination. No. Maya is very strong. Any moment she can catch up. (chuckles) As soon as... Just like a virulent type of disease, as soon as there is little negligence, there is relapse immediately, typhoid. So the doctors take very much precautionary steps in the, what is called, convalescent stage of cure because there is chance of relapse. Similarly, we are trying to be purified. This initiation means to accept the path of purification. Now we have to continue that path of purification, and then, if you are strong enough, then we can very easily make progress to achieve the ultimate result. There is no doubt about it. So bhakti-marga, this devotional service, Krsna consciousness, means to remember always Krsna. Smartavyah satato visnuh vismartavyah na jatucit. This is the basic principle, Krsna consciousness. We should always remember Krsna and we shall never forget. And the very simple method, that we chant Hare Krsna. So Krsna has given us tongue, so we can utilize it, and this is the beginning of spiritual life. This is the beginning of understanding God, or Krsna. Otherwise we cannot understand what is God. Atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. Namadi, God has name. People say, "Why there should be name of God? He has no name." The impersonalist says "Nameless." Why? The Vedanta-sutra says, janmady asya yatah: [SB 1.1.1] "Everything is generated from Him." So if there is name, you have got name, I have got name, anything... This tape recorder has got name, this plate has got name, the place has got name, the carpet has got name, and simply God has no name? Why? (laughs) Just see the fallacy. The fountainhead of all names is God, and He has no name. You see? He is zero. These are the arguments. But we don't accept. The thing is they do not know the name because their senses are not purified. You cannot understand God by imperfect senses. Therefore Bhagavata says, atah sri-krsna-namadi. Namadi. Nama means name; adi, because name is the beginning of everything. Just like if I want to make friendship with you, I ask you, "What is your name?" That is the beginning. If you go to the court, before beginning the judgment, "What is your name? What is your father's name?" You submit any application, "What is your name?" So namadi.
So if we want to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, we should begin from the name, Krsna, Hare Krsna, the name, the holy name. But we cannot understand whether this is the name of God due to our imperfect senses. Therefore the formula is, atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. You cannot understand. Just like we are chanting Hare Krsna, somebody is taking pleasure in hearing the name of Krsna. Somebody may say, "What is this nonsense? They are disturbing," because he has no knowledge of the name. But this name... Not any name. Namadi, beginning from name. First of all name, then quality, then form, then pastimes, then entourage. In this way God has everything. When we say "king," "king" means his kingdom, his palace, his secretary, his queen, so many, his government, go on expanding, so many things, simply by one word, "king." "King" does not mean simply one person. Similarly, when we say "God" or "Krsna," immediately it is to be understood that He has so many things behind Him. So many... The whole world is behind Him. So how to understand? Atah sri-krsna-namadi. His name, His quality, His forms, His entourage, His expansion. Na bhaved grahyam indriyaih. These indriya, these senses, materially contaminated, cannot understand, cannot grasp what is the name of Krsna, what is the form of Krsna, what is the quality of Krsna. Then? "Why you are taking so much trouble? If by these senses we cannot understand Krsna, then what is the use of wasting time?" No. The next line is, sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adah [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. You cannot understand by exercising your senses, but He reveals. To whom? Who is in the service attitude, jihvadau, beginning from the tongue. Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau. Of all the senses, the tongue is considered to be the principal sense. So tongue, if the tongue is trained, or the tongue is spiritualized, then naturally all the senses become spiritualized. So jihvadau. So our training is the tongue training. Train it chanting Hare Krsna and let it taste Krsna prasadam. Then what will be? The all other senses... There are five senses for acquiring knowledge, five senses for acting. Everything will be controlled. And devotional service, or Krsna consciousness, means sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. By contacting relationship with Krsna, the senses become purified. And what is the symptom of purification? Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam, to become uncontaminated by the designative material identification. There are so many things.
So the process of Krsna consciousness is purification of the senses, and the purification of senses begins by training the tongue with service spirit. So those who are going to be initiated, they should, especial... Everyone should note it, that we should train our tongue not to talk nonsense things. You see? Simply talk of Krsna. We have got so many subject matter. We have got Bhagavad-gita, we have got Srimad-Bhagavatam, we have got Teachings of Lord Caitanyaso many books, hundreds and thousands, Upanisads, Veda, Vedanta, any one you selecttalk. Just like Ambarisa. Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayor vacamsi vaikuntha-gunanuvarnane [SB 9.4.18]. Maharaja Ambarisa, he set a very nice example, that he fixed up his mind on the lotus feet of Krsna, and when he was speaking, he was talking about Krsna. So just try to utilize your tongue. It doesn't matter whether it is contaminated or purified, but the process is purificatory. You just train your tongue nicely, engage in Krsna. So if you can talk, you go, preach, talk of Krsna, talk of Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, lecture anywhere. Then you'll be doing the best service to the people and to yourself. If you think that you are unable to give speeches, then you chant Hare Krsna and eat prasadam. So there is no difficulty. So train the tongue. Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau [Brs. 1.2.234], beginning from the tongue, you shall be able to purify all your senses. And as soon as your senses are purified, you'll see Krsna, you'll understand what is Krsna, what is His name, what is His form, what is His kingdom, everything will be. Svayam eva sphuraty adah. You haven't got to endeavor. As soon as your senses are purified, Krsna is present. Just like as soon as the night is over, the sun is present. You cannot search out sun in the darkness. You simply wait for the morning and the sun is at your door. Similarly, try to drive away the darkness, and Krsna you'll see. You'll see, "Oh, Krsna is not dead. He's so nice." So this initiation means beginning of purificatory process of the senses, and that beginning with the tongue. Very simple method. We are not asking you to show some gymnastic feats, or... No. Simply try to control your tongue. It is in your hand. And what is the means of controlling? Just engage chanting Hare Krsna and take Krsna prasada. Some others will supply you nice prasadam. You see? It is very easy. Don't take anything which is not Krsna prasadam and don't talk anything which is not Krsna. Then you become liberated. Your path of liberation is open. Two things: don't talk anything except Krsna, don't eat anything except Krsna prasadam. Is it very difficult? All right.
(to devotee:) Now give me your beads. Yes. Beginning from here. Somebody tie his small beads. Chant, you. (japa) Bow down. Bow down here.
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
(devotee repeating) So you'll begin from one side like this, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Come to this side. You will ask your Godbrothers. They'll let you know, how they are doing. Your spiritual name is Aravinda. Aravinda. A-r-a-v-i-n-d-a. Aravinda. Aravindaksa. Krsna's another name is Aravindaksa. Aravinda means lotus flower.
Devotees: Oh!
Prabhupada: So Krsna's eyes are just like lotus petal and His feet is lotus feet. His abdomen, from abdomen lotus grows. So therefore in one word He is lotus, full lotus. (aside:) He's in painful condition?
Visnujana: He has to rest. He has to rest now. (boy crying in background)
Prabhupada: Just catch him. Oh. Aravindaksa is Krsna's name. So Aravinda dasa, your name. Aravinda dasa brahmacari. Now we have forgotten to chant the preliminary mantras. Vande aham sri guru... (chants mantras, devotees respond) (japa) Bow down.
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
Srivasa... Now, you are finished. Take it. Your name is Gajendra.
Prabhupada: Yes. G-a-j-e-n-d-r-a. Gajendra. Gaja means elephant, and indra means king. King of the elephants.
Devotees: Hare Krsna!
Prabhupada: So there was a great devotee of Lord Krsna who was king of the elephants. So you shall bring some elephants for us for preaching work. Come on. You have got printed ten kinds of offenses? They should be... To avoid the offenses.
Madhudvisa: Right here.
Revatinandana: Here it is, Prabhupada. Should I read, Prabhupada?
Prabhupada: Yes.
Revatinandana: "The ten offenses to avoid in chanting the maha-mantra. The first is blaspheming the Lord's devotee." Just read them?
Prabhupada: Yes.
Revatinandana: "Second, considering the Lord and other demigods on the same level."
Prabhupada: This is very important point, blaspheming the devotees. The Lord's devotee, in many countries, many places... Just like Lord Jesus Christ, he's also devotee of Lord. Muhammad, he's also devotee of Lord. So it is not that because we are Krsna conscious, we shall unnecessarily decry any other parts, any other devotee. It may be, according to time, place, and country, the method may be different, but anyone who is preaching devotion to God, he's a devotee of God. So he should never be blasphemed. Yes.
Revatinandana: "Two. Considering the Lord and other demigods on the same level."
Prabhupada: Yes. One should not put the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Just like the Mayavadi says, "The demigods and God, they are all the same." Because according to them, God has no form, so any form you accept, imagine, as the form of God, it is as good. But that is not the fact. There are demigods and the Supreme God also. So we should not place... Just like demigod, Lord Brahma or Lord Siva, Indra, Candra, they are demigods. So we should not place... In one sense, there is nothing except God, because everything expansion of God. But that does not mean I am equal to God. I am also expansion of God, that's a fact. Just like father and the son. Son is the expansion of father; still, the son is not the father. Don't mistake that. There is no difference between father and son because the same body is expanded as son, but still, the son is not the father. Father is father, son is son. This, I mean to say, variety, the Mayavadi philosophers, they do not understand. Then?
Revatinandana: "...or assuming that there are many Gods."
Prabhupada: God is one. There cannot be many Gods. If God is not one, there is no meaning of God. God means, according to Vedic definition, asamordhva. Asama means one who has no equal. Nobody is equal to God. And urdhva means nobody is greater than God. God is great. Nobody can be greater than God. Therefore God is one. Nobody is greater, nobody is equal. That means everyone is lower. Then?
Revatinandana: "Neglecting the orders of the spiritual master."
Prabhupada: Yes. This is one offense. These are offenses. When we accept spiritual master, it is understood that you cannot deny his order. Just like Krsna and Arjuna was talking as friends, but when Arjuna accepted Krsna as spiritual master, he was simply hearing, and whenever there was difficulty to understand, he was questioning. Not that he was equally arguing with Krsna. Before accepting Him, he was arguing. So this is the position. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He said that "My spiritual master found Me a great fool [Cc. Adi 7.71]." Caitanya Mahaprabhu is not a fool, but it is the good qualification of a disciple to remain a fool before the spiritual master. Therefore he'll never, I mean to say, dare to argue or disobey. That is offense. Now, go on. That does not mean that when you cannot understand, you cannot question. Question must be there. That is stated in this Bhagavad-gita, tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya [Bg. 4.34]. Your relationship is to know from a spiritual master everything, but you should know that with three things. What is that? First of all you should surrender. You must accept the spiritual master as greater than you. Otherwise what is the use of accepting one spiritual master? Pranipat. Pranipat means surrendering; and pariprasna, and questioning; and seva, and service. There must be two sides, service and surrender, and in the middle there must be question. Otherwise there is no question and answer. Two things must be there: service and surrender. Then answer of question is nice. Yes.
Revatinandana: "The fourth offense is minimizing the authority of the Vedas."
Prabhupada: Yes. Scriptures, authority of Vedas, they must be accepted. Just like the other day I was explaining, the Veda says the conchshell is pure although it is a bone of an animal. In other places Veda gives you the injunction that bone of an animal is impure. But it says the conchshell is pure. It can be placed before the Deity, it can be used in the Deity room in His service. Now there may be argument, "Oh, this is a bone of an animal. How is that? Contradiction." No. So one should accept the injunction of the Vedas like that. Whenever it says this is impure, it is impure; when it says it is pure, it is pure. Now if there is any doubt, that should be understood by questioning submissively and with service from the spiritual master. The spiritual master is there. Then? But we should always accept the injunction of the scripture as truth. Just like there is a proverb, "Bible truth," "Biblical truth." Nobody can deny Bible. This should be the attitude. Bible is also part of Vedas. Therefore Vedic injunction should be accepted as it is, without any interpretation. Just like Bhagavad-gita is Veda. Why Veda? The Supreme Personality of Godhead personally speaking; therefore it is Veda. There is no mistake. One should acceptno interpretationas it is. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Yes. Go on.
Revatinandana: "The fifth offense is interpreting the holy names of God."
Prabhupada: Yes. No interpretation in the holy... Just like Krsna, the Mayavadi philosophers may... Just like Gandhi has written, "Pandava means the senses; Kuruksetra means this body; Krsna means the mind." No such nonsense interpretation. Krsna is Krsna. Yes. Go on.
Revatinandana: "The sixth offense is committing sin on the strength of chanting."
Prabhupada: Yes. Now we have explained the mantra that as soon as one chants Hare Krsna, immediately, bahyabhyantarah sucih, he becomes purified. Now if one takes advantage of this holy name, "Let me commit sins..." Just like sometimes in the Christian church they take advantages that by confessing sin one becomes free from sinful reaction. So go to church and confess, and again come out and do all sorts of sins, and again confess. This sort of (laughs) minimizing is nonsense. It is fact. When you confess before the church, before God, you are free from all sinful action. That's all right. But if you commit again, then next confession will not be accepted. They do not know this. You cannot... Suppose a child has committed some mistake. Father says, "All right, don't do this." If he again does it, there is no excuse. They do not know that. They think, "We shall commit sin and go to church and confess and finish. So let us do this balancing business." Yes. Similarly, don't do this balancing business, that "Because chanting Hare Krsna will wash off all my accounts of sinful activities, so in the morning, from morning to night, let me do all kinds of sinful activities, and at night, at bedtime, let me chant Hare Krsna. Then finish." No. (laughs) Don't do that. Don't do that. That is the greatest offense. Yes. You'll never be forgiven. Those who purposely do like that"I have got very nice instrument for washing off my sinful activities. So whole day let me do all sinful activities, and at night let me chant Hare Krsna. Let me meditate. That's all. Finish."no. You should note that the name, the holy name has got the power. Now, from this date, you are free from all sinful activities, reaction. But don't do it. That is the greatest offense. Yes.
Revatinandana: "The seventh offense is instructing the Lord's name to the unfaithful."
Prabhupada: Yes. Those who do not believe in God, atheists, what is the use of...? But not to bother him, but give him the chance of hearing. That will make him competent to come forward. Therefore we are distributing this holy name. Not that everyone will be immediately turned to Krsna consciousness, but we are giving chance. If they hear... You have got practical experience. Somebody's hearing, he's reforming. So we should give chance. But if one is staunch atheist, we should not talk very much with him about Krsna. He may say something against, offensive. Yes. Then?
Revatinandana: "The eighth offense is comparing the holy name to material piety."
Prabhupada: Yes. And another thing, just like we are holding this ceremony, initiation ceremony. It should not be accepted just we are functioning some ritualistic ceremony. No. It is different from ritualistic ceremony. Although it appears like ritualistic, it is transcendental. Ritualistic ceremony, they are meant for giving you advantage of become pious, from impious life. It also gives that, but this is not the ultimate aim. The ultimate aim is to give you love of God, which is far, far transcendental to the pious and impious activities. That is a different thing that belongs to the spiritual worldlove of God. It is not that it is a function to nullify your sinful activities. That is automatically done. Just like if you get one million dollars, the purpose of ten dollars automatically solved. Similarly, this acceptance of holy name of God will automatically wash off all your sinful reaction. That's a fact. But it is not meant for that purpose. It is meant for higher purpose, to attain to this platform of loving God, rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord. That is the aim. Yes.
Revatinandana: "The ninth offense is inattentive while chanting the holy name."
Prabhupada: Yes. This is ninth offense. While you chant, you hear also. You don't turn your attention to anything else, mechanically chanting and thinking of something. Thinking of Krsna is all right, but if I think something which is not in Krsna consciousness... Best thing is that I shall chant Hare Krsna and each word I shall hear; then it will be very much effective. Yes.
Revatinandana: "The tenth offense is attachment to material things while engaged in the practice of chanting."
Prabhupada: That I explained. This is the disease, aham mameti [SB 5.5.8]. The material disease means I am thinking this body, "I am," and everything belonging to this body or in relationship with the body"Mine." This is material disease. So we shall see. By chanting we shall see how much we are making progress, how much I am free from these two concept of life, that "I am this body, and anything belonging to this body is mine." This is the test, how we are becoming free from these two concept of life. If there is still the concept that "I am this body, and anything belonging to this body is mine," then you have to chant very cautiously to make progress. That's all. These ten kinds of offenses you should guard against. [break] (japa) (leads girl in chanting:)
nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
Come on. Your new name, Anuradha. A-n-u-r-a-d-h-a. Anuradha. Anu. Anu means one who follows, and Radha, Radharani you know. So one who follows Radharani. Wherever Radharani goes, she follows.
Devotees: Oh!
Prabhupada: Yes. Anuradha. (japa) Nama apavitrah pavitra va... (chants fire sacrifice mantras) No, no. Everyone take little little. Very little, little take, everyone. Let him come. You come also. You take. Your yajna is not... You can take. (continues mantres) Svaha. Offer. Svaha. Three times. I shall say svaha three times; you'll offer. Why don't you... Svaha. Why you are sitting? Take and offer. You keep in hand and three times in three division you'll offer. Everyone take. Nama om visnu-padaya... (continues) Now take each one banana. Stand up.
(repeats twice) Now put this banana slowly like this. Put everyone. That's right.
(repeats, with devotees responding) Now chant Hare Krsna. Hm? No, I'll not chant. They'll chant. Chant. (kirtana, prema-dhvani) (end)

Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/classes/initiations/talk_initiation_lecture_and_ten_offenses_lecture/los_angeles/december/01/1968

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