Initiation Into Spiritual Life by Bhaktisiddanta

8/13/2019 Initiation Into Spiritual Life by Bhaktisiddanta

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Initiation into spiritual life

By Srila Bhaktisiddhanta

The ceremony of diksha or initiation is that by which the spiritual Preceptor admits one to the

status of a neophyte on the path of spiritual endeaour. The ceremony tends to confer spiritual

enlightenment by abrogating sinfulness. Its actual effect depends on the degree of willing co!

operation on the part of the disciple and is" therefore" not the same in all cases. It does not preclud

the possibility of reersion on the noice to the non!spiritual state" if he slackens in his effort or

misbehaes. Initiation puts a person on the true track and also imparts an initial impulse to go

ahead. It cannot" howeer" keep one going for good unless one chooses to put forth his own

oluntary effort. The nature of the initial impulse also aries in accordance with the condition of

the recipient. But although the mercy of the good preceptor enables us to hae a glimpse of the

#bsolute and of the path of $is attainment" the seed that is thus sown re%uires ery careful tendin

under the direction of the preceptor" if it is to germinate and grow into the fruit!and!shade!giing

tree. &nless our soul of his own accord chooses to sere 'rishna after obtaining a working idea o

his real nature" he cannot long retain the Spiritual (ision. The soul is neer compelled by 'rishna

to sere $im.

But initiation is neer altogether futile. It changes the outlook of the disciple on life. If he sinsafter initiation" he may fall into greater depths of degradation than the uninitiated. But although

een after initiation temporary set!backs may occur" they do not ordinarily preent the final

delierance. The faintest glimmering of the real knowledge of the #bsolute has sufficient power t

change radically and for good the whole of our mental and physical constitution and this

glimmering is incapable of being totally e)tinguished e)cept in e)traordinarily unfortunate cases.

It is undoubtedly practicable for the initiated" if only he is willing" to follow the directions of the

preceptor that lead by slow degrees to the #bsolute. The good preceptor is erily the saior of

fallen souls. It is" howeer" ery rarely that a person with modern culture feels inclined to submit

to the guidance of another specially in spiritual matters. But the ery person submits readily

enough to the direction of a physician for being cured of his bodily ailments. Because these latter

cannot be ignored without conse%uences that are patent to eerybody. The eil that results from

our neglect of the ailments of the soul is of a nature that paralyses and deludes our understanding

and preents the recognitions of itself. Its graity is not recogni*ed as it does not apparently stand

in the way of our worldly actiities with the same directness as the other. The aerage cultured

man is" therefore" at liberty to ask %uestions without reali*ing any pressing necessity of submitting

to the treatment of spiritual maladies at the hands of a really competent physician.


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The %uestions that are fre%uently asked are as these: +,hy should it be at all necessary to submit

to any particular person or to subscribe to any particular ceremony for the purpose of reali*ing the

#bsolute ,ho by $is nature in unconditioned- ,hy should 'rishna re%uire our formal

declaration of submission to $imself- ,ould it not be more generous and logical to permit us to

lie a life of freedom in accordance with the principles of our pererted nature which is also $is

creation. #dmitting that it is our duty to sere 'rishna" why should we hae to be introduced to$im by a third party- ,hy is it impossible for one to sere Sri 'rishna directly- It would no

doubt be highly conenient and helpful to be instructed by a good preceptor who is well!ersed in

the Scriptures in understanding the same. But one should neer submit to another to an e)tent tha

may furnish a rascal with an opportunity of really doing harm. The bad preceptor is a familiar

character. It is ine)plicable how those gurus who lie in open sin contrie neertheless to retain

the un%uestioning allegiance of the cultured portion of their disciples.

Such being the case" can we blame any person who hesitates to submit unconditionally to a

preceptor" whether he is good or bad- It is of course necessary to be %uite sure of the bonafide of person before we accept him een tentatiely as our spiritual guide. # preceptor should be a

person who appears likely to possess those %ualities that will enable him it improe our spiritual

condition.

Those and similar thoughts are likely to occur to most persons who hae receied an nglish

education" when they are asked to accept the help of any particular person as his spiritual

preceptor. The literature" science and art of the ,est" body forth the principle of the liberty of the

indiidual and denounce the mentality that leads one to surrender to howeer superior a person hiright of choosing his own course. They inculcate the necessity and high alue of haing faith in

oneself.

But the good preceptor claims our sincere and complete allegiance. The good disciple makes a

complete surrender of himself at the feet of the preceptor. But the submission of the disciple is

neither irrational or blind. It is complete on condition that the preceptor himself continues to be

altogether good. The disciple retains the right of renouncing his allegiance to the preceptor the

moment he is satisfied that the preceptor is a fallible creature like himself. 0or does a good

preceptor accept any one as his disciple unless the latter is prepared to submit to him freely. #

good preceptor is in duty bound to renounce a disciple who is not sincerely willing to follow his

instructions fully. If a preceptor accepts as his disciple one who refuses to be wholly guided by

him" or if a disciple submits to a preceptor who is not wholly good" such preceptor and such

disciple are" both of them" doomed to fall from their spiritual state.

0o one is a good preceptor who has not realised the #bsolute. 1ne who has realised the #bsolute

is saed from the necessity of walking on the worldly path. The good preceptor who lies the


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spiritual life is" therefore" bound to be wholly good. $e should be wholly free from any desire for

anything of this world whether good or bad. The categories of good and bad do not e)ist in the

#bsolute. In the #bsolute eerything is good. ,e can hae no idea in our present state of this

absolute goodness. Submission to the #bsolute is not real unless it is also itself absolute. It is on

the plane of the #bsolute that the disciple is re%uired to submit completely to the good preceptor.

1n the material plane there can be no such thing as complete submission. The pretence of

complete submission to the bad preceptor is responsible for the corruptions that are found in the

relationship of the ordinary worldly guru and his e%ually worldly!minded disciples.

#ll honest thinkers will realise the logical propriety of the position set forth aboe. But most

persons will be disposed to beliee that a good preceptor in the aboe sense may not be found in

this world. This is really so. Both the good preceptor and his disciple belong to the spiritual realm

But spiritual discipleship is neertheless capable of being realised by persons who belong to this

world. 1therwise there wold be no religion at all in the world. But because the spiritual life

happens to be reali*able in this world it does not follow that it is the worldly e)istence which is

capable of being improed into the spiritual. #s a matter of fact the one is perfectly incompatible

with the other. They are categorically different from one another. The good preceptor although heappears to belong to this world is not really of this world. 0o one who belongs to this world can

delier us from worldliness. The good preceptor is a deni*en of the spiritual world who has been

enabled by the will of 2od to appear in this world in order to enable us to realise the spiritual

e)istence.

The much aunted indiidual liberty is a figment of the diseased imagination. ,e are bound

willingly or unwillingly to submit to the laws of 2od in the material as well as in the spiritual

world. The hankering for freedom in defiance of $is laws is the cause of all our miseries. The totaab3uration of all hankering for such freedom is the condition of admission to the spiritual realm. In

this world we desire this freedom but are compelled against our will to submit to the ine)orable

laws of physical nature. This is the unnatural state. Such unwilling for forced submission does no

admit us into the spiritual realm. In this world the moral principle" indeed claims our willing

submission. But een morality also is a curtailment of freedom necessitated by the peculiar

circumstances of this world. The soul who does not belong to this world is in a state of open or

court rebellion against submission to an alien domination. It is by his ery constitution capable of

submitting willingly only to the #bsolute.

The good preceptor asks the struggling soul to submit not to the laws of this world which will onl

riet its chains but to the higher law of the spiritual realm. The pretence of submission to the laws

of the spiritual realm without the intention of really carrying them out into practice is often

mistaken for genuine submission by reason of the absence of fullness of coniction. In this world

the fully coninced state is non!e)istent. ,e are" therefore" compelled in all cases to act on make!

beliees i*. the so!called working hypotheses. The good preceptor tells us to change this method

of actiity which we hae learnt from our e)perience of this world. $e inites us first of all to be

really and fully informed of the nature and laws of the other world which happens to be eternally


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and categorically different from this phenomenal world. If we do not sincerely submit to be

instructed in the alphabets of the life eternal but go on perersely asserting howeer unconsciousl

our present processes and so!called conictions against the instructions of the preceptor in the

period of noitiate we are bound to remain where we are. This also will amount to the practical

re3ection of all adice because the two worlds hae nothing in common though at the same time

we naturally fail to understand this belieing all the time in accordance with our accustomed

methods that we are at any rate partially following the preceptor. But as a matter of fact when we

resere the right of choice we really follow ourseles" because een when we seem to agree tofollow the preceptor it is because he appears to be in agreement with ourseles. But as the two

worlds hae absolutely nothing in common we are only under a delusion when we suppose that w

really understand the method or the ob3ect of the preceptor or in other words resere the right of

assertion of the apparent self. Faith in the scriptures can alone help us in this otherwise

unpracticable endeaour. ,e beliee in the preceptor with the help of the shastras when we

understand neither. #s soon as we are fully coninced of the necessity of submitting

unambiguously to the good preceptor it is then and only then that he is enabled to show us the wa

into the spiritual world in accordance with the method laid down in the shastras of that purpose

which he can apply properly and without perpetrating a fatal blunder in as much as he himself

happens to belong to the realm of the spirit.

The cru) of the matter lies not in the e)ternal nature of the ceremony of initiation as it appears to

us because that is bound to be unintelligible to us being an affair of the other world" but in the

coniction of the necessity and the successful choice of a really good preceptor. ,e can attain to

the coniction of the necessity of the help of a good preceptor by the e)ercise of our unbiased

reason in the light of our ordinary e)perience. ,hen once this coniction has been truly formed

Sri 'rishna $imself helps us in finding the really good preceptor in two ways. In the first place he

instructs us as regards the character and functions of a good preceptor through the reealedShastras. In the second place $e $imself sends to us the good preceptor himself at the moment

when we are at all likely to benefit by his instructions. The good preceptor also comes to us when

we re3ect him. In such cases also it is certainly 'rishna ,ho sends him to us for no reason what!

so!eer. 'rishna has reealed from eternity the tidings of the spiritual realm in the form of

transcendental sounds that hae been handed down in the records of the spiritual Scriptures all

oer the world. The spiritual Scriptures help all those who are prepared to e)ercise this reason for

the purpose of finding not the relatie but the #bsolute Truth to find out the proper instructor in

accordance with their directions. The only good preceptor is he who can make us really understan

the spiritual scriptures and they enable us realise the necessity and the nature of submission to the

processes laid down in them. But there is still eery chance of foul play. # ery cleer man or a

magician may pass himself off as a person who can properly e)plain the Scriptures by means of

his greater knowledge or deceptie arts. It is ery important" therefore" that we should be on our

guard against such tricks. The Scholar as well as the magician pretend to e)plain the Scriptures

only in terms of the ob3ect or happenings of this world. But the Scriptures themseles declare that

they do not tell us at all of the thing of this world. Those who are liable to be deluded by the arts o

perert yogis who persuade themseles into belieing that the spiritual is identical with the

perersion" distortion or defiance of the laws of physical nature. The laws of physical nature are

not unreal. They goern the relation of all relatie e)istences4.5 In our present state it is therefore"


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always possible for another who possesses the power or the knowledge to demonstrate the merely

tentatie character of what we choose to regard as our deepest conictions by e)posing their

insufficiency or inapplicability. But such surprises as they belong to the realm of the phenomenal

hae nothing to do with the #bsolute. Those who hae an unspiritual partiality for scholarship or

for magic fall into the clutches of the pseudo!religionists. The serious plight of these ictims of

their own perersity will be realised from the fact that no one can be deliered from the state of

ignorance by the method of compulsion. It is not possible to sae the man who refuses on princip

to listen to the oice of reason. The empiric pedants are no e)ception to this rule.

The plain meaning of the Shastras should" therefore" be our only guide in the search of the good

preceptor when we actually feel the need of his guidance. The Scriptures hae defined the good

preceptor as one who himself leads the spiritual life. It is not any worldly %ualifications that make

the good preceptor. It is by unresered submission to such a preceptor that we can be helped to

reenter into the realm that is our real home but which unfortunately is eritable terra incognita to

almost all of us at present and also impossible of access to one body and mind alike which is the

result of the disease of abuse of our faculty of free reason and the conse%uent accumulation of a

killing load of worldly e)periences which we hae learnt to regard as the ery stuff of oure)istence.

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Initiation Into Spiritual Life by Bhaktisiddanta