Volume 3 - Prabhupada Books

Text 61] Lord Caitanya's Travels to the Holy Places
guru-kar(le kahe sabe 'k($Qa' 'rama' 'hari'
cetana pana acarya bale 'hari' 'hari'
SYNONYMS
guru-karQe-into the ear of the spiritual master; kahe-they said; sabe-all
together; kr$Qa rama hari-the holy names of the Lord, Kr�t:Ja, Rama and Hari;
cetana-consciousness; pafla-getting; acarya-the teacher; bale-chanted;
hari hari-the name of Lord Hari.
TRANSLATION
When all the disciples chanted the holy names Kr�..,a, Rama and Hari, the
Buddhist teacher regained consciousness and immediately began to chant the
holy name of Lord Hari.
PURPORT
Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura comments that all the Buddhist disciples
were actually initiated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to chant the holy name of
Kr�t:Ja, and when they chanted, they actually became different persons. At that
time they were not Buddhists or atheists but Vai�t:�avas. Consequently they im­
mediately accepted Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's order. Their original Kr�t:�a con­
sciousness was revived, and they were immediately able to chant Hare Kr�t:Ja and
begin worshiping the Supreme Lord Vi�t:Ju.
It is the spiritual master who delivers the disciple from the clutches of maya by
initiating him into the chanting of the Hare Kr�t:�a maha-mantra. In this way a
sleeping human being can revive his consciousness by chanting Hare Kr�t:Ja, Hare
Kr�t:Ja, Kr�t:�a Kr�t:Ja, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. In
other words, the spiritual master awakens the sleeping living entity to his original
consciousness so that he can worship Lord Vi�t:JU. This is the purpose of dik$a, or
initiation. Initiation means receiving the pure knowledge of spiritual conscious­
ness.
One point to note in this regard is that the spiritual master of the Buddhists did
not initiate his disciples. Rather, his disciples were initiated by Sri Kr�t:�a Caitanya
Mahaprabhu, and they in turn were able to initiate their so-called spiritual master.
This is the parampara system. The so-called spiritual master of the Buddhists was
actually in the position of a disciple, and after his disciples were initiated by Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, they acted as his spiritual masters. This was possible only
because the disciples of the Buddhist acarya received the mercy of Lord Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Unless one is favored by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the
disciplic succession, one cannot act as a spiritual master. We should take the in­
structions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the spiritual master of the whole universe,
to understand how one becomes a spiritual master and a disciple.
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