Second Initiation

Sri-gopika got her second initiation today and I feel so indebted and grateful to Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji's. I also feel immense mercy of HH Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj. Ever since we've moved to Dallas, I can feel an immense flow of grace. Today, I also realize the power of devotee association and how rapidly Sri-gopika has made progress due to her commitment, firm faith and being pure. Purity is the force. 4 years back before moving to this community our life was completely different and today it is making me realize what a difference it has made for us. HH Giriraj Maharaj has been so kind and merciful to us. I have deep appreciation for him and the more I know him, my appreciation grows deeper and deeper.

I'm praying to dear Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji to always keep me under their kind lotus feet shelter and to always give me their sidelong glances. I pray I'm able to serve the kind vaishnavas at the Kalachandji Dhaam always.

Your servant,
Naimisaranya Dasa 

After initiation, what should our mood be:

1. - Create a very strong discipline after initiation, because once you have a good discipline that stays with you forever
2. - Please contemplate everyday on the mood of your Gurudev so you can continuously serve him everyday and please him
3. - Don't do any vaishnava aparadha - don't get puffed up
4. - If you do, the only solution is to fall down and become humble and ask for forgiveness for your offenses
5. - To get away from these sense pleasures, the most important thing for us to do everyday is chant our rounds very very nicely and read SB everyday - have a great schedule so you can get closer to Krsna everyday one mustard seed at a time.
6. - The most important thing during initiation is not the name but actually DASA - we are the servant of Krsna and always need to serve the divine couple, Gurudev and our vaishnavas
7. - If we are losing the taste for chanting we have committed Vaishnava aparadha, very difficult to identify vaishnava aparadha so be very close to devotees who can help us know that we have committed aparadha and we should be open to listen and learn
8. - Also be very alert to not cause Vaishnava aparadha - not to cause anybody anxiety or criticize anybody.
9. - We will find that if we do Vaishnava aparadha our rounds the next day won't be great - So we need to find out from everybody if we offended them and beg for forgiveness from them immediately. Example - Rupa Gosvami committed aparadha to the hunchback and immediately he asked for forgiveness from them.
10. - Barometer is if our rounds and sadhana decreases the next day we have committed vaishnava aparadha or we have engaged in sense gratification.
11. - If any service comes to us and we can't do that service properly what do we do? - 99,99% comes to us, never say no to seva - because we are always praying to Krsna that engage me in your service.  If we genuinely want to serve Krsna, Krsna himself will empower us to do that service. Devotional service is worth billions of dollars but we don't understand this. Hence we should grab any opportunity we get for service to Vaishnavas. But sometimes if we are absolutely absolutely not able to do service, then we should consult senior devotees and under their guidance then we can follow their footsteps. Never say no to a service - ALWAYS YES! And Krsna himself will empower you and send help to you to complete the seva.

Search for my Bonafide Spiritual Master

My journey in this cycle of birth started on 9^th August in Mysore, India. I was very fortunate to have very nice loving parents who always followed vegetarianism at home and had daily morning pujas. I also remember us having the Krishna book and I used to flip pages to see the pictures. I brought it along with me when I moved to the States, don’t know why but I did! Our ishth devta has been Hanumanji and now I can understand that he was always trying to get us all to become sincere devotees like him. Just like when he opened his heart, there was Sita mata and Sri Ram sitting there. I was fortunate to be in touch with Krishna right from my childhood. We had the ISKCON temple in Mysore just next road to where we lived! As I jog my memory, I remember going to the temple for Janmastami and Sunday feast. Little did I know then that it was Krishna’s arrangement and mercy that I got Prasad! Later when I was working in Bangalore Krishna again called me to get me in touch with him by allowing me to visit the ISKCON temple there. But, because of my material conditioning and having so much dust on my soul, I wasn’t able to make any relationship with him.

I moved to Ohio for my masters and work. Things took a turn when I was almost about to lose my job during the 2010 recession, when I looked for a job and found one in Roanoke, VA! I had never heard of this place, let alone know where it was located on the map. But, everything happens for a reason. My boss, Hari prabhu has been in ISKCON (in NJ) for almost 10 years and we got talking about how both I and Shilpa (my wife) are interested in reading the Bhagavad Gita. We decided to start a small weekly class (BV) to have kirtan, chant 1 round, read the BG, discuss and have prasad. He took me to Sandy Ridge, NC for Gaura Poornima where I first met HG Mitra Sena Prabhuji. He told me about the Gaur Nitai Deities and what was happening during the abhishek. I was very excited with the kirtan, meeting such pure souls and listening. He also told me about a Thursday BG call which we started to attend weekly.

The biggest change in my life would be attending the Festival of Inspiration in 2011. I was so fortunate to get to listen to very pure souls and senior Prabhupada disciples. I fondly remember attending Gurudev’s  sessions, listening to Radha Krishna bol bol and also understanding the essence of Krishna Consciousness. The moment Shilpa and I sat in the car to go back to Roanoke after 3 days of bliss – we both looked at each other and at that very moment decided to follow the 4 regulative principles very seriously. We also decided to chant 1 round in the morning. So since then, I have been following the 4 regulative principles very seriously. By Krishna’s mercy, Mitra prabhu, who is a very senior Prabhupada disciple, started the SB call every Monday and Thursday for 2 hours and we started getting their association. Gradually our BV started to grow and we were able to attract sanyasis' to visit us at Roanoke. I was deeply touched by HG Radhika Raman Prabhuji and HG Kratu prabhuji’s words. Kratu prabhu when here, looked at me and said – are you going to chant 16 rounds daily? I said I’ll try. He said it’s either yes or no! Since then I’ve been chanting 16 rounds. So, it had been a year and it was time for Festival of Inspiration 2012. And all year, I had been craving to listen to “Radha Krishna bol bol” and get Gurudev’s association again. I met him on the very first day at mangal aarti and requested him to sing the kirtan. He said, " I have two lectures scheduled and will sing it in either one, so you have to attend bothJ." I had already planned to, but what was so touching that he started his first lecture with “Radha Krishna bol bol” and I had no words. Gurudev’s lectures are so powerful and inspiring. He is enthusiasm personified and it had a BIG effect on me. Driving back after the festival we decided to make Roanoke bigger that what we had. 

I had the good fortune of meeting HG Aditya-Narayan Prabhuji there and kept in touch with him about Gurudev’s program to Hillsborough. I got a chance to meet Gurudev there, talk to him, learn from him and practice with him while he was there. That had a very strong impact on me and heart of hearts I knew I had found my spiritual master. I took back valuable information to Roanoke and we had our MSFs here. I had never distributed books and it is such a sweet service. When I got to know from Loka prabhu that he was coming to DC, we decided to come for sure. Again I had the good fortune to meet and talk to him at length and I was then convinced that he was my spiritual master. Yet, I felt I wasn’t worthy to even ask him for diksha then.  He was also so merciful by giving us the Chaitanya Charitamrita and our first Sri Sri Gaur Nitai Deities.

Krishna was very merciful when he allowed us to visit his holy dhaam Vrindavan for the first time this January 2013. As I was walking in the holy dhaam with KC, one thought kept coming to me again and again and again. “I should approach Gurudev for his shelter” Even though I didn’t consider myself worthy, he was so merciful that he called me (because he didn’t get to reply to my email – so merciful and kind) and asked “What is on your mind?”

That’s when I revealed my mind to my dear Gurudev and asked formally for his shelter on March 7^th 2013 at 7pm on Vijiya Ekadasi day. I’m a wretched fallen soul and I’m ever so grateful to him for giving me his sweet shelter.  I have accepted him as my bonafide spiritual master with my body, mind, intelligence and soul and will remain so even if he handles me roughly by his embrace. I will try to eternally satisfy him and am ready to serve him completely.