Initiation Oaths (Vows) given to Guru & Effects of Violating them!
(Part-1 of the Serial ‘Duties of a disciple to his Guru!’)
This is a write up that is essential for the current trend of devotional field. I will ‘honestly’ share with our devotees the things that have been bothering me for many days, along with the solutions.
Many seek initiation from a recognized spiritual master in our ISKCON movement. Most devotees keep or try to keep their promises to the Guru. However, here and there, we see that some devotees take initiation without knowing the importance of initiation and do not follow the rules after taking it. Therefore this article is intended to remind the duties of a disciple to his Guru
(Why Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati took diksha from the Picture of his guru Gaur Kishore Babaji? READ HERE!)
Once a product is purchased, there are certain rules for using it. The sellers provide a user manual to use it properly.
Buying a car is not a big deal. We can go where we need to go only if we drive it according to the rules. If we don’t follow the rules of driving, we can only go to “somewhere else”.
So, buying something is not important. Rules must be followed. Otherwise the purchased item is useless.
When we were initiated, our guru gave us certain rules and took a guarantee or oath from us to follow them.
We can proudly say that we are the disciples of our Guru only as long as we keep the promise given to the Guru. If we violate them, we will be violating our oath. It will also affect our Guru’s health. How can we claim to be a Guru’s disciples if we do not respect his order and wishes? Don’t we lose that qualification?
Below I have recalled some common promises we made to our guru when we took initiation. We should remind ourselves every day whether we have been following them, and if there are mistakes, we should correct them immediately and protect ourselves from Guru’s aparath (Offense).
(Why ISKCON follows Siksha Guru Parampara? READ HERE!)
Especially we must ask ourselves whether we are keeping an important promise. What is it?
“As an extension of Srila Prabhupada, I will always remain loyal to ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) and will refrain from doing anything detrimental to the goals of my spiritual master and ISKCON”.
Isn’t it a violation of this promise that we gave to our Guru if we defame our ISKCON movement, defame our Guru’s advice and act according to our personal decisions?
Will it happen if we want to break our promise to Guru and go to Krishna? For Vaishnava aparatha, Krishna Himself has no forgiveness. If it is so, for Guru aparath? Do you realize that we have no relief for Vaishnava aparath and guru aparath?
So it is our compulsory duty to be united as a devotee community and serve Guru and Krishna.
An Individual person’s preferences, perceptions & choices have no place in spirituality. Devotees have no higher law than the Guru’s word. For every disciple, only the instructions of his guru are the binding rules. Whatever may be his own perceptions. It doesn’t matter.
(Can we follow a devotee who claims himself diksha Guru? READ HERE!)
He who violates the Guru’s words can’t get Krishna.
Guru’s will need not coincide with our own will. Our Guru’s will is final. Because our Guru is very close to Krishna.
Therefore, let us act according to the instructions of our Guru and Srila Prabhupada. Only then, Krishna will be easily available to us.
(ISKCON Disciples Course (IDC) – The Purpose & Contents! READ HERE!)
Let us re-read and re-affirm the pledges we have made to our guru when we took initiation (Diksha) from him:
(General vows taken during initiation are taken for example. Individual Gurus’ instructions may have slight changes!)
(Why Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati took diksha from the Picture of his guru Gaur Kishore Babaji? READ HERE!)
OATHS (VOWS) TO BE TAKEN WHILE TAKING INITIATION IN ISKCON
Why these Oaths are very important?
Let us understand it from our material life examples:
(1) When a girl and boy marries, they recite some mantras thru which they take some vows like “I won’t leave this girl till my end”, “I will protect the good image of husband’s family”, “I will follow a life of celibacy”, like that.
Marriage is a Life long commitment a boy gives to the girl and vice versa.
If either the husband or wife violates the vows given at the time of marriage, that marriage loses its relevance.
(2) When a candidate joins a job, he is bound by a certain set of rules. If he violates any of those rules, he loses his job or gets penalty.
His job is relevant only till he follows the assurances he gave to the employer while joining the job.
(3) When you borrow from banks to buy a car, you will have to follow the Loan rules including the monthly EMI, interest rate, term of loan, etc. If you don’t follow the loan rules, your car will be taken back by the banks.
What the above examples show?
Simple. You will remain in a status only until you follow the rules stipulated for having that status.
Similarly, your initiation will effectively work only until you strictly follow the diksha rules and the Vows taken by you while taking initiation.
Just because you take initiation but do not follow the rules, your going back to the Krishna is not possible.
Only if you follow the Vows and rules, you can go back to the Krishna.
(Can we follow a devotee who claims himself diksha Guru? READ HERE!)
Therefore, to Go back to Krishna, all the following three should be satisfied as the duties of a disciple to his Guru:
(i) Accept a Guru and serve him either directly or indirectly by followinghis instructions;
(ii) Follow the Vows given to your guru and other rules stipulated by your guru;
(iii) Chant Hare Krishna without offenses16 rounds a day.
Don’t take diksha when you feel difficulties in following the rules, just because others take.
If you feel that it may not be possible to follow the below mentioned rules, don’t take initiation now. Prepare yourself to follow them and then take initiation:
INITIATION ACCEPTANCE OATH (VOWS)
(To be Completed by the Candidate)
It is my sincere, voluntary and loving desire and request to be accepted by His Holiness ……….…… (disciple of His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada) as his initiated disciple. To clarify what this signifies to me and to all concerned, I make the following declarations and I HEREBY SOLEMNLY MAKE THE FOLLOWING VOWS:
(1) I accept His Holiness …………………… to be my initiating (diksa) and instructing (siksa) spiritual master (guru) forever, even life after life.
(2) It is my desire and commitment to help His Holiness…………………… in his devotional service to His Divine Grace Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and the previous acaryas in the guru-parampara.
(3) I vow to follow throughout my life the instructions, etiquette, and principles prescribed according to Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, Bhagavata-dharma sastras (Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Caitanya Caritamrta, etc.) and ISKCON Law in my dealings with my spiritual master.
(4) I vow to follow the four regulative principles of avoiding the following sinful activities: (a) Eating meat, fish, eggs, onion, garlic and any non-vegetarian food products; (b) Taking all forms of intoxication including alcohol, drugs, tobacco, caffeine, coffee, tea, etc.; (c) Engaging in gambling, highly speculative business investments and frivolous sports; (d) Engaging in illicit sex in any form.
(Why our problems continue even after initiation if guru accepts our karma? READ HERE!)
(5) I vow to chant 16 rounds (16 x 108 mantras) of Hare Krishna Maha-mantra japa every day.
(6) I vow that I shall follow the general and specific individual instructions given to me by my spiritual master His Holiness…………………… I accept these instructions as representing Srila Prabhupada’s and Lord Krishna’s will.
(7) As an initiated disciple I understand that I am accepted as a member of and under the eternal shelter of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya-(ISKCON) disciplic succession coming through His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and I vow to accept my further spiritual instructions and initiation from His Holiness …………………………… and in such circumstances where he is not present in this world to give them I shall accept the same only from bona fide ISKCON spiritual master representing Srila Prabhupada.
(8) I shall always remain loyal to ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) as an extension of Srila Prabhupada and I shall avoid doing anything detrimental to the mission of my spiritual master and to ISKCON.
Name of Initiate:
Signature of Initiate:
Place of Initiation:
Date:
Two Witnesses: (1) ___(2) ___
Let us now see how far these vows are important.
Do you remember the 8th promise we made?
If so, come on. Let us consider ourselves not as leaders, but as the servants and serve the Lord.
As Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, we are all like a piece of straw lying on the side of the road before Krishna. Why should we have pride?
(Is Brahmana Diksha (Second Initiation) Compulsory for all? READ HERE!)
What if a Senior devotee guides against the orders of Guru?
Well, suppose your guru has instructed you to act in a particular matter in particular manner. A senior devotee who is very close to you tells you a different command and urges you to follow it. His command is against Guru’s order.
What to do? Whose instruction to follow? Your Guru’s instructions or that Senior devotee’s instructions?
You are afraid that the senior devotee will get angry if you do not follow his instructions.
You have to face that devotee daily; But your guru is residing hundreds of miles away.
Confused?
Don’t be confused. It is very clear: One should not do anything contrary to the Guru’s order though someone very close yo you or someone who cares you says something else.
(TYPES OF GURUS (SPIRITUAL MASTERS) FROM THE SCRIPTURES! READ HERE!)
As already stated, if someone is guiding you, if he says something contrary to the Guru’s words, you don’t necessarily have to listen to or follow him. No matter how great a person he is!
By listening to the instructions or teachings that are contrary to the Guru’s orders, you will also have to share the punishment that senior devotee faces for acting against guru’s order. Attainment of God becomes impossible for him.
Among the Offense that even Krishna cannot forgive is our Offense against the Vaishnavas. The safest way is to humbly serving the Lord without criticizing or insulting anyone who serves Him.
A devotee had asked if he does not hear the commands of that Senior Vaishnava who compels/ forces him to act against the Guru’s command, is it not a Vaishnava offense against him for not doing as he says?
No. Not at all. No one has the right to compel a devotee/ disciple to act against the commands of his guru. It is not a Vaisnava offense to disobey a wrongdoer or violator. If we hear his commands, the offense of violating the Guru’s words will come to us. It is more serious.
True devotees will present themselves as a devoted servant. They are humble and will not show themselves prominently. It is not a Vaishnava’s character to think of himself as a great person and make a lot of noise.
So if we don’t choose our spiritual guide very carefully we will fall down in spiritual life.
So, a disciple should never hear from anyone anything that is against the instructions of his guru. If he has such contrary association, he will fall down in future.
Every devotee should focus on accepting and implementing the order of the spiritual master so as not to waste this birth.
(Original Guru Parampara of Mahabharatha & Bhagavatham! READ HERE!)
SRILA PRABHUPADA ON VIOLATING THE ORDERS OF GURU (SPIRITUAL MASTER)
Srila Prabhupada has said a lot about this matter. Below are some important quotes from Srila Prabhupada about the necessity of following the Guru’s orders and the fate of disobeying his orders:
(1)
“If still you are unable to fulfill that promise to your spiritual master, then what is the use of calling yourself devotee and disciple? That is simply pretending. So you should think like this, that I have promised my spiritual master this, now I must obey him without any exception, otherwise I have no business calling myself his disciple. That will be your austerity or tapasya for forcing you to make very rapid advancement in Krsna conscious understanding.
Without tapasya there is no question of making advancement. So if still the material nature is so much attractive to you that you are unable to sacrifice things in this way, then better you give up the whole thing and do as you like outside.
But if you want to call yourself devotee and serve Krsna in that capacity, then you must avoid these four basic principle restrictions under all circumstances, without any exceptions. Of course once, twice, Krsna may excuse, that is not very difficult, but more than that it will become very difficult for Krsna to excuse you and there is great risk that everything will be lost despite all of your time and effort spent.”
(Letter to Sankarshana, Mumbai, 31 December 1972.)
(Greatness of Spiritual Master – By Sri Visvanatha Chakravarthi Thakura! READ HERE!)
(2)
“You have asked if it is true that the Spiritual Master remains in the material universe until all of His disciples are transferred to the Spiritual Sky. The answer is yes, this is the rule.
Therefore, every student should be very much careful not to commit any offense which will be detrimental to this promotion to the Spiritual Kingdom, and thereby the Spiritual Master has to incarnate again to deliver him. This sort of mentality will be a kind of offense to the Spiritual Master.
Out of the ten kinds of offenses, the number one offense is to disobey the orders of the Spiritual Master. The instructions given to the disciple by the Spiritual Master at the time of initiation should be strictly followed. That will make one advance to the spiritual path. But if one deliberately defies such instructions, then his advancement is hampered from the very beginning.
This defying means to disconnect the relationship with the Spiritual Master. And anyone who defies and therefore disconnects the relationship with the Spiritual Master can hardly expect the assistance of the Spiritual Master life after life. I hope this will clear up this question sufficiently for you.”
(Letter to HH Jayapatha Swami, Los Angeles, 11 July, 1969.)
(Why don’t you recommend to us which Diksha Guru to choose in ISKCON? READ HERE!)
(3)
Hridayananda:
“He wants to know if disobedience to Guru is the highest offense.
Prabhupada:
Yes. The first offense is “kror avajna”, blasphemy of the Sruti Shastra. “Sruti Sastra Nindanam Kuror Avajna” What is your position if you accept the Guru and then disobey him again? You are not a gentleman, you are taking oath before Guru, before Krishna, before Agni. “I obey your command”, “I will carry this out”. Then you don’t do it. You are not even a cultured person, what about a devotee? It is common sense.”
(Bhagavad Gita 2.11. Mexico February 11.1975)
(4)
“One should follow the principle of strictly carrying out the order of the spiritual master. The spiritual master gives different orders to different disciples. For example, Jivagoswami. Śrī Chaitanya ordered Rupagosvāmī and Sanādhana Goswāmī to preach, and Raghunātādasa Gosvāmī was instructed to strictly follow the rules and regulations…. All the six Goswamis strictly followed Sri Chaitanya’s orders. This is the principle of advancement in devotional service. After receiving the mandate from the spiritual master one must strive to fulfill it. That is the way to success.”
(Sri Caitanya Charitamiruta, Anthya, 6.311)
(Can one get Krishna’s Mercy if he is unable to Go to temple and Get Guru? READ HERE!)
(5)
“Giving up the regulative principles and living according to one’s whims is compared to a mad elephant, which by force uproots the bhakti-latā and breaks it to pieces. In this way the bhakti-latā shrivels up. Such an offense is especially created when one disobeys the instructions of the spiritual master. This is called guru-avajñā. The devotee must therefore be very careful not to commit offenses against the spiritual master by disobeying his instructions. As soon as one is deviated from the instructions of the spiritual master, the uprooting of the bhakti-latā begins, and gradually all the leaves dry up.
(Sri Caitanya Charitamruta Madhya Lila 19.156)
(6)
“After receiving initiation from a guru one should carry out his orders without hesitation. And he should not be confused by anything else. This is the judgment of Srila Viswanatha Chakravarti Tagore. When he explains Bhagavad Gita 2.41, the Guru’s commandment is that a disciple should act without thinking about whether he will get a home and attain God completely, his first duty is to fulfill the commandment of the Guru. Thus the best meditation is to meditate on the instructions of the Guru. He should not only carry out the commandment, but also find out how to perform the proper worship from it. (Srimad Bhagavatam 4.24.15)
Before taking initiation, every devotee should know well the Duties of Disciples to his guru by being aware of the Initiation Oaths (Vows) given to Guru & Effects of Violating them!
(Is the system of appointing the gurus beneficial and effective? READ HERE!)