Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya 18.207

'ramadasa' bali' prabhu tanra kaila nama

ara eka pathana, tanra nama -- 'vijuli-khanna'

SYNONYMS

ramadasa bali' -- of the name Ramadasa; prabhu -- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; tanra -- his; kaila -- made; nama -- name; ara eka pathana -- another Muslim; tanra nama -- his name; vijuli-khanna -- Vijuli Khan.

TRANSLATION

In this way Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu directly initiated the saintly Muslim by advising him to chant the holy name of Krishna. The Muslim's name was changed to Ramadasa. Another Pathana Muslim present there was named Vijuli Khan.

PURPORT

After being initiated, the devotees in the Krishna consciousness movement change their names. Whenever a person in the Western world becomes interested in this Krishna consciousness movement, he is initiated by this process. In India we are falsely accused of converting mlecchas and yavanas to the Hindu religion. In India there are many Mayavadi sannyasis known as jagad-guru, although they have hardly visited the whole world. Some are not even sufficiently educated, yet they make accusations against our movement and accuse us of destroying the principles of the Hindu religion by accepting Muslims and yavanas as Vaishnavas. Such people are simply envious. We are not spoiling the Hindu system of religion but are simply following in the footsteps of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by traveling all over the world and accepting those who are interested in understanding Krishna as Krishnadasa or Ramadasa. By the process of a bona fide initiation, their names are changed.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness