Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Madhya 9.61

guru-karne kahe sabe 'krishna' 'rāma' 'hari'

cetana pāñā ācārya bale 'hari' 'hari'

SYNONYMS

guru-karne — into the ear of the spiritual master; kahe — they said; sabe — all together; krishna rāma hari — the holy names of the Lord, namely "Krishna," "Rāma" and "Hari"; cetana — consciousness; pāñā — getting; ācārya — the teacher; bale — chanted; hari hari — the name of Lord Hari.

TRANSLATION

When all the disciples chanted the holy names Krishna, Rāma and Hari, the Buddhist teacher regained consciousness and immediately began to chant the holy name of Lord Hari.

PURPORT

Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura comments that all the Buddhist disciples were actually initiated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu into the chanting of the holy name of Krishna, and when they chanted, they actually became different persons. At that time they were not Buddhists or atheists but Vaishnavas. Consequently they immediately accepted Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's order. Their original Krishna consciousness was revived, and they were immediately able to chant Hare Krishna and begin worshiping the Supreme Lord Vishnu.

It is the spiritual master who delivers the disciple from the clutches of māyā by initiating him into the chanting of the Hare Krishna mahā-mantra. In this way a sleeping human being can revive his consciousness by chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. In other words, the spiritual master awakens the sleeping living entity to his original consciousness so that he can worship Lord Vishnu. This is the purpose of dīkshā, or initiation. Initiation means receiving the pure knowledge of spiritual consciousness.

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 Śrī Krishna Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and they in turn were able to initiate their so-called spiritual master. This is the paramparā system. The so-called spiritual master of the Buddhists was actually in the position of a disciple, and after his disciples were initiated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they acted as his spiritual masters. This was possible only because the disciples of the Buddhist ācārya received the mercy of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Unless one is favored by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the disciplic succession, one cannot act as a spiritual master. We should take the instructions of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the spiritual master of the whole universe, to understand how one becomes a spiritual master and a disciple.

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