On the auspicious appearance day of Sri Varaha Dvadasi, an initiation ceremony was conducted in ISKM Pondicherry. Bhakta Boopaalan Prabhu received Harinam initiation, vowing to chant at least 16 rounds per day and following the four regulative principles and Krishna Caitanya prabhu took second initiation, Brahman Initiation, taking of the sacred thread. All initiates accepted A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as their sole Diksha guru and the ceremony was facilitated by H.G. Prahlad Prabhu who acted as the Ritvik representative of Srila Prabhupada.

 

Through the initiation process one is connected to the spiritual master who delivers the fallen soul from the clutches of birth and death. The process purifies the living entity who evolves from the mode of ignorance to the mode of goodness. ‘By chemical manipulation, bell metal is turned into gold when touched by mercury; similarly, when a person is properly initiated, he can acquire the qualities of a brahmana’ (Bhakta-sandarbha 28)