"There are others who have witnessed the fates of those who foolishly accepted the guidance of GBC 'ISKCON' and who don't trust either the rittvik leaders or the Neo-Gaudiya matha. Therefore, they have rightly decided to forego the various 'initiation' processes. Unfortunately, some of them have also fallen victim to the temptation of 'easy' (sahaj) initiation. At least one group claims the equivalent of initiation from Srila Prabhupada. They say that they are, by virtue of accepting him as their 'Prominent Link,' initiated into the disciplic succession of the guru-parampara."
There's a correspondence from 2007 on the PL website, entitled "Five levels of acquired knowledge", which relates to the above. Below are some excerpts:
Dhira Govinda dasa: (...) "Suppose we hear from Srila Prabhupada, and based on this hearing we chant sixteen rounds per day, rise early, study his books, participate in Hari Nam kirtan and bhajan, etc. So, someone in such a situation might claim 'I am receiving transcendental knowledge from Srila Prabhupada, and this is the essence of initiation, so I am initiated by Srila Prabhupada.' I think, though, that this would be a shallow understanding, or a misunderstanding, of the process. To understand how and why, and to avoid a cheap sort of pseudo-PL model, it is important to grasp a distinction between siksa and diksa.
"My understanding is that the person described in the paragraph above is receiving siksa from Srila Prabhupada. (...) It is knowledge received through the external senses, though not the essential divya-jnana, spiritual knowledge received in the heart of the soul, as Lord Brahma was initiated by Sri Krsna- tene brahma hrda ya adi-kavaye, or as described in the prayers to the spiritual master, divya jnan hrde prokoshito. So, as we receive siksa and follow the instructions and absorb the knowledge, then it becomes diksa, with divya-jnana received at the soul level, as the essence.
"As we've discussed many times, initiation is a process. We connect with this process from the first time we encounter Srila Prabhupada's books, or hear the Maha Mantra in the line of the authentic parampara, etc. So it's a process, and at some point in the process we may say that initiation has actually taken place, just like we may say 'The milk is boiling,' though actually it's in the process of boiling. Then at some particular point the milk is actually at the boiling point, and that in itself can also be seen as just the beginning of the boiling process." (...)
Alex: (...) "I have been in contact with Krsna Consciousness for 11 years now, and not that I am the yardstick by which others should be judged, but I feel like I am at that first level you describe. I have read some of Srila Prabhupada's books, heard some lectures, and I'm endeavoring to put things into practice, and that's where I'm at, where I want to be. I haven't had any mystical experience where knowledge is revealed in my heart. The first level that you describe, which you call siksa, that's what I want." (...)
Dhira Govinda dasa: "I appreciate your personal sharing. For myself, I could replace '11 years' with '27 years', and express much the same as you have. Certainly I couldn't say that by adherence to Srila Prabhupada's siksa, the essence of divya-jnana has congealed in my heart and thus I am receiving diksa in the true sense. My adherence is sporadic and shallow. For myself I wouldn't say that I haven't had any mystical experience, or knowledge revealed in my heart. Whatever my lack of qualifications and sincerity, I believe that something, some spark, has landed deeply, due to the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Krsna. Otherwise I don't think I'd be able to continue steadily reading Srila Prabhupada's books and chanting sixteen rounds per day, however inattentively that may be. It seems to me that the siksa and diksa processes work spontaneously, interactively, not necessarily linearly, though the general process is that siksa, following instructions, leads to diksa, genuine divya-jnana revealed and received at the level of the soul.
"The question raised is the point at which enough genuine divya-jnana, real diksa, is present so as to qualify for a formal initiation ceremony. The principles involving the distinctions and relationship between siksa and diksa are philosophical. The issue of what constitutes the precise 'boiling point' and therefore the point at which formal initiation is appropriate, may be more managerial in nature." (...)
One of the things that I've been intrigued by, other the past few months, has been Mahesh Raja Prabhu's articles wherein he asserts that initiation in the true sense takes place when the recipient is on the level of madhyama. I've been collecting emails that he sent to a list that I'm part of, and I'd be interested to eventually correspond with him, in order to better understand the ideas he's presenting. In his writings, Mahesh Raja puts forward some interesting quotes from Srila Prabhupada, such as the following, from the purport to Nectar of Instruction 5:
"The kanistha-adhikari is a neophyte who has received the harinama initiation from the spiritual master and is trying to chant the holy name of Krsna. One should respect such a person within his mind as a kanistha-vaisnava. A madhyama-adhikari has received spiritual initiation from the spiritual master and has been fully engaged by him in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The madhyama-adhikari should be considered to be situated midway in devotional service."
Before seeing Mahesh Raja making reference to it, I'd never really thought about the above quote in terms of the transfer of divya-jnana, and it's certainly intriguing. The contrast being between "harinama initiation" (which in this case might conceivably refer to the initiation ceremony) and "spiritual initiation" (which might refer to initiation proper).
To give you an idea of where I'm coming from, I took a Bhakti Sastri course in Philly in 2000, and one hokey idea that seemed to be floating around was to conflate "having participated in a brahminical initiation ceremony" with "being a madhyama adhikari". It was never quite stated so bluntly, but in a fuzzy roundabout way that was the message I was getting. Another variation of this seemed to be to imply that those who were worshipping the Deity in the temple were kanisthas, and those who were "teaching the sastras" (i.e. teaching Bhakti Sastri) were madhyamas. Stuff like that.
Anyway, there's all kinds of flavors and variations of cheapening the meaning of initiation. When all is said and done, the gradual and ongoing internal transformation will be of more lasting value, and will be more internally satisfying, than the external symbols of success, and externals in general.
