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are very interested in inquiring about mundane subject matters, but when one has lost such interest and is simply interested in transcendental subject matters, he is quite fit for being initiated. When one is actually initiated by the bona fide spiritual master and when he seriously engages in the service of the Lord, he should be accepted as a  madhyama-adhikārī .
The chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa is so sublime that if one chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa  mahā-mantra  offenselessly, carefully avoiding the ten offenses, he can certainly be gradually elevated to the point of understanding that there is no difference between the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself. One who has reached such an understanding should be very much respected by neophyte devotees. One should know for certain that without chanting the holy name of the Lord offenselessly, one cannot be a proper candidate for advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In Śrī  Caitanya-caritāmṛta  (Madhya 22.69) it is said:
yāhāra komala śraddhā, se ‘kaniṣṭha’ jana krame krame teṅho bhakta ha-ibe ‘uttama’
“One whose faith is soft and pliable is called a neophyte, but by gradually following the process, he will rise to the platform of a first-class devotee.” Everyone begins his devotional life from the neophyte stage, but if one properly finishes chanting the prescribed number of rounds of  hari-nāma , he is elevated step by step to the highest platform,  uttama-adhikārī . The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement prescribes sixteen rounds daily because people in the