Text 108] Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya Offers Prasada to the Lord 57
Of similar importance is diksa, which is explained as follows in Bhakti-sandarbha
(284):

yadyapi svardpato nasti, tathapi prayah svabhavato
dehadi-sambandhena kardaya-silanam viksipta-cittanam
jananam tat-tat-sankoci-karanaya srimad-rsi-prabhrtibhir
atrarcana-marge kvacit kvacit kacit kacin maryadda sthdpitasti.

Similarly in the Ramdarcana-candrikd it is stated:

vinaiva diksam viprendra
purascaryam vinaiva hi

vinaiva nyasa-vidhina
japa-matrena siddhida

In other words, the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is so powerful that it
does not depend on official initiation, but if one is initiated and engages in
paficaratra-vidhi (Deity worship), his Krsna consciousness will awaken very soon,
and his identification with the material world will be vanquished. The more one is
freed from material identification, the more one can realize that the spirit soul is
qualitatively as good as the Supreme Soul. At such a time, when one is situated on
the absolute platform, he can understand that the holy name of the Lord and the
Lord Himself are identical. At that stage of realization, the holy name of the Lord,
the Hare Krsna mantra, cannot be identified with any material sound. If one ac-
cepts the Hare Krsna mahd-mantra as a material vibration, he falls down. One
should worship and chant the holy name of the Lord by accepting it as the Lord
Himself. One should therefore be initiated properly according to revealed scrip-
tures under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master. Although chanting the
holy name is good for both the conditioned and liberated soul, it is especially
beneficial to the conditioned soul because by chanting it one is liberated. When a
person who chants the holy name is liberated, he attains the ultimate perfection
by returning home, back to Godhead. In the words of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
(Adi 7.73):

krsna-mantra haite habe samsara-mocana
krsna-nama haite pabe krsnera carana

“Simply by chanting the holy name of Krsna one can obtain freedom from ma-
terial existence. Indeed, simply by chanting the Hare Krsna mantra one will be able
to see the lotus feet of the Lord.”

The offenseless chanting of the holy name does not depend on the initiation
process. Although initiation may depend on purascaryd or purascarana, the actual
