Not just giving a thread - initiation ceremony

Chaturatma Dasa: As far as I met him conversationally, the first time would have been when I received my brahminical initiation. That would have been the summer of 1974. Srila Prabhupada was in Chicago and our temple president would pack all the devotees into a couple of vans and we would drive to wherever Prabhupada was, because Prabhupada did not come to St. Louis.

So in Chicago, we were all lined up outside of his room for getting our initiation and I went in and I was sitting in the room just myself and Srila Prabhupada. It was very intimate, not intimate in the sense of shared intimacy but intimate in the sense that it was just the two of us. That was a very quiet setting. And Srila Prabhupada looked at me and he asked, "So you are chanting sixteen rounds?" I said, "Yes, Srila Prabhupada," and, "You are following the four regulative principles?" "Yes, Srila Prabhupada." And at that point I could understand that Srila Prabhupada wasn’t just cookie-cutter, handing out threads, 'Here, you take a thread,' 'You take a thread,' 'You take a thread.' He wanted to be sure on the word of his disciple that they were keeping the standard.

And this made a point with me, it made an impression on me that, he could have just sat there and, 'Send the next one. Here is your thread,' but instead he was taking the time to inquire from the devotees as to how they were executing properly the devotional practices that qualify them to receive that thread. And then he took the time to show me how to do the counting, it was a little difficult for me to comprehend it first, but he was very kind and repeated himself two-three times till I got the process. He showed like that and I offered my obeisances and left. Of course, he did personally put my brahmana thread on me. That was very nice, I think the practice now-a-days you go before the guru with the thread on you already and then he shows you how to count, gives you the mantra and then you read. 

But in this case, Prabhupada gave us the mantra and gave us the paper and then put the thread on as well. So I felt very fortunate and of course was very sad when that particular thread eventually broke and had to be replaced.