July 23, 1972 : Paris
Krishna-kshetra Dasa: An outdoor initiation ceremony was scheduled to take place on July 23rd. It was a cloudy and somewhat cool Sunday afternoon. When about fifteen devotees, mostly from Germany, assembled in the Jardin du Luxembourg, a public park in central Paris, to take part in the ceremony that Srila Prabhupada would preside over, a small crowd gathered, curious about the arrangements and strangely dressed people.
After Srila Prabhupada arrived and sat on the vyasasana, he gave a short lecture, which was translated sentence by sentence into French. After the lecture, the devotees receiving first initiation were called forward one by one to make their vows before Srila Prabhupada and receive a spiritual name and a set of beads that Srila Prabhupada had chanted on. I remember that before me, one of the devotees called forward was Haryaksha. Prabhupada looked at his forehead and noticed that he was without the tilaka mark of a Vaishnava. "No tilaka?" He asked gravely, to indicate that he should immediately put it on before coming to receive his spiritual name.
Vedavyasa Dasa: There was one boy who had been a butcher before, and apparently Prabhupada had been informed about it. After the candidate had repeated the last regulative principle, "No eating of meat, fish or eggs," there was a moment of silence. Prabhupada looked at his prospective disciple gravely and said, "Please don't kill any more cows." The boy blushed and simply shook his head in embarrassment.
After Srila Prabhupada arrived and sat on the vyasasana, he gave a short lecture, which was translated sentence by sentence into French. After the lecture, the devotees receiving first initiation were called forward one by one to make their vows before Srila Prabhupada and receive a spiritual name and a set of beads that Srila Prabhupada had chanted on. I remember that before me, one of the devotees called forward was Haryaksha. Prabhupada looked at his forehead and noticed that he was without the tilaka mark of a Vaishnava. "No tilaka?" He asked gravely, to indicate that he should immediately put it on before coming to receive his spiritual name.
Vedavyasa Dasa: There was one boy who had been a butcher before, and apparently Prabhupada had been informed about it. After the candidate had repeated the last regulative principle, "No eating of meat, fish or eggs," there was a moment of silence. Prabhupada looked at his prospective disciple gravely and said, "Please don't kill any more cows." The boy blushed and simply shook his head in embarrassment.
Reference: Srila Prabhupada and his disciples in Germany - Vedavyasa Dasa
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