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Question: What does it mean to get initiated? How to get initiated? I am still new in Krsna consciousness.

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Jayapataka Swami: Well, being initiated means that we surrender to Krsna. We are connected formally with the guru parampara, the disciplic succession, through guru from Krsna to us. And it means that we formally are taking the shelter of Krsna within the disciplic succession. To get initiated in ISKCON, you have to meet the requirements of the guru, which may be different. But as far as the institution, as far as the society, the GBC has prescribed that for the first initiation, one should take a basic exam of 13 (?) questions or so, one should have IDC course, a three-day course, ISKCON Disciple Course, and one can take that on the weekends in the afternoon or several weeks, however many weeks it takes. And, basically that is required. And then, one year, one should chant, six months at least, 16 rounds and then choose your guru that you want to take initiation from, take shelter of the guru, and after six months or whatever minimum, and when you fulfill the other requirements, then you can take initiation, if you have the recommendation of the local temple president.
08-JANUARY-2020 NEW PANIHATI DHAM, ATLANTA, USA