(HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, Durban, South Africa, 21st September 2012) Lecture: SB 11. 31. 22-23
In India today it is still the custom based on Vedic tradition, that when you fill out any government form, they ask for the father’s name. ’What is your name? Your father’s name?’
It always has to be asked because in that way you can understand a person’s family lineage. But instead of the father’s name, you can also put Guru’s name, and that also counts. It’s legal, even in court when you are buying land, in documents to have, ’disciple of ….’ Like that, you can choose your Guru instead of your father, which counts, and it’s okay. That is bona fide.
So in that way it is still enlightened, because it is bona fide – it’s a bona fide connection, an auspicious connection, which connects us with Krsna. It is giving us a designation. Just like your father’s name, ’Muni Lal’, which gives you a particular designation. Then you know: ’Okay, oh I see, Muni Lal!’ Like that, but if you have been in India for a long time, then by the name you know everything. And as soon as we hear the name of Guru, then we know everything!
