Reports from a dharma talk I heard

Once a small bud asked : Bhagwan, why & when does a Buddha gives initiation ?

The brightest flower said,

Intellect is the starting point of Dharma, not the end point. This is why there is initiation. This is why there is invitation. But this invitation is not just for anybody, only for those who have gone beyond refusal and rejection. For anybody who comes, they are given analysis and explanations. Then those starts to  infer, explain, searches every nook of all the scriptures and finds that they are just completely useless, and they say “you’re absolutely right!!! Dharma is not tradition (parampara); Dharma is rebellion (vidroha); we thought and thought, and now all our thoughts are finished, Now what? Now lead us further…” Then the Buddha gives initiation. To the one who is beyond inference, completely devoid of inference, standing outside the net of inference, receives initiation.

One who out of fear, chants Buddha, Buddha and count beads, never chanted the name of the Buddha but only chanted fear. Out of fear one who becomes ethical, his ethics are pseudo neither natural nor authentic. Its like, because of police, you don’t steal. What to make of that honesty? Because of hell, you choose  to remain faithful. What kind of integrity is that? You claim celibacy (brahmacarya) knowing how you would burn in the fire of hell. How that has anything to do with freedom from lust and desire? These are all methods of conditioning (samskriti). Character comes out of strength. Buddha says, “apprehend, infer, ponder, consider, cogitate and slowly and slowly you come to the shore of thoughts and reflections and beyond that the other shore comes visible for the first time. Here is where mystery makes you desirous and makes you yearn for it. The vast comes close and your little mind faints from circling and it stops.  

Buddha says, “I will not make you faithful by force or strength, instead I will walk you to faith”. This is why Buddha gives initiation (deeksha) and not utter a single world of faith (sraddha). This is his skill, his artistry. This is what his specialty (vishishtata) is all about.

You have doubts? What is there to be afraid of? You can make a ladder out of that. And just climb on top of it. Stand on the shoulders of argument  and over its head the other shore gets visible. And when that shore is visible, sraddha dawns on you. Sraddha is the companion of that shore, the shadow of that shore. No one gets born with sraddha, it has to be earned. Rather all are born with doubts (sandeha). This is what makes a child question everything. And this is completely natural, because through questioning and questioning one is able to reach where one could realize. 

After that, all questioning drops dead. 

~Saknik from India