JOURNAL:

When I was given my neck beads last week I was told that I did not have to be initiated to wear them and not to take them off, even to shower. I was also told a story about Srila Prabhupada approaching the teacher of a guru-kula class at the end of one of his visits to Los Angeles and telling her to take care of the fact that one of the children was not wearing neck beads. Of course, the child was too young to be initiated, so it was OK for me to wear them.

I have since found out that the beads are called "kunti-mala" and that they show a life long commitment by the wearer to the Lord. They are also jokingly refered to as "Krishna's dog collar". Such a nice gift! I will be forever grateful.