Does meditating on Krishna’s pastime while chanting comprise inattentive chanting?
Thank you. Is prematurely meditating on Krishna's pastimes while chanting? Is that also a form of inattention? Actually there are what we could say degrees of inattention also.
So in the path of yoga, I will be talking about yoga when we talk about the first verse more. So it is said that there is meditation and there are aids for meditation. So for example the yogi, the primary thing in yoga is to meditate on dhyana, vastakate na manasa pasyantiyam yogino.
The primary purpose of yoga is to meditate on Vishnu in the heart. But there can be various aids for that. So for example sitting in a yogic asana, sitting in a secluded place in a forest, learning to regulate one's breath, sitting on kusha grass, sitting on deer skin.
All these are aids for that meditation on the supreme. And then they have also various kinds of meditation. So now we could see that when we are chanting, there is the point of concentration.
That means we just focus on one point, that is the sound of the holy name. And as we become purified, as we develop a deeper relationship with Krishna, just from the sound of the holy name, the remembrance of Krishna will awaken and we will become absorbed in thoughts of Krishna. Now quite often that does not happen for us.
And when that does not happen, focusing the mind on one point, it becomes so difficult that it's like the tongue is doing one chanting and the mind is doing another meditation. They become two, it's like almost like if you have, there is one TV on which one program is going on. But if you have say a two screen TV or you have two TVs, so one program is going on here, another program is going on over here.
So say the mother has put the child for watching some educational TV, some program, but the educational TV channel is on over there, but there is another TV which is on and some sports match is going on over there. So the mother is thinking the child is studying this educational TV program. Child is actually watching the sports match.
So like that what happens with us is that there is one thing that is happening at the level of the tongue. The Hare Krishna Mahamantra is going on in like one channel, but the mind is caught in another channel only. It is thinking about maybe I have to do this thing, I have to do that thing, I have to earn this, I have to go here, I have to do that.
So the two become, it's almost like on two separate tracks which are going. The tongue is going on one track, the mind is going on another track. So now because it is very difficult for us to focus the mind on one point of concentration, sometimes it is advised that around a point of concentration we can have a circle of concentration.
Circle of concentration means have something related with the Holy Name which can bring our consciousness back to the Holy Name. So for example there is keeping the Hare Krishna Mahamantra in a written form. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, the letters we keep.
That can, if our mind starts going here and there, I see there is a letter of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. That can bring our consciousness back, oh I am chanting, this is the same name I am chanting. So if the mind cannot stay on the sound of the Holy Name, let it stay on something related with the Holy Name.
So that can, the letters of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra can be one, something which comprise the circle of concentration. Similarly, there can be the picture of deities. This is the lord whom I am praying to.
So whichever image of the deities we can, which we feel very strongly connected with emotionally, we can have that. Or we can have the photo of our spiritual master, picture of Shri Nath Prabhupada. Or we may have some words glorifying the Holy Name, Shri Shashtaka words or some other glory of the Holy Name.
Now in this case, for some of us, say remembering a particular pastime of Krishna, in which how Krishna helps his devotees, say how Draupadi called out to Krishna and Krishna came. Remembering that pastime may comprise the circle of concentration which helps us to come and focus on the point. And when we can't focus on the point, we are at least somehow thinking about Krishna.
It's not that we are going all over the universe thinking about everything else. So in this case, we have to find out what is anukul for our devotee. So sometimes, we look at the deities and we say, Oh! Krishna is wearing a white dhoti.
My dhoti has got a spot. I have to wash it. Yesterday I washed my dhoti.
Where did I keep it? Oh! I put it for drying. Yesterday it rained. Oh God! Then the mind just runs off over there like that.
So we have to see if we put something for assisting us in focusing on the sound of the Holy Name. So whether that is helping us in remembrance of Krishna or not, that is something which we have to check for ourselves. So if certain pastimes of Krishna do trigger some spiritual emotions within us and they enable us to focus, assist us in focusing on the Holy Name, that is good.
Now what is definitely not recommended is the meditation on Krishna's esoteric pastimes. Krishna's intimate pastimes with the gopis, that kind of meditation is premature and for most of us it may be salgiaic. So that is definitely premature and undesirable.
But if the remembrance of Krishna's pastimes can help us to focus on Krishna, can help our, when the mind is wandering here and there, then we can get the mind back to the Krishna's Holy Name by remembrance of pastimes, that is fine. But it is not that we go out of our way just to think of some pastime of Krishna. Our primary effort is to try to focus on the sound of the Holy Name.
But if we can't focus on the sound of the Holy Name, then instead of letting the mind go anywhere and everywhere, if we can think of some pastime of Krishna which reminds us of how merciful Krishna is, how sweet Krishna is, and that inspires us, you know, I should call out to this Krishna. Krishna is coming, let me hear the Holy Name. So that can get us back to Krishna's, the sound of Krishna's Holy Name, get us back to Krishna's Holy Name, then that is anukundesa sankalpa and that can be accepted.
Does it answer the question? Any other questions?