Does chanting require effort or does chanting make us happy?
A problem. So, it is said that chanting is joyful.
Prabhupada also said, chant and be happy. So, now, but I said that chanting requires effort. It requires energy.
So how do we understand this? Actually, yes, on some days we will find that chanting is blissful. Some days we will find that chanting is just… Sometimes we want chanting to go on endlessly and sometimes we feel as if chanting is going on endlessly. Why is this not getting over? It should get over now.
So, actually, the mind is fickle and that is why we need to be ready. It's like some people are very moody and then, you know, say if a moody person is our colleague, now one day they are very irresponsible, the other day they are very irritable. Then when you go to work with them, you don't know which person is going to come today.
Isn't it? Is the responsible person going to come or is the lazy person, irritable person going to come? So like that, when we chant, we don't know which mind is going to come today. Sometimes the mind which is focused, which takes joy in chanting comes. Sometimes the mind is distracted.
It just wants to go here and there comes. So, whenever the mind is… whenever we find chanting joyful, that is wonderful. And we should see that as Krishna's blessing, as an opportunity for us to dive deeper into the nectar of remembrance of Krishna.
At the same time, we shouldn't be… we should be prepared for the mind being uncooperative also. That means, we shouldn't become…otherwise if you are expecting that chanting will be joyful and then we are not able to focus, then that frustration of our expectation will dishearten us. So we go prepared.
If the mind is helpful, wonderful. If the mind is not helpful, I am ready for fighting. So now, chanting does become more and more joyful as we keep practicing bhakti because we become attracted to Krishna.
But initially there is struggle in it. And that's why we say, chant Hare Krishna and be happy. This is… Is this one instruction or is this two instructions? It means that, is it that chanting Hare Krishna will make us happy? Is it a causal connection? That chant Hare Krishna and you will become happy or is it two instructions? Chant Hare Krishna and while you are chanting Hare Krishna, be happy.
So, actually it is both. In 1.2.23 in the Bhagavatam it is said, It says, in this way, in this way the wise people always they joyfully practice bhakti. And this bhakti, what does it do? It makes the heart joyful.
So there is a paradox here. It is said that the wise people joyfully practice the process which makes them joyful. Now, what does it mean? Is the practice joyful or is the fruit joyful? So the idea is both.
Just like if I have been sick for a very long time and now I have found a medicine that works. My sickness has not yet gone away. I have not yet become healthy.
So when I become healthy then I will actually be happy. But even now I am happy because I have found the right medicine. So although I am not fully healthy, although I might still be in pain, still the disease is there, but happy that I am on the way to cure.
So like that, the sages, they are joyful that they have found the way to joy. So like that, chant Hare Krishna and be happy. It is a causal also process that by chanting Hare Krishna we will become happy.
But that may take some time. And in the intermediate process we are happy that we are on the path to happiness. So sometimes chanting Hare Krishna itself may not make us happy.
But we are still happy that at least we have the process to purify ourselves. We have the process to make our mind grow up. So even when a devotee is struggling with chanting, a devotee is at least happy.
At least I am connected with Krishna. I am trying to connect with Krishna. If I had not been struggling with chanting, my mind and senses are so wild that they would have made me struggle similarly to satisfy them.
So at least now I am struggling to satisfy Krishna instead of slaving to satisfy the mind and senses and doing some bad activities at that. So even when we are struggling in chanting, we can still be happy that at least we are on the path to spiritual recovery and spiritual happiness. Does that answer your question?