Can wanting to know more about Krishna distract us from bhakti especially from chanting?
Yeah so I want to know more and more about Krishna and study the scriptures more and more and I feel restless if I don't know more and sometimes this distracts me in chanting also so is this favorable or unfavorable actually knowledge is an important feature in assisting us in bhakti knowledge is not the way but knowledge shows the way when we know about Krishna then our chanting becomes more infused with bhakti so sometimes our devotees on Ekadashi say I'll chant 64 rounds if we can be absorbed in Krishna that is fine but sometimes somebody said then okay if I'm going to spend eight hours I'll spend four hours studying Shastra and remaining four hours I'll chant and we may find that at that time if you studied Shastra you thought about Krishna you got some Krishna stimuli then when I chant I'm actually more absorbed in Krishna so the principle is absorb you in Krishna there is no need to reduce our bhakti to only one specific activity so we have a particular sadhana that we do and in that sadhana we do chant the holy names for a particular amount but beyond that beyond our basic sadhana you know we have to connect with Krishna in whatever way is favorable for us and another important point is if it is knowledge about Krishna directly then that is not just Jnana that is actually also Limbo Bhakti because then it is Shravanam Kirtanam when Shukadeva Goswami is speaking Mishra Prabhupada is speaking and we are hearing from them and we are reading their books also so that is favorable for bhakti so it's not that it is something which is an obstacle it is something which is at least we have some way in which we are attracted to Krishna that is a matter of that is a strength for us we can tackle it the problem it becomes when when we say that I will do only this and I'll not do the other things so that is not possible that's not good and even if say if you are chanting and you're thinking of scripture now that is a distraction but still it is a positive distraction it is better to think about scripture than to think about thinking about worldly things or thinking about sense gratification so basically there is a point of concentration and there is a circle of concentration point of concentration means when you're chanting just hear the holy name hear the sound of the holy name but quite often that is very difficult for us so and now when we find it very difficult we just give up the effort and just go let the mind go everywhere but instead of that if around the point of concentration I create a circle of concentration circle of concentration means that I have some words glorifying the holy name or some words describing the compassionate loving nature of Krishna I just keep that in front of me or I keep a picture of Krishna in front of me I keep a print out of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra in front of me I keep a picture of say if I have taken initiation if I'm going to take initiation then you see in ceremony or my spiritual master this is my service to my spiritual master wow I have taken so then even if the mind wanders when we have a circle of concentration then we give some some room for the mind to wander in things which are related with Krishna instead of letting it wander all over the universe so in that sense if we are studying if we study scripture seriously and then we are chanting at that time if we think about scripture study while chanting that's not the best but quite often that may be better than the alternative because if I say I will not think about scripture and I just can't focus on the sound of the holiness then I'll think of start thinking of 100 other things so better keep the mind in the circle of concentration and from that circle we keep directing it towards the point of concentration we try to bring it closer and closer towards Krishna so the desire to study scripture is actually very good and if that enables us to increase our remembrance for Krishna that is the way we find ourselves absorbing in Krishna and definitely we can see that as a blessing of Krishna that we grow that we tap.