Does absorption in Krishna require sixteen rounds chanting?
Can absorption in Krishna require chanting 16 rounds? Krishna is not standing up there in the spiritual world with a calculator to see how many rounds we have chanted, isn't it? The important thing is that every relationship involves not just the emotion in the heart, it also involves some actions through which it is expressed. So, you know, if a husband tells his wife, I love you, the wife says there is no food in the house.
Go and earn some money. I love you. Do something practical.
You know, if the husband has come back from office tired after a job, you know, the wife says, I love you and I'm hungry. I love you. I'm hungry.
I love you. Give me some food. So affection is always expressed through some action.
So now, similarly, if we have devotion to Krishna, the devotion has to be expressed through some actions. And in our life, there is a part where we directly connect with Krishna and there's a part where we indirectly connect with Krishna. So through our work, through our family responsibilities, these are the ways in which we indirectly connect with Krishna.
Why indirectly? Because Krishna is not directly present over there. Krishna's awareness is not so easy to have. Some people say that Bhagavad Gita teaches work is worship.
Now, what the Bhagavad Gita says specifically is, By your work, worship Him. It doesn't say work is worship. It says, by your work, worship Him.
What is the big difference between the two? That work automatically is not worship. If work itself were worship, then the donkey would be the greatest worshipper. No, work can be made into worship.
And when will it become a worship? When it is done in a worshipful consciousness. And to get that worshipful consciousness, we need to have quality time where we directly connect with the Lord. So that quality time when we directly connect with the Lord is the time of our bhakti.
So the chanting of the japa that we do, the shastra that we study, the sangha that we come to, the puja that we do, all this is the time when we directly connect with Krishna. And to the extent we remember Krishna while we are directly connected with Him, to that extent, Krishna will be present in our heart. And then when we are doing activities which are not directly connected with Krishna, at that time also Krishna's remembrance will be there.
Otherwise, Krishna's remembrance will not be there. We say, oh, Bhagwan ka naam to 24 ghante rudhay mein chalte hi rahta hai. People say that.
God's name is going on 24 hours a day in my heart. But if it is going on 24 hours a day in the heart, why doesn't it come for one minute on the lips? What is there in the heart has to be expressed on the lips. So actually, why is it that in every other relationship, we expect the emotion to be expressed through the action, and in bhakti we say there is no need to express through the action.
No, it has to be expressed through actions. So, that action is just as in every relationship there is commitment. When, say, a couple get married, there is a commitment.
When a couple have a child, there is a commitment. And commitment brings solidification to the relationship. Now, couple may be dating, but when they get married, level of commitment becomes a lot more.
Couple may be planning to have children, but once they have a child, the commitment becomes much more. Similarly, chanting, chanting a particular quantity of rounds, that activity is a solidification of the commitment. So the important thing is not just to attend official ceremony called marriage.
The important thing is not just to beget a child. Actually, attending that ceremony of marriage is meant to solidify the relationship. The act of having a child is meant to solidify the commitment.
So similarly, chanting a particular number of rounds, that is a way of solidifying our commitment to Krishna. And to the extent our commitment is solidified, we will see that our absorption in Krishna will increase. If that commitment is not solidified, then we may think that we are absorbed in Krishna.
But actually, we will just be caught in doing our own things without thinking much of Krishna. So when Krishna is in front of us, as His deities, as His holy name, as the Shastra, as the devotees, through the devotees, then at that time there is an opportunity to directly remember Krishna. And when we directly remember Krishna, then later on, even when Krishna is not in front of us, we will be able to remember Him indirectly.
So the commitment to Sadhana Bhakti is a commitment to directly exposing ourselves to Krishna on a regular basis. And by that, Krishna enters into our consciousness. So once He enters into our consciousness, then He permeates our consciousness.
He becomes the purpose of our life. And then whatever we do, our family responsibilities, our job, professional responsibilities, they all become dedicated to Krishna. Now dedicating our material life to Krishna is not just a sentiment.
Oh, I am doing all this for Krishna. No, dedicating our material life to Krishna is an act of redirection. It is not just emotion.
Redirection means that tangibly, in a visible way, our life needs to be devoted to Krishna. And the direct devotional activities create that connection. Otherwise, we may be at the level of piety.
We will not be at the level of spirituality. We are good people and it is good to be good. But we won't be spiritual.
God is just one part of our life. Like I said earlier, when God is like an ornament, He is not a shelter. So we will not experience Krishna's shelter unless we commit ourselves to connecting with Him.
So the numerical commitment is not itself. The number itself is not important. It is not a matter of number counting.
But the number is the way we show our commitment. And that spirit of commitment is what matters. That is what deepens our relationship with Krishna.
Thank you.