Does chanting progress from uttering to hearing to visualizing Krishna’s form?
Yes. So is it that I am able to remember? Okay. So is it that our chanting progresses from first uttering clearly, then hearing, then visualizing the deities? I would say the primary focus should be in being absorbed in the process.
So whether it is by visualization, whether it is by remembering, whether it is by uttering, it is all fine. The only thing that should not happen is that in trying to visualize, we get so, our whole endeavours are trying to visualize and we are not even conscious that we are uttering and when we end up uttering improperly, we miss out on words. So that should not happen.
If, while uttering, it was ultimately enakina prakaranam eka krishnivasya. So when we are uttering the sound, we are basically trying to connect with Krishna through in a sound manifestation. So now if the connection with the sound manifestation is enhanced by a visual manifestation or by a visualization, that is fine.
But in the process of visualization, we start getting distracted from the sonic manifestation. Distracted in the sense that we are not even uttering it clearly. Sound is primary? Yes, definitely sound is primary.
In the way Bhaktivedanta Thakur describes in the bhajan rahasya, he says that from the naam, a root will automatically emerge. So as we chant attentively, the naam enters into our consciousness and reveals the root within it. So now for us, that may not happen.
So now to absorb ourselves in the naama, if a root helps, that is okay. So I give the example that there is a point of concentration, there is a circle of concentration. So point of concentration is the holy name, the sound of the holy name.
If we can focus on that, that is the best. But if we can't focus, we create a circle around it. And now the key thing about the circle is that the circle should help our consciousness come back to the point or at least stay around the point.
It should not be that in the… so I would say that visualizing a form can be like the circle of concentration. And if the visualization of the form doesn't consume the consciousness so much that one is not even aware of chanting, so even if it happens, this is something which is I would say practical. I may not be able to find any shastric reference for this.
I am just using the broad principle that we have to remember Krishna. And so if I have to remember Krishna, then it may be that a particular manifestation of Krishna may be easier for me to remember than another manifestation. So for example, if I am looking at the deities, if I recite some verses, sometimes I wonder when I am reciting verses, am I really thinking about the verses or I am thinking about the deities? Because I am more intellectual, so I can easily get absorbed in the verses.
But then what happens is that because the verses are describing the person who also manifested as the deities, so there is a connectedness. It may be that possible that someday it happens that if you ask me one week ago I took darshan, I may remember which verse I recited at that time, but I may not remember which was the address of the deities. So that is, I would say not the best, but it's okay.
There is that connectedness with Krishna. It is not that I was oblivious of Krishna, but it is my nature. It is not just about the deities.
Even now if somebody asks me what is the color of this room, I will not remember that. So in that sense, color is not prominent in my consciousness. Words are more prominent in my consciousness.
So it's not just unconsciousness with respect to Krishna, it's like a shift of consciousness with respect to everything. So then I wouldn't worry too much about it. So my point is that we have to connect our consciousness with Krishna.
And if a particular manifestation of Krishna in a particular manifestation is easier to connect with him, then that is fine. But what should not do is that we endeavor so much to connect with that manifestation that, so it's like you know, I am so caught in reciting verses that I don't even know that the deities are there. That is not right.
I am offering the verses for the deities although my consciousness will be more in the deities. I had asked Maharaj once this question that you know, if we are doing Kirtan in front of the deities, then should we focus on the holy name or should we focus on the deities? Should we focus on the Kirtan sound of the holy name? Should we close our eyes and absorb ourselves in the Kirtan or should we keep our eyes open and behold the deities? Maharaj said whatever works. Whatever way you can absorb yourself in Krishna, that is fine.
So, in principle, Japa and Kirtan is the same principle. Like we are trying to absorb ourselves in Krishna. So, it shouldn't be that I am so lost in absorbing the deities that you know, I don't chant the Naha Mantra properly.
Isn't it? So if I am chanting properly, then whether the primary absorption is in Krishna as the deity or Krishna as the sound, it's Krishna only. We don't have to make a hair splitting difference between the two. But at least there should be an awareness that I am chanting, I am praying to Krishna.
So, if the visual assists in absorption in Krishna and also there is some awareness of the sonic manifestation, that is fine. But if we get so caught in the visual that we stop chanting itself or we start mispronouncing in the chanting, then that is.