Does courtesy japa help us attain Krishna after death?
So does Courtesy Japa help us achieve the goal of remembering Krishna at the time of death and attaining Krishna? The principle Krishna talks about in Bhagavad Gita is If you remember Him at the time of death, you will attain Him. Krishna is not just saying we should chant His name.
He is saying we should remember Him. So if it was simply chanting the name, somebody would say, oh I'll enjoy my life as much as I want and then when I have enough enjoyment, I'll put a gun on my head. Hare Krishna! I'll shoot the gun.
I'll go back to Krishna. It will not work like that. Why? Because even if we assume that we are still able to chant Krishna's name, we will not be able to remember Krishna.
See, at times of great pain, at times of great fear, our thoughts naturally go to that thing in which we have experienced the greatest shelter. Even battle-hardened warriors, soldiers who have fought in many wars, if they experience great pain, they call out for their mother. Why is that? Because now they are feeling great pain and say if those soldiers had experienced the greatest security of their life in the life of their mother, then immediately their mind goes to that and they remember that.
So basically, if we are to remember Krishna at the time of death, which is what is required for us to attain Krishna, then before that we need to experience our greatest shelter in the remembrance of Krishna. If we have experienced shelter in money, whenever any problem is there, I just look, I've got my passbook, oh I have so much money, things are fine. Or if you have experienced shelter in watching TV, any problem, just turn on TV, everything is forgotten.
If we have experienced the greatest shelter in say surfing on the net, then whatever we have, whatever is the activity in which we have experienced the greatest shelter, that is what to which our thoughts will automatically gravitate when we have the greatest danger. So, the point of chanting is not just to utter the sound. Yes, we need to utter the sounds, but the point of chanting is that we do japa as a means of taking shelter of Krishna.
And by regularly striving to take shelter of Krishna during japa, gradually, he will become our greatest shelter. So, in the course of our life also, suddenly we get some bad news. Maybe we lose our job or we get a terrible disease or something bad happens in our life.
And immediately, if we are regularly chanting the holy names, then immediately our thoughts will go to Krishna. And when during the course of life, we have taken shelter of Krishna more than we have taken shelter of other things, then at the time of death, even if we don't consciously think of Krishna, we will, our thoughts will gravitate towards Krishna. And that's how we will attain him.
Now, when we do courtesy japa, actually they are not even trying to take shelter of Krishna. They are simply uttering the holy names as a courtesy. Actually, courtesy is not bad.
Courtesy, to be courteous is good. You know, somebody comes and we meet someone and we shake hands. You know, shaking hands is a good courtesy.
But suppose they are shaking hands and they are looking at someone else. What is the point of shaking hands? Shaking hands is greeting someone. So, the courtesy should be an expression, not just an outer gesture.
That courtesy should be an expression of inner warmth. We shake hands with someone, we greet them warmly. Look at them in the eyes and according with them.
So, like that any kind of japa is good. But when we do japa simply as an external ritual without any inner intent to connect with Krishna, then it's like we are shaking hands but we are looking at someone else. Okay, at least we did some courtesy, shook hands.
But then we are not really connecting with Krishna. So, courtesy japa will also… any kind of chanting is better than no chanting. But courtesy japa will not really help us to take shelter of Krishna and that's why at the time of death also it's unlikely that we will be able to take shelter of Krishna.
So, sometimes we may be distracted, sometimes we may be tired and we may just do the japa to complete the rounds. But if we regularly associate with devotees, if we hear the philosophy, then what will happen by that is we will be reminded of the purpose. So, no japa is one level.
Courtesy japa is one level and you could call intensity japa, you know. Doing japa with intensity, that is a higher level. So, even if we can't do all our japa intensely, at least some of the chanting that we do, we do it intensely.
And then that will give us some glimpse of Krishna's shelter. And then we can eventually take that shelter naturally. Did I answer your question? Yeah, absolutely.