Harer Namashtakam 4 We have to make up for lost time, not lose more time
nihshvase nahi vishvasah
kada ruddho bhavishyati
kirtaniya mato balyad
harer namaiva kevalam
There is no certainty when the last breath will come and put an abrupt halt to all one’s material plans; therefore it is wise to always practice chanting from very childhood—The holy name of Shri Hari alone is everything.
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. Vishwas is breath. Vishwas means a stopping of breath.
Vishwas, in this case means, definiteness, certainty. If there is no certainty, then the breath will stop. Katar utto bhavishyati, then this will happen.
And therefore, kirtaniyamato balyaad. Please start doing kirtan, balyaad. Balyaad means right from childhood.
One of the greatest and subtlest ways in which maya distracts us from our journey to Krishna is by urging us to not give up Krishna consciousness, but to postpone Krishna consciousness. Maya acting through our mind makes us think that, yes, Krishna consciousness is good, but it is not urgent, it can be done later. And this thought is what prevents us from taking shelter of Krishna, from absorbing ourselves in remembrance of Krishna when we are chanting.
And this lack of wholeheartedness and absorption prevents us from getting a higher taste in chanting. And when we don’t get the higher taste, naturally we become more vulnerable to the lower taste. And when the lower desires keep pulling us, and we have to keep fighting, and sometimes we fall, and sometimes we struggle, then that struggle also makes us feel that Krishna consciousness is too difficult.
And in general, things that are difficult, we have a tendency to push them for later. And that’s how, both ways, maya by acting during japa to tell us to postpone Krishna consciousness, and acting during the rest of the day to make us succumb or struggle against our temptations due to our weakened spiritual strength that has come from not having taste due to not chanting properly. So maya does, both during chanting and during the remaining hours of our day, distracts us from Krishna consciousness.
And this is never going to stop, even till the moment of death. So when we recognize that actually death is not far away, we don’t know when death is going to come. It may come next moment, it may come next week, it may come next year, it may come next decade, but we can never be sure.
And if we postpone things, we may have to take another birth, and who knows how much facility and inclination will be available and encouraged for us in the situations that we find ourselves in our next life. Therefore, kirtaniya matau balyad. Balyad means right from childhood.
Lord Krishna says, kaumaram acharit pradyum. So right from the kumar age, so balya age, same resonance of the teachings of the acharyas can be seen. Now most of us are not yet, I have called far beyond the stage of balyad or kaumaram.
We may be teenagers, we may be adults, we may be middle-aged people, elderly people. So in one sense, the train of our life is already late. When a train is late, it tries to make for last time by going faster.
So all of us, we are already late in our train to go back home, back to Godhead. We may have started Krishna Consciousness at the age of 15, 20 or whatever, and even now we have not become so totally serious about Krishna Consciousness. And therefore, recognizing that we have lost time already, we need to gain time now, not lose time more further.
And therefore, kirtaniya matau balyad. Yes, there are other things that are there in my life that are important, but their importance is only within the context of this one lifetime. But the importance of my chanting and my relationship with Krishna is going to last for all of eternity.
Therefore, I will give time for all the other things that I have to do, but not at the present time. My present is only for chanting. And let me offer my entire consciousness and my heart to Krishna as I chant His holy names.
NAMAH SHIVAY