How can we balance giving due priority to chanting with other important services?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, although chanting is very most important, still we often give priority to other things in our life. Especially if we can’t chant in the morning, then it becomes difficult to focus during the day. See, there is, we have to understand we can’t isolate chanting from the process of bhakti.
Chanting is important. At the same time, the process of bhakti is meant to develop a relationship with Krishna. And developing a relationship with Krishna means the relationship has many aspects to it.
Actually, Prabhupada told us chanting is extremely important. But Prabhupada himself, if he had considered chanting the only thing to do, then he could simply have stayed in Vrindavan and chanted. You know, he travelled all over the world, so much inconvenience in travelling, meeting with people, managing people.
There is one incident where Tamal Krishna Maharaj comes to Srila Prabhupada, the Juhu project is going on and he tells that the devotees are not getting permission from the government because one local politician was obstructing them. So, Tamal Krishna Maharaj told Prabhupada that all this land dealings, they are causing me so much anxiety that they are disturbing my chanting. And Prabhupada replied, they are disturbing my chanting also.
And then Prabhupada told Tamal Krishna Maharaj, your anxiety for serving Krishna will take you to Krishna. So, you know, if your anxiety for serving Krishna will take you to Krishna, that means that actually we have a relationship with Krishna. And as a relationship, we are meant to take up responsibility and every responsibility brings with it some anxiety.
So, it is not that we want to have chanting, we want to give new priority to chanting. But we have to know that we are developing a relationship with Krishna. And our relationship with Krishna depends on how we do our practical services.
They may be services, whatever preaching, book distribution, and they may be also our job, our family responsibilities. We don’t have to divorce them from Krishna. We are serving Krishna through everything.
If a devotee is doing family responsibilities diligently, now that also is important as a part of the overall setting in which we can practice and preach. Now, if our family life is completely disrupted, if we are negligent, if we are responsible, now we may preach and give good classes, but how many people are going to be attracted? If we are not doing our job well and we are neglecting over there, then people are going to see that. People are seeing that we don’t do our work well.
And if we invite them for programs, I don’t want to become like you. So, our service to Krishna is centered on chanting, but it is not limited to chanting. So, sometimes in a practical sense, other services may be more important.
They are not more important in the ultimate sense. In the ultimate sense, we have to remember Krishna at the time of death. But in an immediate sense, some other service may require immediate attention.
So, it’s not that we have to feel guilty if we are not able to chant as attentively all the time. It is good that we try to arrange our schedule in such a way that we have quality time for chanting. If we have an attitude that I have many other things to do in my life and in between I’ll squeeze in chanting somehow, then if that is our default attitude, then our chanting will never be attentive.
And when we say that the whole point of developing a relationship with Krishna, of taking responsibility for our relationship with Krishna, that means we take responsibility for our chanting also. So, we try to arrange our schedule in such a way that we have time for chanting in the mornings and we try our best to chant attentively at that time. But sometimes there may be late night programs.
Sometimes there may be some family emergency. Sometimes my job may demand too much. We may not be able to chant in the mornings.
So, at that time, we do the best we can. So, generally, in principle, we shouldn’t reduce bhakti to chanting. The tendency may be to neglect chanting as unimportant.
That is also not healthy. Not at all healthy. But at the same time, we have to see bhakti as a process of developing a relationship with Krishna.
And that has many aspects to it. And sometimes, one aspect of developing that relationship with Krishna may take more priority than chanting at that time. And that is perfectly within the purview of devotional service.
If Prabhupada had wanted to have no anxiety, as I said, he could have stayed in Vrindavan and he could have chanted peacefully. But Prabhupada wanted to share Krishna’s messages all over the world. So, he took up anxiety and that did distract him at times.
But that was all for Krishna’s sake. So, the point is that chanting is a very powerful way to bring Krishna into the center of our consciousness. At the same time, if Krishna is in the center of our consciousness, we may recognize that at other times, some other service may be more important at that time.
Having said that, when we are chanting, if we actually philosophically understand the nature of how things work, that in everything that we do, there are some things which are in my control and some things which are not in my control. And by our chanting, we are praying to Krishna and Krishna can take care of the things which are not in our control. So, basically, we think of things only in two ways.
Things are in control or things are out of control. And if things are in control, we feel, oh, my life is going on well. Things are out of control, we feel, oh, things are chaotic.
And then our chanting may get very disrupted. But if we think that actually even that which is out of my control is not out of control because it is still in Krishna’s control. Things may be out of my control but that doesn’t mean they’re totally out of control.
Krishna is in control. Just like, say, a child or a young man is learning to drive a car and then suddenly they lose control. Sometimes when there are cars used for training and there are expert car trainers, they may have a remote control with them.
Even if this person is not able to control the car, immediately they take control of it. So, like that, things may go out of control for us but still they are in Krishna’s control. So, what happens is, when we have a lot of things to do, we get distracted from chanting because we worry about the things that are not in our control.
Or we think, oh, I have to do this, this, this. How will I manage it? But if we understand that Krishna is in control of that which is not in my control and it is that Krishna that I am connecting with right now. So, if I please Krishna through my chanting, Krishna can take control of those things and Krishna can even give me intelligence of how to manage things.
So, this whole fragmented vision of seeing chanting as one activity and the rest of the life as another activity, we can avoid that by seeing that Krishna is the Lord not just of my chanting. Krishna is the Lord of my work also. Krishna is the Lord of my family also.
Krishna is the Lord of all my responsibilities. And Krishna can help me in all these things also. So, then our chanting, we can see that as a means for… We can actually, even the worries that we have in our life, we can use them as a impetus for focusing on chanting.
So, to the extent we think that everything has to be in my control and because this is not in my control, what should I do? What should I do? What should I do? We get worried. But if you understand that actually Krishna is ultimately in control and that Krishna I can pray to, then we will be able to, even when we have a lot of workload, we will be able to focus on our chanting. And in Hindi, there is a Vaishnav poet who has said that Krishna is speaking to the devotee.
He says that, If you fix your mind on my name, I will get in your work. I will guide you. If you are thinking of your work while chanting, Krishna says, I will stay in my abode.
You know, you think you can take care of things, you try it out. So, if you recognize Krishna is the supreme controller, then even when we have a lot to do, we can still focus our mind on Krishna knowing that He is the supreme controller. He can help us if we pray to Him sincerely through chanting.
Does it answer your question?