How can we increase our concentration in chanting?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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So, how can we develop creative skills for writing? There is an author who said that originality simply means expertise in hiding your sources.
So, originality, so it’s at most creativity, what we say is creativity. It actually comes by seeing others creative. Certainly, we will modify, we will do some things.
You know, we don’t want to be plagiarists. But we do have to see how others are doing things creatively. So, in general, if we want to develop writing skills, we should ourselves read a lot.
Now, with respect to reading, there are Prabhupada’s books. But along with Prabhupada’s books, Prabhupada wrote at a particular time and he was very contemporary, especially in magazines and things like that. And now, we live in a different time.
So, we have to see how current generation of devotees are writing. Observe that. So, I would say that if we want to become writers in this generation, this is the single most important thing.
See how bhakti is being written about today by devotees presently. And wherever we find some good phrases, note them down. Memorize them or keep them for using yourself.
And then, once we do that, in general, for writing, one needs to read a lot. So, over the years, initially we did Prabhupada’s books, become rooted in Prabhupada’s teachings. Then, we can, for developing creative skills, we can read the books by Prabhupada’s disciples not all Prabhupada’s followers, but those who are into creative presentation of philosophy.
Then, in general, it’s best to start writing with something that inspires us. Because writing requires a level of initiative and commitment that, say, speaking does not require. What do I mean by that? If you are supposed to give a class and there is an audience, you can’t say that I have got a speaking block and I will not speak.
Improvise and speak something somehow. But if you are writing and the ideas don’t flow, writing can get infinitely postponed. So, that’s why, rather than trying to write on some difficult topic, just any topic that we feel inspired about, start writing that.
So, I hear some nice point in the class. Okay, this is a point which I can develop. Now, because of the social media, we have so many forums for writing.
In the past, writing means, what would you do with writing? You’ll have to publish, send it to some magazine, get it published over there. We don’t have to do that now. We can create our own groups.
And we can just, even if you have small friends, you can just write something, maybe take something from Prabhupada’s book, read something from some class you have heard, and just add a few words to that. Put it in your own words and send it in a smaller group. Or even if you don’t send it in a group, just post it on your own blog.
So, writing whatever we feel, writing whatever we feel inspired, that can be a very good way to just get into the habit of writing. Then after that, I just yesterday answered a question on our website. I won’t repeat that.
It is about how to write a book. So, if some devotee has already got material and wants to convert that material into a book. So, how to do that, I answered elaborately over there.
I’ll just talk about writing over here specifically. So, the third step which is important is to try for some kind of educated feedback from someone. So, some senior devotees who are habituated to writing, you can ask them to read a few of our articles and give us some feedback, how we can improve.
And if you submit to Back2Godhead, the articles are reviewed by several reviewers. So, that will also help to improve the writing. Lastly, I feel if you want to get into writing, we have to develop a certain level of satvaguna.
Because not only does writing require time, but also that writing’s effects are not immediately seen. So, if you find writing itself nourishing, because if we write, we really feel deeply about something. And then that can help us in our own understanding, that can help us in our speaking.
So, there are other effects of writing in which writing helps us apart from the direct effects of writing. If you focus on that also, then even if the direct effects don’t come immediately, it won’t matter so much. In general, find out what Krishna Consciousness inspires you and try to write on that.
So that even if others don’t read it, others don’t appreciate it, because that’s a subject which you like, you will get deeper connected with it. And you will get a deeper appreciation of that. So, for example, I wrote a book on deity worship.
So, when one pujari asked me, you never do deity worship, how are you writing a book on deity worship? So, then I told him, this is the way I am worshipping the deity. Physically, I can’t do deity worship, but I really tried that. By doing that, writing that book on deity worship, in a mood of service, I contemplate on the deity, on the glory of the deities, and that helped me increase my appreciation of the deities.
So, at which I’m inspired about something and write about that, in that connection itself will be a nourishment, even if something other didn’t come about. When you write, Prabhupada was asked, you know, we write, in the Chaitanya Chaitanya Tantra, he writes that also. There is a book in Vedabase, which is there on my website also called the BPG handbook, that’s why it’s called handbook, where there’s a compilation of all of Shri Prabhupada’s quotes on writing.
Very nice compilation. So, one of the things Prabhupada says is, we write so that, we write for our own purification. We don’t write to become great authors, we write for our own purification.
And Prabhupada says, there are two, three verses that he says, I want all my disciples to write. And then another place, just yesterday, I was with Giriraj Maharaj, Giriraj Maharaj was saying that, Prabhupada would tell, that you know, every day, you should think, what all did you do for Krishna? What did you do right? What did you do wrong? Take, in Bhakti Sanskrit also, take inventory of your day’s service to Krishna. So, that itself, we can do through writing also.
This is, I’m talking about journaling. Otherwise, you don’t get any ideas to write. Just to get into the process of writing, you can journal.
Even if you do 5 minutes, 10 minutes, just we need to get comfortable with the process of writing, that is not simply functional. We all write, sending emails, sending SMS, that is purely functional writing. But there is some writing that is not just functional, it’s a little more deep, little more analytical, little more connected with us, or more connected with our values.
And that can help us shift the writing gears to a different mode. And once you get a taste for writing, then there’s nothing like it. It becomes a, it becomes a way to, writing, we think, it is only as a way to teach, or a way to explain.
But for me now, writing has become a way to understand. So, when I try to write about something, my understanding always always depends. So, in that sense, it’s a very intellectual and spiritually nourishing process.
All the best.