If one has devotion, why does one need to count the names of God?

From: Ganesh :
There is a saying, ” Dhyani ko mala karte dekh Premi ne kaha ‘Ye to bhagwan ka naam bhi ginkar lete hain or fir kahte hain ki unhe bhagwan se prem hai.’ Once I was chanting on my bids. My non devotee sister was sitting nearby me. Than she also quoted the above mentioned saying & laughed at me. What should be our answer to such people? Prabhuji, can you simplify it with an example?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
Question from Ganesh Prabhu. Isn’t genuine devotion so spontaneous that one doesn’t have to count the names of the Lord on beads? There is a saying, ध्यानी को माला करते देख प्रेमी ने कहा, ये तो भगवान का नाम भी गिन कर लेते हैं और फिर कहते है कि उन्हें भगवान से प्रेम है. Once I was chanting on my beads, my non-devoted sister was sitting nearby and she also quoted the above mention saying and laughed at me.
What should be our answer to such people? Can you simplify it with an example? Answer Spontaneous devotion is not the only form of devotion and it is arrogance to assume that whatever devotion we have right now is spontaneous devotion. So two points. First is that spontaneous devotion is not the only form of devotion.
Many people have this idea that when I feel devotional at that time I will chant the holy name. What is the need for mechanical repetition? And for such people if we look at their lives, yes they may also shed some tears on doing some kirtans or they may also like to hear some kathas but how much is their heart directed from the world to Krishna? How much are they ready to give up everything for Krishna’s sake? One may not have to give up. Not that everybody has to become a renunciate but certainly one’s heart should be attracted towards Krishna.
So and it should be away from this world. So people who deride sadhana bhakti or vaidhi bhakti, bhakti as a method of systematic discipline and practice they often have a lifestyle which is practically no different from the materialistic people where they are having all sorts of anti-devotional even sinful indulgences and then they claim to be premies of Bhagawan. So that is actually misunderstanding.
All the bhakti scriptures if we see they talk about bhakti as sadhana and as a ultimate, sadhana bhakti and then there is kevala bhakti, there is pure devotion. So that’s how the acharyas have also taught and that’s how the acharyas have exemplified whether it is in the Gaudiya Vishnu tradition where the Goswamis were great devotees. They are chanting the names diligently with a count.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did that in many other traditions also. Even not to speak of the Vedic bhakti tradition, rosary beads are there in other traditions also where people chant and keep a track. So now it is possible that when one is chanting the holy names with a count on it one may just, it may just be mechanical and one may not have devotion.
But the fact is this mechanical chanting if it is intended with the desire for devotion then it leads to purification. So chanting is not just, chanting the holy names is not just an expression of devotion, it is also an expression of the desire for devotion. And at this stage Chanting the holy names So the Bhagavatam says that this can act as bhavaushadha the sounds connected with Krishna, his holy name, his pastimes they can act as medicine.
So we are all like souls who have forgotten Krishna. We are all souls who have forgotten Krishna. So our situation is like say a prince suffering from amnesia And just as the amnesia can be cured by exposure to stimuli from one’s past life, which one has forgotten.
So you see the watch, you see a friend, you see your parents. And then by seeing them again and again, the memory is revived. So yes, the millionaire’s son was say the king’s son, the prince was lost in memory, has spontaneous love for his father.
But he has forgotten it right now. And so repeated exposure at a time when there is no affection right now, that repeated exposure acts as a treatment. And treatment, we ask any doctor, has to be has to be conscientious, not spontaneous.
One has to take the treatment, whether one feels like it or not. One cannot just say that, or when I feel like it, or when I love the medicine, I’ll take the medicine. So at our stage, we are trying to revive our spiritual memory.
And so at this stage, we do need to take the to chant the holy names diligently with discipline. So this is a part of a cure. And this is necessary.
And the scriptures do talk about practicing bhakti as a sadhana, at the level of vidhi, as a matter of discipline, as instruction given by spiritual master in scripture. And at this stage, it acts as a cure. And from here, later on, when love will develop, then one can chant spontaneously.
At that time, one need not keep track of the chanting on beads, because one likes to chant constantly and one chants frequently, intensely. But even at that time, to set an example for others, a devotee, even advanced devotees keep track of their chanting, as we see in the example of the Goswamis. Now, is keeping a track of the number of the holy names that we chant, a sign of a jnani? A jnani may not even chant at all.
Jnanis will probably only study scriptures. They will not chant at all. So putting the jnani label is misunderstanding of both bhakti and jnana.
Now, the devotion that we have right now, we shouldn’t assume that it is spontaneous. The second point I’m making. So people who do not want to discipline themselves, who do not want to make any commitment to Krishna, which will actually lead to trans-redirection of their heart, which will actually lead to purification, which is the medicine that will cure, they claim to have spontaneous devotion right away.
And actually, that is arrogant. That is a sign of presumptuousness, because spontaneous devotion is a very rare thing. And shedding an occasional tear while hearing some kirtan or while taking some darshan or while hearing some katha, that is good, there is some devotional inclination, but that is not devotion.
The essence of devotion is dedication, dedication to one’s beloved Lord. And that dedication is expressed through offering our whole life in service to him. And before we can come to that stage, we have to practice sadhana bhakti.
So there may have been, there have been, not may, there have been people who have used bhakti as a means for, say, running away from worldly responsibilities, without having any genuine spiritual aspiration. Now, such people have given a bad name to bhakti, and often the song, the kind of songs that you have quoted over here, these are composed either to deride these kind of people, and that sort of derision is right. So bhakti should not be used as an excuse for material responsibility, or these kind of songs may be written even by people who are anti-spiritual.
So in that case, we can just neglect those people and their compositions, because we know the envious should be neglected, that is the character of devotion. But we don’t have to assume that people are envious. So we can explain to them that at our stage, bhakti is like a cure.
It is like a medicine, chanting of the Holy Name is like a medicine, a cure for our spiritual amnesia. And that’s why it has to be taken diligently, as a medicine has to be taken with discipline as per prescription. And this willingness to follow the discipline is also a sign of devotion.
And that devotion is called Vaidhi Bhakti, Sadhana Bhakti, then only to get to technicalities of difference between Vaidhi and Sadhana. And then from there, Raga Anugha Bhakti, spontaneous devotion, Bhava Bhakti, Prema Bhakti, all those stages of spontaneous devotion will thereafter come. And assuming that we are already at the level of spontaneous devotion will actually keep us at the level of illusory devotion, where we will never rise from whatever, whatever, it will actually, assumption of spontaneous devotion will keep us at sporadic devotion.
Just once in a while we feel devotional and most of the other time, we live materialistic lives, non-different from other materialists. And we will not really advance towards Krishna or return to Krishna by that kind of sporadic devotion. Thank you.
Hare Krishna.