Improving Japa 2 – Concentrate by cultivating interest and appreciating importance

[Seminar at ISKCON, Towaco, USA]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, I will… Hare Krishna. Welcome all of you to today’s Sunday programme over here.
Thank you for coming. I will be speaking today on the topic of improving our concentration, especially improving our concentration in the devotional activity of chanting the holy names of Krishna. For the present Kali Yuga, the chanting of the holy names, the Hare Krishna Mahamantra especially, is the Yuga Dharma.
And this is what connects us with Krishna. This is what elevates our consciousness. This is what can grant us great peace and purity and pleasure within us if we are able to absorb ourselves in Krishna.
The purpose of bhakti and ultimately the purpose of life, we are all looking for peace. We are all looking for purity. We are all looking for pleasure.
And all this can be fulfilled by the process of chanting. So, when we are trying to focus on anything, quite often, we get distracted. See, we are trying to… This distraction is something which we very easily see in our children.
We tell the child, study. And after some time we come back, the child is maybe doing something else, watching this, watching that. We easily get distracted.
So this is something which we observe, we anticipate and we prepare for it. You know, if I said my child to sit peacefully over his child, may sit for some time, but child will just go off. So I have to keep a watch.
Similarly, within us, there is an inner child. And this inner child is our own mind. The mind is very restless.
Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita uses the word chanchala to refer to the mind. And chanchala is an adjective also used for the child. So the mind is restless like a child.
Now, whatever we wish to do in our life, we need our consciousness to be focused for that. Whether it is a spiritual activity like chanting, even whether it is an activity like having a relationship and having a fruitful interaction with someone, or even whether it is something like entertainment. Somebody is watching a sports match.
If they are watching a sports match, and once I was coming out of the airport in India, and at the entrance of the airport, there was a TV. There was a TV which people were watching. And then a cricket match was going on over there.
So what happened is, to go out of the airport, I had to go in between. And the cricket match was probably at a high point, and these people were not ready to let go only. It’s like, it may take just how much? 2-3 seconds to just walk across the screen, and, no, we want to watch this match.
I said, watch. And we started to move forward. And I had to go.
No, go later. Watch. Just not ready to go.
Not ready to let us go. So, you know, we had to wait for almost 10 minutes before something happened. Maybe the innings ended or whatever.
Then we could go through. Just waiting, you know, with big eyes, watching completely, taking in everything. So when I saw those people so eagerly watching their cricket match, and they didn’t want to miss one moment of the action.
I was thinking about how the Gopis don’t want to stop seeing Krishna for one moment of the match. They think that, oh, our eyes blink, we cannot see Krishna. And when we see Krishna, we are deprived of seeing his beautiful form.
So, a similar attraction, although in a mundane direction, is over here. So the point I’m making is that even to enjoy a cricket match, you need concentration. Now, if somebody’s watching a cricket match and at the peak moment somebody hits a sixer, then if you’re looking somewhere else at that, hey, I missed the action.
Action replay, action replay. Don’t want to see it again. So, for any activity that we do in our life, we need concentration.
Now, in some cases, concentration comes naturally. In some cases, concentration has to be brought about conscientiously. So, for example, in cricket, if somebody loves a cricket match, loves cricket, then they don’t have to make much effort to concentrate.
In fact, you have to make effort to get them to think of something else. If somebody’s watching a cricket match, you want to talk with them. It’s difficult to get them distracted.
Now, why does this happen? Because there is interest. There is interest, there is interaction, there is attachment. Basically, there is an emotional connection.
I like it. In our consciousness, in our inner world, there is the mind and there is the intelligence. The mind feels emotions and the intelligence analyses.
So, when the mind is attracted to something, that’s because it feels good. I like it. So, concentration comes when we have interest in something.
When we love something, we just don’t have to make any effort. We effortlessly automatically concentrate. Similarly, there is another situation also when we concentrate.
When we know something is important. Say, if we are having a conversation with our boss on phone and then maybe a child comes and wants to talk. Stop.
Stop. Afterwards. Even if a spouse wants to talk.
No, stop. Afterwards. We just focus on that.
If a student is preparing for an important exam, there is only one hour remaining. Normally, if I am studying, if some notification comes on my Facebook, somewhere else, I may get distracted. One hour before the exam, I am just focused.
That’s because I have understood the importance at that time. So, interest is one thing that brings concentration and importance. The awareness of the importance of something that also brings concentration.
And if that awareness of the importance has sunk into us, then we get absorbed. I can’t miss this. I have to focus fully so that I can get this right.
So, when we want to focus on Krishna. See, there are different phases. There is distraction, there is concentration and there is absorption.
So, distraction means, say, like right now, you are trying to hear, but then if suddenly somebody speaks in the background or somebody walks in, then there is distraction. And we may look back and then we look again. So, distraction means we are not able to concentrate.
Concentration means with effort we are focussing. Distraction means we are not able to focus. Concentration means with effort we focus.
Absorption means we effortlessly focus. And sometimes in our work, we also sometimes go into a zone where just completely, this first thing, second thing, third thing, fourth thing, we are able to do things well. We are in a flow at that time.
So, sometimes it happens just by some natural arrangement. But the point is that there is from distraction through concentration to absorption. So, sometimes absorption may just come naturally.
Sometimes we just feel so interested in something. I want to read this. I want to hear this.
I want to understand this. Sometimes we don’t feel like it. So, if we feel like it, that’s great.
But if we don’t feel like it, then we will have to exercise to move from distraction to concentration and ultimately to absorption. So, how do we do that? So, as I said, concentration can come from two sources. In the subtle body, in our inner world, there is the mind and there is the intelligence.
The mind is drawn by emotions and the intelligence is drawn by analysis, by thoughtfulness, by analysis, by contemplation through logical, systematic nourishment. So, now Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita several times talks about mayi arpit mano buddhir ma evasyasya samshaya Krishna says, you offer your mind and your intelligence to me. And if you can offer both of these to me, then ma evasyasya samshaya you will surely come to me.
When we say mind and intelligence, the mind and intelligence are the primary channels through which the consciousness streams outwards. So, they determine where our consciousness will go. Now, sometimes the mind and intelligence are in conflict.
Like say, I want to study. That’s what my intelligence is saying. My mind is saying, hey, today there is a US Open final.
So, I want to see what is the score. Let me do that for one minute. Then I go for one minute.
Hey, it’s an interesting match. And then I spend an hour over there. So, sometimes there is a conflict between the mind and the intelligence.
And in this, when the intelligence wins, the mind is not sidelined. The mind works with the intelligence. The mind agrees to the intelligence.
And when the mind wins, it is not that the intelligence is sidelined. The intelligence is used by the mind. That means we come up with some reasoning.
I have a lot of time. Just five minutes doesn’t make any difference. Some kind of reasoning we give to ourselves to, actually, we are not convincing ourselves.
We are using our intelligence to fool ourselves. Our intelligence is meant to make us wise. But when the mind takes control of the intelligence, then the mind uses the intelligence to fool ourselves.
It gives us some false reasoning. So, basically, when we are trying to concentrate, say, when we are deciding, I have to chant the holy name. I want to focus.
So then, the mind and the intelligence are the two channels through which the consciousness is going to go outwards. So, we need to have at least one of these channels going towards the holy name. If both are going, that is the best.
But at least one needs to go. That means we have to have interest in chanting. Or, we have understanding of the importance of chanting.
If either of these is there, we will be able to focus. If neither of these is there, then focus will be impossible. It’s not just a matter of weak willpower.
Willpower has to be followed with a process. Just like, say, if I feel like coughing right now, if I say by my willpower, I will not cough, then how long can I do that? I might be able to suppress cough for a minute or two, but if the cough is there in the body, I have to use my willpower not to suppress the cough. I have to use the willpower to follow the process of treatment that the doctor gives me.
And the doctor may say, avoid early foods, avoid cold foods, avoid cold drinks, and take this medicine. Don’t forget, take this medicine. So, I need my willpower.
If I like, say, cold drinks very much, then I have to use my willpower to say, no, I won’t take the cold drinks. So, willpower is required, but willpower has to be coupled with the process. Without the process, raw willpower, I cannot suppress my cough for long.
So, similarly, when we want to concentrate, when we want to focus ourselves on anything in general, and specifically on the Holy Name in particular, willpower alone is not enough. I will just concentrate. Yes, it’s important to have that intention.
That willpower is basically intention. But, how am I going to execute that intention? For that, either I have to have the interest, or I have to understand the importance. Not just understand, remember the importance.
So, Jiva Goswami is one of our most prominent Acharyas, the Gaudiya Sampradaya. He’s called a Siddhanta Acharya. He has explained the Siddhanta, the philosophy of Bhakti, very profoundly, with great erudition.
So, he says that, how can we stay in Bhakti? How can we stay in the awareness of Krishna? He says, for those who are very advanced devotees, those who have affection for Krishna, he says, for them, their affection will keep them in Krishna. So, he says that, for those who are Siddha Bhaktas, or for those who are very advanced devotees, their preeti, for Krishna, their affection for Krishna, will keep them with Krishna. But, for those of us who are not that advanced, those who do not have that preeti, for us, what will keep us in Krishna is our buddhi.
It is our intelligence. So, this preeti and buddhi is the same thing I earlier talked about, interest and importance. So, if I have interest, and my interest in Krishna has developed, my interest in the holy name has developed, my interest in the philosophy of Bhakti has developed, then, I will feel, I will, I guess I want to understand this, I want to focus on this.
So, if we have interest in Krishna, then absorption, concentration on absorption will be easy. But, when we don’t have that interest, when we don’t have that affection, now, we can’t say that we don’t have it at all. We all have some bhakti.
But, the problem is, our bhakti is presently dependent on the mercy of our mind. You know, we are meant to be at the mercy of Krishna, but our bhakti is at the mercy of the mind. And the mercy of the mind means, and the mind feels like it, yes, I want to chant, I want to come to temple, I want to do this.
And the mind feels, no, can’t do this. Okay, I can’t do it. Okay, I won’t do it.
It’s like that. Sometimes when we chant, we take out our, sometimes people when chanting, they take out the beads, and they look. Instead of 108, has somebody put 108 beads over it? This is not getting over only.
It’s on and on and on. Some, on few days when we chant, we get such taste, we feel such a power. So good, you know.
We feel like, I should just keep chanting. We feel like chanting should never end. I should just keep chanting.
Keep absorbing myself in Krishna. And some days we feel, chanting never ends. When will it end? It’s enough now.
I want to get on with other things. This is what? Our bhakti is largely dependent on the mind right now. Not our bhakti, but our feeling of attraction towards Krishna.
Our affection is largely shared by the mind. Sometimes the mind feels, yes, Krishna is good. Sometimes the mind says, other things are also good.
Too much Krishna is not good. Krishna, Krishna, Krishna. Enough.
Do a little, go and do other things. So then when this happens, at that time, we, if we are to sustain the practise, then our buddhi is very important. Our intelligence is what will keep us focused.
Now the mind, when the mind cannot be without affection, that means the mind is not attracted to Krishna, the mind is attracted to something else. See, with respect to the body, we can do, I decide I will not do any activity. I just lie down on my bed, I am not doing anything.
But with respect to the mind, we cannot not think of anything. We are always thinking of something. So, this difference between the body’s nature and the mind’s nature is very important to understand.
Why is that? Because, say, when we are trying to focus on Krishna, and somehow the mind turns off, the mind just switches off, the mind just goes off somewhere else. So, please understand, some people are absent-minded. You know, there is a famous story of the well-known anecdote of the absent-minded professor.
Somebody just takes off their specs, puts them on their forehead, searching around, where are the specs? Search all over the place. And what has happened? Somebody else has to tell them, hey, your specs are on your head. You just don’t realise it.
Now, what has happened over here? When you say somebody is absent-minded, see, the mind is not absent. The mind is always there. But the mind is absent where it is meant to be present.
So, the mind is absent where it is meant to be present. So, when I am moving my specs upwards, if my mind was there, I would remember, oh, I am moving my specs over here. But when the mind is absent and I do that, then I wonder, what did I do? Where did I put my specs? So, absent-minded, sometimes the mind just becomes absent.
So, now what happens is that because the mind is inside us, and the mind is invisible. So, like say, if a teacher is giving a class and speaking, and the students are sitting in the class, and the student is present. So, the teacher takes a roll call, takes attendance at the start of the class.
And he comes, all the students are there. And then, in between, one student slips out. Where did the student go? He was here, she was here, where did she go? Look, maybe the door is closed, she slipped out of the door, what happened? So, what happens in such a situation, at least the teacher is attentive, the teacher is absent-minded, and the students will be absent, which they will not even realise.
But even if the teacher is attentive, what the teacher has to see is, teacher can see, because the child is a physical, visible thing. But with respect to our mind, it is not a physical, visible thing. So, I will be sitting or chanting, and, you know, it’s like I take attendance for myself.
Now, I am going to sit and concentrate. I start chanting, I keep chanting, and the mind slips out. And because the mind is inside us, it’s not visibly seen.
So, and others also don’t see it, actually. Even if somebody else is there, who is chanting, what happens is, they see, you are sitting and chanting, but the mind is checked out. The mind has gone off, the teacher may be teaching nicely, and the child is playing outside.
So, like that, externally, we are chanting, but the mind is having its own fun. Mind says, you keep chanting, I will keep enjoying. When this happens, our chanting just becomes a ritual.
Two things happen when this happens. Chanting becomes a boredom, and then chanting becomes a burden. Why boredom? Because we all want to be constructively engaged.
And when the mind checks out, the mind may think, okay, I am going to think about this, I am going to think about that, I am going to enjoy. But the problem is that because you are physically doing a particular activity, the mind can’t really act on its fantasies. Mind may make a plan, I am going to do this, I want to deal with this, I want to speak like this, I want to do like this, but the mind cannot do any of that.
So basically, when we are distracted, the body and the mind go out of sync. The body and the mind go out of sync. The body is in one place, the mind is in some other place.
And when that happens, neither what the mind is doing is productive, nor what the body is doing is productive. By out of sync, what I mean is, nowadays people make homemade videos. So maybe they are having some fight being displayed.
One person is beating another person. Now normally they are shooting with the video first, and they have a separate audio device for recording the audio. And they sync the audio and the video.
Sometimes if the person doing the syncing is not very careful, then what happens? They come out of sync. So one person is punching the other person, and the sound of the punch comes, or the fall of the person, the sound of the falling comes before the punch has been hit also. So then you cannot enjoy the movie.
What is this? It’s out of sync. You first make it sync properly. So like that our mind and our body, when they go out of sync, we are neither physically productive nor mentally productive.
So, it’s like I am trying to do one thing, I am doing this, doing that, but the mind has checked out. So then when this happens, at one level we start feeling like this chanting is so boring. I am not experiencing anything.
Why am I chanting? Why am I chanting? Actually, chanting can be very fulfilling if we connect with Krishna. If we connect with Krishna, if we absorb ourselves in Krishna, then it can be very fulfilling. Because Krishna is a supremely fulfilling reality.
So I said there can be peace, there can be pleasure, purity, there can be pleasure. All these come by the process of chanting. So peace is what comes when we come to sattva guna.
The mind becomes prashant, the manasya, melam, yoginam, sukham, attamam. When just the chanting brings us to the mode of goodness, we become peaceful. Then, as we go beyond goodness to spiritual level, to transcendence, then all the agitations in the mind, all the impurities, they go out.
We experience purity. brahma bhutam akalmasham, akalmasham. We become free from contamination.
And then beyond that, we connect. And He is the source of the supreme pleasure. ramante yogino anante satyanandachidatmani The yogis delight humbly in Krishna.
So prashant, manasya, melam, yoginam, sukham, attamam. The yogis experience supreme happiness. So, peace, purity and pleasure, all will come if we connect with Krishna.
So connection with Krishna can be very fulfilling. But the connection has to happen. When we are chanting and our mind has checked out, then the connection is not happening.
And that’s why we think, what am I doing? This chanting is so boring. And not only it appears a boredom, first it’s a boredom, but afterwards, it becomes a boredom. Because our mind is thinking, I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to deal with this issue, I have to make this thing done.
And then mind starts thinking, there is so much work to do. And then on top of this, chanting has so much time. How can I manage it? Then it starts feeling like a boredom.
So, actually, chanting in particular and bhakti, the process of bhakti in general, it is not meant to be a boredom. If we see it just as one more activity that I have to do in my life, I have 100 things to do and this becomes the 101st thing, it will feel like a boredom. But if we see that this is an activity that will connect me with Krishna, then this activity becomes the anchor for my life.
And then this activity of chanting will keep me anchored while I am doing everything else. I just now came from Florida and there is a huge flood over there because it has gone off. So now, objects that are very strongly anchored, they will not get flooded away.
There are boats, there are cars, the flood comes, they just sweep them away. So like that, in the world, waves come. Waves of anger, waves of desire, waves of fear and those waves sweep us away.
And if through our chanting we have anchored ourselves to Krishna, then they will not sweep us away. Now when these waves sweep us away, quite often, I may say I have 100 things to do and chanting is the 101st thing, I don’t have time for it. But then when one wave of desire or anger or fear sweeps me away, I forget all the 100 things.
I just get carried away with one thing and I spend so much time on it. So much of my energy gets wasted on it. In worrying about what may happen or in just craving for this thing, getting that thing.
So, chanting will anchor us in Krishna to the practise of bhakti. That is not just another activity of the world in our life. That is the activity that will enable us to do all our activities more effectively.
So that anchoring of our consciousness in Krishna is extremely important. So in that sense, with our intelligence, we understand that this chanting is important. Then it will neither be a boredom nor be a burden.
It becomes a boredom or a burden to the extent we feel we are not connecting with Krishna in chanting. If we are connecting with Krishna, that connection requires effort. But it is a fruitful effort.
It is a fulfilling effort. And then we will find that this is such an empowering and purifying time of my life. Then we will be able to invest ourselves.
So, when we get distracted, we have to have the importance of chanting in our mind. So, if we are spending, say, one and a half hours chanting, we may decide, five minutes I will spend hearing something about chanting, reading something about the importance of chanting, something about the holy name, something about the importance of connecting with Krishna. And those five minutes will remind us of the importance.
Sometimes, whenever we hear classes, or we read spiritual books, we say, I know all this. Knowing is good. But knowledge needs to be not just in the brain, somewhere in the background.
Many times, I have seen that I remember points when I have to speak in a class. But when my own mind troubles me, I don’t remember that point. When I get angry with someone, I remember, you know, maybe I should chant Krishna’s name, I should pray to Krishna, I should redirect my emotions.
All that, when I have to speak in class, I can speak as if I am completely free from anger. But when I get angry, none of those points come in my mind. It’s very difficult.
We have to make sure that this… So, the knowledge in the back of the head is like a weapon in the tent for a soldier. When somebody attacks the soldier, the soldier cannot say, wait, let me go to my tent, get my weapon, then I will fight with you. The enemy is not going to wait like that.
So, what we need is, the soldier needs to have the weapon ready with him. So like that, when we hear classes, many times we feel, you know, I know this point. The holy name is not different from Krishna, the holy name is so merciful, this, that, I know all these points.
Yes, we know all these points, but they are somewhere in the back of the mind. And when we need them, they are not available. It’s like weapons in the tent.
It doesn’t work. So, what we need to do is, whenever we are hearing classes, we can turn it around. The mind says, I have heard this.
Okay, when did you hear it last? And okay, you heard it, but when did you apply it? When can you apply it? Just turn around the questions. And then what happens? Okay, this is a good… We hear in the classes, this is a good point. I can remember, if I could remember this during my chanting, it will be very helpful for me.
And then we might make a small pocket diary if we want, or just have some points which we can look at, just before we start our chanting. So, with the intelligence, we remind ourselves of the importance. So, the importance is one way we can push ourselves to concentrate.
The buddhi is extremely important. Without the buddhi, we will not be able to focus. So, earlier I said willpower alone is not enough.
Willpower has to be coupled with the process. So, similarly for concentration, just concentrate. No, it will not work.
It will work for some time. For concentrating, we have to understand why is this important. If a mother says, just study, child will study for some time, but as soon as the mother is not looking, the child will stop studying.
But if the mother explains to the child, why is studying important for you? In a way that the child can understand. Then the child will take up ownership. Yes, I want to study.
So, like that, we have to remind ourselves of the importance. Not just know the importance, but remind ourselves at the time when we are trying to focus on Krishna. And the second is, what is the second? Importance and interest.
How do we become absorbed in something? If we find it important, or we are interested in it. So, now with respect to chanting also, we are not just creatures of reason. We are also creatures of emotion.
So, we need to have some emotional connect with Krishna also. So, we may decide that, how do I connect with Krishna? If in the whole ambit of Krishna bhakti, if there is something which gives me, something that gives me an emotional connect with Krishna, say for example, this particular darshan of the deities, which I like very much, which makes me feel very devotional. Then we keep a picture of those deities in front of us when we are chanting.
If we feel very devotional when we see Tulsi Devi, we keep Tulsi in front of us. If we are initiated or we are planning to take initiation, and we know at the time of initiation we take a vow, that I am going to chant, then we may keep a picture of our spiritual master, or make a picture of our initiation. So, that, this of course can remind us of the importance, but also there is an emotional connect.
So, we have to find out some way, in which we have an emotional connect with Krishna. So, the mind, it will get distracted. We can’t avoid the distraction, but when we get distracted, we can bring it back.
So, either we bring it back by reminding of the importance, or we bring it back by catching its interest. So, even if the mind is not interested in the holy name per se, if there is something connected with the holy name, something connected with Krishna, that the mind is interested in. So, there is the point of concentration, and there is a circle of concentration.
So, earlier I talked about, we had a previous session before this, where I talked about, how sometimes distraction can be a means of catching attention. So, like for children, sometimes there are two pictures, which appear very identical, but spot the differences. There are ten differences over here.
Now, if the children say, there is the same picture, I have seen this picture so many times, but it is the same picture, with some subtle difference. Then what happens? Oh, what is the difference? First time they see the picture, they say, I have seen this picture hundred times. Two pictures, there is some difference.
Oh, what is the difference? Now, ok, this difference is here, this difference is here, this difference is here. I was in, last year for Radhashtami, I was in the Alachua temple, and they had done Radhashtami darshan. So, they had put the, around 24 of the signs that are there on Radharani’s feet, they had put them on different parts of the altar.
And then, they told, they have students in the school over there, they said, they had made a list, and they had put a list on the side of the altar, and they said, can you spot these 24? So, you know, all the kids, one of the kids would normally take darshan for more than one or two minutes. But just standing there for 20, 30 minutes, you know, ok, one point, second point, third point, fourth point. And they did it for kids, but even the adults were standing.
Ok, where is this, where is this? So, what happens, actually, the 24 symbols of Radharani are not, Radharani is important. She is already there on the altar. But, somewhere in her hair, one symbol was there, somebody in her, in her dress somewhere here, on the shoulder one was there, somebody in the background, the flower, it was there.
So, they put all those symbols. So, what happens, sometimes, distraction is the way to attention. Sometimes, you just focus on Radharani, but when you are not able to focus, create something else, by which we bring focus.
So, same way for us, when we are trying to chant, focussing on the holy name is difficult. Because it is one sound. Actually, you know, it is not all that difficult, if we had affection for Krishna.
You know, if we love someone, we call out their name, then their name is not just the name for them, for us. We call out the name of someone we love, immediately, the utterance of that name reminds us of the person, reminds us of their activities. So, from the naama, comes the guna, roopa and leela.
So, if somebody loves cricket, I just mentioned the name of one cricketer, then, from that naama, immediately guna, roopa and leela comes out. Oh, this cricketer is an aggressive cricketer. This cricketer, you know, is a good batsman.
You know, that time he hit a sixer. So, all these thoughts, they automatically come up. Why? Because there is interest, there is attraction.
In our case, when we chant Krishna’s name, because that attraction is not there, so the utterance of the name of Krishna, the naama comes from the naama, the guna, roopa and leela doesn’t come. And because the guna, roopa and leela doesn’t come, that’s why the naama doesn’t seem very interesting. I am just uttering the same name again and again and again.
But as we become pure, as our attraction to Krishna develops, then from the naama, the guna, roopa and leela will also come. And then, absorption will come naturally. But till that time, till that happens, we can find some distraction to bring about attention.
By distraction, what I mean, I want to focus on the holy name of Krishna. But when I can’t focus on the holy name, I have something connected with the holy name. As I said earlier, you could have Tulsi Maharani, you could have some picture of the deities, you could have some picture of our spiritual master, you could have even some words about the holy name.
Some devotees just keep the written print of the holy name. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, written. So all these are in a sense, they are positive distractions.
There is a point of concentration, the mind is anyway going to get distracted. But if it is going to get distracted, let it go in a circle of distraction. Instead of going to something entirely sensual, something entirely mundane, let it go to something connected with Krishna.
And from there, we can bring it back to Krishna. Bring it back to Krishna. So ultimately, it is Krishna’s mercy, when Krishna reveals his attractiveness, when Krishna reveals his sweetness, then absorption will come.
And it’s not that Krishna is withholding his sweetness from us. Krishna wants to reveal it, but Krishna wants to see how much do we value it. Just like, I conclude with this point, towards the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that, very strongly he says, don’t speak this to the envious.
He says, don’t speak this to the envious, don’t speak it to those who are not devoted, don’t speak it to those who are not having a service attitude. Now you may wonder, why is Krishna telling, don’t speak this? Krishna in the next verse immediately says, if you speak this, you share this, I’ll be very happy. You share this with others.
And those who share it, the point is, see, like you say, if father has built a big empire, he’s got a huge estate, lot of money, the parents, whatever they have, they want to give it to their children. But, parents who have got their full estate, they will not give it to a 10 or 15 year old child. Because that child doesn’t understand the value.
That child may squander it away. I was just in one city, there was one boy who became a devotee, but he got something like 50,000 dollars from his grandmother in inheritance. And his grandmother, she did not give it to her daughter, she gave it to her grandson.
It came only in his name. And she did not know. But what happened was, this boy, he was a drug addict.
And he was just in the incipient stage of drug addiction. But with those 50,000 dollars, he spent it all within 4 months. And at the end of 4 months, he had to be hospitalised.
Had to be treated. At that time in the hospital, he somehow met devotees. And now he has become a serious devotee.
So it worked out good for him ultimately. But you know that whole money, squandered it. So the parents, their money is ultimately for the children.
That’s what they were trying to do. But then, they will not give it just like that to the children. The child should grow up.
The child should learn to value it. Then it’s all for the children. So when Krishna is saying, don’t share this knowledge with others, that doesn’t mean that Krishna wants to hide that knowledge.
But Krishna wants us to grow up and learn to value it. Similarly, Krishna will reveal his sweetness to us. He wants to reveal that sweetness to us.
But he wants to see whether we value it. So through our efforts in practising bhakti, if we just value what we are doing, if we show Krishna, Krishna, it’s difficult for me to concentrate, but I will try to concentrate. I value the opportunity to practise bhakti.
I value the opportunity to chant the holy names. I value the opportunity to hear your message. So when we show Krishna that we value bhakti, then he will reveal the sweetness of bhakti to us.
So it is not just our intelligence, or even our interest, our attempt to cultivate interest, our attempt to realise its importance, they are important. But all these are a part of our effort to show Krishna. And when Krishna sees that we are sincere, then Krishna just reveals.
And when Krishna gives that taste, then the devotee becomes absorbed in Krishna. For us as sadhakas, the gopis of Vrindavan are the topmost examples of how they can be absorbed in Krishna. When Krishna left them and went away, the gopis were agonised.
How can Krishna leave us and go away? And what happened was their consciousness was absorbed in Krishna. And although Krishna was far away from them, they were constantly thinking of Krishna. When will Krishna come back? When will Krishna come back? And once the gopis were going in the forest, they were going through the forest to Mathura, to another nearby town to sell their curd, and they saw a yogi sitting in meditation.
And they thought, oh, we can also meditate. Why should we meditate, the gopis asked. They said, no, you know, we are thinking about Krishna, and Krishna has forgotten us.
Krishna has left and gone away. So they said, we will sit in yogic meditation to forget Krishna. If Krishna can forget us, then we can also forget him.
We will show him that we can forget him also. And they sat down in meditation. They sat down.
We are not going to think about Krishna. And then, suddenly, one of them would speak, you know. They were sitting in meditation, and they would hear maybe a bird chirping, and that bird chirping would remind them.
You know, when they were performing leela with Krishna, and Krishna spoke like this. Yeah, Krishna spoke like that. And all the gopis started talking.
They talked for 15-20 minutes, half an hour. Hey, we are supposed to forget Krishna. What happened? Again they did meditation.
So, for them, their mind is so attracted to Krishna, that even when they want to forget Krishna, they can’t forget him. So that is the state of spontaneous interaction. And that is the perfection of life.
When the devotee’s mind is constantly absorbed in Krishna, then there is, although even Krishna is away, because Krishna is present in the heart, in the memory, there is joyfulness. So we will come to that level gradually as we keep practising bhakti. Right now, we need to diligently apply ourselves.
And although it may appear a very long, long process, you know, I keep distracting, my mind gets distracted, I bring it back, it gets distracted, I bring it back. It may seem like a very laborious process. But it is a very fruitful process.
Over a period of time, our interaction to Krishna will be. And the process is evolutionary. It’s not that every day I chant, I’ll see some immediate difference.
You know, sometimes children, they don’t like to eat food. So then mothers may tell them, you know, you eat this food, then you know, you get big muscles. And the child eats the food and takes a tip.
Has my muscles increased? Well, the muscles are not going to increase so fast. It’s a gradual process. So suddenly, our attraction to Krishna’s increasing is also gradual.
The process is evolutionary. But the result is revolutionary. The result will completely transform our life.
Not just revolutionary in terms of taking us to Krishna at the end of our life, but even in this life, if we are attached to Krishna, if we are absorbed in Krishna, then no matter what difficulties come in our life, we’ll be able to face them. Now the waves of storms, the waves of troubles, the waves of distress will come. If we are anchored in Krishna, we’ll stay steady.
So every day that we are trying to focus on Krishna, trying to connect with Krishna, even if there seems to be no result, every day my mind is getting distracted. Every day I’m struggling and focussing. What is happening? Actually every day, by that effort, Krishna is observing, Krishna is being pleased, our attraction to Him is increasing.
And eventually, the result that we reap will be revolutionary. Sukham, Anandamudivardhanam Pratipadam Puranamrutasvadanam In the Chaitanya Shiksha Ashtakam it is said that there is an ocean of happiness. And that also is increasing.
Each moment we can relish that. That is what is waiting for us. And no matter whatever effort is required to get there, the effort is worth it.
Because the result is so fulfilling. So I’ll summarise. I spoke about how to improve our focus in our chanting.
And I talked about how does concentration happen. It happens either through interest or through intelligence, understanding the importance. Talk about people not wanting to let me slip through where the cricket match is going on.
So much interest. Or this person is very important, exam is there, important conversation with the boss is there. No, later.
So our mind and our intelligence are the two channels by which our consciousness moves. So if we can bring them to connect with Krishna, then we can concentrate on Krishna. So at our stage, the mind’s attraction to Krishna is not so steady.
For exalted devotees, it is their mind’s attraction to Krishna. Their priti keeps them in Krishna. For us, it will be our buddhi which will keep us in Krishna.
Our intelligence has to be strong. So we have knowledge of the importance of the holy name, of the importance of connecting with Krishna. But that knowledge has to be not just information at the back of our mind.
That’s like weapons in the tent. Our knowledge has to be accessible when we need it. And we need to keep it accessible.
To remind ourselves and recollect it at the time when we are trying to chant. Take a few minutes before chanting to remind ourselves the importance, then we will be able to focus. And the mind, it checks out.
It’s like a student who is sitting in class but then slips out. So like that, the mind slips out when we are chanting. And when this happens, because the mind is invisible, we may not even realise it.
But the result we will realise is, during chanting we will start feeling bored or we will start feeling burdened. Because when the mind and the body are out of sync, then neither are we doing anything productive at the mental level nor at the physical level. And that’s why we feel bored and burdened.
So as soon as you start feeling bored or burdened, that means the connection is not happening. The connection with Krishna will bring peace when it brings our consciousness to goodness. It will bring purity when it brings our consciousness to the transcendental level.
And it will bring pleasure when it brings our consciousness to the devotional level, connects us with Krishna. So it’s supremely fulfilling. But for that we have to persevere.
And it’s not just a matter of willpower. I can’t just suppress cough if I have it. And it has to be coupled with the process.
Our willpower to concentrate has to be coupled with the process of nourishing our intelligence to remember the importance of chanting and then cultivating some emotional connect with Krishna. It may be a picture of deities, it may be a picture of a spiritual master, Tulsi Maharani, or the written print of the holy names. Something which connects us with Krishna.
And through that emotionally connection we can draw our mind towards Krishna. So sometimes distraction is the way to induce attention. It’s like having some other symbols connected with Radharani on the altar.
It’s like focus on darshan. So like that the mind is going to get distracted. It is going to feel that the holy name is familiar.
The holy name right now, the naama doesn’t remind us of the gunaroopa leela. And that’s why it just seems the same old thing. So it will eventually become purified.
But at this stage, if around the point of concentration of the naama, we have a circle of concentration. Then that will help us. When the mind wanders, it is connected with Krishna and will come back to Krishna.
And lastly I talked about how when we are trying to focus on the holy name, it’s an effortful process. But it’s also a fruitful process. And the process is evolutionary and the result is revolutionary.
When Krishna becomes the anchor of our life, then not only will we be ultimately liberated from this material existence, but even this world and the storms of troubles, of desires shake us, we will be anchored firmly. We will be able to face life’s problems much more calmly and effectively when we invest the time to connect with Krishna. So if either the mind gets distracted, then we can remind ourselves that Krishna is the most important person in my life.
And if I just give this connection due time, everything else, Krishna will work out. With that conviction, we try to absorb ourselves in the holy name. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna.