Relishing the glories of the Holy Name

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So what you could do is. Satsang with Mooji Jai Radha Madhava Kunja Bihari Gopi Jana Valla Bhagiri Vardhari Jai Prabhupada Jai Prabhupada Prabhupada Jai Prabhupada Jai Srila Prabhupada Jai Gurudev Jai Gurudev Gurudev Jai Gurudev Jai Srila Gurudev Nithaya Gaura Hari Bol Hari Bol Hari Bol Hari Bol Hari Bol Hari Bol Jai Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa Parivrajikacharya Shri Shrimad His Divine Grace Abhay Charanarvinda Bhaktivedanta Swamishila Prabhupada Ki Nanda Kauri Vaishnav Vandaki Tai Gaur Premanande One more. Can you mute the sound? Hare Krishna The verse has not come yet.
Om Gyanate Mirandasya Gyananjana Shalakaya Chakshuron Militam Yena Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha Shri Chaitanyamano Bhishtham Sthapitam Yena Bhutale Swayam Rupakadam Mayham Dadati Svapadantikam Vandeham Shri Guru Shri Uttapadakamalam Shri Guru Vaishnavamscha Shri Rupam Sagarajatam Raghunathan Vitham Tamsa Jeevam Saadvaitam Saavadhootam Parijana Sahitam Krishna Chaitanya Devam Shri Radha Krishna Padaan Sahagana Lalita Shri Vishakhaan Vithamscha Namao Vishnupadaya Krishna Prishtaya Bhutale Shrimate Bhaktivedanta Swami Dinamine Namaste Saraswati Deve Gauravani Pracharine Nirvishesha Shunyavadi Pashyatya Deshitarine Namo Mahavadanyaya Krishna Prema Pradayate Krishnaya Krishna Chaitanya Namane Gauratvise Namaha Hey Krishna Karunasindho Deenbandho Jagatpate Gopesha Gopika Kanta Radha Kanta Namostute Tapta Kanchana Gaurangi Radhe Vrindavaneshwari Harsha Bhanusute Devi Pranamami Haripriya Vancha Kalpataru Bhyascha Kripa Sindhupya Evacha Patitanam Pavanebhyo Vaishnavebhyo Namo Namaha Jai Shri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nithyananda Shri Advaita Gadadhara Shri Vasadhi Kauravakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna I feel very honoured, humbled and happy to be here in this August assembly of devotees in the Dham of Nasik actually I stayed in Nasik for almost 10-12 years I did my education here when I went to Mumbai then I was introduced to Krishna Consciousness there and then after many years I am coming back so I feel very happy to be here and when I was here there was no temple over here so it’s a great joy such a beautiful temple not only beautiful temple but what makes the temple beautiful is the beautiful devotees like all of you so I will try to serve you in whatever way small way I can Shikshas Garee Shikshashta Kamprabhu is illustrious Vaishnava from Radha Kupana temple now he of course belongs here to all of you he is guiding you and And just as a crow cannot take the place of an eagle, I am just very insignificant in front of him. He is a role model and inspiration for me also. But on his instruction and for his pleasure, I’ll try to speak something about the holy name.
Throughout the world, something very interesting is happening. What is that? Martin Luther King, who was a social activist and leader in America, he caught the dilemma of modern society very poignantly. He said, we live in an age of guided missiles and misguided men.
So what is the matter? We have mastered the external technology by which we can guide missiles with extraordinary precision, but we lack the internal ability to control ourselves. It’s a phenomenon throughout the world. And because of that, people all over the world are turning to the East.
In fact, a famous British historian, Arnold Toynbee, he said that the chapter in world history which had a western beginning, that is the modern era, the chapter in world history which had a western beginning, must have an Indian ending. If the ending is not to be in the self-destruction of the world, it must have an Indian ending. Why? Because Mark Twain said that as far as religion is concerned, India is the only millionaire in the world.
All other countries, there is some trace of religion, but it is in India that religion is not just one part of life, but it is the life of people. So, people from different parts of the world come to India and to holy places all over the country, including Nasik, because they want to know what is the spiritual substance that is there over here. The spiritual substance of the great land of India is certainly there in the sacred rivers like Ganga and Jamuna, it is there in the sacred mountains like Himalayas and Govardhan.
All that sacredness is manifest to us through the sacred people, to the devotees like Srila Prabhupada and his followers, so through them we get to access the great treasure of this spiritual wisdom that India has carried for generations together. So one out of every five people in America practise yoga and millions of people practise meditation. Now what exactly is meditation? How many of you are already practising chanting Hare Krishna? How many of you are already doing mantra meditation? Almost 60-70%.
How many of you have not yet started mantra meditation? I just want to know at what level I should speak. Is there anyone who is coming here for the first time today? A few of you. Okay.
So those who are chanting, how many of you are chanting 16 rounds? Oh, a good number. Okay. Thank you.
So the essence of meditation is not just people have a very fanciful and superficial idea of meditation. You sit in a particular posture and you breathe in and breathe out. So yes, that may help to calm the mind, but the essence of meditation is to take the mind of the changing things of this world and fix it on the unchanging.
Just like if there is a person, if there is a boat in the ocean, the waves that are flowing constantly, the waves keep the boat unsteady. How long will the boat stay unsteady? Will the waves stop at any time? No. The only way the boat, if it is in the ocean, can become steady is if the boat gets anchored.
So when the boat is in the changing ocean, but gets connected with a heavy object which is unchanging, then the boat will be lesser and lesser affected by the waves of the ocean. And the stronger the anchor and the stronger the connection of the boat with the anchor, the lesser and lesser will be the agitation of the boat by the waves. Similarly, this material world is filled with change.
The only constant thing in this world is change. Nothing else is constant. So this change agitates our mind.
We plan things in a particular way and there is a saying that sometimes things go our way and sometimes things teach us on their way. They don’t work our way. So there are three kinds of people in this world.
Some people make things happen, some people watch things happen, and some wonder what happened. They get bewildered. What happened? So this actually, this correlates with the three gunas, sattva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna.
So the changes of this world make us agitated. And just as the waves in the ocean will never stop, similarly the changes in this world will never stop. And what is the solution? Solution is that we have to anchor ourselves.
And that anchor is the process of meditation. So just by doing some breathing exercises or by doing some postures, we might to some extent slow down our breathing and slow down our metabolic activity, the secretion of the hormones, by which we may feel a little calmer. What we are doing is we are trying to decrease the effect of the changes on us.
The more positive way of doing things would be to connect ourselves with the unchanging. What is this that is unchanging? That is Krishna. He is the only person who is unchanging, unaffected by the changes of this world.
Ādhyam purāṇa puruṣaṁ nava eva naṁ ca, eternally youthful. So the essence of meditation is to take our mind off the changing objects and events of this world and to fix it on the changeless Lord of our heart. And that can be most easily done through the process of chanting.
When we chant the holy names, the Lord manifests Himself as His holy name. So we don’t have to search for the anchor, the anchor comes to us. Sound has extraordinary power.
When scientists made the ultrasonic planes, planes which flew at speed faster than the speed of sound, then a phenomenon resulted called a sonic boom. There was a resonance and a huge sound would come and the plane would be flying overhead and all the windows on the ground would be cracked. That is the power of sound and that is just material sound.
How much more powerful is spiritual sound? So when Krishna manifests Himself as sound, He can shatter all our bad habits. In fact, the holy name of Krishna has the power that even nuclear weapons don’t have. The nuclear weapons can destroy hundreds of people, millions of people, they can destroy an entire civilisation.
But the nuclear weapon cannot destroy the single bad habit of one person. All the people who die will be reborn and all their conditionings, all their habits will be there with them. But the sound of the holy name can destroy all negative conditionings, all bad habits.
So today we will try to learn a few tips, seven tips to be precise, for improving our ability to access the power of the holy name. The holy name is extremely powerful, at the same time we have to learn to access it. So we call this the Harinam formula, is it visible over there? As per the acronym Harinam, so we will be discussing seven things.
So when we chant the holy names, Sri Prabhupada explained that we have to call the holy name like a child calling for the mother, helplessness. Why do we need helplessness? Because in this world, people feel that I am in control, I can manage my life. And Krishna says, okay, if you are in control, you manage your life, then I won’t interfere.
Some of you may be aware, a Hindi Vaishnava poet has sung a song, the Lord is saying, tumhara man tumhare kaam mein, toh main mere dhaam mein. If you think you can do all your work, tumhara man tumhare kaam mein, toh main mere dhaam mein. Tumhara man mere naam mein, toh main tumhare kaam mein.
So if you absorb your mind in my holy name, then, tadami buddhi yogam nam, ye namam upayanti te. Lord Krishna says in chapter 10th verse, Teshaam tata yuktanam vajitam priti purvakam. When you chant my holy name and serve me with a devotional attitude, then I will give the intelligence to come back to, to make the right choices in life.
So the modern stereotype is of a macko man or whatever, whatever gender it is, people think that I am in control, and I don’t need anyone’s help. But the devotional attitude is completely opposite. Unless we feel the need for Krishna’s help, we will not get his help.
Now people say that God helps those who help themselves. Often this saying is misused in an atheistic tone. What people mean it to imply is that, you don’t have to go and pray to God.
Yes, if you do your studies, you will pass the exams. If you do your job, you will get the result. You don’t have to go.
God helps those who help themselves. But that saying has to be completed based on the Bhagavad Gita. God helps those who help themselves by accepting God’s help.
How do we help ourselves? By accepting God’s help. And if we don’t accept God’s help, then it’s not that God will help us. Sometimes you see this, sometimes Gita Sahib is there, and there he says, Jo hua, wo achcha hua.
Jo ho raha hai, wo achcha ho raha hai. Jo hone wala hai, wo achcha hone wala hai. Now, with all due respects to whoever has written that, I have read the Gita over a dozen times, I have never found any verse which comes anywhere close to this.
There’s no verse like that. Because the Gita is not about jo ho raha hai. The Gita is about jo tum karne wale ho.
Jo hum karne wale hai, wo kya achcha hai? How to do that right? That is the important question. Yes, whatever Krishna is doing is always right. But what are we doing? Is that right? That is the important question.
So yes, Gita tells us that we should make the right choices. And when we go in front of the Lord, helpless attitude is very important. Now, the helplessness, there is a famous pastime in the Mahabharata, which illustrates this principle of helplessness.
Which is that pastime? Yes, you can raise your hand, who would like to say? Yes, Mataji there? Yeah, Adraupali is disrobing. At that time she was trying to save herself, and when finally she couldn’t save, then she just raised her hand and called out to Krishna. So, this literally means sometimes we see devotees are chanting and they get, they are unable to chant, they just fall asleep.
And they raise their hand, they chant Hare Krishna loudly. That is okay. That is good.
More than that, it’s a matter of internal attitude. So, the helplessness, there are different ways which we can become helpless. There is passionate helplessness.
Just like you are watching a cricket match, and India is losing. You want India to win, but India is losing. You feel helpless.
That helplessness is not what Krishna is talking about. That helplessness, you chant Hare Krishna. That won’t work.
So, materialistic people feel helpless when their plans for sense gratification are foiled. And that helplessness may also make us call out to Krishna. But, that is not the helplessness that will help us to come closer to Krishna.
Because, that sort of situations will come and they will go. But, chanting is not supposed to come and go. Chanting is supposed to be done every day.
So, every day, if our idea is that helplessness should come, because some of my plans are not working. Just like, you know, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, people go to the church and pray, O father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Give us our daily bread.
It’s good that people are going to God and praying. At least, they are better than atheists. But, Srila Prabhupada would say, this is not love of God, this is love of bread.
We are going to God, but we are not interested in God. We are interested in bread. So, sometimes, people come to ISKCON temples also, and people think that, what is the purpose of a temple? They think the purpose of a temple is that, I have to go and make my demands to God.
And generally, God is sleeping, so, I go and ring the bell to wake Him up. And then, they come to ISKCON temple, and they find there is no bell only. And they think, what is this? What kind of temple is this? There is no bell.
No, the bell is meant not to wake Krishna. Krishna is Chakshur Yasya Narishyati Bhagavanam. The Lord doesn’t even blink.
He is eternally awake. He is Chakshur Yasya Narishyati. But, the bell is meant to wake us up.
And, more powerful in waking us up, than the bell, is the sound of Krishna Katha. So, Ishwara Prabhupada, in the ISKCON temples, wanted that the preaching should go on. And, that’s why many places, in ISKCON temples, we don’t have a bell.
Because, often people come and, husband, wife, son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, cousin, aunt, uncle, all of them ring the bell. And, that is the part of the temple visit, that they enjoy the most. And, then the class is going on, and people are ringing the bell.
That’s why. Do we have a bell here? We don’t have. That’s why we don’t have.
So, the idea is that, when we go to the temple, people think you go to a hotel, and you ring a bell. And, the waiter comes. What do you want, sir? So, like that, you go to the temple, and you ring a bell.
And, you ask God, what should I give you? It’s not like that. When we go to God, actually, we go to God, not because our plans are being frustrated. Yes? That may be one level at which we approach God.
But, if you want to develop a relationship with God, then you have to approach at a higher level. So, it’s like, suppose somebody comes to you, and he says, you know, you have such a big business, and you are a self-made man, and you are this, and you are that. And, then after, he says, you know, we want some, can you give me this much money? Can you lend me this money? He says, yes.
So, that is a normal person’s feeling. So, in the materialistic world, people come to God, and then they glorify God also. But, for what purpose? For the purpose of getting something out of God.
Just like if you go to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, there, just in front of the temple, there is Ravan Stuti. It’s not the glorification of Ravana. It is the glorification of Lord Shiva, written by Ravana.
So, Ravana, as you know, was a, not exactly a Shiva Bhakta. He was a pseudo-Shiva Bhakta, who used his Shiva Bhakti to gain power. So, now, what is the mood of that prayer, if you read that prayer? It’s like, you know, you are so great, and just see how great is the person worshipping you also.
Like, what is that movie song, long ago? That, tumse badkar kaun, aur tumhare bhakta jano mein, humse badkar kaun. That is bringing the ego into the realm of religion also. That will not work, when we try to approach Krishna with His holy name.
So, Krishna has to be approached in a helpless attitude. Now, what does this helplessness mean? Yes, sometimes our plans may not work, and then we will feel helpless. But, Shrila Bhakta Vinod Thakur, great Acharya in our Sampradaya, explains that, there is Rajoguni helplessness, and there is Sattoguni helplessness.
Rajoguni helplessness comes when our desires for sense gratification are frustrated. But, Sattoguni helplessness comes by awareness of our helpless position in the material world. As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, 14th chapter, He describes the three modes of material nature, from the verses 5 onwards.
So, there He explains, sattvat sanjayate jnanam. So, in sattvaguna arises knowledge. And the result of knowledge is that, we can see that death can come upon us at any time.
So, one of the ways a devotee can feel helpless is by contemplating on death. Now, materialistic people think that this is very negative. Why do you think about death? Actually, it’s not negative.
Because death is a reality. And not thinking about death is not positive thinking, that is imaginative thinking. Because death is a reality.
And a devotee doesn’t focus on the negativity of death. He uses the negativity of death to focus on the positivity of Krishna. Just like, if a patient, if a person is having a pain in his leg, and he says, forget the pain, I don’t have the pain.
That won’t work. He should be aware of the pain, but not focus on the pain. Be aware of the pain, so that he can focus on taking the treatment.
Similarly, a devotee remembers death by which meditation. He becomes serious. Yes.
Actually, just as we may have a guru, a spiritual master who teaches us, death is also a great guru. Death also teaches us the nature of this material world. And, just as when we hear from our spiritual master, we become enlightened.
Similarly, if we try to see what death is teaching us, death is teaching us that the things of this world are not going to last. Turn towards Krishna. Turn towards the eternal.
So, therefore, in the morning, when we sit down to chant, whatever number of rounds we are chanting, if we contemplate on death, yes, one day I have to die. At that time, the only thing that will matter is the chanting of the holy names. So, that is, if I have to chant at that final moment, then we’ll become sober about our chanting.
Just this thought, even if you spend 30 seconds, one minute thinking about it, all agitation of mind gets deflated. And you can chant. And, of course, the problem is that we may teach that, yeah, we are going to die.
But all of us secretly disbelieve that. We secretly disbelieve, I am not going to die. That’s what we think.
That’s why we can’t really accept death. Although we can try, but Bhaktivinoda Thakura gives an alternative way. Contemplate on suffering.
Suffering is something which all of us have gone through. Maybe due to disease, maybe due to misunderstanding with someone, maybe due to some family or social circumstance. So, if we remember that, then we understand this suffering is the nature of the material existence.
If I have to get out of the material existence, let me focus on the chanting of the holy names. That is also a very good impetus. And thirdly, he says, remember your worst anartha.
Anartha means lust, anger, greed, envy, pride and illusion. The word artha has two meanings, value as well as meaning. Artha as in Artha Mantri, that is money, wealth.
And artha, iska artha kya hai? That is meaning. So, actually anarthas, lust, anger, greed, envy, they have neither any value nor do they have any meaning. That’s why they are called as anarthas.
So, just as when a person is attracted to the worldly things and the worldly objects, the whole attraction is imaginary. And at the end, we realise that I didn’t get anything in life. So, it’s anartha.
So, now all of us, as we are trying to practise spiritual life, we have sometimes we get angry needlessly. People. And then we regret, why did I get angry like that? And we have to go and apologise to that person.
And then our relationship gets spoiled, our reputation gets spoiled. So, we are trying to battle with anger. But, it’s not easy.
So, when you remember, yes, how I am trying to combat this difficulty that I have, not external difficulty, but internal difficulty. And I am unable to fight it. Then that makes us feel helpless and that makes us call out to the Lord.
So, all of us have different anarthas troubling us. There’s lust, there’s anger, there’s greed, envy, pride and illusion. All of them or one of them or many of them, they attack us at different times.
And when we remember these, then we understand that I cannot fight them. A beautiful story. Once there was a young boy who was going on a beach.
And he had just bought a new hat. He was wearing the hat and he was proud of it. And he was sauntering along on the beach, kicking the pebbles and watching how far they were going.
Suddenly a gust of wind came. And it took away his beloved hat and flew straight into the ocean. And the waves, the current was sweeping away.
And he felt so incensed, outraged. But the current was too strong. He couldn’t go inside.
It was glaring at the ocean. How can I get my hat back? And suddenly he noticed that the coast was turning like this. And the current was going like this.
Maybe if I reach there, I might just be able to reach and get the hat. So he ran. And he ran, ran, ran.
It was slippery. There were rocks and cliffs and there were puddles in between. But he just ran across.
And the final was like a big cliff that he had to leap down. And he leapt down the cliff and as soon as he leapt down, there was water up to his ankles. And he realised the force of the current.
He looked and saw the hat was quite far away. Couldn’t get there. Then he turned around and he looked up.
The cliff was tall. Wondering how he will climb back. Still, he looked back.
Can I get the hat somehow? And he looked back again and tried to look at the hat. And he realised it’s too far away. And suddenly, he was just thrown off.
He fell down and tumbled over and hit his head against the cliff. And he was being dragged back inside. Then he realised what happened.
What had happened was in the ocean, when the waves come, the normal waves are of this height. And every 5th wave or every 7th wave, after sometime some waves come which are bigger. So the normal waves were of the ankle level.
But suddenly a big wave had come and it hit him. He somehow steadied himself. Tried to hold on to the cliff.
There was nothing to hold on to. But he steadied himself. And then he started again to look.
And then he realised his predicament. That I can’t climb this up. And another wave was coming.
He was thinking what to do. Suddenly, another wave came. And it was such a powerful wave.
It hit him and he tumbled over. So when the wave comes in, it hits you against the cliff. When it goes back, it drags you inside.
So he somehow held on and saved himself. And he realised he was in big trouble at that moment. He started praying and said, Oh God, help me.
And he was praying. And suddenly, as if by magic, he looked on the right side and he saw that there were holes in the rocks. Holes where his fingers and legs could fit in.
And he immediately ran the left of it and grabbed it and started pulling himself up. As he was pulling himself up, he could hear the roar of the wave coming. He pulled himself up.
As he yanked himself on the cliff, the wave hit the cliff. The surf that sprayed up drenched him totally. But he was saved.
So similarly, Bhagavatam says, It says that all of us, as we know, the soul is the tatastha shakti. Tatastha means on the coast. There is Krishna and there is Maya.
And we are on the margin. So right now we feel, Okay, I am quite self-controlled. I will not get lusty.
I will not get angry. I will not get greedy. Nothing is going to trouble me.
But the waves are coming. And sometimes a bigger wave may come. And right now we may think I am self-controlled.
But when a bigger wave comes, then we’ll be exposed. So what should we do? Before the bigger wave comes, get out of the danger zone. A devotee should not become complacent and think that now I have controlled everything.
I have controlled my mind, controlled my senses. No. We don’t know when a big wave will come.
Therefore, get out before the waves come. So by remembering our anarthas, remembering what we are trying to control but are unable to control within ourselves, we will be able to chant better. We will be able to pray to the Lord and get His help and chant.
This is H, helplessness. Going to A, affection. As I mentioned earlier, bhajatam printipurvakam.
So how do we improve our chanting? The holy name has to be chanted with affection. Just like if you have a friend. Like I have a friend here, Rahul Pramod.
So as soon as I say Rahul, I immediately remember the person Rahul. But unfortunately when we chant Krishna, we don’t remember the person Krishna. If we chant some other name, like say Yashodanand, then we might remember Krishna with Yashoda.
But especially when we chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, at that time we don’t think about Krishna at all. Just the sound is going on. Why is that? Because of the impersonal conception that we have.
And therefore, just as if you call your friend, you will feel affection immediately coming up. Similarly, when we call Krishna, affection should come up, but the affection doesn’t come up. So what to do? There are two remedies.
One is, we may not feel affection for the Lord directly, but if we are initiated, or if we are going to be initiated, we know that we have taken a commitment to our spiritual master. We chant sixteen rounds. So if you remember, this is my service to my spiritual master.
This is what will please my spiritual master. Then, that will enable us to be affectionate while chanting. Many devotees, especially those who are… How many of you are initiated here? Few of you.
Okay. Thank you. Yes.
So those devotees who are initiated, they sometimes keep the photo of the spiritual master, initiation photo in front of them and they remember, I am chanting as a service to my spiritual master. He will be pleased. Once His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaj was asked, now what is the best Vyasa Puja offering that we can give to you? So Maharaj replied that the best Vyasa Puja offering is you chant your sixteen rounds at any time.
That is the best thing. That will please him. So if you remember that, then we will feel, yes, I have to serve, and this is the way I can serve.
Another way we can do, get the feeling of affection is, by remembering some cherished pastime of the Lord. Say, there are many pastimes the Lord has performed, and some pastimes will touch our heart. So when the pastimes touch our heart, and those pastimes we can try to remember.
Like we know when Jaidrath was to be killed, at that time, Arjuna took that vow. He took several vows. He said, if by tomorrow night I don’t kill Jaidrath, then let the results of my pious activities not come to me.
Then let me not attain the pious destination attained by my pious ancestors. Let me suffer the sinful reactions for those sins which even I have not committed. And listen, O Kshatriyas, as I take the most fierce of all vows.
If by tomorrow sunset I do not kill Jaidrath, I will enter into fire. And all the Pandavas became exuberant because they knew when Arjuna took a vow, it will be successful. So they all planned how we will attack.
And then they left. And then Krishna came. And then Krishna said, Arjuna, why did you take such a hasty vow? Tomorrow Drona will arrange the whole army to stop you.
So Arjuna replied, Krishna, you know my strength, and I know your strength. What is the worry? So, later on, relationship between Krishna and Arjuna is so enduring. Later on, when the final battle between Karna and Krishna also takes place, at that time Arjuna asked Krishna.
On the first, Karna’s charity was Shalya. So Karna asked Shalya, O Shalya, if today I die, what will you do? Shalya said, I will take up my weapons and I will slay your assassins. Or if I am not able to slay your assassins, then displaying a great feat of arms, I will lay down my life in the battlefield and attain the heavens.
So Karna nodded. On the other side, Arjuna asked Krishna, O Krishna, if Karna kills me today, what will you do? Karna, Krishna’s voice was angry. He said, O Arjuna, the sun may stop shining, the earth may crack apart, the oceans may dry, the wind may stop blowing, but Karna will not be able to kill you.
Even if Karna somehow kills you, then I will take up my Sudarshan chakra and kill all the Kauravas. No, I will assume my Vishwaroop and devour the whole universe. O Arjuna, rest assured, Karna will never be able to kill you.
So that is Krishna’s love for Arjuna. So like that, there are many past times given in the scriptures, which will touch our heart. And when we are chanting, we should remember some past time, which has touched our heart.
And think, that same Lord is the person on whose name I am chanting right now. That same Lord is the person whom I am calling. And just as the Lord helped His devotees at that time, the Lord will help me.
So that is how we will get the feeling of affection when we chant the holy names. Then we have responsibility. Responsibility means sometimes people say, that today the chanting was not good.
So when the chanting was not good, I did not chant well. When the chanting was not good, what does it mean? That today the weather is not good. It means it is not in my hands.
It is not like that. Japa is in our hands. Once, Tukaram Maharaj, a very famous saint, so once one of the devotees went and asked, Maharaj, what should I do? While chanting, my mind runs a lot.
Let the mind run. Why are you running after it? Ok, the mind is running. Let the mind run.
Why do you run after the mind? So, actually, controlling the mind. Is controlling the mind possible for us? How many of you feel that it is possible for us to control our mind? How many of you? Ok, one. Ok, hesitant one.
Seeing that nobody is raising. Ok, how many of you feel that it is not possible for us to control our mind? Ok, that’s true. And whose responsibility is it to control our mind? Ours.
If it is not possible to control the mind, then how is it our responsibility to control the mind? It’s a paradox. So, in the Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya, there are two great acharyas and they have given two different examples to explain what is the relationship between how do we make spiritual advancement? What is the relationship between our effort and God’s grace? So, they give these two examples. The cat-kitten logic and the monkey-baby logic.
The cat-kitten logic means just as a cat carries the kitten, now the kitten is just doing nothing and the cat holds the kitten in the mouth and takes it. So, that’s how the Lord will take us back to God, as they say. We don’t have to do anything.
We just Sharanagati. Shri Krishna, Sharanam Mama. Just surrender and the Lord will do everything.
The other example, no, that is not going to work. Just an example, monkey and baby. You have seen how monkey’s baby goes? Monkey’s baby holds from behind the mother.
And the mother jumps from one tree to another and the poor baby has to hold on for his life. And if his grip slips, he will fall. So, like that, it depends on your endeavour.
Only when you make endeavour, you will be able to make advancement. It’s up to you to make endeavour to chant properly. Now, both are like the extremes of a pendulum.
The steady state is the example given in Bhagavatam that a person who has fallen in a well. Now, we are like the person who has fallen in the well and the Lord is outside and he is throwing down the rope. That rope is the holy nail.
It is a process of devotional service. Now, it is not by the person’s effort to hold the rope that he will come out. Now, you can keep holding on the rope very tightly.
But if the person outside doesn’t pull him out, he will not come out. Isn’t it? Similarly, we may think, I will chant attentively and I will make spiritual advancement. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur would say that you cannot get crashed into the Kingdom of God.
You cannot think that I will become so pure that I will go back to the Kingdom of God. No, our chanting will not help. But on the other hand, if the person below doesn’t try to hold the rope, if the person outside pulls, only the rope will come out.
And the person will stay there only. So, it is a cooperative effort. The person below has to hold on to the rope and the person above has to pull out.
Similarly, we have to try our best to chant the holy names. And we have to try our best to control the mind. We have to try our best to hear attentively.
It is not possible for us. But we have to show Krishna that we want to concentrate. And then Krishna will help us.
And then, when Krishna pulls the rope out, that means our mind will become more and more steady. It will become more and more calm and focused. So, if we say that, when will I become a serious devotee? Oh, when Krishna wants.
Some people say, when will you come to the temple? When God will call you, you will come. God called us 5000 years ago. Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya Maam Ekam Sharanam Vahay.
We are already late. So, the initiative has to come from us. We have to decide, I have to become a serious devotee.
I have to improve my chanting. It is only when we take responsibility for our mind and our life and our meditation to improve our mind and life, then we will make spiritual advancement. So, that is responsibility.
Every devotee should feel that I have to improve my chanting. We will discuss at the end how we can improve or some practical methods also. But this is very important.
We cannot justify, oh, what to do in Kali Yuga. Nobody’s mind is controlled. My mind is also not controlled.
Sometimes people, what they do is, mind is not controlled. As it is, I can’t concentrate. So, let me watch television and chant.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Yes, you can chant while watching television, but you should not make that your 16 rounds. You can chant any time.
Yes. But actually, when you are chanting, our prescribed rounds, that should be exclusive, focussing only on the holy name. So, that is responsibility.
I am going a little fast because we won’t have sufficient time and I would like to take some question and answer also at the end. Intelligence is very important. So, intelligence, you know, buddhi.
Lord Krishna in the third chapter, 42nd and 43rd verses, explains the hierarchy. So, I don’t have that chart over here in the slideshow, but just try to visualise this. See, there are four things over here.
So, Krishna explains, Indriyāṇi parāṇyāhūr, Indriyebhya param manah, Manasastu parā buddhe, Yo buddhe paratastu sah. So, these are the sense objects. Indriyāṇi parāṇyāhūr.
Above them are the senses. Above them is the mind. Indriyebhya paramanah.
Manasastu parā buddhe. Above them is the intelligence. Yo buddhe paratastu sah.
Here, there is the soul. So, I’ll repeat. Sense objects, senses, mind, intelligence and soul.
That is the hierarchy. Now, what happens is, just like the gravity, you leave an object, it will fall down. So, like that, the senses get attracted to sense objects.
They go down. And what is it that will hold them up? So, above the soul, okay, I’ll show it like this now. So, here we have sense objects, senses, mind, intelligence and soul.
So, senses drag the whole system down. Above the soul is the super soul. When we’ll be pure devotees, there will be a loving connection between us and Krishna.
But till we are not yet become pure devotees, the connection with Krishna has to be established through the intelligence. Through the intelligence, we have to understand that, even if I don’t feel like chanting, I must chant. Because if we depend on feelings, today, I feel like chanting very nicely.
Now, bhakti, sometimes there is kirtan and sometimes people say, I really enjoyed the kirtan today. Yes, it’s nice, we can enjoy, but the purpose of kirtan is, we give pleasure to the Lord, and then automatically we get pleasure. So, it is a test.
Sometimes in our chanting, when we don’t feel nice, we don’t feel taste, then that is a test. What is the test? Krishna is testing whether you are chanting for your pleasure or my pleasure. So, then at that time, we need our intelligence to be very strong.
We need to hear the philosophy and understand the importance of the holy name. When the intelligence is strained and strong, then we will be able to chant attentively. The weak intelligence, we will not be able to chant.
That’s why Lord Krishna concludes the third chapter with, evam buddhe parambudva samsthavyatmanam atmanam jahishatru mahabaho kamarupam durasidam Third chapter, 43rd verse, he says that evam buddhe parambudva With intelligence, keep oneself on the spiritual platform. So now, that’s why Jiva Goswami says, intelligence, it will keep us on the spiritual platform. This world is not a hotel.
It is a hospital. In tomorrow’s pranayama, I will be elaborating it more. But suffice it to say, when we take the holy name, we take it as a medicine.
You go to a doctor. The doctor prescribes some medicine. Kya hai doctor hai? Swadish dawaai nahi diya aapne? Swadish cheeze khaana hai to doctor ke paas nahi jaana hai.
Hotel mein jaana hai. When you go to a doctor, the purpose is different. When we take a medicine, you come back after one week.
Doctor kaise ho? Dawaai achha hai par main achha nahi ho. Kya fayada hai? Isn’t it? What is the medicine supposed to do? It is not supposed to give us good taste. It is supposed to cure us.
The holy name, the main purpose why we chant the holy name is not to just get the taste. To be cured of all the anarthas. So when we remember the purpose and it is the philosophy that reminds us of the purpose, then with the intelligence we will chant even when we don’t feel like chanting.
And then we will be able to move forward and get the benefit. Just like a student. He may not feel like studying but he knows it is good for me to study and therefore he studies and he benefits.
That’s the intelligence. Then N is non-judgemental behaviour. Extremely important.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that chant Hare Krishna and don’t criticise devotees. You will attain Krishna Prem. But if you start criticising devotees, that is the first offence in chanting.
That you criticise devotees then you cannot please Krishna. That is the biggest of all offences. So now do other people not have faults? You may see faults in others.
But there is nothing glorious about talking about the faults of others. Because as I said, this world is like a hospital. And when you come to a temple, everybody has come here to become cured.
So what is the use of finding out who has got which disease and publicising he has got which disease? Find out what disease I have and cure yourself. Or Al Faldo Emerson said that the ability to find good everywhere is the measure of mental good health. To the extent we can find good everywhere, to that extent we are mentally healthy.
To the extent we find bad everywhere, to that extent we are mentally sick. And actually, sometimes people think it is very clever to find fault with others. Sometimes people sit and gossip.
He did this, she did that. That’s how they talk. But it doesn’t require any cleverness to find fault with others.
Actually, finding faults in others is as clever as finding water in an ocean. Is that very clever? Is that very difficult? Water is there everywhere in the ocean. Similarly, Kaler dosho nidhe rajan.
Kaluga is an ocean of faults. We can all find faults. But when we are in the water, when we are in ocean, what will help us is if we can find land somewhere.
That land will give us shelter. Similarly, what will help us is if we can find good somewhere. So we should not criticise other people unnecessarily.
And what is necessary criticism? Necessary criticism means that if say we are in a position of authority where we are helping others, then in a mood of service we can try to point it out to them privately, never publicly. It is said glorify in public, correct in private. Often we do opposite.
Actually we don’t glorify only, we only criticise. So we should not do that. Talk in private, you can tell him.
And when can we find fault with others? It is said, when can you find fault with another person? When you feel no joy in doing so. If we feel joy in pointing out the fault of others, that means it’s out of envy. It is not out of good wishes for the other person.
So better not find fault with them. Does that mean that we have to give up the fault finding tendency? No, we don’t have to give it up. We have to use it to find faults of the fault finding tendency.
Is it clear? It’s difficult. We have to use the fault finding tendency to find the faults of the fault finding tendency. Understand the faults of the fault finding tendency and give it up.
It’s too complicated. Doesn’t matter. Anyway, the point is that give others the benefit of doubt.
In psychology there is something called the attributional error. Attributional error means that we see some behaviour in some person and we think because of this he is behaving like this. Just like when somebody else sleeps for a long time, he is a lazy bum.
When I sleep for a long time, I was tired. When somebody else eats a lot, he is a glutton. He eats a lot like this only.
When I eat a lot, I am hungry. So, we attribute the wrong behaviour to other people. We see a behaviour and we attribute something.
I can never forget in my life, once I had gone to Radha Gopinath temple and I had gone staying there. So, Sunday I went for lunch. I went little late.
So, I saw that there was a sweet and the sweet was over. And I sat down and I saw there was one devotee, senior devotee. I could see that his plate of sweet was over and he was asking sweet hai kya, sweet hai kya? So, I was thinking, what is this shamelessness? He already got sweet once and he was asking everyone.
And everybody was asking because he was senior devotee. Everybody was running around, sweet hai kya, sweet hai kya? And there was no sweet anywhere. They went and checked all the bucket.
They went and checked everywhere. And still he was asking again and again. And in my mind, I was becoming terribly offensive.
What shamelessness! And finally, one devotee brought sweet from his plate to give to him. And then I was thinking, this is too much. And then when he brought the sweet, he said, mujhe nahi, inko dena.
Unko mila nahi sweet. And he pointed to me. So, this is attributional error.
We see a behaviour and we immediately think, he is an uncontrolled person. But we don’t know what is the cause. I really thanked Krishna.
I came to know. I thanked that devotee that he brought that plate and then I realised that the sweet was for me. Otherwise, I would have thought that this person is so uncontrolled.
So, like that, it is always better to give others the benefit of doubt. Give others the benefit of doubt. When you see some behaviour, don’t immediately judge.
He is like this only. Skew others the benefit of doubt. Then we will be able to have this non-judgemental attitude.
Now, of course, this is a little… I won’t go into this in detail, but quickly. There are ten offences and the most important, dangerous is offence against Vaishnavas. So, what should we do if we have criticised some devotee, blasphemed some devotee, hurt some devotee? Then he says, first is Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains, this is defence from offence.
He says, beg forgiveness from that devotee. Generally, the devotees are very forgiving and they will forgive us. But if they don’t, then he says, then we have to render some menial and pleasing service to that devotee.
Something which that devotee likes, if he likes a particular sadhana I didn’t give to him, if he needs to have something done in his life, we can do that for him and please him. And if in spite of that the devotee doesn’t get pleased, he doesn’t forgive us, then we should take helpless and desperate shelter of the holy name and render service to the holy name by chanting the holy names. Bhaktivinoda Thakura warns, the third will not work if you have not tried the first and second.
I mean, you cannot escape seeking forgiveness and just think that I will just take shelter of the holy name. No, it won’t work. So, this is defence.
Now going ahead, Attitude. Attitude means, actually Prabhupada explains in the introduction of the Nectar of Instruction that advancement in Krishna Consciousness depends on the attitude of the follower. What does the attitude mean? What do we want? Why have we come to Krishna? Just like once a person went and started glorifying, Oh God, you are so great, you are this and you are that.
Oh my dear lord, what are a few paise for you? God said that, my few paise are several crores of rupees for you. And God, what are the few moments for you? He said, my few moments are several hundreds of years for you. God, can you please give me a few paise? After a few moments.
God replied. What does that mean? After you try to cheat God, you try to apply your cunningness to God, it won’t work. So, actually, why are we chanting? It’s very important.
Are we chanting to get love for Krishna? If that is there, then we will very easily get love for Krishna. If we are chanting for something else, then we may get that. And we will regret that afterwards.
Why will we regret it? Because nothing apart from Krishna can satisfy us in our life. The soul is hankering for Krishna. And actually all the objects of this world are like the toys of a child.
They are all maya’s temptations to distract us from Krishna. So, sometimes the child is crying. And generally when the child cries, immediately the mother goes and fondles the child and caresses him and silences him with her love and her affection and attention.
But sometimes the child cries just for the sake of crying. And now the mother is also intelligent. She knows when the child is crying just for the sake of crying.
And the mother doesn’t go at that time. So, like that, Krishna also knows when we are chanting intensely and when we are chanting casually. When you chant casually, Bhaktivinoda Thakur says, नामाक्षर मात्र है, नाम नहीं है.
He says, you are just uttering the names of the words of the holy name, but Krishna is not manifesting there. So, actually, when the child is crying, the mother will come and ask, see this toy. And you give this toy.
You take this. And she answers, nice toy. And the mother will go away.
And again the child will start crying. And the mother will come and give another toy. O! very nice toy.
The mother will start playing with it, fiddling with it. And again the mother will go away. If the mother comes and gives a toy, the child still keeps crying.
The mother gives another toy. And the child keeps crying. And the mother asks, what do you want? I have given you so many toys.
Mamma, I don’t want toys. I want you.” And then the mother will pick him and embrace him and never leave him. The same with Krishna.
Now, Krishna will give us so many toys. Krishna will give us wealth. Krishna will give us fame.
Krishna will fulfil all our desires. We like getting toys. And then Krishna will see.
If we become happy with the toys, then Krishna will go away. But then we say, I don’t want all this. That’s why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadishyakam ye nama janmani janmanishvare bhavatar bhakti rahitukim Of course, any way we chant the holy names, we will be benefited.
But if you want maximum benefit, we should chant with a pure heart. If our heart is not pure, then at least aim for a pure heart. As I want to chant out of love for you, Krishna.
And this is the part of the presentation which I will talk about. All these are attitudes, which we discussed earlier. And then, as you know, these three things, posture, pronunciation, prayer, the three poles.
So how should the posture be? We don’t have to be yogic erect. But we should not be comfortable like a person sitting in an armchair. Once in Radha Gopinath temple, one devotee was chanting, leaning against the wall.
So Radha Maharaj came and told him, take shelter of the holy name. Don’t take shelter of the wall. So we have to chant.
So we should sit in such a way that we can offer maximum attention. And if we have some back problem, we can sit on a chair. If you have some back problem, you need a back rest.
The back can rest, but the head should not rest. If the head rests, then everything rests after that. So we can set the posture.
There are some practical tips. Sit erect and relax. Not that you have to be in pain, torturing the body.
Sit away from walls. Sit in a circle with devotees. So when you sit in a circle with devotees, at least one devotee in the circle will be awake.
And he can wake up the other devotees. Actually, it’s unfortunate that once there is an incident in the Puranas, that Kali is also a devata. And he has his business.
What is his business? To spread illusion, hypocrisy and quarrel in this age of Kali. So there is another devata that asks Kali, You know in Kali Yuga, just by chanting the holy names, your influence will be just vanquished. So how are you going to rule in the age of Kali? So Kali smiled.
He said, Do you think I will let the people chant? I will not let them chant only. So actually it’s amazing. Devotees don’t feel sleepy at any other time, but as soon as you start chanting, start feeling sleepy.
It’s amazing. That is the influence of Kali. Sometimes the Vaishnav jokes come.
So Agra Hasta couple were chanting and the wife is telling the husband, Prabhuji, should I wake you up after your rounds are finished? So it happens like that. Therefore, sit with other devotees and try to fight sleep. We’ll see how to fight sleep afterwards.
So generally it’s best to chant sitting. If we are feeling very sleepy, then we can stand. If we are still sleepy, we can walk and chant.
And we should, like once a person asked me, should we go for long walks while chanting? No. Go on short walks for a long time. That means what? Walk inside the temple hall, walk inside your house.
Because if you go for a long walk, then there is constant new scenery to see. And you can’t concentrate. But if you are walking in the same place for a long time, then there is nothing else to see.
Then you say, OK, let me concentrate on the Holy Name. It’s like that. So and it’s best if you keep the eyes closed and shut away the external world.
That’s called Pratyahara. That’s the best. But if we keep our eyes closed, often we don’t go into Samadhi.
We go into Nidra, we go into Sapna. So we should go up, but we go down. Therefore, keeping eyes closed may not be the best advisable thing.
Then if we keep our eyes open, what happens? We are not sleeping, but we are seeing who all are sleeping. So we don’t chant properly. So it’s better that we keep our eyes half closed or look down and chant.
That helps us. And with respect to pronunciation, chant briskly. Briskly means not very fast, not very slow.
We chant very slowly. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. A few times it’s OK, but the mind is hyperactive.
Mind will get bored and will go somewhere else. And if we chant too fast, then we miss out words. Therefore, briskly, that means as fast as we can while maintaining clarity of pronunciation.
And it’s very good to record our chanting to see if we are chanting the mantra properly or not. Because many times we miss out. Especially when you chant Krishna, you have to open the mouth full.
When you chant Ram also, you have to open the mouth. When you chant Hare, you don’t have to open the mouth full. It’s a short sound.
And three Hare’s come together. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare.
When three Hare’s come together, often many devotees chant only one Hare or two Hare’s. So it’s very good to record and see. And Hare, Radha Rani is the way we approach Krishna.
It’s very important. And often we feel that I am chanting clearly. But when you record, then you can see that actually we are missing out words.
So and actually recording should be done not just for half a round or one round. It should be done for at least six rounds. Because what happens when you are recording for only one round? Then we are conscious.
Yes, recording is happening. But then you chant very clearly. But then after three, four rounds, our habits come back to us.
So then on the fifth, sixth round, you will see what is your real chanting. Another thing is that you should try to minimise talking while chanting. Best is not to talk at all.
In fact, the Acharyas give the standard that actually one should not even move while chanting. The only thing that should move is the lips. But then sometimes devotees move their heads or bodies because they feel sleepy.
That’s OK. But you should try to avoid all other activity. And if you have a mobile, better switch it off or keep it in the silent mode.
And if something is very urgent, we can talk. Just a few words. Now, if you have to talk for 30 seconds, one minute, that’s OK.
But sometimes we talk on mobile for 30 minutes and then we continue the same round. That’s very bad. That means, you know, we are giving Krishna a very low priority.
So, yes, if it’s half a minute, one minute, that’s OK. The ideal standard is some devotees do that. They get into trouble because of that.
If you talk, you drop the round. And you chant the round again. That’s a very good standard to follow.
But you have to be practical. It may happen that you drop the round so many times that night you have 16 rounds to chant. It’s not good like that.
So, what is good is we should try to avoid talking at all while chanting. And just like, you see, sometimes, like people say, you know, I chant all the time. Bhagwan ka naam 24 ghante chalte hi rehta hai.
24 ghanta chalta hai, par ek minute muhu pe nahi aata hai. Kyu aise hai? It’s not like that. Just imagine, suppose you go to meet someone.
And that person is typing on his computer or talking on the phone. Haan, bolo, kya kaam hai? Haan, haan, haan. And he is doing his own work and he is also talking with you.
How will you feel? You will feel snubbed. You will feel, you will not feel good about it. Same way, chanting is like talking with Krishna.
So, at that time, if you are doing something else, you know, if you are, okay, I will drive my car, at that time I will chant. You know, I will do some other thing. I will walk and I will, I will go for my, okay, I have to walk to bus stop every day, 15 minutes.
So, at that time I will chant my two rounds and coming back 15 minutes I will chant two rounds. It’s good. Some way chanting is better than no chanting at all.
But actually, if you want a personal relationship with Krishna, you have to treat Krishna like a person. And just as when somebody does some other activity while talking with us, we feel neglected, same way Krishna will feel neglected when we do some other activity. That’s why chanting should be an exclusive activity.
Yes, we can chant while driving, we can chant while walking, we can chant at all times. But if I prescribe rounds, they should be done exclusively. They should not be done while doing other activities.
So, minimise talking while chanting. And then hear the holy name, not the mind while chanting. See, the holy name we are speaking into the mouth and the mind is speaking loudly.
Mind is speaking, it depends. If you hear the mind, the mind will keep speaking more and more and more and more. But the mind is like a child.
If you don’t speak it, if you don’t pay attention to it, the mind will calm down. So, just like when a child is naughty and nobody pays attention, the mind calms down. The child calms down like that.
So, hear the holy name. When we are chanting, we have to see what am I hearing now. Am I hearing the mind or am I hearing the holy name? And then count the mantras with the other hand.
Actually, many times, because the Hare Krishna mantra is very long, so, many times devotees pull two mantras, two beads in one mantra. Once we did a study, we go to youth centres and we preach. So, we had 40 boys in the study and they all counted.
And the maximum count was 78. That means, everybody is saying we chant one mala, but they are chanting 78 mantras. Shocking! It’s a very serious matter.
So, when we are chanting, we shouldn’t race against the time. Sometimes, at least, if we chant with the other, if we have a counter, and chant with the counter also, or count with the other hand and see, whether I am actually chanting 108 beads. It helps a lot.
And I do it every day when I chant. This finger I am chanting on the beads, this finger I am chanting. And now, very rarely it happens that here the mala is over, here the mala is not over, and here it is over.
That means, generally what happens is, here the mala is over, and here some 4 or 8 or 12 are remaining. So, it is not very difficult actually. You have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and again 1, 2, 3, 4. Like that.
So, you chant, at least sometimes if you do it, if you have good mathematical intelligence, that won’t distract you from your concentration on the whole name. But if it distracts, at least once we can try to do. And actually chant 108 mantras in one round.
And then see how much time it takes. Sometimes, sometimes devotees feel, Today, when I was in a hurry, the mala was over in 6 minutes. Today it is taking 10 minutes, the mala is not over.
No, there should be a steady time. And if say, normally we take 7 minutes per round. And if the rounds get over in 5 minutes, then chant for 2 minutes extra.
That means you have missed out some mantras. It is very important to count the mantras, at least occasionally. And then, expand the circle of concentration.
What that means is, the ideal chanting is, when we just fix the mind on the sound of the holy name. Nothing else. That is the ideal.
Chabda Brahma. Because the sound is going to purify us. But, if our mind doesn’t focus on the sound of the holy name, then there can be other things related with the holy name on which we can concentrate.
For example, we can have a picture of Radha Krishna. Or we can have the written print of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. Or we can have some prayer glorifying the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra.
Or we can have some instruction that we have received about chanting of the holy names. By all this, now this is not ideal. Like you know, there is a point of concentration, that is the sound.
And around that, there is a circle. So now, if the mind wanders, it may wander to your job, it may wander to the studies. Sometimes you always think, I will look at the deities.
I will take darshan of the deities and chant. Sit down to chant and you look at the deities and you see Krishna is wearing a dhoti and you think, where did I dry my dhoti? Will it get wet? The mind wanders. The circle of concentration means what? That there are objects which are related with the holy name.
And when the mind goes there, from there we bring it back. That means, instead of letting the mind wander to an unlimited extent, we let the mind wander to a limited extent. If you are not able to hear the holy name, just look at the picture of Krishna and pray to Krishna.
And again we will come back to concentration. That is the circle of concentration. This is a prayer.
You can try to repeat this verse after me. This is a prayer by Kulashekhar Maharaj. He is saying, What person is there, even most sinful, who is not delivered by the chanting of the holy names? But alas, although we had the power to chant, we never used that power.
And that is why we had to suffer the miseries of material existence. Miseries like going in the mother’s womb. So, there are two things, two simultaneous emotions in this prayer.
There is confidence in the power of the holy name. And there is repentance at our inability to access that power. That is why it is an ideal prayer.
Yes, Krishna’s holy name can purify me. But unfortunately, I am not chanting properly. So, Prabhupada would say, the best prayer is, pray to Krishna.
I want the strength to serve you. Please give me that strength. And that prayer will never be unfulfilled.
Actually the holy name of Krishna is so powerful, that if we chant attentively, we can make rapid spiritual advancement. There are people who struggle to give up tea for 10 years. And a devotee just by a few days chanting, gives up not tea, gives up so many bad things.
Why is that? The holy name is so powerful. But we get used to the holy name and we don’t tap the power of the holy name. If we tap the power, actually we will be able to experience, su-sukham kartum avyay gaya.
We will be able to experience how chanting the holy name is a very joyful process. So, these are some tips. I will quickly summarise what I discussed.
I started first with, does anyone remember the Harinam? What was H? Yes, helplessness. So, not the helplessness that comes when our desires are not fulfilled. But the helplessness that comes by realising our dangerous position in the material world.
What are the three ways we can feel helpless? Yes? Remember. Remember death. Remember suffering.
Okay, I will do one. I will just go over. So, remember death, remember suffering and remember anarthas.
So, anarthas we discussed. The story of the waves and the boy whose hat was lost. And then we discussed.
Affection is, we remember our spiritual master and our service to him. Or remember our favourite pastime of Krishna. I told you some pastimes of Krishna and Arjuna related with this.
And then, it is our responsibility. We have to hold on to the rope, then the person outside will pull out. So, I discussed some stories about Tukaram Maharaj and others.
And then I is intelligence. So, yes. Even if we don’t, even if the whole name doesn’t taste good, even if we don’t enjoy.
I am taking this as a medicine. And keep taking, not for the taste, but for the effect. And then, N is non-judgemental behaviour.
So, we discussed how? Don’t criticise others. There is no cleverness in finding water in the ocean. Cleverness is in finding lands.
No cleverness in finding false numbers. Cleverness is in finding good. And we give the benefit of doubt.
I told the story of that. Sweet. And then we discussed about how to be protected from the offences.
Attitude is what do we want in life. We chant to get Krishna Prem. Then we can get taste very easily.
The child who calls, I don’t want any toys. I want only my mother. And we discussed many methods.
Posture, pronunciation and chanting. We discussed how we should sit. And how we should keep our eyes closed.
Half closed. Pronunciation. And lastly about prayer we said.
Prayer should be. Devotee has confidence in Krishna. And repentance in his inability to take shelter of Krishna.
This combination will enable us to take shelter of Krishna very quickly. Thank you very much. Is there any one question? Or is it too late? If you allow yourself to do something for class.
What should be our approach to that kind of thing or problem? Sometimes we only chant while the lecture is going on. Relation and chant. Relation will be slow.
So what should exactly be the natural solution? First of all. The immediate solution would be. If it is going to be too late at night.
And we are not able to chant afterwards. Then go out. Don’t come for the programme and chant the rounds.
But that is not a permanent solution. Because if we don’t come for the programme. Then we will stop chanting also eventually.
Because the programme is what gives us inspiration to chant. Therefore best would be that we manage our time properly by which we can chant. Managing our time properly is not a very difficult art.
The problem is that. Now we want one formula. We think morning I will do this.
Afternoon I will do this. Evening I will do this. But life doesn’t work like that.
So when we have to balance. What life requires is balance in motion. And what we want is static balance.
What does balance in motion mean? It is like simple. If you are driving a cycle or a bike. Normal balance state is the horizontal stage.
Sorry the vertical stage. Like this. But imagine if you are going.
And if there is a dead end. You have to turn right. And then you have to go like that.
Now when you turn right. The balance state for the cycle is not vertical. It is tilted.
If you tilt then you can turn right. But after turning right. If you keep tilted.
Then you will go in a circle and get nowhere. After the turn is done. Then again you have to make the cycle straight.
And then move forward. Sometimes you have to turn left. So at that time.
When you turn left. The balance state is a tilted left stage. But after the turn is taken.
Then again come back straight. So sometimes it may happen in our life. That our material responsibilities are a lot.
And that time we may have to chant in the evenings. That time we may have to chant. In emergency situations.
Which is not ideal for chanting. That is ok. But we should not think.
I can never plan my life. It is like this only. No.
As soon as that crisis is over. Come back to normal. Bring the cycle back in the horizontal stage.
So when you do planning. It is better to plan. They are saying.
There is a whole seminar. Which we conduct in companies. It is called.
Planning by the compass. And planning by the clock. Planning by the clock.
Means you think. Ok. 5 to 6. I will do this.
6 to 7. I will do this. 7 to 8. I will do this. And life doesn’t work.
Because if somebody is talking with you. Time was over. Now I am going.
It won’t work like that. So that is planning with the clock. But planning with the compass means.
Ok. Today I have these things to do. Or in this week.
More precisely. This is the direction I am going to go. For example.
Say when you are going in a cycle. You know. You plan the compass.
Ok. This is the direction I have to go. And this is how I have to go.
But it is not that throughout you have to stay straight. You become tilted sometimes. And again you become straight.
How do you know? Why do we become straight after we become tilted? Because we know. I don’t want to go in this direction. I want to again come back and go in this direction.
But similarly. If our direction is clear in life. Then occasionally the kind of situation you are talking about may come.
But generally we will be able to balance our life. So yes. It would be best if we can chant our rounds in the morning itself.
Plan our schedule in such a way that. Wake up and finish the rounds. Actually if we chant in the morning.
What happens? The mind is not cluttered with many other thoughts. Attentive chanting. We chant in the evening.
Generally evening chanting is just counting. It is not chanting actually. Because it is just counting.
When will you finish them? Sometimes finish the rounds. Sometimes you see. Devotees take the beads out of the bead bag and see.
Does this mala have 108 beads or 1008 beads? It is not getting over at all. So it is best if we could manage our time in such a way that. We chant in the mornings itself.
We should not chant. We should not. If we feel that there are prescribed rounds remaining.
And you can’t chant afterwards. Then miss the lecture. You are doing 16 rounds and you can chant.
But if the lecture is going on. And if you want to chant. Just because you like to chant all the time.
Then chant without moving the lips. Chant in the mind. Because it appears inattentive.
Imagine if you are. If somebody comes to talk. If you are talking with someone and the person is chanting.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna.
I am hearing also Prabhu. It appears very odd. So we should not.
Yes. It is devotional service only. Like this question was asked to Radhanath Maharaj.
So he said yes. It is devotional service. Honouring Prasad is devotional service.
Doing worship of the Pujari. The Pujari worship that he has in altar. That is also devotional service.
But you cannot honour Prasad while doing puja. Imagine if you go to Pujari and you see. He is moving the chamar and eating laddu.
You can’t do like that. Both are devotional service. But there is time and place for everything.
So hearing is one devotional service. Chanting is another devotional service. And they should be done at different times.
Many devotees use counters to chant extra rounds. Generally the prescribed number of rounds can be chanted on beads. That is the vow that we take.
And in emergencies it is okay. But actually the beads themselves purify us. When you are touching the beads you are either Tulsi Maharani.
You are initiated or you are touching me. It is also purifying. When you are touching a mechanical object.
It doesn’t purify us. Consciousness also is lifted just by the contact with the beads. So you can certainly use counters for extra rounds.
And in emergencies you can use it for normal rounds. But ideal is that. Not ideal.
This is basic standard actually. That we should use our beads for chanting. Okay.
Yes. How much time do we have? Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. It is described that the Supersoul in our heart is guiding us.
How is that? Swagati. What is our beneficial destination? He tells us through two ways. Acharya.
Acharya is the spiritual master externally. And Chaitya as a Paramatma. The Chaitya Guru he is called as internally.
The inauspicious thing that a person may do. He avoids them. He cleanses them internally and externally.
So Krishna is certainly there in our heart. Unfortunately right now we are blind and deaf to his presence. He speaks but we cannot hear.
He is there but we can’t see. So therefore he manifests externally as his representatives. As Guru, Sadhu, Shastra.
So these three we actually get Krishna’s instructions. Through them we are getting connected with the Supersoul. And to the extent we follow their instructions.
To that extent Krishna sees that we want to get connected with him. And then Krishna reveals his will, his desire, his presence, his munificence to us internally also. That connection is not like you put a Khila in the wall and you get connected.
Because both we and Krishna are conscious. So Krishna wants to be connected with us. That’s why he is there as a Paramatma in our heart.
But unfortunately we are attracted to the external objects. The Upanishads say that there are two birds in a tree. One bird is observing and the other bird is eating the fruits.
So because of eating the fruits so busy he doesn’t see the other bird. So like that Krishna is there in our heart but we are oblivious to his presence. So when we follow the instructions of the spiritual master, the scriptures and the sadhus.
Then Krishna says this soul wants to be guided by me. Then I will guide him and we will become connected. So see whether we are accepting Krishna’s connections when it comes externally to us.
When we accept that then Krishna will get connected with us internally. Often people feel why should I follow any instructions, why should I follow any rules. Actually the rules and regulations of Bhakti are Krishna’s embrace for us.
A naughty child, a foolish child, when the mother embraces, why are you restricting me? But the mother is not restricting the child, the mother is protecting the child. Similarly the rules that Krishna is giving, the instructions the devotees are giving, they are Krishna’s embrace. And to the extent we follow the instructions strictly, to that extent we are allowing Krishna to draw us closer and closer to him.
And we will become more and more connected. So first connect externally. Otherwise this internal connection can lead to a lot of speculation.
Like one person came to Prabhupada and said Swamiji, yesterday I saw Krishna in my dream. He said okay yesterday you saw Krishna, serve him today. Prabhupada said what is the proof? Yes, what will you do in the spiritual world after you see Krishna? Everybody is serving, you also have to serve.
So that service is our relationship with Krishna, seeing is not the relationship. So how do we know that we are connected with Krishna? How do we know that anyone is connected with Krishna? We don’t have to speculate. Is this person connected with Krishna? Is that person connected with Krishna? No.
Just see what is their life. Is their life dedicated to Krishna’s service? If it is, that means they are connected. Because our relationship is not sentimental or mental in the mind, imagination.
Our relationship is through service. And tomorrow morning when I am speaking about the Gopi Geetha and Raas Leela, we are talking about how Srila Prabhupada was an exalted devotee. How he was connected with Krishna.
But the principle is that the connection is through service. So if we see that we are always absorbed in service to Krishna, service may be physical, service may be mental, it may be intellectual also. We are thinking of Krishna’s message to understand it better and to preach it to others.
If we are connected with Krishna, that means we are always Krishna conscious, through service, then that is how we know that we are connected. How can we judge for ourselves? Others, how do we judge? We can’t know what is going on in their minds. We can see what they are doing.
By that we can see. If they are always engaged in service to Krishna, then we know that they are connected with Krishna. And how do we know that whether we are connected with Krishna? We should see how much is the maya in our heart.
If we are connected with Krishna, Prabhupada says, nobody has to give you a certificate that you have become an advanced devotee. It is as simple as this. Is lust, anger, greed still troubling you? If it is, that means you are not yet connected with Krishna.
The Anavidham. Vidham means to pierce. Anavidham means stop piercing.
So they will stop piercing and what will happen? We will be joyful at that time. So that is the connection. How much are we disturbed by lust, anger, greed? If we are not disturbed and we are following instructions, that means we are connected with Krishna.
And gradually Krishna will reveal Himself. But primary is service. That is our main connection with Krishna.
That is our eternal connection with Krishna. In the spiritual world also, the gopis, the brijwasis, they are serving Krishna. That is their connection with Krishna.
It is not that everybody is always with Krishna in the spiritual world. In the mornings, Mother Yashoda is there. All day she is not there.
But she is always connected with Krishna because she is thinking of Krishna. And she is not only thinking of Krishna, she is serving Krishna. When Krishna comes back in the evening, what will I offer Him? So that is our connection.
Internally, our thoughts. Externally, through our service. So we can check both.
Thank you very much for your kind attention. And although I spoke a lot about the Holy Name, my chanting also needs a lot of improvement. So if any of these tips help you in your chanting, you please pray for this fallen soul.
Krishna will bless His mercy on me also that I can improve my chanting and take shelter of the Holy Name. Shri Harinam Prabhu ki, Shila Prabhupada ki, Nasik Dham Bhakta Vrinda ki, Jai! Jitai Gaur Premanand! Jai!