When we chant, does Krishna come from inside outside or from outside inside?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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so when we chant the holy name is it that Krishna who is inside comes out and then there is illumination or is it that we call out Krishna so Krishna comes from outside to inside yeah see when we talk about Krishna in his various manifestations they are non-different so Krishna as the super soul in the heart and Krishna as the holy name both of them are non-different but it is that at different times in our spiritual life we may feel more connected with a particular manifestation it’s like if we are doing kirtan in front of deities so we may have different options we hold the deities keep our eyes open and try to focus on the deities another option could be I just close my eyes I just focus on the sound of the holy name both are perfectly ok the point is I have to remember Krishna so whether I remember Krishna when he is manifesting as the holy name sound of the holy name or whether he is manifesting as the deities and I am calling out to the deities through the holy names so so however we can fix the mind on Krishna that is fine so it also depends on how the process begins that depends on our level of consciousness so it may be that the the chanting can be an expression of our awareness of Krishna’s presence or the chanting can be a call to invoke Krishna’s presence that means say you know internally I remember Krishna some I remember some past time I feel some emotion and then I call out Krishna that is the chanting is an expression of my awareness of Krishna’s presence or it could be that actually I am not I am getting dragged by anxiety I am being dragged by desire at that time I want to be rescued from it so I call Krishna so then I am not feeling Krishna’s presence right now but I am calling out so that I invoke Krishna’s presence so it can work both ways so if I already have feeling bhakti in my heart and then I call out Krishna’s names so it is more like a the presence I am expressing already my awareness of my presence I am expressing but there can be other times when I am actually calling out for Krishna to make his presence felt to us so that’s why chanting it is said is both a prayer and the fulfillment of the prayer chanting is a prayer in the sense that we are calling out to Krishna but Krishna is non different from his holy name so I call out to Krishna and then Krishna comes as his holy name and that means the prayer is fulfilled over there so chanting is both a prayer which is a call for Krishna and it is also the fulfillment of the prayer chanting brings us in the presence of Nama Prabhu, the holy name which is a manifestation of Krishna so then it depends on our consciousness whether when we are experiencing Krishna is it we experience Krishna and call out the holy name or we call out and experience Krishna through that so both ways are possible the important thing is to not get too caught in hair splitting kind of analysis I focus on remembering Krishna so whichever way it works out that is perfectly fine