Why cant we have the morning program at 6 am so that more people can participate?

From: Vivek

1. Why morning program starts at 4:30 a.m. only?

2. If its a standard then why we see at ISKCON Chowpatty its at 5:00 am?

3. Will it not be physically healthier and appealing for even more people to attain morning program if it to start say by 6 a.m.? This is because in hectic modern lifestyle its very demanding and difficult for people in general to adapt so easily to lifestyle of sleeping early and get up early and  person gets exhausted and doesn’t feel energetic in the day if he gets up as early as 4 a.m.

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Vivek Kulkarni Prabhu.
Why does the morning program start at 4.30 a.m. only? If that is the standard, then why we see it at 5 a.m.? Will it not be physically healthier and appealing for even more people to attend morning program if it is to start, say, by 6 a.m.? This is because in hectic modern lifestyle, it is very demanding and difficult for people in general to adapt so easily to lifestyle of sleeping early and get up early. And person gets exhausted and doesn’t feel energetic in the day if he gets up as early as 4 a.m. Answer? Essentially, the morning program is meant to tap the latent subtle and spiritual powers that are there in the atmosphere during the sacred Brahmamurth time. So the Brahmamurth time is, ideally speaking, starting one and a half hours before dawn.
That means it can be any time in the range between 4 to 5. The seasons change. As the seasons change, the timing of dawn also changes. So the exact period of Brahmamurth will change.
Because Sri Prabhupada started an international organization and he wanted to have certain standards. So he more or less standardized the program to 4.30. There are some variants in between. In Mayapur temple, according to the season, sometimes they may start at 4.15 and sometimes at 4.30, sometimes a little earlier.
So these small variations might be there. The variation in Chowpatty temple is primarily because of practical concerns. Because the temple is right in the middle of a metropolitan area and there are neighbors in the vicinity and the neighbors feel disturbed by the early morning sounds.
So just to accommodate them, the timing has been kept at 5 a.m. But the standard is 4.30. That is more or less the standard that Sri Prabhupada set up. And with a few minutes here and there, that’s the standard. So that standard is because of the need to tap the time of Brahmamurth.
And regarding starting at 6 a.m., certainly that can be done in home morning programs or in collective morning programs where several devotees come together in one devotee’s house or in the youth centers. Things can start a little later if that is what is required by most of the devotees. However, in the temple where the Deities are there, normally speaking, the Deities have to have a fixed schedule.
And as I said, the Brahmamurth is important for that purpose. So the Deity worship has timing, has to be standardized. And they have been standardized more or less according to the way the modes change as per the morning hours and the way the Brahmamurth evolves.
So that’s why as far as the devotees are concerned, they can surely have their own individual morning programs or collective morning programs at a time of their convenience. But the morning program in the temple is primarily meant to serve the Deities. And the greeting of the Deities has to be done according to the standards that are given in the scriptures and are recommended or seconded by our Acharyas.
So that’s why that time cannot be changed. And although it’s certainly difficult because of hectic modern lifestyle to wake up early, but over a period of time, even those devotees who are living in cities can reorient their lives so that they can sleep earlier. Certainly, if we don’t get adequate sleep, then we cannot wake up early on a regular, sustainable basis.
But over a period of time, if we can try to sleep earlier, then it is always much better. According to Ayurveda, the body has its natural resting cycles. And some Ayurvedic doctors, quote the Ayurvedic texts which say that sleeping between 9 to 12 gives far greater rest to the body than sleeping between 12 to 3. And it gives much, much more rest than sleeping between 3 to 6, or to speak of 6 to 9. So therefore, even if we are going to sleep 6, 6 and a half, 7, whatever time we need to sleep hours, if that is between, say, 10 to 4 or 9 to 3, qualitatively, we will get much better rest.
Although quantitatively, it will be the same, whether it is 9 to 3 or 12 to 6 or 2 to 8 or whatever. But qualitatively, the rest will be much, much more if we sleep earlier and wake earlier. So, even from a point of view of physical health, sleeping earlier and waking earlier will be much better.
So, rather than expecting or demanding, there are a lot of changes scheduled for us because it is not that he is our servant, it is we who are his servants. So, we try to reorient our lifetime, lifestyle in such a way that we can be available for him, for greeting him and for serving him and for tapping into the mercy that he is giving by the darshans. Thank you.