Why should we chant on beads?

From: panca pandava das

Often we see many saints chants the names of god on beads, what is the science behind this?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. So, this connection at the highest level has to happen at the mind. The mind has to be fixed on God.
But because our mind at present is very externally directed, even if we close our eyes and try to think of something spiritual, generally worldly thoughts and worldly images flood our mind. So, therefore, the Vedic scriptures offer us means by which we can connect with God not just at the spiritual or the mental level, but also at the sensual level, at the sensory level. So, the more we connect with God at all these levels, the more there is a likelihood that our connection with God will be tangible and sustainable.
So, the beads are one way of connecting with God at the sensory level. So, when we utter the mantras, we are connecting with God at the level of speech. And if we concentrate on the mantras, we are connecting with God at the level of thought, and meditation, and contemplation.
But when we also use beads, that connection with God becomes enhanced because we are also involving the sense of touch in that connection. In this way, by involving more and more senses, our absorption becomes more and more. So, Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, 15th chapter, 9th verse, that, Basically, he says that the mind acts through the five senses.
So, just as the palm is connected with the five fingers on the hand, the mind is connected with the five senses. So, if we can connect as many of these senses as possible in the experience of chanting mantras, then there is greater likelihood that our mind will also get absorbed. And that is why we often may keep a picture of the Lord while chanting the mantras, so that our eyes get involved.
We may utter it loudly, not just in the mind, or softly below the breath, so that not only is our speech involved, but also our ears are involved. And we use the beads so that our sense of touch is involved. And using beads also serves a secondary purpose of helping us to keep track of our meditation.
How much meditation has been done. Although God is concerned primarily with devotion, with quality, but quantity is also an expression of seriousness. So, when we are ready to spend a significant quantity of time in a particular activity, we indicate that this activity is important for me.
That is why the beads enable us to measure how long have we meditated, how many mantras have we chanted. And just having a large quantity is not enough. We also want to have the quality of devotion.
But the quantity also expresses seriousness. Just as if we spend a certain large amount of time on a particular activity, we indicate through that that this is important for me. So, when we spend, say, in Krishna Consciousness, we spend two hours chanting the holy names every day.
Now, we may not be able to concentrate during all the two hours, but the very fact that we are ready to spend two hours indicates our seriousness. My dear Lord, my mind may be wandering here and there, but these two hours are for you. And I will try my best to offer these two hours to you.
So, this seriousness is also pleasing to Krishna. And the way we express this seriousness is by keeping track of how much time we are chanting, or how many mantras we are chanting. And the beads help us for that also.
So, to involve the sense of touch, so that we get deeper meditation, and to involve keeping track of how long we are chanting, we use beads. Thank you.