Hare Krishna,
Did anybody of you get enlightened even a little bit by chanting Hare Krishna? I got enlightened very strongly by chanting Om Namah Shivaya for half a year, but after I was sitting in total peace with life force at the top of my head feeling ecstasy my life went downwards very fast and I had a lot of problems and the light in the head went down(or off) fast. One of the reasons was that I stopped chanting the mantra(it's a long story, I was persuaded by one person to stop) and I stopped being vegetarian and was not established in celibacy. Now I do Hare Krishna mantra and I wonder if anybody got any results, like life force at the top of the head like I had with Om Namah Shivaya, something that is not just based on belief. Thank you
Replies
Well. Ur fortunate that ur saved by lord krishna....now u chant mahamantra.....must be a karmic connection. U were sure doing things which would have put u in a piscaha's yoni in ur next life. U were going to be born as a ghost in ur next life....Krishna saved u.
What Im saying...try to find out in BG whether it is true or not.
Hari Bola. AGTSP
yes, certainly.
Dear Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
What I actually meant is very simple:
The highest possible bliss and happiness of the soul is to regain its position as the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord. No other bliss can compare to that. The amazing thing is that we will become most happy when we give up all our attempts to enjoy for ourselves.
Of course, usually we start our spiritual path with many material desires and conditionings. In the course of our purification we may attain many wonderful things as byproducts of our devotional service. This includes various material facilities, money, position, knowledge, mystic powers, bliss of impersonal realization...etc. If we keep our focus on trying to be the servant and please the Lord and devotees, then all these things can be used in the Lord's service and they will not distract us. But if we get distracted by any of them and lose our focus on acting as the Lord's servant, then whatever happiness we get from those other things will be only temporary. Because the only eternal bliss and happiness is developing our relationship with the Lord.
Even the topmost devotees, the gopis, were left by the Lord when they became proud of their position and tried to enjoy it for themselves. The Lord does not like such attitude, because He Himself is never proud. So if we are in the mood of enjoyer, for any reason, He will leave, and then our bliss goes away. If we want to be happy always, we have to always think how to please Him.
It is difficult at first because we have been thinking in the opposite way since time immemorial. But I think that even very new devotees have that experience that if in some situation we forgot trying to enjoy and did something nice for Krishna and His devotees, those were the moments we felt the most blissful.
Mystical experiences and Brahman realization bliss maybe much more subtle than gross material enjoyment, but it is still selfish and can never give the bliss that the soul is looking for. Our acaryas have compared Brahman realization bliss to hell when compared to pure devotional service.
Hope this makes some sense.
Your humble servant,
Mldd
For me it didn't diminish, because I was enjoying it, but if one doesn't have a guru and correct knowledge one can loose the bliss very fast and even have serious problems because of overbelieving in karma and other concepts one took from books etc. and not from guru, self realisation. I strongly believe that if one does not practice celibate he will loose the bliss very fast also. Anyway these things happened with Om Namah Shivaya mantra, I hope Maha Mantra results are more permanent.
Hare Krishna Saulius Pr,
Please turn to the right source- Srila Prabhupda by searching on http://www.vanisource.org/ with appropriate key words.
Until you are unable to find proper answer, I'll give a try.
There are prescribed paths according to one's mode of nature- tamsic, rajsik, sattvic, and spiritual. In Kaliyuga(present age) energy related to matter tends to turn destructive, example a beautiful girl may try to prostitute herself or a powerful man may exploit others. Tamsic processes being the most dangerous of the three. In India almost every tantrik has turned destructive for himself and society. Sattvic is very difficult to follow. The devotional process Srila Prabhupda has given is transcendental to the three modes of nature, cannot harm in any way, and most practical to follow.
I have worshiped Lord Shiva for more than 10 years. Can share through private messages.
Your aspiring servant,
Saurabh
Dear Bh. Saulius,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Maybe my experience would help you in some way.
I knew yoga and meditation from my childhood, because my father was into it. I also got interested. When I was about 17, I got really seriously into it, I would rise early every morning, do asanas, pranayama and meditation. I had one Swami's (Yoga teacher's) books and audio records, and I would endeavor with all seriousness to precisely follow all the technical instructions. So some result came. It did bring me a more subtle awareness of my body and surroundings. It did bring me some calming of the mind. It did improve health, concentration and sleep. But the problem was that as soon as my about 1,5 hour yoga session was over and I had to go to my studies or simply into household duties, all the peace and calmness disappeared and I was in the middle of material struggle, still miserable and wondering what the goal of life was.
When I was 18, I met devotees and started chanting Hare Krishna. First I would still do all of my yoga sadhana and then chant a few rounds at the end. But very soon I discovered that my previous technical meditation was nothing compared to the experience of chanting Hare Krishna! Because while the peace and feeling of some bliss during meditation goes away as soon as the meditation is over, chanting Hare Krishna would get me permanently higher and higher! And it was not disturbed by engaging in other duties, because when other duties are dovetailed in Krishna's service, they also become chanting. Now it is the 10th year I am chanting, it's just getting higher each day! And you do get mystic powers, whatever is needed to your service, you get them very easily, but it is very insignificant compared to the development of realization of Lord Krishna as a person. That's the real thing.
But the secret is this: you have to chant attentively, hearing the mantra, trying to address Krishna as a person, asking to serve Him! And when service comes, take it! And associate with serious devotees. Read the books of Srila Prabhupada. And do not try to enjoy the bliss or mystical experience when it comes! As soon as we start trying to enjoy it, the bliss will diminish. Just try to give pleasure to the Lord, then the bliss and mystical experience will just go on expanding, because our pleasure is included in His and He is the master of all mystic power!
Keeping life force on the top of the head is not the topmost instruction of Bhagavad-gita! The topmost is: Always think of Me, become My devotee, bow down to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me! Abandon all other religious processes and surrender to Me! To Krishna, the Supreme Person. Hare Krishna
Your humble servant,
Madhavi-lata d.d.
Hare Krishna Madhavi-lata,
Thank you very much for your inspiring reply. You are so lucky to start yoga at such a young age. I started chanting at the age of about 22. It was Prabhupada's book that introduced me to chanting, but somehow I got attracted to the mantra Om Namah Shivaya, which sounded so beautiful to me. It worked after half a year, and despite my downfall which followed my experiences of bliss at least I realised 100% that God, chakras exist.
I also do pranayama and some asanas now. I try to dedicate all my actions to Vishnu (Ksirodakasayi) who is in my heart, it's just that sometimes it is not very practical to speak "I would like to offer my actions to Vishnu, who is in my heart" before every action I take. Also I chant Hare Krishna 2-3 rounds a day. I was told by one yogi not to stress things whenever possible, so whenever I feel tired or my voice gets tired I stop, but I listen also quite a lot to the record of Maha-Mantra. The thing is that actually I can not find yet the really good record of Maha Mantra even if there are so many. At krishna.com the kirtans are recorded with harmonium so loud, that it is impossible to hear the correct pronounciation of the mantra. I think Hare Krishna mantra must be also a beeja mantra, that every syllable must be important, but I have never found any information about this topic. Like Om Namah Shivaya represents five elements and that seems beautiful, logical. It would be more inspiring to chant I think if I knew the beeja explanation of the Maha Mantra. My experience with Maha Mantra was a bit strange, because I started to hear some strange voices in my head in the beginning and the chanting did not correct this problem easily so I was even forced by my parents to use some psychiatric drugs. But it could be that it was just a problem from the past, since my games with tantric things didn't leave me with totally clear mental auric layer,body. Anyway I continue chanting and also sometimes I need some inspiration, so I am looking for testimonials of people( I didn't find any on the internet), that's why I wrote this message. People in the temple where I live are simple, sometimes get sick and have problems etc. I didn't get too much motivation from them, maybe from one or two a little bit. With Prabhupada books like Bhagavat Gita I was reading it every day several chapters per day, but I get a sense that it is almost all the time repeating and I don't get any input and I just read the same thing over and over again. No new information. Maybe I should try Shrimad Bhagavatam. I feel like sometimes I need some spiritual "food" for thought from the books, not too much of course, since I understand that all understanding comes from chanting and devotion. Also I am inspired by some yogis like Swami Ramdev. What makes me interested and like him, that at 50 years of age he has thick hair, glowing skin etc. and he was born half paralysed. I am really interested in the possibility to die properly and I think pranayama and asanas would help me to increase the chance to die properly. One yogi from india I met some time ago demotivated me a little bit about Prabhupada. He said that before Prabhupada's death he said: somebody poisoned me. So this was his argument that Maha Mantra did save him from improper death and one has to leave his body sort of consciously in a yogic way. Anyway my establishment in Maha Mantra is strong and I try to be careful with what mayavadi yogis say, because they can have strong power and can make you believe things because of their charisma, will power. Another thing: for me bowing to a picture of Krishna in a printed book(printed by simple people just like everybody) seems like this way one only creates things in his mind, so I solve this question by bowing to Vishnu(Ksirodakasayi Vishnu as Prabhupada explains) who is in my heart also before chanting I dedicate my chanting to him. I really don't think good results come fast by chanting or offering food, like they write: you just have to offer some food to Krishna and all your bad karma will be solved. I have offered countless amounts of food a few years ago to Krishna and I had many many problems after that despite of the offerings. I did something incorrectly, like the offerings did not reach him? I don't know could be. Anyway however it is, however hard it is to get benefit from the mantra and Krishna I still strongly believe it is possible and I keep chanting, offering food etc.
Various tamasic things, like tobacco, even alcohol, but these things were offered to Orishas like Elegua. To more clean Orishas, like Obatala, Orunmila I offered what was prescribed, rice with shrimps and white wine to Orunmila, clear water to Obatala. But I couldn't say clearly now with clear mind that these things really worked because of Orishas however powerful the effects were. It could be that I was just really full of prana and my channels were cleaner and I created manifested these things with my own mind more easily. One day when my energy levels went down the offerings did not produce any effects on consciousness anymore, so I don't know, maybe I had better connection through more open channells in the past that these things worked. And when the channells get blocked or something the offerings don't reach the spirit(s). I think one of the most important aspects is to keep celibate and not waste one's energy that will build a good energy to struggle with life every day more easily.
Hare Krishna, I agree. I just called it a little bit of enlightenment. What really happened you can read in my reply for Siddharta. Anyway Bhagavad Gita states that one should keep the life force at the top of the head. Prabhupada commented that it is very difficult nowadays to achieve it. I succeeded somehow at that time even if it was not permanent. I think it is a great consideration to have one's life force at the top of the head besides serving Krishna.
>it is not that easy.
That was not easy too. I was chanting for half a year every day. And there is no way for me to experience the same level of experience however I want it. Anyway I don't really believe that in yoga one should do something that is very hard. Yoga at the same time is simple and one should never force oneself. So things shouldn't be very hard - enlightenment etc. It's just that we are in a struggle everyday in life in general. All of us.
Hare Krishna, thank you for your kind words. We must be all great spirits, anybody who knows that life is meant to know God even a little and not for endless meaningless search for material enjoyment is a great spirit. Others must be great two, but they can be just more poor as spirits.
>Did you see MAHADEVA?
No, just stuff in my body, pranas etc. started to move in very perceptible ways one day, I felt spinning it in various parts of the body, and at the last stage (the process lasted about 3 days) especially in the throat. The energy was spinning like a wheel i would say in the throat and when it finished after half and hour it felt like a stone has melted in my throat or something, a very great feeling. And finally, next day all energy went to sahasrara(it kind of lit up strongly) and I felt total peace, joy, laughter, happiness, unimaginable joy. No visions at all. I just felt very strong life force at the top of my head and felt extremely pleasant joyful sensations and felt that everything is one sort of thing, that everything is connected. Anyway my spiritual education was very low and that's why I falled down gradually. About mystic powers, well the power of manifestation maybe was very clear, if I concentrated on a thought, event that I want, it could happen exactly as I was imagining in a week or so. Also there were some moments after that when I was playing with some tantric stuff, like doing offerings to various Orishas(spirits of africa) or even dead spirits. So at one moment after doing such offering my muscle mass in my abdomen grew in seconds and I felt very strong stamina or when I did offerings to Orishas I sort of became a character of that orisha(started to speak in a very fluent sort of way etc.), but I wouldn't recommend these things, they lead to crazyness. What I do now is I chant Maha Mantra and bow to Vishnu, who is in my heart. For me at this moment bowing to sculptures and pictures from books etc. is not attractive. I just worship Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, who is in my heart and animates my body and mind and dedicate all my chanting to him. I think it is unbearably hard task to look for God outside yourself. I think one should manage the first step which is to serve God in the form, where he resides in a person's heart. Of course I also believe that Krishna or Vishnu is everywhere, but I think just like when Prabhupada says it is almost impossible to concentrate on nothingness and meditate, also I think it very difficult to concentrate on God who is everywhere.