Hare Krishna All,
PAMHO,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I chant 16 rounds daily. I am unable to chant attentively all the rounds sometimes my mind suddenly
goes on something. I want to know what does 'Hare' means exactly in maha mantra? What one should think of while chanting Hari naam? What shouldn't be done while chanting? please explain.....
Servant of your Servants
Aakash
Replies
Chanting attentively is very easy. First of all you have to make up your mind that you WILL NOT perform unattentive chanting, because it is one of the ten serious offenses against the Holy Name of Krishna, called Namaparada.
Secondly chant loudly... as LOUD as you possibly can.
Thirdly, Go outside the house, in the garden or somewhere there are other living entities, who can benefit from your chanting.
Fourth, Always chant Prabhupad pranati, then Panchatatva Mantra and only then Japa of Maha Mantra. Repeat every round.
Fifth, If your mind wanders, bring it back and resume Maha Mantra, starting with Panchatatva Mantra once.
Sixth, Perform Japa with senior devotees, if possible. You will get better focus.
Hare Krishna Aakash Pr,
PAMHO, AGTSP, AGTSG&SG,
Once again very wonderful question what you have asked in the discussion form. Most of the devotees have this problem and you are not the only one so don't worry. When a devotee asked about the trouble of mind during chanting to Srila Prabhupada, he replied "You only have to chant the Mahamantra through your mouth and listen through ur years where is the question of Mind?" So its very simple yet the MOST difficult thing in the creation to do for us. This is because we do not have the taste for the holly name of lord.
I was fortunate enough to attend a 3 day Japa workshop last week end. Initially when i heard about it I was wondering what any one could possible talk about Japa for 3 days!!! But I was wrong in thinking so. there are soo many things that we even don't know about chanting.
One very important point from the training that I learned is that Chanting is not just chanting and hearing there is one more factor involved in it. That is our heart. We should try to chant in a prayerful mood and offer prayers to Lord to accept us and to forgive us for all the mistakes we have done by going away from him. Ask him to guide us to come closer to his lotus feet. Beg him to engage in his service, etc... You can have your own prayer and it should not be from our mind/head but our heart. we should be genuinely feeling the prayer we are offering while chanting.
SP said that Hare Krishna Mahamantra is Shyamsunder. When we chant HK Mahamantra, Shyamsunder is standing in front of us. Only problem is we can not see him unless we surrender to him and beg for his mercy.
Hari bol!!!
hari bol,
thank you so much..... Sudheendra Sji , Bhaktin Maralji.....
actually i am also bare this problem everyday. whenever i chant or japa then sometimes my mind go here n there. there is no concentration. so ....
but now i have a solution. thank you once again
hari bol
haribol.............................. evn i had dis prblm bt nw aftr i think its solved
PAMHO
AGTSP Guru & Gauranga
Hare Krishna
I like to have a picture of Sri Sri Radha Madhava, or Sri Sri Nitai Gauranga.
And I would always use a picture of Sri Naam as well (Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare).
Hope this helps.
Hari Bol
Your Servant,
Bhakta David
Hare Krishna dear Devotees, please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
"Hare" is Srimati Radharani - Hara. But in calling voice it will be "Hare". We have to cry like a child while calling Her Name who is our eternal Mother.
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Yes, mind is very strong and starts to disturb us especially when we sat to chant.
Technical things should be done:
---to chant not too slow. if so then mind will get bored and fly away. it will be normal if one round of japa will take 7-8 minutes.
---not too fast. we have to pronounce syllables correctly.
---try not to think of anything but to LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN the sound vibration. Mind goes away, again we should try to bring back and listen. if again then again...it is our practice.
---Srila Prabhupada recommends also to sit properly with straightened back and half closed eyes so that eyes do not run here and there.
We have to feel ourselves as like we are worriers who are on the battle field. If Arjuna fought with Kurus we have to fight with our own mind and make him our obedient servant.
Your servant,
Hare Krishna bhaktin maral mata ji , please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
i cant sit and chant i used to chant while standing in front of tulsi maharani it is a wrong way
Hare Krishna Sunchit Prabhu, please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
i also for more than 5 years thought that i am not able to sit and chant but only walking because i fell asleep immediately. The problems were:
--i did not have faith that i am capable to sit properly as yogis ;-)
--i did not have determination to learn to sit properly
Then something happened with my health and i started to sleep even while walking :-) even more dangerous :-) then i became very angry to my self.
That time took a yoga carpet sat on that in a half lotus posture which i never practiced, with straightened back, and with half closed eyes started to chant.
body started to pain, atrophy ........head was paining because of just just joined eyes :-) but i told to my self LET IT BE SO! I WILL TOLERATE! I AM CAPABLE TO DO AND KRISHNA WILL HELP ME TO DO IT!
For nearly weeks 1-2 it was austerity but i found sitting posture far more effective than walking. If we sit properly it will be easier also to control mind, and even kick away the sleep.
There is nothing that we are not able to achieve, we need just strong desire and determination to do so.
Your servant,
very inspiring. I too have difficulty in sitting for long time. I try to chant 8 rounds at least sitting and then change position for some time and then continue. that also works. When I am very tired due to lack of proper rest, i feel very sleepy and walk while chanting. It would be mostly radar chanting that time. Looking at what others are doing and things around us and completely forget Krishna.