Hare Krishna!
All Glories to Guru & Gaurang!
Dandvat to all the Devotes!
My working schedule (which takes me out of house at 6.30 am & back at 9 pm) allows me to chant only while travelling. Now the problems which i feel like hurdles are as follows, i request to all the devotees to please give me some solutions which i can apply to solve these problems.
1. I have to take shared auto to come to metro station( it takes around 50 minutes), most of the time these auto drives have loud music in their auto...senseless & sometime vulgar songs. When ask them to please switch off these songs they ask to leave the auto..this disturbs the chanting...and sometime these songs left such a bad impression on mind that its tune keep going in my mind even after leaving the auto.
2. In delhi metro, i travel in girls coach, either most of the girls are talking blaaa blaaaaa..& loud or hearing FM/songs by headphone, sound of headphone is so loud that many time i had left my seat due to disturbing..din chak din chak...but where to go in a single crowded coach?
3. In my office one of my collegue, seats near my seat, has habit to humming or singing all the time, while working, i asked him two times for not to do so...but waste of effort...cant change my seat as no other space is free.
These all sounds are disturbing so much...sometime i feel so guilty that i completed my 16 round but without any realization...it feels like i have done one of my duty....feel so bad...that is different issue that i never skiped my Japa routine..continously praying Kanha to help me..so putting my problems in front of all of you.
My purpose is not to blame anybody...IT IS WORLD...ASHASHWATAM>>>DUKHALAYAM..but if we can't put carpet all over the earth..we can put good slipers on our feet.
So please help me to change my mindset...i dont want to lose this precious HARINAAM...want to do intense japa.
Regards
Meera
Replies
Hare Krishna Mataji -
Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!!
Please pray the supreme controller so that he can help you; may be you can request senior devotees to pray for you. Krishna can help you for sure.
While chanting, please hear each and every word.
While chanting, please be humble towards the auto-driver. Being mad at Auto-driver is not going to help.
Please forgive me, if i caused an offence.
Jai Sri Radhey
Hare Krsna mataji
humble obeisances.
If you can, plz see the simple temple video where it shows how HHRNSM chants. If you understand the perfect attitude we have to have while chanting then trust me, even in midst of a noise , you will be able to concentrate and cry helplessly for Krsna..There are devotees who have had a practical experience like this but it is difficult, it is not easy for sure...
His Holiness Radhanath Mahraj told in one lecture that we should chant as if some one has put a gun on our temple and said he will count 3 and then shoot. The way we shall chant at that time , we should chant all the time. He also said that we should live every day as if that day is our last day and then we will try to desperately remember Krsna all the time. KRSNA IS surely pleased if we try to concentrate and trying means we have to be desperate to concentrate as if the whole world around us is serving Krsna, I am the only one who is not, like a forest fire that is burning us..I must chant sincerely.. I must . I must.. I must.. If you have a frnd who can accompany you during ur travels, it will be easier to concentrate I guess...
YS
Hare Krishna dear Devotees, please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Dear Meera Mataji, being also i a big city like Mumbai i also understand Your situation. If You have to travel on metro we have to travel on trains nearly same thing with sharing taxis...and noises all around.
Sometimes, even many times i am also not having time to chant all my rounds being in one place but on the way. So i carry ear plucks always. And on th train or in the noisy streets we can just close our ears with plucks and chant the Holy Names.
What to do? It so so happened that we are in this situation but if we cry for Krishna's mercy even while traveling our chanting will be blissful.
Because Krishna does not care whether we are chanting sitting in a lotus posture or walking or on taxi...He DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THESE THINGS. He need our attention and our heart's tears and yearnings.
No matter what bad is there we should pray Krishna not seeing others as a fault but see our karma as a fault of our situation. We should beg forgiveness and pray Krishna so that He help us to chant better. For example, if taxi driver is not fulfilling Your request You just surrender to Krishna and pray to Krishna within his heart and his heart will be melted.
But if it does not happen so then accept situation as it is and cry chanting (within Your heart). Surrender means:
"Ok, my dear Lord, if You want me to chant in this situation then i will chant. No matter what maya giving me as an obstacle I WILL SERVE TO YOU! I WILL PLEASE YOU! I WILL CHANT YOUR HOLY NAMES, NO MATTER WHAT IS THERE.
As like Haridas Thakur told: even if you cut my body into peaces, each peace will chant the Holy Names.
Your servant,
You get a Sansa/iPod/iPhone record srila prabhupads chanting and download it to your device. Put your earphones on and chant all day with it. You can also hear lot of lectures and kirtan like that. What I have learnt is if you put your ear phone people won't talk/ disturb you at the same time it will shut off unwanted talk/ noise.
Dear Meera Mataji:
Hare Krishna and Greetings! You mentioned that you take a shared automobile/trains to your job. I know that these can be very noisy to do japa (trust me, I've taken these often). Yet, one suggestion that I can offer is to purchase a cheap set of ear plugs/headphones that will block out unwanted noise. Also, you might also have to consider chanting at night. I realize that you might be a grihastha and have family duties; however sometimes a little sleep has to be sacrificed as apart of our sadhana/seva. Hopefully this advice was helpful Mataji. If you need more advice in the future, try asking advanced devotees/sadhus/sannyasis/maharaja's in your area that can give good Vaishnava tips.
-Bhakta Sekou