Mahamantra while eating?

Hari bol, please accept my obeisances, all glories to srila prabhupada, all glories to srila gurudev,

I'd like to specially express my thankfulness to the devotees of the temple I've been attending, who were very gentle to me and very kindly tolerated my offences and my presence, and also to all iskcon devotees. Iskcon is certainly a blessing for the western countries. I want to declare that I do have a great regard for every single vaishnava or aspiring vaishnava, just as Prabhupada said: "whoever chants Hare Krishna, deserves respect"

Finally I'd like to offer my most humble obeisances to all our senior devotees, who clear out the dense clouds of illusion of this kali yuga.

The cloud of illusions that I'm currently trying to dissipate regard the offence of inattentiveness while chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra. More specifically, in which occasion this rule applies? Does it apply also if we are hearing It from a registration(cd, tape)? And what if while hearing It, we start thinking about an aspect of devotional service, or anything related to Krishna? Is it okay to play for instance a recording of the mahamantra while eating?

Please accept my obeisances,

Ananda Mohan das

Hare KRsna Prabhuji,

PAMHO.

I have seen in some temples, at prasadam time, one devotee will sit with a book (mostly Krsna book) and read passages out while the other devotees are eating. The idea is to not let the mind free for a single instant and to keep it engaged in the service of the lord at all times, including eating. Going by that, hearing the mahamantra recording while eating is a very auspicious thing to do and shoudl be encouraged. Never mind the concentration - I read recently in some whatsapp fwd, the gist is that Srila Prabhupada was chiding some devotees that to understand quality of chanting, we should develop the quality to understand quality (qualify to understand what is quality). If we were really doing chanting with the correct quality, we wouldnt be here anymore. Real quality is - why 16 rounds, why not 16,000 rounds? Srila Rupa Goswami said - how can I cahnt with one tongue and hear with 2 ears - to be able to relish the quality, I shoudl have a thousand tongues and 2 thousand ears to be able to hear the chanting, to get the taste.

Haribol,

Your servant,

Rashmi

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E-Counselor

Radha Rasamayi DD February 19, 2015 at 12:07pm

Hare KRsna Prabhuji,

PAMHO.

I have seen in some temples, at prasadam time, one devotee will sit with a book (mostly Krsna book) and read passages out while the other devotees are eating. The idea is to not let the mind free for a single instant and to keep it engaged in the service of the lord at all times, including eating. Going by that, hearing the mahamantra recording while eating is a very auspicious thing to do and shoudl be encouraged. Never mind the concentration - I read recently in some whatsapp fwd, the gist is that Srila Prabhupada was chiding some devotees that to understand quality of chanting, we should develop the quality to understand quality (qualify to understand what is quality). If we were really doing chanting with the correct quality, we wouldnt be here anymore. Real quality is - why 16 rounds, why not 16,000 rounds? Srila Rupa Goswami said - how can I cahnt with one tongue and hear with 2 ears - to be able to relish the quality, I shoudl have a thousand tongues and 2 thousand ears to be able to hear the chanting, to get the taste.

Haribol,

Your servant,

Rashmi

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