Hare Krsna
" Material benedictions are not always exactly worthy of being called benedictions. If one possesses more and more, a benediction itself may become a curse, for just as achieving material opulence in this material world requires great strength and endeavor, maintaining it also requires great endeavor. "
Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.4.2 Purport
Replies
Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Saṅkīrtana means when we combine together, many persons, and chant and dance. That is called saṅkīrtana-yajña.
I heard that there was always a huge social gathering when this group sang, and that the crowd was a real mix of people from different backgrounds, religious faiths and social statuses. This is the effect of music: it brings everyone under a single shelter.
Similarly, when we talk about spiritual practice (sadhna), our scriptures instruct us to perform five main practices:
1. Chant the Holy Name continuously
2. Take association of devotees
3. Listen to the Shrimad Bhagwatam
4. Do Deity worship
5. Physically live in Vrindavan. (Or if this is not possible, to reside there mentally by meditating on the pastimes of Radha and Krishn, which They perform every moment of every day)
These practices are not easy for most. For example, you need physical and mental purity to perform Deity worship, you should listen to the Shrimad Bhagwatam from a qualified speaker,and you need to develop a taste for hearing the stories, and meditating on the pastimes of Vrindavan can be affected by many external factors as well as the purity of your own heart. To really understand and enhance the quality of these practices, you need very specific types of association. But this can create divisions amongst devotees. To overcome these awkward situations and to bring harmony, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave us sankirtan. Mahaprabhu was the greatest social reformer of all time, because He knew that spiritual practice with simplicity brings great changes in people.
If you attend sankirtan, you are continuously chanting the Holy Name. Sankirtan gives you the association of devotees without discriminating on any level because everyone loves music, and to practice sankirtan you don’t need to be a musician or belong to any level of devotion. Sankirtan is the ripened fruit of the Shrimad Bhagwatam, so if you perform sankirtan, you are fulfilling this practice as well. According to the Bhagwatam, chanting the Name of Krishn is a form of His worship, so you are performing Deity worship too. And when you sing or attend sankirtan, it automatically transports you to Vrindavan. Sankirtan encompasses all of the five practices mentioned above. And it brings everyone under one shelter.
Sankirtan is called the worship of sound through sound. All that Mahaprabhu asked for was sincerity in this practice. By doing this, you will become boundless and reach the highest state of love. Hari Hari.
Hare Krishna Govind Sharan Prabhu ji,
I really liked to read thru this reply of yours...
esp. these lines.-
Physically live in Vrindavan. (Or if this is not possible, to reside there mentally by meditating on the pastimes of Radha and Krishn, which They perform every moment of every day)
you need to develop a taste for hearing the stories, and meditating on the pastimes of Vrindavan
it automatically transports you to Vrindavan.
You have taken the name of the holy dhaam Vrindavan 3 TIMES and it is reminding me of the places I visited and I am missing it.
Mero mann Vrindavan mein atko.
Good fortune is having a association of devotees who are like minded and who are totally immersed into Vrindavan pastimes.
Esctasy is when all Krishna Premikas are totally lost into pastimes and forgot the time and place and transported to Goloka.
Vrindavan ki kunj galiyan mein mil jaao prabhu mujhko mero mann vrindavan mein atko mero mann hari charanan mein atko.
Hare Krishna.
Thank you for replying!
What is good fortune?
What is ecstacy?
Hare Krsna Govind Prabhu
Thought I might add something I found regarding 'ecstasy' during the course of my reading for today:
Ecstasy- Transcendental bliss.
I would just like to add that in Hari Naam sankirtana, the music is not ordinary music, it is transcendental sound.
When one becomes jubilant during kirtana and dances in ecstasy, the bodily symptoms of ecstatic love for Krsna become manifest.
" As stated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His Siksastaka, yugayitum nimesena caksusa pravrsayitum. The words caksusa pravrsayitum refer to tears falling incessantly from the devotee's eyes. These symptoms, which appear in pure devotional ecstasy, were visible in the body of Prahlada Maharaja. "
Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.4.41 Purport
Thus the devotee, in full ecstasy, sometimes imitates the pastimes of the Lord, just as cowherd boys used to imitate the behavior of jungle animals. However, he does not actually become the Lord. Prahlada Maharaja achieved the spiritual ecstasies desctibed herein by his advancement in spiritual understanding. "
Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.4.40 Purport
One must go further and further into spiritual understanding. These feelings of a devotee will not be appreciated by impersonalists.
Hari Bol