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Chanting without offense Part 1
The cold shower…
Satisfaction!

Chanting without offense Part 1

Posted: 02 Sep 2011 03:24 PM PDT

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)


If one is committing offenses in the matter of chanting the Holy name,
then one may chant for many many births, and still one will not attain
the desired success of this chanting is Krishna prema!

So although the Holy name is Krishna, it is also mentioned that there
are certain ways to access the name. Sometimes if we commit offenses
in the matter of chanting the Holy name, we chant for so many births
and still not attain Krishna prema, because Krishna withdraws from the
name. Generally only a little but He is not fully available.

So chanting in this stage where we are still making offenses in the
matter of chanting the names, means that Krishna is not fully
manifest, then ‘śuddha-nāma’ the pure name is not manifest….then what
is manifest is only ‘nama- abhase’ or the dim reflection of the name!

Srila Haridas Thakura gives a analogy which is described by Srila
Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami in The Caitanya Caritamrta….and there it is
described that:

‘ Early in the morning, the light of the sun begins to appear in the
sky, and immediately all the fears of the night; fears for thieves;
fears for ghosts…all those fears are immediately eradicated! But yet,
the sun globe itself has not yet appeared above the horizon! It is
first the light that appears – the ‘abhase’ or the light emanating
from the sun, but not the full sun globe! That comes a little later,
and of course then gradually the sun fully rises. After sometime the
sun comes to full strength.’

So in this way the Holy name is also manifesting and it is said:

‘At first there is the dim light of the Holy name. As the dim light of
the Holy name is manifesting, we will not have a direct experience of
meeting Krishna face to face! Although we are, but yet because we
don’t have the purity at that stage – we cannot yet experience the
Lord face to face, while we are chanting. But this ‘nama- abhase’ or
this dim reflection of the pure Holy name (as Haridas Thakura says)
can do two things:

1) It can destroy all sinful reactions from the heart!
2) It can reward us liberation from birth and death’

So these are only the side benefits of chanting or becoming purified
from sinful reactions and attaining liberation from birth and death.
These are only side benefits because the essence of all chanting is
that one attains love of God – Krishna prema!

***

The cold shower…

Posted: 02 Sep 2011 07:47 AM PDT

Why are we chanting japa? Why don’t we just chant with music all the
time? When we are chanting in kirtan, we are being carried by others
enthusiasm, by the whole atmosphere that is created and we are just
going along with that and we feel very enlivened. When we are chanting
japa, we are going alone before Krsna, it’s us before Krsna and we get
exposed. It’s like a cold shower almost, like a reality check- we see
who we really are! The mind goes everywhere and there we are facing
our own shortcomings much more direct. So it is of course what has
been given to us by the acaryas. We see that in the Adi purana it is
said that it is our time where we are directly associating with Krsna,
we are alone with Krsna. So at that time we have to really leave
everything behind and just say, ‘okay I’m going before Krsna and I’m
making my offering.’

(Kadamba Kanana Maharaja, August 2010, Sweden)

***

Satisfaction!

Posted: 02 Sep 2011 07:44 AM PDT

(Kadamba Kanana Maharaja, August 2010, Finland)

As a holiday job I used to work for the post office and if you worked
at night they would pay almost double so then in a short time you
could make a lot of money. My job was to throw bundles of mail in
bags. These bags were hanging in racks- maybe 50 bags and I was just
throwing bundles. So it was sort of a sport to get a bundle in the bag
and I was getting better at it because the whole night I was doing it
and I was getting faster and faster and I was like ‘whoosh! Whoosh!’
and throwing these bundles in the bag, really fast. And then some
heavy guys came to me and they said, ‘stop it! Stop it! We don’t want
this here! You’re working too fast! Slow down!’

And that’s really what it’s like…people go to work and they sit down
behind their computer and they go on the internet when the boss is not
around. And then as soon as the boss comes up they quickly change the
screen and they are working….and everyone is just filling his pockets
with paper clips and rubber bands from the office and taking it home
and pens and anything that they can get. They feel, ‘it’s my right,
I’m working so hard here and they hardly pay me anything. The least I
can do is take some paper clips and rubber bands and whatever else…’
So like that, as little work as possible and take as much as possible.
That is the mood of the worker and the result is that everyone is
doing half work and nobody is satisfied.

But in devotional service when we actually try to do really nice
quality service for Krsna then there is some sort of strange feeling
called ‘satisfaction!’ Something that is unknown…. ‘What is this? What
is this strange feeling?’ It’s called ‘satisfaction!’ That gives us
the taste in spiritual life. Making a sacrifice for Krsna, that is
satisfying, knowing that Krsna is pleased that we did the best we
could…