chant - Blog - ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT2024-03-29T13:31:32Zhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/chantThe Best and Worst of Japa by Dwarakadhisha Devi Dasihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/the-best-and-worst-of-japa2024-03-13T08:30:00.000Z2024-03-13T08:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}2515082487,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515082487,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515082487?profile=original" width="500" /></a></p>
<p><em><strong>From Back to Godhead</strong></em></p>
<p>I love chanting japa—some days. Other days, I endure chanting japa. It seems to be bliss or boredom. On the good days I am enthralled. Krishna feels very close, and very dear. Not that I’m seeing visions or hearing voices—nothing dramatic that would excite the tabloid crowd. The experience is closer to returning home after a long, arduous journey. Such a sweet pleasure from the simple fingering of beads, the rhythmic repetition of the maha- mantra:Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.</p>
<p>But then there are the bad days. Unfortunately, when I speak of bad days I don’t mean an occasional lapse. There are so many bad days they could actually be divided into categories: sick days, cold days, sleepy days, busy days, lonely days, traveling days, foul-mood days, messy-house days, family-visiting days, summer-vacation days, lots-on-my-mind days, too-many-kids-around days, all of the days between Christmas and New Year—those are just a few. And there are others that spring up unannounced, defying categorization.</p>
<p>The paradox is that while there is always some really appealing excuse for the mental gyrations that prevent good japa, it is precisely the resultant inattention that makes chanting seem a chore, a task to be endured. Good japa is a pleasure in the deepest sense. And yet the persuasions of the mind steal this pleasure from me again and again.</p>
<p>So why listen to the mind? Knowing that the mind’s entertainment is taking me away from the process of nourishing my soul, why would I fall for it more than once? Compare me to the alcoholic who has some experience of the rewards of sober life but keeps succumbing to the temptation to drink, knowing that eventually he’ll lose the very desire for sobriety. The normal state, the sober state, no longer seems desirable when one is enslaved by alcohol. In the same way, the normal state of happiness that comes from attentive chanting is forgotten when chanting is habitually inattentive. Japa time becomes the time for the mind to assume center stage, and like a bad comic it tries all kinds of routines to capture the whims of the audience.</p>
<p>If you are by now appalled that anyone would ever let their japa fall into such a state, then you might as well move ahead to the next article. You don’t need to hear this part, which gets really shocking.</p>
<p>When my rounds get really bad, I start to question the value in even chanting them. I start to question my motives: Is it just to maintain some kind of pride in chanting sixteen rounds, even if they’re crummy rounds? At the core of it all, am I superstitious, chanting to ward off the evils of the world? Is chanting japa a way to assure myself of devotee status, something that gets me on Krishna’s good side? As these kinds of questions come up, I get swamped by shame and discouragement. I think it might be better to be honestly fallen than to chant so offensively.</p>
<p>A friend once commented to me that it would be better to chant one good maha-mantra a day than sixteen distracted rounds. I squirmed when I heard that, because I knew that I was indeed guilty of empty chanting. But I couldn’t quite agree. I took a vow at initiation to chant sixteen rounds, so I can’t give that up. And on one level, sure, just one sincere cry to Krishna is better than mechanical chanting. And yet, if one is resigned to chanting just one mantra a day, how many days would go by when those precious ten seconds of devotion would never come? If it’s easy to space out for the duration of sixteen rounds, how much easier to miss the one little scheduled chance you set up to cry out for Krishna?</p>
<p>There’s certainly a better solution to inattentive chanting than giving up. And that’s the solution that always becomes obvious to me when I see I’m sliding.</p>
<p>It’s never better to give up the fight! There always comes a point when I get disgusted enough to try harder at hearing my rounds. And whenever I make that attempt, Krishna is always there. My dearest friend always gives me shelter. When I start listening to my prescribed rounds, I have the wonderful sensation of returning to a place I love. I know that if I just put my beads aside, thinking that no chanting is better than bad chanting, I would never have these exhilarating homecomings. Srila Prabhupada encourages us: “If one goes on chanting the holy names of the Lord, which are not different from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, naturally his mind becomes absorbed in thought of the Lord.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.44, purport) My karmic reality is that my mind is polluted by passion and worse. My spiritual practice is meant to confront that polluted state and break through it.</p>
<p>So, all you fellow problem chanters out there, take heart. The damage is not irreparable. There are a number of tricks to quiet the mind, similar to the tricks a parent uses to quiet a two-year-old. I’ll share with you a few I use.</p>
<p>One good trick is to promise your mind that as soon as you finish your rounds you will give it undivided attention. You will ponder your problems, write your speeches, worry about your future—all after the rounds are finished. Another trick is to listen to just ten mantras in a row, and I mean really listen. Then try ten more, and ten more. Try to hear a whole round, not missing a bead. Challenge yourself, if you’re that type, or make it a game, if you’re that type. Another strategy is to put your beads down for a minute and make a prayer of whatever is on your mind. Then let it go and give your attention to chanting.</p>
<p>Regulation is invaluable in chanting sixteen decent rounds, so be sure you have a good time for chanting. I find that unchanted rounds hang like clouds in my mental landscape. Unless your schedule prohibits it, it’s best to chant all of your rounds during the auspicious morning hours.</p>
<p>Try these suggestions, and confide in devotees you trust and ask for their special tricks. Soon you will develop your own. (Then perhaps you can send them to me.)</p>
<p>Chanting japa is truly an individual expression of our desire to serve guru and Krishna. No one else can know the quality of our rounds. I, for one, can be a really good faker. And there is little recognition from the outside world if one is a conscientious chanter. But who cares for such recognition when the true reward is the pleasure of the Supreme Lord, the master of the entire universe?</p>
<p>What is Japa?</p>
<p>Japa is a personal meditation on a mantra. Hare Krishna devotees each have a strand of 108 beads, on which they chant the Hare Krishna mantra. Initiated devotees vow to chant on the full set of beads at least sixteen times a day.</p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=25715">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=25715</a></p>
<p> </p></div>The Holy Names of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityanandahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/the-holy-names-of-lord-caitanya-and-lord-nityananda2024-02-22T05:30:00.000Z2024-02-22T05:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><center>
<p><img class="align-center" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jNfgGU_kNN4/WxphcGsASwI/AAAAAAAAkz8/gl1ZLEw4q6A8u_l94uFvm0HUAQ6b52d2gCHMYCw/s0/2018-06-08_12-58-09.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" alt="2018-06-08_12-58-09.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" /></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>By Srila Krishna Das Kaviraja Goswami </strong></p>
</center>
<p style="text-align:justify;">(from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 8)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Whether he is offensive or inoffensive, anyone who even now chants “sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda” is immediately overwhelmed with ecstasy, and tears fill his eyes. Simply by talking of Nityananda Prabhu one awakens his love for Krsna. Thus all his bodily limbs are agitated by ecstasy, and tears flow from his eyes like the waters of the Ganges.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">There are offenses to be considered while chanting the Hare Krsna mantra. Therefore simply by chanting Hare Krsna one does not become ecstatic.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“If one’s heart does not change, tears do not flow from his eyes, his body does not shiver, and his bodily hairs do not stand on end as he chants the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, it should be understood that his heart is as hard as iron. This is due to his offenses at the lotus feet of the Lord’s Holy Name.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Simply chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra without offenses vanquishes all sinful activities. Thus pure devotional service, which is the cause of love of Godhead, becomes manifest.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">When one’s transcendental loving service to the Lord is actually awakened, it generates transformations in the body such as perspiration, trembling, throbbing of the heart, faltering of the voice and tears in the eyes. As a result of chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, one makes such great advancement in spiritual life that simultaneously his material existence terminates and he receives love of Godhead. The Holy Name of Krsna is so powerful that by chanting even One Name, one very easily achieves these transcendental riches.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">If one chants the exalted Holy Name of the Lord again and again and yet his love for the Supreme Lord does not develop and tears do not appear in his eyes, it is evident that because of his offenses in chanting, the seed of the holy name of Krsna does not sprout.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">But if one only chants, with some slight faith, the Holy Names of Lord Caitanya and Nityananda, very quickly he is cleansed of all offenses. Thus as soon as he chants the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, he feels the ecstasy of love for God. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the independent Supreme Personality of Godhead, is greatly magnanimous. Unless one worships Him, one can never be liberated…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=63090">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=63090</a></p></div>Gentle forgiving Krsna – the only shelter by Sacinandana Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/gentle-forgiving-krsna-the-only-shelter2024-02-05T11:30:00.000Z2024-02-05T11:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515229158,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515229158?profile=original" width="450" /></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Like a beautiful palace with a closed door the dhama also requires a key to grant us entrance. This is chanting the Name. According to Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura it is chanting the Holy Name with loving affection.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“Dham is Nam”. That is the very first manifestation for the sincere sadhaka.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">You remember, Indra was very afraid. He offended Krsna to a very bad degree.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Krsna does not forget such an offense to a devotee – He waits till this person goes to that devotee and gets forgiveness, satisfies this devotee and his followers.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">There are six offenses acc. to Skanda Purana and the worst is to _kill_ a devotee – and Indra did this worst attempt. Indra was not sure what to do till Sacidevi, his wife also worked on his consciousness and helped him understand. He came on foot!</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">He was very very afraid. He just did not know what Krsna would do now. Now He would deal with Indra directly. It was scary. It is described Indra was trembling with fear.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Krsna in His enigmatic way made clear that yes, Indra can speak. Indra wanted to give a sign he no longer thinks of himself as the Lord of the universe. You have to give a visual sign you are sorry. Indra put his crown at the feet of Krsna. Please remember, that Indra was not elected by 33000000 demigods – Krsna installed him. I.e. Indra knew that only thanks to Krishna h was put into that position.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Previously Indra, who was not unintelligent, had seen how Brahma had displeased Krsna and Krsna expanded Himself. Indra, i.e., was very well aware of the wonderful potency of this smiling prince of Vraja. So when he was offering obeisances his intoxication of pride was gone. He was searching Krishna’s eyes to know what would Krsna do: would He throw thunderbolts? And please hear how Krsna responded, it will endear Krsna to all the devotees.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“O king of the demigods! I am moved to see your unprecedented affection to me! I offended you by stopping your sacrifice.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Krsna is ksama-sila – very forgiving and tolerant.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">You must remember that Krsna is the father of all living entities – aham bija pradah pita. When the child kicks, the parents think, “Oh, my child develops nice and strong”. Or when the child kicks in the womb, the mother is happy. Krsna does not have any envy or malice to anyone. He is very very disturbed when His devotee is hurt, but He does not Himself become hurt.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">He does not have these psychological troubles of insecure people…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">…[story of Buddha of not accepting insulting words]…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">akrodha paramananda nityananda ray</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">abhimana sunya nitai nagare beday</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">1) The noble Lord Nityananda Ray is never angry, for He is the personification of supreme transcendental bliss. Devoid of any concept of false ego, Nitai wanders about the town.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => MSVA 2: Akrodha Paramananda “Supreme Bliss that is Never Angry”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">So He is not like us. When Krsna stopped his sacrifice, Indra became so mad that he forgot that this is the same person who put me in this position.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">When you eat and your teeth cut your lips – will you take a hammer and knock your own teeth? No. And so Krsna, even if someone turns away from Him, never turns back. So if someone repents and feels sorry, Krsna immediately manifests His ksama-sila, forgiving nature.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">api cet su-duracaro</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">bhajate mam ananya-bhak</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">sadhur eva sa mantavyah</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">samyag vyavasito hi sah</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination.>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 9.30</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">In other words, he wants the right thing. He is weak, but he wants the right thing. This is so amazing. Krsna wanted Arjuna to take drums and go to all the towns and villages and proclaim this.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">I feel this is our duty as devotees to display at least a little bit this quality of Krsna’s forgiveness. I am saying “a little” because we cannot equal Krsna.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">As soon as someone does or says something we do not accept immediately we are ready to judge him and say bad things behind their back.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">… Rama forgave the crow…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Indra prays:</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">How… could there exist in You the symptoms of an ignorant person — such as greed, lust, anger and envy — which are produced by one’s previous involvement in material existence and which cause one to become further entangled in material existence? And yet as the Supreme Lord You impose punishment to protect religious principles and curb down the wicked.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.5</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">You are the father and spiritual master of this entire universe, and also its supreme controller. You are insurmountable time, imposing punishment upon the sinful for their own benefit. Indeed, in Your various incarnations, selected by Your own free will, You act decisively to remove the false pride of those who presume themselves masters of this world.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.6</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">When a doctor cures your fever, do you take a stone and strike him on the head? No, you know, he removes your fever. When you see your guru is chastising you, you should not go against him with bow and arrows, but understand, “This is for MY relief”. It comes from a different ground, from a different place.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Indra spoke many prayers, but I do not repeat – they were still a little tainted with insincerity, fear. Finally, Indra understood – my Krsna is ksama-sila, He forgives like a father. With tears he says, Please forgive me! With full sincerity. Then Krsna speaks very openly. “But how could you do this?” – “It was anger which totally destroyed everything in me”, – “But I am your master, I do not understand how my servant can do such things?” – “I was proud…”. But Krsna wanted to go deeper. He wanted Indra to go deeper, think and avoid it in the future. “There may be pride in my devotee, but you have intelligence and can see this?” Does this ever happen to you? But then you can use your intelligence and step back, “My God, I am proud” and stop it. Indra: “Yes, I have intelligence, but it was destroyed by anger…”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">So Indra was just won over by Krsna and he says:</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tvayesanugrhito ‘smi</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">dhvasta-stambho vrthodyamah</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">isvaram gurum atmanam</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tvam aham saranam gatah</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">O Lord, You have shown mercy to me by shattering my false pride and defeating my attempt [to punish Vrndavana]. To You, the Supreme Lord, spiritual master and Supreme Soul, I have now come to seek Your shelter.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.14</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">He is now ready to take full shelter, accept Krsna as the supreme master.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">namas tubhyam bhagavate</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">purusaya mahatmane</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">vasudevaya krsnaya</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">satvatam pataye namah</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Obeisances unto You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the great Soul, who are all-pervading and who reside in the hearts of all. My obeisances unto You, Krsna, the chief of the Yadu dynasty.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.10</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">My dear devotees, a conditioned soul’s journey stops when he can pray like Indra “Now I have come to take shelter in You”.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">And do you know what Krsna do when Indra said these prayers? What Krsna did when Arjuna came to surrener to Him? Krsna smiled.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Indra submitted to the Lord. He admitted he became furiously angry and attacked, so now Krsna reveals His mind. Krsna will never speak to someone insincere.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“Krsna does not speak nonsense. He spoke to Indra with the deep like a cloud [ – did you ever hear spiritual truths yelled at you at high pitched voice : – ) – ], resonant voice of the Supreme Lord:”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">maya te ‘kari maghavan</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">makha-bhango ‘nugrhnata</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">mad-anusmrtaye nityam</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">mattasyendra-sriya bhrsam</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Indra, it was out of mercy that I stopped the sacrifice meant for you. You were greatly intoxicated by your opulence as King of heaven, and I wanted you to always remember Me.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.15</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Please remember there is a Supreme Isvara – to give you an opportunity to always remember this, I stopped your sacrifice.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">… Beladonna (Dhatura) makes you totally crazy – it says that 100 more crazy than from dhatura you become blinded by wealth. If you study – of course, you don’t read these – the gossip newspaper (we called the yellow press) you hear sometimes about read these rich people and how really crazy and bad things they do.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">mam aisvarya-sri-madandho</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">danda panim na pasyati</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">tam bhramsayami sampadbhyo</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">yasya cecchamy anugraham</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">A man blinded by intoxication with his power and opulence cannot see Me nearby with the rod of punishment in My hand. If I desire his real welfare, I drag him down from his materially fortunate position.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.16</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">api sphArAmode pratipade SuddhA koTi madhure</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">parANa grAmAntar vahati tava lIlA-rasa -jhare</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">mano-vatsaH pAtuM viSaya-viSa-garte viSati me</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">kRpA yaSTyA tUrNaM damaya tam amuM tarNaka-pate</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Although the very sweet nectar stream of Your transcendental pastimes</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">swiftly flows through the villages of the PurANas, the calf of my mind has</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">now entered a ditch to drink the poison of material sense happiness. O Lord</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">of the calves, please quickly curb him with Your stick of mercy.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">SrI AStadaSa-cchandaH-stava text 11 (part 2)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">5) His deeds are sweet, His liberating is sweet, His stealing is sweet, His love-sports are sweet, His oblations are sweet, His tranquility is sweet—Everything is sweet about the Emperor of Sweetness!</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">8) His gopas are sweet, His cows are sweet, His staff is sweet, His creation is sweet, His trampling is sweet, His fruitfulness is sweet — Everything is sweet about the Emperor of Sweetness!</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => MSVA 1: Madhurastakam</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">After speaking those verses, Krsna sent Indra back and said “Please keep that in your mind”. Later Krsna came with Satyabhama on Garuda to take the parijata tree and Indra gave Krsna battle. Indra (Sri VCT) said, “I am like a cow, if I am struck once, I come back again”. Like the monkeys stealing from the fruit sellers. Conditioned soul’s tendency.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">-I can’t believe my eyes – just look – a Surabhi has just arrived! Just see to the right!-</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Then Krsna turns to Surabhi who came from the heavenly planets. Surabhi affectionately turned for some attention. It was a (hoch brisant, heikel) highly sensitive subject.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">surabhir uvaca</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">krsna krsna maha-yogin</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">visvatman visva-sambhava</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">bhavata loka-nathena</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">sa-natha vayam acyuta</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Mother Surabhi said: O Krsna, Krsna, greatest of mystics! O Soul and origin of the universe! You are the master of the world, and by Your grace, O infallible Lord, we have You as our master.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.19</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“This Indra is not fit to be our king!” This was clearly a political statement. Universal politics. Surabhi wanted to enthrone Krsna as the emperor of the universe. “It is not our independent desire:”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“As ordered by Lord Brahma, we shall perform Your bathing ceremony to coronate You as Indra. O Soul of the universe</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.21</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">You know where it happened? Govinda kunda! All necessary for the coronation of Krsna was done. Brahma acted as the main pujari.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">… It was Brahma’s instruction to install Krsna as the leader all cows …</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">/ Brahma, the Four Kumaras, Uma, Mahadeva, Tamburu, Kartikeya, Narada, and Savita attended Krsna’s abhiseka. Many exalted rsis and sages beautified the assembly The effulgent wives of the demigods such as Arundhati also visited. The celestial Apsaras like Urvasi watching from the sky enhanced the festival with their splendid forms and qualities.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Govardhana, with the limbs of his own body, provided an elegant throne made of smooth stones and jewels. The demigod Varuna personally held a fine white umbrella over Krsna’s head, which had a fringe of hanging pearls that appeared like falling raindrops. Vayu, his arm trembling in ecstatic devotion, stood beside the Lord fanning Him with a camara whisk. The full moon assumed the form of a mirror made of jewels.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Pancajanya, the Lord’s conchshell, sanctified the atmosphere with loud sounds. The effulgent Sudarshan cakra expanded as many lamps to illumine all directions. Krsna’s white lotus flower expanded into many white umbrellas to shield the Lord. Kaumodik, the Lord’s club who is honored for his strength, stood like a jeweled pillar for the bathing ceremony.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The personified forms of the sacred oceans, rivers, ponds, and lakes came with pots of water to bathe Krsna. Mother Bhumi collected the finest quality earth in a box covered with seven jewels. Placing the box on a jeweled plate, she slowly approached Krsna and offered it to Him. The best herbs and medicinal plants personified presented themselves for Krsna’s service. Great sacred trees such as the banyan and peepul manifested in person to give Krsna leaves containing the five types of tastes in golden pots studded with gems of lapis lazuli. The forest gods from the ten directions brought water pots covered with coconuts and various delicious fruits. The Lord of the mountains brought exotic gems and jewels.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The nine jewels, the eight yogic siddhis, the best jewels like cintamani, kamadhenu, and desire-trees all assumed charming forms to worship the Lord. Standing at a distance, they faced Krsna with folded hands. The goddess of Mt. Sumeru offered a golden cloth, and the goddess of the Himalayas presented splendid necklaces. The goddess of Gandhamadana Mountain brought golden lotuses from Manasarovara Lake and personally strung a garland for Krsna.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The goddess of the Malaya Mountain delivered the best quality sandal-wood. Grinding it on a stone from Govardhana, she made a smooth fragrant paste for Krsna. Without the knowledge of her husband, Parvati handed Krsna a gorgeous jeweled necklace. With their own hands, the Sapta-Rsis plucked fresh lotus buds from the Mandakini River to offer to the Lord. When needed for service, the sun god made the lotus flowers blossom for the Lord. The shining of the moon appeared as a mirror.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Agni offered an artistically designed golden incense pot with a hanging fringe made of coral. The best quality aguru scent burned in the pot, and rose into the sky through its thousands of holes. Garuda expanded his effulgent golden wings to form a protective canopy oVer the Lord. All the kings of the snakes fanned their hoods to serve as jeweled flags to surround the bathing platform.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The various mantras and prayers used for abhiseka like purusa-sukta and sri-sukta took personal forms to chant in alternating low and high tones. The surabhi cow contributed the panca-gavya and Lord Brahma provided the panca-amrta. Airavata (Indra’s elephant carrier) filled the gem-studded bathing pots with water from the Akash-Ganga, which he carried in his trunk. The demigods in the sky vibrated instrumental music.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The celestial ladies showered flowers from Nanda-kanana while intoxicated Gandharvas, Caranas, Kimpurusas, Siddhas, Sadhyas, and Vidyadharas joyfully danced in the sky. All the Apsaras appeared to please Krsna with a special drama. They conveyed the meaning of the play with various dance steps and facial expressions. Upon beholding the elegant form of Syamasundara, the famous Apsara Urvasi felt enchanted and devoted herself to the Lord./</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Surabhi showered Krsna from her udders. On this day Krsna, who was previously known as Abhirama (beautiful), became known as Govinda – one who protects the cows and senses of His devotees. Indra said: “O lifter of the great mountain of Govardhana! Although previously known as Abhirama (beautiful and pleasing). You will now be known by Me name of Govinda, which Your devotees will regularly chant. Go means tending and caring for cows. O Lord! From today, everyone will call You Govinda.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">On that day there was big harinama festivala, with apsaras singing and dancing, flowers showered from the heaven. Sukadeva Gosvami says:</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Tumburu, Narada and other Gandharvas, along with the Vidyadharas, Siddhas and Caranas, came there to sing the glories of Lord Hari, which purify the entire world. And the wives of the demigods, filled with joy, danced together in the Lord’s honor.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.25</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The most eminent demigods chanted the praises of the Lord and scattered wonderful showers of flowers all around Him. All three worlds felt supreme satisfaction, and the cows drenched the surface of the earth with their milk.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.25</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">O Pariksit, beloved of the Kuru dynasty, upon the ceremonial bathing of Lord Krsna, all living creatures, *even those cruel by nature, became entirely free of enmity*.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.27.27</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The holy name reverberated throughout the universe. Everyone became happy. We in the Hare Krsna movement must become expert in spreading the holy names of Krsna. I request to think today of your role in this.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">After this all the demigods left (except one). Everyone was happy by this sankirtan.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">A little while ago Queen of England was asked to come to our Avanti school and reveal the picture of Lord Gauranga dancing in the Jharikhanda forest. Queen Elizabeth asked, “Oh, what is the gentleman doing here?” :) The devotees said, “He is singing the holy names and spreading the holy names even to the animals, pacifying even their cruel nature.” “Very good!” – said the Queen. In the February we are asked to give a seminar on pacifying the cruel and envious nature of the people in this world.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">/However, Indra and Surabhi remained behind for a moment. After the four-headed one and all the demigods departed, Krsna addressed the fearless intelligenit Indra. In a happy humorous mood, Krsna said, “Is your anger now pacified? Tell me truthfully/</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">I want that after this devotees see NO OTHER shelter except Krsna!</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">/ I did not subdue your anger out of revenge or enmity. But I wanted to show how your actions were full of false pride. By mature I cannot bear to see My own devotees possessing false pride. It is well known that such persons deserve to be punished by Me.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“O Indra, it was out of love that I stoped your sacrifice. 0 subduer of your enemies, inner and outer! It does mot suit you to maintain envy toward Me. Now return to Svarga and enjoy your position. But please do not become carried away by your wealth and loose your intelligence again.”/</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Krsna looked at him. Dressed in an new golden coronation glimmering dress. He looked most beautiful. He returned to Vrndavana. It seemed as if He had just returned after a moment’s absence.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">As He walked to Vrndavan the sakhas who witnessed the demigod worship festival, came out of the hiding and said, “He sakha, that was just wonderful!” And they embraced Him, and joked, and wrestled… But that is all another narration which we will discuss at another time :-)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Now Surabhi puja. Please all turn towards the Giriraj and see the scene, how we will worship Surabhi. Maybe some of us have also a good reason to turn to Krsna’s forgiving nature… We will see the aratik to our representative of Surabhi. We will pray to say a good word for us to Krsna and we will sing nicely.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Hare Krsna…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Hare Krsna…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Krsna Krsna…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Hare Hare…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Hare Rama…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Hare Rama…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Rama Rama…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Hare Hare…</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=84449">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=84449</a></p></div>Chant (at least) One More Round: Increasing our attachment to the Holy Namehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/chant-at-least-one-more-round-increasing-our-attachment-to-the-ho2023-11-07T11:00:00.000Z2023-11-07T11:00:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7968414261,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7968414261?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="400" />By Héctor Rosario, PhD</strong></p>
<p>As followers of Srila Prabhupada we all know his prescription to chant a minimum daily quota of 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mahamantra. This is the minimum standard that he set for his followers and which all ISKCON devotees accept. This standard is actually based on the traditional Gaudiya Vaisnava minimum standard set by Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Of course, that standard is 100,000 names of Krishna daily, roughly equivalent to 64 rounds of Hare Krishna japa, according to Bhaktivinoda Thakura and other acaryas. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, echoing Lord Caitanya, considered those who could not adhere to this minimum standard to be fallen. ISKCON being a preaching movement and its members largely coming from western backgrounds meant that devotees found it difficult to adopt the traditional minimum standard of 64 rounds when Srila Prabhupada requested his disciples to do so. Therefore out of his causeless mercy Srila Prabhupada reduced the minimum number to a mere 16. The purpose of this essay is not to disparage that decision but instead is meant to enliven those who wish to increase their attachment for the holy names by, on an individual basis, going beyond the minimum standard.</p>
<p>“Purity is the force,” as Srila Prabhupada taught us. The more we chant the more we purify ourselves. The more pure we are the more effective our preaching will be, and the more any material problems and attachments will disappear. We believe that as more and more devotees increase their chanting, without neglecting other devotional duties, the result will be a stronger and purer ISKCON. Especially, if the leaders take this to heart, we may witness tremendous changes in our preaching efforts. We know of at least one sannyasi that is very supportive of increasing our chanting. He regularly holds japa retreats where he encourages his disciples to chant 64 rounds during special periods as a way to deepen their relationship with Krishna. ISKCON will certainly benefit from such initiatives. After all, as Bhaktivinoda Thakura teaches us, “Name is the means, Name is the end.”</p>
<p>Nevertheless, a doubt usually arises in the minds of many devotees: Is fixing the minimum number of rounds one chants beyond 16 going against Srila Prabhupada’s instructions? Let us read and reflect upon Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s and Srila Prabhupada’s words.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya Khanda 9.121</p>
<p>prabhu bale jana lakshesvara bali kare<br /> prati-dina laksha-nama ye grahana kare</p>
<p>Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said: “Do you know who is a laksesvara? He is someone who chants one laksa or 100,000 holy names everyday.”</p>
<p>Purport by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada:</p>
<p>sri gaurasundera balibena jini pratidina laksha-nama grahana karibena, tanharai grihe bhagavan sevita hana</p>
<p>Sri Gaurasundera spoke as follows, “The Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts service only in the home of those who chant one hundred thousand names daily.”</p>
<p>bhagavan tanharai nikate bhoga-dravyadi grahana karena</p>
<p>The Lord accepts foodstuffs and other ingredients only from such personalities.</p>
<p>jini laksha-nama grahana karena na, tahara nikate haite bhagavan naivedya svikara-dvara seva-saubhagya pradana karena na</p>
<p>Those who don’t chant 100,000 names daily are never awarded the great fortune of rendering service to the Lord by offering Him naivedya (bhoga). This is because the Lord never accepts their offerings.</p>
<p>bhagavad-bhakta matrei pratyaha laksha-nama grahana karibena natuva vividha visaye asakta haiya bhagavad-seva karite asamartha haibena</p>
<p>The Lord continued, “Those who consider themselves devotees of the Lord must compulsorily chant 100,000 names of Krishna everyday otherwise they will gradually but surely become attached to varieties of sense-objects and thus become incapable to rendering any kind of service to the Lord.”</p>
<p>tajjanyai sri caitanyadevera asrita sakalai nyuna kalpe laksha-nama grahana kariya thakena. natuva gaurasunderera udeshya pradatta naivedya tini grahana karibena na.</p>
<p>Therefore all the devotees who have taken shelter of Lord Chaitanyadeva perform the chanting of a minimum of 100,000 names of Krishna daily as their first and primary duty. Because they know that if they don’t do so then Lord Gaurasundera will never accept the very bhoga (naivedya) which they cook for Him daily.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya Khanda 9.122</p>
<p>se janera nama ami bali lakshesvara<br /> tatha bhiksha amara na yai anya ghara</p>
<p>Lord Gauranga continued, “I call such a person a laksheshvara. I only accept meals in such a person’s house. I never go anywhere else.”</p>
<p>Purport by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada:</p>
<p>sri caitanya bhaktagana abhaktera sahita sambhashana karena na. jini bhaktivyatita karma, jnana o anyabhilashara kathaya pradatta tahara sahita bandhutva karibe na.</p>
<p>The devotees of Lord Sri Caitanya never talk with such non-devotees. They never do friendship with those who are engaged in the cultivation of karma, jnana or other desires which are devoid of bhakti.</p>
<p>pratyah laksha-nama grahana na karile patita vyaktiganera visaya-bhoga pravritti vriddhi paya, takhana ara tahara sri gaurasunderarera seva karite pare na</p>
<p>Those who don’t accept this vow of chanting 100,000 names daily, fall down even more although they were fallen in the first place. Thus their propensity for enjoying the senses<br /> and sense-objects continually and steadily increases and ultimately they are not able to render any kind of service even to the most merciful Lord Gaurasundera.</p>
<p>lakshesvara vyatita gaura-bhaktira adarsa gaudiyajana kehai svikara karena na</p>
<p>This is the precise reason why the real Gaudiya-bhaktas do not accept any other ideal in Gaura-bhakti except the process of chanting 100,000 names of the mahamantra daily.</p>
<p>adhapatita va adhapete gana eka-matra bhajana-sabda-vacya sri-nama-bhajane vimukhata-vasata laksha-nama grahana karibara parivarte anya bhajanera chalana korena, taddvara tahadera kona mangala haya na.</p>
<p>Those spiritual aspirants who are already fallen or will fall down from spiritual life in the future are averse to this sole means of deliverance called nama-bhajana, which is the worship of the sound incarnation of God in the form of chanting 100,000 names of the Holy Names daily. Coming under the sway of their averseness to chant laksha-nama daily, they duplicitously invent other means of devotional service to justify their not chanting 100,000 names daily but it is to be clearly understood that by this action they will not achieve anything auspicious in their spiritual life.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Instruction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya Khanda 23.77</p>
<p>prabhu bole kahilan ei maha-mantra<br /> iha japa giya sabe koriya nirbandha</p>
<p>Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Please hear this Hare Krishna mahamantra.. Everyone please chant this mahamantra daily in nirbandha. Then you will surely achieve all perfection.”</p>
<p>(Note: This is the meaning of ‘nirbandha’ applied to the mahamantra by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Hari-nama-cintamani.)</p>
<p>caribara mala phirile eka grantha haya. eka grantha niyama kariya kramasah vriddhi karite karite 16 granthe eka laksha nama nirbandha haibe</p>
<p>4 malas (rounds) is equal to 1 grantha</p>
<p>16 granthas is equal to 1 nirbandha</p>
<p>1 nirbandha of the mahamantra is equal to 100,000 names of the Lord</p>
<p>(Note: 16 granthas is equal to 64 rounds of the mahamantra.)<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now, you may ask, but Srila Prabhupada instructed us to only chant 16 rounds. Why should we change that standard? Actually, we are not asking to change the institutional standard from 16 to 64 rounds. Our suggestion is simply that, on an individual basis, devotees should consider increasing their minimum daily vow of 16 to a higher number of rounds. At the very least we can avoid criticizing or belittling those who are attached to chanting more than 16 rounds. In fact, it is inspiring and refreshing to know that there are some devotees in ISKCON already chanting at least 64 rounds daily. The following quotes from Srila Prabhupada seem to fully support our position of raising the minimum of rounds from 16 to 64 on a voluntary basis.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Morning Walk, May 14, 1975, Perth:</p>
<p>Devotee (1): Srila Prabhupada, how can the position be reconciled if in Krishna consciousness one of the two, the husband or the wife, wants to enjoy sense gratification, but the other does not? Should there be separation then?</p>
<p>Prabhupada: No… They should be trained up. Sense enjoyment means not advanced in Krishna consciousness. As soon as one is advancing in Krishna consciousness, his sense enjoyment spirit will be reduced. That is the test. Bhaktih pareshanubhavo viraktir anyatra ca [SB 11.2.42]. The test is, how you are advancing in Krishna consciousness is the proportionate diminishing of sense enjoyment. That is the test. Just like cure of the disease means diminishing the fever, temperature. This is the test.</p>
<p>Devotee (1): What if that (material) fever is not being diminished?</p>
<p>Prabhupada: Then he should try to chant Hare Krishna mantra, instead of sixteen rounds, sixty-four rounds. That is the way. Sixteen rounds is the minimum. Otherwise Haridasa Thakura was 300,000. So you have to increase. That is the only remedy. If one has got determination, he will make progress without any trouble. That determination is very difficult, that determination, “I must be Krishna conscious fully.” That determination. Dridha-vratah.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Srila Prabhupada kindly left us the “only remedy” to reduce the spirit of sense enjoyment, which is the cause of falldowns and other problems. He says that we must have determination and increase the number of rounds to 64 daily to be able to lower the fever of lust and cure the material disease, the worst enemies in the development of our devotional service.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Letter to: Indira (Iris Mendoza), Ekayani (Esther Mendoza), San Francisco,<br /> 17 December, 1967</p>
<p>I am very glad to learn you are chanting 48 rounds. Actually it is all right that one should chant 64 rounds, even 16 rounds, so if one is able to chant more than 16 rounds up to 64, it is very good. You fix up your rounds. Try to increase it but never decrease it.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Srila Prabhupada is encouraging his disciples to chant more rounds. However, it should be done wisely and seriously. The key is that once you resolve to fix the number of rounds you must never decrease it.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Letter to: Hamsaduta, Hawaii, 23 March, 1969</p>
<p>Yes, it is very good if you can chant 64 rounds; this is very nice if you can do it.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Srila Prabhupada again approves of chanting more rounds provided that the devotee can do it. Notice the conditional statement: If you can chant 64 rounds, then it is very good. If you cannot, then we cannot conclude anything from this statement: it might or might not be good. But the point is that if one can do it, then that would be “very nice” in the eyes of Srila Prabhupada.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Letter to: Bhaktijana, Los Angeles, 12/2/1968:</p>
<p>I shall advise you again to chant always, increasing the counting, namely, 16 rounds is generally prescribed, but for the time being you can stop all other activities and increase the chanting to 64 rounds.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.24.70 purport:</p>
<p>That is the instruction given by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His Shikshashtaka 3. Kirtaniyah sada harih: [Cc. Adi 17.31] “The holy name of the Lord should be chanted twenty-four hours daily.” Therefore in this Krishna consciousness movement we request the devotees to chant at least sixteen rounds on their beads daily. Actually one has to chant twenty-four hours daily, just like Thakura Haridasa, who was chanting the Hare Krishna mantra three hundred thousand times daily. Indeed, he had no other business.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Notice that Srila Prabhupada says to chant at least 16 rounds. He has no objection to raising the minimum, as will be further shown by the following quotes.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sri Caitanya-caritamrita Antya-lila 3.137 purport:</p>
<p>Surrender is the ultimate instruction of the Bhagavad-gita, but for one who cannot surrender to the lotus feet of Krishna, it is better to chant the Hare Krishna mantra constantly, under the instruction of Haridasa Thakura.</p>
<p>In our Krishna consciousness movement we are teaching our followers to chant the Hare Krishna mantra continuously on beads. Even those who are not accustomed to this practice are advised to chant at least sixteen rounds on their beads so that they may be trained.[…] Sada means “always.” Haridasa Thakura says, nirantara nama lao: “Chant the Hare Krishna mantra without stopping.” […] One’s real duty is to surrender to the lotus feet of Krishna, but if one is unable to do so, he should adopt this process, as introduced by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His most confidential servant, Namacarya Srila Haridasa Thakura. This is the way to achieve success in Krishna consciousness.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The Nectar of Devotion, Vrindavana, 20/10/1972:</p>
<p>Just like we have asked our students to finish sixteen rounds chanting minimum. Sixteen rounds is nothing. In Vrindavana there are many devotees, they chant 120 rounds. Like that. So sixteen rounds is the minimum. Because I know in the Western countries it is difficult job to finish 64 rounds or 120 rounds, like that. Minimum sixteen rounds. That must be finished.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Letter to Purusottama, Mumbai, 23/10/1973:</p>
<p>Because we have got many duties, [text missing] …ve minimized the amount to 16 rounds, otherwise [text missing] …minimum is 64 rounds, but Western people cannot [text missing] …this. So 16 rounds must be executed.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Nectar of Instruction, Verse 5, purport:</p>
<p>The Krishna consciousness movement prescribes sixteen rounds daily because people in the Western countries cannot concentrate for long periods while chanting on beads. Therefore the minimum number of rounds is prescribed. However, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura used to say that unless one chants at least sixty-four rounds of japa, he is considered fallen. According to his calculation, practically every one of us is fallen, but because we are trying to serve the Supreme Lord with all seriousness and without duplicity, we can expect the mercy of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is famous as patita-pavana, the deliverer of the fallen.<br /> </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Srila Prabhupada on a Morning Walk, November 10, 1975, Bombay:</p>
<p>Lokanatha: Prabhupada, why we have chosen this sixteen as a number to chant the rounds?</p>
<p>Prabhupada: Yes.</p>
<p>Lokanatha: Why not less or more?</p>
<p>Prabhupada: We have fixed up sixteen?</p>
<p>Lokanatha: We are chanting sixteen.</p>
<p>Prabhupada: No. We say “Minimum sixteen.” Minimum.</p>
<p>Lokanatha: Why that sixteen minimum?</p>
<p>Prabhupada: If you can, sixteen thousand you can go. Sixteen rounds is the minimum. But if you are able to chant sixteen thousand rounds, that is welcome. We have got so much engagement. Still, we say, “We don’t find engagement.” This is our misfortune. Hare Krishna. Jaya. Haridasa Thakura was engaged in chanting and the prostitute came. She offered, “Let us enjoy.” “Yes, let me finish. Let me finish this chanting.” So much engagement, and still, we say, “No engagement.” He refused to have sex with a beautiful young girl because he had engagement. “First of all let me finish my engagement,” and we say we have no engagement. How unfortunate we are. [break] …says, kirtaniyah sada harih [Cc. Adi 17.31]. Twenty-four-hours engagement He has given, and we see there is no engagement.</p>
<p>Lokanatha: Some devotees have fixed different number than sixteen. Some are chanting twenty minimum or twenty-five.</p>
<p>Prabhupada: Yes. It should be increased.</p>
<p>Lokanatha: Is it recommended for our…</p>
<p>Prabhupada: But don’t decrease.. Don’t decrease; increase. Therefore one number is fixed. “At least this much I shall do.” That is sixteen rounds.</p>
<p>Lokanatha: But you are recommending sixteen as a minimum, and some devotees are choosing twenty as a minimum.</p>
<p>Prabhupada: So who forbids? Who says that “Don’t do it”?</p>
<p>Lokanatha: They can chant?</p>
<p>Prabhupada: Yes. That is wanted. But because you cannot do it, therefore we have fixed up this minimum. Sankhyata asankhyata Sankhyata means with vow, numerical strength. And asankhyata means there is no limit. [break]</p>
<p>Yasomatinandana: …are higher than any other activities or they are on the same platform? Any activities in Krishna consciousness… Is chanting the most exalted or…?</p>
<p>Prabhupada: Everything is exalted. Therefore there are nine processes. sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam, arcanam vandanam dasyam [SB 7.5.23], so many. They are all exalted.</p>
<p>Yasomatinandana: So why is it recommended, chanting in this age particularly?</p>
<p>Prabhupada: Suppose if you have no temple, so you cannot perform arcana. So this is common, greatest common. It is not that because you have no temple, therefore your devotional service is stopped. There are other processes. You can do. Hare Krishna. Jaya..</p>
<p>Lokanatha: Prabhupada? If we chant more than sixteen rounds, so how can we know whether we are imitating Haridasa Thakura or following his footsteps?</p>
<p>Prabhupada: Imitation is also good. If you imitate Haridasa Thakura, that is also your great fortune, even if you imitate. [break] imitating, it does not mean you are condemned. Even if you imitate, that is also good. [break] If you have some other business and if you say, “Now I am imitating Haridasa Thakura, I cannot do it,” that is very bad. “I am busy in imitating Haridasa Thakura.” That is not good. That is very bad. [break]</p>
<p>Brahmananda: If the devotees are asked for service they say, “Oh, I have to chant.”</p>
<p>Prabhupada: “I am imitating.” Yes. “I am imitating Haridasa. This is my first business.” That is very bad.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Therefore the attitude is of the essence.</p>
<p>These exchanges suggest that if we are sincere about increasing our chanting then that is our “great fortune,” but if we just want to make an appearance of being a “big” devotee who has to chant rather than do service or preach, then that is “very bad.” The key is to fill our lives with Krishna consciousness and Krishna conscious activities by always remembering Lord Krishna and never forgetting Him. Chanting 32, 48, 64 or more rounds is an ideal way of accomplishing this goal.</p>
<p>We would suggest that devotees who want to increase their attachment to chanting not engage in making a show by broadcasting their increased practice. However, they should seek the association of like-minded devotees to gain strength in following their increased minimum daily vow.. As far as possible, we should not let the false ego get in the way of our sadhana, either by making a show of increased devotion or by having a condescending attitude toward those who are unable, for whatever reason, to increase their own chanting. Strictly following in our own private way and enthusiastically encouraging others to increase their attachment also, will lead to our quick advancement towards the goal of life, Krishna-prema. So, why don’t we chant (at least) one more round?</p>
<p>All glories to Srila Prabhupada.</p>
<div><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=1659">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=1659</a></div></div>Japa And The Opening Heart By Kalakantha Dasahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/japa-and-the-opening-heart-by-kalakantha-dasa2023-10-18T07:30:00.000Z2023-10-18T07:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515184032,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515184032?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="400" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>From Back to Godhead</strong></p>
<p>A look at Lord Caitanya’s “Eight Instructions” and their relevance to japa, the individual practice of chanting Hare Krishna.</p>
<p>A friend once told me this analogy about spiritual life: a flock of geese share strength by flying in a V formation, but if one goose goes down, the others can’t help. Similarly, though seekers of enlightenment help each other, success ultimately depends on personal effortand the kindness of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna.</p>
<p>Krishna’s kindness appears in the Hare Krishna mahamantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Even for one with no qualifications, repeating this sacred sound vibration opens the heart to ever more self-understanding and intimate love of God.</p>
<p>How does the avian analogy apply to chanting Hare Krishna, a practice so important for spiritual life?</p>
<p>Group chanting is called sankirtana or kirtana; individual chanting is called japa. For most people kirtana is easier than japa. Chanting in kirtana is like flying in the V formation; you get strength from others. You play or watch others play instruments, by turns you listen and sing, and you follow as the leader varies the tempo and tune.</p>
<p>When chanting japa, however, it’s just you and Krishna and your nagging mind.</p>
<p>Krishna’s most recent incarnation, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, though a great scholar, left just eight written verses. These quintessential verses, known as the Sikshastaka, explain how Krishna’s names energize and enrich spiritual life. Here they are, in poetic English translation, with thoughts about their relevance to the all-important individual spiritual practice of japa.</p>
<p><strong>1</strong><br /> <strong> ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha-davagninirvapanam</strong><br /> <strong> sreyah-kairava-candrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhujivanam</strong><br /> <strong> anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamrtasvadanam</strong><br /> <strong> sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krishnasankirtanam</strong></p>
<p>To chant the name of Krishna is to watch the waxing moon bestow abundant fortune like a lotus fully bloomed.<br /> To chant cleans up the dust our shining hearts accumulate,reviving sacred knowledge as a wife inspires her mate.<br /> It also drenches painful flames of endless birth and death with oceanic waves of bliss we crave at every step.</p>
<p>Chanting attentive japa opens one’s heart to higher and higher stages of loving God, just as natural forces make a lotus unfold or the moon seem to wax.</p>
<p>We japa chanters often begin a japa session dull, anxious, or bewildered. We leave it strong and focused. Why? Not because our breath becomes regulated or our minds numb; we change during japa because, however awkwardly, we are associating with Krishna by chanting His name.</p>
<p>Attentive chanting means to let go of thoughts and problems and submit to hearing the mantra. It is to trust Krishna and abandon ourselves to Him with eyes wide open. Krishna reciprocates with such willing surrender. When we realize Krishna’s presence, at once our hearts become pleased and peaceful.</p>
<p>“As you surrender to Me,” says Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita (4.11), “I reward you accordingly.”</p>
<p>Experiencing Krishna through japa each day creates a conviction that surpasses mere belief. Japa becomes a refuge, a safe place to go when life seems overwhelming. Japa becomes both the symbol and the practical means of surrender to Krishna, and every time we chant attentively, Krishna responds.</p>
<p>Chanting japa as if we have no one to turn to but Krishna cleans anxieties from our minds and hearts. It transforms us from anxious, self-absorbed spiritual infants to calm, gracious, patient spiritual adults.</p>
<p>In this verse the Sanskrit phrase vidya-vadhujivanam refers to the wife (vadhu) of transcendental knowledge (vidya). This beautiful phrase captures in three Sanskrit words how bhakti (devotion) brings life to jnana (knowledge). The scriptures provide knowledge; japa invokes realization of that knowledge, as a wife’s sweet words encourage and enliven her husband.</p>
<p>Done properly, chanting Hare Krishna on japa beads becomes a daily joy. Material life is like being trapped in a burning forest with no escape. But the fire will be smothered in the huge waves of joy unleashed by attentive japa.</p>
<p><strong>2</strong><br /> <strong> namnam akari bahuda nija-sarva-saktis</strong><br /> <strong> tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah</strong><br /> <strong> etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi</strong><br /> <strong> durdaivam idrsam ihajani nanuragah</strong></p>
<p>My Lord, You have more names than I could ever count or say,<br /> and You invest each one to bless my life in every way.<br /> You kindly set no rules, so I can always chant or call,<br /> yet, sadly, for Your precious names I have no taste at all.</p>
<p>Because attentive japa leads to such powerful realizations, experienced chanters share the practice, and sometimes others mistake their natural enthusiasm for fanaticism. Followers of Lord Caitanya are not fanatics, however, for Lord Caitanya is completely liberal and nonsectarian. As He declares in this verse, any name of God, chanted properly, awakens us like any other.</p>
<p>Why don’t more people meditate with this simple, profound chanting? Though everyone feels the effect of a rousing hymn or a plaintive call to prayer, few repeat the experience within themselves by chanting constantly, or even regularly.</p>
<p>Why do we fail to chant? Lord Caitanya laments, nanuraga: “I have no taste.” Thoughtful people build a taste for beneficial activities like reading and exercise; fools build a taste for poisonous habits such as intoxication and TV brainrot. In the same way, chanting japa is an acquired taste. Understanding the matchless value of spiritual life, the truly wise learn to nourish their spirit through God’s holy names.</p>
<p>The next verse explains how to obtain a taste for japa. Be warned: The more we chant, the more we see Krishna’s greatnessand the more we become shocked by our own pathetic condition.</p>
<p><strong>3</strong><br /> <strong> trnad api sunicena</strong><br /> <strong> taror api sahisnuna</strong><br /> <strong> amanina manadena</strong><br /> <strong> kirtaniyah sada harih</strong></p>
<p>The soul who chants the holy name in meek and humble mood,<br /> respectful and without a proud, self-righteous attitude,<br /> submissive like a trampled straw, forbearing like a tree,<br /> obtains a taste to chant Your holy names incessantly.</p>
<p>I confess that by chanting japa over the years I’ve discovered many unpleasant things about myself. My thoughtless actions have hurt others, and I’ve made a fool of myself hundreds of times. Still I approach japa proudly, thinking, “I know how to do this. Krishna is mine.” I fail to realize that, in fact, I am Krishna’s. My chanting is meant for His pleasure, and His pleasure is my only true pleasure.</p>
<p>When will I understand that Krishna has no obligation to me, given the poor quality of my devotion? When will I understand that everyone I see is a glorious spiritual being, a son or daughter of Krishna, worthy of respect?</p>
<p>Why should I, seeing my foibles, be so proud? Japa has opened my eyes. Though it hurts, an unpleasant reality beats a happy illusion. To the extent I confront my faults and ignore the faults of others, I will relish the sound of Krishna’s name and never give it up.</p>
<p><strong>4</strong><br /> <strong> na dhanam na janam na sundarim</strong><br /> <strong> kavitam va jagadisa kamaye</strong><br /> <strong> mama janmani janmanisvare</strong><br /> <strong> bhavatad bhaktir ahaitaki tvayi</strong></p>
<p>My Lord, I don’t want lovers, fame, or endless piles of wealth;<br /> I want to serve You, life by life, with no thought for myself.</p>
<p>What do I want from Krishna?</p>
<p>Some people turn to God for money. Some follow their mate to God, or turn to God to find one. Others come to God for something else but stay to enjoy the adoration of followers.</p>
<p>All these motives become dry, but Krishna’s loving reciprocation will sustain us and entangle us happily in His service.</p>
<p>To enjoy Krishna’s loving reciprocation we must chant attentive japa. Why?</p>
<p>Stated simply, Hare Krishna means, “Dear Krishna, please allow me to serve You.” Thus, when chanting japa we are repeatedly praying for Krishna’s service. Though He needs nothing, He kindly accepts our service.</p>
<p>So sweet is the chance to serve Krishna that Lord Caitanya prays for it to the exclusion of wealth, fame, or romance.</p>
<p><strong>5</strong><br /> <strong> ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram</strong><br /> <strong> patitam mam visame bhavambudhau</strong><br /> <strong> krpaya tava pada-pankajasthita-</strong><br /> <strong> dhuli-sadrsam vicintaya</strong></p>
<p>Though I am meant to serve You, I have somehow fallen down<br /> into a sea of birth and death where I have almost drowned.<br /> Please pluck me from this sea of death there’s nowhere to retreat<br /> and place me as a speck of dust beneath Your lotus feet.</p>
<p>Giving up the chase for lovers, money, and fame, we discover a new reality: We are in terrible danger. Death is looming, but we’re so hooked on what’s killing us that we don’t care. Nor do we care for the loving service of Krishna that can save us from death. Growing up I learned to fear God and to love the things of this world. In the Sikshastaka, Lord Caitanya teaches us to love God and fear the things of this world.</p>
<p>Why fear God, as if God were inflicting pain? God is neutral; if we want to enjoy this world, He gives us a material body with which to do it. But that body, like anything material, comes to an unwanted end. Then we need a new one to continue filling materialistic desires. Thus we flounder in an ocean of suffering until we change.</p>
<p>How do we change our desires? Krishna explains that we can’t give up a desire unless we replace it with something better. When we learn to relish chanting Hare Krishna, we will be rescued by Krishna’s grace.</p>
<p><strong>6</strong><br /> <strong> nayanam galad-asru-dharaya</strong><br /> <strong> vadanam gadgada-ruddhaya gira</strong><br /> <strong> pulakair nicitam vapuh kada</strong><br /> <strong> tava nama-grahane bhavisyati</strong></p>
<p>I chant and wonder, “When will tears of love adorn my eyes,<br /> my voice choke up with joy, and all my body’s hairs arise?”</p>
<p>We may call for Krishna out of fear or pain; that’s better than not calling. We may also expect to advance, to learn to chant out of love. Krishna is ecstatic; when we chant purely we associate with our ecstatic Lord. Then, naturally, we also become ecstatic.</p>
<p>Having repeatedly experienced that Krishna satisfies our heart, having curled our lips and spat upon the illusions we used to chase, we learn an entirely new way to enjoy ourselves. Then we abandon ourselves to chanting.</p>
<p>After researching the Vedic scriptures, Lord Caitanya and His followers chronicled the path of chanting. The spontaneous symptoms described in this verseunprovoked tears, faltering voice, bodily hairs standing on endindicate ecstatic love of God. They are not meant for showy imitation; they naturally appear by Krishna’s grace when the lost soul finally calls out His name in a heartfelt way.</p>
<p>We don’t chant japa to attain these symptoms of love of God. When they appear, they are signposts that we are progressing, as signs on the highway are not our destination but show us that our destination is near.</p>
<p>Yet symptoms of ecstasy may not appear, even to the sincere chanter. As His sons and daughters, we are obliged to call out for Krishna, but He is not obliged to show up when we do.</p>
<p><strong>7</strong><br /> <strong> yugayitam nimesena</strong><br /> <strong> caksusa pravrsayitam</strong><br /> <strong> sunyayitam jagat sarvam</strong><br /> <strong> govinda-virahena me</strong></p>
<p>O Krishna! In Your absence every moment lasts for years.<br /> The whole world seems so empty that my eyes are raining tears.</p>
<p>When we no longer expect happiness from illusions, we naturally expect happiness from Krishna. Yet the ever-independent Krishna may or may not give it. Happiness accompanies Krishna, who comes and goes at His own sweet will.</p>
<p>Very advanced devotees find ecstasy in separation from Krishna; beginners may struggle. Still, when Krishna leaves us, where else in creation can we turn? We must call out for Him. If fact, when we don’t feel Krishna’s presence it’s time to chant with extra determination and patience. Krishna accepts everyone, but He doesn’t collect casual devotees. He is testing our resolve.</p>
<p>Though we experience Krishna through His holy names, we discover that He does not reveal Himself at our command. Who is this unreliable person? Do we still want Him?</p>
<p><strong>8</strong><br /> <strong> aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam</strong><br /> <strong> adarsanan marma-hatam karotu va</strong><br /> <strong> yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato</strong><br /> <strong> mat-prana-nathas tu sa eva naparah</strong></p>
<p>My only Lord is Krishna, and my Lord He shall remain,<br /> though His embrace may crush me or His absence cause me pain.<br /> He’s free to cheat or trample me or act in any way;<br /> regardless, He’s my very life. I’ll never go away.</p>
<p>Lord Caitanya’s final prayer embodies the mood of Krishna’s lovers, the gopis, who pined for Him after He left His home village and never returned. Their attachment to Krishna sometimes angered their husbands and endangered their reputations, yet they could not forget Him. Their selfless, unconditional, deeply blissful love of God excels all others.</p>
<p>Even if we’re riddled with materialistic urges, chanting japa attentively every day can lead us to such love. Loving Krishna is as natural to the soul as breathing is to the body. If we associate with Krishna through japa, we will quickly revive and develop the natural love of Krishna dormant in every heart.</p>
<p><strong>A Living Example</strong></p>
<p>Starting in 1965, Lord Caitanya’s exemplary follower Srila Prabhupada introduced Hare Krishna chanting freely throughout the world. His humility, detachment, and ecstatic, unconditional love of Krishna demonstrated the reality of Lord Caitanya’s verses. Srila Prabhupada’s life and example continue to inspire millions to chant God’s names.</p>
<p>Lord Caitanya’s Sikshastaka takes us from the foothills the cleansing effect of chanting Hare Krishnato the peak of selfless, unconditional love. To scale such a huge mountain is daunting, but bead by bead, mantra by mantra, a daily japa session insures our progress. Srila Prabhupada showed us how.</p>
<p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=84962">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=84962</a></p></div>The Mystical Chant By Sri Chaitanya Chandra Dashttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/the-mystical-chant-by-sri-chaitanya-chandra-das-12023-10-11T11:30:00.000Z2023-10-11T11:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}2515184251,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515184251,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515184251?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" /></a></p>
<p><strong>FIRST CONTACT WITH THE HOLY SOUND</strong></p>
<p>My life took an apical turn when I stumbled across the Hare Krishnas. Being born in India I had some knowledge of “Krishna” but I was like most Indians are – conscious of Krishna but not Krishna Conscious. Being just “conscious of Krishna” didn’t mollify my thirst for happiness. When I was introduced to the programs conducted by the Hare Krishnas near our college campus new hope dawned upon me. What mesmerized me the most in these programs was the chanting of the mystical mantra….</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>//HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE / HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE/</strong><strong>/</strong></p>
<p>Just by chanting these Names for few times I felt so euphoric, still I can remember vividly the experience. I felt as if albatross of eons was alighted from my back. Initially I was quiet skeptic about the activities of the Hare Krishnas due to my rearing and education. I used to be suspicious why these people are distributing such tasty food for free. I would mull there must be some intoxicant in it to hypnotize me imperceptibly. As I was an engineering student I was trained to see everything with mechanistic vision. Our group of friends who were attending the programs all had same outlook. So we were not ready to accept any kinds of conjury. But the chanting of Hare Krishna mantra indeed put my skeptical mind on a trial. I had some acquisitiveness about mind control, hypnotism, psychology, etc hence I persisted while my other friends dropped out. Due to this chanting some unusual transformation started happening within me. I could tangibly observe that by chanting I could control my senses more easily than before. I could resist undesirable blandishments which seemed invincible before. The taste that hit me while chanting was unearthly experience and thus kept me going on. I was stupefied that how some mantra made up of some simple syllables could produce such abstruse effect. I was chanting continually without getting fatigued! I cogitated there has to be something mystical to the chanting.</p>
<p><strong>HOLY SOUND VS MATERIAL SOUND</strong></p>
<p>I remember in my college days if any film song I loved I would purchase the cassette and hear it continuously with verve. But no song could sustain the flavor for more than a month. It would get clichéd. Then another song would hit the list and I would swear this is it! It will never lose its taste it is simply prodigious! But after a month at the most, the same result. I never could discover a song which could pass the test of taste. Amazingly the simple sounding Holy name devoid of any music passed the test. It could sustaining the effect for more than a month! Till date I am chanting 16 rounds daily for many years but the taste is only increasing ceaselessly. How can the chanting be quotidian? Sometimes people indict that chanting as verbal intoxication. If that is true then why there is no intoxication with chanting “coca cola” or any other sound? Why while chanting “Hare Krishna” only people feel absorption and great joy?</p>
<p>Later I learnt the chanting of Hare Krishna is call for God. God has invested all His potencies in chanting. Just imagine all the potencies of God at one place! We simply cannot envisage. Just like if an ant crawls over a valuable 24 carat diamond it can only think the diamond as simple sugar crystal. Hardly can it discern the complete value of diamond as an expert lapidarian would. Similarly people really don’t understand the value of chanting. They think it as ordinary name just like any other names in use. The Holy sound is completely apart from the prosaic sounds of this world. It is transcendental sound full with God’s energy.</p>
<p><strong>THE MECHANISM OF CHANTING</strong></p>
<p>Lord Kelvin, great scientist says, “If you think strongly enough you will be forced by science to believe in God (supreme consciousness).” The whole approach of science is mechanistic with little scope for consciousness. The only branch of science which believes in consciousness is the Quantum mechanics where the result of an experiment depends on the conscious observer. So first we need to have faith that we are conscious beings and not dead matter. Then we need to understand that only something conscious can give real contentment to conscious beings. In this phenomenal world there are only two conscious objects – the living entity and the Holy Name of God. Hence only chanting can give real satisfaction to the soul. Matter is dead and cannot give real satisfaction. Contact with matter can give us material pleasure which has 3 characteristics F,I,T. which stands for Futile, Insubstantial & Temporary.</p>
<p>For example a boy in the college likes an angelic girl in the same college. If he has to have her he has to venture a lot and mostly he may not get her because he has many competent competitors. So most of the time the pleasure is Futile to achieve. Suppose after sufficient skirmish the boy gets his dream girl and revel with her. He soon realizes the pleasure doesn’t really conciliate him completely. It is not up to his expectations hence it is Insubstantial. Even if we assume that she completely gratifies him according to his expectations, still how long? For some time not for long. The pleasure is Temporary. This applies for every kind of material pleasures. So the pleasures of this world are not really FIT for us. What soul really longs for is easily available, satisfying and eternal pleasure. And that pleasure is available only in chanting the holy Names of God.</p>
<p>The subconscious mind of a human being is much scopious and profound than the conscious mind. There are many deep rooted impressions both positive and negative stored in the subconscious mind. To change these rooted impressions is very challenging nay almost impossible because they are very subtle. Negative impressions like anger, lust, pride, envy, greed, illusion causes lot of anguish to the living entity. Today there is no method to measure them what to speak of evicting them. There are techniques like hypnotism which claim to expel these vices from the mind but it is just like trimming the grass in the lawn. It grows back again after some time. Chanting has the power to purge these negative impressions from the subconscious mind completely because the chanting is subtler than these impurities of the mind!</p>
<p><strong>BENEFITS OF CHANTING</strong></p>
<p><strong>1) Purification:-</strong> Just like a powerful detergent cleanses from roots the very stringent dirt in the clothes chanting eliminates the vices from the consciousness and purifies it. Chanting is not only antiseptic but also prophylactic in nature.</p>
<p><strong>2) Satisfaction:- </strong>Chanting helps one to easily rise above the lower modes of passion and ignorance. One becomes situated in mode of goodness where one doesn’t hanker or lament for worldly things, one becomes completely satisfied. Just like a hungry person who has fully relished delicious food becomes satisfied and doesn’t hanker for anything.</p>
<p><strong>3) Liberation:-</strong> Manas trayate iti Mantra. Mantra means sound which can free the mind from material bondage. When a rocket is launched at escape velocity of 11.2 KM/sec from earth the rocket can escape the gravitational pull of earth and float in space. Similarly chanting helps us from escaping the pull of material entanglements of this world and progress towards spiritual world.</p>
<p><strong>4) Absorption:-</strong> When a jaundice patient is afflicted the sugar cane juice appears bitter but the same juice is medicine for the patient. Gradually as he is tasting the juice he gets cured and starts tasting its sweetness. Similarly now we may not be able to taste the sweetness of chanting but as we go on chanting it tastes the sweetest of all sweets. At advanced stage one gets fully absorbed in chanting the Holy names of God with deep feelings and thus one is assuaged from absorption in matter.</p>
<p><strong>5) Devotion:-</strong> This is the main product of chanting – love for God or devotion for God. Other products mentioned above are sheer by-products. Soul has a nature to love and be loved. Love for any person in this world is frustrating but love for God is very endearing. Just like a child when tickled will surely laugh but may not be happy. But when he is in lap of mother he may not laugh but is very happy and satisfied because he is experiencing the deep love of mother. Love of this world tantalizes the senses but love of God satisfies to the soul.</p>
<p><strong>TESTIMONIES</strong></p>
<p>1. In vedic text there is example of Mrigari, the hunter who was a very pernicious as he used to take pleasure in half killing the animals. When the great sage Narada saw this he advised the hunter to stop the violence otherwise the result would be very horrid as every action has equal and opposite reaction. When Mrigari heard about his future he came to his senses and broke the bow. Narada told him to chant Holy Names of God continually. When with great faith the hunter did so he found amazing result! The people around gave sufficient charity enough for him and the family to feed on. After a year when Narada came to visit Mrigari, Mrigari was very much excited to meet his spiritual guide. He went running to meet Narada but on the way when he would see some ants crawling he would stop for them to pass and then run again. This happened several times. He couldn’t imagine hurting the tiny creatures. Previously he would exult killing animals half but now he couldn’t think of harming even the ants.</p>
<p>2. A famous tennis player in USA came in touch with the Hare Krishnas and it brought complete transformation in his life but not in his life style. He remained as a tennis player but with change of consciousness. He started chanting Hare Krishna regularly. The paradigm shift in his life is indicated by his equally famous statement below when in a match he stood at a less strategic position just to save little ants getting crushed under his feet and finally lost the match. “A column of ants began to follow me onto the tennis court. Because I would not step on them, I lost the match. But I won with God.” – <a href="http://www.shortpoemsandquotes.com/quotes/author/peter_burwash">Peter Burwash</a></p>
<p>3. The hippies in USA in 1960s were clamant in search for some pleasure which would satisfy them completely. They were jaded with the normal American way of life. They were searching for something different which will give them mystical experience. Unfortunately they were searching it in LSD, sex, alcohol, etc. Their search ended when they came across the chanting of Hare Krishna. They could easily give up all their bad habits and dedicate their lives for God. They found the real happiness in chanting the Holy Names of Lord.</p>
<p><strong>CONCLUSION</strong> In the age old vedic text of Kalisantaraëa Upaniñad the reference of this mantra appears hare kåñëa hare kåñëa kåñëa kåñëa hare hare hare räma hare räma räma räma hare hare iti ñoòaçakaà nämnäà kali-kalmaña-näçanam nätaù parataropäyaù sarva-vedeñu dåçyate</p>
<p>“Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare—these sixteen names composed of thirty-two syllables are the only means to counteract the evil effects of Kali-yuga. In all the Vedas it is seen that to cross the ocean of nescience there is no alternative to the chanting of the holy name.”</p>
<p>By chanting people are becoming perfect gentlemen/ gentlewomen. This is what today’s world perilously needs. This is process of real alchemy turning everyone into gentlemen and women. When every one of us takes to this remarkable process the whole world will be a spiritual world, happy place to live. The chanting is sweeter than the elixir of life. Try and experience it. The taste of pudding lies in tasting. One cannot taste the honey from outside the bottle. One has to open the lid, taste and relish it!!!</p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=27569">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=27569</a></p></div>Affirmations for chanting the Hare Krishna Maha mantrahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/affirmations-for-chanting-the-hare-krishna-maha-mantra2023-10-07T10:30:00.000Z2023-10-07T10:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8698786688,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8698786688?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="400" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Payal Shah</strong></p>
<p>(Adapted from ‘Japa Affirmations’ by <strong>His Grace Mahatma Dasa</strong>)</p>
<p>Ancient Vedic texts address the notion that no amount of material accomplishments can deeply satisfy us. Our consciousness has been polluted by the material atmosphere, and as we try to exploit resources, we are in fact getting more and more entangled in complexities. Vedic wisdom attributes this condition to a lack of spiritual awareness. These Vedic wisdom texts share with us that we are all spiritual beings and that we can elevate our consciousness through chanting of the Holy Name. The Holy Name – chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra, <em><strong>Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare</strong></em>, is a direct process for purifying our consciousness.</p>
<p>The Hare Krishna Maha-mantra is a transcendental sound vibration which enacts directly from a spiritual platform and enables us to recover our original spiritual identity. Sound has the ability to affect our consciousness to a large extent. The quality of sound vibration that goes into our ears determines the quality of our consciousness. Sound has the highest capturing potency; our ideas, conceptions and visions all come to us from sound. We can transform our lives depending on the sound vibration that we hear. We may chant the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra with others (called kirtan) or in solitude (called japa). The words ‘Krishna’ and ‘Rama’ address the Lord; Krishna refers to all attractive; Rama refers to reservoir of pleasure; and ‘Hare’ is the energy with which we can reach the Lord. The Yoga texts recommend the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra as the prime sound vibration for this age. This age which is called Kali Yuga, is an age full of anxiety and distress, and nothing is as effective as chanting of the Holy Name.</p>
<p>Krishna’s Holy Name is Krishna Himself. Therefore, chanting the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra creates an opportunity for us to revive our awareness of our spiritual identities; revives awareness of our connection with the Supreme; and gives awareness of the reciprocal relationship between the spiritual self and the Supreme spiritual self. The Maha-mantra brings us out of bodily consciousness and attaches our consciousness to the Supreme consciousness.</p>
<p>For this reason, it is important for us to spend time working on our internal attitude and motivation for chanting the Holy Name. In this article, we will meditate on a specific practice to help improve and increase our presence while chanting: the practice of affirmations. An affirmation can be explained as a phrase repeated to oneself to start a task with a favourable attitude. Examples include: “I am brave and I can accomplish this task”; “I am grateful for the opportunity to practise Krishna consciousness”. Affirmations may help to create a positive mindset in order to achieve a desirable outcome. Saying affirmations out loud and meditating on their core meanings before chanting the Maha-mantra may allow us to further enhance our chanting experience. Select affirmations that may resonate with you and try to meditate on these daily or weekly.</p>
<p>Below are 20 affirmations to help chant the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra more effectively:</p>
<p><strong>1. I happily and enthusiastically welcome the Holy Name every japa session</strong></p>
<p>Create a positive mood to welcome the Holy Name, the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra, into your heart, just the way you would welcome a special guest into your home. This can be achieved by reading scriptures, offering prayers, or meditating on what you wish to achieve before chanting the Maha-mantra on the japa beads. In this way, by getting in the right state of mind, chanting becomes an exciting opportunity to connect with the Lord.</p>
<p><strong>2. I easily chant my prescribed number of rounds with focus and attention</strong></p>
<p>Whether you are chanting one round, or sixteen rounds or more of the Maha-mantra, start chanting with a natural inclination to focus your attention on the Holy Name. In other words, before chanting, believe that you will be able to focus on the Holy Name. The mind has many thoughts and wavers here and there, but catch your mind and bring it back to the Holy Name. When you consider chanting of the Holy Name to be very important for your spiritual life, then it will be easier to chant with focus and attention.</p>
<p><strong>3. When I chant, I chant</strong></p>
<p>Create a quiet sacred space where you can chant the Maha-mantra without interruptions or distractions. When you chant, do not do anything else, just chant. Put your internal world on hold also and focus solely on yourself and Krishna.</p>
<p><strong>4. I get to chant, I want to chant, and I love to chant</strong></p>
<p>Remind yourself that you appreciate chanting the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra and that you view chanting as a special blessing. It is a special opportunity to get a human birth and to be able to awaken love for Krishna through chanting. Ask yourself how you would feel if you were prevented from being able to chant the Holy Name. Deep down in our hearts, we appreciate the powerful effects of chanting the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra.</p>
<p><strong>5. I treat the Maha-mantra as Radha and Krishna, fully present in sound</strong></p>
<p>Treat the Holy Name, the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra, as Radha and Krishna Deities in the form of sound. When you chant the Maha-mantra, it is the same as taking darshan of the Deities. In this way, bow down to the Holy Name as you would to the Deities, as Krishna is fully present in the Holy Name.</p>
<p><strong>6. I receive and feel Krishna’s presence, mercy and love in His Holy Name</strong></p>
<p>Allow mercy, love and blessings to come to you naturally through the Holy Name, rather than seeking to force nectar out of the Holy Name. In other words, do not struggle to create mercy and love while chanting but instead, allow yourself to bathe in and appreciate the mercy and love that already exists within the Holy Name.</p>
<p><strong>7. I chant in full awareness that the Holy Name is my greatest treasure</strong></p>
<p>Give your heart to the Holy Name. Although Krishna has everything, He hankers for your heart. Krishna wants to have a relationship with you and chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra will revive your relationship with Him. Therefore, chanting the Holy Name is the greatest jewel in the Lord’s treasury as He gets what He desires – your heart.</p>
<p><strong>8. I chant to please Radha and Krishna, not to gain anything material</strong></p>
<p>Imagine that Krishna is with you in His Holy name and that He is happy to hear you chanting. Even though relishing the Holy Name can be difficult sometimes, Krishna is enjoying seeing your determination to chant and to be purified. In this way, chant the Maha-mantra to make Krishna happy and for yourself to feel happiness too.</p>
<p><strong>9. I am out of my mind and in my heart, fully present to the Holy Name when I chant</strong></p>
<p>Chant the Maha-mantra with your tongue and hear with your ear. Feeling the essence of chanting will bring you into the present. Attentive chanting is hearing – if you hear yourself chanting, you will chant attentively. When you chant, Krishna first dances on the tongue, then the ear, then the heart.</p>
<p><strong>10. I fully honour my sacred relationship with the Holy Name during japa</strong></p>
<p>Be conscious that when chanting the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra, you are present, Krishna is present and thus, a relationship between you and Krishna is also present. Therefore, do not view chanting as a mechanical process that you have to complete daily but rather as a way to deepen your relationship with Krishna.</p>
<p><strong>11. I chant to be accepted by Krishna, and to repair my broken relationship with Him</strong></p>
<p>Have the desire and the need to reconnect with the Supreme, Lord Krishna, after having been separated from Him for so many lifetimes. Envision yourself as a child who has run away from their parents (Krishna) and after many years of suffering wants to be accepted again. Chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra enables you to rekindle and revive your relationship with the Supreme being.</p>
<p><strong>12. I chant from my heart, feelingly praying to come closer to Krishna</strong></p>
<p>Connect deeply with what the Holy Name, the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra means. Chanting of the Holy Name means “Krishna please engage me in Your service”, “Krishna please accept me”, “Krishna please bring me closer to you”, “Krishna please purify me”, “Krishna please uplift me”. If you had to translate the feeling of the Maha-mantra intro words it would say, “Krishna I want to come closer to you, I want to serve you, I want to be pure”. Krishna is in our hearts and He is a genuine friend to all living beings. No matter what you are going through, He is always there. Just give your heart to the Holy Name and Krishna will reciprocate.</p>
<p><strong>13. I meditate on the meaning of the Holy Name as I chant</strong></p>
<p>Be conscious on an emotional level of what the Maha-mantra means. In order to connect deeply with the Holy Name, we have to cultivate an appropriate mood before and whilst chanting. Ask yourself “Why am I chanting?”, “What is the goal of chanting?”, “What does chanting mean?”. This may help to bring your consciousness and heart in alignment with the meaning of the Holy Name.</p>
<p><strong>14. I turn off my world and turn on Krishna’s world when I chant my rounds</strong></p>
<p>Create an internal space free from distractions when you begin chanting japa. Tell your mind that you are turning off from everything, for example, turn off tasks that have to be carried out for the day. This enables you to control your mind better while chanting. We are able to turn off our world when we are reading a book for example or when we are engaged in a particular hobby, so turning off our world while chanting the Maha-mantra should not be so difficult.</p>
<p>Also, it is useful to create a “time free zone” early in the morning by imagining that your day will start only after japa. So, for example, if your day usually begins at 6am, wake up earlier to chant japa and remind yourself before chanting that the day has not yet started. In this way, there is nothing to think about other than Krishna during your japa session.</p>
<p><strong>15. I chant with no other motive than to render pure devotional service</strong></p>
<p>Chant the Maha-mantra in a humble state of mind, with the mood that you are an eternal servant of Krishna. Chanting with this mood helps to awaken a pure service attitude. Krishna descends in His name when we chant the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra with a service attitude. You are Krishna’s eternal servant and He will always remain the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nothing is impossible for Krishna and thus, nothing is impossible for the one who takes shelter of the Holy Name.</p>
<p><strong>16. My beads are my connection with Krishna and my ticket back to Godhead</strong></p>
<p>Make chanting the Maha-mantra the most important activity of your day. Srila Prabhupada said that the real purpose of reading his books is to convince you to chant the Holy Name, as chanting the Maha-mantra is the most important process in devotional service. So, fall in love with the Holy Name!</p>
<p><strong>17. I am totally dependent on Guru and Krishna to chant quality japa every day</strong></p>
<p>Remind yourself that your efforts to chant the Maha-mantra more effectively attract the mercy of Guru and Krishna. When you endeavour to improve your japa, Guru and Krishna reciprocate by helping you improve in the ways you are endeavouring to. In other words, mercy comes in proportion to your efforts.</p>
<p><strong>18. I organize my life to make japa the most important activity of my day</strong></p>
<p>Be aware of how your lifestyle, attitude and activities are supporting your chanting. The more you change your lifestyle, around the sound vibration of the Maha-mantra, the more your consciousness will change. The more your consciousness changes, the more your lifestyle will change. Purified consciousness leads to purified lifestyle, and purified lifestyle leads to purified consciousness. Therefore, it is important to consciously organize your lifestyle to support better chanting of the Maha-mantra.</p>
<p><strong>19. I make excellent japa my standard and focus on continually improving</strong></p>
<p>Set a high standard internally for japa. What you give importance to, you do well. If you give more importance to your japa, it will naturally improve. Reading books and/or listening to lectures on how to chant the Maha-mantra may keep you focused on how to chant better.</p>
<p><strong>20. I relish chanting the Holy Name</strong></p>
<p>Be grateful to be blessed with an opportunity to be able to chant the Maha-mantra. When you chant, your consciousness is transformed, and all impurities can be cleansed. Chanting of the Maha-mantra elevates your consciousness to its original state of purity. In this way, remind yourself that, you, the soul, certainly relishes chanting the Holy Name every single day.</p>
<p>The Holy Name is saying, “I am present here, my mercy is here, my love is here; please receive it, please accept it, please feel it”. The Hare Krishna Maha-mantra is a transformative sound vibration. Chanting and hearing of the Maha-mantra not only transforms our consciousness, but it also allows us to become agents for change for society at large. Therefore, prioritize your spiritual life – you are not going to feel emptiness when you experience real spiritual happiness. Make sure to set out your goals on how to improve your chanting and gradually work towards them. If you really want to improve your japa, you can!<br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=94124">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=94124</a></p></div>Srila Vakresvara Pandita – Mahaprabhu’s Dancer-in-chiefhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/srila-vakresvara-pandita-mahaprabhu-s-dancer-in-chief2023-06-23T08:30:00.000Z2023-06-23T08:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10622895884,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10622895884?profile=RESIZE_584x" width="450" /></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><em>Dance and chant. This is best exercise. We allow them to dance very… Yes. High jump. Actually that is exercise, and at the same time ecstasy. If they dance and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, it is automatically a very big exercise and spiritual advancement. (Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lecture given on Oct. 2, 1968 in Seattle)</em></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The hall is packed with devotees. The kirtaniya, who was gesticulating up and down the harmonium, has just increased the pace of the kirtan. The Mrdanga & Kartal artists are not behind and they have melodiously increased their tempo too. The energy in the hall is all built up and devotees who were sitting all this while have stood up and are dancing with great gusto. This goes on for a while but in due course of time the dancing stops. How many times has this scenario occurred in your life? Or how many times have you observed this? But this stopping was impossible to be seen in the life of Vakreśvara Paṇḍita.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Born in the village named Guptipāra (near Triveṇi) he was one of the important singer and dancer in the assembly of Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Once, when he was in Kuliā, he came there to do congregational chanting. When Devānanda Pandit, a great speaker on Bhāgavatam, heard about this he became really happy and proceeded there. Upon seeing the symptoms of divine love in him Devānanda became charmed. As crowd gathered, Devānanda took his stick and kept the crowd in order so that they don’t disturb his ecstatic dancing. He danced for 6 hours continuously and when he finished Devānanda came and offered his obeisances unto his lotus feet. He then said to Devānanda “May you attain devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa”. Although Devānanda was great in giving lectures on Bhāgavatam, he didn’t receive the mercy of Mahāprabhu as he had offended Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura – a Vaiṣṇava. When Mahāprabhu visited Kuliā he bestowed his mercy on Devānanda as he had served Vakreśvara Paṇḍita. Mahāprabhu said “Wherever one can get the association of Vakreśvara, that place is the sum total of all Holy places and is as good as Sri Vaikuntha.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Not only was Vakreśvara a very dear servant of Mahāprabhu but he also accompanied Him [Mahāprabhu] all the way to Jagannātha Purī after He took sannyāsa to better serve him more faithfully. Sometimes Mahāprabhu would engage Vakreśvara and other devotees in congregational chanting three times a day in the courtyard of Guṇḍicātemple and Vakreśvara would dance in jubilation.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">From Caitanya-caritāmṛta, we can ascertain that he was expert especially in dancing as he once danced in the house of Srivas Thakur continuously for up to 72hours (~3days).</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">In Jagannātha Purī he lived in the house of Kāśī Miśra [King Prataparudra’s Guru]. As per as Śrīla Kavi Karṇapūra, the author of Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, Vakreśvara Paṇḍita was an incarnation of Aniruddha, one of the quadruple expansions of Viṣṇu (Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna) and as per as Dhyānacandra Gosvāmī, in Kṛṣṇa lila, he was none other than Tungavidya Sakhi.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=86374">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=86374</a></p></div>Chant and be happy…https://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/chant-and-be-happy2023-04-01T06:30:00.000Z2023-04-01T06:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10644573096,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10644573096?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="328" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Mrs. Sally Rawley, </strong>merchandiser: “When I’m nervous I find chanting very calming. I don’t get shaken up at little things.”</p>
<p><strong>Bruce Kleinberg, </strong>executive secretary: “Chanting helps you see things in perspective. My outlook is a lot brighter.”</p>
<p><strong>June Lahner,</strong> jewelry designer, with son Jason: “Chanting makes me more perceptive, more in harmony with everything and everyone around me.”</p>
<p><strong>Dr. Donald R. Tuck, </strong>associate professor, Western Kentucky University: “I’ve noticed that as chanted progress from level to deeper level, they become more realistic, more tolerant.”</p>
<p><strong>Paul Bleier, </strong>printing executive: “When there’s pressure, I chant. It’s the one thing that charges my batteries. It clears my mind and brings me back in focus.”</p>
<p><strong>Mrs. Grace Acqulstapace, </strong>housewife: “I’m more openminded. Chanting has opened my eyes to things I never noticed. It’s like beautiful music a very peaceful feeling, very stisfying.”</p>
<p><strong>Stephen Farmer, </strong>health food store owner: “If I start my day on a spiritual note by chanting Hare Krishna, I can make it through the day in a pleasant mood.”</p>
<p><em><strong>Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare</strong></em></p>
<p>Anyone can chant the Hare Krsna (Huh-ray Krish-na) mantra, anytime, anywhere. The main thing is to listen closely to the sound. Whether you sing it or say it, alone or with others, the Hare Krsna chant brings about joyful spiritual awareness.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=100345">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=100345</a></p></div>Mantra America, Hare Krishna on the Red carpethttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/mantra-america-hare-krishna-on-the-red-carpet2023-02-14T11:54:28.000Z2023-02-14T11:54:28.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10967101491,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="10967101491?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Chaitanya Mangal </strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Grammy-nominated Mantra America chants Hare Krishna on the Hollywood red carpet.<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PAScL5gXwYA" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /> </p>
<p>After several years of effort, 2023 marked the first time the Grammys officially included chant as a music category. This year the album “Mantra Americana,” by Madi Das & Bhakti Without Borders, was nominated in the “Best New Age, Ambient, & CHANT Album” category. While the album didn’t win the award, a highlight of the experience was the Maha Mantra was chanted on the red carpet, and broadcast around the world, for the first time in the 65-year history of the Grammys. Yet another small step for Lord Caitanya’s prediction: “Inevery town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard!”</p>
<p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/mantra-america-hare-krishna-on-the-red-carpet/">https://iskconnews.org/mantra-america-hare-krishna-on-the-red-carpet/</a></p></div>Touching screen or touching beads? by Kadamba Kanana Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/touching-screen-or-touching-beads-by-kadamba-kanana-swami2022-11-23T12:30:00.000Z2022-11-23T12:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8531407652,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8531407652?profile=RESIZE_584x" width="500" />So, let us just look at the phone. Because that is the issue of the day. It is the phone that is being used in the name of pushing on this movement, that is destroying this movement. It is a crisis, an addiction. Very addictive thing. Try not to touch it and see how long you can. How long can you not touch it? Do not touch it! There, we can see how it creeps in little by little. We are using all these electronics in the service of Krsna. And then these electronics are taking over our life and gradually begin to take us away from Krsna. How much are we touching the touch screen and how much are we touching our beads?</p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://www.kksblog.com/2021/02/touching-screen-or-touching-beads/">https://www.kksblog.com/2021/02/touching-screen-or-touching-beads/</a></p></div>The all Powerful and Independent Holy Name by Varun Gognahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/the-all-powerful-and-independent-holy-name-by-varun-gogna2022-11-12T10:30:00.000Z2022-11-12T10:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img style="height:609px;width:400px;" src="https://i.imgur.com/fL4S7Qj.jpg" alt="fL4S7Qj.jpg" /></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Chanting the holy names of the lord is the most profound method in this age of Kali to rise above the influences of Maya. To engage in Harinama Sankirtana is definitely the only viable process of freeing ourselves from this precarious position we have implicated ourselves in within this material world. Inaugurated by Lord Caitanya who then empowered his pure devotee, His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, we have all been exposed to this Yuga Dharma Harinam Sankirtan through which we are able to attain to the perfection of life, namely Krishna Prema.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Devotees that have taken shelter of Harinama experience a gradual unveiling of grand spiritual magnificence which is deposited within Sri Nama through their progressive devotional development. This gradual unveiling gives light through the dark dense forest of material existence and brings the sadhaka closer and closer to realizing the Holy names in its full fledged manifestation, as being non different to Sri Krishna himself.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">As it is stated in Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Adi-lila 17.22:</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avatara<br /> nama haite haya sarva-jagat-nistara</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>“In this age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Krsna. Simply by chanting the holy name, one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered.”</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">There are many advanced devotees who having dedicated their lives to chanting the holy names have had some real in-depth experiences and realizations with the holy name. These experiences and realizations can be very inspiring and act as an aid for the practicing devotee to developing a firm faith in Sri Nama.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">One personality who had ample experience in dedicating his life to the chanting of the holy names was His Grace Sripad Aindra Prabhu.<br /> Aindra Prabhu was constantly immersed in chanting the holy names throughout his Krishna Conscious life. His level of sadhana was remarkable with him chanting on average of 9-12 hours daily, be it during Kirtan or during his own personal Nama Japa. He has been chanting a minimum of one lakh Nama of personal Japa for many years and in the last year prior to his departure he had increased his daily quota from one lakh Nama to two lakh Nama.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">So seeing his close relationship with Sri Harinama I thought it would be nice to share an experience and realization which Aindra Prabhu had. The following is a transcript of a conversation with Aindra prabhu speaking about a particular incident he had with the holy name. I definitely found this very inspiring as it helped to broaden my understanding on certain aspects of Nama Tattva. I am sure that it will be equally enlightening and inspiring for others as it has been for me.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Aindra Prabhu:</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“Sri Harinam is not dependant on our tongue to make his divine appearance. It’s not just by articulating the syllabic sounds with this fleshy tongue that the holy name must appear.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The holy name is independent as much as Krishna is independent. So I was telling of an incident which was a very startling and amazing incident that I experienced, wherein I was being overcome by a certain Tamasic mystics tantric power. It was here in my room, but I had become paralyzed, very similar to the way that one would be paralyzed if one is attacked by a ghost.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">But I could understand that it was a certain yogi of sorts in a certain Tantrics mystic power overcoming me. I was unable to escape, even though it was too late before I realized what was happening. Too late to try to counter the effect of the thing, so I became overwhelmed.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">I was being paralyzed and practically speaking the purpose of the yogi was to put me into a state of suspended animation. Or in other words to put me in a comatose condition, and it was actually a very dangerous situation.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">But suddenly from the sky, from above me, suddenly the Mahamantra in a very very very pure and clear sounding voice descended upon me. I cant even begin to try to reproduce that sound vibration, but the Mahamantra was independently descending.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">And when the Mahamantra, the holy names descended they came to protect me, to save me, and at that time they came to me from above in the sky. And as they came toward me immediately the tantric influence dissipated. My experience was that there wasn’t anyone chanting the holy name, but rather it was the holy name who is a person who is an independent spiritual sound vibration. In other words the holy names doesn’t require someone to chant him for the holy name to manifest, but rather the holy name is an independent spiritual sound vibration. Lets say a manifestation of the personality of Godhead who has his own independent free will, his own independent unlimited omnipotent abilities.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">So I had a direct experience of the personality of Godhead in his Harinama Svarup, descending and appearing to deliver me, to save me. And even now that sound, that experience is ringing in my ears. I can never forget the experience of the divine appearance of the holy name in my consciousness at that time. So on account of that experience I came to what I feel is a rather profound realization, that the holy name can appear even without the vibration of our tongue. In other words he doesn’t need us for anything, he’s independent, he doesn’t need us to vibrate, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna with this fleshy tongue for him to make his manifestation in this world.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Rather it is only because of his special causeless mercy upon certain devotes that he may choose by his own freewill to manifest by using their tongues as an instrument. In other words by engaging them in his seva he may choose to manifest by dancing on the tongue of a pure devotee. So the point that I think I was bringing out the last time we discussed, is that we should feel very privileged if Caitanaya Mahparabhu who is the personification of the holy name, if he decides to use any of us as an instrument for the propagation of the Holy name in the world. We should feel that we are very very privileged to be used as his instrument.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">It is not that just because we go out on the street or in the temple and chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Its not just because we chant this configuration of sound vibration in the form of Nama akshara or the letters of the name, it is not that just because we are chanting, or that it appears that we are chanting, that we are necessarily being used as an instrument in propagating the holy name.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">So the point is that we should be praying to Mahaprabhu, praying to Lord Caitanya, praying to lord Nityananda, praying to the Holy name to be granted the privilege of being used as their instruments in the matter of propagating Krishna Consciousness in the form of Sankirtana.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://www.dandavats.com/wp-content/uploads/SS-2010-12-20_13.54.15.jpg" alt="SS-2010-12-20_13.54.15.jpg" /></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>harer nama harer nama<br /> harer namaiva kevalam<br /> kalau nasty eva nasty eva<br /> nasty eva gatir anyatha</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>“In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.”</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=9135">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=9135</a></p></div>Don’t Turn Away From Krishna When You Chant! by Sacinandana Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/don-t-turn-away-from-krishna-when-you-chant-by-sacinandana-swami2022-11-10T12:00:00.000Z2022-11-10T12:00:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}5218369696,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="5218369696?profile=RESIZE_584x" width="450" /></p>
<p>How can we chant in a way that it makes us forget the material world and run to Krsna? When you sit down to chant, there will be moments in which you notice that your mind wandered somewhere else – ‘Uuups, I was thinking about my shopping list, that I have to close this deal to get more money and that Suresh Patel said something bad about me – well, he can just wait – I will show it to him!’ You will notice, ‘Where was I? I am sitting here in saintly company, chanting, but what happened?’ What happened, my dear devotees, is that your mind went away because there was not enough taste and you went to material subjects. Understand this: you are where your mind is. A student may sit in a class, but if he is absent-minded and thinks of his next outing with his friends, the teacher will say, “Hey, hey, what was I just talking about?” “I don’t know.” You are where your mind is. Therefore, we chant a mantra, which also means vehicle, something that transports the mind to another place if we connect the mind with it.</p>
<p>For most of the time modern people are not present in what they are doing, they are “spaced-out”. When you chant, the first thing you need to do is to catch the mind whenever it wanders. ‘Oh, where was I? Where was I for so long my dear Krsna? I was absent from You. For so many long years I have forgotten You, my Lord, even in kirtana I am not with You. Oh, where is my mind going!’ So, when you chant you are very lucky if you notice, ‘Oh, my mind was absent, I must bring it back.’ Only then, you will really be sitting in the kirtana. If your mind is somewhere else, then it has transported you to another place. Therefore, focus, concentrate!</p>
<p>And in order to bind the mind to the chanting, you must give up illusory attachments to this world. If you are convinced, with genuine humility, that no one and nothing, not your money, not others, can save you, you can chant without interruption. You must go to Krsna, only He can save you. And for this you have to practice a little detachment. We know one of the offences against the Holy Name is to maintain material attachments. They will pull you in the opposite direction of where you want to go. You are an awakening soul, you want to go to Krsna. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura names four illusory attachments a chanter must give up: first of all a strong love for the material world, secondly, identifying with the material body, thirdly, attachments to anything other than Krsna and fourthly serving maya. Now I know you think, ‘Oh Maharaja, why are you saying all of this in the morning? You are destroying my whole day! I have so many attachments and you tell me I should give them up. I just started building a new house…’ I know that it is difficult. You have to sit down with your mind and address it, “My brother mind, I want to become a devotee. I want to break out of the chains of maya. Material life has only given me repeated birth, death and misery. So, dear mind, can we speak?” The mind will reply, “Not if you tell me to give up attachments.” You can answer, “No, I will tell you something you will like. See, I have to tell you something very serious. Everything that comes into being in this world also dies. Nothing is permanent. We also have to die one day. Please, see that the attachments in our heart that you cultivate are like intoxication. For a moment an intoxicated man is very happy, but then, when it wears off, he is ill, unhappy and destructive. Be practical, these things don’t bring satisfaction, they don’t bring eternal bliss and knowledge. Please understand this. And now please come into the kirtana with me. Only the kirtana, nothing else. Sit with me, I have something wonderful for you: the Holy Name. Just absorb yourself in the Holy Name, it will be very nice.”</p>
<p>Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura says, “O bird of my mind, you always fly everywhere. I have brought something very beautiful for you, the Holy Name and when we chant it, Krsna will help us. Bird of my mind, come, sit and eat this food of the Holy Name. And remember, the day will come when they will carry us to the funeral pyre and our son will put fire into our mouth and we will not be able to chant. Now you have a tongue, eat the fruit of the Holy Name, it is most ecstatic. Stay with me, mind.” And my dear devotees, just by this attitude, in western philosophy it is called the via positive, which means “the positive way”, you will be successful. If you only have the via negetiva, the way of the negation “No attachments, no sense enjoyment!” it will be very difficult. But sankirtana is such that even an unqualified person will benefit just by combining the mind with Krsna in His most merciful form: the Holy Name. You must only practice this one thing: don’t be absent minded when you chant, don’t run away from the Holy Name, don’t turn your back to Him. No, when you chant, have this motivation: I will now turn to Krsna in the form of His Holy Name. The deity (the Holy Name) is identical with Krsna. And you can expect miracles. So my request to you is, when you sit in the kirtana, please be present minded, tell your mind “For the next few hours, please stay with the kirtana.” And all of a sudden you will experience an inexplicable transformation.</p>
<p>From a lecture by Sacinandana Swami in Nairobi, Kenia, September 29th, 2018.</p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=71207">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=71207</a></p></div>Chant and Hear and Become Purified—and Perfecthttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/chant-and-hear-and-become-purified-and-perfect-12022-11-05T11:41:23.000Z2022-11-05T11:41:23.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10864289681,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="400" alt="10864289681?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></p>
<p>The more we hear about Krishna, the more we become purified. We cannot understand Krishna because we are not purified. But if you hear the Krishna name, Hare Krishna—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare—if you chant and hear, you become purified. So why should we not take this simple method, as it is recommended in the shastra, harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam [“In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.”] (Brhan-naradiya Purana 3.8.126, Cc Adi 17.21)? Simply chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, twenty-four hours? Kirtaniyah sada harih. [“One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.”] (Siksastaka 3, Cc Adi 17.31) You become perfect. . . .</p>
<p>Namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah. [“O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of transcendental names, such as Krishna and Govinda, in which You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are no hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O My Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.”] (Siksastaka 2, Cc Antya 20.16) There are all potencies. And there are many names, not only one name. If you don’t like to chant Krishna’s name, then there are other names also—any name. Must be name of harer nama, nama, the name of Hari, not others. Harer nama. Then you get all the potencies. Namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis tatrarpita. And niyamitah smarane na kalah. And there is no consideration whether you shall chant in the morning or in the evening or while you are purified or not purified. Any circumstances, you can chant. Niyamitah smarane na kalah. There is no such consideration.</p>
<p>Krishna is available so cheaply for the people, especially, in this Age of Kali. Still, we are reluctant to chant the holy name. Therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu regrets, etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi: “Although You are so liberal and kind upon this fallen soul, still, unfortunate as I am, I am not inclined to chant this holy name.” This is our position—dog’s obstinacy. But if we do it, then we become purified.</p>
<p>—Srila Prabhupada, talk on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.30, October 10, 1974, Mayapur<br /> <br /> <strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=87683">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=87683</a></p></div>On Rising Early By Sivarama Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/on-rising-early2022-11-05T07:30:00.000Z2022-11-05T07:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XJzRa94OvZg/VdmXuDPf5wI/AAAAAAAASqo/CZMhi1C7Y5w/s0/2015-08-23_11-51-46.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XJzRa94OvZg/VdmXuDPf5wI/AAAAAAAASqo/CZMhi1C7Y5w/s0/2015-08-23_11-51-46.jpg?profile=RESIZE_400x" alt="2015-08-23_11-51-46.jpg?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="400" /></a></p>
<p><img src="http://www.dandavats.com/wp-content/uploads/185542124_7b44d_o.jpg" alt="" align="left" />I often have to encourage devotees, especially those not living in the temples, to rise early in the morning and come to the temple for the morning program, or to have one at home. Devotees should generally rise by 4 am, which means that their lives must be organized in such a way that they get sufficient rest, meaning taking rest early.</p>
<p>Certainly there are many considerations for individual cases; however, we will see from the collection of quotes from Srila Prabhupada below (not referenced) that His Divine Grace made few exceptions to his rule of “early rising”. Rising early is difficult, but that is the meaning of austerity…</p>
<p>“Sometimes it is very troublesome to rise early in the morning, but whatever voluntary trouble one may suffer in this way is called penance.”</p>
<p>Srila Prabhupada envisaged that everyone rise early and participate in the morning program…</p>
<p>“In this Krishna consciousness movement we require everyone to rise early in the morning, by four A.M., and attend mangala-arati, or morning worship, then read Srimad Bhagavatam, perform kirtana, and so forth.”</p>
<p>This is especially so for devotees living in the temples…</p>
<p>“For instance, in the Krishna consciousness temples the devotees rise early in the morning, at 4:00 A.M., and they immediately bathe. Then they go to mangala-arati at 4:30, and after mangala-arati they study the Vedic literatures.”</p>
<p>And even children can be trained to do so…</p>
<p>“We say the child must rise early in the morning, worship the Deity in the temple, and chant Hare Krishna. In the beginning, force may be necessary. Otherwise the child will not become habituated. But the idea is to divert his attention to Krishna conscious activities. Then, when he realizes he is not his body, all difficulties will disappear.”</p>
<p>What to speak of preachers….</p>
<p>“Preachers living in ISKCON temples follow this advice daily. They rise early and gather for mangala-arati before the temple Deities.”</p>
<p>And making this effort is part of learning how to love Krishna…</p>
<p>“So, you must practice how to love Krishna. First you have to rise early in the morning. You don’t like to, but you think, ‘I will rise early to satisfy Krishna.’ This is the beginning.”</p>
<p>If we do not think we need to do it, or think we are advanced, then we will fall down…</p>
<p>“We must rise early in the morning, bathe, attend mangala-arati, worship the Deities, chant the Hare Krishna mantra, study the Vedic literatures and follow all the rules prescribed by the acaryas and the spiritual master. If we deviate from this process, we may fall down, even though we may be very highly advanced.… Even if one is in the renounced order, he should never give up the regulative principles.”</p>
<p>Early rising is one of the nine limbs of devotional service…</p>
<p>“Pada-sevanam means to rise early in the morning.”</p>
<p>This is the culture of India even today…</p>
<p>“So the Indian public still, even they are not very educated, because the culture is there in, especially, in the villages, they rise early in the morning and take bath.”</p>
<p>For it was also the example set by Krishna Himself…</p>
<p>“He was lying with His beautiful queens, and as soon as there is cock crow, immediately He would rise, early in the morning, three o’clock.”</p>
<p>And if we cannot rise early, then we should understand what that means…</p>
<p>“If we cannot rise early in the morning, that means we are under the clutches of maya. This is the test.”</p>
<p>And for those serious about advancing in Krishna consciousness, they know what to do…</p>
<p>“…but at least everyone who is interested in advancing in Krishna consciousness must rise early in the morning, before four.”</p>
<p>These are a few of Srila Prabhupada’s comments on early rising. Thus children, adults, preachers, sannyasis, villagers, men and ladies, everyone should be up by 4 am, if not earlier, ready to attend mangala-arati by 4:30.</p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=85372">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=85372</a></p></div>Chanting with a Backing by Bhaktimarga Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/chanting-with-a-backing-by-bhaktimarga-swami2022-09-22T11:59:26.000Z2022-09-22T11:59:26.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10824287065,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="400" alt="10824287065?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></p>
<p>It was with great satisfaction that I conducted a Kirtan Standards course along with the Bhakti Academy students. The feedback that I received from this three hour interactive workshop/presentation were words like “informative,” “educational” and “clarification on things.” It was felt that before these students develop some habits regarding Kirtan (chanting) that fall in the realm of divergent, why not get it right in the beginning?</p>
<p>It was the founder-acarya of the movement, Prabhupada, who establish standards for when we are engaged in the culture of chanting. He once said there are two drums, or mridangas. One is the literature that goes far and wide and the other is the incarnation of sound vibration, or God in sound.</p>
<p>The idea behind this kirtan course is to know the mood, the execution and the preservation of its sanctity. Chanting, after all, is at the heart of the movement. Sharing this treasure with integrity is the mandate of all followers of the ISKCON movement. Somehow or other, we are meant to deliver the goods and those goods are the pure sound of mantra. There is a need.</p>
<p>Have you all heard some of the music of today? Some of it is not very enlightening for sure. It’s time to offer an alternative and that alternative has the backing of sages and saints from ancient times.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2022/09/monday-september-5-2022.html">http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2022/09/monday-september-5-2022.html</a></p>
<p> </p></div>Three most important rules for chanting Hare Krishna by Sacinandana Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/three-most-important-rules-for-chanting-hare-krishna2022-09-22T08:30:00.000Z2022-09-22T08:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515286888,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515286888?profile=original" width="400" /></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Our spiritual practice should nourish us, it should supply us with a taste that is better than the taste that material activities and sense gratification provide us with. When our spiritual practice lacks this taste, the temptation of material life which then allures us with a seemingly greater taste is always close to us. And at that time we are in danger. However, if we can find taste in our spiritual practice we are safe on the spiritual platform.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The chanting of the Holy Names is recommended as the main practice in the present time period, the age of Kali. Thus we need to find out how we can actually experience superior, spiritual taste from it. Sometimes, I provoke my audience by saying, “You have not chanted in this kirtan.” “What? Didn’t you hear the good vibration?”, I can then read off some of their faces. What I mean is something else – a way of chanting recommended by the Vedic scriptures. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is expressed it like this: “The Vedic mantra pranava is the bow, the pure living entity himself is the arrow, and the target is the Supreme Being.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 7.15.42) Srila Prabhupada clarifies the meaning of the mystical language of this verse which carries a very deep message for everyone who wants to do proper kirtana: “[The living entity] takes the arrow of his purified life, and with the help of the bow—the transcendental chanting of pranava, or the Hare Krsna mantra – he throws himself toward the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”(purport to the same verse) When an archer shoots an arrow he needs to take aim, make an effort to pull the string and then let the arrow go. While chanting Hare Krsna you have to perform the same three practices: Take aim: the first thing you have to do when you sit down to chant is to direct your practice towards Lord Krsna. If you chant without any focus and simply sing and for the most part follow your thoughts, you will miss the goal. This is I believe the foremost reason why many devotees do not obtain significant realization when they do kirtana – they just relax. A lack of taking aim. So don’t chant mindlessly or mechanically. How do you take aim? You must become aware: “I’m sitting in the temple, we’re glorifying Krsna, it’s meant for His pleasure.” Here is a very nice verse that you can read or meditate on to tune yourself into a devotional attitude: “One is immediately freed from the clutches of maya if he seriously and sincerely says, ‘My dear Lord Krsna, although I have forgotten You for so many long years in the material world, today I am surrendering unto You. I am Your sincere and serious servant. Please engage me in Your service.’” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, 22.33). It also helps to sit in front of the deities or a picture of Radha and Krsna.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The second rule is to make an effort. Just as an archer must make the effort to pull the string, you need to make the effort of consciously hearing your own chanting – one mantra at a time. When Srila Prabhupada was once asked how we can chant most effectively he answered: “Just try to listen to yourself chant sincerely”. Because we repeat the same mantra again and again, the mind has the tendency to switch off. Therefore we do need to make an effort as we chant. This is very important, because we do not want to switch off when being with Krsna. You have to hear own your sound, not the sound of the group when you sit in the kirtana, but your own chanting. It is your own offering to Krsna, it’s your own entering into the proximity of the Holy Name and you can’t do this if you are not present. So this is the effort: “You have to chant with your tongue, and you hear the sound, that’s all.” (Srila Prabhupada on a morning walk in Honolulu, Feb. 3, 1975)</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The third rule is to ‘let go’. When you chant you have to let go of everything else and just surrender unto Krsna and then let the Holy Name act. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura asks the question “Whose prayer does Krsna hear?” and he gives the answer, “The prayer of one who submits unconditionally to the sixfold path of surrender.” In other words, if you don’t really mean it, if you don’t put your heart where you put your words, then the Lord doesn’t hear it. But He is only a sincere prayer away if you really turn to Him without any pretense. Krsna is immediately responsive to such kind of prayer, immediately. So when you chant, surrender: “Here I am, I’m Your’s. I’m doing this for Your pleasure.” Let go of any other plan or agenda. You are now there for Krsna, it is your personal time with God.</p>
<div style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=73437">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=73437</a></div></div>Questions People Ask About Chantinghttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/questions-people-ask-about-chanting2022-06-09T12:15:18.000Z2022-06-09T12:15:18.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10550311255,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="450" alt="10550311255?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare<br /> Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare<br /><br /></strong></p>
<p>Q.<em> I’m afraid I’m a rather materialistic person. I want a compatible mate, a reasonable amount of money, healthy children, and things like that. Can I still chant Hare Krsna?</em></p>
<p>A. Definitely. Whoever you are, whatever you do, and whatever it is you want out of life, just chant Hare Krsna, and your life will be sublime.</p>
<p>Q. <em>I get the feeling that if I start chanting Hare Krsna, then sooner or later I’m going to have to give something up. What’s the catch?</em></p>
<p>A. There are no hard and fast rules for chanting the maha-mantra. So you never have to give up anything. But if you’re actually serious about achieving self-realization, the Vedic literature says there are four things you should avoid: intoxicants, meat-eating, illicit sex, and gambling. These four items are material contaminations the soul doesn’t need them at all and if we want to become spiritually pure, we should try to get free from them. And chanting Hare Krsna makes it easy. By chanting Hare Krsna, you come directly in touch with Krsna, the supreme reservoir of pleasure. So the pleasure you taste by chanting Hare Krsna is more than enough to make the so-called pleasures of material life seem just completely insignificant.</p>
<p>Q. <em>But what if I don’t want to give up these things? What if I’m not ready?</em></p>
<p>A. Then chant Hare Krsna anyway. It’s up to you. But if you’re actually serious about spiritual life, why not become ready? Why keep doing things that just get you more materially entangled? It’s common sense. If you’re trying to build a fire, why pour water on it?</p>
<p>Q.<em> I’ve heard about all kinds of mantras besides Hare Krsna. Is there any difference?</em></p>
<p>A. We don’t even have to talk about so-called mantras like “VROOSH” and “ZING.” But you may have come across some of the thousands of authentic mantras that appear in ancient India’s Vedic literature. As this same literature explains, the Hare Krsna mantra is more powerful than all the rest combined, and in this age it’s the bestmantra for bringing you complete self-realization. So you can understand why it’s called the maha-mantra, “the great mantra.”</p>
<p>Q. <em>I’ve read about plants responding to sound. If you chant Hare Krsna, does it have any effect on them?</em></p>
<p>A. Yes. A great spiritual master named Haridasa Thakura once said that the maha-mantra benefits even lower life-forms, like plants. All living beings (plants included) are actually spirit souls. It’s just that they’re wearing different kinds of bodily garments, depending on how much they’ve developed their consciousness in past lives. Plants have a comparatively undeveloped consciousness, but if you expose them to the sound of the maha-mantra, that will restimulate it. But mainly, themaha-mantra will develop your consciousness. It’s already much more developed than the plants’, and if you use it to chant Hare Krsna, then when this lifetime is over, you’ll be ready to return to the spiritual world.</p>
<p>Q. <em>Does the Hare Krsna mantra improve your self-awareness?</em></p>
<p>A. Yes. It acts much the way an alarm clock wakes you up from a dream. For instance, when you’re asleep you might think you’re a king living it up at your palace, or a skindiver being eaten alive by a shark but when the clock goes off, “Wait. I’m really John So-and-so.” And you know you were just dreaming, because it only lasted a few minutes and then it was over. Now, the thing is, the feeling of being “John So-and-so” is only going to last sixty or seventy years, at most, and then it will be over, too. So what is it but a long, drawn-out dream? People spend lifetime after lifetime as “John So-and-so,” “Bill Such-and-such,” and on and on. But the “self they’re aware of is just a temporary body in a temporary situation just a dream. If you want to enjoy complete self-awareness and wake up to your inner self, even within this lifetime, then you can chant the maha-mantra. The sound of Krsna’s names keeps you aware of who you really are: a spirit soul, part and parcel of the Supreme Spirit, Krsna.</p>
<p>Q. <em>Can chanting Hare Krsna help me to see God?</em></p>
<p>A. Yes. Actually, the only reason we can’t see God now is that our hearts are covered over with “dust.” This dust is our ignorance the misconception that we are the body, and that we can be happy only by enjoying material pleasures. But when we chant Hare Krsna, we’re in immediate contact with God, because He’s nondifferent from His name. This spiritual contact thoroughly cleanses the dust from our hearts. We realize that we’re not the body, and that only by associating with Krsna can we be truly happy. It is then when we’re fully purified that Krsna reveals Himself to us, just as the sun reveals itself to us through a clean window.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=98352">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=98352</a></p></div>Chanting Challenges by Vraja Bihari Dasahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/chanting-challenges2022-05-26T10:00:00.000Z2022-05-26T10:00:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}2515090188,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515090188,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515090188?profile=RESIZE_584x" width="500" /></a></p>
<div>
<div id="article_byline">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p> “For humankind, the mind is the cause of bondage and the mind is the cause of liberation. The mind absorbed in sense objects is the cause of bondage, and the mind detached from sense objects is the cause of liberation.” (Amrta Bindu Upanishad)</p>
<p>Yoga literally means “to connect.” A bhakti-yogi seeks to connect to Krishna, the personal aspect of the Absolute Truth, through a variety of devotional practices. These include chanting Krishna’s names congregationally (kirtana) and serving the Lord in various ways according to the yogi’s capacity. However, the foundation of all a bhakti-yogi’s attempts to connect is his or her daily japa session. Bhakti-yogis chant a prescribed number of rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra on their chanting beads while trying to focus their minds on remembering Krishna. But although the Vedic scriptures recommend mantra meditation as the best way to achieve this remembrance, chanters face a formidable challenge: the wandering, restless mind.</p>
<p>The Mind’s Rebellion</p>
<p>No sooner do chanters begin their meditation session than the mind becomes restless, digging into past memories, running again and again over present worries, and exploring the future. Much of this mental life is fantasizing about all the ways we can enjoy and all the ways we can suffer-reliving experiences, painful or pleasant,and planning endlessly. Anything but being present while we’re chanting. We have to wonder why chanting makes the mind so defiant.</p>
<p>To answer that question takes us to the crux of our identity: we are pure spirit souls who originally served God in the spiritual world with love and devotion. When we left His shelter and decided to enjoy independently of Him, we began to face the endless complexities of this world. Complexity is almost synonymous with struggle when you’re dealing with matter.<br /> Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita (15.15), “The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.”</p>
<p>The mind is a part of our subtle make-up, and it accompanies us throughout our sojourn in this world. Our refusal to be reunited with God, Krishna, is expressed through the protesting mind, which spends its time conjuring plans to enjoy separately from Him.The mind’s non-devotional movements during the japa session are an example of this rebellion.<br /> For those who want to practice bhakti-yoga,the mind must be diligently pulledback to Krishna.</p>
<p>Managing the Mind</p>
<p>We can bring the mind under control by following a few simple but effective principles. The first principle is not to become discouraged; continue chanting the maha-mantra daily. The word mantra is derived from the Sanskrit words mana, “mind,” and trayate, “to deliver.” Mantra meditation, particularly in the form of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, thus helps us deliver the mind from its material conceptions and increases our remembrance of God.</p>
<p>So even though the struggle with the mind may be formidable, devotees continue to chant Hare Krishna while recognizing that the mind can be the best of friends or the worst of enemies. When controlled, the mind becomes the spiritualist’s best friend; unregulated, the mind is the foremost enemy (Bhagavad-gita 6.5–6).</p>
<p>Humility, the Most Powerful Weapon</p>
<p>The second principle is to acknowledge the mind’s various tricks and then turn to Krishna for help. By applying this principle we invoke the most powerful weapon-humility-in our battle against the mind.</p>
<p>A moment of candid admission to Krishna about our fallen condition is a major victory on our spiritual journey. srila Prabhupada, the founder-acarya of ISKCON, was a pure chanter of the holy names, yet he humbly prayed to Krishna to protect him from falling into maya, illusion. Therefore, while continuing to chant daily, we need to be humble about our fragile condition and turn to God for protection. Humility attracts Krishna’s grace. A bhakti-yogi does not work so hard to restrain his mind for the sake of control; rather, he does it to attract grace.</p>
<p>What are the symptoms of those who have humbly sought Krishna’s shelter while chanting? These chanters experience God’s presence at all times, and to them the path of bhakti-yoga feels joyful and refreshing even when they are in the midst of difficult situations.</p>
<p>Pulling the Mind Back to the Name</p>
<p>The third principle is listening to the holy names. srila Prabhupada gave us a simple strategy to control the mind: when you chant, listen carefully to the words Hare, Krishna, and Rama. As the mind drags us repeatedly from the present into the past or future, gently but firmly pull it back to listening to the holy names. Despite the mind’s unwillingness to cooperate,<br /> if we listen to the syllables of the maha-mantra, the mind and heart will unite with Krishna. Listening helps us push the protesting mind toward submission; our chanting can then actually connect us to God rather than pulling us away from Him.</p>
<p>I remember a particularly stressful period in my life when I heard disturbing rumors about a person I loved; my relationships with people I knew closely soured. Although I’d been chanting for over a decade and should have been better able to control my mind, I was engulfed by strong negative emotions and was miserable. A friend advised me to “just hear” the syllables of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra as I chanted my daily japa. The method worked wonders. Although my problems persisted for a few more years, chanting pacified my anxious heart. I felt instant relief, and over time learned to depend more on Krishna. Now I look back at that time gratefully, for the crisis bought me closer to Krishna.</p>
<p>Listening to the holy names is hard work, but it’s rewarding. Last year, one early morning while I was traveling into the interior villages of India, I discovered that our car driver hadn’t slept the previous night. Seated next to him I chanted nervously, eyeing him constantly to make sure he wasn’t nodding off as we raced over the narrow, bumpy roads. The driver was reckless and there was no comfort to be found in the state of the roads. Neither could I seem to take comfort in the idea that I was in control of the situation. Deep down I knew I couldn’t do anything if within a split second the driver crashed into the mango groves on the roadside or one of the vehicles speeding toward us from the opposite direction. One stressful hour later, I gave up my anxious monitoring and inattentive chanting, my mental steering of the car, and gave up control. Instead I decided to focus on the holy names. Initially it was difficult to continuously pull my mind back to the sound of the mantra, but soon my hard work paid off and I felt only relief as chanted. I realized I couldn’t do anything except depend on the Lord’s mercy. The chanting nourished me, and in relinquishing the reins of my life to Krishna, I felt as if I was standing under a cooling rain shower on a hot day.</p>
<p>Sharpening the Intelligence</p>
<p>Another tangible benefit of trying to listen to the holy names is it sharpens the intelligence and increases awareness of the mind’s restless nature; that is, it helps us see ourselves as separate from the mind. Later, as we engage in other activities during the day, we will be quicker to catch the wandering mind and pull it back to the job at hand. A devotee thus feels confident and empowered by the tool of intelligence.</p>
<p>The Katha Upanishad(1.3.3–4) compares the human body to a chariot and the senses to the horses driving the chariot. The mind is the reins and the intelligence the driver maneuvering the chariot. The chariot’s passenger is the soul, the body’s real occupant. For the chariot to be driven smoothly to its destination, the driver, guided by the passenger, must control the horses by an effective use of the reins. Similarly, if yogis wish to optimally use their body to attain perfection in bhakti-yoga, they need to empower their intelligence-the body’s driver-by giving it spiritual knowledge. With strong, spiritually-directed intelligence, developed by prayer and scriptural contemplation, we can develop enough expertise and willpower to properly rein in the betraying mind.</p>
<p>Devotees need patience and perseverance for this fight. The mind is like a restless child. Even if the parents provide children with safe toys, by nature they will reach for a razor blade. Fortunately, it is a mother’s nature to watch her children and keep them safe. Although the mind may deviate or even pursue dangerous things, if we have strong, mother like, spiritual intelligence, she’ll be watching and pulling the mind back to the loving embrace of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.</p>
<p>Chanting as an Expression of Love</p>
<p>In the beginning of our bhakti practice we accept the Hare Krishna mantra as a medicine to cure us from our material conditioning. When we are purified, chanting Krishna ’s holy names becomes a spontaneous expression of the soul’s love for God. Advanced practitioners recognize the holy names as non different from the Lord and therefore pray to chant Hare Krishna purely. Someone once asked srila Prabhupada what he ultimately expected from chanting Hare Krishna. He happily replied that the goal of chanting is to chant forever-with every breath, every heart beat, to have our consciousness absorbed in glorification of Krishna’s holy names.</p>
<p>Sixteenth-century Vaishnava poet and scholar srila Rupa Gosvami, in his joyful glorification of the holy names, said, “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables krs and na have produced. When the holy name of Krishna is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. I then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, I desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.”(Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya, 1.99)</p>
<p>A devotee endeavors to reach the stage of offering his mind, senses, and heart for the pleasure of Krishna. They are less worried that they have managed to perfectly control the mind and are more interested in knowing whether they are aspiring to please the Lord by their thoughts, words, and actions.</p>
<p>As we begin chanting we are immediately connected to Krishna and become happy. However, when we aspire to love and serve Krishna purely, our chanting makes Krishna happy, and that takes our chanting to a completely different level where it becomes an exchange of pure love between the soul and Krishna.The mind no longer matters.</p>
<p><a href="http://btg.krishna.com/"><img src="http://dandavats.com/wp-content/uploads5/2014-12-11_09-29-12.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<br />
<div id="comments">
<p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=26455">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=26455</a></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div></div>Our Chant, Our Chat, Our Walk by Bhaktimarga Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/our-chant-our-chat-our-walk-by-bhaktimarga-swami2022-04-06T10:36:12.000Z2022-04-06T10:36:12.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10266004684,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="350" alt="10266004684?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></p>
<p>For Ukraine, our residents had a chant.</p>
<p>From our west coast Gita Chat group, we discussed a host of things, some of which are as follows:</p>
<p>1) We are all in a conditioned state; meaning we are contaminated.</p>
<p>2) Getting free from this contamination is called mukti.</p>
<p>3) Consciousness can be described with the term “I am.”</p>
<p>4) When consciousness is contaminated, one declares, “I am Lord.”</p>
<p>5) When consciousness is purified it means, “I am servant.”</p>
<p>6) Purification comes in the form of co-operation with the Lord.</p>
<p>7) Prabhupada equated co-operation to love.</p>
<p>8) The Absolute Truth is referred to as the complete whole.</p>
<p>9) The complete whole is comprised of God, the soul, the material energy, time, and activity.</p>
<p>10) There are three levels of God realization – Brahman or spiritual energy, Paramatma or God in the heart, and Bhagavan or the loving source.</p>
<p>11) If God is whole and complete then God is also a person.</p>
<p>12) Many potencies emanate from God.</p>
<p>13) We are not whole, like God, due to our human defects, of which there are four.</p>
<p>14) The four human defects or frailties are: a) we are prone to make mistakes, b) we are prone to cheat, c) we are prone to be in illusion, and d) our senses are imperfect.</p>
<p>We did, indeed, cover a lot of territory.</p>
<p>After our hour-long read and discussion, I went for my walk, which was to the police station on College St. and back. It is 2.5 km from the temple ashram to the station and the same distance back with a total of 5 km. This is not triumphant, but a goal reached nonetheless.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2022/03/monday-march-28-2022.html">http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2022/03/monday-march-28-2022.html</a></p></div>A simple explanation convinces a young man to dedicate himself to a life centred around chanting the names of and serving Godhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/a-simple-explanation-convinces-a-young-man-to-dedicate-himself-to2022-04-04T12:19:37.000Z2022-04-04T12:19:37.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><h1><span style="font-size:18px;">By Giriraja Swami</span></h1>
<div>
<h1><span style="font-size:18px;">Starting To See The Center Of Things</span></h1>
<div><em>A simple explanation convines a young man to dedicate himself to a life centred around chanting the names of and serving God.</em></div>
<p> <br /> <img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10260809881,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10260809881?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="300" /></p>
<p>“Ever since the Stone Age, people have come up with so many nonsensical ideas to explain the forces of nature.”</p>
<div>That’s what my father, a Chicago lawyer, would tell me when I was growing up. “The idea of a God may give peace and inspire morality, but scientifically minded people are beyond all that.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>My seventh grade teacher showed me a different angle. He reasoned, “There are so many things we can’t see. We can’t see atoms or air or our own minds. Does that mean they don’t exist? Just because we can’t see God, does that mean He doesn’t exist?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>That made sense to me, and I had a change of heart. I didn’t exactly know who God was, but somehow I knew He was at the center of things.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Then, four years later (in my junior year of high school) , a close friend laughed at my ideas. “The wonders of nature are just coincidences. You’re just imagining that a God is doing these things.” His strong personality and arguments persuaded me to set aside my belief for the time being.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Still, I wanted some kind of perfection in my life, and I thought I could find it by studying psychology. I read books like Eric Fromm’s The Art of Loving, and finally I enrolled in Brandeis University’s psychology department so that I could learn how to help people get along better. But soon it became clear that most psychiatrists were themselves disturbed, and that their rate of suicide was surprisingly high. Besides, all the “experts” had different theories and rarely agreed on anything.</div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>SEEKING THE EAST</strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Dismayed at not being able to find any peace of mind, I turned to the East for spiritual wisdom and looked for a spiritual teacher. For a start, I read about Zen Buddhism and also attended a weekend meditation led by a well known American Zen master. What an experience that was. All of us had to sit straight and stiff and play all kinds of mental games to empty our minds. We had to meditate on riddles like, “What is the sound of one hand clapping!” At times} when I fell asleep, a monitor would swat me on the shoulder with a stick. Needless to say, I felt uncomfortable. After the meditation, someone asked the master about Vedanta philosophy. He replied, “I have enough trouble keeping up with Zen. How can I think about Vedanta?” It seemed to me that a real spiritual teacher should know everything about spiritual life. So right then I knew that this man wasn’t the teacher I was looking for.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Later, I studied the writings of a famous Indian whom many people had called an incarnation of God. I asked one of my friends how I could study under him, but my friend told me that he didn’t accept any students. I thought, “What kind of master is this? Without accepting students, how can he benefit anyone? So that he can be detached he’s denying others the opportunity to be enlightened?” This didn’t make much sense to me, so I gave upon him.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Next, I became interested in a group that offered a popular version of meditation. Their leading American representative had rented a big hall in Cambridge to demonstrate the technique. But when I went there I found out that I’d have to pay an initiation fee of thirty five dollars and give up some kind of sense pleasure for one week. I wondered, “Thirty five dollars this is spiritual life? And if sense pleasure is bad, then why give it up for only one week?” It all sounded a little strange.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>So it went. Whenever I found that a “swami” or “yogi” or “perfect master” or “realized soul” was anywhere within a thousand miles, I would rush to meet him. ‘”This ananda,” “That ananda” -so many anandas I met, but I always came away disgusted.</div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>MEETING MY MASTER</strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Then, on April 18, 1969, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada came to the Brandeis campus to speak on the Bhagavad gita. My girl friend tried to persuade me not to go. “Why can’t we be like other couples?” she asked tearfully. “Why do you always have to run to these swamis and yogis? Why can’t we be like everyone else?” I didn’t want to disappoint her, and I actually tried to forget about the lecture, but from within I felt I had to go. Not wanting to hurt my girl friend’s feelings, I reassured her, “Let me go to this one lecture, and this will be the last swami I visit.”</div>
<p> <br /> <img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10260820286,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10260820286?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="217" />When one of my classmates and I entered the hall, the lecture had just ended. We saw Srila Prabhupada sitting on a magnificent chair in the middle of the stage.He was surrounded by chanting and dancing devotees. Satsvarupa Dasa, (now Satsvarupa Goswami) the president of Boston’s Krishna temple, led the enthusiastic chanting. As the sound system boomed the transcendental vibrations off the bare brick walls, I felt like jumping up and joining in. When the chanting ended, the devotees bowed to offer their respects to Srila Prabhupada. Then he left the stage, and a few disciples followed him.</p>
<div>Some of the devotees needed a ride to Harvard Square, so I gave them a lift in my station wagon. As we rode along, I mentioned that I’d been looking into Zen. “According to the Buddhists,” I said, “this world is just an image; it’s like a movie. And behind it all is nothing.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>A devotee commented, “Sure, this world is like a movie. But when you’re watching a movie, you know that there’s someone behind the whole show: a projectionist. So there’s also someone behind this world Krishna.” The more I listened to the devotees, the more I wanted to hear their guru. When Idropped them off in Harvard Square I asked a devotee named Patita pavana where the temple was. He told me how to find it and said that Srila Prabhupada would be speaking there the next evening. I decided to go.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I spent the next day anticipating my visit to the Krishna temple. Finally, about 6 p.m., I set out. The temple was in an out of the way but pleasant part of Boston called Allston. At the given address, 95 Glenville Avenue, I found a small storefront. With anxiety and eagerness I rang the doorbell, and a pleasant young man opened the door and welcomed me in. The room was thick with the smoke and fragrance of incense. It was a smallish room, crowded and warm. I saw Srila Prabhupada seated on the same chair as at the auditorium on campus. He was speaking, but I could hardly hear him. Yet I did catch one thing he said. He quoted a verse from the Bhagavad gita: “Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth” (Bg. 7.3).</div>
<div> </div>
<div>That struck me. I thought, “Spiritual life isn’t cheap. That’s one thing I’ve learned already.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>After he finished speaking, Srila Prabhupada asked for questions. A nicely dressed young man in the back of the room raised his hand. “Swamiji ,” he said, “How has Krishna created maya [illusion, or forgetfulness of Krishna] ?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Srila Prabhupada gave a beautiful answer. He began, “Maya is just like a cloud. Isn’t the cloud produced by the sun?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>“Yes.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>“And doesn’t the cloud also cover the sun?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>“Yes.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>“In this way Krishna is also creating maya, and due to maya, Krishna becomes covered. Actually Krishna is not covered, but our vision is covered, so we are not able to see Krishna.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Then I asked my question: “There are so many different processes of self realization, like Zen Buddhism, kriya-yoga, and others, and so many different teachers, with each one advocating his process as the best. How can we actually know what is the proper way?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Srila Prabhupada then questioned me. “First of all , what is your goal? Do you want to serve God, or do you want to become God?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I didn’t know what to say.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>“If you want to become God, that means that you are not God now. But how can somebody who is not God become God? God is God. He never has to become God by any mystic yoga process. He already is God. Krishna is God when He is on the lap of His mother, Yasoda; He is God when he is tending the cows with His friends; He is God when He is speaking the Bhagavad gita on the Battlefield of Kurukeetra. God is always God. Not that by some mystic yoga process He becomes God. You are not God, nor can you become God. God is in your heart, and if you surrender to Him you can become godly. He is ready to help you, but if you try to become God you are only cheating yourself. If you want to become God then why should God help the competition? But if you want to serve God then God will give you all facility. So what do you think do you want to become God or do you want to serve God?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>ILLUSION SHATTERED</strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>As Srila Prabhupada was speaking, I realized that actually I had wanted to become God. In fact, in my apartment I had painted a sign in bright, fancy letters; it said, “You Are God.” Another thing I realized as he was speaking was that Srila Prabhupada was the spiritual teacher I’d been looking for, and that he could see right into my heart. I became ashamed, because I knew that Srila Prabhupada was seeing all of my foolishness. Then he repeated, “What do you think do you want to serve God, or do you want to become God?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I hesitated. I had some inclination to serve God, but I admitted, “Actually, I see that I wanted to become God.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>” Srila Prabhupada said emphatically, “Yes, that is right! But how can you become God? You cannot. God is in your heart, and if you water the seed of devotion by chanting Hare Krishna, He will give you all the sunshine to make it grow.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Every vibration in Srila Prabhupada’s voice struck my ear and entered my heart. Meanwhile, Srila Prabhupada asked the devotees to distribute prasada (spiritual food, offered to Krishna) to everyone. Earlier in the evening Srila Prabhupada had initiated several new devotees, and now a feast would complete the occasion. One devotee brought a large platter with many varieties of prasada and offered it to Srila Prabhupada, who quipped, “I am not God; I cannot eat all this. Distribute it.” Then one joyful devotee approached me. “If you like,” she said, “you can help distribute the prasada.” I was thankful for the chance to do some service.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>After everyone else had begun eating, I sat down and looked at my plate. There were so many preparations that I’d never seen before; I didn’t know which one to try first. I bit into a pakora (a breaded cauliflower chunk, zestfully spiced and deep fried in pure butter). In all my life I had never tasted food so delicious. I looked at the devotees around me relishing their prasada, and then I tried a puri (a light pastry, puffed in pure butter) and some eggplant and tomato with curd. Again the taste was extraordinary. One by one I tasted all the preparations, and each one was more wonderful than the last. I’d never experienced such pleasure in eating. I reflected that everything in Krishna consciousness was that way. The philosophy, the prasada, the chanting, the temple, the devotees, and their spiritual master all were on a superior level.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The next evening I visited again. On alternate nights, instead of speaking at the temple, Srila Prabhupada would speak at one of the nearby universities, and that night he was going to speak at Boston University. I came early so that I could drive the devotees to the program in my station wagon. Srila Prabhupada spoke clearly and simply and then opened the floor to questions. One person asked, “What can this movement do for the hungry people of the world?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Srila Prabhupada replied, “If you give a bag of rice to the pigeons, one pigeon will take some grains and go away, another pigeon will take some grains and go away, and in this way all the pigeons will have enough. But if you put a bag of rice in a busy marketplace, the first man who sees it will take the whole bag and hoard it. So the real solution to the food problem is to change the greedy mentality in human society. Actually, there is no scarcity of anything; there is only a scarcity of Krishna consciousness. God has provided for everybody. We simply have to accept what He has given and distribute it equally. That is Krishna consciousness.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>After the questions and answers, with Srila Prabhupada looking on, the devotees danced in a circle and chanted Hare Krishna. When I joined them I began to sense that Lord Krishna actually is present, as He says in Bhagavad gita, “within the hearts of all living beings.” It was a bright moment in my spiritual life.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The next night, after Srila Prabhupada’s lecture at the temple, I asked a question (each time Prabhupada spoke I would limit myself to just one carefully thought out question): “What is the relationship between service to man and service to God?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Srila Prabhupada replied, “If a hungry man comes to you and you feed him, in a few hours his hunger will return and he will have the same problem all over again. But if you give him Krishna consciousness, all his problems will be solved permanently. If you give a man a million dollars, all of his ten dollar problems will be solved. Similarly, if you give a man Krishna consciousness, all of his little problems will be solved, including eating. And his problems will be solved permanently. He’ll become completely satisfied .”</div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>WITH SRILA PRABHUPADA IN EARLY DAYS</strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>A few nights later, after a lecture at Harvard, the students asked Srila Prabhupada many challenging questions, but he easily answered all of them. One student said, “You’re chanting Hare Krishna, but couldn’t you just as well count from one to ten over and over again, and wouldn’t that have the same results?” Srila Prabhupada replied, “Yes, you can try counting, and when you finish counting, you can try chanting.” Everyone laughed.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Another boy rambled on about how we need revolution. “This chanting has been going on for many years,” he said. “But now we have to take action, just like the Russian Revolution.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Srila Prabhupada inquired, “Now you’ve had your Russian Revolution, but are the people in Russia happy?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The boy replied, “Well, no.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Then Srila Prabhupada said, “Then what is the value of this revolution? And even if the situation has improved, again it will get worse. Better to chant Hare Krishna and get the permanent solution.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>After the question and answer period, the devotees chanted Hare Krishna. Later, I lingered among the audience, noting how they’d appreciated Srila Prabhupada and the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. A disciple told me what I’d already gathered: Krishna’s pure devotee can never be defeated.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I kept coming to hear Srila Prabhupada speak, either at the temple or at a university. One night he said something that I found especially illuminating: “Our whole life is simply wasted in these two activities hankering and lamenting. Either we are hankering after what we don’t have, or we are lamenting over what we’ve lost.” That pretty much summed up my life. Prabhupada added, “The peace we are hankering for, life after life, moment after moment we’ll get it when our desires are purified and dovetailed with the Lord’s desires.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The next day Srila Prabhupada gave a moving lecture at the Harvard University International Students Association. He said, “Our radius of love is always expanding. If you give a baby some food, he’ll simply put it in his mouth; he thinks only of himself. But when he gets a little older, he may think of sharing the food with his mother, then with his father, and then with his brothers and sisters. If you give him food when he is still older, he might share it with his friends. When he is a youngman, he may think of his community’s welfare, and when still more mature he may think in terms of serving the society or the country, until finally he might come to the point of serving all humanity. But still his love is not all encompassing. What about the cows? Are they not also sensitive living beings? Then why should we kill them? And what about the plants? We are cutting down so many trees and killing so many cows and other animals. Why should we not love all living entities?”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Srila Prabhupada then gave a nice example. What he said cleared things up for me. “This is our defect: our love is not perfect. I have my area of interest, and you have your area of interest, but mine overlaps and conflicts with yours. If I throw a handful of stones into the water, the circles they make will overlap and clash. But if I could throw the stones all at one center point, the circles would never clash. In the same way, if I have my center of interest and you have your center of interest, our interests will clash. But if we find the perfect center, we’ll have perfect harmony. And what is that perfect center? That perfect center is God Krishna.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Although I was still living at my apartment, I liked the idea of working with Prabhupada’s disciples. But I was in doubt about whether I should move into the temple or stay where I was. One night, I got th e opportunity to drive Srila Prabhupada back to the temple after his lecture. Here was the chance to ask him something that had been on my mind for some time. “Srila Prabhupada, what should I do with the rest of my life?” I was anxious, because I expected that he would ask me to move into the temple right away. But he replied, “Just study our books very thoroughly and chant Hare Krishna.” I was relieved that Srila Prabhupada was so understanding. He’d already helped me to see that Krishna is the center of things, and I could see that the rest would come naturally.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>At the end of 1970, Giriraja Swami went along on Srila Prabhupada’s well received return tour of India. Later, while he was the president of ISKCON’s Mumbai branch, among his other responsibilities, Giriraja Swami helped coordinate the Indian affairs of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and ISKCON’s life membership program. After that he extensively preached all over the world and now lives in the USA.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=97068">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=97068</a></div>
</div>
<p> </p></div>Chanting for Higher Consciousness: A Cultural History by Vaishnava Dashttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/chanting-for-higher-consciousness-a-cultural-history2022-04-04T09:30:00.000Z2022-04-04T09:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img class="align-center" src="http://i.imgur.com/eT7f5jY.jpg?profile=RESIZE_584x" alt="eT7f5jY.jpg?profile=RESIZE_584x" width="500" /></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:12px;"><strong>From CHANT AND BE HAPPY – THE POWER OF MANTRA MEDITATION</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">It’s a scene that has been repeated countless times on the thoroughfares of cities throughout the Western world-from Hollywood Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in America, to London’s Oxford Street and the Champs Elysees in Paris. There, in the midst of traffic, shops, restaurants, and movie theaters, people suddenly find themselves confronted by a group of young persons singing and dancing to the beat of cylindrical drums and the brassy cadence of hand cymbals. The men are dressed in flowing robes and have shaven heads; the women wear colorful Indian saris. Of course, it’s the Hare Krsna people, chanting their now familiar mantra, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna … But what’s actually going on? Is it some form of protest, avant-garde street theater, a religious demonstration, or what?</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">If you were to ask them, you’d learn that these people are performing a type of meditation long encouraged and practiced in the West-the chanting of the holy names of God. (Krsna is the Sanskrit name for the Supreme Lord.) Of course, meditation is a word that’s thrown around quite loosely these days. It’s come to mean practically any technique employed to silence and calm the harried modern mind. But the ancient and authorized form of meditation practiced by Hare Krsna people has a much deeper and more sublime purpose. Although it easily soothes the turbulent mind, it also awakens those who chant it to their original, joyful spiritual nature and consciousness, imparting a genuine sense of pleasure unavailable by any other means.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Vedas, scriptures containing the timeless spiritual knowledge of ancient India, state that such an awakening process is desperately needed because everyone in this material world is in a sleeping, dreamlike condition. We have forgotten our original, spiritual identity, accepting instead a temporary material body composed of physical elements as our real self. The Vedas compare the material body to the subtle forms we experience in dreams. While sleeping, we forget our normal waking identity and may find ourselves enjoying or suffering in different types of bodies. But when we hear the ringing of the alarm clock, we awaken and return to normal consciousness. We remember who we are and what we should be doing. Similarly, by hearing the powerful transcendental sound vibrations of the Hare Krsna mantra, we can gradually wake up to our original self, the soul, which is characterized by eternality and is full of knowledge and ever-increasing pleasure.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The sages of ancient India therefore tell us that the goal of human life should not be to try to enjoy our temporary dreamlike situation in the material world. Rather, we are advised to awaken to our original, spiritual nature and ultimately return to our true home in the spiritual world, where we may enjoy an eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">This search for the true self through the meditative process is not something recently discovered, nor is it in any way alien to the basically rationalistic philosophical and spiritual traditions of the West. Although Western civilization has for the most part directed its energies outward in various efforts to control and exploit the resources of nature, there have always been inner-directed philosophers, saints, and mystics who have dedicated themselves to a higher purpose than material well-being, which is in all cases temporary.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">CABH 4.1: The Search for the Self</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Search for the Self</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato held a view of man’s original nature quite similar to that of the Vedic sages. This temporary world, they taught, is not our real home; we once existed in a spiritual world. In Plato’s famous dialogues, Socrates says that in our original condition, “We were pure ourselves and not yet enshrined in that living tomb which we carry about, now that we are imprisoned in the body like an oyster in his shell.1. Phaedrus, translator Benjamin Jowett. 1 The purpose of philosophy, for these early Athenian thinkers, was to awaken a person to his original, spiritual identity, now hidden within the covering of the physical body.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The very same thing was taught in Galilee four hundred years later by Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of St. John, Christ says, “It is the spirit that quickeneth [gives life], the flesh profiteth nothing.”2. John, 6:63. 2 In other words, the body is simply an external covering for the soul, which is the real life-giving force. Therefore, Jesus warned, “What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world, but lose his immortal soul?”3. Mark, 8:36. 3 The highest goal of life, Christ taught, is to understand and experience our inner spiritual nature. In the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus instructs mankind to look within for true spiritual life: “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”4. Luke, 17:21. 4</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Describing his inner search for God through meditation, St. Augustine, a great saint and eminent philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church, tells us in his Confessions how his mind “withdrew its thoughts from experience, abstracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images.”5. Confessions, translator C. Bigge. London: Methuen and Company, Ltd., p. 244. 5</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">During the Middle Ages in Europe, there was widespread interest in meditation, with many saints and philosophers writing of their thoughts about the inward quest for divine reality. Thomas a Kempis, in his classic Imitation of Christ, cautions man about material life and summarizes the purpose and goal of meditation: “What do you seek here, since this world is not your resting place? Your true home is in Heaven; therefore remember that all things of this world are transitory. All things are passing and yourself with them. See that you do not cling to them, lest you become entangled and perish with them. Let all your thoughts be with the Most High.”6. Imitation of Christ, translator Leo Sherley-Price. Baltimore: Penguin Classics edition. 6</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">When one achieves this deep spiritual vision, his entire world view is completely transformed, as in the case of St. Francis of Assisi, who devoted his life to prayer and meditation. In his Life of St. Francis, St. Bonaventura says, “In all fair things, he beheld Him who is most fair, and, through the traces of Him which He has implanted in all His creatures, he was led on to reach the All-loved, constructing of these things a ladder whereby he might ascend to Him who is Loveliness itself….”7. The Life of St. Francis. New York: Everyman’s Library, 1912. 7 In other words, when one’s original, spiritual consciousness is revived, one sees God everywhere and in everything. One enters a unique world of spiritual knowledge and pleasure, far superior to what most of us perceive as reality-a spiritual reality that lies just beyond our ordinary abilities of perception. William James, the American philosopher who specialized in the psychology of religion, writing on this point, said, “Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go throughout life without suspecting their existence, but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness….”8. The Varieties of Religious Experience. William James. London: Longman, Green, and Co., p. 388. 8</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">But what is the “requisite stimulus” for awakening the dormant consciousness of the self and God that lies within everyone’s heart? All genuine spiritual authorities agree that such transcendental experiences cannot be awakened by any material stimulus or experience, including ingestion of chemical substances like LSD and other “mind-expanding” drugs.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">When Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acarya (spiritual master) of the Hare Krsna movement, was asked by a follower of Timothy Leary about LSD’s place in man’s spiritual life, he said that drugs were not necessary for spiritual life, that they could not produce spiritual consciousness, and that all drug-induced “religious visions” were simply hallucinations. To realize God was not so easy or cheap that one could do it just by taking a pill or smoking.9. Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1980, p. 201. 9</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">CABH 4.2: Sound and Self-Realization</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Sound and Self-Realization</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Vedic scriptures advise that the proper technique for awakening spiritual consciousness is the hearing and chanting of transcendental sounds or mantras, like the Hare Krsna mantra. The power of sound to effect changes in consciousness has long been recognized. The English philosopher and statesman Sir Francis Bacon noted that “the sense of hearing striketh the spirit more immediately than any other senses.”10. Sylva sylvarum, in Works, ed. James Spedding, et. al. New York: 1864, IV, p. 231. 10</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Ordinary material sounds, however, will not awaken spiritual consciousness. For this, one must hear spiritual sound vibrations. Therefore, almost every religion in the world recommends that we meditate upon the Word of God. St. John wrote in his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”11. John, 1:1. 11 Divine sound is thus of a vastly different quality than worldly or material sound. This fact was clearly explained by St. Augustine in his Confessions. Once, as he emerged from a mystic trance, he said he “heard again the babble of our own tongues, wherein each word has a beginning and an ending. Far unlike Thy Word, our Lord, who abideth in Himself, never growing old and making all things new.”12. Confessions, X, p. 321. 12 And in the Gospel of St. John, Christ says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit.”13. John, 6:63. 13</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">While the Word, or teachings of God, have enormous power to transform and uplift our lives, just as important are the actual names of God, which are sometimes praised aloud in song or quietly meditated upon. Since God is fully spiritual and absolute, the Vedic scriptures inform us that His holy names are invested with the Lord’s full spiritual potencies. God and His name are the same. The Padma Purana states, “There is no difference between the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself. As such, the holy name is as perfect as the Lord Himself.” The Stoic philosopher Maximus noted, “There is one supreme God who is, as it were, the God and mighty father of all.” “It is Him,” he said, “whom we worship under many names.”14. Comparative Religion, Esther Carpenter, 1913, p. 35. 14 Modern Jewish theologian Martin Buber also agreed that “All God’s names are hallowed.”15. Worship in the World’s Religions, Geoffrey Parrinder. London: Faber and Faber, 1961, p. 7. 15</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">And the Bible is replete with similar statements. In the Old Testament it is said, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe.”16. Proverbs, 18:10. 16 In Psalms, King David proclaims, “I will praise the name of God with a song.”17. Psalms, 69:30. 17 Indeed, the Psalms contain countless references to the name of God: “All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord: and shall glorify Thy name.18. Psalms, 86:9. 18… O give thanks unto the Lord: call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works. Glory ye in His holy name.19. Psalms, 105: 1-4. 19 … Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals.”20. Psalms, 150:4-5. 20 The prophet Isaiah described God as “One that inhabiteth eternity, and whose name is Holy.”21. Isaiah, 57:15. 21 Centuries later, Israel Baal Shem Tov (1699-1761), the great Jewish mystic, founded Hasidism, a popular pietist movement within Judaism, in which members dance and chant in glorification of the Supreme Lord.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Christ, when teaching his disciples how to pray, glorified the Lord’s holy name: “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” And in his Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul wrote, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”22. Romans, 10:13. 22</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">In the early Christian churches, there was, according to the historian Eusebius, “one common consent in chanting forth the praises of God.”23. Ecclesiastical History. 23 The Gregorian chants, popularized in the sixth century by Pope Gregory the Great and later by works like Handel’s masterpiece the Messiah, with its resounding choruses of hallelujah (“praised be the Lord”), are still performed and appreciated all over the world.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">In addition to praising the Lord’s name and glories in song, there also developed in the Christian churches the practice of meditating upon God by chanting prayers on rosary beads, a tradition continued today by millions of Catholics worldwide. John Chrysostom, a saint of the Greek Orthodox church, especially recommended the “prayerful invocation of the name of God,” which he said should be practiced “uninterrupted.”24. The Way of a Pilgrim, translator R. M. French. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 24 The repetition of the Jesus prayer (“Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me”) became a regular practice among members of the Eastern Church. In The Way of a Pilgrim, a Russian monk describes this form of meditation: “The continuous interior prayer of Jesus is a constant uninterrupted calling upon the divine name of Jesus with the lips, in the spirit, in the heart…. One who accustoms himself to this appeal experiences as a result so deep a consolation and so great a need to offer the prayer always, that he can no longer live without it.”25. Ibid. 25</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Among the followers of Islam, the names of God (Allah) are held sacred and meditated upon. According to tradition, there are ninety-nine names of Allah, called “the Beautiful Names.” They are found inscribed on monuments such as the Taj Mahal and on the walls of mosques. These names are chanted on an Islamic rosary, which consists of three sets of thirty-three beads. Worshipers repeat the names to help them concentrate their minds upon Allah. The dual titles Al-Rahman, al-Rahim, meaning “God, the compassionate, the merciful,” are invoked at the beginning of each chapter of the Koran. Other Arabic names of God glorify Him as the creator, provider, and king.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">In India, the Sikhs place special emphasis on the name of God. Indeed, the Sikhs call God Nama-“the name.” Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, prayed, “In the ambrosial hours of the morn I meditate on the grace of the true name,” and says that he was instructed by the Lord in a vision to “Go and repeat My name, and cause others to do likewise.”26. Japji (The Meditations of Guru Nanak). 26</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“Rosaries are widely used in Buddhism; large ones by monks, smaller ones by the laity, says Geoffrey Parrinder, a professor of comparative religion at the University of London, in his book Worship in the World’s Religions. “The large ones have 108 beads, the two halves representing the fifty-four stages of becoming a boddhi-sattva (enlightened one). The large bead in the middle stands for Buddha.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Members of Japan’s largest Buddhist order, the Pure Land sect, practice repetition of the name of Buddha (namu amida butsu). The founder Shinran Shonin says, “The virtue of the Holy Name, the gift of him that is enlightened, is spread throughout the world.”27. Buddhist Psalms, Yamabe, S., and Beck, L.A. Murray, 1921, p. 86. 27 The Buddhist teachings reveal that by chanting the name of Buddha, the worshiper becomes liberated from the cycle of reincarnation and joins the Buddha in the Pure Land, or spiritual world.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">CABH 4.3: Krsna: The All-Encompassing Name of God</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Krsna: The All-Encompassing Name of God</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Although God is known throughout the world by many different names, each of which describes some particular aspect of His glories and attractive features, there is one name which expresses the sum total of God’s infinite qualities and characteristics This supreme, all-encompassing, and most powerful name of God is found in the oldest religious scriptures in the world, the Sanskrit Vedas of India, which state that the principal name of God is Krsna.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Srila Prabhupada explains: “When we speak of Krsna, we refer to God. There are many names for God throughout the world and throughout the universe, but Krsna is the supreme name according to Vedic knowledge.”28. Sri Namamrta: The Nectar of the Holy Name, Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1982, p. 142. 28 He further states, “God has many names according to His activities, but because He possesses so many opulences, and because with these opulences He attracts everyone, He is called Krsna [‘all-attractive’].”29. Ibid. 29</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The spiritual qualities of Krsna’s holy name are described throughout the Vedic literatures. The Padma Purana states, “The holy name of Krsna is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Krsna Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure…. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Krsna Himself. Since Krsna’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with maya [illusion]. Krsna’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Krsna and Krsna Himself are identical.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Since time immemorial, millions of devotees and saintly persons have chanted the name of Krsna to achieve spiritual perfection. But history records that it was widely popularized by Lord Caitanya, an incarnation of Lord Krsna who appeared in Bengal barely five centuries ago and established the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra as the universal spiritual practice for the present age.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">According to Vedic cosmology, the material creation eternally passes through cycles of four ages. Each begins with a Golden Age (Satya-yuga), then conditions progressively deteriorate, ending in the Kali-yuga, an age characterized by quarrel and hypocrisy. For each of the four ages, the Vedas prescribe a universal method of self-realization just suited for that particular age.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">For instance, in the Satya-yuga, the recommended path was that of the mystic yoga system, which involved a lifetime of unbroken yoga practice, accompanied by strict vows of penance and austerity. We are presently at the beginning of the last age, Kali-yuga. In this age people no longer have the endurance, willpower, or sufficient life span necessary to successfully practice the original yoga system described in the Vedas. The Vedic scriptures therefore advise, “In this age of Kali there is no alternative, there is no alternative, there is no alternative for spiritual progress other than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of the Lord.” 30. Brhan-naradiya Purana. 30</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Kali-santarana Upanisad specifically recommends the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra: “Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare-these sixteen names composed of thirty-two syllables are the only means to counteract the evil effects of Kali-yuga. In all the Vedas it is seen that to cross the ocean of nescience there is no alternative to chanting the holy name.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Lord Caitanya’s biographers record that He spent many years traveling all over India spreading the chanting of the holy names of Krsna. He chanted the Hare Krsna mantra congregationally (kirtana) to the accompaniment of musical instruments, including drums and hand cymbals. The Lord also chanted the mantra quietly a specific number of times daily as a private meditation (japa). In the Siksastaka, His famous prayers about the holy names of Krsna, Lord Caitanya wrote, “Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Krsna, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Krsna expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">During His lifetime, Lord Caitanya predicted that the holy names of Krsna would spread to every town and village in the world. This prophecy lay unfulfilled for four hundred years, until the time of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, a great spiritual master in the direct line of disciplic succession from Lord Caitanya. In 1885 Bhaktivinoda wrote, “Lord Caitanya did not advent Himself to liberate only a few men in India. Rather, His main objective was to emancipate all living entities of all countries throughout the entire universe and preach the Eternal Religion…. There is no doubt that this unquestionable order will come to pass…. Very soon the unparalleled path of hari-nama sankirtana [the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord] will be propagated all over the world…. Oh, for that day when the fortunate English, French, Russian, German, and American people will take up banners, mrdangas [drums], and karatalas [hand cymbals] and raise kirtana [chanting] through their streets and towns! When will that day come?”31. Sajjana-tosani (newspaper). 31</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Bhaktivinoda’s vision became a reality in less than a century. In 1965, India’s greatest spiritual and cultural ambassador, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, arrived in New York’s East Village, the heart of the countercultural movement of the sixties. Within a year Srila Prabhupada, tenth in the line of spiritual masters from Lord Caitanya, had founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Very quickly, the sound of the chanting of Hare Krsna spread, first across America, then on to England and throughout the world.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The Vedic scriptures predict that although the age of Kali is the most degraded of all, the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra will dramatically alter the present war-torn, hate-filled atmosphere of the world. These most ancient, timeless writings forecast a Golden Age, beginning with the widespread chanting of Hare Krsna, during which the painful disturbances of this age will be mitigated and people everywhere will be economically, politically, socially, culturally, and spiritually happy.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Srila Prabhupada explains, “Kali-yuga continues for 432,000 years, of which only 5,000 years have passed. Thus there is still a balance of 427,000 years to come. Of these 427,000 years, the 10,000 years of the sankirtana movement inaugurated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago provide the opportunity for the fallen souls of Kali-yuga to take to the Krsna consciousness movement, chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, and thus be delivered from the clutches of material existence and return home, back to Godhead.”32. Sri Namamrta, p. 249. 32</p>
<div style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=86031">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=86031</a></div></div>Seven Benefits of Chanting by Nagaraja Dasahttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/seven-benefits-of-chanting-by-nagaraja-dasa2022-03-29T10:47:03.000Z2022-03-29T10:47:03.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10246138257,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="450" alt="10246138257?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p>On encountering Hare Krsna devotees chanting on the street, people respond with every reaction from amusement to anger. Few understand what the chanting is all about. To many, it seems a frivolity, often inspiring the remark “Get a job!”</p>
<p>But there’s nothing frivolous about chanting the names of God. Srila Prabhupada had great faith in the transformative power of chanting. He told us that simply by chanting Hare Krsna we would become self-realized. He spoke from experience and on the basis of the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who emphasized chanting as the most effective means of God-realization in the present age.</p>
<p>Prabhupada saw his disciples mature spiritually by chanting. And he stressed that if we continued to chant sincerely, we would attain spiritual perfection.</p>
<p>In the Siksastaka, or “Eight Teachings,” Lord Caitanya Himself listed seven spiritual benefits of chanting:</p>
<p>• Chanting cleans the mirror of the heart. Lord Caitanya compares the heart, or the consciousness, to a mirror in which one sees oneself. The dust of lifetimes of material pursuits sullies our consciousness, blocking a clear vision of our true identity as spiritual beings. Chanting the holy names washes away that dust, allowing us to finally see who we really are.</p>
<p>• Chanting puts out the fire of material existence. We think we’re the body, and that brings on limitless sufferings, chief of which are disease, old age, death, and rebirth. Because chanting awakens our true identity, it delivers us from repeated lifetimes of misery at the hands of nature.</p>
<p>• Chanting is like a moon, spreading good fortune. Even in the early stages of practice, a chanter feels the lightening of a great burden. Because God and His names are identical, the blessings invoked by chanting are incalculable.</p>
<p>• Chanting is the life of all knowledge. Without spiritual knowledge, we eternal beings are doomed to stay in this temporary place where we can never be fully satisfied. The essence of spiritual knowledge is to know our eternal relationship with Krsna. By removing the material covering, chanting awakens that knowledge, which lies dormant within us.</p>
<p>• Chanting expands the ocean of transcendental happiness. Any spiritual happiness is far beyond anything attainable through material endeavors, but the highest spiritual pleasure comes from our relationship with Krsna. As the purity of our chanting increases, so does our love for Krsna, the key to an ever-deepening relationship with Him. Lord Caitanya gives the example of an ocean to show the amount of happiness that awaits us even an ordinary ocean isn’t big enough to hold it; an ever-expanding ocean is needed.</p>
<p>• Chanting lets us taste the nectar of happiness at every step. We eventually become satiated by any kind of material pleasure, but the spiritual happiness unlocked by chanting Hare Krsna is always new and fresh.</p>
<p>• Chanting bathes us in full satisfaction. Restoring our long-lost relationship with Krsna fully soothes the soul.</p>
<p>Lord Krsna longs for us to return to Him, and our heartfelt plea spoken in the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is just what He wants to hear.</p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://dandavats.tumblr.com/post/679875129532137473/seven-benefits-of-chanting-by-nagaraja-dasa-on">https://dandavats.tumblr.com/post/679875129532137473/seven-benefits-of-chanting-by-nagaraja-dasa-on</a></p></div>Chant for Peace Global Initiativehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/chant-for-peace-global-initiative2022-03-12T09:50:33.000Z2022-03-12T09:50:33.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10203957056,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="10203957056?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p>The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a worldwide religious community and confederation of over 800 temples and cultural centers, conducted Chant for Peace events during the weekend of Saturday, March 5th, 2022 around the globe to pray for all people affected by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and surrounding areas. ISKCON devotees all over the world promoted the uplifting process of chanting the Holy Names of God as well as the understanding of universal brotherhood and sisterhood of all people and living beings as children of that One God. Chant for Peace events are planned to continue around the globe until 18 March 2022, the sacred appearance day of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Golden Avatar of Lord Sri Krishna who appeared in West Bengal approximately 500 years ago.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://iskconnews.org/chant-for-peace-global-initiative/">https://iskconnews.org/chant-for-peace-global-initiative/</a></p></div>Chanting, Shoveling by Bhaktimarga Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/chanting-shoveling-by-bhaktimarga-swami2022-01-31T10:48:04.000Z2022-01-31T10:48:04.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10059449652,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="320" alt="10059449652?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></p>
<p>I have to hand it to them; Cameron and Vallabha Hari took their shovel carving through the imposing mounds of snow around the building and succeeded in making it accessible for pedestrian walkways with snow walls. Bravo to you guys!</p>
<p>To those who are intimidated by natures imposition, I would like to offer this advice: take them as Krishna’s way of reminding us that 1) we are not God – we are not in control, 2) Krishna is giving the opportunity to learn modesty, 3) life in this world is not all for sense gratification, 4) be in gratitude for what you have.</p>
<p>And to a group of rugby players who were on a flight when Prabhupada was on board, he very much insisted that his servant not be so annoyed over their smoking cigarettes and rowdiness. He insisted on tolerance. His expectations of tolerance, or rather acceptance by his disciples and students applied to nature, the elements, the aging process, illnesses, death itself and, what to speak of people, each other.</p>
<p>So many references in the Gita direct the sincere seeker of the truth to the point of titiksasva, tolerance. Tolerance/acceptance puts that extra layer of tough skin on us. The way to see that is we must exercise charity in the home by being compassionate to ourselves. Let’s call it spiritual stamina.</p>
<p>We can achieve that through regular sadhana (spiritual workout), sastra (study of holy texts) and sangha (good company). Keep up the chanting while shoveling the snow.</p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2022/01/tuesday-january-18-2022.html">http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2022/01/tuesday-january-18-2022.html</a></p></div>A Question on Chanting by Sacinandana Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/a-question-on-chanting-by-sacinandana-swami2021-11-06T15:23:43.000Z2021-11-06T15:23:43.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p id="viewer-foo"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9774244093,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="9774244093?profile=RESIZE_584x" />We are always being advised to chant with emotion like a child crying for its mother. But when I chant, it takes everything I got to be able to focus, so there’s like no room to also focus on emotions, kind of like you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. So, I’m wondering if Krishna will accept my arduous efforts to focus on His names as an emotion or would He consider that just mechanical?</p>
<p id="viewer-9t61r">First of all, Krishna is very satisfied if someone makes an effort in His service. However, you should know that bhakti has two forms, not just one form. Bhakti has the form of cesta-rupa-bhakti – that’s when we make an effort like in this case to focus. Bhakti also has the form of bhava-rupa-bhakti – that’s an emotion, that’s a feeling.</p>
<p id="viewer-eqf3b">What Srila Prabhupada instructed the devotees who joined his movement early is something which I think could help: we were always instructed to chant before the deity of Krishna. I remember there was one Godbrother who wanted to leave the practice of chanting and the movement altogether. Prabhupada sent him before the Deity – he was supposed to sit down and chant to the Deity. If you do that, if you chant to Krishna in His deity form or if you have a photo of the deity in front of you, something will come to you. Imagine you sit before a person and you communicate with that person, after some time there will be something happening. People call it a rapport – something between the two of you will happen.</p>
<p id="viewer-dtfgn">So, as you chant to Krishna, the emotions will awaken for sure, 100%. Don’t worry. And it will be effortless. They will arise as feelings of gratitude for instance, as an inner need, ‘I need you, Krishna’ and so on. But you have to learn to chant to Krishna. Free your chanting from the tyranny of numbers (“Phew, I must chant this amount of numbers.”). Because then you have ‘number chanting’. Enliven your chanting by chanting to Krishna.</p>
<p id="viewer-9m4q9">I’m not saying here that those of us who’ve made vows at our initiation to complete our 16 rounds, should not complete them. You should complete them, because it’s a vrata and you have given such a vow. If you break it, something inside of you will break. However, you should not chant to complete numbers, that’s what I’m saying. Chant in a relationship with Krishna. If you are already chanting before a picture or the deity of Krishna and you still have difficulties to enter into a relationship with Krishna, then you can offer an obeisance before you start or do something else which gets your ‘relationship thing’ going. You may also try Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s advice to bring the chanting, the sound vibration, into your heart, where you are and where you’re dedicated to Krishna. It will work. When the mind is focused on Krishna, the emotions will come. It is as sure as the feeling of nourishment when you eat.</p>
<div id="viewer-eh93d"><strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://www.iskconofdc.org/single-post/a-question-on-chanting">https://www.iskconofdc.org/single-post/a-question-on-chanting</a></div></div>Dear Mind by Bhaktimarga Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/dear-mind-by-bhaktimarga-swami-12021-08-11T09:22:02.000Z2021-08-11T09:22:02.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9407435657,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="9407435657?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Some days you are a friend</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Some days you are foe</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You swing moods up</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You swing them low</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">I can’t always trust</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You’re not in one place</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You respond well to lust</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Big dose or a trace</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You lead me to greed</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">It’s not what I want</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You convinced it’s a need</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">In truth it’s a taunt</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">When there is anger</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Pent up inside</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You then do hanker</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">To push it outside</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">I don’t know why</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You are so cruel</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Cunning and sly</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">And wanting to rule</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You’re some kind of clown</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Silly and joking</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">A laugh or a frown</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Nabbing and poking</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Yet you are subtle</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Silent and swift</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Keen to befuddle</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">On your full-time shift</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">You are your worst</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">When the body is idle</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Every bubble you burst</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">To retain your title</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;">But my dear Mind</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;">I’m not your slave</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">I’ll reverse the role</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Get you to behave</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">And be under control</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">It’s my turn to reign</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">So settle down — sit</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Magic is in the name</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">It’s the perfect fit</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Now just cooperate</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">And take out your sting</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Let us then celebrate</p>
<p style="text-align:center;">With mantra we sing<br /> <br /> <strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2021/08/tuesday-august-3-2021.html">http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2021/08/tuesday-august-3-2021.html</a></p></div>Chant and Hear and Become Purified—and Perfecthttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/chant-and-hear-and-become-purified-and-perfect2021-07-30T08:30:00.000Z2021-07-30T08:30:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}2515281961,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="2515281961?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="350" /></p>
<p>The more we hear about Krishna, the more we become purified. We cannot understand Krishna because we are not purified. But if you hear the Krishna name, Hare Krishna—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare—if you chant and hear, you become purified. So why should we not take this simple method, as it is recommended in the shastra, harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam [“In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.”] (Brhan-naradiya Purana 3.8.126, Cc Adi 17.21)? Simply chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, twenty-four hours? Kirtaniyah sada harih. [“One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.”] (Siksastaka 3, Cc Adi 17.31) You become perfect. . . .</p>
<p>Namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah. [“O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of transcendental names, such as Krishna and Govinda, in which You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are no hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O My Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.”] (Siksastaka 2, Cc Antya 20.16) There are all potencies. And there are many names, not only one name. If you don’t like to chant Krishna’s name, then there are other names also—any name. Must be name of harer nama, nama, the name of Hari, not others. Harer nama. Then you get all the potencies. Namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis tatrarpita. And niyamitah smarane na kalah. And there is no consideration whether you shall chant in the morning or in the evening or while you are purified or not purified. Any circumstances, you can chant. Niyamitah smarane na kalah. There is no such consideration.</p>
<p>Krishna is available so cheaply for the people, especially, in this Age of Kali. Still, we are reluctant to chant the holy name. Therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu regrets, etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi: “Although You are so liberal and kind upon this fallen soul, still, unfortunate as I am, I am not inclined to chant this holy name.” This is our position—dog’s obstinacy. But if we do it, then we become purified.</p>
<p>—Srila Prabhupada, talk on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.30, October 10, 1974, Mayapur<br /> <br /> <strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.girirajswami.com/?p=16134">http://www.girirajswami.com/?p=16134</a></p></div>Getting High on Chanting by Bhaktimarga Swamihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/getting-high-on-chanting-by-bhaktimarga-swami2021-06-26T11:16:04.000Z2021-06-26T11:16:04.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9146952661,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="450" alt="9146952661?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></p>
<p>Some restrictions becoming relaxed on Covid discipline has made it more possible for a flow of freedom in places like High Park. From noon until 4 pm, a small group of us bhakti yoga followers gathered at what Nick called “the Hill” for kirtan performance. It’s a great spot in a great park where people come to chill.</p>
<p>I managed to catch the last few minutes of the blissful chant before embarking on a trip (by car) north to Caledon and to a farm. Visiting this sixty-four-acre land in the rolling hills north of Toronto was a real treat, not only because of the breath of fresh air myself and three companions were experiencing, but unique to this farm are the special features it offers. For instance, this new facility has this high-tech self-cleaning automated operation all to accommodate the bulls and cows in the winter season. It is their feeding space, living space, and pooping place.</p>
<p>These beautiful mammals also receive a lot of love from owners Vishal (who boldly gets on the back of this feisty bull for a ride), his wife Yashomati and their three children. Both animals and humans are in love with each other. </p>
<p>The four of us visiting took to chanting, as we had done in High Park, in the barn which actually has living quarters affixed to it. We enjoyed prasadam in the living room which has four large windows that allow you to view the animals in the barn. Cows, bulls, and horses could hear our kirtan and, like a happy family, grouped together to listen in through those windows. It was precious.<br /> <br /> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2021/06/saturday-june-12-2021.html">http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2021/06/saturday-june-12-2021.html</a></p></div>Kirtan Prayers Global and Chant for Love and Peace - Kirtan Eventshttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/kirtan-prayers-global-and-chant-for-love-and-peace-kirtan-events2021-04-30T12:47:22.000Z2021-04-30T12:47:22.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8874423271,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="8874423271?profile=RESIZE_584x" />GBC SPT hosts "Kirtan Prayers Global" for all devotees worldwide afflicted by Covid-19 on Saturday, May 1st and May 2nd, Sunday. Live on: <a href="https://gbcstrategicplanningteam.com/kirtanprayers/">https://gbcstrategicplanningteam.com/kirtanprayers/</a></p>
<p>Chant for Love and Peace, kirtan event May 2nd. Live on: <a href="http://www.bit.ly/chantforindia">www.bit.ly/chantforindia <br /><br /><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8874423877,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="350" alt="8874423877?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a><br /><strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://iskconnews.org/chant-for-love-and-peace-and-kirtan-prayers-global-events,7783/">https://iskconnews.org/chant-for-love-and-peace-and-kirtan-prayers-global-events,7783/</a></p></div>