Suggestions for improving our chanting and getting a real taste for the holy names.
The NAMES of krishna are the repository of all happiness and the greatest wealth.If we chant properly,we will not experience material miseries, but we may experience what the materialist might mistake as misery:the spiritual joy of intence separation from KRSNA.
Since that joy comes from proper chanting,we might wonder how we can chant with attention and concentration,even if we are not yet pure devotee of KRSNA.How can we keep ourselves from thinking of a million and one other things besides KRSNA'S names?
Chnating properly takes practice,and the first point is to approach the practice positively.When we apporach the holy names negatively,we often think more about what we should not be doing rather than what we should be doing.It is said,"You can't do a don't".so instead of thinking:"Now I have to control my mind and not think of other things,"we can think,"Now I concentrate on KRSNA'S names,which are identical to KRSNA.By concentrating on KRSNA'S names,KRSNA will give me full intelligence,and I will love him more and more."
Besides a positive way of thinking, there are other ways to stay focused on KRSNA'S names.We generally chant in two situations:in KIRTANA.or group singing,and in JAPA,or private soft chanting.We can approach each one somewhat differently.
In KIRTANA,we need to give our attention to holy names regardless of the musical quality of the KIRTANA.For example,it used to really bother me when the person chanting could not keep a tune,or was a bad singer,or couldn't keep a beat.Sometimes it seemes that I was surrounded by people who struggled in those ways.I was sometimes in places where almost everyone seemed to lack musical abilities.Then I realized that KRSNA had arranged the situation so that I could appreciate His names.
Devotees chant the HARE KRSNA maha-mantra softly while counting on beats (left) protected in a beg.They also sing the holy names aloud,usually in group.Both types of chanting are a meditation on KRSNA in the form of His names.
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