By HH Sacinandana Swami
There is a reason why we are here in this world and why we often feel bewildered and afraid. It is because we have turned away from Krsna. Srila Jiva Gosvami gives an analogy: in Indian villages people used to gather in the evening and sometimes an entertainer would stand before a lantern and use his hands to project shadows on a wall while telling a story. Sometimes children and simple villagers would then become afraid because of seeing demons and witches on the wall.
Today we can have the same experience when watching a movie scene with the right music. Our situation in material life is similar. We have turned away from Lord Krsna and now we only see the material energy. We see our death coming at us. We see misunderstandings happen to us. We become afraid and very involved in our lives and as we become absorbed in that which is only a shadow produced by a lantern, we forget Krsna more and more.
However, just like the villagers who are impressed by shadows can be woken up if a light is turned on, you can be released from your material consciousness the moment you turn to Krsna. I think we all have this experience that sometimes situations become so stressful and difficult and only by Krsna’s mercy, or by the mercy of devotees, we can see it from a more Krsna conscious perspective and then feel relieved, “Oh it’s not as bad as I though it was and there is a solution.”
Sometimes even our best friends may not understand our difficulties, but Krsna always understands us and thus we should turn to Him. Srila Rupa Gosvami states in his Bhakti-rasamrtasindhu, that the essence of all the various practices that devotees do and all rules they follow is to always remember Krsna and to never forget Him. In other words my dear devotees, the act of turning to Krsna, this internal call of “Oh Krsna I have forgotten You for so many long years, now I turn to You as Your sincere and serious servant” is the whole point of Krsna consciousness! The moment we do this, all the confusion brought about by the material energy, and above all by our wrong identification and our therefore conflicting desires, stops.
But what does turning to Krsna practically mean? It means to make an effort to overcome the inattention towards Krsna – that you don’t care for Him, that you don’t think of Him, that you are not with Him at all. You are just going through your busy days: Monday – not thinking of Krsna, Tuesday – the same, Wednesday – more of the same, Thursday – even more of the same, Friday – more of the same and even when the weekend comes, more of the same type of mediocre Krsna conscious life. So where to start? The first step in giving attention to Krsna is giving attention to the form of the Lord that is closest to you – the Holy Name. Krsna has come into this world as His Holy Name, to deliver you from material existence. He is very close to you. If you now turn away from this most merciful form of the Lord, you stand no chance. And by the way: our inability to be attentive to Krsna becomes immediately visible when we try to chant, when our mind constantly acts contrary to the chanting. We can’t hide it.
I have many times spoken about it in my lectures: inattention to Krsna or turning away from Krsna is the root cause of all the offenses we commit. When we chant with offenses, we find little or no taste in it, since these offenses, as Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura puts it, create fog and clouds between us and the Krsna sun. This problem of being inattentive to Krsna is so embedded, so ingrained into, so attached to our personality. It is the cause of why we are here, as Srila Haridasa Thakura says, “Even if one successfully overcomes all other offenses in chanting and even if one chants without interruption, love of God may not come about.”
Furthermore, Haridasa Thakura states, “Simply by one’s own endeavours, no one in this world can overcome distractedness. Such victory can only come about by Your [addressing Lord Caitanya] merciful blessings.” Harinama Cintamani, ch. 12, verse 49 Therefore, the devotee needs to pray to Krsna for His blessings, “My Lord, I have this problem, I turned away from You and I have become attracted to the shadows of the material energy. I just can’t detach myself from maya and turn to You completely. I want it, I tried it, I suffered for it, but I am a captured soul, a conditioned soul.
Please my Lord, help me.” When you chant in this way, then the Lord gives you transcendental blessings. He who sits in the heart of the devotee destroys all fear, all material consciousness. There are so many techniques for chanting, but they don’t work against inattention towards Krsna. This problem is so old, so deep – we stand helplessly in front of it.
You must treat it at the root, you must pray to Krsna for help. In other words: be very honest with yourself, and then while you chant, turn to Krsna with heartfelt lamentation or contrition, feeling that you really need to turn to Him because it’s your only chance.
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