Numerical Strength

“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 in fullness, purity and eternity. The holy name is no material sound vibration, nor has it any material contamination.” (Padma Purana quoted from The Nectar of Devotion, Ch 13)

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“Chant the holy names. The holy name is non-different from the Supreme Lord. There are four distinct aspects to God that are of relevance to us. They are nama, rupa, guna and lila. Name, form, qualities and pastimes. The idea is that we don’t have to speculate about the Almighty. He does not have to be relegated to an imaginary figure that we have a hope of seeing only in the afterlife. He has endless variety and nuance, and He appears ever fresh and new.

“The people living in the present age of Kali get the tremendous benefit of having everything necessary come to them simply through chanting. The name itself contains the form, qualities and pastimes. The realization comes through steady chanting, so always try to say and hear the name of Krishna as much as possible. Make a routine of chanting the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”

Those who are familiar with Vaishnava philosophy, the devotional culture focused on God the person, have likely heard this recommendation before. The exact name is not so important. The key is to connect with the Almighty through sound. The more the name addresses God in His personal feature, the greater the effect the chanting has. Though devotion should be spontaneous and done with great enthusiasm, the teachers recommend a routine at first. The concept is known as numerical strength.

There is strength in numbers. This strength garners attention and respect as well. Consider the streak in professional sports. In baseball, the objective for the batter is to get on base. The way to earn your way on base is to hit the ball thrown by the pitcher. Hit the ball somewhere on the field where the nine people on the defensive side can’t catch or field the ball in time to throw you out at first base, which is ninety feet away from where you first strike the ball.

The rules of baseball are designed in such a way that getting a hit is difficult. If you are successful thirty percent of the time, then you are one of the top tier batters. You can also get on base by a walk or a hit-by-pitch. Both of these are considered mistakes by the pitcher, so the batter doesn’t get much credit. Getting on base by hitting a pitch onto the field indicates dexterity in batting.

If a batter can go several games with getting at least one hit, it is considered an accomplishment. One player many years ago went fifty-six consecutive games with getting at least one hit. In ice hockey there is something similar called the point streak, where a player gets at least one goal or assist in consecutive games. These streaks are not easy to accomplish. The players who can do it get attention because of numerical strength. Their consistently good performance indicates exceptional ability in their field.

In the same way, the devotee who consistently chants the holy names and engages in bhakti creates numerical strength. If there is a streak in chanting the holy names for a prescribed number of rounds each day, it means that the person has been able to fight off the illusory energy known as maya for a steady number of days. The easiest thing in the world to do is nothing. It’s known as the path of least resistance. Change is hard. To follow a routine for something that involves speaking and hearing for likely hours a day is not easy. The person who can do so is uncommon.

The benefit they get is the rarely received reward of love and devotion to the Supreme Lord. The achievement is not guaranteed, as a person can just be going through the motions. Still, the holy name is so powerful that even chanting without attention can bring benefits. Imagine then if there is focus while saying the powerful name of the Almighty. Imagine what happens when the enthusiasm increases, where the person wants to supplement their routine by also creating numerical strength in other areas of devotion, like speaking, travelling, writing, and cooking. Soon such a person inspires others to create their own numerical strength, thereby expanding the effectiveness and reach of their own bhakti practices.

The routine commonly prescribed by teachers of the Vaishnava school today is sixteen rounds. To help in the routine of chanting there is the japa mala. This is a string consisting of one hundred and eight beads. Say the mantra one time on a bead and then move on to the next bead. Once you reach the last bead, you have completed one round. Then go in the reverse direction and repeat. If you can complete sixteen rounds in a day, you have created great strength in your devotional life.

The material energy is intentionally strong. In so many areas it urges laziness. The warm blanket on the comfortable bed in the winter months subtly speaks. It says to remain protected, to not go out into the cold world. This is illusion, for if a person slept all day they wouldn’t get anything done. They wouldn’t even be able to eat. Similarly, a person who avoids the routine in bhakti-yoga becomes more prone to the illusory energy of maya, which keeps the individual in the cycle of birth and death. God is known as Mukunda, as He liberates His devotees. He can bring that liberation through the sound that represents Him.

In Closing:

Even if not on righteous principles’ ground,

Liberation still possible through only a sound.

 

With string of beads calmly taking seat,

In steadiness holy names to repeat.

 

Maintaining in consecutive time length,

Battling maya through numerical strength.

 

Form, qualities and pastimes to be known,

Through Krishna’s holy name alone.

The Destiny Of Devotion

“Transcendentally the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself are identical, being absolute. The holy name of the Lord is as powerful as the Lord. The Lord is the all-powerful Personality of Godhead, and He has innumerable names, which are all nondifferent from Him and are equally powerful also.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.18.19 Purport)

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The means of rescue in this age is simple and straightforward. What do we need rescue from? Obviously, there is suffering. What causes the suffering? There are three primary sources. We see acts of God, things in nature that are impossible to stop. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, heat waves, blizzards - the only hope is to try to contain the damage these events inflict.

There are other living entities. A person goes into a school and randomly starts shooting people. Another person always chews food with their mouth open, annoying others around them. There are the aggressors who try to enter the home, the community, and even the nation, with ill intentions. There are mean people who purposefully try to make others unhappy, taking joy in their misery.

The third kind of misery comes from within. The physical ailments of the body are easy to identify, but there is mental agony as well. Even if it seems like the other kinds of miseries are missing, there is always the issue of direction in life. You can have everything but still be unhappy. You can be the most successful person in the business world and still feel like you haven’t accomplished anything. You may have won the lottery, but you still need a way to pass the time in peace.

The Sanskrit word mantra means something that delivers the mind. The person suffering from the misery brought on from within can find the greatest relief through a mantra, which is nothing more than sound. The Sanskrit word maha means great. The maha-mantra is therefore the greatest sound vibration to deliver the mind.

The maha-mantra is simple, containing sixteen total words, with three distinct ones.

“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”

This is the greatest deliverer due to what the sound represents. The word Krishna means “all-attractive.” Rama means “the source of all transcendental pleasure,” and Hare addresses the energy belonging to the all-attractive and always blissful one. You might have guessed it, but Krishna is also a name for the Divine. The same goes for Rama and Hare.

Actually, the name Krishna and the divine personality are identical. It is for this reason that the maha-mantra can deliver; the sound is empowered with the unimaginable and amazing potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You don’t have to specifically visit a house of worship to get help. You don’t have to go through rigorous austerities in order to please a higher being and win their favor.

You can just recite the maha-mantra. It’s as simple as that. The Supreme Lord Krishna arrives in the mind to deliver. Ideally, He is called upon not for any material benediction. A person may be distressed, desirous of wealth, inquisitive, or looking for more knowledge of the Absolute when they chant this mantra. They may be asking something from God, which is completely understandable.

The presence is key, and through enough association in the mind, the desires start to vanish. That is the definition of true happiness: being without desires. True desirelessness is wanting only the happiness of the Supreme Lord and those who serve Him. This is real altruism. It is a state that can be achieved, as the omnipotent one is capable of anything. He can turn the most miserable circumstance into something pleasurable. He can turn a distressed mind into a blissful one. He can turn the material creation that is difficult to overcome like a fort into something like a puddle the size of a calf’s hoof-print.

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ

mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ

bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ

padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām

“For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Mukunda or the giver of mukti, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's hoofprint. Param padam, or the place where there are no material miseries, or Vaikuntha, is his goal, not the place where there is danger in every step of life.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.14.58)

One of Krishna’s names is Mukunda. This means one who grants liberation. Ending association with the threefold miseries of life is liberation. There is something beyond that as well, namely activity. A glimpse of that life comes to those who start chanting the maha-mantra. The more they chant, the more they advance. And the further progress they make towards the destiny of devotion, the happier they feel.

In Closing:

So simple the process to chant,

No excuse to say you can’t.

 

From that single process alone,

Life’s rapidest advancement shown.

 

The mantra a sound to deliver the mind,

Identical to Lord and energy to find.

 

Material ocean previously deep and vast,

Mukunda shrinking to hoof-print puddle to surpass.

Sankirtana For The Ages

“In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Krishna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krishna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 11.5.32)

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kṛṣṇa-varṇaḿ tviṣākṛṣṇaḿ

sāńgopāńgāstra-pārṣadam

yajñaiḥ sańkīrtana-prāyair

yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

Shaved heads. Saffron robes. Karatalas clanging to a familiar beat. The constant chanting of the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. To some this is a nuisance, while to others it’s the thing they’ve been searching for their whole lives. It is sharanagati experienced for real, surrender to the Divine that should be the way of life all the time. These things taken together are known as the sankirtana-yajna, and though it has only recently appeared to gain in prominence, it is not a manufactured system.

Sankirtana was not the creation of some famous mind. It was not invented in the past by someone who had amazing, out of body experiences. Yajna means sacrifice and in the Vedas there is mention of yajna everywhere. The reason is that sacrifice is a tool only available to the human species. The animals lack the intelligence necessary to voluntarily take up restriction. They don’t know what it is to go on a diet. They don’t know that stopping themselves from doing certain things will benefit them many years down the road.

Kirtana is a Sanskrit word that means “to describe.” When discussing spiritual topics, the word takes the meaning of describing the Supreme. Whatever you want to call Him, there is an origin to everything. In the Vedas He is described to be a person, or purusha. Since He is the original person, He is the adi-purusha. Every reaction has an initial cause. When you ascend the chain of causes and reach the initial one, you have found God. Therefore He is also known as sarva-karana-karanam, the cause of all causes.

A great way to describe someone or something is to put words to song. For this reason the Vedas consist of millions of verses that can be sung. They are in praise of the Supreme Lord and His deputies. When you take sankirtana and yajna together, you get the sacrifice of chanting the holy names in congregation. Sankirtana is more powerful than ordinary kirtana since there are more people involved. It is a natural amplification system.

Yajna is synonymous with Vishnu, which is another name for God. As He is the first beneficiary in all yajnas, one of God’s other names is Yajneshvara. Chanting the holy names in congregation is a way to please the Supreme Lord. It is not an invented process, since it comes down from time immemorial. Though in prior ages perhaps the chanting took place quietly in a secluded area, the sacrifice was still the same. Writing books about God is also kirtana. Thus we have the famous Ramayana and the many Puranas of the Vedic tradition.

On television we see commercials for new weight loss products. These are breakthrough inventions created through the combination of accepted knowledge and practical experience. These products are touted as new, like nothing we’ve seen before. In a material existence there is duality, so some things work for some people and other things don’t work as well. So there is some success seen in using these products. There is no doubt of this.

Sankirtana-yajna is spiritual. It is not invented by anyone, and so it has no flaws. The human being has four primary defects. They have imperfect senses, they tend to cheat, they make mistakes, and they are easily illusioned. This means that anything the human mind conjures up will be flawed to some degree. Not so for sankirtana-yajna, since it comes down from the flawless authority that is the Supreme Lord.

As sankirtana describes God and yajna is done to please Him, the inventor of the system would have to be as good as God. After all, they are capable of delivering the one person that no one seems to be able to spot. They are bringing the most powerful person in the universe into proximity. They are doing it not with brute force or strained mental effort. They are doing it simply through sound.

If sankirtana-yajna were invented by someone, that inventor would have to be equal to God. Yet man can never achieve this status. They can become godly, like a deva, but they can never be the supreme deva. Chanting the holy names as a sacrifice is a way to practice bhakti-yoga, which is the mysticism of devotion. There is no magic or illusion, since the Supreme Lord empowers the process. He enables the link to Him to be made through investing potency in the holy name itself. That name is identical to Him, and therefore those names are an integral aspect to bhakti-yoga practice.

The yoga systems we are most familiar with are invented. They are concocted by a flawed brain, and so the results are flawed as well. They don’t deliver the Supreme Lord directly. And without gaining His association, there is no point to spiritual life. Material life is known to be a waste of time, as everything finishes with death. The soul is what continues on, and so its satisfaction is what matters most.

In this age the sankirtana-yajna is introduced to society by a special personality named Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Though His complexion is not the same as Bhagavan Krishna, He is the same Supreme Lord. He delivers the fallen people of the age by bringing them together in glorifying God. The intelligent will take up this sacrifice, which comes down from authority.

In Closing:

Congregationally chanting holy name,

From Chaitanya this process came.

 

Still existing from time before,

Effective in any of ages four.

 

Though by results to be awed,

Never created by mind flawed.

 

By Krishna Himself process empowered,

From fearless devotees mercy showered.

Space Saver

“Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.14)

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Person 1: “I just can’t fit anything else in my bag. I only have enough clothes to last me a few days. I needed some t-shirts and shorts for sleeping and working out too. I put in extra pairs of socks, and I also had to pack my tablet computer. There is simply not anymore room. I had to work hard just to get everything to fit as is. And now you’re telling me that I can fit a lot more in there? I don’t see it.”

Person 2: “Well, here’s your problem. None of your clothes are folded. Were you absent the day they taught surface area and volume in math class? These clothes are just threads combined together. They can be bent and shaped in any way. How do you think they can sell the same pair of pants to thousands of different people? Do you think all the purchasers are of the exact same size and weight? Sure, they make different sizes based on waist and length, but still all the people who purchase one size aren’t exactly the same physically. The threads take the shape of their container. When no one is wearing them, they can be folded. When you do that, you can fit a lot more into your suitcase. There! Now look at how much room you have to spare. You could probably fit double the amount of clothes using this packing method.”

Anytime you take on something new that is supposed to improve your life, the issue of juggling priorities comes into play. For the person taking up bhakti-yoga in earnest, the central practice is the chanting of the holy names. Though any authorized name will suffice due to the potency of the name itself, Shri Krishna Chaitanya has particularly blessed and endorsed a sequence of words known as the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

In reading this mantra through a text-to-speech program, we see that it takes a bit of time to speak. It does not fly out of the mouth like the reactions of “Yes” or “No.” The program to speak the words specifically takes the attention to enunciate the vowels. It does not quickly run through the words precisely so that the listener can hear everything clearly. It is recommended that one chant this mantra a minimum of sixteen rounds per day. This doesn’t mean saying the mantra sixteen times. That wouldn’t be too difficult. It’s sixteen rounds. A round is one hundred and eight recitations, conveniently counted off on a set of japa beads.

Doing some basic math, we see that to follow the recommendation you will have to chant the mantra around 1,700 times a day. Is there any word that you say that many times? You may say some word over and over again inadvertently, but never do you repeat it in succession that many times. You would go crazy. And yet doing the same with the maha-mantra has the opposite effect: it purifies you. If this wasn’t the case, so many devoted souls, both past and present, wouldn’t have accepted and maintained the vow to chant this mantra every day for so many times. In fact, there is no bribe large enough that will change their minds. They will give up everything else before abandoning their routine of chanting the holy names.

The name is considered non-different from the person it addresses. This is only the case with someone who is all-pervading and all-powerful. Not surprisingly, only one person possesses this feature: God. A name is limiting and it is also assigned by someone else. We can try to name ourselves, but originally we had the name given by our parents. This means that we had no say so in what people called us in our early years. With God, the name is assigned based on His qualities and pastimes. Since He is everything, one name never seems to suffice. There is no way that all His glories could accurately fit into a single form of address.

The name is a benefit to us. It helps us to understand Him to a slight degree. For instance, the name Girivaradhari says that God can lift a huge mountain and hold it up with His pinky finger for seven consecutive days. The name Purushottama means that God is the supreme purusha, or person. He is spirit like us, except He is the best spirit. The name Rama says that He has full enjoyment. He never fails to enjoy and His enjoyment never leaves Him. The name Krishna says that He is all-attractive. Since this is a very inclusive name, it is considered the best one to chant. The name Hare says that God has an energy which accompanies Him at all times. This energy is also a personality, one whose association is most cherished by God.

Chanting the maha-mantra is obviously very important, but how do we fit the routine into our schedule?

Depending on how fast or slow you chant, it can take upwards of two hours to fulfill the sixteen rounds requirement. If you’re a parent with young children, how will you find time for this? From the suitcase example, we see that it is possible to change the way things inside of a fixed space fit. You have an empty room in the house, and based on how you orient the furniture it can look either small or large. If there is junk cluttered all over the floor, the room won’t look so big. If everything is arranged neatly, the same room looks larger.

The same rearrangement can take place with one’s priorities. A first-time parent likely doesn’t know much about taking care of children. They previously did whatever they wanted during the day. Now they have to shift priorities in order to take care of a new child. The desire itself is what drives the change. In the same way, if the will to chant the holy names is there, the knowledge from the inside will come on how to honor that vow. That internal voice is known as the Supersoul, and it is non-different from Krishna. It exists within all of us, giving us another way to understand the Supreme Lord, whose names are so important to hear and chant on a daily basis.

In Closing:

All clothes in suitcase did cram,

Anything more to cause zipper jam.

 

But if in folding one takes charge,

Can fit many items small and large.

 

For chanting routine shift the same way,

So that daily many holy names to say.

 

Supersoul to give guidance on how,

To maintain daily japa bead vow.

It Is Good For You

“There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much, or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 6.16)

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“A new study shows that eating tomatoes is good for you. It has the important ingredient known as lycopene. This is an antioxidant, which means its stops oxidation within the bloodstream. This oxidation of free radicals is what causes cancer, so antioxidants can thus prevent cancer from occurring. Green tea, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, and so many fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants. We don’t eat enough of these, but doing so will be good for us.”

“Exercise is good for you. Rather than sit around like a lazy bum all the time, get up every now and then to get the blood flowing. Go for a walk on a regular basis. Join a gym and use one of the cardiovascular fitness machines a few times a week. Play a sport, like tennis, basketball, or swimming. In this way avoid obesity, which is known to cause so many diseases.”

“Read the newspaper every day. This will be good for you. You’ll stay up to date with current events. When you meet with other people, you will know what they are discussing. You will seem more intelligent, and who wouldn’t want that? If they bring up something important to you, you won’t be left saying, ‘Oh, sorry. I don’t know anything about that.’ Reading this way will broaden your horizons. You’ll be forced to escape the narrow viewpoint of the world you’ve developed through living in your tight circle for so many years.”

We get recommendations for activities and habits all the time. The selling point is that these various things are “good for us.” And who doesn’t want to do something good? We don’t intentionally desire to be hung over from drinking. We don’t intentionally want to get fat, where we can’t fit into our clothes and we get tired from walking up a single flight of stairs. Yet these things happen anyway, as we are driven by our sense urges. The things that are “good for us” go against these urges. They also apparently eradicate some of the common problems we see in life.

From famous philosophical texts, when understood in the proper light, we learn that one way of life is the best thing for us. This discipline comes at us from all angles: spiritual, physical and mental. It accounts for exercise, eating, and knowledge. Interestingly enough, this philosophy is as old as time itself. Its principles apply to any person living within any time period because they address the core of the individual: the soul.

This philosophy says that one should neither eat too little nor eat too much. If you think about it, this is at the core of any weight loss regimen. One of the big problems with diets is that they work while one is on them but then stop working once one goes off them. In this sense the diet does nothing to cure the problem. It fixes it for a while, but then is needed again later on. All diets work as advertised, provided one follows them. They all involve some kind of control on eating, so why wouldn’t they work? If afterwards, however, that same control gets tossed aside, how is the weight supposed to be kept in check?

When one controls their eating all the time, their weight is controlled as well. This philosophy also recommends a control in sleeping. In this way the body is never weakened. There are no “all-nighters.” There are no long periods of lack of sleep. There is no day when the person sleeps for eighteen hours. At least none of these extremes occurs regularly. The body is thus kept fit. It knows what to expect and is not overextended. Good health is a natural byproduct of this.

This philosophy recommends hearing and chanting. These account for knowledge and the need for exercise. Knowledge comes from hearing. When we read the newspaper, we’re actually hearing the words spoken by someone else. Those words come over in our mind’s voice, but we’re still hearing. Chanting is an activity of the gross body. It can be done to oneself in what is known as japa or it can be done with others out loud in what is known as sankirtana. Sankirtana can be accompanied by musical instruments, which require physical attention to play. The arena rock bands always speak of getting in shape before going out on tour. They do nothing more than play instruments on a stage, but this actually takes a lot out of them. There is physical exertion in holding a guitar and walking around for a few hours. The drummer gets an intense workout playing on the set for the same period of time. Even if the singer doesn’t play an instrument, the intensity of the performance causes him to sweat a lot.

This philosophy recommends many other things as well, but there is one specific thing that ties everything together. The control on eating and sleeping is done for yoga, or the linking of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul. The hearing and chanting are done with respect to the Supreme Soul. Don’t hear about just anything. I can hear about what a famous liar did and that won’t really advance my intelligence. It’s like monitoring a first grade classroom and seeing how all the children will behave. It may be entertaining, but in doing this on a daily basis what do we really learn?

“One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and should be ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.” (Lord Chaitanya)

Chanting about the Supreme Soul will be blissful to the ears and it will ensure that the chanting will continue. Chanting out loud actually accounts for the hearing as well. If you sleep and eat just the right amount, you’ll have the perfect energy level necessary for chanting all the time. One of the most famous proponents of this philosophy in recent times gave the instruction of kirtaniyah sada harih, which means “always chant the names of God.” “Always” is the goal, but “a lot” will suffice as well. In order to do something a lot, you need to shift your priorities. You need to sleep on time in order to get up for work or school the next morning. You need to eat right beforehand if you want enough energy to run the race.

In the same way, if you want to chant all the time, you need to adjust your life accordingly. For this and so many other reasons, chanting can be considered the best thing for us. Even if we have no taste for it in the beginning, if we bring some dedication to it, all good things will come to us in the end. The benefit is there immediately as well, as the sound of God represents Him fully. Chanting, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare,” is like hanging out with the coolest person in the world. He is all-attractive, so Krishna is a great name for Him. He is full of transcendental pleasure, so Rama works as well. He enjoys with His wonderful energy, which can be addressed as Hare. The name Hari refers to how He takes away the unwanted things from His devotees.

Something is good for us if it is healthy. But healthy doesn’t mean just having a body fit for sense gratification. I can live a long time and have a “healthy” body, but this doesn’t mean that I’m doing anything worthwhile with my time. The thing that is most good for us is having a body that is fit for devotion, as devotion is our constitutional engagement. It is what every single person is most happiest doing, though they may not realize it. Chanting is the most beneficial for us, as it allows us to create a body that is fit for always thinking of God, which is devotional service, the philosophy known as bhakti-yoga. This is the philosophy taught in ancient works like the Bhagavad-gita and Shrimad Bhagavatam, and it is explained by those who have the eternally fit spiritual bodies that allow for the constant chanting of the holy names.

In Closing:

Benefits of exercise understood,

Because effect on health is good.

 

Read newspaper folded at crease.

For your knowledge daily to increase.

 

Yoga actually for you is the best,

Accounts for good habits the rest.

 

Everything at a moderate level keep,

Not too much food nor too much sleep.

 

Yoga of hearing and chanting take,

And a body fit for devotion make.

Full Dependence

“In any condition, any man can live in a small cottage, plant a tulasi tree, water it in the morning, offer it prayers, and continuously chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Thus one can make vigorous spiritual advancement.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 24.261 Purport)

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“Should I live in Vrindavana? I heard that Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, perpetually remains there. He plays with the damsels of Vrajabhumi, calls out to the calves under His protection, and plays His flute to the delight of the forest animals such as the deer, birds and parrots. Though there is the Vrindavana of the spiritual world, in the Vaikuntha planets, there is the Vrindavana in this earthly realm as well. And even though one can’t see Krishna directly with their eyes, they feel His presence there nonetheless. In fact, through living there long enough and staying immersed in bhakti-yoga, one actually can see Krishna, while others cannot.”

“Should I read the Bhagavad-gita every day, trying to really understand the key verses, or should I move on to other Vedic texts like the Shrimad Bhagavatam, which are longer and thus more detailed? I’ve heard that the Bhagavad-gita is for beginners and that the Bhagavatam is for the more advanced. The Bhagavad-gita is a summation of Vedic teachings, which are the oldest known to man. They predate man himself, who took birth from the Supreme Lord after He decided there would be a creation. There is the total material substance, known as the mahat-tattva, and Krishna impregnated it in order to generate the population. The spirit souls existed before that impregnation, they exist now, and they will continue to exist in the future. That is the true meaning to eternal.”

“The total material substance, called Brahman, is the source of birth, and it is that Brahman that I impregnate, making possible the births of all living beings, O son of Bharata.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 14.3)

“In the Bhagavatam, there is the history of the creation, the lineage of the first kings on earth, the purpose to the creation, the process of devotional service and other such relevant topics. Then, towards the end, there are the pastimes of Krishna performed in the aforementioned Vrindavana. One is advised to first learn of Krishna’s position and then hear about His pastimes. Without the requisite understanding, one will take the Supreme Lord’s childhood sports to be those of an ordinary child, who is less intelligent than the adults. With a full understanding, however, one delights in Krishna’s pranks played on the neighbors, His dancing with the beautiful gopis, and His slaying of wicked creatures who embody the worst of the envious nature towards the Supreme Lord. The Bhagavatam thus allows for much fuller immersion into bhakti-yoga, which I’ve heard is the original occupational duty of the soul, something that every person is meant to practice, regardless of their background, country of origin, native language, gender, level of intelligence, and so forth.”

Issues similar to those mentioned above exist with any type of spiritual practice. Should you be advancing to a different destination or should you remain where you are, content in your practice? Indeed, there are qualities one assumes when they take up devotional life, as it is inherently different from material life. The summit of material life is sexual relations. The famed “rock n roll” lifestyle involves drugs, drinking and partying, but the end-goal is always sex. The rock stars can get any woman they want, and thus they are envied by others. Yet this never provides lasting happiness, as even the most hedonistic rockers grow tired of such activity; at least in the case of those who become wiser as time goes by. In spiritual life, one sees everything properly, and an indication of the change is the shift in desires, wherein what one previously thought was important no longer remains so.

Surely there is a need for measuring progress, for gauging the effectiveness of practices in genuine, non-sectarian religious life, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that there are absolute requirements as they relate to the book of study or the place of residence. Indeed, such insistence goes against the very nature of the person being worshiped. By definition, God is all-pervading; so His residence is not exclusive to just one area. He has multi-forms, a truth described as ananta-rupam in the Brahma-samhita, a wonderful set of prayers offered by Lord Brahma to Krishna. Brahma is the original creator, the person everyone can trace their ancestry to. If you don’t believe in his existence, you can still accept the fact that there is an original creator. Since every person has a mother and father, there is always a higher link to ascend in the chain of creation. When you reach the original, you have your creator, who is known by the name Brahma in the Vedas.

In addition to being all-pervading, God is non-different from many things. Vrindavana is the same as Him because that is His preferred land of choice. The other lands are part of the material energy, which is in one sense the same as God but still different at the same time. The material energy is like an extension which the Supreme Lord has no direct interest in. The material energy is the shelter for those who are inimical towards God, and since that attitude is not constitutionally compliant, the material energy actually provides no shelter at all. The idea that one can surrender unto a female, a sumptuous food dish, a gambling hall, or a bottle of whiskey is mere illusion. Real surrender, wherein one fully relinquishes responsibility for happiness and sadness to another party, can only bear fruit when it is directed at God.

In addition to the land of Vrindavana, the holy name is non-different from God. This is a radical concept that one has great difficulty believing. Not to worry, though, as we can keep chanting the holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare,” to see if the claim has merits. If you’re not sure after chanting a few times, keep on repeating the formula. The fact that so many people chant this mantra regularly, sometimes singing it for hours on end each day, proves that there is something special in the component words.

Think of your favorite song in the world. For starters, you would have difficulty making this identification, as your tastes change over time. And within a certain time period a specific song may grab your attention more than others. Nevertheless, let’s say that you could pick one song that you couldn’t live without. Now try playing that song over and over again during the day. Do that again day after day. Would you not get sick of it? For a better analogy, try just memorizing the lyrics and reciting those over and over again. This way you’re not getting sick of the tune. Would that suffice? Do you know of any person who does such a thing?

With the holy names, however, we know of countless people who have recited it day after day throughout their lives. And these weren’t just ordinary people either. Some of the most exalted personalities, genuine saints, followed this tact. Some of them lived in Vrindavana, while others moved around from sacred place to sacred place. Many of these people weren’t so famous, but they had the same qualities of real goodness nonetheless. In their kindness, they also went to places where there was no God consciousness at all and then flooded the areas with the sounds of the holy names. You can only do this if the holy name is really non-different from God Himself, as the Supreme Lord is the only person whose association never grows tiresome.

The power of the holy name shows that it is sufficient for proper bhakti-yoga practice. The tulasi plant, who is a pure devotee of God, can also be chanted in front of in an isolated area.  Such a simple life is enough to bring spiritual advancement. Residence in Vrindavana, study of a specific famous work, and thoughts of Krishna’s pastimes are also bhakti-yoga, and they may result from chanting the holy names, but never are such things an absolute requirement. If they were, then the holy name would be deficient, as it wouldn’t completely represent God. But it most certainly does, and so it makes for the best and most efficient way to remain connected in spiritual life, bringing all good things to the person who honors it and fully depends on it for their sustenance.

In Closing:

For my spiritual intelligence to feed,

Residence in Vrindavana do I need?

 

If to read Bhagavatam book I get the chance,

Should I scrap Bhagavad-gita to advance?

 

Actually for from ignorance to be set free,

All that is needed is holy name and tulasi tree.

 

Try lyrics of your favorite song to daily chant,

And keep the spark of interest alive you can’t.

 

With holy name the same defect not to exist,

Wisest saints in path of chanting persist.

Keeping the Momentum

“The mahatma is always engaged in different activities of devotional service, as described in the Shrimad-Bhagavatam, hearing and chanting about Vishnu, not a demigod or human being.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 9.14 Purport)

Vishno-smaranam is one of the processes of devotional service, or bhakti-yoga, recommended by a young Prahlada Maharaja many eons ago. Devotional service is the constitutional engagement of the soul. This means that the soul’s ideal occupation is to serve God, the Supreme Absolute Truth. As the soul is eternal, so is its ideal occupation, and so the closest equivalent term for religion in the Vedas is sanatana-dharma, or the occupational duty which has no beginning and no end. Unfortunately, with residence in the material world, the soul goes on hiatus from the constitutional engagement. Therefore steps are necessary to rekindle the dormant love for God that rests within the heart. From the model of the assembly line, we learn one way in which to increase efficiency in devotional service.

Vishno-smaranam means remembering Vishnu, which is another name for God. In the Vedic literatures you will see many mentions of Vishnu, Rama, Krishna, Narasimha, and other such beings who are considered the original Supreme Lord. There is also mention of other god-like figures, but nowhere is it said that they are equal to Vishnu. Vishnu and Krishna are equal because they are the same person, the origin of life and matter. Just like there is an original candle that can then light many other replica candles, the original Personality of Godhead, Shri Krishna, personally expands into different avataras to carry out different functions. The living beings, both elevated and degraded, are separated expansions, so they are not the same as God.

A simpler definition of vishno-smaranam is “remembering God”. “This seems worthwhile enough. Just remember God.” You have to remind someone else of this because of the proclivity towards forgetfulness. If we can forget what we had for lunch yesterday, we can most certainly forget God. Aiding that forgetfulness is the preponderance of religious systems which appear to be contradictory. One person worships five times a day while another goes to church once a week. They both say that their religious system is authentic. How do we square the differences? Are they worshiping the same person?

In the Vedas, the oldest scriptural tradition in the world, the differences are reconciled through the truth that God is realized in three different ways. There is the impersonal energy known as Brahman. Think of collecting every individual fragment of spirit and putting them together. This is the Brahman energy. It is transcendental to the temporary changes of the manifest world. We are all Brahman, aham brahmasmi.

Brahman is only a partial realization of the Absolute Truth, because there is also Paramatma, or the Supreme Soul. This is the localized aspect of the superior spiritual force within every single living entity. The Supersoul is the same individual within each person. My identity is different from yours, but the Supersoul in my heart is identical to the Supersoul in yours. They are one and the same, and so they are conscious of both my activities and yours.

Bhagavan is the full realization of God. Bhagavan means one who possesses all opulences. To possess an opulence means to possess a form. To have a form that is above maya, or the material nature, means to have a spiritual form. This concept of spiritual matter is achintya, or inconceivable. We only use the term Bhagavan to get a slight understanding of the Personality of Godhead’s features. Bhagavan is a singular entity, and the different religious traditions around the world worship the same Bhagavan but with varying levels of knowledge. If you don’t really know who He is, you are essentially worshiping Brahman. If you want to attain spiritual awareness through yoga, you are essentially worshiping the Supersoul.

Bhakti-yoga is exclusively reserved for Bhagavan. Within bhakti-yoga, there are different methods, and they are not all required for perfection. Just one implementation done in the proper mood, where desires for material gain and for the elimination of distress are completely absent, brings perfection. Perfection is connection with God, or yoga. The question then remains as to how to implement any or all of the processes.

Remembrance seems the easiest, but how do we practice it in a way that is fruitful? We can look to the assembly line concept to see how to build something in an efficient way. Let’s say that I have to mail out a large number of letters. To mail a letter requires a piece of paper with written content, an envelope, a stamp, and the act of dropping the letter in the mail. There are different ways to tackle this project. I can take out a piece of paper, write the letter[which in this example will be a form letter], stuff it in an envelope, affix the proper postage, and then go to the mailbox to drop it off. Once the entire process is done, I can go back and start on my next letter.

The wise person, however, will divide up the components in a way that will allow for momentum in work. For instance, one part of the day can be spent solely on writing the letters. After all of the letters are written, all of them can be stuffed in envelopes. Then postage can be applied to all of the stuffed envelopes. Finally, all of the letters set to go out can be taken to the post office at once. This way there is momentum in each task, and the work is much easier to accomplish. If you break your concentration by jumping from one task to another, your mind will be less interested in the work itself.

Taking the same concept and applying it to bhakti-yoga, it is better to practice remembering God in a way that builds momentum. This brings us to the most important recommended practice for spiritual seekers of the modern age: the chanting of the holy names. If you’re going to chant, why not pick the best names? In the Vedas are to be found many names for God, but Krishna and Rama are considered the best. Hare refers to Bhagavan’s energy, and so the maha-mantra, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, is the best sequence of words to chant.

Chanting out loud actually fulfills two other methods of devotional service, namely chanting and hearing, or kirtanam and shravanam. The recommendation by the acharyas who follow in the line of Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is that we chant the aforementioned mantra for up to sixteen rounds a day on a set of japa beads. You can divide up the rounds throughout the day if you prefer, but one round consists of 108 recitations of the mantra. There is automatic momentum built into this recommended practice. Rather than chant one mantra, then drift off to something else, and then return to chanting, if you chant the mantras over and over again, in a circle that repeats, it slowly turns into a habit.

There is no better habit to have than remembering God, and by chanting and hearing the holy names, the best habit quickly forms. Devotional service, the soul’s constitutional engagement, soon becomes a fixture in everyday life rather than a separate endeavor viewed as a chore. In the recommendations of the acharyas we see that they give us the tools necessary to build our way to a spiritually-infused consciousness, a subtle house of delight so sturdy that it doesn’t even break at the time of death.

In Closing:

With someone with discipline instilled,

Work in way where momentum builds.

 

The work no longer to become a chore,

Otherwise jumping mind to easily bore.

 

In bhakti divine consciousness to make,

To find success lessons from assembly line take.

 

In japa chant holy names in succession,

Remembering and hearing God make perfection.

All Potencies

“The sound representation of the Lord is nondifferent from the Lord Himself because the Lord and His representation in sound are absolute knowledge. Lord Chaitanya has instructed us that in the holy name of the Lord, as sound representation of the Lord, all the potencies of the Lord are invested. Thus one can immediately enjoy the association of the Lord by the pure vibration of the sound representation of His holy name, and the concept of the Lord is immediately manifested before the pure devotee.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 2.5.25 Purport)

The Swiss Army Knife comes in handy in many different situations. If you need to open a bottled beverage, there it is with its opener. If you purchase a product in the store and it is inconveniently packaged in plastic that is practically impossible to open, there are the tiny scissors to help you out. If you need to jot down an important phone number, there is the tiny pen found within the knife. Then, of course, there are the times you need a knife, something sharp to cut something else. All of this is available in one valuable tool, so it is nice to keep it with you. The tight knot of ignorance, which has the extended effect of ruining your outlook on life and making you do all the wrong things, can be cut very quickly with one valuable tool, which brings all auspiciousness at the same time.

What is this tool? For it to work so effectively, it has to have applicability for more than one type of person. As a crude example, some prescription drugs only work with certain patients. If you are taking another kind of prescription drug, you can’t take others. If you have some other type of ailment, this one drug will not work for you. There are all sorts of restrictions, and so the consent of a doctor is required before you can take these more potent medications.

With ignorance, sometimes you might not want to have it dispelled. Think of the drunkard who likes to drink so much that they don’t want anyone changing their ways. Try teaching mathematics to someone who is intoxicated. Actually, try teaching them anything; they won’t learn. The recipient also has to be worthy. A child who doesn’t understand higher concepts can’t be taught much. Someone who doesn’t speak the particular language you use will not understand you.

With the ignorance borne of the darkness of the material world, there are several ways to remove it. The most obvious way is through knowledge. Hear from the Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India, on how the soul is the chief resident of the body and that everything else is part of the temporary house. Any activity you do to try to make the house more comfortable does only that, fix the house. The resident is not affected. The influence of this behavior on the resident is a negative one, as it forces them to remain occupants for the foreseeable future. At the time of death, the resident moves on to another house to repeat the cycle.

The chief work of study in the Vedas is the Bhagavad-gita, which dispels this flawed identification with the body at the outset. Hear from Shri Krishna, the speaker of the Gita, and take away lessons on karma, duty, reincarnation, the modes of nature, and how to transcend birth and death. But the Bhagavad-gita is a Sanskrit work, so in order to understand it we need to consult a translation done in a language we know. We also need someone to explain the verses, as there is a rich tradition packed into each word. The tradition represents the culture, and so without knowledge of the culture, the verses themselves won’t mean anything to us.

Inherently required is some kind of intelligence. You need to be a good student to get into a good college, and so to understand the teachings coming from the best university of spiritualism, you need to be pretty good at learning. This automatically means that some will not be eligible to attend the university. They will not be able to understand the Bhagavad-gita, so the method of knowledge gathering to dispel ignorance is not available to them.

Another option is to work according to regulative principles. This is generally known as “doing good things”. “Be good; follow the righteous path; don’t sin.” To follow this option you need an expert guide, who can tell you right and wrong. You also need to know what your goal is, what you are working for. Sure, I can work without being attached to the results, but why am I working in the first place? In addition, I need the ability to work. If I can’t work, then this option is not available to me.

Another option is mysticism. Find a remote area, sit on a deerskin rug, and chant the sacred syllable “om” over and over again. Completely abstain from sex life, eat and sleep very little, and focus your mind on the self, which is your identity. By the way, you can’t practice this for fifteen minutes a day and expect to get anywhere. This has to be your only occupation for it to work in dispelling ignorance. As soon as you break away from the yoga, you return to the pool of ignorance, and thus have to start all over the next time you meditate.

The one tool that is all-applicable is the holy name. As Lord Chaitanya instructs, all potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are invested within His name. There are also thousands of names, and the sound is so powerful that you don’t even have to be consciously hearing it in order to see effects. A famous highway robber during an ancient time once chanted the holy name of Rama backwards over and over again and as a result emerged a realized soul capable of authoring transcendental literature that is still relevant to this day.

So which name should we chant? Krishna is considered the best name because it means all-attractive. It is the most complete description for God, and it also happens to represent the same speaker of the Bhagavad-gita. From the name Krishna we know there is full knowledge. There is full attractiveness as well, since Krishna is the most beautiful. The same effect from studying the Vedas, working in detachment, and meditating in yoga is found through chanting the holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”

Chanting the holy names is the real peace formula, and the activity belongs to the category of bhakti-yoga, or the yoga of devotion. Through the holy name you realize not only your true self but also the Supreme Lord. Knowing one without the other is incomplete knowledge, because the two are inherently linked. One is the master and the other the servant. In devotion the holy name is heard in a mood of devotional surrender. When that mood exists, the root cause of ignorance is removed, and one is able to live happily knowing that the Supreme Controller is constantly with them.

In Closing:

Range of applicability is method’s test,

Can’t help a few and ignore the rest.

 

All potencies in holy name God invests,

Thereby making it method of yoga the best.

 

In study you must know how to read,

In yoga stringent meditation must heed.

 

In work attachment must go without,

In each method people who are shut out.

 

But God is available easily to all,

Names of Krishna and Rama call.

Without Dependency

“The special qualification of the pure devotee is that he is always thinking of Krishna without considering the time or place. There should be no impediments. He should be able to carry out his service anywhere and at any time.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 8.14 Purport)

Go through the different scriptural works and you’ll find specific recommendations offered for receiving specific benefits. For instance, if someone has been giving you trouble, like a boss at work, there is a method for curtailing your anger and dealing with the belligerent party in a way that will neutralize them. If you’re down on your luck in personal affairs, wherein you’re trying to either find a spouse or beget children, there are rituals and regulations recommended. Each practice is specific to time and circumstance, and so we see the many different religions that are popular today. Yet the core foundational practice for the spirit soul, what it needs to find pleasure, cannot be checked by any condition. This practice can be implemented in any situation, a fact which reveals the supremacy of its original teacher, who also happens to be the beneficiary of that practice.

The original scriptural tradition of India is the Vedas, and its works are comprehensive and voluminous. There is no equivalent of a Bible in the Vedas because the entire purpose of the original books of knowledge is to glorify God. As one of the features of God is His possession of limitless, glorious attributes, how can He be described in just one or two works? There are original texts that are informative and concise, and then supplements are added on by future generations of learned men.

Each subsequent generation has their own worldview, which means they gain a new perspective to use in their glorification of God. In this way the Vedas constantly expand, with the original conclusion remaining the same. Combing through the vast Vedic literature, we see that there are recommendations for such things as finding wealth. “Do such and such ritual once a month in your home. Invite a brahmana [learned priest] or do the worship yourself. Gather specific paraphernalia, and chant specific mantras. Offer some food items, and at the end eat whatever is left over. By eating the remnants of sacrifice, you will get the boon you are looking for.”

“The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 3.13)

In the Bhagavad-gita it is explained that devotees eat the remnants of sacrifice, while non-devotees prepare food for only their own enjoyment. Sacrifice is borne of prescribed duties, so by performing them there is no sin incurred. A sin is a negative reaction, so the sacrifice thus avoids negative consequences. With the other route, you invite danger, and since the path is not sanctioned, the higher authorities cannot be blamed for the negative consequences that result.

But what if we reference one of these ancient religious texts and find that we don’t have the tools necessary to perform the sacrifice that we want? Say that we want a beautiful wife and we’re told to worship Lord Shiva. What if we don’t know how to worship him? What if we don’t have the items to conduct the worship? And what about the specific fasts? If I already don’t eat spinach, what will avoiding spinach during a specific month of the year do for me?

The rituals and regulations exist for a higher purpose. They are meant to purify our existence, to keep us on the regulated path of life. Nevertheless, attaining the highest benefit in life is not dependent on any specific ritual. Rather, only love is required. And since love is the universal language, it can be spoken by any person, of any age. In divine love, the heartfelt offerings are made directly to the Supreme Lord, the original person.

To love God properly, you should know how to address Him. To address Him properly, you should know some of His features. His all-attractiveness is His most inclusive feature, with a close second being His ability to give transcendental pleasure. Hence the names “Krishna” and “Rama” are most appropriate for Him. His energy is what carries out His work, so through chanting, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, one addresses God perfectly.

This mantra can be chanted in a specific way, such as while seated in a sanctified area. But at the same time, it can also be chanted anywhere. The name is what makes the process effective. This name is learned through hearing, so anyone who is fortunate enough to hear the aforementioned mantra is very fortunate. Those names automatically satisfy every other sacrifice, as the boon of pure love for God is the final target, the objective of all objectives.

Question: Won’t general prayer do the same thing? Why do I have to chant?

Hints of devotional service are seen in all religious traditions. The weekly visit to the church and the daily prayers offered to the higher being indicate devotion. Yet again, these practices have some type of dependency. What if there is no house of worship? What if you can’t find an area for prayer? The name, on the other hand, can be chanted at any time, and at any place. It can be sung to melodies as well. Kirtana-yoga is thus a wonderful way to practice this chanting, wherein there is congregational singing of the holy names in a call-and-response fashion.

The holy name is everything, and through sole dependence on it in bhakti-yoga, one realizes God. Through avoiding sinful activities like meat eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex, the consciousness is cleared all the more, giving more sweetness from the transcendental chanting. The fact that a single sound vibration can deliver God’s personal presence shows His supreme benevolence and how He is the ultimate well-wisher for every single person.

In Closing:

Religious traditions there are many,

Rituals and regulations thus plenty.

 

Some help to get a beautiful wife,

Others remove obstacles from life.

 

But know that there is a final goal,

Rituals thus like spiritual bridge’s toll.

 

Highest system has no dependence,

Is practiced regardless of residence.

 

All practices satisfied through holy name,

Hear and chant it for God’s company to gain.