4th April 2019

VARIOUS INSTRUMENTS USED IN CHANTING!

Hare Krishna!!
How was your Chanting ? I am asking all the participants taking part in this conference, ‘Is your chanting getting better? Improving? Are you remembering the Lord while chanting? If you are remembering the Lord while chanting then your chanting is successful. Yesterday we mentioned, to make your chanting attentive & effective , you have to sharpen your tools. Do you remember , yesterday we discussed , about those two fellows who were taking all day to cut a small piece of wood. But as soon as they sharpened their saw , it was by just half an hour job. So what happened? We mentioned intelligence as one of the important and principal tools. Krsna says in Bhagavat-Gita

kāyena manasā buddhyā
kevalair indriyair api
yoginaḥ karma kurvanti
saṅgaṁ tyaktvātma-śuddhaye

The yogīs, abandoning attachment, act with body, mind, intelligence and even with the senses, only for the purpose of purification.( BG. 5.11)

Yogis also work and become very active. They are not Mayavadis to become action less. So how do they work? Krsna said – kāyena. We are japa yogis. We also use the body. kāyena manasā -We use the mind. buddhyā – we use intelligence. indriyair api – we also use our indriyas or sense organs. yoginaḥ karma kurvanti . Yogis work using all these instruments. We are japa yogis and this is a zoom Japa conference. We keep you busy while chanting. We do japayoga in this session. Chanting Hare Krishna is not the job of the less intelligent. Only intelligent persons could chant ‘Hare Krishna’ attentively, properly. So during chanting we use the body. We have been reminding you from time to time, “ Sit properly”, which Prabhupada has also said. There should be proper usage of the body. Take a deep breath and chant as many mantras as you can three, four or five. We are using the lungs at that time, which is a part of the body. The tongue must vibrate, which is again part of the body. Lips also should be used, Prabhupada has mentioned. So like that we use body. Like this we could briefly mention about the use of body during Japa. There could be many things said further on this ,but we will make it short due to time constraints.

sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor
vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane
karau harer mandira-mārjanādiṣu
śrutiṁ cakārācyuta-sat-kathodaye

mukunda-liṅgālaya-darśane dṛśau
tad-bhṛtya-gātra-sparśe ’ṅga-saṅgamam
ghrāṇaṁ ca tat-pāda-saroja-saurabhe
śrīmat-tulasyā rasanāṁ tad-arpite

pādau hareḥ kṣetra-padānusarpaṇe
śiro hṛṣīkeśa-padābhivandane
kāmaṁ ca dāsye na tu kāma-kāmyayā
yathottamaśloka-janāśrayā ratiḥ

Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord’s temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṇa or about Kṛṣṇa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s temples and Kṛṣṇa’s places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord’s devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord’s prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires. (SB 9.4.18-20)

This was the practice. King Kulasekhara was engaging his mind in thinking, remembering the Lotus Feet of the Lord. But of course you don’t have to limit to the feet only, gradually beginning with Lotus Feet, you could remember the beautiful form of the Lord and you don’t have to limit it just to just the form of the Lord . You could do nama-smaran. You could do Rupa-smaran of His fragrant lotus Feet or Lila smaran, dham smaran, or smaran of devotees of the Lord. so like that, There is so much scope for remembering. We always say,

pratah smaraniya krsna krpa It means those that which should be remembered first thing in the morning so our day will be filled with inspiration and positive energy. We could remember the devotees of the Lord, associates of the Lord. This is all is to be done with the mind. So kayena manasa buddhyir. We use intelligence by chanting Hare Krishna. Less intelligent person can’t chant. You have to have intelligence. You have to make your intelligence sharper and sharper.

Otherwise what kind of mind is there?

cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa
pramāthi balavad dṛḍham
tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye
vāyor iva su-duṣkaram

The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Kṛṣṇa, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.( BG. 6.34)

The mind is unsteady, flickering. Everyone’s mind is unsteady. It has been made like that. While chanting we are doing rounds of your japa mala and the mind also goes round and round the world. To control the mind, to make it steady , focus on what you require. Intelligence. With sharp intelligence only you could make your mind focused on hearing and remembering.

utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt
tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt
saṅga-tyāgāt sato vṛtteḥ
ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati

There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service: (1) being enthusiastic, (2) endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting according to regulative principles [such as śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam – hearing, chanting and remembering Kṛṣṇa], (5) abandoning the association of nondevotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas. These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service.( NOI Verse 3)

The determination is attained by the intelligence. You are intelligent, then only you could be determined. Otherwise ‘ Aaya Rama Gaya Rama’. Mind is flickering. Body follows the mind. So all our wandering should be watched by the intelligence. Function of intelligence could be the power of discrimination. Intelligently we have to decide whatever we are doing, coming and going ,whether it is wrong? Intelligently we have to decide thinking this.What is right or wrong? We have to take the right decision throughout the day also. Only intelligence can help us to make the right decisions and conclusions. Only the Lord can help us. He says dadami buddhiyogam tam . He gives intelligence and with the help of intelligence we can remain stable.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

‘Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and, simply by being employed in the service of the Lord, one’s senses are purified.'( CC. Madhya 19.170)

We use our senses in service of the holy name ,then we have served the Lord & senses will also be satisfied & you could also attain Prema.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAM HARE RAM
RAM RAM HARE RAM.

ātmendriya-prīti-vāñchā — tāre bali ‘kāma’
kṛṣṇendriya-prīti-icchā dhare ‘prema’ nāma

The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kāma [lust], but the desire to please the senses of Lord Kṛṣṇa is prema [love].( CC Adi 4.165)

Senses used for our own gratification , that is kaam. & Senses used for the pleasure of Krishna, then outcome of that is Prema. So during Japa if we engage our karmendriyas & jnanendriyas i.e. knowledge acquiring senses then outcome is achievement of ‘Krishna Prema’.

nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya

“Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.( CC Madhya 22.107)

Prema, dormant love for Lord is revived and could be attained by hearing.

So briefly we have explained how to use body mind, intelligence – different instruments to make your chanting better.

Nitai gaura premanande Hari Hari Bol!! See you all tomorrow.
Hare Krishna!!