VIDHI and NISHEDHA FOR CHANTING.

Today we had 453 participants, and special mention is, Eknath Gaur Prabhuji was chanting from Mongolia. Mongolia is very close to the North Pole, beyond China and Russia. I was surprised and pleased to see him chanting all the way from Mongolia.

Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu has strongly recommended, worship Krsna , the way gopis worshipped, Radharani worshipped, we should be worshipping like that. –

Ramya kecid upāsanā vraja-vadhu-vargabhir ya kalpita. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended, “The upāsanā, the worship which was invented by the gopīs to worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, ramya kecid upāsanā, there is no more perfect upāsanā.”

What was the special feature of worship of Gopis and Radharani? – “Always remember Krsna and never forget Krsna!” that’s it. This is the principal. There is a well-known mantra of this meaning which Krsnadas Kaviraj Goswami has quoted in Caitanya Caritamrita.

smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur
vismartavyo na jātucit
sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ

“‘Kṛṣṇa is the origin of Lord Viṣṇu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the śāstras should be the servants of these two principles.’(CC Madhya Lila 22.113)

I will read the purport of this verse first and then we can go back to the verse and try to understand further. Srila Prabhupada writes, – ‘This verse is a quotation from Padma – Purana. There are regulative principles in the sastras and directions given by the spiritual master. These regulative principles should act as servants of the basic principle.”

Instructions are in two parts. One is positive and other is negative. One is vidhi and other is nisedhah. One is do’s’ and other is don’ts. Do this, don’t do this. So smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur is vidhi or process . It’s a Do part. One should remember satatam – always. vismartavyo na jātucit One should never forget. This is the nishedhah part. Sastra’s explanations are of two kinds – one is vidhi and other is nishedhah, prohibition. So that is ,” These regulative principles should act as servants of the basic principle, that is one should always remember Krsna and never forget Him. Therefore one must strictly chant Hare Krsna mahamantra 24 hours daily. That is the vidhi.

“Therefore one must strictly chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra twenty-four hours daily. One may have other duties to perform under the direction of the spiritual master, but he must first abide by the spiritual master’s order to chant a certain number of rounds”, then next do the other duties. That’s how we should understand this. “In Hare Krsna movement we have recommended the neophytes to chant at least 16 rounds. This chanting of 16 rounds is absolutely necessary, if one wants to remember Krsna and never forget Him.” This is the process and the prohibition.Of all the regulative principles , the spiritual master’s order to chant at least 16 rounds is the most essential. Essential is the most significant word. There is no other option.

harer nama harer nama harer nama eva kevalam kalau nastyeva nastyeva nastyeva gatiranyatha. ( CC 7.26)

sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ

That’s the second part. The first verse was.
smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur
vismartavyo na jātucit

Always remember and never forget, these are the two items.

etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ of these two principals are the servants of these two principals. All the vidhis, all the nishedhahs are servants of two principals. All that is said in shastra can be divided in two parts. One part is process, something that you should do , other one is Nishedh.

utsahat nishayat dhairyat tat tat karma pravartant sanga tyagat sato vritte shadbhir bhaktir prasiddhati. (NOI verse 3)

This is vidhi. Enthusiasm, determination and following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas , and so on by following these six items , which is a positive, a vidhi, by that bhakti prasiddhati. – You attain perfection in your devotional service. That is shadbhir bhaktir prasiddhati. and other one is

attyahar prayashacha prajalpa niyamagraha
Jansanghasha laulyascha shadbhir bhaktir vinashyati ( NOI verse 2)

By doing these things , which is nishedh getting too much or accumulating too much. By following this shadbhir bhaktir vinashyati we stay away from worldly association . These are the examples. So like that we will find in the sastras some vidhi and some nishedh. So all these processes and prohibitions are the servants of etayor( two principals). One is smartavyaha satatam Vishnu and second is vismartvya na jatu chita. These we should contemplate.

We could also say that vidhi is chant “Harer name eva kevalam” and nishedh is – avoid these ten offenses against the holy name. No – vaishnav aparadh. No – Gurur avadyna. No – sruti shastra nindanam. So what should you do, “ chant ‘Hare Krsna’ , and what should you not do ? Avoid all the offenses against the holy name. While we are chanting, this Japa yoga or Dhyan-yoga, there is astang yoga which is aimed at ‘samadhi’ or full concentration of your mind and intelligence. The soul where your mind is fully absorbed in the Lord or focused on the Lord. That is samadhi. That astanga yoga process also begins with yama- niyama. Yama is nishedh and niyama is vidhi. Yama is if you do this or that then Yamaraj will come. That’s how you should remember. Niyam means positive and yama is destructive. One is process and the other is prohibition. So as chanters we should remember that we have to chant Hare Krsna with attention and this is the right thing to do. We have to have to avoid all the offenses against the holy name. This is nishedh or prohibition. This is destructive and we don’t do this. So that’s the food for thought for the day.

This is a homework for you. But this homework is enough for the rest of your life. Because everyday you have to chant Hare Krsna and everyday you have to avoid offences. But we have to say chanting you have to do, minimum sixteen rounds, some do even more rounds. The offences are not to be avoided only during chanting. We keep doing aparadh daily. Offending Vaisnavas. We may not offend Vaisnavas during chanting, but as soon as we finish chanting , first thing we begin with is offending Vaisnavas. Or disobeying this order or that order of the spiritual master, or if we blaspheme the scriptures or if we didn’t read the scriptures. So these are the offences we keep committing all day. Just try to understand that

OFFENCES AGAINST THE HOLY NAME ARE NOT ONLY TO BE AVOIDED WHILE SITTING DOWN and CHANTING, BUT ALL DAY!

All day you have to be alert and make sure you are not committing offences. So we kind of remain busy in the service of the holy name chanting or avoiding offences.

I had been saying that tomorrow’s chanting preparation we have to do today. Chanting tomorrow, preparation today! It’s like setting the scene. So when we sit for chanting the next day how will our japa be – more attentive. It will not happen overnight or in one day. Tomorrow’s chanting will be attentive if today we make our best efforts to avoid the offences. Like that we stay busy serving the holy name of the Lord 24 hours. One either we are chanting or two we are trying to avoid the offences. There is nothing more in which our whole day is spent. We are sadhakas. We are practitioners. So this is the lifelong practice.

You can preach others also to chant and avoid offences. So we will stop here.
Hare Krsna!!