JAPA-TALK 11TH SEPTEMBER 2019

Part – 1

YOUR FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS

We have chanted for some time now. Keep chanting. Don't chant now. I meant keep chanting everyday that's the right thing to do. That’s authorised and the strongly recommended activity or karma for this age of Kali. Karma means our prescribed duty. Everyone’s prescribed duty is to chant the holy names of the Lord.

Our teachers insist on this activity. They say when you take the beads in your hands your future is in your hands. You prepare your future. You could have such a bright future. The activity of chanting the holy names of the Lord takes us back home. Where we live now is not our home, Pittsburg, Moscow or Sochi. These are not our homes. Where we came from we can go back. Back to Godhead, So chanting has that power and our future also depends on how we chant. If you are chanting, that is good. The most important thing is how you are chanting. Behind trucks nowadays there is written, 'How am I driving? Report bad driving to so and so number.’ Driving in the same lane is sane. If you are not keeping to the same lane then that is insane. The truck driver wants to know how he drives, whether he drives at a high speed or his driving is not right. He asks others to inform. As far as chanters go, we can ask the question – how is my chanting. You may not ask whether the chanting is right or wrong, but you can definitely ask how you are chanting. We can ask our seniors, those who are good chanters or we can refer to the scriptures or japa reform guide books by ISKCON devotees such as Sacinandana Maharaja, Bhurijana Prabhu, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Maharaja.

Such ISKCON leaders and gurus have come up with japa reform guide books. We can refer to them. Besides this in devotees’ Istagosti, in the gathering of devotees, this question could be raised.

dadati pratigrhnati
guhyam akhyati prcchati
bhunkte bhojayate caiva
sad-vidham priti-laksanam

Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasada and offering prasada are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another. ( NOI verse 4)
Rupa Goswami says. When devotees get together two of the six sadvidham. six ways of feeling or ways of getting along with each other should be discussed. They confidentially reveal their mind or get inspired from others – How are you Prabhu?

Am I troubling you? May I help you? Please help me or share some deep realization. There are difficulties all the time. Every time we approach someone for

sure we have a difficulty and we trouble them by telling our difficulties. That is not good. We should also be sharing good news or fruits of realization or such things that could inspire others who would like to hear, make others happy. If you share misery all the time your misery makes others miserable all the time.

The point we are making here is akhyati pṛcchati japa some questions. When we meet other devotees or a group of devotees we need to ask how is my chanting?

How to improve my chanting? Is it this way or that? Is it clear? Something that we do again and again and again we should be doing properly. Yoga, asanas, pranayam, astanga yoga, some yoga or something that we do everyday, day in
and day out Chanting we do everyday and we chant 16 rounds, 16 times of the same thing. Even when we chant one round, we chant the same mantra 108 times, Hare Krishna we repeat this 1000s of time everyday, if we are doing it correctly then we repeat it 1000s of times. I heard a person chanting behind me very fast. It was not clear. If we chant correctly we did it right . We benefit by 1000 times. If we chant incorrectly, the set back is also 1000 times.