In Srimad Bhagavad-gita Krishna clearly said,
yat karosi yad asnasi yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva mad-arpanam
«Offer Me anything you do in your life.»
When someone lives in this consciousness, then they live in the transcendental service world. But to offer our actions to the Lord according to our own ideas and desires is not the highest standard of spiritual life. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu dismissed this verse from Srimad Bhagavad-gita in His conversation with Ramananda Ray in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta because He wanted to establish the mood and ideal of exclusive, pure devotion to Krishna.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s conception is that if Krishna says to you, «I want a samosa; if you bring Me a samosa, I will be very satisfied», and you bring Krishna a samosa, then your activity will surely be pleasing to Krishna. This is real Bhagavat-dharma and the standard of devotion established by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Real Bhagavat-dharma means surrendering to Krishna and serving Him according to His will by understanding the desire of Krishna and trying to satisfy Him in that way — making offerings to Krishna according to His desires and not ours.
When Krishna Himself explains how you can satisfy Him and you follow that process, then you are following the best process to serve and satisfy Krishna. It may be difficult for the ego to do this, but it is very simple, and it is certain that Krishna will be satisfied by it.
ye vai bhagavata prokta upaya hy atma-labdhaye
anjah pumsam avidusam viddhi bhagavatan hi tan60
Krishna says, «It doesn’t matter if you do not have any knowledge or intelligence or so many qualities and qualifications. If you follow the process that I say will satisfy Me, then I will be very happy with you and I will become your property.»
When Krishna wants to give Himself, He can give Himself to anyone, and what He says is the most satisfying to Him is the supreme way to serve Him. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu established this as a higher, but also simple, standard of devotion for everyone. If we try to follow it in accordance with His desire, we will be supremely benefitted, and gradually all mundane desires will be ousted from our hearts.
There are nine primary forms of bhakti-yoga. They give us the opportunity to engage our mind, senses, and body — everything — in Krishna’s service.
Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam
archanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam
Sravan means hearing Krishna-katha [glorification of Krishna] from a Sadhu, Guru, or Vaisnava. It means hearing about Krishna consciousness and Krishna’s Holy Name. Kirtan means glorifying Krishna, His devotees, and Their divine Pastimes; preaching about Krishna consciousness; and chanting Krishna’s Holy Name. Smaran means remembering the Lord and our spiritual life of service. Pada-sevana means serving the Lord’s lotus feet. Archan means worshipping the Lord’s Deity form. Vandana means praying to the Lord. Dasya means becoming the Lord’s servant. Sakhya means serving the Lord as our best friend. Atma-nivedan means fully surrendering ourself to the Lord. These nine forms of bhakti-yoga are described in the Prahlad-charitra of Srimad Bhagavatam, and through these practices the Lord’s devotees engage in the Lord’s service twenty-four hours a day.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu commented that among the nine forms of bhakti-yoga, two are the best.
tara madhye sarva-srestha nama-sankirtana
«Among all the devotional processes to satisfy the Lord, Nam-sankirtan, that is, sravan and kirtan, hearing and chanting the Lord’s glories and Holy Name, are supreme.»
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s conception is that sravan and kirtan are the vital activities of a spiritual practitioner’s life. You can see the light of this conception everywhere within all religions. There are many different types of religious practices, but it is a practice in all religions to chant the Lord’s Name. For example, in Islam they chant the name ‘Allah’; in Christianity they chant the name ‘God’; and in Buddhism they chant the name ‘Buddha’. All religions have some spiritual connection with the Lord and want to take people to a higher level of consciousness through the Lord’s Name.
The full form of the spiritual world and the jiva-souls’ spiritual destiny have been manifested to some people in a covered way, to some in a slightly open way, and to some in a fully open way. Because of this there are different religions which have different opinions about the nature of our spiritual destination and the path we should follow to reach it. Still, all religions want to take everyone from a material position to a transcendental position. This is the common purpose of all religions. Anyone can see that and also see that all religions use the process of chanting the Lord’s Name. It is not so important whether they connect with the Lord, who is everyone’s eternal Master, by saying, ‘Allah’, or ‘God’, or ‘Son of God’, or ‘Lord Jesus Christ’, or ‘Buddha’, or ‘Brahma’, or ‘Siva’, or any other Name. What is important is that everyone feels, «There is power flowing within the wave of the Lord’s Name.»
Chanting the Lord’s Name means connecting with the Lord’s transcendental vibration form. Through sravan-kirtan, hearing and chanting the Lord’s Name and glories, everyone can easily connect their mood of devotion with the transcendental wave of devotion, the flow of service to the Lord.
In the material world there are always two waves flowing: the waves of kama and prema. They take us either up or down. Whenever we connect with the transcendental wave of prema, we are fully satisfied. Whenever we see people gathered together to hear and chant about the Lord according to the flow of that wave of the transcendental spirit of devotion, then we experience a manifestation of the atmosphere of Vaikuntha, the Lord’s transcendental abode. Bhagavan Sri Krishna Himself even says,
naham tisthami vaikunthe yoginam hrdayena cha
mad-bhaktah yatra gayanti tatra tisthami narada
«I am not really present in Vaikunthaloka or in the hearts of meditative yogis. I am present where My devotees sing My glories.»
In this way we can understand that the Lord’s desire is that we chant His Holy Name, and that we can serve Him in the way most pleasing to Him by chanting His Holy Names in Hari-nam-sankirtan.
We can also understand the supreme position of Hari-nam-sankirtan through Srimad Bhagavatam. Vedavyas composed Srimad Bhagavatam after presenting the Vedas, Vedanta, Upanisads, Puranas, and so on, and in Srimad Bhagavatam he presented his ultimate conclusion. So many scriptures can be found within the Vedic school and culture, and within them so many rsis, munis, and scholars present their research. Vedavyas collected and presented the gist of all of this in his Srimad Bhagavatam. Lastly, he ended Srimad Bhagavatam with his final advice:
nama-sankirtanam yasya sarva-papa-pranasanam
pranamo duhkha-samanas tam namami harim param
«Chant the Lord’s Holy Name, trying to satisfy Him and His associates. Try to avoid all connection with material existence as you practise Hari-nam-sankirtan. By doing so you will be freed from all sin and you will reach the supreme goal of your spiritual life: service to your Lord, Sri Krishna, in the transcendental world.» In this way Vedavyas ended Srimad Bhagavatam with his final prescription and conclusion: Hari-nam-sankirtan is best for everyone.
Whenever anyone participates in any religious function it is necessary for them to understand why they are participating in it. Indian religion has its own customs; Muslim religion has its own customs; other Western religions have their own customs. All religious people follow those customs and the rules and regulations they prescribe, and through that everyone gets some auspicious connection in their lives. But what is the fundamental basis of that auspicious connection? It is always connection with the Lord through His Holy Name.
Before any Vedic sacrifice is performed a particular mantram is always recited to invoke auspiciousness.
mangalam bhagavan visnur mangalam madhusudanah
mangalam hrsikeso ’yam mangalayatano harih
visnuchcharana-matrena krsnasya smaranad-dhareh
sarva vighnani nasyanti mangalam syan na samsayah
«The Supreme Lord, who has many Names, like Visnu, Madhusudan, Hrsikes, and Hari, is the abode of all auspiciousness. Simply by remembering Him and chanting His Names all obstacles are destroyed and all auspiciousness manifests. There is no doubt about this.»
This mangalacharanam, invocation of auspiciousness, reveals that everything will be auspicious if it is accompanied by chanting the Lord’s Holy Name. Auspiciousness means connection with the Lord, and that connection, Krishna consciousness, is what produces all actual auspiciousness. This is the fundamental basis of all religion. It is first of all necessary for everyone to understand that all religious functions will be supremely auspicious when they are based on chanting the Lord’s Holy Names.61 In that way everyone can understand the fundamental basis and purpose of all religious activity: satisfying the Lord.
The Hari-bhakti-vilasa, the topmost guide for all Vaisnava religious functions, says that there is a mantram to invoke auspiciousness not only for beginning, but also for ending all religious sacrifices.
yadasanga kriya karma janata vapy ajanata
purnam bhavatu tat sarvam sri harer nama kirtanat
This ending mantram says, «Whatever offence I may have made during the performance of this religious sacrifice — knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly — will be removed and everything will be fulfilled by performing Hari-nam-sankirtan.»
We know there are so many possible faults, both internal and external, in performing religious sacrifices, and we know it is not possible to perfectly perform any religious function. We know we must make some mistakes and get insufficient results according to our karma. But all deficiency and offence can be removed by Hari-nam-sankirtan. Through humble apology and prayer to the Lord in Nam-sankirtan everything can be set right. Thus Hari-nam-sankirtan is our only actual hope to satisfy the Lord. We must include it in everything we do.
Hari-nam-sankirtan is so powerful that it can even overcome the extreme influence of the current Age of Kali, the Age of Quarrel. This age is filled with so many bad qualities. There is always a sinful wave blowing throughout the material world in the Age of Kali, and there is almost no real religious practice left in the world because of it. In the Age of Kali three of the four primary religious principles — austerity, cleanliness, and mercy — are broken. Only the principle of truthfulness remains, and the influence of Kali is also trying to break this principle constantly. The jiva-souls must be hopeless and frustrated in this age because they do not have a good opportunity for religious practice.
To give relief to the conditioned souls suffering in the Age of Kali’s disturbing environment, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu mercifully taught everyone how they can connect with the Lord and progress in their spiritual life through the Lord’s Holy Name.
harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha
Mahaprabhu said, «You need relief from the wave of exploitation in this world, and you need to get back your real consciousness of being an eternal servitor of the Lord. So you must chant your Lord’s Holy Name as your primary duty.» Harer Nama Harer Nama Harer Namaiva kevalam: thrice Mahaprabhu said that in this Age of Kali only by chanting the Lord’s Name can you realise your spiritual position. And thrice Mahaprabhu said, «Kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha: you have no alternative. There is no other way to proceed.»
The basis and significance of Mahaprabhu’s teaching is expressed very clearly in Srimad Bhagavatam:
kaler dosa-nidhe rajann asti hy eko mahan gunah
kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-bandhah param vrajet
The Age of Kali is filled with so many faults. Dyutam panam striyah suna (SB: 1.17.38): in the Age of Kali gambling, intoxication, illicit sex, animal-killing, and money conquer the entire world. The Age of Kali is like an ocean of faults, an ocean of disturbances, an ocean of challenges to practising spiritual life. Everything in the Age of Kali is covered by Kali’s influence, and no one can cross over that influence. Asti hy eko mahan gunah: yet there is one very good quality, one exception and opportunity found in the Age of Kali that will give everyone the facility to harmonise everything. There is one right within everything wrong there. There is one light that can remove all the darkness there. What is that? Krishna-kirtan.
kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-bandhah param vrajet
Through chanting Krishna’s Holy Name — connecting ourselves with the Lord’s transcendental vibration form — we will be able to feel that Krishna is living within our hearts. The Lord is present in everyone’s heart, and by chanting His Holy Name that will naturally be revealed to us. When we have a connection with the Lord’s transcendental form through His Holy Name, all inauspiciousness will leave us, and everything will be set right. The reactionary environment and the influence of Kali will leave us. We will get a positive connection with the transcendental world where love and affection, chastity and sincerity, everything beautiful and harmless exist within eternal life and eternal time. There, in the eternal realm where we will live with Krishna, we will have no fear. Our life with Krishna will always be enriched with all beauty, love, and affection. It will be enriched with all good qualities and qualifications. Krishna-kirtan will reveal that Krishna is within our heart. Then mukta-bandha: we will be liberated into pure and perfect, very, very happy life. We will cross the gravitational field of the mortal world and find an undisturbed peaceful life in the plane of dedication. Finally, param vrajet: there, according to our attachment, our transcendental relationship with Krishna, the Akhila-rasamrta-murti, the emporium of all rasa, will be revealed to us.
This is the simple method for spiritual realisation given in Srimad Bhagavatam. It was spread by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Saraswati Thakur, and Srila Guru Maharaj: «Be surrendered to Krishna and chant Krishna’s Name. You will be super-benefitted in your life. When you chant Krishna’s Name without offence, then Krishna’s Name, Form, Qualities, and Pastimes — everything — will be revealed to you.»
This is our Guru-varga’s only preaching to general people. They simply taught people about Krishna’s Name and the mood needed to chant Krishna’s Name properly. They taught that everyone must start their spiritual life by chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra in a mood of full surrender to the Lord. If anyone can chant the Lord’s Holy Name in pure saranagati then the higher stages of dasya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, vatsalya-rasa, and madhura-rasa will automatically come to them. Before one can chant in a fully surrendered mood the higher stages of rasa wait for one to become qualified, and when one is qualified, one’s divine relationship with the Lord is naturally revealed. That is the actual way souls can realise and pursue their fortune in pure Krishna consciousness.
This one verse, Kaler-dosa-nidhe Rajan, gives us sufficient knowledge to understand Krishna consciousness, but it is necessary to learn it from a proper guardian. Then we will be worry-free and successful. We may live in the polluted atmosphere of Kali-yuga, but we will always be conscious about that environment of misconception and try to connect with the Lord through His Holy Name. The material world is mundane, but Krishna consciousness and Krishna’s Name are chetana, spiritual.
nama chintamanih krsnas chaitanya-rasa-vigrahah
purnah suddho nitya-mukto ’bhinnatvan nama-naminoh
The Lord and His Holy Name are nondifferent. Our connection with Them is always a living matter, never a dead matter, and the result of that connection must come to us. By serving Krishna’s Name we will get direct service to Krishna because Krishna and His Name are nondifferent. Krishna’s Name is like a wish-fulfilling jewel; He can immediately give us anything we desire for His service if we are properly connected with Him. Krishna’s Name, Krishna’s fame, Krishna’s Pastimes — Krishna’s everything — are all transcendental. When we chant even once without offence, «Sri Krishna», Krishna will reveal Himself to us within that sound; He will reveal His transcendental vibration form.
isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam
Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is eternally manifested as the cowherd boy Govinda. His form, His Name, His fame — everything about Him — are transcendental and can be revealed anywhere and everywhere. As Paramatma, Krishna lives within everyone, within every atom of creation. The conditioned jiva-souls cannot feel that, but when they are liberated they are given that feeling. They feel, «Krishna is with me.» This feeling comes to them through Krishna’s transcendental vibration form, His Holy Name.
Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu has explained that Krishna, the Akhila-rasamrta-murti, the emporium of all rasa, mercifully appears in this world in two ecstatic divine forms to bestow His mercy upon the liberated and conditioned souls.62 One form is His vachya form: His personal form which His Holy Name indicates. The other form is His vachaka form: the transcendental vibration form of His personal form — His Holy Name.
Krishna’s Holy Name is called Sabda-brahma in the Vedas. Sabda means sound vibration, but here sabda means transcendental vibration, not the vibration we can hear with our ears. Brahma means the Lord’s full, divine, conscious form, with His potency — the Supreme Autocrat who can manifest as He likes any way, anywhere, anytime. Thus Sabda-brahma means the divine vibration form of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, Brahma-svarup, Parabrahma. It means the divine form of Brahma, whose Name, Form, Fame, Associates, Abode, Pastimes, and so on, are transcendental.
Sabda-brahma descends from the Lord’s transcendental abode through the proper channel of Guru-parampara. Everyone in this age who gets a connection with the Lord’s transcendental vibration form, Sabda-brahma, is so fortunate, and when that Name dances in their clean heart, they realise their eternal fortune, and everything mundane leaves them.
It is not actually possible for the conditioned souls to immediately receive the Lord’s Name with a clean heart. When the Holy Name descends into their hearts through Guru-parampara, He appears with His own power and personally cleans everything within their hearts. In that way the jiva-souls gradually become qualified to chant the Name purely. Then they realise the supreme benefit of their spiritual lives.
The Lord’s Holy Name is also described in the scriptures as Taraka-brahma-nam: the divine vibration form of the Lord, full with His power and mercy, which can rescue the conditioned souls from the lowest level of material existence and reveal the transcendental service world in their hearts. Through His Taraka-brahma-nam the Lord gives the conditioned souls entrance into His service in different loving relationships, which are always full of transcendental joy, beauty, and charm. The waves of kama and prema are always flowing in this material world; the Lord’s Taraka-brahma-nam is the primary way the jiva-souls can connect with the wave of prema and leave the influence of the illusory environment.
In the mundane world there are four ages, which pass in a cyclic way like the seasons. They are known as the Ages of Satya, Treta, Dvapar, and Kali. Each age has particular qualities, and there is a special arrangement within each age to connect with the wave of prema through the Lord’s Taraka-brahma-nam. The Lord’s Taraka-brahma-nam is always complete with His potency, but there are different processes and formulations for chanting the Taraka-brahma-nam in the different ages. The Vedas prescribe for each age a mahamantra, a supreme mantram, of the Lord’s Holy Names, that is best for that time and environment.
narayana-para veda narayana-paraksarah
narayana-para muktir narayana-para gatih
rama narayanananta mukunda madhusudana
krsna kesava kamsare hare vaikuntha vamana
hare murare madhu-kaitabhare
gopala govinda mukunda saure
yajnesa narayana krsna visno
virasrayam mam jagadisa raksa
hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
During each age everyone chants and meditates on these mahamantras. Through them souls are liberated and enter into the transcendental service world. Whenever fortunate souls properly chant a mahamantra they can proceed happily to their spiritual destination.
In the Age of Kali the transcendental vibration form of the Lord, the Lord’s Taraka-brahma-nam, appears as the Hare Krishna mahamantra. Though the other mahamantras are prescribed for the other ages, the Hare Krishna mahamantra is actually the supreme mantram for all the ages. Of all mantrams, the Hare Krishna mahamantra is the best, as it is both the highest and most powerful. Only in the Hare Krishna mahamantra do we find Lord Sri Krishna with Srimati Radharani, the Powerful with His ecstatic Power. So only through the Hare Krishna mahamantra are we directly connected with full-fledged theism: the sonhood of Godhead and paramour love for the Lord. In this way we can understand the supreme position of the Hare Krishna mahamantra. Also, the Hare Krishna mahamantra is most powerful because only in the Hare Krishna mahamantra is there the full expression of self-surrender and the mood of calling to Radha-Krishna to appear within our hearts and fulfil our heart’s necessity for Their service. One of Radharani’s Names is Hara, and when Hara is called, it is expressed as Hare. Krishna within the mahamantra is also a vocative expression of Krishna’s Name. So chanting Hare Krishna actually means calling Radha-Krishna and praying for Their mercy.
In this way we can understand that through the Hare Krishna mahamantra we can best fulfil our life’s goal of connecting with the transcendental wave of prema. Thus we are so hopeful that our lives and all of our activities will be successful by chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra.
The supreme gift of the Hare Krishna mahamantra has come to us by the grace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the divine form of Radha-Krishna combined, who appeared in Nabadwip Dham to distribute this process of chanting His Holy Name. He is the worshippable Deity for the Age of Kali, and because He is the giver of the supreme gift — the Hare Krishna mahamantra — He is Parama-karuna, the most merciful Lord.
Satyam kali-yuga vipra sri harer nama mangalam
param svastyayanam nrnam nasty eva gatir anyatha
harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha
Mahaprabhu taught everyone: «In the Age of Kali all auspiciousness can be found only in the chanting of the Lord’s Holy Name. Hari-nam-sankirtan is the only way to attain the highest auspiciousness.»
In this age it is not necessary to read a Ganges full of scriptures. It is only necessary to chant the Lord’s Divine Name. Chanting the Holy Name is most appropriate for the conditioned souls in the Age of Kali. Especially during this age the mundane world is full of sorrow, and happiness only comes to the conditioned souls through chanting the Lord’s Holy Name. The Lord descends from Goloka Vrndavan — where His divine play is always flowing with all varieties of charming qualities — in the form of the Hare Krishna mahamantra in the Age of Kali to connect everyone with His beauty and ecstasy. There is no alternative actually to trying to chant the Hare Krishna mahamantra without offence, to happily trying to chant with faith, love, and affection. Harer Namaiva kevalam: it is necessary to always chant the Holy Name and to not do anything without chanting. Chanting the Lord’s Holy Name is the goal of life, and the soul is supremely benefitted by it.
Our only necessity is to connect with the wave of devotion descending from the transcendental world through the Lord’s Holy Name and offer ourselves for its purpose. By chanting the Lord’s Holy Name His transcendental form will be revealed in our hearts. The Lord’s Name will firmly connect us with the Lord’s sach-chid-ananda-vigraha: His eternal, fully conscious, ecstatic form, which is seen and served by great souls like Brahma, Narad, and Vedavyas. Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu has prayed,
nikhila-sruti-mauli-ratna-mala-
dyuti-nirajita-pada-pankajanta
ayi mukta-kulair upasyamanam
paritas tvam hari-nama samsrayami
«O divine form of the Holy Name! Your lotus feet are worshipped by the Vedas, Vedanta, Upanisads, Puranas, Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavad-gita, and all the other scriptures. All these scriptures, along with all the liberated souls, offer arati to Your lotus feet. Please be merciful and give me Your divine service. I fully surrender at Your lotus feet.»
Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu glorified the Holy Name in this way, and there are so many more verses in the scriptures about the Lord’s Name.63 Nothing, anywhere, compares with the position and power of the Holy Name. By chanting the Lord’s Name our mood of devotion will increase, the illusory environment will leave us, and our feelings of transcendental ecstasy, charm, beauty, and love in our relationship with the Lord will increase in our heart. With those feelings we will be unable to leave the association of the Lord’s Holy Name and service.
Question: Maharaj, why do many devotees recommend that we should concentrate on the sound vibration of the Holy Name when chanting? To me that seems to be like impersonal meditation. I feel that a mood of prayer must be present in our chanting. Why is focus on the Holy Name’s sound vibration recommended?
Srila Govinda Maharaj: Mental concentration is one kind of yoga practice. Through such yoga practice we can acquire some supernatural power (siddhi), but we cannot force the Holy Name to appear from the transcendental world in our hearts. The practice of mental concentration alone will not be fruitful for us.
The Lord and His Holy Name are fully autocratic. In the first verse of Srimad Bhagavatam it is expressed, «Arthesv Abhijnah Svarat tene Brahma hrda ya adi-kavaye muhyanti yat surayah: the Lord is an all-knowing Autocrat and everything depends entirely upon His will. He can appear in anyone’s heart, and He can also bewilder anyone.» Only a mood of surrendered devotion and dedication is truly helpful in chanting the Lord’s Holy Name. We can only try to attract His grace. We cannot force the Lord to appear.
There is a bird known as the chatak that drinks only water that falls from the clouds. The chatak bird does not drink water from any pond or river. It doesn’t drink from anywhere on the earth. He depends only on rainwater that he catches as it falls from the clouds. When rain clouds appear in the sky the chatak bird loudly sings their praises, and when raindrops begin to fall, he runs this way and that way to catch them. The chatak bird is satisfied with the raindrops he catches, and he never accepts any water from anywhere else.
When a rain cloud appears in the sky, rain is not the only possible outcome. A rain cloud may produce a thunderbolt that can easily destroy a small bird. Still the chatak bird runs around in the middle of a storm catching raindrops and does not care about the danger. His mood is that the clouds are his only shelter and source of life, and he will never consider anything otherwise.
Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu used the chatak bird as an analogy for the way we should pray to the Lord as we chant His Holy Name. His expression is very beautiful,
virachaya mayi dandam dina-bandho dayam va
gatir iha na bhavattah kachid anya mamasti
nipatatu sata-kotir nirbharam va navambhas
tad api kila payodah stuyate chatakena
«O my Lord Krishna! I need a drop of mercy from You. Please bestow that upon me. I am waiting for Your mercy like a chatak bird who waits for drops of water to fall from the clouds. You can give me one drop of Your mercy or You can choose not to. That depends on Your desire, but I will not accept anything from anywhere else. If You want to punish me like a cloud which may cast thunderbolts at a chatak bird, I can tolerate that. Still I will not go anywhere else; I desire only Your mercy.
«Virachaya mayi dandam Dina-bandhu! dayam va: You may bestow Your mercy upon me or You may punish me. O Lord! I know that I am very poor and that I have no actual devotional property. You may send me a thunderbolt or a drop of water. It is Your decision. Regardless of Your choice, I will always chant Your glories and remain surrendered to Your lotus feet. I will never take anything from the ground: whatever grace I receive from You I will consider to be sufficient for me.»
This type of exclusive devotional mood in chanting the Lord’s Holy Name is necessary for everyone. It will super-benefit the conditioned souls, and liberated souls are always relishing that mood.
In this way Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu shows us how to pray with an attentive and exclusive mood of devotion. It is necessary to chant the Lord’s Holy Name with this mood in order to draw the grace of the Lord to us. We must consider that whatever we need will come to us through our prayer and the Lord’s grace, and that through this mood of prayer the Lord will be inspired to bestow His mercy upon us.
When we chant the Lord’s Holy Name it is not necessary to think or focus on anything. We only need to chant in a prayerful mood of surrender, considering, «I am Yours, and You are mine.» Through this mood our relationship with the Lord will be finalised. At first it will not become final, but by chanting, chanting, and chanting, slowly the Source of our chanting, the Lord, will fully acquire our mind. Then sarvah sukhamaya disah (SB: 11.14.14), we will see joy in all directions.64 The Lord’s Holy Name will enter our heart and give us full nourishment: supreme kalyan, mangal, benefit, auspiciousness, and so on.
When devotees try to chant the Lord’s Holy Names they may feel, «I cannot attentively chant the Lord’s Holy Name. I do not have a pure mood of surrender and devotion. So who am I? What qualification do I have? Krishna is so great; why would Krishna bestow His merciful glance upon me?» Through this realisation and mood of self-examination the devotee will eventually conclude to pray: «The only hope I have is that I may receive Krishna’s ‘causeless’ mercy. If His causeless mercy suddenly comes to me, I will consider that my greatest good fortune and I will get everything through that.»
If we bring ourselves before the Lord in the court of justice, we have no hope. But if we bring ourselves before the Lord in the court of mercy, we have so much hope. Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami have expressed,
apane ayogya dekhi’ mane pan ksobha
tathapi tomara gune upajaya lobha
«We are sure that we are unqualified and insignificant. There is no doubt about this. We are fallen souls with many disqualifications. But we are also sure that Krishna is very merciful and highly qualified. There is also no doubt about that.»
When we hear these types of prayers and promises in the scriptures we become fully enthusiastic. Krishna’s mercy is infinite and can easily take us into the transcendental abode of His service. Krishna’s nature is to attract the jiva-souls and reveal His ecstasy — Krishna-prema — in their hearts. Krishna is so merciful and can do everything, so we can always be hopeful. Devotees who are very attached to Mahaprabhu’s teachings will try to chant the Lord’s Holy Name with this exclusive mood.
We have no other way but to chant the Lord’s Holy Name in humble surrender. Devotees may sometimes count while they chant, and they may sometimes chant without counting. They may sometimes chant quietly and sometimes chant loudly. In all circumstances, they chant with a mood of prayer, «Whether or not the Lord will see me or bestow His mercy upon me is His personal matter. I must simply chant His Holy Name and have faith that one day I may receive His causeless mercy.»
There is another expression of the devotees’ mood:
parama-karuniko na bhavat-parah
parama-sochyatamo na cha mat-parah
iti vichintya hare mayi pamare
yad uchitam yadu-natha tad achara
«O Krishna, I do not know my position, but You know who I am. I am feeling I am in an insignificant, unqualified, ignorant, lamentable, and sad position. I have no quality or qualification, and I feel I cannot actually do anything. Your position is Supreme. You are the supremely merciful rescuer of the fallen souls. You have promised that You will give special attention to the ignorant fallen souls who are in need, and rescue those who take shelter at Your lotus feet. I do not know if I can take full shelter of You or not, but I am offering myself to You with my all and everything. You can see me present before You, so please give me Your merciful glance.
«You are the supreme rescuer of the fallen souls, Patita Pavan, and I am a super-conditioned soul (patita), so please do the needful. I will not tell You what to do. You can see everything perfectly. I only pray that You do what is necessary for me. I do not see any soul who is more fallen than myself; You bestow Your mercy upon the most fallen souls first, so I am very hopeful You will do the needful and rescue me.»
There are so many songs and expressions of prayer to the Lord which explain our position and the Lord’s position. We can see that everywhere the jiva-souls are in both a hopeless position and a hopeful position. Alone they must be hopeless, but in connection with the Lord they must be hopeful. So lastly, through the Lord’s grace, the jiva-souls can always be hopeful, and that is the mood of a devotee.
Devotee: In the scriptures it says that we need to chant the Holy Name constantly to remove our offences against the Holy Name. I have also heard that we should chant only a small number of times with full concentration. Can you explain something about the importance of quality and quantity in chanting?
Srila Govinda Maharaj: It is not hard to understand the difference between quality and quantity in chanting the Holy Name. We need to satisfy Krishna and His nondifferent form of the Holy Name. Chanting in a way that is satisfying to the Holy Name is quality chanting. That will draw down the revelation of the pure Holy Name in our hearts. When the Lord’s Name is pleased with us, He will appear in His transcendental vibration form on our tongue.
We cannot see Krishna’s divine form, and we cannot hear Krishna’s Holy Name. What comes from our tongue when we chant is not transcendental because our tongue is not transcendental. But our tongue can attain a transcendental form when the Lord’s Divine Name appears there. Quality chanting means making our tongue transcendental by attracting the Divine Name, the Lord’s transcendental vibration form, to appear there.
The Lord made the special sanction in the Age of Kali, «I shall manifest in My transcendental vibration form in the heart of a surrendered soul who has purified consciousness.» Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur explained,
hrdaya haite bale jihvara agrete chale
sabda-rupe nache anuksana
«Hari-nam Himself will forcibly move from within the clean heart of a devotee to the tip of his tongue and dance there in the form of sound vibration.»
The Holy Name needs a proper place to reveal Himself. Without the atmosphere of a clean heart, a surrendered mood of prayer and devotion, the divine vibration of the Holy Name will not be attracted to manifest Himself. But someday, like lightning, the Name may appear in our heart and dance on our tongue. That will happen one day if we continue our meditation on the Holy Name. But it is not our meditation actually; it is our chanting service. Through our service mood the Holy Name will appear in our heart.
Sometimes the Name first comes to us in a mixed way. He may not first reveal His fully transcendental form. First He may come and go, come and go, come and go. But finally He will stay within us. Eventually that will happen if our mood is always directed towards the service of Krishna and our Gurudev. With that mood both what is known to you and what is unknown to you will appear in your heart, and with that revelation you will understand what is light and what is darkness.
Everything depends upon our mood of chanting and mood of service. It is very good if you will think, «It is my service to chant. I know neither why I am chanting, nor what I should think, and it is not necessary for me to know.»
For the transformation of the mind’s nature (cheto-darpana-marjanam) it is necessary to remember the Lord constantly. Whoever is able to do this will experience a transformation. We have time, all twenty-four hours of the day, to chant the Lord’s Holy Name. Chanting a minimum of four rounds or sixteen rounds in a day is for practice. Our Guru Maharaj did not say we should chant for only four rounds once during the day. Rather, he taught us that we should chant all throughout the day. With beads or without beads, the feeling should always come to us, «Now I shall chant the Lord’s Holy Name.»
We can even remember the Lord when we are sleeping. When a great difficulty comes before us in our life, we may have a dream about it at night. Similarly, if we are always trying to remember Krishna, we will also see some form of Krishna in our dreams. That is our mind’s nature.
In the Age of Kali it is only necessary to chant the Lord’s Holy Name without offence. The first directive is, «Chant Hare Krishna!» Later, chanting without offence will come to us. If people think that chanting «Hare Krishna» is for their own benefit, then they will accept the process. But later when they find that they are not getting the full result of chanting and they think about why they are not getting the full result, they will search for the fault in their chanting. They will search through the ten offences to the Holy Name to find their fault and then try to leave that offence. They will see they have to chant for Krishna’s satisfaction, not for their own satisfaction. They will see through personal reflection that they are chanting for themselves, and then they will try to correct their fault and chant for Krishna’s satisfaction.
Still, no one should stop their chanting when they see there is some fault in it. Rather, they should continue to constantly remember the Lord and chant His Name. The Lord will reveal Himself to us when He is pleased with our service mood, which we can express by chanting constantly.
We can serve the Lord physically, verbally, and mentally. We should never stop our service mentally, but we should also serve the Lord with our body. Engaging the body in service does not only mean missionary service; we must change everything we do everywhere into service. That is service-life, and in that way we should try to chant Hare Krishna constantly.
Mundane difficulties will come to us through our karma, but a devotee does not want to engage Krishna in taking care of them. We will not ask Krishna to clean our courtyard. It is the nature of a devotee to always want to do something for others, especially Krishna. This mood of quality chanting, of service, is necessary first, but we should not leave quantity in our chanting either. What is actually important and necessary is quality, but as much as possible we should also try to chant in quantity. If we leave quantity in our chanting, quality will not come. Chanting in quantity in a regular way is good. Because our mind does not want to chant regularly, we need to practise.
The mood of a devotee is to constantly chant his Lord’s Name. You will see an example of this in the cleaning of the Gundicha Temple. In Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta it is described that everyone chants, «Krishna, Krishna» while they are working with their hands. If someone needs a water bucket, he asks for it by chanting, «Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna». Then another devotee gives him a bucket of water while chanting, «Krishna, Krishna», and the devotee then throws that bucket of water while chanting, «Krishna, Krishna».
The devotees will perform so many activities in their lives, but while they are doing their work they will always try to chant Krishna’s Name. Then, through their habit of chanting, their mood and mind will transform.
When that habit of remembering the Lord comes to us, we will not be able to leave it. We have many habits that we cannot leave. Someone may have an intoxication habit. Someone may have an eating habit. Many persons have so many habits, but if we make our habit only to chant, then we will always chant «Hare Krishna» within our mind. It is not necessary to show our remembrance and chanting to others though. It is only necessary to chant the Holy Name with quality, that is, a mood of trying to satisfy the Lord.
yena tena prakarena manah krsne nivesayet
sarve vidhi-nisedhah syur etayor eva kinkarah
«Somehow or other engage the mind in Krishna’s service. This is the only directive of all the scriptures.»
Smartavyah satatam visnur vismartavyo na jatuchit
sarve vidhi-nisedhah syur etayor eva kinkarah
«The only prohibition is to never forget Krishna, and the only injunction is to always remember Krishna. Only these two things are necessary. All the rules and regulations in all the scriptures are actually servants of that purpose: satisfying Krishna by always remembering Him and never forgetting Him.» This is the gist of all the Vedic scriptures’ advice.
You can live anywhere in any position. It is not a question of your situation or lifestyle. It is only necessary that you remember Krishna and try to serve Krishna. Then the whole illusory environment will leave you, and you will immediately be promoted to life in the transcendental service world where you can satisfy Krishna according to His desires. That transcendental service world is not existing in the sky or anywhere ‘above us’; it is existing within us. Our own internal environment must change. When there are changes of office within a government, all the office work and general activities continue. It is only the government officers and maybe some of the government’s rules that change. The soul’s transformation towards Krishna consciousness is like that.
60 «Know Bhagavat-dharma to be the means explained by the Lord for even the ignorant to easily attain Him.»
madhura-madhuram etan mangalam mangalanam
sakala-nigama-valli-sat-phalam chit-svarupam
sakrd api parigitam sraddhaya helaya va
bhrgu-vara nara-matram tarayet krsna-nama
«Krishna’s Name, the sweetest of the sweet, the most auspicious of the auspicious, the eternal spiritual fruit from the vine of the Vedas, delivers a man if He is chanted even once, faithfully or neglectfully.»
vachyam vachakam ity udeti bhavato nama svarupa-dvayam
purvasmat param eva hanta karunam tatrapi janimahe
yas tasmin vihitaparadha-nivahah prani samantad bhaved
asyenedam upasya so ’pi hi sadanandambudhau majjati
«O Holy Name! You appear in two forms: the Named (Your divine human-like form) and the Name (Your divine sound form). We know that Your second form is even more merciful than Your first: even one who has committed offences to the Named is immersed in an ocean of constant joy by chanting the Name.»
tunde tandavini ratim vitanute tundavali-labdhaye
karna-krodha-kadamvini ghatayate karnarbudebhyah sprham
chetah prangana-sangini vijayate sarvendriyanam krtim
no jane janita-kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varnadvayi
«When they dance in my mouth, they produce the desire for countless mouths; when they enter my ears, they produce the desire for billions ofears; when they appear in the courtyard of my heart, they take control of all of my senses. I do not know how muchnectar is produced by the two syllables Krs–na.»
akinchanasya dantasya santasya sama-chetasah
maya santusta-manasah sarvah sukha-maya disah
«For a detached, controlled, peaceful, equipoised soul, whose heart is satisfied by Me, all directionsare filled with joy.»