Author Archives: Rasa Rasika

Stop Your Other Activities
→ Japa Group

“Stop your other activities, sit down, meditate. So when we sit and meditate, we should not do anything else. You sit tight and hear and chant, hear and chant — for only two hours a day. Until you become offenseless in your chanting, you can’t progress to a higher stage or to the higher taste. We have to go from offensive to offenseless, and go on chanting Hare Krsna.”

From Japa Reform Notebook
by Satsvarupa dasa Gowswami

Sweet Like Sugar Candy
→ Japa Group

“The holy name, character, pastimes and activities of Kṛiṣhṇa are all transcendentally sweet like sugar candy. Although the tongue of one afflicted by the jaundice of avidya [ignorance] cannot taste anything sweet, it is wonderful that simply by carefully chanting these sweet names every day, a natural relish awakens within his tongue, and his disease is gradually destroyed at the root.”

From Nectar of Instruction Text 7

Japa Is The Cornerstone
→ Japa Group

Japa is the cornerstone of our spiritual life that supports the other areas of sadhana etc. If the cornerstone is strong, the rest is strong. Here is a nice quote to illustrate the importance of making Japa a priority:

“You have to minimize your sleeping. If you cannot finish sixteen rounds, then you must not sleep on that day, you must not eat. Why don’t you forget to eat, forget? Why do you forget chanting Hare Krsna? This is negligence, aparadha, offense. Rather, you should forget your sleeping and eating, and must finish sixteen rounds. This is called determination. This is called determined….”

Letter from Srila Prabhupada 28/1/74

Will Be Protected
→ Japa Group

One who cultivates the four qualities of:

1) Humility
2) Tolerance
3) Pridelessness
4) Respect for others

….will be protected from committing the ten offences. The third verse of Sri Caitanya’s Siksastaka, which should surround one’s neck like a garland, describes these traits.

trnâd api sunîcena, taror iva sahisnunâ
amânina mânadena, kîrtanîyah sadâ harih

“One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor but is always prepared to give all respect to others, can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.”

Japa Is The Quiet Prayer
→ Japa Group

Japa is the quiet prayer. You say it loud enough so you can hear it, but it’s mostly for yourself. Radha and Krishna can hear you. They’re close by, so you don’t have to shout. But they’re listening carefully, so you pronounce with great care. Put your heart into it.

Hear me, Lord. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Over and over, the thirty-two syllables are repeated.

From Bhajana Kutir #78
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Chanting Produces A Taste
→ Japa Group

Chanting produces a taste
for chanting. It becomes
an indispensable part of
your life, you can not
bear to go with out chanting
early in the morning. Prabhupada
said of his 1 A.M. rising
and writing his books, “This
is taste.” Similarly, this is
taste which drives me to
go around the beads for sixteen
rounds with out letup,
building the strength and
relishing the sounds, and
when I am extra fortunate,
con tem plating on Radha and
Krishna who stand together
on the altar and play in
Their pastimes in my mind.

From Viraha Bhavan #106
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Hard Work To Control The Mind
→ Japa Group

“We actually like to space out when we chant. It’s easy, it’s easier than concentrating, it’s hard work to control the mind. It is hard work to concentrate. So that’s why you have to develop internal momentum, you get the speed, you get the determination, the sankalpa developed in the mind.”

From The Process Of Improving Habits
by Mahanidhi Swami