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“Should we think of Krsna’s forms and pastimes while chanting japa? We should not do anything artificial. As Prabhupada has said, the chanting is not an artificial imposition on the mind. Prabhupada has recommended that if we just hear the chanting then the time will come when simultaneously we will think of the form of Krsna. To concentrate on the sound may seem routine. Of course, that is only our neophyte stage.”
From Japa Reform Notebook
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
“We’re each entirely alone in the application of our minds to hearing the holy name. If we think we can allow someone else to do it for us, we are mistaken. Sri Krishna doesn’t want to do our chanting for us. He wants us to chant”
Bhajan Kutir #50
Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world…simply send me an introduction message and I will be happy to make you a member:rasa108 ::_::{.at.}::_:: gmail dot comysRasa Rasika dasa
Chanting Techniquesa) “Sit properly.” Yoga sastras proclaim that sitting straight facilitates concentration: “Right posture makes the mind calm” Tantra-raja-tantra 27.59b) Chant without interruption. Once in Los Angeles, disciples asked Srila Prabhupad…
“The first regulative principle is that one must chant the Hare Krsna maha mantra loudly enough so that he can hear himself, and one must vow to chant a fixed number of rounds.”Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Antya 11.24
“You require the water as it is. Then your thirst will be satisfied. But in the transcendental, absolute world, there is no such difference. Krsna and Krsna’s name, Krsna’s words and Krsna’s qualities, Krsna’s pastimes- everything is Krsna.”
Srimad Bhagavatam 1:2:17 lecture
“Japa is its own world, contained as if within a glass ball. Concetrate on your business and don’t go wandering off into a nowhere’s land, like Antarctica. You have Radha and Krishna. Do your chanting. Keep pressing down on it. You know how to chant. Perseverance and concentration. While I’m chanting, I should be wrapped up in the world of chanting. There should be nothing else going on.”
From Bhajan Kutir #157
By determination and persistance the mind will actually surrender and naturally focus on the sound without us having to be consciously aware of it…until then it’s a battle…but a battle that can be won.
“One must make it his daily routine to chant for an hour in the company of saintly Vaisnavas in a sacred, undisturbed place. Taking note of the Vaisnava’s devotional attitude and their relish for the Holy name, the neophyte should try to emulate this m…
Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world…simply send me an introduction message and I will be happy to make you a member:rasa108 ::_::{.at.}::_:: gmail dot comysRasa Rasika dasa
Nice talk on chanting Japa by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. Maharaja explores his own realisations on chanting the Holy Names.Email subscribers please click the blue link above to hear the audio.
It is recommended that even if one commits offenses, one should continue chanting the Holy name.
In other words, the chanting of the Holy name makes one offenseless.
In the book Nāma-kaumudī it is recommended that if one is an offender at the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava, he should submit to that Vaiṣṇava and be excused; similarly, if one is an offender in chanting the holy name, he should submit to the holy name and thus be freed from his offenses.
SB 7.5.23-24 purport
“We are asking him to do something he can’t do — give up all distraction. Rather than ask for the impossible, ask him to add something.
We tell newcomers they don’t have to change their lives, but just add chanting. This is similar advice….you are already chanting, so please remember to bring the mind back.”
From Bhajan Kurtir #38
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
How do I know I have chanted good rounds? One of the best indicators for me is when I finish my rounds, I want to keep chanting because I am getting such a nice taste.If I am relieved to put my bead bag down after my last round, that’s an indicator tha…
Here is some more nectar from the latest Japa workshop given by Giriraja Swami Maharaja in Houston, Texas:
“Due to the contamination of material association, through many, many millions of births, one’s heart is always covered with the dust of materialism, but when one engages in devotional service and constantly chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, the dust quickly clears, and one is elevated to the platform of pure knowledge.”
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 10.11 purport
Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world…simply send me an introduction message and I will be happy to make you a member:rasa108 ::_::{.at.}::_:: gmail dot comysRasa Rasika dasa
“The Holy name of Krsna is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for itis Krsna Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Krsna’s name is complete, and it is the form of alltranscendental mellows. It is not a material name und…
“Among the three limbs of devotional service namely hearing, chanting and remembering – chanting is the best of all; because hearing and remembering are included in the chanting”.Jaiva-dharma Chapter 19
We come to the stage of reforming our Japa and try hard to apply all the guidelines as outlined by Srila Prabhupada and maybe after sometime these bad habits return. The mind may allows this and we may not even be aware that this habit has returned.It …
Today I chanted extras rounds. I had this thought about Japa and how Krsna is very pleased when we chant the Holy names nicely.If Krsna sees that our efforts are serious then He reciprocates in a serious way, bestowing the nectar for which we are alway…
“Sincere chanters appreciate sincere expressions by fellow chanters. They want to hear the perfect sastric statements on the glories of the holy name and its blissful effects, but they also like to hear from one who takes his chanting seriously, even t…
Trusting that Krishna will accept my
effort, I chant attentively in my mind.
I pray within and dutifully count
the quota. It’s close between us, me
and the mantras, a lifelong bond
continued in illness. I tell myself
the ardor isn’t dwindling, it’s just
the outer performance. My heart is still
with Him as good as in my vigorous
youth. I chant alone and like it that way
because I don’t like to expose
my weakness to others. Alone with Him,
I privately offer my best and trust
that Krishna will accept my effort.
From Bhajan Kutir #243
Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world…simply send me an introduction message and I will be happy to make you a member:rasa108 ::_::{.at.}::_:: gmail dot comysRasa Rasika dasa
“Start chanting very early in the morning, either with devotees, Tulasi-devi, Thakurji, or in a place free from disturbance. Sit before your Deities or Tulasi-devi and chant prayers to Sri Guru and the parampara, the six Gosvamis and the Panca-tattva…
“Start chanting very early in the morning, either with devotees, Tulasi-devi, Thakurji, or in a place free from disturbance. Sit before your Deities or Tulasi-devi and chant prayers to Sri Guru and the parampara, the six Gosvamis and the Panca-tattva…
That is the question or actually the choice we have during Japa….to listen to the mind or listen to the Mantra. It’s a subject we discussed recently on Skpe Japa. Srila Prabhupada expressed the importance of hearing as a solution for the wandering mi…
“I have to learn to give myself plenty of time to chant and then go within myself and chant Krishna’s names with awareness that I am with Krishna Himself in the sound vibration. It’s not just a counting time but a time to be with the most wonderful person in all the universes.”
From Bhajan Kutir #432
“The method of chanting refers to physical considerations such as sitting straight on an asana, chanting during the peaceful predawn hours, and associating with lovers of nama. It also includes using tulasi beads; clear pronunciation; concentrating o…
“There is no “secret” to Japa; it is a struggle. There is no easy shortcut. The secret is to surrender to the struggle. The secret is to be afraid of death and to take it as very urgent that you must chant Hare Krsna. We used to have a slogan, “Chant w…
“Therefore chanting the holy name is the prime religious activity of a Vaisnava. From the holy name gradually blossom the Lord’s form, qualities and pastimes. The entire panorama of Lord Krishna’s pastimes is present in the holy name.”
From Sri Harinama Cintamani
Haridasa Thakura to Lord Caitanya
Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world…simply send me an introduction message and I will be happy to make you a member:rasa108 ::_::{.at.}::_:: gmail dot comysRasa Rasika dasa
“As long as we chant as we have been taught we will not commit the first type of disruption, varna-vyvadhana. But a subtle form of this disruption occurs when we don’t pronounce the mantra properly. Srila Prabhupada refers to a “hissing sound” that is sometimes produced by a poor chanter and in a lecture he made a caricature of slurred chanting, and said “hurkrish hurkrish krishkrish” and said “Not like that. But with priti, with love.”
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
From Viraha Bhavan #140
“One should worship and chant the holy name of the Lord by accepting it as the Lord Himself. During the chanting of the holy name, the tongue must work; the tongue is sevonmukha-jihva – it is controlled by service.”Caitanya-caritamritaMadhya Lila Ch. 1…
My speed was under seven minutes per round. I made audible sounds of the mantras, but barely audible, in order to keep the speed and not overexert. My mind didn’t wander. It stayed fixed on whispering the syllables.
I kept fixed on just hearing and did not have many good japa thoughts. I was content to just occupy myself in the yajna of the sound vibration.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
From Bhajana Kutir #35
“Out of many such Vaisnavas, one may be found to be very seriously engaged in the service of the Lord and strictly following all the regulative principles, chanting the prescribed number of rounds on japa beads and always thinking of how to expand the …
It’s such a good thing when you chant your japa decently. It brightens your day. You feel hope for the ultimate goal. After all, chanting is the prime necessity, the easiest way to achieve love of God. In fact, it’s the only way in Kali-yuga.
From Japa Transformations
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
Today I received a nice message from one of our Japa Group email subscribers.”I get so excited to chant to Krishna that I feel I get going way to fast!! When I catch myself chanting to fast, I make myself SLOW WAY DOWN for several beads to relax me aga…
Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world…simply send me an introduction message and I will be happy to make you a member:rasa108 ::_::{.at.}::_:: gmail dot comysRasa Rasika dasa
TRANSLATION
Food prepared more than three hours before being eaten, food that is tasteless, decomposed and putrid, and food consisting of remnants and untouchable things is dear to those in the mode of darkness.
PURPORT
The purpose of food is to increase the duration of life, purify the mind and aid bodily strength. This is its only purpose. In the past, great authorities selected those foods that best aid health and increase life’s duration, such as milk products, sugar, rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables. These foods are very dear to those in the mode of goodness. Some other foods, such as baked corn and molasses, while not very palatable in themselves, can be made pleasant when mixed with milk or other foods. They are then in the mode of goodness.
All these foods are pure by nature. They are quite distinct from untouchable things like meat and liquor. Fatty foods, as mentioned in the eighth verse, have no connection with animal fat obtained by slaughter. Animal fat is available in the form of milk, which is the most wonderful of all foods. Milk, butter, cheese and similar products give animal fat in a form which rules out any need for the killing of innocent creatures. It is only through brute mentality that this killing goes on. The civilized method of obtaining needed fat is by milk. Slaughter is the way of subhumans. Protein is amply available through split peas, dāl, whole wheat, etc.
Foods in the mode of passion, which are bitter, too salty, or too hot or overly mixed with red pepper, cause misery by reducing the mucus in the stomach, leading to disease. Foods in the mode of ignorance or darkness are essentially those that are not fresh. Any food cooked more than three hours before it is eaten (except prasādam, food offered to the Lord) is considered to be in the mode of darkness. Because they are decomposing, such foods give a bad odor, which often attracts people in this mode but repulses those in the mode of goodness.
Remnants of food may be eaten only when they are part of a meal that was first offered to the Supreme Lord or first eaten by saintly persons, especially the spiritual master. Otherwise the remnants of food are considered to be in the mode of darkness, and they increase infection or disease. Such foodstuffs, although very palatable to persons in the mode of darkness, are neither liked nor even touched by those in the mode of goodness. The best food is the remnants of what is offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In Bhagavad-gītā the Supreme Lord says that He accepts preparations of vegetables, flour and milk when offered with devotion. Patraḿ puṣpaḿ phalaḿ toyam. Of course, devotion and love are the chief things which the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts. But it is also mentioned that the prasādam should be prepared in a particular way. Any food prepared by the injunctions of the scripture and offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be taken even if prepared long, long ago, because such food is transcendental. Therefore to make food antiseptic, eatable and palatable for all persons, one should offer food to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 17.10