*Maharaja told a story of seeing a beggar’s intense facial expression and gestures of need and desperation in the middle of a walkway at a busy train station in India. This inspired him in his chanting to call out for Krishna with feeling, expressing his urgent need for Krishna’s mercy.
*There is a difference in hunger between a rich and poor man. A rich man’s hunger is mild, as his stomach is at least semi-full, whereas a poor beggar is always hankering for a meal and visualizing food. Are we hungry for Krishna, or only religiously chanting?
*Maharaja told a story of seeing a beggar’s intense facial expression and gestures of need and desperation in the middle of a walkway at a busy train station in India. This inspired him in his chanting to call out for Krishna with feeling, expressing his urgent need for Krishna’s mercy.
*There is a difference in hunger between a rich and poor man. A rich man’s hunger is mild, as his stomach is at least semi-full, whereas a poor beggar is always hankering for a meal and visualizing food. Are we hungry for Krishna, or only religiously chanting?
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I just returned from attending a “Japa Weekend” similar to the japa retreat though held for fewer days and not at a secluded retreat center. Less days, yet still very powerful. I will share some highlights.
Generally there is one or two facilitators and at least one sannyasi sadhu. Mahatma Prabhu and my wife were the facilitators (my wife filled in for him, as he was a day late due to airline problems). They did an excellent job of guiding us through exercises and important principles and techniques to help us improve our japa. I will list some of them.
In addition we had the good fortune to hear from HH Purnachandra Swami who returned to the USA after preaching overseas for the last 18 years. He is a very authentic, humble devotee, with deep knowledge of scripture and realizations. He shared many helpful, endearing and humorous stories to help demonstrate the points he was making.
About thirty-five devotee attended. A very respectful, serious group of devotees, though with a good sense of humor. Many were from the Hillsborough Temple, and it felt we were all very connected to each other and to the speakers who gave us insightful, useful guidance.
An important topic, repeated stressed, was the power of setting intentions before chanting, as opposed to mindlessly picking up the beads out of habit or duty.
Here is a list of my written intentions that reflect much of what we learned over the weekend:
Daily Preparation for Chanting
–Prayers to Prabhupada and my Gurus, the previous Acharyas, six Goswamis, Haridas Thakur, Shri Shri Gaura-Nityananda, [and your Temple or personal Deities] and the Holy Name or Harinam Prabhu.
–Creating a place in my heart for Radha and Krishna to sit.
–Seeing my japa as a relationship to Radha and Krishna.
–Chanting for their pleasure without letting anyone else in (thoughts are like other people in my heart or mind).
–Setting my intention to hear every mantra.
–Chanting with feeling.
–Continual prayer for help.
–Thinking of the mantras meaning.
–One mantra at a time (keeping in the present moment).
–Seeing or visualizing the mantra.
–Expecting chanting to be blissful.
–Practicing gratitude for the gift of the holy names.
–Praying for tears of hankering for Radha and Krishna’s service.
–Lamenting my fallen condition as impetus for taking refuge in Krishna.
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Points to share:
*We need to give our energy and focus to the holy name instead of trying to figure out our whole life during one round.
*Just thinking of a number to finish in chanting misses the point of chanting with attention and feeling.
*Courtesy Japa is a disconnect from Krishna, a side channel of our mind, distracted, official–we chant to get done, and move on to our more important activities.
*JADD (Japa Attention Deficit Disorder) has become an epidemic in the ISKCON society of devotees.
*Our “Blueprint” is our unconscious habit of japa, which needs to be changed to improve our spiritual life.
*How would we act and feel if we knew without any doubts that Krishna is taking care of us?
*Story of Prabhupada and his disciple, Trivikrama Swami:
Prabhupada stopped Trivikrama Swamis’ japa and asked him if he was hearing the mantra. Yes, was the answer, to which Prabhupada replied that listening to each syllable of the mantra is the essence of the philosophy.
*Answer the question: “What is the holy name to me?”
*Three kinds of evaluation: A lessor person will judge a person by his past. An average person by his present, and a superlative person by the highest ideal he is striving for.
*Prabhupada said that the power of the holy name is increased by chanting with feeling.
*In the ultimate sense, the only rule of K.C is love–all the rules are to facilitate bringing this out. If you really want something you cry for it as does a child.
*From HG Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu: Krishna is everything, while the holy name represents Krishna. Therefore the holy name is the ultimate in information compression.
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One lecture by HH Purnachandra Swami was tittled “Crying for Krishna”. Here are my notes from that moving, insightful talk:
*Maharaja told a story of seeing a beggar’s intense facial expression and gestures of need and desperation in the middle of a walkway at a busy train station in India. This inspired him in his chanting to call out for Krishna with feeling, expressing his urgent need for Krishna’s mercy.
*There is a difference in hunger between a rich and poor man. A rich man’s hunger is mild, as his stomach is at least semi-full, whereas a poor beggar is always hankering for a meal and visualizing food. Are we hungry for Krishna, or only religiously chanting?
*If your heart is full of desires, then it will be difficult for you to really be absorbed in chanting; but if we are free from material desires we can fully take shelter of the Name. [This is a continuum, and we will likely fall somewhere in between, though we keep fixed on the goal of pure devotion].
*If we are empty like Krishna’s flute then he can use us as his instrument.
*As he travels from poor countries to rich countries he finds that generally rich people are more proud.
*Krishna is the possession of the materially impoverished (Queen Kunit’s prayer in Shrimad Bhagavatam)
*The power of the Holy Name depends on the quality of feeling.
*The ideal is to feel bereft of all other shelter, calling out for help (like child for mother).
*The mood of prayer: “Please help me dear Radha and Krishna to become a real devotee; you are the only ones who can make me a devotee. I am absolutely dependent on you, as I have nothing to call my own.
*Great devotees never think they have obtained Prema, and thus always feel the great need for Krishna’s mercy, whereas some new devotees are full of themselves, thinking they know so much.
*With the humility of thinking I don’t have Prema, comes the increasing desire to obtain Krishna’s mercy which fuels ones endeavor in Bhakti.
*When we understand our ineligibility and fallen condition then we can cry for grace—we need it desperately like we need the air to breathe.
*Our survival depends on Krishna’s mercy.
*Krishna says in the Adi Purana: “If you are crying before me, it is the only way to obtain me.”
*We have to create a vacuum in our hearts, so we can call Krishna to fill up that space within us; ex: Krishna waited till Queen Draupadi exhausted all means of support, and then called exclusively on him–then he helped her.
*A parrot can chant Hare Krishna, but there is no feeling.
*We can try to chant not with our mouth, but with our heart–our voice may fall us at some point, so we have to be ready to call out to Krishna in any circumstances.
*Prabhupada to Malati Prabhu in 1968: Your tears of love will help you to advance more and more.