SOULFUL JAPA | MODULES
MODULE 1/108
Introduction
Lord Sri Krishna has incarnated again! His Lilas are going on right now all
over the world.
This is great news for our modern times. After having wound up His pastimes
about 5000 years ago, Lord Sri Krishna descended again 500 years ago as Lord
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There is even a piece of greater news delivered to the
world by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He revealed that kali kale nāma rupe
Krishna avatara. Krishna has incarnated in kali yoga as His Nama. Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu distributed the Nama in the particular name-sound string as Hare
Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama
Hare Hare. Henceforth, we will refer to the Personality of Mahamantra as the
‘Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu’.
[Lord Krishna, thinking to Himself]: "I shall personally inaugurate the
religion of the age-nāma-sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the holy
name. I shall make the world dance in ecstasy, realizing the four mellows of
loving devotional service."
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Ädi-lila 3.19
Every incarnation performs specific Lilas. Only a few are blessed to be part of
His lila. We are among those few out of 7.7 billion people on this earth, who
have been blessed by the causeless mercy of a greatly empowered Acharya His
Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. We are able to take
part in the Lila of the Nama Avatara because we are blessed to welcome and
serve Him every day on our tongue and ears
What is the specific Lila of Nama Avatara? The lila of this particular Avatara
is unfolding of His desire to purify our hearts as conditional souls trapped in
this world, toliberate us from the three modes of material nature and to awaken
our inherent treasure of love of Krishna.
Anyone who chants 16 rounds on the order of Srila Prabhupada, being a recipient
of this causeless mercy whether he realizes or not, has been sucked into the
lila of the Nama Avatara.
If someone tells that you were one of the devotees on the earth when Krishna
performed His lilas 5000 years ago, and had interactions with Him, how blessed
and excited would you feel! Today, we should feel no less excitement because we
are blessed to be pulled into the lila of Nama Avatara, even without our
realizing the degree of our good fortune. The most merciful Hare Krishna Nama
Prabhu's Lila is to cleanse our hearts of sins and sinful attitude, by giving
us the transcendental taste of His sat-cit-ananda association.
Everything else that has happened in our life, good or bad, is far less
important and insignificant than the fact that somehow we have become
recipients of the mercy of the Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu, the current active
incarnation on this earth.
The transcendentally self-manifest and self-sounding Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu
that cannot be chanted by material tongues and material ears has descended
today on to the sound vibrated by tongues of millions of jivas. These Jivas are
crying out to Him by chanting every moment in different parts of the world and
the personality of Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu is involved in their lives to such
an extent that they can relate with Him personally. Since the time Srila
Prabhupada introduced this chanting, several decades have passed, and hundreds
of devotees who have left their body in the midst of chanting, have been
delivered from this world by Nama Prabhu.
contd.....
MD
10:53
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Our turn of this greatest moment in our life of so called-death will come at
any moment and the Nama Prabhu will also deliver us to Krishna. Realizing this
good fortune will make one cry in gratitude to Srila Prabhupada and the
parampara for this greatest undeserved gift of eternal life. Do not forget the
fact that the current period is the golden age as transcendental Hare Krishna
Nama Prabhu is active on this earth in distributing His causeless mercy to
anyone who vibrates the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. .
For the devotees, this is the most important activity of the Lord that is
happening currently in this world of Maya and hence they are ambitious to see
more and more celebration of Sankirtana on this earth
Srila Prabhupada was chosen by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to continue His work of
taking the Sankirtana movement to every nook and corner of the world. Srila
Prabhupada is the current empowered visionary servant of the Six Goswamis, who
are the original visionaries of Lord Chaitanya’s transcendental preaching
mission.
It is said in the sastra (Cc. Antya 7.11), Krishna-shakti vina nāhe tāra
pravartana: one cannot distribute the holy names of the Hare Krishna
mahā-mantra unless he is empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In a morning walk conversation on January 4th 1976 in Nellore, the devotees
asked Srila Prabhupada a question:-
Sravanananda Das: Prabhupada, they said that if Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted
Krishna consciousness in the western countries, why didn't He go there Himself?
Prabhupada: So, He left the credit for me (laughter).
Srila Prabhupada spent six years in intense Nama bhajan at Sri Radha Damodar
temple in Vrindavan before leaving for the United States of America. Srila
Prabhupada was very much attached to the Deities of Radha Damodar and felt
separation from Them while travelling on a ship to the United States of
America. In 1977, He stated that he lives there eternally in his bhajan kutir
at Radha Damodar temple. This bhajan kutir is still maintained by the sevaits
of that temple.
Srila Prabhupada sowed the seeds of the Hare Krishna movement here by
translating and purporting the first three volumes of Srimad Bhagavatam. Here,
he also published the Back to Godhead Magazine even before he left for America.
This place is the fountainhead of the Hare Krishna movement.
Srila Rupa Goswami,the leader of our parampara was personally instructed about
Krishna Bhakti by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who directed him to create Krishna
conscious literature for the benefit this world. Srila Prabhupada had darshan
in Radha damodar Temple (this is as described by Srila Prabhupada to his
Godbrother) of great personalities like Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Jiva Goswami,
whose samadhis are situated there. Srila Prabhupada has written in his books
that he received the inspiration and empowerment to write and preach to the
western world and fulfil his guru's order from Them.
Srila Prabhupada has also said that the Goswamis are still living there and one
can receive instructions from Them even now. Srila Prabhupada has said that
post his samadhi, he lives there eternally in his bhajan kutir. Srila
Prabhupada has revealed in a letter that it is the most sacred spot in this
universe and it is the hub of the spiritual world. It is in a corner of seva
kunj, the spot where intimate pastimes of Radha and Krishna is invisibly
happening eternally. One can experience the transcendental potency of Japa in
that place by praying to Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Jiva Goswami and Srila
Prabhupada and one should seek their blessings to serve the parampara.
contd.....
10:58
.....contd
When you are in Vrindavana, I request all of you to go and spend a few days
there, to chant your rounds, sitting before Srila Prabhupada and get
spiritually charged by intense bhajan in this spot. Then one can go back,
empowered to preach in your respective areas. I am urged to reveal the glories
of this spot.
Srila Prabhupada has taught us in detail how to respect, serve, and associate
with the Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu. Let us scrutinizingly study our beloved
spiritual master's revelations in this matter of how to serve the Nama Prabhu
respectfully and take His association and awaken our pure blissful Krishna
consciousness.
These 108 modules on completion will be soon published as a book ‘Soulful Japa’
which is an attempt to bring together all of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instructions,
concepts and narratives on japa and systematically implement those instructions.
Everything that I write already exists in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books but it
remains distributed throughout his teachings. Srila Prabhupada has encouraged
his disciples to understand his teachings and explain them in their own words.
This I consider as my humble service to vaishnavas all over the world and is
dedicated to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada who alone has revealed to the
world, all these secrets of Nama Avatara.
Quote 1A
Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.3.21: Srila Prabhupada's PURPORT
Srila Prabhupada...."The Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is also an incarnation of
Kṛṣṇa in the form of the holy name (nāma-rūpe). Every one of us who is actually
afraid of the asuric rulers and politicians must welcome this incarnation of
Kṛṣṇa: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma,
Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Then we will surely be protected from the harassment of
asuric rulers. ............... Because of such asuric fathers—that is, the
ruling politicians—it is very difficult to press forward the Hare Kṛṣṇa
movement, but because Kṛṣṇa has now appeared in His holy name through this
movement, we can hope that these asuric fathers will be annihilated and the
kingdom of God established all over the world. The entire world is now full of
many asuras in the guise of politicians, gurus, sādhus, yogīs and incarnations,
and they are misleading the general public away from Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which
can offer true benefit to human society."
Quote 1B
Bhaktivinoda Thakura has thus quoted the Lord as follows in a poem :
enechi aushadhi māya nashiibāra lāgi'
hari-nāma maha-mantra lao tumi māgi'
"O conditioned souls who are foolishly sleeping on the lap of the
witch Maya, I have brought an excellent medicine to cure the disease of your
illusion. This medicine is called hari-nāma. It is My holy name, and by taking
this medicine you will get all perfection in life. Therefore, I sincerely
request you to please take this medicine that I have personally brought for
you."
MD
11:19
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 1C
Subject: On the meaning of the Mahamantra
From Srila Prabhupada in Science of Self Realization
“Rama and Krishna are names of God, and Hare is the energy of God. So
when we chant the maha-mantra, we address God together with His energy. This
energy is of two kinds, the spiritual and the material. At present we are in
the clutches of the material energy. Therefore we pray to Krishna that He may
kindly deliver us from the service of the material energy and accept us into
the service of the spiritual energy. That is our whole philosophy. Hare Krishna
means, “O energy of God, O God [Krishna], please engage me in Your service.” It
is our nature to render service. Somehow or other we have come to the service
of material things, but when this service is transformed into the service of
the spiritual energy, then our life is perfect"
Quote 1D
Srila Prabhupada in Chapter 6 of Topmost yoga system.
The word Hara is the form of addressing the energy of the Lord, and the
words Krishna and Rama are forms of addressing the Lord Himself. Both Krishna
and Rama mean the supreme pleasure, and Hara is the supreme pleasure energy of
the Lord, changed to Hare (Hah-ray) in the vocative. The supreme pleasure
energy of the Lord helps us to reach the Lord.
The material energy, called maya, is also one of the multi-energies of the
Lord. And we the living entities are also the energy, marginal energy, of the
Lord. The living entities are described as superior to material energy. When
the superior energy is in contact with the inferior energy, an incompatible
situation arises; but when the superior marginal energy is in contact with the
superior energy, called Hara, it is established in its happy, normal condition.
These three words, namely Hara, Krishna and Rama, are the transcendental seeds
of the mahä-mantra. The chanting is a spiritual call for the Lord and His
energy, to give protection to the conditioned soul. This chanting is exactly
like the genuine cry of a child for its mother's presence. Mother Hara helps
the devotee achieve the Lord Father's grace, and the Lord reveals Himself to
the devotee who chants this mantra sincerely.
Quote 1E
Srila Prabhupada letter dated 8/7/1969
Oh Hare, Oh Radharani! Oh Krishna! Please engage me in Your service so
that I can get relief from the service of Maya.
Quote 1F
Srila Prabhupada's letter to Arundhati on 09.09.1969
Regarding your question, "What does Rama mean in Hare Rama? Is this
Balarama or Lord Ramacandra?'', you can take it both ways, because there is no
difference between Ramacandra and Balarama. Generally it means Krishna, because
Rama means enjoyer. So either Ramacandra, Balarama or Krishna are all Visnu
Tattvas and are always enjoying. The sakti tattva, or jiva tattva is always
enjoyed. Our position is always predominated. If we remain in that position and
properly use our small independence, then we remain happily eternally. But
artificially, if we want to be independent and imitate the Supreme Enjoyer,
then it is delusion. Material life means trying to imitate the Enjoyer, and
spiritual life means to remain in one's eternal position as enjoyed. This Hare
Krishna Mantra is addressed to the energy of the Lord and the Lord Himself to
keep the chanter in his eternal position of being enjoyed. The prayer is
"My Lord, Oh the Spiritual Energy of the Lord, kindly keep me engaged in
Your service.'' Regarding your other question, Krishna in His four-handed Visnu
Form is within our hearts, but He is not different from two-handed Krishna.
Application to Japa
All these quotes are self explanatory. Summary is that the Mahamantra is a
prayer "My Lord, Oh the Spiritual Energy of the Lord, kindly keep me
engaged in Your service.' so that I can get relief from Maya.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
12:08
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 1G
Subject: On Mahamantra being the medicine for Kali yuga
Kalisantarana Upanishad.
This is a dialog between Lord Brahma and Sri Narada in Kali Santarana
Upanishad:
dvaparante narado brahmanam jagama katham bhagavān gam
paryatan kalim santareyam iti
"At the end of Dvapara Yuga, Narada, after traveling the world,
approached Lord Brahma and asked him: 'How may I overcome the (evil effects of)
the Kali Yuga?'"
sa hovaca brahma sadhu prshto asmi
sarva sruti rahasyam gopyam tacchrunu yena kalisamsaram tarishyasi
"Brahma said: 'You have asked me an excellent question. I shall
reveal to you the secret of all Vedas, by which you will cross over the (ocean
of) samsara filled with the bad effects of the Kali Yuga. This secret must be
preserved and protected.'"
bhagavata adipurushasya nārayanasya nāmoccaranamātrena nirdhrtakalir
bhavati| nāradah punah papraccha
"'By merely uttering the names of the Primeval Purusha, who is Bhagavan
Narayana, one is freed from the clutches of Kali.' Narada asked again: 'What
are those names of Narayana?'"
sa hovaca hiranyagarbhah
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krshna Hare Krshna Krishna Krshna Hare Hare
iti shodasakam namnam kalikalmashanāsanam
nātah parataropayah sarvavedeshu drsyate
"Lord Brahma said: 'O Hari, O Rama, O Hari, O Rama, O Rama O Rama,
O Hari, O Hari! O Hari, O Krishna, O Hari, O Krishna, O Krishna O Krishna, O
Hari, O Hari! This collection of sixteen names (of Narayana) destroys the evils
of the Kali Yuga. I don't see any other
effective means (of liberation) in the Vedas.'"
Application to japa:
We chant this mantra with Hare Krishna first and then the Hare Rama as
propagated by Lord Chaitanya.
The explanation I have heard from some gaudiya vaishnavas is that the upanishad
being part of vedas there is a vedic injunction that one who does not have
brahminical samskara cannot chant any upanishadic mantra.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is Krishna Himself as Bhakta Avatara wanted to give
mercy to everyone irrespective of their prequalification of being brahmanical
etc. So he propagated the Mahamantra without violating this vedic injunction by
starting with Hare Krishna instead of Hare Rama. So technically in one way it
is not that vedic mantra yet it is also as all the seed Names are there as in
the vedic mantra.
Another explanation also heard from Gaudiya Vaishnavas is that all the Acharyas
from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the last 500 years always spoke of this mantras
starting with Hare Krishna. There was no controversy that the original Kali
Santarana Upanishad has the mantra starting with Hare Krishna. But later
versions of Kalisantarana upanshad in last 200 years show it in reverse. So let
us not get into that controversy. But the subject is not without controversy.
Everything in existence need not be resolved.
As far as Gaudiya Vaishnavas are concerned, Lord Chaitanya being Lord Krishna
Himself can distribute His Names in any combination He wants. These
controversies do not make any difference to us. After all, being non-different
from Krishna, He is the very foundation of all Vedas. He chose to distribute
His Nama as
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama
Rama Hare Hare.
Therefore chanting Hare Krishna mahamantra means worshipping Lord
Chaitanya.
In CC Adi Introduction, Srila Prabhupada writes:
'In the maha-mantra — Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare
Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare — the word “Rama” refers to Balarama.
Since Lord Nityananda is Balarama, “Rama” also refers to Lord Nityananda. Thus
Hare Krsna, Hare Rama addresses not only Krsna and Balarama but Lord Caitanya
and Lord Nityananda as well.'
The first effect of association with Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu is that even a
mleccha and sudra becomes purified and soon becomes sattvik and develop
brahmanical qualities or samskara, he becomes fit to chant vedic mantras.
Ys,
Madhu Pandit Dasa
12:11
Quote 1H
Subject : Name of Krishna is more compassionate than owner of that Name.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Final instructions 23 rd Dec 1936
"The holy Name is more compassionate
than the Lord of the name Himself. If one takes shelter of the name, then it
unravels all these philosophical complexities"
Application to japa.
Holy name is the surya or sun of satcitananda. All pure sat ( existence),
cit(knowledge) and ananda (bliss) energies emanates from Him. Cit means also
intelligence which is called directional knowledge. Therefore if we take
shelter of the holy name by welcoming him by calling/chanting and touching him
with our serving attentive hearing, then all knowledge and intelligence that we
need to come out of Maya will flow into our heart which opens to us the
treasure house of transcendental knowledge or the secrets of existence.
And it is said that it unravels all philosophical complexities. These soulful
Japa modules are all the mercy of the Nama Prabhu on all of us flowing through
our humble self engaged in His service. Let us pray that all philosophical
complexities of Nama Avatara are simplified by the mercy of the Nama Prabhu
through these modules as the first step towards a better understanding of
Sevya, the Nama Prabhu.
Let us become strong devotees of Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu.
QUOTE 1J
Srila Prabhupada clarifies on meaning of Mahamantra
Srila Prabhupada's letter to Arundhati on 09.09.1969
Regarding your question, "What does Rama mean in Hare Rama? Is this
Balarama or Lord Ramacandra?'', you can take it both ways, because there is no
difference between Ramacandra and Balarama. Generally it means Krishna, because
Rama means enjoyer. So either Ramacandra, Balarama or Krishna are all Visnu
Tattvas and are always enjoying. The sakti tattva, or jiva tattva is always
enjoyed. Our position is always predominated. If we remain in that position and
properly use our small independence, then we remain happily eternally. But
artificially, if we want to be independent and imitate the Supreme Enjoyer,
then it is delusion. Material life means trying to imitate the Enjoyer, and
spiritual life means to remain in one's eternal position as enjoyed. This Hare
Krishna Mantra is addressed to the energy of the Lord and the Lord Himself to
keep the chanter in his eternal position of being enjoyed. The prayer is
"My Lord, Oh the Spiritual Energy of the Lord, kindly keep me engaged in
Your service.'' Regarding your other question, Krishna in His four-handed Visnu
Form is within our hearts, but He is not different from two-handed Krishna.
Application to Japa
The letter of Srila Prabhupada is clear and self explanatory that chanting
Mahamantra is a prayer to the Lord and His energy to keep us engaged in their
service. This also means to take us away from Maya's service where the
conditioned souls are currently engaged in.
Your servant
Madhu Pandit Dasa
12:11
SOULFUL JAPA
MODULE 2/108
Outline or journey towards Soulful Japa
Śrīla Prabhupāda not only distributed the holy
name all over the world but also the process of accessing the treasure house of
transcendental knowledge and divine love, which were released into this world
by Lord Chaitanya and the six Goswamis. The process of accessing the same is
mainly chanting and hearing the holy names of Krishna. This process will
miraculously cleanse our heart of all ignorance of the self and God. This
process will also awaken our original eternal existence and our consciousness
of being in an eternal loving relationship with Krishna. It will take our soul
to the transcendental world.
Lord Chaitanya’s causeless mercy overcomes all our disqualifications that have
since time immemorial kept us away from our rightful constitutional entitlement
of Krishna Préma. This Krishna Préma is infinitely distant and is a completely
different stuff which is transcendental to the so-called existence, knowledge,
love, intimacy, play and sense pleasures of this material world.
The knowledge and love-intimacy-play and sense pleasures of this material
world, at best, serve us only as illusory symbols or reflections or vocabulary
to teach us that there exists pure sat-cit-ānanda existence, knowledge,
love-intimacy-play and sense pleasures of the spiritual world centred on loving
Krishna, who is the fountainhead of all love. The fake quality of existence,
knowledge, love & pleasures of this world leaves the soul frustrated and
suffering. This frustration is called virakti and it propels us to search and
go after the real stuff of sat-cit-ānanda existence so deeply craved after by
all jivas. The service of chanting and hearing the holy name brings absolute
relief like how rain brings relief to a forest fire.
That pure unalloyed sat-cit-ānanda stuff is potentially available for every one
of us, as we ourselves are eternal particles of sat-cit-ānanda. Sat-cit-ānanda
soul needs sat-cit-ānanda environment. Our present existence is like fish out
of the water.
The Personality of the holy name, the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu, is the subject
of service and worship for the neophyte as well as for the most advanced
devotees. At the neophyte stage, the biggest obstacle to good japa is the
uncontrolled mind, which wanders everywhere distracting our soul and its
attention energy. Such inattentive japa is disrespectful and offensive to sound
incarnation of the Lord who has descended into this world on our tongues when
we call out His names in the form of chanting.
Though controlling the mind to hold our attention during japa on the holy name
needs training the mind, the problem of inattentiveness is solved fully only
through soulful japa, where heart and soul are also involved in calling out and
embracing Him with our attention by attentively hearing the sound-incarnation.
An earnest attempt is made to bring the key elements of good japa together and
connect them all to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the basic process
of japa. It also offers tools and techniques as to how to practically implement
the same. This is our humble service at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada for
all generations of devotees who begin serving Nama Prabhu.
We are planning to cover these in 108 modules and try to complete it in next
one year. A separate group is opened in Telegram for Q & A on the contents
of the modules.
Importance of serious practice
Whenever mind has to be trained, one has to be ready for discipline. For
example 'knowing' the cricket game is different from playing the cricket game.
This can happen only by hands-on experiential training. Without such training,
we can, at the most, play it clumsily. One can choose to become one of the
three: a serious cricket test-player, an amateur cricketer or ones who watches
the game from the bleachers. We can apply this analogy to different degrees of
seriousness for japa.
contd....
MD
12:46
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Contd...
Good japa too requires one time disciplining of the mind. It is a common trap
of the mind to equate satisfaction of possessing knowledge without the actual
satisfaction of implementation of that knowledge. We must have a constant
self-appraisal of this knowing-doing gap and start closing that gap by suitable
actions to improve our japa. The difference between these kinds of japa is that
of practice or the lack of it. Seriousness or casualness. Being committed or
not committed. Being directed or goalless.
Unconscious training happens in any daily activity we do. Bad Japa habits.
Mind makes habit of good or bad. Mind is a servant.
The result of not training ourselves for a good japa is that despite
chanting 16 rounds every day for decades we find ourselves not being
sufficiently charged with spiritual potency from the Nama Prabhu. By
inattentive japa, we don’t even get out of the bodily concept of life. It is
only through soulful japa that we touch the sound incarnation of the holy name
and kindle our souls with the spiritual potency.
That desire and decision must be made by the reader to become a good japa doer
in order to fully benefit from these modules. He should be committed to
continuously repair and improve his japa. If one is not ready for fresh
endeavour after reading the modules, then simply reading these modules and
asking questions will not take one very far in changing the quality of association
with the name-sound incarnation of the Lord.
No doubt, finally good Japa can only happen by the mercy of the Nama Prabhu
over and above our efforts. This mercy can be received especially by who does
japa to please the Nama Prabhu and not for any other material selfish purposes.
A devotee’s material needs for his maintenance and preaching do not fall under
material desires. The devotee has firm faith that he is maintained, protected
and provided for by the Lord in his heart. He is worry less about his existence
as he is fully dependent upon the Lord's love and care. His only goal in life
is to serve the Nama Prabhu to eventually one day realize the transcendental
nature of Nama Prabhu and serve Him eternally.
We have to begin our service to Him by chanting and hearing for the purpose of
self-purification so that one may chant and hear more purely for His greater
pleasure and also seek from Him, the grant of the eternal service of spreading
His glories. Doing japa for maintaining and expanding desires for material
power, knowledge, love and sense gratification for oneself will dilute the
purity of our japa. These are foolish purposes for a person who has the shelter
of a pure devotee like Srila Prabhupada, who wants to gift us the highest
transcendental pleasure of serving the reservoir of pleasure, Radha &
Krishna. Soulful Japa is about chasing for that transcendental happiness of
Krishna consciousness and pleasure of giving pleasure to Him through pure
devotional service.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
12:47
QUOTE 2A
Subject: On two stages of practicing japa; disciplined japa and spontaneous
japa
Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk April 1, 1974
Abhyāsa-yoga…you practice this. Therefore, we say, “You must chant 16 rounds
“This is Abhyāsa yoga. When one becomes attached to chanting, he doesn’t
require to be under discipline. But so long is not practised he must be
disciplined.
Application to Japa: Japa begins with two kinds of driving forces. In the
beginning stage of japa, most of the driving force is tapas or willful
discipline which helps one to keep the attention locked on to chanting, hearing
and repeating. By attentive association, through the power of discipline or
tapasya, we get to touch Nama Prabhu, Who is All-pure, and we will slowly start
becoming purified. As we get purified our natural attraction to chant Krishna's
names starts rising in our heart little by little. Even now, all of us have
some attachment awakened, even if you are a beginner. However, it is very
little and difficult to significantly feel. Otherwise, why would we be
attracted to Krishna consciousness at all? We would not be doing japa at all.
Some priti or love, or shraddha resulting from this attachment is there for any
chanter.
Thus, two factors drive japa – 1) Voluntary discipline (tapasya), 2) attachment
( priti), to whatever extent one has awakened this. Slowly when we are fully
practised, tapasya portion comes down to zero. Simultaneously attachment keeps
rising more and more and finally the driving power is only love (priti) which
has arisen due to attachment and attraction, and not tapas or discipline though
externally he follows all discipline like counting on beads etc.
So it is not that whole life one has to struggle with discipline or tapas to
chant 16 rounds. Spiritual life is eventually spontaneous devotional service.
Discipline is only the pathway to that spontaneity. Bhakti is eventually fully
driven by love and even in the beginning, though a little only; it is tapas
driven by some love. Japa is never dry tapas. This is bhajatam priti
purvakam as Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita. One must go through the stage of
Abhyasa yoga. Discipline is a must to awaken bhakti. That is called sadhana
bhakti. Through your tapas shakti follow the instructions of Srila Prabhupada.
That requires the spirit of sacrifice. Sacrifice comes before love.
And in my experience if one goes through the training module seriously for 6
months to one year, the basic practice stage is completed. The mind learns by
then. Right now, the mind has a mix of good and wrong japa habits. Only one
year of serious tapas-cum-priti japa is what is required. Thereafter the sails
of the mind and senses are set in place and the winds of the conditioned mind
joins with the driving powers of priti purvaka japa.
Śrīla Prabhupāda often gives the example of how what you learn in the
kindergarten school, that 1+1= 2, is valid even after you do a PhD. This basic
attentive japa through discipline, which is being dealt with now is school
maths. Maths does not end in school but its progress continues even up to PhD
and further, throughout the rest of the researcher’s life. The priti or love in
Priti-japa forever expands since priti has no limits for the rest of eternity.
It will always include within it, the basic attentive japa driven by the power
of priti and not by force of discipline.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
12:51
SOULFUL JAPA
MODULE 3/108
Japa is less of a process but more of a relationship with Krishna.
Soulful Japa is not merely some technique. It is
the perfection of a personal relationship with the Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu.
Practice is not everything. A disciplined mind cannot give bhakti but an
undisciplined mind can prevent bhakti.
Just because practice or training for japa is stressed does not mean that
practice is everything. While emphasizing the role of training or tapas, we
need to caution ourselves that the perfection of japa is not just the
perfection of practice. No doubt, practice is an essential part. But perfecting
of japa means not only perfecting the yantra’s (body-mind) role in japa as a
tool but it is also perfecting the soul’s role to do it from the heart. This is
what successfully invokes Krishna’s mercy in the form of a flow of divine grace
of satcitananda energies into our soul.
Japa is a relationship
Since japa is a relationship between servant (Sēvaka) and the served
(Sēvya) through the service (Sēva), japa is not a one sided
experience of the sēvak imagined in one’s mind through some mind techniques
without invoking the participation of Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu, the Sevya. Japa
is not just an impersonal yantra process or technique such as pranayama or
astanga yoga. We are not interested in merely some techniques on how to do soul-less
mechanical body or yantra-japa. We want to offer a soulful japa of loving
devotional service to Krishna, which of course includes dovetailing yantra japa
also.
Techniques typically connote impersonal processes. Therefore, the precaution
that our japa is not seen as merely some mind technique is essential. Let us
see what Srila Prabhupada says about this:
“There is no mechanical process to see the form of the Lord. It completely
depends on the causeless mercy of the Lord. We cannot demand the Lord to be
present before our vision, just as we cannot demand the sun to rise whenever we
like. The sun rises out of his own accord; so also, the Lord is pleased to be
present out of His causeless mercy. One should simply await the opportune
moment and go on discharging his prescribed duty in devotional service of the
Lord. Nārada Muni thought that the Lord could be seen again by the same
mechanical process which was successful in the first attempt, but in spite of
his utmost effort, he could not make the second attempt successful” The Lord is
completely independent of all obligations. He can simply be bound up by the tie
of unalloyed devotion. Nor is He visible or perceivable by our material senses.
When He pleases, being satisfied with the sincere attempt of devotional service
depending completely on the mercy of the Lord, then He may be seen out of His
own accord.”
SB 1.6.19/ Purport
Japa, as a mere ‘process,’ is only the preliminary understanding of what
happens at the plane of the yantra. ‘Process’ generally refers to mechanical
steps which deliver some results if one followed them. Japa is also definitely
a process at the yantra plane. Japa is more of a personal, loving,
reciprocal activity with the Lord Himself. However japa has to be practiced as
a process in the beginning as it makes our mind and the attention connect
with the all-powerful holy name which begins cleanses of our heart. Gradually
our japa can become more of a personal loving activity and less of a process.
Thus, japa is a combination of the mind-body yantra tapas to touch Nama Prabhu
with our serving attention as well as personal soul’s act of bhakti or faith
& prīti or devotion. The mix ratio of tapas is to prīti is more in the
beginning. Tapas very quickly decreases as we advance in our japa.
While we are teaching Deity worship, we take the devotee through some training
on what to offer, when to offer and how to offer different items to the Deity
although it is a personal service. Though the devotion behind the ‘offering’
cannot be trained and made robotic, there is still a role for training in
certain parts of the service.
contd.....
MD
22:42
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
The role of the trained mind in japa is like the role of an assistant who hands
over each item in a particular order, one at a time, to the pūjari to offer.
Training the mind for of the trained mind is like the role of an assistant who
hands over each item in a particular order, one at a time, to the pūjari to
offer. Training the mind for japa is like preparing a mind-slice assistant in
our subtle body. This mind-slice assistant is meant to support the role of the
chanter’s ongoing personal efforts to offer all of his soul’senergies from the
heart for japa. Our mind is a wonderful instrument where a new slice of mind
can be created, by training, which will control the rest of mind. This is
called controlling the mind by the mind about which Krishna talks in the
Bhagavad Gita.
A boatman, uses his hands to work the oars to propel the boat in the direction
in which he wants to move. He also must ensure that the sails are set properly
to take advantage of the winds and help the boat move in the chosen direction.
If the sails are set effectively to take advantage of the winds, rowing becomes
a pleasure. On the other hand, if the sails are set ineffectively or wrongly,
the blowing winds make the rowing strenuous. In the same way as rowing and
moving of the boat is either supported or dragged back by the sails, japa sēva
to the Lord is either helped by the mind and senses or dragged by it.
The forces of the conditioned mind are like the winds, and the mind and senses
are like the sails. The wrongly set sails can make rowing tedious or even pull
the boat in the opposite direction. The winds and sails of our conditioned mind
and senses are the forces of guna-kala-karma, which are always pulling our
attention and other soul’s energies - like free will, desire, intention,
effort, faith, feelings, etc. in the direction of Maya's service rather than
for the service of the Nama Prabhu.
The soul has various faculties or śaktis, starting with his basic faculty of
'being' and 'becoming' a particular identity and ego according to different
situations. Like for example: a person can be a father to his son, a husband to
his wife, a son to his father, a brother to his brother etc. This is the
ability of being and becoming. This faculty of the soul has to be engaged in
cultivating the servant ego-ness of a servant of Nama Prabhu. We have to charge
that servant ego with purpose, faith, respect, love, gratitude, humility,
effort, enthusiasm, delight etc connected to the service of Nama Prabhu. A good
japa relationship means offering all these soul energies at the lotus feet of
Nama Prabhu by the sevaka. The discipline of japa on beads is designed by the
rishis to systematically offer all these soul faculties or energies at the
lotus feet of the self-manifest and self-sounding Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu
incarnating into the sound we produce with our tongues. Some of these are in
the background consciousness while others are in the forefront of action during
japa. These are:
Background consciousness of Japa
Offering 'being' potency - bhavān śakti ( adopting identity &
ego-ness as a Nama sevaka)
Offering knowledge potency- jnāna śakti ( contextual knowledge of Nama
Prabhu-Sevya, sevaka-chanter & how, when & what about seva )
Offering faith energy- śraddha śakti ( that Nama Prabhu before you is
infinitely merciful Krishna Himself)
Offering our pleasure potency to take pleasure to chant- hrstam-śakti.(
Liking to chant from the heart)
Offering our pleasure potency to hear- ahlād-śakti ( liking to hear Nama
Prabhu)
Offering our pleasure potency to task repetitions -utsaha-śakti for japa
( enthusiasm to build up the count)
Offering of intention-desire-purpose - āśā śakti ( to please Nama
Prabhu)
Offering serving attitude of humility & gratitude- vinamrata & krtagna bhāvana
śakti
Offering love - prīti śakti ( desire to please Nama Prabhu)
Offering self-surrender- saranagati ( surrender)
Offering hope energy seeking Lord's compassion & mercy - anukampam
apeksha śakti
contd....
23 July 2019
MD
14:51
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Foreground action of Japa
Offering intention for action - icchā śakti
Offering attention- çitta śakti
Offering spirit of sacrifice- tapas śakti
Offering positive determination- sankalpa śakti
Offering negative determination - vikalpa śakti
Offering doing - kriya çēsta śakti (to chant)
Offering knowing effort- jnana çēsta śakti (to hear)
Offering tasking effort to build up the rounds- kārya çēsta śakti
These potencies and energies belong to the soul and are at the disposal of
our mind and ideally it is for us to decide on what and where to deploy them.
Being in the lap of Maya we are squandering these soul energies in temporary
things
The mind draws all of these atma śaktis when we are haunted by the false ego.
the mind uses these atma śaktis to fulfil some material desire in this material
world with complete absorption or devotion. In the same way, our minds should
draw these śaktis to bring complete absorption, devotion and love to welcome by
chanting, associate by hearing and tasking so that we can please the most
merciful Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu. We should pull away all our personal
energies or śaktis from every other demand by Maya and offer them to the lotus
feet of Nama Prabhu at least during japa.
All these are natural atma śaktis being deployed freely to do anything we like
or love in this world. We will discuss about each of these items and the role
played by the mind to facilitate these soul’s energies for a soulful japa.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 3A
Subject: On how the mercy of the Lord is freely available for everyone
Śrīla Prabhupāda speaks about the mercy of the Lord:
"The Lord’s mercy upon the fallen souls is equally distributed. The sun
rays are open to everyone, but the capacities of the receptacles differ.”
“By utilizing the sun’s rays, sometimes even stones become valuable, whereas a
blind man cannot see the sun although there are enough sun rays before him. The
Lord’s mercy is open for him, but he is reluctant to receive it. Somehow or the
other if someone puts himself open in the sun rays, he is sure to get requisite
benefit both by heat and ultraviolet rays.”
Teachings of Queen Kunti, Chapter 12
....contd
26 July 2019
MD
20:52
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Application to Japa: Success in japa is about how well we receive the
Lord’s sat-cit-ananda mercy that is freely available! Just like when it rains,
the rainwater is available for everyone; the Nama Prabhu with his effulgent
sat-cit-ananda energy has incarnated and He is freely available to all of us.
It is up to the capacity of the receiving vessel as to how much rainwater one
can catch. This capacity of the vessel is proportional to the level of purity
of one’s heart or cittam.
What is 'heart' or cittam?
Krishna says that the material energy is made up of only eight elements:
five gross and three subtle elements of mind, intelligence and false ego. Then
what is this cittam? Cittam is the subtle body made of mind, intelligence and
ego just as the gross body is formed from five gross elements. The gross body
of a child grows into an adult body by its act of feeding food into its body
using its hands and using the mouth for chewing and then later digesting it.
This is how the gross body grows into an adult body. The same analogy can be
extended to the subtle body. Our subtle body of mind, intelligence and false
ego engages in thinking, feeling, willing, desiring and experiencing the
outside world and all these are stored as an experiential memory, as
impressions creating our total subtle body. In other words, our subtle body
which is consisting of accumulated memory of actions and experiences of the
mind, intelligence and false ego, is called cittam. This Cittam is also called
contaminated consciousness.
We can receive the rain of mercy best, by setting up favourable anartha-free
ego, intelligence and emotions of our heart or cittam. Attention-connection
makes one come under the rain of mercy. After setting up attentive chanting and
careful hearing, our heart or cittam becomes the vessel with which one can
catch the sat-cit-ananda rain of mercy freely rained by Nama Avatāra. As
mentioned earlier, the capacity of that vessel depends on the state of purity
of the cittam. All souls are on a spiritual journey in this world. Some
journeys are direct while others are indirect. The non-devotees are indirectly
on the spiritual journey and their guru is Maya devi. Therefore, every human
being does have some capacity to receive the rain, which is called sukrti. This
also explains why we don't get immediately purified by catching all of the rain
in one go. It is our limitation and not that of the Nama Prabhu. Rain falls
equally on mud and rock but both have different absorbing capacities. Anartha
filled heart places different degrees of limitation to absorb the mercy of Nama
Prabhu. However, there is no reason to worry about it because by mindful or
attentive japa we are associating with the Nama Prabhu through attentive
hearing. The result is that the sat-cit-ananda energies dissolves or evaporates
the anarthas from our cittam gradually.
How do we increase the capacity of this vessel to catch more and more rain of
sat-cit-ananda? This rain of mercy is so wonderful that whatever little rain
one catches with ones current limited capacity will further increase the
capacity of the vessel by evaporating the anarthas. In other words, the miracle
is that whatever little rain of mercy one captures will in turn make ones vessel
expand and increase its capacity further so that one can receive more rain of
sat-cit-ananda. This cyclic process in japa for self-purification is called
anartha nivritti stage of japa or stage of removal of anartha.
This is the same as ceto darpana marjanam which Lord Chaitanya describes
in His Sikshashtakam. However, we should not create fresh anarthas. Following
the four regulative principles is therefore important to ensure that one does
not make ones cittam impure again. By breaking the four regulative principles,
one is simply slowing down the reception of sat-cit-ananda mercy.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
20:52
SOULFUL JAPA
Module 4/108
Mindless japa, Mindful japa, Spiritful Japa and Soulful japa
Japa is a service and association of the Lord who has incarnated in His
Name-sound and is before us. According to the quality of such service and
association, we can classify our japa as mindless japa, mindful japa or soulful
japa. Please note that we are only being introduced to what constitutes a
soulful japa. Offering soulful japa does not happen overnight by determination.
It is cultured and cultivated patiently. The gap between knowing and doing is
wide to start with. However, it is good to know our goal post because every
journey begins with knowing the destination of the journey.
The soul with its attention is always in some space and time frame. If my
attention is in remembering something that happened yesterday in my office,
then I, with my attention, are in the visual space of the office and in the
past time of yesterday. That is the space-time frame where my attention and I
live. If I am thinking of visiting a resort on a holiday next week, then I will
be thinking about that future time and what all I will do at that time. My
attention and I are living in the space of the resort and, in the future time
of next week. If I hit my toes somewhere by accident then, my attention and I
are living in the present space and present time. These examples show that our
attention can live in different spaces and time.
This concept is very important to understand because the Nama Prabhu has
incarnated in the present space where one is situated and in the present time
when one is chanting. Therefore, if I have to associate with Him then my
attention and I has to be in the present space and time called 'here and now'.
Mindless japa is when, during japa, your mind goes out of the present
and you do some other thinking with your mind. The thinking is happening in the
space-time frame of past and future or ‘then and there,’ instead of being ‘here
and now’ or in the present with the Nama Prabhu. The Nama Prabhu is factually
present 'here and now'. During mindless japa, one is thinking about something
of the past and/or the future. In mindless japa, chanting goes on mechanically
because of habit. One is being mindless about japa. This is mindless japa. This
kind of japa is disrespectful to the Nama Prabhu who is before one and it
becomes a Nama aparadha. Most of the attention is stolen by some thought
processing in the mind. Therefore, mindless japa is also called thinking-japa
or yantra japa.
What is Mindful japa ? Mindful japa is service Nama prabhu, done ‘now
and here,’ in the ‘present,’ with full attention. This Japa is also done with
conscious desire, direction, determination, and delight bead after bead.
Mindful japa is just about giving full attention to the ‘present doing’. It is
free from parallel activity of thought processing which takes one to past and
future. This japa is called tapomaya japa because it requires tapas or
austerity. This practice of tapas or austerity is done in the background and it
involves bringing back the attention each time it goes away from the mahamantra
that is currently being chanted. By practice, the mind learns itself how to
guard the attention from going away from the current mantra being chanted into
some kind of thinking. This is divine mindfulness, which brings the divine
energy to do japa, from the Nama Prabhu. Mindful japa is also called
Thinking-free-japa or or Tapomaya japa.
What is Spiritful Japa ? When mindful japa is executed by taking delight
in chanting, relish in hearing and enthusiasm with hope, to chanting more and
more from chanter's side with a purpose, desire & intention then that is
called spiritful Japa or Utsaha Japa. Delight in chanting, relish in hearing
and enthusiasm in doing the targeted rounds. .
.......contd
MD
23:07
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.........contd
What is soulful japa ? The 'now and here' mindful-spiritful japa sēva of
chanting and hearing when offered in an enriched background of ‘here and now’ ,
with the feelings offered from the heart, in an integrated manner, like
different musical instruments joining together to make an orchestra, done with
the desire (asha) to please the Nama Prabhu is called soulful japa or
Anandamaya Japa. The feelings offered in the heart during soulful japa are:
• feelings of ego-ness of being an eternal servant of Krishna,
• feelings of transcendental faith (shraddha) in the Nama Prabhu,
• feelings of humility (amaanina maanadina ) before Him and His devotees,
• feelings of delight (hrtstam) and enthusiasm (utsaha) in His association,
• feelings of respect, love & gratitude ( priti) towards Nama Prabhu,
• feelings of self-surrender (atma samarpan) by the chanter along with the
feelings of yearning for His causeless compassionate mercy (anukampa-krpa
apeksha)
In mindful the chanting, hearing and tasking or repeating skills of the yantra
are fully engaged in the Nama. In spiritful japa one does japa with a purpose,
desire & intention and with delight and hears with joy and repeats with
enthusiasm. In soulful japa, the addition is the rich background of the eternal
context of Sevya and sevaka in eternal time and eternal space. And the role of
tapas tapers down to zero from mindful to soulful japa. The space-time for
soulful japa is more than merely ‘here and now’ space-time of each mantra. It
is the uninterrupted flowing of 'here and now' as moments of eternity. Further,
we are in a relationship with everything eternal, though in the present.
Eternal servitor ego serving eternal Sevya ego with eternal facts, faith,
feelings and eternal purpose. Soulful japa is also called sat-bhāvana
japa. Sat means eternal. Bhāvana means thought-feelings. Hence,
sat-bhāvana means eternal thought-feelings.
From mindful japa to spiritful japa.
In mindful japa one gives the attention fully to chant and hear each Nama
that keeps manifesting on the tongue with s strong intention to connect with
Nama Prabhu. Intention to please the Nama Prabhu. Mindful japa causes a flow of
spiritual doing-energy from Nama Prabhu, which makes one want to taste that
doing-energy more and more by wanting to chant and hear more and more. This
brings delight in the act of chanting, joy in hearing and delight and
enthusiasm in the act of repeating or tasking japa. Thus, our mindful japa
transforms into spiritful Japa when delight and joy is added to mindful japa.
From spiritful japa to soulful japa
It is only first through the practice of mindful japa that one can touch
the sound incarnation with one’s serving attention and then one can do
spiritful japa by adding the ingredient of delight, relish and enthusiasm. In
spiritful japa the driving spirit is added. By mindful and spiritful japa one
can be purified of one’s material conception of life and can gradually awaken
one’s eternal context of existence. It results in realization of eternity,
transcendental knowledge, and the transcendental relationship of eternal
belongingness of oneself as a servant of Krishna. To begin mindful japa all
that is required is to train the mind to hold the attention on the current
mantra. One cannot rush to soulful japa directly without purification of our cittam
through mindful-spiritful japa . This purification of our cittam happens
through mindful-spiritful japa for a prolonged period by the merciful flow of
sat-cit-ananda energies caused by the unconditional causeless compassion of
Nama Prabhu upon the chanter.
contd..
23:09
........contd
How to enrich the background mind?
The time spent on training during off-japa-time, on reading and repeated
contemplation on the divine words of guru, sādhu, and śāstra and then,
triggering the same during the japa training period into the background, is the
key to move our mindful-spiritful japa into soulful japa. Without reading
regularly Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books especially Bhagavad Gita as it is, Srimad
Bhagavatam, teachings of Lord Ćaitanya and Nāmamrta, one will not be able to
enrich the background japa context which gives quality to one’s japa. This is
because the feelings of who is Krishna, what is in His mind, what is He
expecting from us etc. are enhanced by hearing these transcendental
literatures.
The sat-bhāvana subtle body (cittam) creates a favourable
internal psychological context or environment consisting of
1) Spiritual servant-doer-ship identity and ego of being an eternal servant of
Nama Prabhu,
2) Purpose to awaken my spiritual mind,
3) Intentions to effectively connect with the Nama Prabhu through serving
attention and hold such attention by tasking repetition,
4) Desire to please the currently manifest Nama by delightfully chanting and
joyful hearing.
5) Transcendental knowledge feelings, faith faith and and interpersonal
feelings between chanter and Nama Prabhu,
6) Attractions, attachments, and inclinations of thinking, feeling, and willing
related to japa.
In fact, the sat-bhāvana body or cittam can be carefully designed and cultured
through transcendental knowledge during off-japa times, as instructed by the
Āçāryas.This sat-bhāvana body or cittam supports the background thinking,
feeling and willing atmosphere for a meaningful, ever-expanding, loving service
relationship with the Nama Avatara during japa.
These feelings do not come by chance, into our internal psychic environment,
without well guided, off-japa-times pre-designed repeated practice of
contemplation and meditation on the Absolute Truth, Krishna. Our Acharyas are
also transcendental scientists and engineers who have revealed how to culture
and cultivate those sad- bhāvanas of bhakti in our heart or cittam or
subconscious mind. It is not just generating some artificial sentiments but
they are transcendental thoughts or truths, transforming into eternal
thought-feelings or bhaavana.
The mind and body system being a psychological-biological machine, takes a
finite time and it requires a definite process to be trained in the essentials
of japa, provided one is serious.
Mind’s ābhāsa bhāvana and atma’s bhakti bhāvana
An objection can be raised that one may be artificially psyching oneself up
with these feelings while actually one should arouse it as a result of natural
awakening of the soul. It is a very valid question. Bhaktivinode Thakur says
that from ābhāsa bhakti one goes to suddha bhakti. Indeed, the thought-feelings
or bhāvana that one generates because of repeated contemplation and meditation
on guru, sadhu and sastra first manifests in one’s material mind as ābhāsa or
shadow feelings of the absolute feelings which also are awakening in our
spiritual mind in parallel to different degrees. Bhaktivinode Thakur says that
the way to awaken transcendental bhāvana is by purifying the material mind with
ābhāsa or shadow bhāvana or thought-feelings to whatever degree one can under
the guidance of guru. This will accelerate the awakening of the absolute bhāvas
of the awakened spiritual mind, by the principle of resonance. However if one
does not go through self purification process as prescribed by the Acaryas, he
simply remains in such abhasa stage of feelings as a neophyte devotee. Anybody
can whip up feelings in one's mind by imagination for Krishna without doing any
self purificatory sadhana. Bhakti is not mere sentiments without guidance of
guru. It is about realizing Absolute truth too. Any sentiment of the mind for
Krishna become transcendental feelings only to the extent the soul is purified
and awakened.
contd….
28 July 2019
MD
20:11
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Such devotees, who do not undergo self purification by applying the principles
of sadhana bhakti, and who think bhakti is only sentiment for Krishna will
continue their material life without any detachment from material world. Thus
we can observe that they will talk of having very high sentiments for Krishna,
but they may even desire to give up sinful activities. They may still be
attached to illicit sex, smoking etc. Still since they have that abhasa
feelings, they are devotees but neophytes. Imitation of a good thing is not bad
but not the best. Following a sad guru who will give us real bhakti is the best
rather than imitating the feelings of very advanced devotees at the mental
platform.
Therefore real bhakti has to be practiced under the shelter of the instructions
of a sad-guru. In India you will see people who have not taken shelter of sad
guru, exhibiting these kinds of deep emotions for Krishna. We need to clearly
discriminate from real bhakti from imaginary bhakti by looking into their life
style as to what they do 24 hours a day.
Doing thinking-japa for long number of years carelessly does not mean
proportionate progress.
Thus, simply a large number of years of thinking-japa do not amount to
anything great unless we get ourselves to actually spiritually touch the sound
incarnation with our attention all those years without distraction. However
carefully practiced chanting for long number of years does make a difference to
the quality of japa year after year. One's actual spiritual progress is only to
the extent one has touched the Nama Prabhu with his serving attention. If out
of one mala he has maintained attention touch for ten beads then he is touching
the Nama Prabhu only to that extent everyday. Rest of the beads are affected by
the offense of inattentiveness. But to get to the attentions touch of ten beads
we will have to do 98 beads of inattentive japa. Therefore Nama Prabhu forgives
those offenses as along we are striving everyday to avoid the offense of being
inattentive.
For instance, a devotee who is chanting 16 rounds of japa every day, while he
is continuously thinking about his day’s preaching services or solving service
or personal problems or doing creative thinking for Krishna’s service or
philosophising during japa , has got into a bad habit of thinking-japa. He will
only stagnate spiritually with that wrong habit.
And if the sādhaka goes through the phase of disciplining and culturing his
mind in a certain way in order to maximize the flow of unlimited spiritual
energies to purify the mind and body, then he makes quick progress into
mindful, spiritful and soulful japa.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
20:11
SOULFUL JAPA
Module 5/ 108
Subject: On background context of devotional service
Supreme person is realized through devotional service, which is backed by
full knowledge and detachment from material association……………Devotional service,
which is based on the foreground of full knowledge combined with a detachment
from the material association and which is fixed by the aural reception of the
Vedanta Sruti, is the only perfect method by which the seriously inquisitive
student can realize the Absolute Truth.”
SB 1.2.12 purport.
There are two areas for japa improvement. 1. Background of japa 2. Foreground
of japa.
Srila Prabhupada says above that the action of devotional service has to be
done in the foreground of 'something'. That 'something' becomes the background
and the act of devotional service is done by the foreground. That 'something'
is the background transcendental knowledge and detachment. When he has used the
phrase ‘foreground’, it automatically means there is a background of full
knowledge and detachment.
It is like dividing the stage of a theatre into two parts of where a play
happens. The stage itself is in the foreground and the backdrop settings as a
background for the stage. By simple observation we can see that there is
foreground executing mind and background context mind in us. Devotional service
has to be done by the foreground mind in the background context of
transcendental knowledge and the feelings that rise out of that knowledge like
purpose, faith, detachment, devotion etc called as bhakti bhaavanas or
thought-feelings.
It is true that in the foreground mind there should be nothing but the action
of chanting, hearing, repeating and building up counts with full attention. The
items in the background mind are known as japa-context, which does not consume
our active doing attention except for triggering remembrance of those items
listed in the last module now and then. It is these items of servant ego-ness,
fact, faith and feelings in the japa-context coupled with a
purpose-desire-intention that drives the action in the foreground
consciousness. This also locks the attention by making japa into a meaningful
personal activity with foreground active attention. These are thought-feelings
in the background that supports the activity in the foreground.
Thus, devotional service of japa is to be performed in the foreground of a japa
related background knowledge and detachment from matter.
Background knowledge in japa is same as faith in the following knowledge or
facts:
-Who is the recipient of the servant? (Sevya=Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu)
-Where is He? (He is right before you),
-What are your purpose-desires and intentions? (to connect with Him -to touch
Him-to please Him-to awaken the soul)
-How or what are the directions to execute the service? (by distinctly chanting
and hearing with attention and uninterruptedly repeating),
-What is sevaka’s relationship with the Sevya? (a humble eternal servant),
-What are sevaka's devotional feelings towards Sevya? (respect, love, gratitude
and surrender, delight, hope and enthusiasm).
Detachment from material association; It means understanding that the
three components of japa namely Sevya, Sevaka and Seva are not of the temporary
material nature but are transcendental and the activity is not a karmic
activity but its devotional service.
By a combined offering of these thought-feelings or sat bhaavana in the
background mind, devotional service of japa is executed by the foreground mind
with full attention and doing-skill.
What does Srila Prabhupada mean by ‘fixed by aural reception’ in the quote? It
means faith in the above background knowledge is fixed in our cittam or
subconscious mind by receiving knowledge of japa from the absolute source like
guru, sadhu and sastra in a descending process (and not by speculating). This
knowledge is received by hearing repeatedly from them off-japa-times service
which results in faith.
contd......
1 August 2019
MD
06:46
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.........contd
Therefore, regularly reading the Srila Prabhupada's books especially
compilation 'Namamrta' is so crucial for soulful japa.
Thus, japa is not a thoughtless, faithless, feeling less, forced dry impersonal
mindless action of attention on chanting and hearing. At the same time, these
background feelings do not consume active attention. Even mindful japa requires
minimum items of these personal aspects being present in the background
consciousness or background mind. And in soulful japa, the background contents
are rich with these thoughts turned into feelings called as thought-feelings or
bhāvana.
What is cautioned against is that one should not bring these items to the
foreground mind and expend attention for processing these background thoughts
and feelings during japa time, at the cost of losing attention on hearing. This
concept of using the foreground mind for action and background mind for the
context of that action is very important for attentive japa. The mistake one
does is to bring these thoughts in the foreground mind and start processing or
philosophising during japa. This pushes chanting and hearing into auto chanting
with zero hearing.
The source of the background mind is subconscious mind
Such effort-ful contemplation to build up the japa background should be
done only during off-japa-time. The result will be that the items of
transcendental knowledge, faith and devotional feelings of respect, love,
purpose, desire and intention will settle in our subconscious mind and will get
effortlessly and automatically loaded into our background mind from the
subconscious memory triggered by the presence of the Nama manifesting before
us. This will happen without distracting the foreground mind from chanting and
hearing.
The good news is that the entire content in the background context is in our
hands to culture. This culturing can be done during off-japa time and one can
allow them to settle into our subconscious memory. It is not that during japa
one should, on the spot scramble and muster knowledge, faith, respect or love.
After having once cultured the background context, as soon as one takes the
japa bag in hand, the japa situation triggers the loading of the context from
the subconscious memory to the background consciousness or background mind.
Then one simply has to give one’s active attention to chant, hear, repeat and
build-up count along with those sat-bhāvana thought-feelings. These feelings
are automatically being played in the background. This in turn provides meaning
to the foreground activity.
Soulful japa is so simple that one has to only once do off japa time training
of hearing and contemplation nicely to enrich the subconscious mind with basic
background japa context. This entire soulful japa course is for preparing this
background context for one's japa and for training the foreground mind to chant
and hear attentively and enthusiastically build up the counts. The course will
also train the foreground mind for learning skills on how to exactly execute
the service in the foreground with appropriate background context being loaded
from the subconscious memory. This is where we meet the challenge of erasing
all old japa habits. In our old japa habits there is a mix up of what our
active foreground mind and background passive mind should do during japa.
An example of foreground mind and background mind
The role of the background mind is best understood through an example.
Suppose one is at home and someone knocks at the door. One goes and opens the
door to check who is at the door. Suppose one sees the neighbour standing there
then immediately the sight of the neighbour triggers from ones subconscious
memory, all that one knows about the neighbour. This is also accompanied by the
loading of all the feelings that one has for the neighbour into ones background
mind. In addition, the background mind does the instant intuitive
contd......
MD
11:45
Madhu Pandit Dasa
processing of everything
one knows about the neighbour, while the foreground mind responds to the
situation by welcoming him/her into the house and offering him a seat etc. Now
the context for a relationship is created.
Let us say that the neighbour tells that last night his house was robbed, and
he/she wants help in reporting the matter to the police. Immediately, again a
new context of thought-feelings, from the subconscious mind, as to what it
means to be robbed, the emotions that are involved and the directions of how to
report to the police etc. are loaded into ones background-mind based on the
past life experiences of a similar situation. Based on this new context the
foreground mind creates a direction to help the neighbour file a complaint at
the police station. Then the neighbour is advised accordingly.
Hence, please note that improving the quality of Japa means to improve in two
areas. Quality of the background content of thought-feelings and the quality of
the foreground’s doing and knowing skills.
I hope I have made this simple. We saw how the bhaavanas or thought-feelings do
not dilute attention on chanting, hearing, repeating and counting rather it
enhances and locks the attention to japa.
ys Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 2
On what pleases Srila Prabhupada most.
Lecture-Detroit, July 16, 1971
" Bahulasva: What is the thing that will please you most, Şrīla
Prabhupāda?
Prabhupada: Hm?
Bahulasva: What is the thing that would please you the most?
Prabhupada: Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa!
Prabhupada: That is the simple thing. You are chanting. I am very much pleased.
That’s all. I came to your country to chant, that “You chant also along with
me.” So you are helping me by chanting. So I am pleased.
Application to our japa
Devotional service is done to please Krishna. How do we know we are
pleasing Krishna? We know that Krishna is pleased when His pure and dear
devotee, Srila Prabhupada is pleased. And what pleases Srila Prabhupada the
most as he says above is if we chant Hare Krishna.
The desire of the disciple to chant his/her japa is to please Srila Prabhupada
and Krishna. Why is Srila Prabhupada and Krishna pleased when we chant Hare
Krishna? They are pleased by anyone who is being saved from this world by
taking association of the Nama Prabhu, as instructed and directed by Him. If
one’s child is sick and does not want to take medicine and then if one day the
child starts taking medicine then the parents will definitely be pleased for
the child as the child will soon get well. Even though ones chanting may not be
pure, soulful chanting with full sat bhaavana, still every bead of our japa
pleases Guru and Krishna for this reason.
So one need not think that the chanting is not soulful chanting, is it really
going to pleasing Krishna? Now one knows the answer that'yes it is pleasing' to
Krishna and one also knows why it is pleasing. He is pleased for us. As our
chanting becomes purer and purer with attachment to Nama Prabhu the pleasure of
guru and Krishna increases by chanting as it moves beyond being a medicine
towards a spontaneous loving service becomes a loving cry or call for the
mercy.
One should desire to please guru and Krishna by ones japa and take pleasure in
knowing that one is giving satisfaction to guru and Krishna . One should know
that one is pleasing Them as we move from the first bead to the next bead, and
to the next, until one reaches the last bead of the 16th round. At the end of
this, one should feel a sense of transcendental accomplishment of following
Srila Prabhupada’s instruction and one should know that he/she has pleased him.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
11:49
Quote 3
Srila Prabhupada explains what happens when we chant attentively
The same example which I have recited many times: just like the iron rod. Iron
rod, you put into the fire. It gets warm—warm, warmer, warmer. And when it is
red hot, then it is no longer iron. Iron it is, but it does not act as iron,
but it acts as fi re. That iron rod which is red hot in association with fire,
you can take that rod and touch anything; it will burn. That means it is no
longer acting as iron; it is acting as fire.
Similarly, if you associate with this transcendental incarnation, sound
incarnation of God, then you will be gradually godly. You will be godly. You
can become godly with God’s association, not by any other material, extraneous
things. No. Just like you can have fire only in association with fire, not with
water. If you want to get yourself warm, then you have to associate with fire,
not with water, not with air.
Similarly, if you want to spiritualize your vision, if you want to spiritualize
your action, if you want to spiritualize the whole constitution of your
existence, then you have to associate with the Supreme spirit. And that Supreme
spirit is very kind because He is everything. That we have already explained.
Everything is interrelated with the Supreme; therefore, He is interrelated with
sound also. So, by God’s inconceivable potency, He can present before yourself
in sound incarnation. That is His potency. That is His potency. He can do that.
And therefore, this name, Krishna, and the Supreme Lord Krishna, there is no
difference.
So our, this sound representation of the Supreme Lord constantly will make
us...
Just like our association with the fire, the, I mean to say, iron rod’s
association with the fire makes the rod equally qualified, exactly— not equally
qualified, but almost the quality of burning it gets—similarly, by our constant
association with Lord.
(September 8, 1966, New York)
Application to japa
This analogy of a piece of iron rod being put in the fire, becoming slowly red
hot is a very powerful analogy that makes one understand how exactly the Nama
Prabhu purifies. Nama Prabhu is an oceanic fire of sat-cit-ananda. If one can
connect with Him through ones serving attention and touch that fire of
sat-cit-ananda, ones sleeping soul will get sat-cit-ananda-ized or awakened to
the original natural Krishna consciousness.
Attention offered with a serving mood is called serving attention. Kamsa also
gave lot of attention to Krishna. Attention is a spiritual energy coming from
the soul and hence it is the conduit to connect the soul and touch the sound
incarnation in the spirit of serving. Attention is the only spiritual energy
that can connect two spirit substances namely jiva and the Nama. Just as the
iron has to be in the fire to get red hot, we have to be in association with
the fire of the sat-cit-ananda energy surrounding the Nama Prabhu. Just like
the sun is surrounded by sunlight, Nama Prabhu is the sun-like effulgent source
of sat-cit-ananda energies and He invests all His energies into the ordinary
sound that one produces externally with the tongue. There is a fire of
sat-cit-ananda on the tongue when one chants. Now through serving attention one
has to immerse the soul into that fire and make the consciousness
sat-cit-ananda-ized.
Being in the fire continuously is important for the iron rod to become warmer
and warmer and finally get fully heated. Similarly, the attention should be on
chanting and hearing uninterruptedly in japa. The moment the attention goes
into active thought processing the soul is out of the fire. The tongue of this
material body is the outside covering of the soul. From the tongue, the Nama
has to go through the ears and the mind, and finally reach the heart where the
soul is situated.
.......contd
2 August 2019
MD
09:41
Madhu Pandit Dasa
........contd
The route is through the attentive mind. Just keeping the Nama on the tongue
without attention to hear is like keeping the iron rod outside the fire, a few
feet away, without immersing it in the fire. Some heating of the iron rod will
happen but not the same way if it is placed inside the fire.
This is what is happening to those doing inattentive japa. Whatever effect is
being produced is like heating the iron rod by placing it outside the fire.
Such a chanting itself will giving us benefit of Krishna consciousness. Then
one can imagine what would be the experience if one does 16 rounds of attentive
chanting and hearing.
Immersing ourselves with exclusive attention uninterruptedly in the fire of
sat-cit-anand will gradually fill us with existential bliss of Krishna
consciousness of being inseparable part and parcel of Krishna. It is literally
true. The reason we don't experience this is because of not uninterruptedly
immersing in hearing the Nama Prabhu without diverting attention to any kind of
thought processing. If done properly, one's inclination for petty pleasures of
sense gratification vanishes. Srila Prabhupada says in his purports to the
Bhagavad Gita 2.60 as follows. This describes what this experience is. "
Krishna consciousness is such a transcendentally nice thing that automatically
material enjoyment becomes distasteful. It is as if a hungry man had satisfied
his hunger by a sufficient quantity of nutritious eatables." In other
words when one compares this fulfilling existential bliss of Krishna
consciousness with the pleasure of sense gratification, the pleasure of sense
gratification is like spoiled food fit for starving beggars.
This experience of higher taste is also expressed when Krishna says in verse
2.70 " A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires
that enter like a river in to the ocean which is every being filled but is
always still can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy
such desires."
The only thing one needs to remember in this analogy is that the fire is an
impersonal energy but the sat-cit-ananda energy is personal in nature. It is
not merely an impersonal touch of attention that makes the energy flow into
one. It is the serving attention, and begging for mercy are what attracts this
personal energy to flow into the chanter This flow of personal energy
enlightens one and fill the mind with true bliss of Krishna consciousness or
helps in realizing the self to be an eternal loving servant of Krishna. Though
getting punya and sukrti is an automatic gift that one receives even by
impersonally touching the Nama with attention, the flow of mercy of
transcendental knowledge, detachment and love of Krishna is only received by
personal reciprocation of Nama Prabhu.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
19:05
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 1K
Subject: Mahamantra contains everything
HariNāma Cintamani 2.31
krishnera samagra lila naame vidyamaana
Naama se parama tattva tomara vidhaana
“ The entire panaroma of Lord Krishna’s pastimes is present in the Hare
Krishna maha mantra. Lord Gouranga has personally declared the Hare Krishna
mahamantra to be the highest Absolute Truth”
Application to japa:
Absolute Truth is Radha & Krishna combined. The Mahamantra is made of Their
Names. His names are non-different from Him and He is non-different from His
names. Therefore, the Mahamantra is the Absolute Truth.
Lord Gauranga is Sri Krishna Himself in the form of a devotee wanting to taste
for Himself, the sweetness of bhaava or devotion that Srimati Radharani has for
Him.
Therefore, if we chant Hare Krishna as a form of worshipping Gauranga then He
bestows the highest devotion to Lord Krishna, also called Krishna Prema, to
such a worshipper. The mahamantra, which contains all the sweet Lilas of the
Lord in Goloka Vrindavan will one day start playing in the heart of such a
fully purified devotee when he utters the Mahamantra. This play of Lilas in the
heart is just like seeing the newsreader in the news channel although he
sitting far away in the TV station. This is the inconceivable mercy of Guru and
Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu upon the chanter.
In practice, this is very advanced level of japa. However, it is possible. Do
not expect that it will happen so easily. At least we should know the glory of
the holy name whether we are able to reach there or not in this life.
However, this journey begins with the hearing-touch / sound-touch of the Nama
Prabhu with our serving-attention. Serving attention means attention offered in
the mood of a loving servant.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
19:27
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 4
When to chant and how
Srila Prabhupada letter, January 6, 1972
" Chanting japa should be done early in the morning with full
concentration preferably during the Braahma Muhurta time. Concentrate fully on
the sound vibration of the mantra, pronouncing each name distinctly and
gradually your speed in chanting will increase naturally.
Do not worry so much about chanting fast, most important is the hearing."
Application to japa
Note that Srila Prabhupada says the most important is hearing. In addition
to hearing, of course is distinctly pronouncing.
QUOTE 5
There is no prequalification for holy name to start acting
CC Madhya 15.110, Translation
The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is the controller of the opulence of liberation, and it
is identical with Kṛṣṇa. When a person simply chants the holy name with his
tongue, immediate effects are produced. Chanting the holy name does not depend
on initiation, pious activities or the puraścaryā regulative principles
generally observed before initiation. The holy name does not wait for any of
these activities. It is self-sufficient.
Application to japa
Because of this special mercy of the holy name, we can ask everyone to
start chanting and there is no prequalification required for it to begin its
effect. Even if someone is not following regulative principles, if he/she
starts doing japa daily it will have an effect. The effect will be that it will
release him/her from all the bad habits as long as he faithfully continues his
association with chanting and hearing the Nama Prabhu. One should also seek
strength from Nama Prabhu to be released from sinful habits.
Not that we will tell someone to wait to begin japa till they follow the four
regulative principles of no intoxication, no meat eating, no gambling and no
illicit sex. Habits are not easy to change without the help of Nama Prabhu.
Alternatively, someone may think that I do not want to chant because I am
inattentive and I commit offenses against the holy name. This is not right at
all. Even while chanting with unavoidable offenses due to weakness of heart,
one will eventually get the strength to avoid the offenses if one desires.
Other than the mercy of the holy name, there is no other way to cure the
offenses that arises due to weakness of heart or emotional weakness. This
emotional weakness, due to not having tasted the higher devotional emotions,
makes one succumb to unregulated sense gratification consisting of illicit
sense pleasures, so called love-pleasures, power or Lording pleasures and
mental speculation. If one does not start somewhere one will never ever qualify
for the spiritual journey.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
22:52
Madhu Pandit Dasa
SOULFUL JAPA
Module 6/108
How can a sound uttered by my material tongue be God?
The government uses ordinary paper material to
print valuable currency. When it does that, the value of the paper used is not
the ordinary value of the paper. It has the value that the government wills to
give to that paper. The regular price of the paper on which a five
hundred-rupee currency note is printed may not even be five rupees. There is no
relationship between the regular value of paper and the value assigned to it by
the authority. People have faith that the five-hundred-rupee note is not
ordinary paper because it has been invested functionally with a high value,
beyond the matter value of that piece of paper. The authority is capable of
investing that value. Thus, the objective truth of a substance is not merely
the value of the substance but its functional value which is invested is
different.
This analogy can help us develop faith in the sound incarnation of the Lord. We
can state that, though the Hare Krishna sound produced by the tongue is like
any other regular sound vibration of this world, by the will of God, who is the
Supreme authority, that Name-sound has been invested with all the potencies of
the Lord. This is as revealed by Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. Its value is changed
from an ordinary sound to an empowered sound. This change happens when the
eternally self-sounding all-conscious Suddha Nama of Lord Krishna decides to
descend into it and merges into it as the Nāma avatāra. The transcendental Nama
that has descended into this world is called Aprākrta Nāma and it is
non-different from the Lord Himself. Aprākrta means transcendental or beyond
prakrti.
SB 3.26.1 Lecture Bombay, 13 Dec 1974
So prākṛta means this material prakṛti, and spiritual means aprākṛta.
Bhaktivedanta Purport to SB 2.4.22
" There is a gulf of difference between the two qualities of sound,
namely prākrta and aprākrta. The physicist can deal only with the prākrta
sound, or sound vibrated in the material sky, and therefore we must know that
the Vedic sounds recorded in symbolic expressions cannot be understood by anyone
within the universe unless and until one is inspired by the vibration of
supernatural (aprākrta) sound, which descends in the chain of disciplic
succession from the Lord to Brahmā, from Brahmā to Narada, from Narada to Vyasa
and so on. No mundane scholar can translate or reveal the true import of the
Vedic mantras (hymns). "
Srila Prabhupada lecture December 16, 1966, New York
This Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare
Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, this is also considered Śaktyāvēşa avatāra, the
incarnation of sound. The incarnation of sound. It is described by Lord
Chaitanya that kali-kale Nāma rūpe avatāra.
The Nama that one hears with the ordinary ears is not simply a symbol or a
representation of the Lord. Lord Himself with His energy has descended in that
representation and He is empowering it. This Nama is called Śaktyāvēşa Nama
Avatāra. Any representation of the Lord in any of His energies is good as the
Lord Himself because He is absolute and it can act as effectively as Him
because everything is His own energy. Total existence is Him and His energies
are for His sole pleasure.
If one sketches a person, then the sketch is not that person. The person and
his representation are not the same things. The two are always different. But,
if I make a sketch of Krishna and if Krishna decides to incarnate into it by
taking a transcendental form, resembling the sketch, then that external sketch
can functionally become as good as Krishna. Everything that one can do to relate
with Krishna one can do with the sketch-Krishna. This sketch -Krishna will
receive, reciprocate and relate with us through that sketch. This is the
principle of advaya Jnana or non-dual knowledge. The energies of the Lord are
dynamically simultaneously one and different with Him.
....... contd
22:52
...... contd
The Hare Krishna mantra that one vibrates with the tongue does sound like an
ordinary sound. However, when the eternally sounding effulgent Nama of Krishna
in the spiritual world, with all His energies, descends into the ordinary
sound, it no longer remains an ordinary sound. The sound that we hear is live,
intelligent, and God Himself in sound form. For practical purposes of
association and reciprocation, He wills to functionally become that sound
through His omnipotence and mystic power.
Electric wire-dead or live?
Another more complete analogy is that of the difference between a regular
electric wire and the one with the live electric current in it. Although they
both appear the same to our senses something extra is added in the live wire,
the electric current.. The wire itself is not an ordinary wire but it has
become an electrified wire because of the flow of electric current in it.
An authorised post box is the same as General Post office
Another example that Śrīla Prabhupāda often gives to explain the function
of an incarnation is that of the authorized post boxes. These post boxes are
ordinary metal boxes placed in different parts of the city by the postal
department. Though they are regular metal boxes, they are empowered to receive
letters that are dropped into them on behalf of the general post office and
hence they are not ordinary boxes. Dropping a letter in a local post box is as
good as delivering the letter at the doors of the General Post Office.
Thus, the ordinarily vibrated Hare Krishna sound or its remembrance (subtle
sound) in mind, no longer remains just an ordinary material vibratory effect or
an ordinary remembrance of any material name of this world. Rather it is being
invested with all the energies of the Lord.It is in fact is the most powerful
vibration or sound in existence.
Anyone chanting Hare Krishna is being touched by this most merciful incarnation
of Lord Krishna and gets access to all the pure spiritual sat-cit-ananda
energies needed to purify oneself and get out of this illusory world. This is a
great reason for excitement for all of humanity. Krishna Nāma, in His
incarnation on earth, is most mercifully engaged in the līlā of liberating
millions of living entities on this earth by His transcendental association.
“So, in this yuga, this Kali-yuga, the incarnation is Lord Çaitanya, and the
process of worship is this Nāma sabda. That is mentioned. In every avatāra,
every incarnation... Just like Lord Buddha. His name is also mentioned. And
there will be another incarnation, Kalki. That is also mentioned. So, they are
mentioned, yugāvatāra. And Śaktyāvēşa avatāra. Śaktyāvēşa avatāra. All
avatāras, their mission is to preach the message of God. Avatāra has no other
business. The message of God. Śaktyāvēşa avatāra”
...The incarnation of sound. It is described by Lord Çaitanya that kali-kale
Nāma rūpe avatāra: “In this Kali-yuga, in this age, this incarnation of the
name—Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare—to give facility to
the conditioned soul.” Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nijāśārva-śakti. Śakti, this word
is used, Śakti. And from Śakti, that energy, Śaktya. So, this name is also
Śaktyāvēşa. Śrīla Prabhupāda, Lecture -- December 16, 1966, New York
When we, ordinary living beings, move from one place to another, we cannot be
present in both the places simultaneously. When the omnipotent Lord on the
other hand comes from the spiritual world, He does not leave the spiritual
world rather He descends as a transcendental expansion into the heart of the
chanter as an Aprākrta (transcendental) Nāma. From the heart, He takes on a new
form resembling the external sound as the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma as soon as one
chants.
Unlike living beings, the Lord can have unlimited newer and newer expansions of
Himself for enjoying unlimited varieties of rasas, in the unlimited expanse of
His varieties of existences, through the unlimited hearts of unlimited jivas.
It
....... contd
22:52
.......contd
is inconceivable for us to even imagine limitlessness of enjoyment of
relationships of such a personality. We have seen and heard only of limited
personalities like ourselves in this world. Personalities of this nature belong
to a category called Vishnu tattva.
Krishna is an unlimited Supreme Personality. And He transcends all kinds of
limitations of space, time and substances that we experience as tiny persons.He
can simultaneously expand into unlimited namasabdha on unlimited hearts and
tongues of unlimited chanters and personally reciprocate with each of them.
Thus each of us have a Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu for ourselves to serve, love
and live with us in our hearts if we choose to.
He lives in the hearts of the faithful devotees who have become His devotee.
One can serve HIm even at moments they are not chanting by remembering Him.
Just when we chant He is manifesting externally from your heart. When He is not
manifest externally as the sound while doing your daily duties, if he is
remembered in the background then He is also served in our heart. And whenever
you get any chance you can chant and manifest and embrace that sound through
attentive hearing with devotion. Kirtaniya sada Hari. Nāma should be our
constant companion whether it is by chanting and hearing the empowered
Śaktyāvēşa Nāma on tongue or remembering of Aprākrta Nāma in the heart.
You can simply understand Śaktyāvēşa Nama as the manifestation on the tongue of
Aprākrta Nāma from your heart. By distinctly pronouncing and sharply hearing
with attention the string of 16 names, the soul touches and serves the sound
features of the sound incarnation. By virtue of hearing sharply the tangible
features of the external sound of the incarnation we also touch the intangible
Aprākrta Nāma of Lord, who has overlapped into the external sound as the soul
of that external sound. Calling and hearing and remembering are the three ways
to relate with any person's name.
Before initiation if you have the above faith and execute Srila Prabhupada's
order to chant 16 rounds with determination, then also the Aprākrta Nāma will
live with you in your heart. Initiation then is only a formal ceremony, that
will soon come your way where officially Srila Prabhupada on behalf of
disciplic succession formally delivers the Aprākrta Nāma to one who has been
already serving his order. Your faith and action is most important than
formalities.
Initiation is a formality. If you are serious, that is real initiation. My
touch is simply a formality. It is your determination. That is initiation. The
Search for Divine, BTG # 49
…..Well initiation or no initiation, first thing is knowledge….
knowledge. Initiation is a formality. Just like you go to a school for
knowledge, and admission is a formality. That is not a very important thing. So
our this movement is successful.
Press interview—October 16, 1976, Chandigarh
One does not have to undergo initiation or execute the activities
required before initiation. One simply has to vibrate the holy name with his
lips. Thus, even a man in the lowest class [candäla] can be delivered. CC
- Madhya 15.108
The guru installs the Deity by inviting the Lord into the external Deity
form and instructs you to offer specific seva everyday for rest of your life.
In the same way Srila Prabhupada installs in the sadhaka's heart the Aprākrta
Nāma of Krishna as Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu and asks us to serve Him minimum 16
rounds everyday by chanting and hearing with attention and devotion.
Letter to Bhakta Das:26Aug,1976
All initiates of mine must strictly follow the four principles of no
meat, fish or egg, eating; no gambling; no intoxication of any kind; and no
illicit sex. They must chant 16 rounds a day minimum with attention, clearly
chanting the mantra, and listening very carefully. This is the recommended
process for purifying the heart.
Note that Srila Prabhupada does not say just chant 16 rounds a day. He says
16 rounds minimum. Further it should be chanted clearly with attention and
hear carefully.
contd.....
8 August 2019
MD
20:15
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
He also plants a seed called bhakti lata bija into our hearts to be watered
everyday. And that watering is chanting and hearing. How much water? 16 rounds
minimum. What happens to the seed? Lord Chaitanya reveals that the seed sprouts
into a creeper made of consciousness called bhakti lata and as we go on
watering it, it grows and grows till it reaches the lotus feet of Krishna in
the spiritual world.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 11
Harinaam is delivered to your heart in disciplic succession by Srila
Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada Letter 19th August 1968
The chanting Hare Krishna is our main business, that is real initiation. And
as you are all following my instruction, in that matter, the initiator is
already there. Now the next initiation will be performed as a ceremony officially,
of course that ceremony has value because the name, Holy Name, will be
delivered to the student from the disciplic succession, it has got value.
Application to Japa
See the last part of the quote. Through faith in Srila Prabhupada's
instructions and acting accordingly makes one a disciple of Srila Prabhupda.
Yet officially initiation ceremony has got value since in the ceremony the holy
name is delivered from the disciplic succession.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, says above that during first initiation the Holy Name is
delivered to the disciple through the disciplic succession by the bonafide
spiritual master. Though the sound of holy name is vibrating all over for
everyone to receive and begin one's association with the Lord, yet there is
this process of personal delivery of the holy name by the spiritual master at
one point. He has to take initiation and take delivery of the holy name and
place it in our hearts on the seat of faith and serve Him as instructed if one
wants to progress beyond a certain point.
What does 'delivery' means? Even when Srila Prabhupada was on this planet,
externally we never saw any physical delivery of Hare Krishna Mahamantra into
the ears of prospective disciples during initiation. Yet it is said that the
holy name is formally delivered at the time of initiation. That can only mean
that he has transcendentally delivered the Holy Name to us to our heart because
of our faith in him and holy name through a process unseen by our eyes. It
happens simply by his wish to give us the Nama that he is personally
worshipping. So we have with us is the Nama Prabhu of Srila Prabhupada.
Does everyone who grossly hears Srila Prabhupada’s recorded chanting do they
get initiated as disciple? Not as disciple but initiated into the mantra even if
he takes up faithfully even one mala of daily chanting. Only those who have
faith in Srila Prabhupada’s discipline to chant 16 rounds daily and follow the
four regulative principles will be eligible to become his disciple and receive
such transcendental delivery of the holy name from the spiritual master into
the his heart. Disciple means discipline. There is greater obligation when one
becomes a disciple, both from disciples side as well as guru's side.
After being initiated, the Hare Krishna Nāma vigraha in the disciple's heart is
like a Deity installed by Guru for personally serving attentively without
offenses by chanting and hearing the prescribed number of malas daily. Thus
gratitude to Guru is a constant feeling for Śrīla Prabhupāda and Lord Ćaitanya
for installing the holy name transcendentally in our hearts to be worhsipped as
instructed by him.
When we chant Nama Prabhu rises from the heart and comes on the tongue and
enters the sound produced by the tongue and invests all powers into it and then
that empowered sound or Śaktyāvēşa Nāma enters the ears and mind and back to
the heart. In the process of travelling from the heart to the tongue to the
ears and the mind and back again to the heart He warms up all of the medium He
passed through with satcitananda energy.
contd......
MD
20:32
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Each cycle of chanting and hearing purifies the soul-mind-body system and
spiritualizes it. Repeating this cycle of chanting and hearing mantra after
mantra builds up the spiritual energy in our cittam or consciousness body which
eventually awakens the soul's Krishna consciousness.
Repeating chanting and hearing in japa is like repeatedly polishing the
'cittam' that is covering the soul to remove the dullening layers of
contaminated consciousness and a day will come when the pure soul will shine
through the purified senses.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
QUOTE 12
Spiritualizing our material bodies
Srila Prabhupada's Lecture on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.1.1 -- New York, April
10, 1969)
The same example, as I have given several times: just like iron rod. You
put into the fire, it becomes warmer, warmer. The more it is touched with fire,
it becomes warm, warm, warm. And at last it becomes red hot, so that at that
time, if that iron is touched to any other thing, it burns. It does not act as
iron; it acts as fire. Similarly, by this Krishna consciousness, continuous
chanting, you will make your body spiritualized. At that time, wherever you go,
wherever you touch, he’ll be spiritualized. Similarly, the iron... Without
being spiritualized, without being red hot, if you touch, it will not act.
Application to Japa
The satcitananda energy from the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma avatara purifies not only
the subtle body and awakens the soul, it also purifies the gross body. Srila
Prabhupada says our material bodies are spiritualized. It will act like a
spiritual body. It will be free from three modes of material nature. Such a
body does not have any lusty urges and all his senses are fully under control.
Just see even the most difficult problems of material desires and sense
gratification is solved by associating attentively with the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma
Prabhu. This is because Hari Nāma is said to be purna shuddha or
completely pure. Touch of Him make things pure. It is not that first we have to
become pure and then only begin to chant. We should instruct people to chant in
whatever situation they are and they are sure to get purified. It is a question
of time.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
21:19
Madhu Pandit Dasa
QUOTE 13
We cannot hear Krishna with material ears. Therefore sound incarnation.
EK 5: Knowing Krishna’s Energies
We cannot see Krishna with our material eyes,
nor hear about Him with material ears, nor touch Him with our hands; but if we
engage our tongue in His service, He will reveal Himself, saying, “Here I am.”
Application to japa
Ataḥ Śri Krishna Nāmadi na bhavēd grāhyam
indriyam - Krishna's Name etc. cannot be grasped by our
material senses. He is transcendental. Transcendental means aprākrta or beyond
the material nature or prakrti. Therefore he comes down as incarnation into our
plane as an Aprakrta Namasabdha that resemble the sound of an external vigraha
( prakrta namasabda) made of matter vibration which we can chant and hear and
receives our services through them. Such matter sound gets fully spiritualized
because the Lord has entered the same. This is the principle of incarnation.
The transcendental Nama who incarnates into the external namasabda having sound
features that resembles the sound features of the external namasabdha is called
Aprākrta Nāma.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 13A
You can attain the lotus feet of Krishna through the mercy of Nama Prabhu.
Krishna-nama haite paabe krishnera carana.
Srila Prabhupada lecture Feb 6th 1967 San franscisco
Now one may question, "Oh, Vedanta-sutra, understanding
Vedänta-sütra, one is liberated from this material entanglement. So you are
asking me simply to chant Hare Krishna ? Will that purpose be served?" Oh,
His guru said, "Yes, it will be served." He said, Krishna-mantra
haite habe samsara-mocana: "If You go on, continue this Hare Krishna, Hare
Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare
Hare, there will be a day when You come to the perfectional stage. Then You
will be liberated." The same result as one gets out of studying Vedanta
philosophy or Sankhya philosophy, the same result also you will get by simply
by chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Krishna-nama haite paabe krishnera
carana. "Not only that, the Vedantists, sometimes they cannot reach up to
the Krishna planet. But Your advantage will be that You'll not only be
liberated, but You will be achieving the highest planet, planetary kingdom, or
the kingdom of God, You'll be able to achieve there." And nama vinu. Nama
vinu kali-kale nahi aara dharma. Now Caitanya Mahäprabhu explained that, "This
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna is the only universal religious principle in this
age." No other religion process will be effective because people are so
many and diverted in different way. This is the common formula and this is the
effective formula. So Caitanya Mahäprabhu says, nama vinu kali-kale:
"Without chanting this Hare Krishna, there is no other alternative for
self-realization in this age of Kali."
nama vinu kali-kale naahi aara dharma
sarva-mantra-saara nama, ei saastra-marma
Now the essence of all scripture is this Hare Krishna. Essence.
Sarva-sastra-marma means essence of all scripture. And sarva-mantra-saara. And
there are different kinds of hymns and mantras, and this is the, I mean to say,
topmost part of all mantras. "In this way, My Guru Maharaja asked Me to
chant Hare Krishna."
Quote 13B
SB 3.26.1 Lecture Bombay , 13 Dec 1974
“This is the disease. This is called material disease. One is infected
by the prākṛta-guṇa. The prākṛta-guṇa... Guṇa means quality, mode. So prākṛta
means this material prakṛti, and spiritual means aprākṛta.
9 August 2019
MD
07:07
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 13 C
Chaitanya Caritamrta Adi Lila 7.74
nama vinu kali-kale nahi ara dharma
sarva-mantra-sara nama, ei sastra-marma
“‘In this Age of Kali there is no religious principle other than the chanting
of the holy name, which is the essence of all Vedic hymns. This is the purport
of all scriptures.’
PURPORT
The principles of the parampara system were strictly honored in previous
ages—Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga and Dvapara-yuga—but in the present age, Kali-yuga,
people neglect the importance of this system of srauta-parampara, or receiving
knowledge by disciplic succession. In this age, people are prepared to argue
that they can understand that which is beyond their limited knowledge and
perception through so-called scientific observations and experiments, not
knowing that actual truth comes down to man from authorities. This
argumentative attitude is against the Vedic principles, and it is very
difficult for one who adopts it to understand that the holy name of Krishna is
as good as Krishna Himself. Since Krishna and His holy name are identical, the
holy name is eternally pure and beyond material contamination. It is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead as a transcendental vibration. The holy name is
completely different from material sound, as confirmed by Narottama dasa
Thakura: golokera prema-dhana, hari-nama-sankirtana. The transcendental
vibration of hari-nama- sankirtana is imported from the spiritual world. Thus
although materialists who are addicted to experimental knowledge and the
so-called “scientific method” cannot place their faith in the chanting of the
Hare Krishna maha-mantra, it is a fact that simply by chanting the Hare Krishna
mantra offenselessly one can be freed from all subtle and gross material
conditions. The spiritual world is called Vaikuntha, which means “without
anxiety.” In the material world everything is full of anxiety (kuntha), whereas
in the spiritual world (Vaikuntha) everything is free from anxiety. Therefore
those who are afflicted by a combination of anxieties cannot understand the
Hare Krishna mantra, which is free from all anxiety. In the present age the
vibration of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra is the only process that is in a
transcendental position, beyond material contamination. Since the holy name can
deliver a conditioned soul, it is explained here to be sarva-mantra-sara, the
essence of all Vedic hymns.
A name that represents an object of this material world may be subjected to
arguments and experimental knowledge, but in the absolute world a name and its
owner, the fame and the famous, are identical, and similarly the qualities,
pastimes and everything else pertaining to the Absolute are also absolute.
Although Mayavadis profess monism, they differentiate between the holy name of
the Supreme Lord and the Lord Himself. For this offense of namaparadha they
gradually glide down from their exalted position of brahma-jnana, as confirmed
in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.2.32)
Quote 13 D
CC Madhya 11.102
The sankirtana movement can be spread by a person who is especially favored
by Lord Krishna (krishna-shakti vina nahe tara pravartana). Without first
obtaining the mercy of the Lord, one cannot spread the holy name of the Lord.
One who can spread the Lord’s name is called labdha-caitanya in the words of
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. The labdha-caitanya is one who has actually awakened
his original consciousness, Krishna consciousness. The influence of the pure
devotees in Krishna consciousness is such that it can awaken others to become
immediately Krishna conscious and engage themselves in the transcendental
loving service of Krishna. In this way the descendants of pure devotees
increase, and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu takes much pleasure in seeing the increase
of His devotees.
10 August 2019
MD
08:07
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MODULE 7/108
The principle of Nāma Avatāra.
Let us start with the following quote form
" Journey of Self Discovery -3.2
The chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra is a transcendental vibration;
it is not a material thing. It is imported from the transcendental abode of
Krishna. From there the transcendental sound of Hare Krishna has come. This
sound is like the sunshine coming from the sun. Although you cannot go
to the sun—it is far, far beyond your reach—you can understand that the
sunshine is coming from the sun globe. There is no doubt about it. Similarly,
the vibration of the Hare Krishna mantra is coming from Krishna's planet,
Goloka (golokera prema-dhana). And this chanting produces love of Krishna.
(Prema-dhana means "the treasure of love for Krishna)
Srila Prabhupada is revealing that the transcendental sound of Hare Krishna is
like sunshine coming from the sun. The eternally sounding Suddha Nāma in the
spiritual world is non-different from Krishna Himself and is a sun of
satcitānanda. Just as Krishna has shaktis, His sun of Nāma is also surrounded
by sunshine-like effulgent satcitānanda shaktis around it.
The satcitānanda suns of three Suddha Nāmas Hare, Krishna and Rāma
expand into the sun of Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu who descends into this world
surrounded with His satcitānanda effulgence through the hearts of pure
devotees. This is the 'Kali kale nāma rupe Krishna avatāra'. From the heart of
pure devotees He expands into ordinary hearts of those who have faith in such
pure devotee's instructions to serve Him. This transcendental sound of the
spiritual world is called Aprākrta Nāma or simply Nāma Prabhu. This sacitananda
Nāma Prabhu who has descended into our hearts further mercifully expands onto
the sound on the chanter's tongue by assuming sound features that resemble the
sound features of the sound on our tongue. This expansion is called is also
Aprākrta Nāma on individual tongue with identical sound feature as that of
sound on our individual tongues.
When He descends or shines into that externally produced sound, that external
sound is invested with all His energies. Namnām akāri bahuda nija sarva shakti.
That incarnation is called Śaktyāvēşa Nāma
Note that material tongue or the material ears cannot directly chant nor
hear the Aprākrta Nāma but can chant and hear the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. Aprākrta
Nāma descends into the prākrta sound and gives us access to Him through our
attention and service of the empowered externally audible Śaktyāvēşa Nāma.
The satcitananda sound features of Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu indistinguishably
overlaps as if merged into the sound features of Śaktyāvēşa Nāma and their
combination is called the Nāma Avatāra. Whatever Aprākrta Nama wants to
express in the matter plane to us, He expresses that through the Śaktyāvēşa
Nāma as His body in this world.
Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is fully spiritualized matter which is as good as Aprākrta
Nāma Prabhu for functional purposes. While our material tongue, ears and mind
are serving the external Shaktyāvesha Nama it is simultaneously serving the
identical sounding Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu though only in a dream state of the
spiritual mind as we are all in a dreamy existence. We have to go from
devotional service with our spiritually dreamy attention to spiritually
awakened attention by receiving the mercy of association of Nama Avatara.
We will explain this two kinds of attention as we go along.
While our mind and body is serving Śaktyāvēşa Nāma, to the extent we are
attentive, we also in parallel touch the Aprākrta Nāma with the same extension
who is transcendentally present on our tongue even without our knowledge. Thus
the soul, mind and body, is serving the Nama Avatara, the combination of both.
The empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nāma purifies our mind and subtle senses and the
Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu awakens our spiritual mind and senses because of soul's
attention connection with it through attention. Combined the Nāma Avatāra purifies
and awakens our love for Krishna.
.......... contd
08:07
.........contd
Thus Suddha Nāma in the spiritual world is the Avātari ( source of avatāra)
and the Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu is the Satcitānanda Avatāra and the Empowered
prākrta Nāma or Shaktyāvesha Nama is the Satcitānanda-ized Avatāra.
How can He be on millions of hearts? It is just like one sun being
reflected on different water bodies through its sunshine. In the case of the
Lord there is no difference between Him and His reflection.
'Gods reflection and God, there is no difference. Gods bodily rays and God,
there is no difference, advaya-jnana, that they are not in duality or relative
world. They are in the absolute world. Srila Prabhupada on March 25, New
York.
By mere attention-touch of such external Śaktyāvēşa Nāma, our consciousness get
purified by the fire of satcitānanda and awakens our consciousness. Thus
enabling us to eventually to chant and hear the Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu with our
awakened spiritual mind and ultimately with awakened spiritual senses.
Srila Prabhupada reveals below that the Aprākrta Nama takes on a form that
resembles prākrta namasabda.
Only for us, who cannot experience anything beyond matter in our present
conditioned state, do the dhamas and the Lord Himself, in His arca form, appear
before us resembling matter to give us the facility to see spirit
with material eyes. In the beginning this may be difficult for a neophyte to
understand, but in due course, when one is advanced in devotional service, it
will be easier, and he will appreciate the Lord’s presence in these tangible
forms.
Bhakitvedanta Purport . CC Adi 5.20
Note the word 'resembling matter' used by Srila Prabhupada.
When we touch and associate with the Nama Avatara through the conduit of attention
on the sound features to chant and hear the prākrta Nama, the spiritual
energy from the external Śaktyāvēşa Nāma flows into chanter's subtle and gross
senses, mind as well as into himself, the soul. This is because the Aprākrta
Nāma has mercifully taken on sound features that resemble the prākrta sound
features and we are connected to Him through attention on the external
Śaktyāvēşa Nāma.
Sharply hearing the sound features of Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is the gateway for the
attention-connection of the Aprākrta Nama sound features even for a beginner.
An iron piece when put in the fire becomes red hot, likewise our soul's
consciousness along with his subtle senses & mind becomes charged with
spiritual energies if placed in the fire of the Aprākrta Nama and His body
which is the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. But if we are not attentive to the tangible sound
then our soul and mind does not touch the avātara.
If there is no attention on the sound but only the gross tongue, lips are
engaged with the external Śaktyāvēşa Nāma, then it will only purify
predominantly our gross body but very little of the mind and the consciousness
of the soul. Therefore even inattentive chanting has some effect because it an
empowered sound.
However for quick results we have to solve the problem of inattentiveness. It
is through the attention energy which originates from the soul and transported
by the mind to the ears for hearing the sound that the makes my spiritual mind
to get the attention-touch and personal association of the Nāma avatāra causing
it to wake up from my spiritual slumber.
Once soul and mind is connected through attention to the tangible empowered
Shaktyāvesha Nama by sharply hearing the sound features in a manner that is
discerning one unique sound from the other, then , we enable merciful flow of
spiritual energy from the Nāma avatāra to the senses, mind and soul. Thus they
all get charged with satcitānanda and awakens the spiritual mind.
Knowing this Nāma tattva increases our faith in the presence of sun-like
satcitānanda Aprākrta Nāma from the spiritual world when we do our japa, though
unseen by our senses. Understanding the role of attention in making us connect
and touch Aprakrta Nāma to warm up with the flow of mercy of satcitananda
energies provides intention for attentive chanting & hearing.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
11 August 2019
MD
04:52
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Module 8/108
Nama Avatara as combination of Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu and empowered omnipotent
Śaktyāvēşa Nāma
Empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is the power of attorney holder of the Aprākrta
Nāma Prabhu. Even when empowered omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nama is acting it is the
shakti of Aprākrita Nāma Prabhu that is acting through it and purifying us and
not just the matter vibration.
Srila Prabhupada conversation 25/2/77
There is one word by Bhaktivinoda Thakura, nāmākshara bahir haya nāma
nāhi haya: "The... Simply the alphabets are coming, but that is not
nāma." Nāmākshara, Hare Krishna, the alphabets, are coming out, but it is
not the holy name.
External sound is the vessel in which Nama Prabhu is delivered to us.
External sound that is produced by our tongue is only the vessel into which
the transcendental Nama sound from the spiritual world is delivered to us for
association. The Aprākrta Nāma is residing in the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma and is
investing all His energies and therefore it is omnipotent. Naamnaam amari
bahuda nija sarva shakti.
The empowered omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nāma which is the vessel through which
God's original Name which is non- different from Him comes to us. It is as good
as God Himself but in substance He is not the God but His energy. God himself
and His energy acting as good as Himself are spiritually two different eternal
categories of Absolute Truth. Energetic and Energy. Krishna's absolute
name is Krishna Himself and is not a material sound or just the prākrta sabdha.
It's substance is always a transcendental or CInmaya sound. Cit+maya in
sanskrit becomes cinmaya .Cinmaya Nāma sabda is identical to Krishna Himself.
Such Nama is satcitananda stuff, self-willed, self-sounding, self-manifest
surrounded by satcitananda effulgence.
Aprākrta Nāma is a Personality and we call Him as the Nāma Prabhu. Empowered
omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is an spiritually empowered spiritualised sound of
this world .
When an electricfied copper wire is electrifiying something what really is
acting is not the copper but the electric energy. In common parlance we say the
copper wire is electrifying things. But copper is different and separate from
the current . However electrified copper is in a different state than
unelectrified copper. In the same way the prakrta sound is in a state of being
a spiritualised sound but it is not identical with the substance of the
Absolute Name of the Lord. Lord Name is always transcendentally situated in
that empowered sound by using His omni-potency and not materially in it in a
material sense.
Srila Prabhupada explains the difference between prakrta sound and aprakrta
sound in the Purport to SB 2.4.22
" There is a gulf of difference between the two qualities of sound,
namely prākrta and aprākrta. The physicist can deal
only with the prākrta sound, or sound vibrated in the material
sky, and therefore we must know that the Vedic sounds recorded in symbolic
expressions cannot be understood by anyone within the universe unless and until
one is inspired by the vibration of supernatural (aprākrta)
sound, which descends in the chain of disciplic succession from the Lord to
Brahmä, from Brahmä to Narada, from Narada to Vyasa and so on. "
You and me as souls or spirit can have a matter body, then why can't Nāma
Prabhu, the Supreme Soul or Spirit have a body of matter sound and express His
self in this world like how we as spirit express our self in this world with a
matter body. Empowered omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is the omnipotent matter
body of the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu. After all everything in existence is His
energy and for Him everything is spiritual energy. Even if out of His own will
the Aprakrta Nama gets embodied as the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma, He is nityamukta
or ever liberated unlike a jiva who gets trapped in the matter body like how we
get trapped. Lord rules over matter but matter rules over us.
.........contd
04:55
.......contd
Though our spiritual mind is dreaming and senses are sleeping, the soul is
eternally radiating attention or consciousness whether
we are conditioned or liberated. This attention energy of a neophyte is also
touching both the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama and Aprākrta Nama Prabhu when he
attentively chants and hears the Śaktyāvēşa Nama . Attention-touch of
Śaktyāvēşa Nama draws purifying spiritual energies into the material mind and
purifies it. When material mind is purified the functions of dreaming spiritual
mind are awakened.
When that happens the pure chanter continues to chant and hear simultaneously
with his prakrta senses as well as with the awakened spiritual mind. It is just
like when we use our eye glasses we don't see the glass but see through the glass
as a transparent medium.
Nama Avatara on our tongue is to be seen as combination of the
prakrta-namasabdha-resembling Aprākrta Nama Prabhu ( Transcendental Personality
with His spiritual effulgent energies) and empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama ( the
omnipotent spiritualized matter body of that Personality) .
We are using two different names in order to differentiate the Potent which is
Aprākrta Nama Prabhu and His transcendental potency which is the empowered
omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nama. They act combinedly on the conditioned soul.
Absolute truth consists of both the Lord and His Shaktis and not Lord alone.
Everything in existence is an action of the Lord and His energies and not Lord
alone.
We can apply these principles to Archa vigraha also. The prākrta Vigraha of the
Deity is made of stone or metal and the aprākrta satcitananda Vigraha
resembling the form of the prākrta Vigraha enters and resides in it. Archa
avatara is not just stone or metal. It is the combination of aprākrta and
spiritualized prākrta vigraha. The aprākrta satcitananda vigraha enters and
spiritualizes the matter vigraha which act as the medium for devotees to offer
service and receive reciprocation from the identical looking satcitananada
archa avatara residing therein.
If, as sadhakas, we dont learn these truths we will get doubt as to 'How can a
material sound produced by my prakrta tongue which is not satcitananda be
Krishna Himself ?' And if He is dancing on my tongue while chanting then why I
am not able to experience all the glorious things told about holy name which is
so tangible to me?
During japa we have to clearly remember in the background that the recipient of
our service, Sevya, is the Aprākrta or the transcendental Lord even if it is
offered through the Śaktyāvēşa Nama and also appreciate His merciful actions by
which He makes it possible to serve Him with by acccepting service through our
prakrta senses in our present imprisoned condition.
The Śaktyāvēşa Nama should never be seen without resembling Aprākrta Nama Prabhu
accompany it. Having full faith that He is present before us and my attention
is touching Him and yet we are unable to experience the direct blissful
chanting and hearing of the Aprākrta Nama creates a feeling of separation from
that spiritual experience of wanting some day pure chanting and tasting the
sweetness of the Aprakrta Nama as described by Srila Rupa Goswami which I am
potentially capable of. That separation builds up a craving for the experience
of chanting Aprākrta Nama with our spiritual mind and senses. This separation
and craving will accelerate the awakening of our spiritual mind and senses.
This separation and craving is also a perfect form of Nāma smaranam or
appreciative remembrance of the Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu.
Suppose I was blind. And I am taken close to mountain and told that a mountain
is before me. If I have faith I can feel the truth of mountain before me. I can
feel existential-presence but cannot feel the experiential-presence
due to my blindness. In the same way I should chant with faith in the
existential presence of Aprākrta Nama before me who is powering the prakrta
namasabda on my prakrta tongue into a Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
17 August 2019
MD
05:11
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 9/108
The Absolute Name of Krishna is not name-sound vibration of this world
Just because He mercifully enters a prākrta
sound body for our sake, don't limit Him to that matter body. Srila Prabhupada
cautions us thus:
" Krishna is always Krishna, but because we cannot see anything beyond
material elements like wood, stone, and metal, He appears in a form made of
these elements. But He is neither wood, metal, nor stone. When we
associate with the Deity, we associate with Krishna personally. Because Krishna
is invisible, He very kindly takes a form that is visible to us. This is
Krishna ’s mercy. Do not think, “Oh, here is a stone Krishna.”
TLK. Chapter 4
Srila Prabhupada Lecture 25/1/1975
So immediately you can be in touch with Krishna by vibrating this sound,
Hare Krishna. It is so potent. Nāma cintāmanih Krishna chaitanya-rasa-vigrahah
[Cc. Madhya 17.133]. The name of Krishna is cintāmani, transcendental. It is
not this material sound, material name. Nāma cintāmanih Krishna chaitanya.
Living force, chaitanya. It is not dead sound.
Srila Prabhupada is differentiating the external Deity the Personality of
Krishna but says for associating they are equal.
Further he is cautioning never reduce Krishna only to a stone or material sound
or the external vigraha of the Deity.
Now let us adopt the above quote by applying the same principles for Nāma
Avatāra. It will run like this: ( I have just replaced Deity by Nāma Avatāra in
the above quote.) It will read like this.
" But He is not material vibration. When we
associate with the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma Avatāra, we associate with Krishna Nama
personally. Because transcendental Krishna Nāma is inaudible to material
ears, He very kindly takes a vibrational form that is audible to us. This is
Krishna"s mercy. Do not think, “Oh, here is a material vibration or sound
of Krishna.”
Suppose you look at a mango juice in a transparent bottle, you should not
think that the juice, its colour and its taste is coming from the bottle though
it is a fact that it is coming through the bottle. Bottle is bottle and juice
is juice and colour and taste is coming from juice. The juice may take the
shape of the bottle and look like the bottle . Juice is like the Aprākrta Nama
Prabhu and the bottle is like the prakrta namasabda which is shined upon by the
Aprākrta Nama and empowered.
So when we chant and hear Śaktyāvēşa Nama with attention, we are also giving
attention to chant and hear the Apākrta Nama because He has detailed sound
features of both are alike. But in the beginning we cannot feel the
attention-touch of the Aprākrta Nama because of dreamy attention of our soul.
As we continue with our attention-touch, spiritual energy is drawn which
awakens the soul's spiritual mind and then we can begin to experience awakened
attention-touch of Aprākrta Nama.
Because of our dreamy distance from the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu we should not
think that our service now of chanting and hearing is not reaching the Aprākrta
Nama Prabhu. For the Lord we are never distant. Thus even now our service of
offering attention to chanting and hearing the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama is
also simultaneously being accepted by Aprākrta Nama Prabhu.
The Aprākrta Nama Prabhu resembling the sound features of prakrta-namasabda is
the person in the scene who is accepting our services of chanting and hearing.
And that Nama Prabhu with all His shaktis has mercifully come to us through the
vessel of empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
Aprākrta Nama would say to the chanter: just as you are the soul within your
body in this world I have also incarnated myself with a omnipotent body of
Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. You cannot see your true 'self' in the body with your material
senses. So also you cannot my hear or chant my aprakrta Nama within the
Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. You, as an aprakrta soul and Me as the Aprakrta Nama are both
of the same quality.
MD
09:29
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Serve and associate with
my Śaktyāvēşa Nāma draw spiritual energy from Me and dissolve your false ego
covering your true self and then you can transcendentally chant and hear My
Nāma with your transcendental mind and senses which are now in deep slumber and
dreaming thinking you are the material body and other people are their material
bodies.
Soulful Japa
Module 10/108
Our journey of self-purification and awakening of the spiritual mind.
In the spiritual world everything is made of cit or self conscious
substance or cinmaya vastu. The body, ego, intelligence and mind in the
material world surrounding the soul is not spiritual. It is not made of
self-conscious energy called 'cit' like the soul stuff.
Jiva or brahman means spirit person ( contrary to impersonal school) .
Brahman means the eternal soul person with its own spiritual functions of ego,
intelligence and mind, combinedly called spiritual mind . Brahman is capable of
eternal personal functions for identifying with a body for 'being' and
'operating' such a body through his faculties of seeing, desiring, thinking,
feeling, wiling and doing with the objective to seek varieties of ananda or
rasa ( rasa-ing) in relationship with Parabrahman and other brahman beings.
SB 4.30.20
" At present we have contacted a material body, material mind and
material intelligence, but when we become free from these material conditions,
our spiritual body, spiritual mind and spiritual intelligence become manifest."
When the soul is in Krishna consciousness, the truth that I belong to Krishna,
and seeks rasa in loving service of Krishna, the soul operates a spiritual body
with his spiritual mind and spiritual intelligence for such loving service. By
forgetting myself as being part and parcel of Krishna, my spiritual mind is
influenced by lusty intelligence of seeking self-centered rasa for myself and
goes into a spell of identifying with a material body and with material
existence. However in either case the spiritual mind's nature is to want to
identify itself with body, bodily seer identity and bodily doer identity,
either spiritual body or material body.
Choosing an existence of self seeking rasa, my spiritual mind immediately
identifies and adopts a independent false seer-identity of being the material
body and a doer-identity to operate a material body with working senses and
knowledge acquiring senses with a mind and intelligence made of dead matter
animated by the the sanction of Supersoul seated in these bodies. All this I do
with the power of my spiritual mind who has the intrinsic spiritual faculty to
be a seer ego and doer ego to identify with and operate this material body,
material senses, bodily ego, material mind and material intelligence for the
purpose of extracting self-gratification by lording over the material
existence. This journey of seeking Krishna less-rasas of material existence,
material knowledge and material happiness and material pleasure is governed as
per the laws of karma stringently executed by eternal Kala, the agency of
Krishna.
What is spiritual awakening ? It means waking up the soul and its spiritual
mind from the spell of illusory ego and world of other false egos and realizing
its own eternal spiritual ego, spiritual intelligence and spiritual mind with
its functions of being, desiring , thinking, feeling, willling and seeing.
touching, smelling, tasting and hearing and doing loving service to the eternal
Lord in a spiritual body .
What is purification? Purifying means purifying the false ego to pure ego,
purifying material body, mind, intelligence and senses which is currently
covering our soul's original faculties of spiritual ego, mind, intelligence,
body and senses. How does it get purified? By engaging them in Krishna's service
which material body system and its desiring, thinking, feeling, willing and
doing to vibrate in the frequency of loving devotional service.
.......contd
09:29
..........contd.
When we, as a sadhaka, chant and hear attentively, our material mind is engaged
in thinking, feeling, willing, desiring and relating or rasa-ing in service of
Nama Avatara and our dreaming spiritual mind identifies with those actions and
contents of the material mind.
This wakes up the soul's presently dreaming spiritual mind which is currently
engaging these soul faculties in dreamlike state to operate on dream-like
material bodies, senses, ego, mind and intelligence of the material world for
extracting illusory material rasas.
The involvement of soul and the spiritual mind will be passive in japa as
merely a kshetrja or knower in the beginning as it is still dreaming illusory
life and when gradually awakened becomes active working parallel with the
material mind in serving the Nama. This is beginning of soulful japa.
Japa attracts flow of spiritual energies from the Nama Avatara which first
spiritualize our contaminated attention, material mind and senses. In addition
to and parallel to this, the attention continues to touch the Aprākrta Nama. By
such touch the attention gradually gets purified of the three modes of material
nature.
By continuous association with Aprākrta Nama through such purified attention,
the dreaming spiritual mind gradually awakens to its eternal existential
situation resulting in pure self-Self knowledge and it sees it true self as
loving servant of the Lord. This pure self-knowledge frees the soul from the
trap of identification with the material body and mind and senses and it sees
the body-mind merely as an instrument or yantra with which to serve the Lord
using his awakened spiritual mind.
This awakening of spiritual mind further awakens our original sleeping
spiritual sense faculties and engage them to participate to chant and hear the
Aprākrta Nama with untainted love and full experiential touch of
transcendentally sweet Nama. This is a very advanced stage of soulful japa.
Thus starting with plain attention touch we end up in experiential presence
of Aprākrta Nama.
By serving the Aprakrta Nama purely from such a liberated platform till end
of life, at the time of death the soul is awarded a suitable spiritual
satcitananda body in the spiritual world to eternally engage in loving service
of Krishna.
Thus the Nama Avatara can give us everything beginning with dis-identification
& detachment from material body, true Self-self knowledge,
awakening of love for Krishna in the self and taking the soul to the
spiritual world and giving us a spiritual body. Such is the
priceless treasure of Nama Prabhu given to us by Srila Prabhupada which he has
received through the disciplic succession starting from Krishna Himself.
Note that both the Empowered omnipotent prākrta namasabda ( Śaktyāvēşa Nama
)and Aprākrta Nama are simultaneously acting upon the two planes of existence
from day one to purify material mind-body system and awaken our love for
Krishna. One at material mind body plane and the other at the plane of soul and
soul's attention.
The serving attention from the soul is touching both of them simultaneously.
Just see the importance of serving attention as a conduit that connects the
soul to the Nama Avatara.
One should take complete shelter of the most merciful Nama Prabhu for all
success and serve Him soulfully as our soul's sole ambition.
And as gratitude to Srila Prabhupada for giving us this Nama Avatara and
teaching us to serve Him let us serve His personal mission to distribute to
everyone the science and art of chanting as a preacher of the holy name mainly
by distributing his books.
Once Srila Prabhupada asked his disciples why he has written so many books.
Different devotees gave different answers like to give philosophy to save the
world etc. Srila Prabhupada was silent to all these answers. Finally he gave
the answer. I have written these books to make people chant the holy names.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
09:29
QUOTE 14
On Aprākrta and prākrta sound
Bhaktivedanta Purport to SB 2.4.22
" There is a gulf of difference between
the two qualities of sound, namely prākrta and aprākrta. The physicist can deal
only with the prākrta sound, or sound vibrated in the material sky, and
therefore we must know that the Vedic sounds recorded in symbolic expressions
cannot be understood by anyone within the universe unless and until one is
inspired by the vibration of supernatural (aprākrta) sound, which descends in
the chain of disciplic succession from the Lord to Brahmä, from Brahmä to
Narada, from Narada to Vyasa and so on. No mundane scholar can translate or
reveal the true import of the Vedic mantras (hymns). "
Purport to SB 6.4.33
In regard to the significant word anāma-rupah, Shri Shridhar Swami says, prākrta-nāma-rupa-rahito
'pi. The word anāma, which means "having no name," indicates
that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no material name.
Srila Prabhupada conversation 25/2/77
There is one word by Bhaktivinoda Thakura, nāmākshara bahir haya nāma
nāhi haya: "The... Simply the alphabets are coming, but that is not
nāma." Nāmākshara, Hare Krishna, the alphabets, are coming out, but it is
not the holy name.
Application to Japa
Please read Module 7 to 10
Empowered omnipotent prākrta nāmasabda called Śaktyāvēşa Nāma that we
utter with our material tongue is an empowered medium to give access for our
spiritual mind and senses to purify themselves and eventually enable us to
experience eternal Aprākrta Nāma with our spiritually awakened mind and
senses. Empowered prākrta nāmasabda is thus the sound empowered by the Aprākrta
Nāma Prabhu and it becomes the Śaktyāvēşa Nama. The absolute Lord is
prākrta-nāma-rupa-rahito. 'Rahito' means without prākrta-nāma or rupa or
without material name or form. Therefore as a matter of fact Śaktyāvēşa Nāma
not identical to
Aprākrta Nāma but functionally with respect receiving service and
reciprocating with His devotees, Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is as good as the Aprākrta
Nāma .
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa,
Quote 14A
Srila Prahupada in Teachings of Lord Kapila chapter 4
" Krishna is always Krishna, but because we cannot see anything
beyond material elements like wood, stone, and metal, He appears in a form made
of these elements. But He is neither wood, metal, nor stone. When
we associate with the Deity, we associate with Krishna personally. Because
Krishna is invisible, He very kindly takes a form that is visible to us. This
is Krishna ’s mercy. Do not think, “Oh, here is a stone Krishna.”
Application to Japa
In the above quote Srila Prabhupada is confirming that external sound
vigraha which is the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma Avatāra and Personality of Nama
Prabhu or Suddha Nama of Krishna are two different tattvas but the rasa
is that associating and serving Śaktyāvēşa Nāma Avatāra is as good as
associating and serving the Suddha Nama of the Lord.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
09:30
Quote 15
Subject: Avatara is all-spiritual for the Lord.
Srimad Bhagavatam Purport 1.12.9
He accepts the form of arca-vigraha (worshipable
Deity) just to accept service from His different incapable devotees. By the
mercy of the arca-vigraha, the form of the Lord in material elements, the
devotees who are in the material world can easily approach the Lord, although He
is not conceivable by the material senses. The arca-vigraha is therefore an
all-spiritual form of the Lord to be perceived by the material devotees; such
an arca-vigraha of the Lord is never to be considered material. There is no
difference between matter and spirit for the Lord, although there is a gulf of
difference between the two in the case of the conditioned living being. For the
Lord there is nothing but spiritual existence, and similarly there is nothing
except spiritual existence for the pure devotee of the Lord in his intimate
relation with the Lord. SB 1.12.9
Application to japa
The Lord's name, form when they descend into the material elements, for Him
those material elements are all spiritul. All spiritual Lord, who descends into
an external name, form made of matter, is also a spiritual dress for him and
not a material dress. For us there this material body is a material dress. For
Him if he wears a body of matter, it is all spiritual. Therefore serving the
external name, form etc accessible to our senses is as good as serving the
transcendental name, form etc. Further such external name , form etc is as
omnipotent as the Lord and is fully spiritualized.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
QUOTE 15A
Subject: Krishna is one and different from His energies
SB 4.11.18 Purport.
How the Lord acts is nicely explained in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa: fire is
situated in one place, while the heat and light produced by the fire act in
many different ways. Another example given is that the electric powerhouse is
situated in one place, but by its energies many different types of machinery
move.
The production is never identical with the original source of the energy, but
the original source of energy, being the prime factor, is simultaneously one
with and different from the product. Therefore Lord Caitanya’s philosophy,
acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, is the perfect way of understanding.
Application to Japa
Adopting the above quote for Nama, would read like this: Empowered Śaktyāvēşa
Nama is not identical to Aprākrta Nama, the original source of energy but being
the prime factor, the Aprākrta Nama is simultaneously one and different from
His empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama. The empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama is His energy and
also as good as the Aprākrta Nāma but different from Himself. Therefore the
perfect way of understanding is that Śaktyāvēşa Nama is simultaneously one and
different from Aprākrta Nama.
Therefore empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama can act as good as Aprākrta Nama in all His
lilas including recieving and reciprocating our services and acting as conduit
to transfer His shaktis or energies to us to purify our material senses and
mind are concerned.
The Aprākrta Nama always act on spiritual platform. In material plane He acts through
the Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama is potentially omnipotent and
can move itself and other matter beyond material limitations posed by time,
space and its substance as is required to either mime or support the lilas of
the Aprākrta Nama in this world. All these activities of avatara is facilitated
by His atmamaya potency.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
09:30
QUOTE 16
Subject: Material mind and Spiritual mind.
SB 4.30.20
" At present we have contacted a material
body, material mind and material intelligence, but when we become free from
these material conditions, our spiritual body, spiritual mind and spiritual
intelligence become manifest."
Application to Japa
Read last part of Module 10
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 16A
Subject: Nama avatara reveals the form, qualities and pastimes.
When we chant, we must concentrate our mind on the sound vibration and in that
way everything will be revealed one after another; the form, qualities,
pastimes, etc. of the Lord.
And this is the way of cultivating spiritual realization.
Lᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴏ Jᴀɢᴀᴅɪsᴀ - Lᴏs Aɴɢᴇʟᴇs, Fᴇʙʀᴜᴀʀʏ 27, 1970 by Srila Prabhupāda
Application to Japa
Concentrating our attention on the sound features of the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma
which is the externally manifest empowered prakrta-namasabdha on our tongue is
same as concentration our attention on Aprakrta Nama which has assumed sound
features that resemble the prakrta-namasabdha.
Aprakrta Nama is transcendental Suddha Nama. Suddha Nama is non-different from
the Lord HImself. Pure devotional service to Suddha Nama is rendered with our
awakened spiritual self and mind and senses.
Brahma samhita describes the personal body or vigraha of the Supreme
Perosnality of Godhead as ananda-cinmaya-sad-ujjwala vigraha or sat cit ananda
vigraha. So the Name of His satcitananda vigraha is also satcitananda Nama. The
form of His satcitananda vigraha is also satcitananda-rupa. The qualities of
His satcitananda vigraha is also satcitananda-guna. The activities of His
satcitananda vigraha is also satcitananda-lila etc. His satcitananda vigraha or
body is the culmination of everything about Himself.
So any one of them can reveal every other aspects of His satcitananda vigraha.
Suddha Nama can reveal His satcitananda vigraha which is containing His form,
qualities, pastimes etc. Anyone of then contains every one of the other. This
principle is called advaya jnana or non-dual knowledge.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
22 August 2019
MD
09:41
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 17
Subject: Awarding of spiritual body
Srimad Bhagavatam 1.6.28
Having been awarded a transcendental body
befitting an associate of the Personality of Godhead, I quit the body made of
five material elements, and thus all acquired fruitive results of work [karma]
stopped.
Purport
Informed by the Personality of Godhead that he would be awarded a
transcendental body befitting the Lord's association, Närada got his spiritual
body as soon as he quitted his material body. This transcendental body is free
from material affinity and invested with three primary transcendental
qualities, namely eternity, freedom from material modes, and freedom from
reactions of fruitive activities. The material body is always afflicted with
the lack of these three qualities. A devotee's body becomes at once surcharged
with the transcendental qualities as soon as he is engaged in the devotional
service of the Lord. It acts like the magnetic influence of a touchstone upon
iron. The influence of transcendental devotional service is like that.
Therefore change of the body means stoppage of the reaction of three
qualitative modes of material nature upon the pure devotee.
Srila Prabhupada Conversations, 710217 , 1971, Feb 17
Prabhupada: Liberated means at the present moment under this material,
in this material world, he is accepting material body, and when he is bona fide
servant of Krishnaa, he'll be offered a spiritual body. Just like a soldier. A
person, so long he's not a soldier, he does not, he is not awarded the uniform.
But as soon as he accepts the service as a soldier, immediately he is given the
uniform. So you are accepting different bodies in the material world, and that
is bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg. 8.19]. You are accepting one type of body, it
is becoming vanquished, again you have to accept another. But as soon as you become
perfectly Krishna conscious, tyaktva dehah punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9], then,
after leaving this body, he does not come to this material world. He is
immediately... Mam eti, he transfers. Similarly, he accepts spiritual body. Is
it clear or not?
Application to Japa
Read last part of Module 10
Quote 18
Subject: The Nama Avatara is omnipotent or Śaktyāvēşa avatāra.
Śrī Çaitanya-Çaritāmrta, Madhya-līlā 20.245-255 -- December 16, 1966, New
York
Kali-yuga in this age, this incarnation of name—Hare Krishna, Hare
Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare—to give facility to the conditioned soul.”
Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nijasarva-śakti. Śakti, this word is used, Śakti. And from
Śakti, that energy, Śaktya avatāra. So, this name is also Śaktyāvēşa avatāra.
Application to japa
The prakrta namasabda that we chant into which all shakti is invested by
the empowering Aprakrta Nama Prabhu is the Śaktyāvēşa Nama. When Aprakrta Nama
and the Śaktyāvēşa Nama combine together as soul and body, the combination is
called the Nāma avatāra. The soul of Nama Avatara is the
prakrta-namasabda-resembling Aprakrta Nama Prabhu and the body is the
Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
The transcendental-sound of Hare Krishna mahamantra or the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu
empowers the matter vibration we produce.That external vibration is called the
empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama who becomes His potentially omnipotent body of this
world. Nama avatara means this combination. Aprākrta Nama is the Lord Himself
and the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama is an all powerful body that through which
the Aprākrta Nāma expresses all His activities in the world as an incarnation
accessible to our material senses. His atmamaya manages all affairs of the
incarnation of the Lord. Sambhavami atmamayaya.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Das
24 August 2019
MD
08:05
Madhu Pandit Dasa
SOULFUL JAPA
Module 11/108 ( Part 1)
Attention-connection, attention-embrace and our sleeping and dreaming
spiritual mind
Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.3 delivered at Caracas Feb 14, 1971
Krishna is eternal. We living entities, we are eternal. And our relationship
and exchange of loving service with is also eternal. Krishna is eternal, we are
eternal, and our dealings with Krishna is also eternal. But sometimes it
becomes interrupted by the mäyä, which is called svapna. Svapna means
dreamlike. As dream has no fact, it is all hallucination, similarly our
detachment from Krishna is also a hallucination. Actually, there is no
detachment. And when we are covered by this hallucination... Just like in dream
we cry, "Oh, here is a tiger! Here is a tiger!" Tiger. Where is
tiger? Similarly, this forgetfulness of Krishna is like that. So if we simply
follow the rules and regulations given by the great äcäryas, then immediately
we can revive our Krishna consciousness. It doesn't take even second. The
method...(?) Just like you are dreaming, crying, "There is tiger,
tiger." And if somebody pushes you, "Why you are doing that?"
And if you immediately become awake "Oh! All tiger finished."
(laughter) "All tiger finished." So one has to give the push that
"There is no tiger." Then immediately the whole hallucination will
go.
Attention in dream and wakeful state
When I dream at night I experience that I see, hear, touch, smell, taste, the
objects, people and also think, feel & will for different situations in the
dream. From the point of view of my real world all these are experienced only
in my dreaming mind by applying dreamy attention on the content of the dream
which is being churned out by the mind without any external reality. It is temporary
display in my mind. However dreamer and attention energy and mental experience
of pain and pleasure is still a reality as far as experience is concerned when
I am dreaming. The dreamer is merely the knower of the contents of the dream
with the help of his dreamy spiritual attention as compared to
wakeful attention when he is awake. My real senses of my real body are not
touching the dream objects as they are sleeping. We are only seers of the dream
that is created by the mind and that world of so called reality that is thus
created is limited to my mind. I am falsely imagining in the dream that I am
having a sensual experience of a so called reality people, objects and life
situations through imagined body and senses. But that is illusion because my real
senses and real world are outside the dream. There is no real experience-touch
by real senses in a dream as the real senses are asleep.
In the same way, we are spiritually sleeping now and the dreamy attention of my
spiritual mind is locked down into watching and identifying with my material
body as my real body. My dream begins at birth and dream ends at death. Again
another dreams begins in another body. My spiritual mind is believing the
interpretation created by the material intelligence that I am the material body
and other people are their material bodies and we are members of so-called real
world of society friendship, relatives and love. But when I am spiritually
awake my soul sees ( knows) the same objects and people's bodies outside me 'as
it is' objectively with wakeful spiritual attention without the
mis-reading with our material minds that the material bodies are our bodies.
Our spiritual mind and its attention can thus be either glued on to the
illusory content created by our material mind or real content as it is.
Finally whether it is dreamy attention or awakened attention it is spiritual
attention of the soul.
..... contd.
25 August 2019
MD
08:16
Madhu Pandit Dasa
........contd
My spiritual mind and senses existing in a spiritual dimension and are sleeping
now and is dreaming . Jivas in this world are active in a dreaming state
through its dreamy attention by identifying and equating with the body as the
soul. The content of the material mind is taken as his own desiring, thinking,
feeling and willing. Identifying & equating the body, bodily ego and it's
thinking, feeling, willing, desiring, doing, as if they are real. But the
dreamy attention that is coming out of all jivas of this world is real
spiritual energy of the soul even in this material world. Krishna describes
that the jivas in this world are only kshetrajna or knowers of their gross
body, the gross world through its senses & contents in his subtle mind. The
soul or the knower, his the gross body and subtle mind and world outside are
all part of an objective world. But what reality my material mind weaves out of
them is illusion or a dream or hallucination.
In our conditioned state the soul in this body is 'knowing' through dreamy
attention only forms, sounds etc of material nature. Prakrta form, prakrta
sounds etc seen and heard etc with prakrta eyes and prakrta ears etc. The soul
is connected to this prakrta forms, sounds, and their interpretations in the
material mind only through attention-touch as a kshetrajna. This filed of
material energy is called on the kshetra. The soul has a knower-known
relationship with prakrti. Please read Chapter 13 of Bhagavad Gita.
Applying this understanding to japa
In the prākrta namasabda that we utter with our prakrta tongues, the
Aprākrta Nama Prabhu incarnates and makes it an empowered omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa
Nama by means of investing all of His potencies into it.
As sadhakas, though our spiritual mind is sleeping, it is that very spiritual
mind who is releasing its attention energy and touching the empowered
Śaktyāvēşa Nama & Aprākrta Nama Prabhu. Nevertheless it is a dreamy
attention or not awakened attention. This is because attention is spiritual
energy, irrespective of whether it is dreamy or awakened. But I cannot have
real experiential-touch of satcitananda Aprākrta Nama Prabhu by hearing it
because of sleeping spiritual senses of speaking and hearing. In essence even
though I am not in a position to touch the Aprakrta Nama with my spiritual
senses, my dreamy attention is automatically touching touch the Aprākrta Nama
Prabhu when my attention touch of the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama through
attentive chanting-cum-hearing. I have a attention-touch of transcendental Nama
without spiritual speaking or hearing of that Nama.
We can touch transcendental God even now.
It is a great blessing to know that I can touch God even in this
conditioned state even though it may be only with my dreamy attention because
of Him descending into the Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Experiential touch of the
Śaktyāvēşa Nama by distinctly chanting and carefully hearing constitutes
simultaneous attention-touch of the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu.
This knowledge about the potential of my association with God through
attention-embrace and the knowledge that it is in our hands to set up the
attention-connection using our free will creates a very deep intention to
be attentive during japa. Intention for attention-connection and
attention-embrace holds the atmacesta on the Nama Avatara.
In order to create this deep intention to connect with the Nama avatara with
our attention, I have used the dream analogy. If you find the analysis
complicated, don't worry. Just ensure that you understand that your serving
attention is not only touching Śaktyāvēşa Nama but also association with the Aprākrta
Nama sabdha. Later after some more practice of soulful japa you will understand
clearly the dream analogy.
..... contd
26 August 2019
MD
07:12
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Our intenton for establishing attention connection increases multi-fold if we
can intellectually understand how I am actually touching not only empowered
Śaktyāvēşa Nama but also Aprākrta Nama Prabhu with my dreamy spiritual mind. We
have to deepen our faith in this fact. I am spirit. My attention is spirit.
Aprākrta Nama is all spirit. Thus the tiny spirit touches the Supreme spirit
through the conduit of attention which itself is spirit. Thus it is by setting
up of attention-embrace with not only Śaktyāvēşa Nama but also the Aprākrta
Nama Prabhu who mercifully releases satcitananda energies into our spiritual
minds.
And slowly the attention-connection acts as a conduit for flow of pure
knowledge energy into our spiritual mind causing it to wake up. And as we wake
up, our dreamy attention starts becoming spiritually awakened attention and we
stop our interpretation that the mapping of our bodies and other bodies are our
real bodies and that this world is not the real society of real identities.
Everyone is haunted with the false ego that ' I am this body and others are
their bodies.
So setting up the attention-embrace with Nama avatara is our job. We do our job
and wait by begging for the flow of mercy in order to wake up our spiritual
minds from the spiritual slumber and realize self-Self knowledge.
Following the awakening of the spiritual mind our spiritual senses awaken and
participate in chanting and hearing the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu with awakened
attention. It is at this very stage we experience what Srila Rupa Goswami said
about wanting a million tongues and ears to taste the Nama.
Observing attention energy
Next let us see some basics of our attention energy.
The very same soul and its attention energy are active both when in the
material world or in the spiritual world. In one case I am applying my
attention energy on absolute reality. In the other case I am applying the
attention energy on material varieties through my material senses and its
concocted meaning of things, people and situations in my material mind. The
dreamy spiritual mind identifies with this body and material mind and 'knows'
everything through it attention energy like watching an interactive movie.
Just as a light torch shines light energy from it, the soul also shines
attention energy. If I show the torch in a dark room on a photo frame, I will
see that photo. If I turn the torch to the floor I will see the pattern of the
flooring. So wherever the light falls I see what is there.
Soul is the attention torch. Atma cesta is the torch switch .
Attention from soul is also like the light from the torch. This torch is
nothing but our atma cesta or effort to 'do' and to' know'. Soul is like an
attention or consciousness torch, and the switch of that attention torch is
atma cesta. By our desire and free will ( asa-iccha) we can place our cesta and
attention on any domain (kshetra) we choose and immediately we ( kshetrajna)
will 'know' that domain.
Attention is soul's own property. Attention is soul's energy. He is the owner
and controller of it by using our free will to direct it for any doing and
knowing. If your mobile rings now you can decide to give attention to the call
or not. We can direct it where we want it to shine.
Liberation from the illusion is available just for our asking provided we
somehow or the other maintain our attention-embrace of all merciful Nama
Avatara by distinctly chanting and carefully hearing Him who is all-knowledge.
We have to place our soul in the fire of satcitananda of Śaktyāvēşa Nama. For
this we have to use our free will to apply Kriya cesta and jnana cesta on the
Nama without allowing it to be diverted.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
27 August 2019
MD
04:22
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 11/108 (Part 2)
Attention-touch and our sleeping and dreaming spiritual mind
The existence of external matter world is not total dream.
Limitations of dream analogy
Having anyway introduced above the analogy of
our daily dream I have to caution you also on the limitations of extending this
analogy too far by saying that the objective external world itself is an
illusion. That does not represent the real truth about the material world as
per Srimad Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam.
I will attempt to explain that below as it is a very basic understanding of
Vaishnava philosophy and helps us detach ourselves from material world.
In our daily dream our minds create an exclusive dream for each of us. You and
me are dreaming independently in our own dream worlds. Total experience is my
mind's imagination. There is nothing of the dream outside my mind. Our
spiritual dreaming is not like that at all as explained in the beginning of
this module. By extending the analogy of dream we should not think that the
world outside us is all soul's dream. This is the caution. The external world
is not soul's dream. It is an objective world made of real energy of the Lord
from out of which we individually weave a dream in our minds on the seed of
illusion that the my soul is my body and other bodies are other souls and the
world made of those false identities and their inter-relationship is the real
society of friendship and love.
This material creation is an opulence of Vishnu which undergoes the cycle of
creation, maintenance and dissolution. It is called eka pada vibhuti or 1/4 th
of opulences of Krishna. His tripada vibhuti is the spiritual world.
To say that the external matter world itself is a dream woven in my mind is to
deny the objective existence as one of the opulences of Krishna. Then what is
all this talk about life being a dream? Read carefully below if you are
interested to know that.
What kind of dream the jiva is in this world?
If I mistake a rope to be a snake in darkness can I say that the rope does not
exist out there just because my mind sees it as a snake? No. The fact is that
rope's existence is independent of my misperception of that rope as something
else in my mind.
Rope can be compared to our soul and snake can be compared to the body. Rope is
not illusion. Snake is not illusion. Mistaking one for the other is the
illusion. My 'lifeless' body is not an illusion by itself. It is a real energy
called āparā prakrti by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. The 'knower' in these
body is also not illusion and that is parā prakrti energy. The 'knower' creates
a mistaken perception in his material mind that the lifeless body is same as the
knower himself & other 'lifeless' bodies in this world to be other souls.
This misperception is called false ego and they exist in the mind and
they act as a permanent coloured glass stored in our subconscious mind. A red
glass on our eyes will make the world look red. In the same way false ego makes
the real ego 'know' the world for the interests of the false ego that I am this
body rather than the real interest of the real ego having his real identity as
servant of Krishna.
contd.....
29 August 2019
MD
13:38
Madhu Pandit Dasa
....contd
After the soul leaves his previous body, he appears in the gross world as a new
born baby. As the newly born baby grows, he slowly sees the world through his
senses and interprets his body as himself as other bodies of other people
around him as their bodies and stores these false egos the cittam or
subconscious mind as I and and them and the world. Slowly the baby mind builds
a illusory world of people around him who also nurture the same belief that
they are their respective bodies.
The soul's nature is to seek sat cit ananda rasa. Now baby tries to seek this
satcitananda rasa for mistaken self or the body. A web of bodily relationships
and desires is woven into a illusory world by the material mind (manah gatah).
Day after day and he reinforces his world with experiences of rasa both
successful and unsuccessful.
The spiritual mind simply identifies with the contents ( interpretations) of
the material mind that are stored as cittam or subconscious mind. Thus slowly his
cittam or subconscious mind grows as a storehouse of emotional memories of his
real ego in his haunted role-play as false ego, its desires and its activities.
The world outside us is a real world but designed to facilitate our illusory
reading that we are our the matter bodies and maya tempts us to seek out our so
called satcitananda rasa in our world of false egos. Illusion consists of the
reading of false meanings of things, people and situation he sees with the mind
and therefore illusion is not outside the mind. All jivas in this world are
real people stuck in a common ignorant belief about themselves that they are
their lifeless bodies. The truth is that both the jivas and their lifeless
bodies are two different substances or categories of truth or tattvas. Whether
a car is parked or is running it is still a lifeless object. So also is our
body whether living or dead, it is intrinsically a dead thing. The living
person is the soul or the knower.
Our ignorant conditioned misreading of that reality with the help of the
factory of the conditioned intelligence and mind and stored in the subconscious
mind is ever ready to constantly interpret our perception of the world around
the desires of the false egos.We should not mistakenly think that material world
itself is the soul's dream like Mayavadis think. The world is real world
designed, created and controlled by a real Lord as Maha Vishnu and His
expansions is to be appreciated as one of His unlimited glories.
The actual spinning of illusion is done by material mind-intelligence and not
by the spiritual mind. The spiritual mind acts only as a kshetrajna or knower
and just experiences the illusion through its dreamy attention what is going on
in the material mind and experiences the duality of success and failure,
happiness and distress, pain and pleasures and victory and loss what is
produced by the material mind.
contd....
1 September 2019
MD
04:30
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
How does this happen?
SB 4.30.20
" At present we have contacted a material body, material mind and
material intelligence, but when we become free from these material conditions,
our spiritual body, spiritual mind and spiritual intelligence become manifest."
SB 3.26.1 Lecture Bombay , 13 Dec 1974
So prākṛta means this material prakṛti, and spiritual means aprākṛta.
The soul or eternal real ego's dream activities of identifying, falsely
egoing, desiring, thinking, feeling and willing and doing are produced by three
modes of material nature acting upon the material body-mind system. Material
system consists of a machine made of body, false ego, intelligence and mind
which is animated by the standing order of the Supersoul. The dreamy spiritual
mind identifies with the body that it only ' knows' through its dreamy attention
and is the temporary enjoyer and sufferer of these identified experiences.
This is confirmed by Lord Krishna in Chapter 13 of Bhagavad Gita where He
reveals the transcendental position of jiva as only a kshetrjna and what it
sees is called the kshetra or field.
We have to wake up means to see things as they are (tattva darshinah) in this
world with our material minds by first taking help of spiritual knowledge from
guru, sadhu and sastra. Spiritual mind's only action now is to simply identify
with thoughts, feelings and willings of the material mind. If the contents of
my material mind is free from ignorance through hearing true knowledge from
guru, sadhu and sastras and turning into realization by association with Nama
Prabhu then the material mind acts as a friend of the spiritual mind and the
soul become free from identifying with self-ignorance and still perceive and
live in this world for a spiritual purpose.
The seed of illusion is the mis-reading by my material intelligence that ' I am
this gross and subtle body'. it is followed by the most complicated emotional
networks in the material mind of I and mine.. These emotional networks are
based on this mis-reading can be busted only if pure 'sat' , 'cit' and 'ananda'
shakti or energy mercifully flows from the Nama Prabhu through the conduit of
attention to the cittam and purify it. The contamination is on cittam
surrounding the soul and not in the soul itself. When pure cit flows from Nama
Prabhu, we awaken our real ego as being brahman and a servant of Krishna and
our true love for Krishna. After that, the devotee's ego, as servant of Krishna
use their bodies only as very nice material instrument for the service of his
eternal master and never use it for their own sense gratification.
contd...
4 September 2019
MD
21:30
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Detachment-False emotions thought to be absolute transforms into emotions
as in a drama.
In the example where the rope is being mistaken for a snake I generate a false
emotion of fear of snake ego as a poisonous killer. The moment I get out of the
illusion and realize that it is only a rope and not a snake, all fearful
emotions vanishes. I can even think of using the the rope for what all it can
do for me. Like it can be used to ties somethings etc.
In the same way when we become free from false ego or perception of
mis-identification of our real ego as our material body, all illusory emotions
of our dream world is transformed into secondary emotions of role play to
continue living in this world. Rest of the world is living in that illusion. If
you have to relate with them, you need to exchange emotions as if they are
their bodies. But such interaction will be with a higher purpose to wake them
up also from illusion of their true self as divine part and parcel of Supreme
Person , Krishna. the higher purpose to continue in this world till the body
falls apart for pleasing the Lord by devotional service of chanting, hearing,
remembering, preaching to wake up more sleeping souls to gift them Krishna
consciousness.
Emotions are always associated in the mind to a particular ego that feels the
emotion. If a particular ego is realised to be just a temporary role play ego
in a temporary drama, called false ego, then all emotions connected to that
particular false ego also loses it real punch just as fear of snake vanished
when snake vanished from our perception by seeing the rope.
And positive feelings and emotions of relief, fearlessness and hope replaces
fear and hopelessness. When the material 'I am this body' and things connected
to body are mine dissolves, detachment from material world arises. Then our
perception of the external world becomes an 'as it is' or tattva darshinah
perception as everything belonging to Krishna. He is not interested in any
illusory maya rasas but only bhakti rasa of engaging material energy and the
jivas world in service of the Lord. He derives pleasure for his true eternal
self from such service with his body and senses. That is the higher taste of
'mind taking pleasure in the soul' that Krishna reveals to Arjuna in the
Bhagavad Gita 2.55.
By association of Nama Prabhu, the real eternal ego, intelligence and mind awakens
itself as the eternal servant of Krishna. We start seeing the world of other
eternal egos trapped in their bodies by mis-identification. We start living in
a world of my real egos see other people as eternal loving servants of Krishna
lost in forgetfulness and as being haunted with false ego and suffering except
devotees who in ship of Srila Prabhupada trying to get of this illusory trap.
His new world is the world of God's ego, guru's pure ego, Nama Prabhu's ego,
other pure devotee egos, egos of aspiring pure devotees etc and experiencing
real absolute emotional relationships or rasas
with them. He lives for spiritual intents, desires and purposes even when we
are still in this body.
Since the Nama Avatara is full of knowledge (cit) energy, just by being
attentive to the chanting and hearing the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama, that pure
knowledge energy will dissolve all illusory perceptions about ourselves and the
dream situations in our material minds.
When the material mind is purified of misconceptions of self, it will cause the
spiritual mind to wake up too from self-ignorance and it starts chanting the
Aprākrta Nama with its awakened attention. Thus our mind is mirror by which we
can realize our true identity as eternal servant of Krishna. Right now the
material mind is covered with the dust of false ego-ness of our material body.
As sadhaka we begin our japa of omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nama with our material
senses, material mind and even false ego. After purification we end up chanting
and hearing Aprākrta Nama Prabhu with our awakened spiritual ego, awakened mind
and senses also.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
21:30
Soulful Japa
Module 12/108
Relationship between Aprākrta Nama Prabhu and Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Their sound
features are identical.
Srila Prabhupada in the quotes below says the Lord assumes a form
resembling matter body.
Śrīmad-Bhagavatam 9.8.24
"You assume a form resembling a material body just to
give us instructions like those of Bhagavad-Gīta, but actually, you are the
Supreme original person. I, therefore, offer my respectful obeisances unto
You.”
Another similar quote: Bhakitvedanta Purport . CC Adi 5.20
Only for us, who cannot experience anything beyond matter in our present
conditioned state, do the dhamas and the Lord Himself, in His arca form, appear
before us resembling matter to give us the facility to see spirit
with material eyes. In the beginning this may be difficult for a
neophyte to understand, but in due course, when one is advanced in devotional
service, it will be easier, and he will appreciate the Lord’s presence in these
tangible forms.
Why Lords takes on the avatara with sound features resembling the sound
we generate with our tongue.
Just for us, who cannot see or hear spirit with materiel senses, the
Aprākrta Nama Prabhu descends with sound features ( how they sound to our ears)
that resembles the external Nama or sound vigraha. Because the sound features
of the Aprākrta Nama resembles the features of externally produced Śaktyāvēşa
Nama, the features of both merge into an overlapping common perception
at the plane of perception of the chanter. The sound features of both are
indistinguishable from each other and are like identical twins. Attention on
detailed features of Śaktyāvēşa Nama amounts to automatically placing attention
on the detailed features of the Aprākrta Nama. Similarly neglect of one is same
as neglect of the other. Loving one is loving them together. Serving the
Śaktyāvēşa Nama is also serving the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu. They are both
functionally identical though one is Energetic Lord and the other is Energy
Lord. At the perception screen they are one perfectly overlapping in an
indistinguishable manner. Thus not only on our tongue the prakrta sound becomes
Śaktyāvēşa Nama but even perception of Śaktyāvēşa Nama becomes the
satcitananda-ized avatara.
The potent Śaktyāvēşa Nama can enact any acts of this world on behalf of the
Aprakrta Nama Prabhu for any of His lilas as He wishes in reciprocation to the
bhakti of his devotees in the material plane. Lord has created such a wonderful
situation wherein by a connection of chanter's yantra ( material mind-body
system) with the Śaktyāvēşa Nama through serving attention-embrace, the flow of
spiritual sat cit ananda shaktis are infused into the yantra so that the soul and
yantra can both get purified. Śaktyāvēşa Nama also engages the yantra of the
devotee in an empowered way to serve Aprākrta Nama Prabhu in His mission to
spread Krishna consciousness. Our business is only to surrender or let go our
yantra to the Nama Prabhu to be used by Him exclusively without me using it to
serve my soul's false ego trips.
The Lord does His personal lilas, whether in material world or spiritual world,
always with His Aprakrta spiritual body. For Him to act in this world there is
no need for a materially produced sound. Only for us who are materially
conditioned the Aprākrta Nama expresses HIs transcendental acts in the material
plane through His Śaktyāvēşa Nama. And Śaktyāvēşa Nama in turn acts on the
yantra of the chanter as much as the chanter is spiritually transparent to
receive the mercy by becoming free from false ego and its material purposes.
Though empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama is not identical to Aprākrta Nama, we have to
always remember that the Śaktyāvēşa Nama is an omnipotent spiritualised body
with which the Lord Himself identifies with in this world to enact lilas with
jivas. It is very important to understand that the whole truth of the Nama
avatara comprises of Aprākrta Nama Prabhu acting with his Śaktyāvēşa Nama as
His omnipotent body.
....contd
21:31
.......contd
The original name or form etc of the Lord in the spiritual world can expand
into unlimited forms as declared by Brahma in Brahma samhita, adviatam, acyutam
anadim ananta rupam. The Nama avatara acts through our yantra first to purify
the yantra to engage our yantra in chanting purely and engage is service of his
mission on this earth as the sound incarnation. Aprakrta Nama's mind is that He
is expecting us to associate with Him through the Śaktyāvēşa Nama by clearly
chanting and carefully hearing and get all the power required to purify the
yantra and receive intelligence to serve His mission.
Powers of Śaktyāvēşa Nama
When, we, as aprākrta souls get a prākrta body according to our karma, our
activites through that prākrta body are limited by what the laws of nature
allows that prākrta body to do. In the case of the Nama incarnation, the soul
of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama is the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu who is the Lord of entire
Prakrti. Hence Śaktyāvēşa Nama is potentially omnipotent as the Lord Himself is
in the material plane.
The Śaktyāvēşa Nama is potentially capable of making the chanter's yantra also
act beyond the limitations of time, space and substance imposed by karma for
His preaching mission provided such actions are willed by the Aprakrta Nama
Prabhu, who is the source of the empowerment.
It is said that the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama is feared by death personified.
Yamadootas could not touch Ajamila though his chanting was not pure chanting
but was only capable of the chanting of Śaktyāvēşa Nama as a Nama abhasa. That
too in the consciousness of calling out his son Narayana and not calling the
Lord Himself.
Thus degree of manifest power of the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama into the
chanter's yantra can be potent beyond the purpose of self-purification like
protecting his devotees and also empowering the devotees to preach His mission
depending on the personal reciprocation by the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu with the
chanters.
The Aprākrta Nama fulfills His wishes to enact deeds in the prākrta or material
plane through the Śaktyāvēşa Nama through His omnipotency. He does these Lilas
seen or unseen without any limitation of material time or space or substance.
Śaktyāvēşa Nama has all the powers to serve the Aprakrta incarnation on real
time basis as per his wishes in the material plane.
Just because one learns that the electricity in a live copper wire electricity
is beyond copper wire that carries it, you must know that touching it is a good
as touching the electricity and the powerhouse itself. Further the atoms in
copper when electrified are themselves in a different state of existence than
dead copper wire. Copper itself is transformed for the time being. So also the
Namasabda that we externally produce with our tongues is a spiritualised
potentially omnipotent sound called Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
Chanters ability to draw the power into his yantra.
Just for expanding our understanding, imagine that the electricity was a
person and had free will and out of his sweet will decide how much current
should be sent through the wire irrespective of the resistance of the wire by
changing ordinary wire into a superconductor. In the same way the Aprākrta Nama
Prabhu expresses through the Śaktyāvēşa Nama on our tongue as much spiritual
satcitananda power as He wishes to be transferred to yantra of the chanter in
reciprocation to the purity of purpose of the chanter. Srila Prabhupada says
that the sound chanted of a pure devotee is more powerful than the Names
chanted by a neophyte devotee.
Offense from thinking that nama sabda on our tongue is an ordinary sound
Sometimes just after gaining the little knowledge that real Nama is Aprākrt
Nama, the neophyte
.........contd
5 September 2019
MD
21:54
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
devotees jumps to offensive conclusion that the Lord has nothing to do with the
prākrta sound as it a material sound forgetting that it has become the
Śaktyāvēşa Nama, Who is as good as Him. For the Lord all energies are
spiritual. Absolute knowledge is not only about Krishna alone but also how His
energies serve Him to enable His Lilas for His pleasure as in the case of all
incarnations arranged by His internal potency.
We should see the whole truth of avatara as a combination of Aprākrta Lord and
His relationship with the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama as a sound-dress worn by
Him when He descends into this world to enable jivas to access the otherwise
materially inaccessible Aprakrta Lord. They are served together and their
action in the material plane is joint action as Energetic Lord and Energy Lord
upon the chanter. Nama Prabhu is never without His Śaktyāvēşa Nama and vice
versa in this material world.
The Aprākrta Nama Prabhu as soon as He wishes to perform any specific lila in
the material plane, the Śaktyāvēşa Nama executes the same. This includes the
lila of infusing the spiritual power and external resources to the pure chanter
to preach and expand the Hare Krishna movement in this world. This mercy was
showered upon Srila Prabhupada by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore Srila
Prabhupada is a Śaktyāvēşa avatara or empowered incarnation of the Nama Prabhu.
(Cc. Antya 7.11) krishna-shakti vina nahe tara pravartana: 'one cannot
distribute the holy names of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra unless he is
empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead'. It is not possible to
spread the holy name without being empowered by Śaktyāvēşa Nama and the Nama
Prabhu combine.
The external vigraha of Deity incarnations in this world is as good as Virat
rupa of the Lord.
Bhaktivedanta Purport SB 3.6.4
“The virāṭ-rūpa is not, therefore, an eternal form of the Lord exhibited in
the spiritual sky; it is a material manifestation of the Lord. The
arcā-vigraha, or the worshipable Deity in the temple, is a similar
manifestation of the Lord for the neophytes. But in spite of their material
touch, such forms of the Lord as the virāṭ and arcā are all nondifferent from
His eternal form as Lord Kṛṣṇa.
During the pancaratrika Deity installation, one of the steps is to invoke the
virat rupa or total material energy along with the Supersol into the external
body of the Deity through a prescribed process even before the Acarya invites
the particular transcendental Deity form into the external vigraha of the
Deity. Though we cannot see with our senses, the total material energy enters
the external vigraha and is serving the Aprākrta Lord. This is very mystical
because how can a bigger object fit into a smaller object. Yet it is a fact the
external vigraha of any incarnation of the Lord contains not only what we see
with our senses but total material energy within the external vigraha.
After all He is Lord of everyone and everything in this material world and when
He descends into this world of His, the total material energy which is the
Virat form along with Supersoul of that form is at His beck and call. When He
descends He descends in style with His whole material estate serving Him.
This is true even in the case of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama too who is potent to do
everything which the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu wishes to do as His lila in the
material plane. All of material energy and Supersoul is also residing in the
Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Total material energy is also contained in the external
Śaktyāvēşa Nama including the Supersoul in a mystical way. The analogy of
copper wire being electrified has limitations and it fails here.
.....contd
6 September 2019
MD
06:43
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Extraordinary activities by different avataras
With just two steps, Lord Vamana covered all three planetary systems
and pierced the covering of the universe with the toes of His left foot. The
externally seen Vamana sarira or body of Aprākrta Lord Vamana could do this
only if omnipotent. Though He acts with His own Aprakrta Vigraha, He also
expresses those acts in the material field through His omnipotent externally
seen sarira or body for conditioned souls to see. He does this by His
'atmamāya' mystic potency. His body grew so big that second step punctured a
material hole in the covering of material universe through which causal water
flows into the universe in the form of Ganga devi. Srila Prabhupada writes in
Bhaktivedanta Purport 10.2.34 :
The Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in order to teach us Vedic
principles intended for understanding Him (vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah
[Bg. 15.15]). We should always know that when Krishna and Lord Chaitanya
appeared, They appeared in suddha-sattva bodies. One should not mistake the
body of Krishna or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to be a material body like ours, for
Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared as needed for the benefit of the
entire human society.
Out of causeless mercy, the Lord appears in different ages in His original
suddha-sattva transcendental body to elevate human society to the spiritual
platform upon which they can truly benefit.
Krishna showed His universal form to Arjuna within His transcendental body
which stood before Arjuna. The universal form or Virat rupa is Supersoul's
Prākrta form. The universal form is not His transcendental form. By the omnipotency
of His two handed form, Krishna could show the entire universal form within HIs
two handed transcendental form. It also shows that material energy is also
ultimately spiritual energy and not some non-existing illusion.
Srimad Bhagavatam 3.19.24 purport
By His inconceivable potency the Lord can become the universal form, as
explained in Bhagavad-gītā, and at the same time He can remain within the box
of His devotees as their worship able Deity. There are many devotees who keep a
statue of the Lord in a small box and carry it with them everywhere; every
morning they worship the Lord in the box. The Supreme Lord, Keśava, or the
Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is not bound by any measurement of our
calculation. He can remain with His devotee in any suitable form, yet He is
unapproachable by any amount of demoniac activities.
When Krishna lifted the Govardhana Hill with his little omnipotent
finger, ordinary mortals, even atheists could see with their material eyes this
lila because the activities of His Aprākrta satcitananda vigraha lifting the
goverdhan was simultaneously being enacted by the arrangement of yogamaya
potency of the Lord by the omnipotent virat body to be seen even by everyone
with material eyes including the demons.
When we act in this world the aprakrta soul is only a knower and not the actual
doer of anything in this world. But Lords original sacitananda vigraha is fully
active in the material world in his original Vishuddasattva body and the total
material energy just mimes those lilas for the benefit of humanity to see and
relate. His acts in the material world are no different from His acts in the
spiritual world. Both being performed in His original body. Pure devotees
simultaneously witness the lilas in both the material and transcendental
dimensions as they are indistinguishable from one another as arranged by the
Atmamaya potency.
....contd
MD
08:51
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Krishna lay down and allowed an ordinary arrow of a hunter to strike his
pink toe and set up as part of the drama of winding His pastimes. Our Acharyas
have commented that when Lord returned to the spiritual world, though he left
in His own transcendental body, by arrangement of yoga maya He left His virat
rupa behind.
SB Purport 1.14.8
Therefore it should be understood that when Lord Krishna was apparently
killed by the bow and arrow of the hunter, the Lord left His so-called material
body in the material world. The Lord is kaivalya, and for Him there is no
difference between matter and spirit because everything is created from Him.
Therefore His quitting one sort of body or accepting another body does not mean
that He is like the ordinary living being. All such activities are
simultaneously one and different by His inconceivable potency. When Mahäräja
Yudhistira was lamenting the possibility of His disappearance, it was just in
pursuance of a custom of lamenting the disappearance of a great friend, but
factually the Lord never quits His transcendental body, as is misconceived by
less intelligent persons. Such less intelligent persons have been condemned by
the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gita, and they are known as the mudhas. That the
Lord left His body means that He left again His plenary portions in the
respective dhamas (transcendental abodes), as He left His virat-rüpa in the
material world.
Meant to bewilder the non-devotees to see and even think that he left a
body like any ordinary person leaves his body. It was just a show. Even
ordinary humans cannot die if an arrow pierces a toe. It is the game of yoga
māya fulfilling His purposes of voluntarily winding up His avatāra but at the
same time hiding His transcendental nature from non-devotees.
Another example of omni potency of external vigraha is how the Deity accepts
offerings of food. Srila Prabhupada says the omnipotent Deities can eat the
food offered with their eyes and yet leave the food as it is after consuming
without emptying it. If we eat something the plate will become empty. When the
Deity eats He eats fully but leaves the plate full and He can eat with His
eyes. Those with faith never see the external vigraha as plain matter but sees
it as being omnipotent total matter energy serving Him. External Deity body is
fully spiritualized and omnipotent and serves the Lord's wish without any
limitation of time or space or matter because He Himself is all of space, time
and matter.
We have heard of the lila of Deities of Sakshi Gopal who walked out of
the altar and walked from Vrindavan to Orissa to act as a witness for His
devotees. Can ordinary prakrta stone walk on its own? But an omnipotent stone
Deity can walk because the Aprākrta Deity desired the lila of walking as He had
to fulfil his promise to the brahmana to stand as a witness.
Our Acharyas have explained that when the gopis ran to Krishna in the
night by hearing his flute leaving their homes and husbands, they actually left
behind their material bodies at home and went in their spiritual or Aprākrta
bodies to Krishna for the rāsa dance. Their husbands never detected their
absence because of this.
The role of atmamāya or yogamaya potency of the Lord
Thus the lilas enacted by the Aprākrta body are always in transcendental
plane and alongside that, the potentially omnipotent body of virat rupa acts as
per His wishes for sake of giving access to His Lilas to the conditioned souls.
The role of such an omnipotent virat body could be to enact a copy of that Lila
for conditioned soul to see wiht their material eyes. Or to bewilder the
non-believers as in the case of his disappearance Lila. Or sometimes to support
Aprākrta lila such as in case of gopis leaving behind their prakrta bodies and
going to Krishna in their aprakrta or spiritual bodies. In each case whatever
is required is managed with the virat body which is a body of total material
energy and not just small chunk of virat that appears to our eyes. Our bodies
are only a tiny chunk of virat with limited
contd....
MD
10:31
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
powers. The externally appearing virat rupa vigrahas of incarnations have no
material limitations and can act as omnipotent as the Lord as He decides
through His Yogamaya potency. Yogamaya potency's service is to manage the
situation to facilitate rasa for the incarnations through His lilas.
Krishna talks about His appearance in this material world in Gita
Krishna says 'janma karma ca me divyam' meaning His lilas of birth and
activities here are divine. He continues,
evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyakt a deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so 'rjuna.
'vetti tatvatah' means one who knows this in truth and such a person will not
get another birth in this world. The discussion in this module is about 'vetti
tattvatah' of Nama Avatara.
Krishna also says only fools thinking that He takes shelter of a limited human
body (tanum āsritah) like everybody else without knowing that He descends on
His own as He is as Aprākrta satcitananda body and is omnipotent and served by
the total virat energy to act in this world appearing like having a limited
human body. All these are the Avatara lilas of the Avatari managed by yogamaya
potency of the Avatari differently in different types of avataras. He never
takes a small chunk of matter as we all are offered according to our karmas.
Therefore it is said that Krishna descends in His original form.
avajānanti mām mudha
mānushim tanum āsritam
param bhāvam ajānanto
mama bhuta-mahesvaram
In the case of Nama avatāra, Nama Prabhu takes on sound features resembling the
prakrta namasabda. But in the case of the dashavataras, the prākrta sharira
(practically the virat rupa) takes on features resembling the transcendental
features of the original spiritual body of the Avatari.
A pure devotee, who is anointed with love for Krishna, sees the Aprākrta lila
of the incarnation. He chants and hears from the Aprākrta plane through and
beyond the omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. Just like when you see through your
glasses you are not conscious of the glass through which you are seeing things.
Yet the glass is intervening medium.
Never separate Aprākrta Nama Prabhu and the Śaktyāvēşa Nama
In conclusion though Aprākrta Nama Prabhu and the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama
are two categories ( in tattva) of Absolute Truth, namely the Lord and His
energies, they are never to be separated while serving (in rasa). They both
have to be served simultaneously as as one Nama Avatāra. For knowledge that the
Lord is never matter, we have to understand that there are two related
identical sounding namasabda namely Aprākrta Nama Prabhu and the Śaktyāvēşa
Nama around the chanter. But when it comes to rasa of serving, we lovingly
offer our service to the combined as one Nama Avatāra who is all-spiritual and
all loving incarnation without differentiating.
When we serve the sound incarnation, we feel experience of the presence of
Śaktyāvēşa Nama through our material senses and also simultaneously feel
unmanifest presence of Aprākrta Nama Prabhu through our faculty of faith. We
have already defined these two kinds of presence with which one offers japa
seva in module 13.
Further for the Lord there is no difference between spiritual energy and
material energy. Everything is spiritual existence for Him as Srila Prabhupada
explains below:
" There is no difference between matter and spirit for the Lord,
although there is a gulf of difference between the two in the case of the
conditioned living being. For the Lord there is nothing but spiritual
existence, and similarly there is nothing except spiritual existence for the pure
devotee of the Lord in his intimate relation with the Lord."
- Srimad Bhagavatam1.12.9
Thus whenever we say Harer Nama Harer Nama eva kevalam and Kali Kali nama
rupe Krishna avatara, it means the omnipotent and all loving, all-spiritual
Nama Prabhu with spiritualised body of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama. There is nothing
material at any point of time even in the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama as the
matter energy is transformed into spirit energy by His atmamaya potency.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
10:34
Quote 20
Subject : Mantra is more powerful when chanted by the spiritual
master.
Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.24.31-32
When a mantra is chanted by a great devotee, the mantra becomes more
powerful. Although the Hare Krishna maha-mantra is powerful in itself, a
disciple upon initiation receives the mantra from his spiritual master, for
when the mantra is chanted by the spiritual master, it becomes more powerful.
Application to Japa
The omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nama always releases unconditionally the minimum
power to burn to ashes all of past sinful reactions etc. However according to
the purity of the chanter the mantra becomes additionally more and more
spiritually powerful because of his bhakti's ability to draw the same from the
omnipotent Aprakrta Nama Prabhu.
Srila Prabhupada writes:
That is God's omnipotency. That is called omnipotency. Not that God is
unable to express Himself through wood and stone. Then how He's omnipotent?
Omnipotent means His potency can be expressed through anything.
The question may be asked that if the Lord has invested all the powers in the
Śaktyāvēşa Nama then why it is differently powerful for different chanters. The
only answer is that although it is a fact that though all powers are invested
in it, how much of that power the chanter can draw and manifest varies from
chanter to chanter based on the personal reciprocation of the Aprakrta Hare
Krishna Nama Prabhu. Thus the Śaktyāvēşa Nama is omnipotent is a fact but the
drawing power of the chanter varies. Hence the word 'potentially omnipotent'.
It is like rain that is falling everywhere on rock and soil equally but the
rock is not able to draw that water into itself but the mud is able to. And
different soils have different capacity to draw the water into itself. River
sand hardly gets wet. Clayey mud can absorb little more than river sand.
According to the degree of ( quality and quantity) of our surrender and service
to the Śaktyāvēşa Nama, the shaktis surrounding Aprakrta Nama Prabhu will
express themselves to different degrees through the Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
A pure devotee is able to draw the sat cit ananda mercy like a sponge absorbs
water and can manifest more of its power than an ordinary devotee. The 'purity
of purpose' of chanting and hearing can be compared to the 'sponginess'.
Because of the purity of purpose of a pure devotee where they will never misuse
the power for anything other than for pleasing the Lord, their chant draws down
more of sat cit ananda mercy into this worldly plane for His service.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
10:38
Quote 21
Subject: Aprakrta cannot be seen or heard with
material senses. Prakrta stone or wood by itself is not Deity.
Nectar of Devotion . 1.2.23
Never think of the Deity as made of stone or wood. Every worshipper must
remember that Krsna is personally present. He is simply kindly presenting
Himself before us in a way so that we can handle Him. That is His mercy,
otherwise He is unapproachable atah sri-krsna-Nāmadi na bhaved grahyam
indriyaih sevon mukhe hi jivadau svayam eva sphuraty adah
Application to japa.
Krishna is personally present before us during japa beyond the Śaktyāvēşa
Nama as the Aprakrta Nama Prabhu. The omnipotent Aprakrta Nama expresses His
omnipotency through the namasabda produced by our tongue making it Śaktyāvēşa
Nama .
The love and omnipotency of the Aprākrta Nama is expressed through the
Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Therefore for the time being when this empowerment happens the
name sound produced by our tongue is not ordinary sound. It is an omnipotent
sound. Creating this functional equivalence between the spirit and matter for
the time being as decided by the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu is His special mercy upon
conditioned souls who can only chant and hear Śaktyāvēşa Nama with their
material tongue, ears and mind.
Though the namasabda produced by our tongue is invested with all His potencies
and becomes the Śaktyāvēşa Nama such power will manifest only to the extent the
Aprākrta Nama Prabhu decides as He is the source of that potency depends on
purity of chanter. It is not automatic impersonal release of power. So we can
say that Śaktyāvēşa Nama is omnipotent to different degrees based on the
reciprocation of the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu which depends on the purity of the
chanter.
However the power for burning all sinful reactions is vested by the Lord
unconditionally in every syllable of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra in Kali yuga
irrespective of the purity of chanter. That is why Kali Kale Krishna nama rupa
avatara . As far as further empowerments beyond burning sinful reactions and
awarding punya are concerned, it all depends on the relationship and
reciprocation between the chanter and the Lord.Recall the discussion on the
analogy of wire and electricity. If electricity was a person then he can decide
how much power should go through the copper though normally the characteristic
propertes of the copper wire like purity of copper and guage of the wire etc
are also criteria as to how much it can draw from the source. A super conductor
can draw almost all the current for source . Conductivity of copper can be
compared to the quality of chanting and hearing. Soulful chanting is high
quality chanting unlike both mindless or even mindful chanting. Soulful
chanting is like superconducting state of the chanter that attracts all the
mercy from the Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu.
The chanting by a pure devotee is therefore more powerful than a neophyte in
practical terms.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
10:41
Quote 23
Subject: Aprakrta Lord expresses Himself in this
world through the prakrta wood, stone or sound. Analogy of electricity and
wire.
Lecture by His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 3rd
September 1971 on occasion of appearance day Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur
According to sästra, if somebody thinks... Just like here is Deity. If
somebody thinks, "Oh, it is made of stone..." It is stone to the eyes
of the nondevotee, but it is personally Supreme Personality of Godhead to the
devotees. It requires the eyes to see. So devotee sees in a different angle of
vision. Just like Caitanya Mahäprabhu, when He entered Jagannätha temple
immediately He fainted: "Oh, here is My Lord." And the nondevotee is
seeing: "It is wood, a lump of wood." Therefore, to the nondevotee,
He remains always as wood, but to the devotee He speaks. That is the
difference. Premäïjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena [Bs. 5.38]. If God is
everything, why wood, through wood and stone, God cannot manifest? If God is
everything? According to Mäyäväda philosophy. That's a fact. God, omnipotent.
He can express Himself even through wood and stone.
That is God's omnipotency. That is called omnipotency. Not that God is unable
to express Himself through wood and stone. Then how He's omnipotent? Omnipotent
means His potency can be expressed through anything. Because
anything, everything is the expansion of God's energy. Parasya brahmanah saktis
tathedam akhilam jagat. The whole world is manifestation of different energies
of God. Therefore... Just like through the energy of electricity the electric
powerhouse, although far, far away from this place, was expressing.
There is electricity. Through this glass, through these wires, the power
can be expressed. There is a process.
Application to japa
The love and omnipotency of Aprākrta Nama is expressed through the
Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Therefore for the time being when this empowerment happens the
sound produced by my prakrta tongue is not ordinary sound. It is an omnipotent
sound. Creating this functional equivalence between the spirit and matter or
between Aprākrta and Prākrta for the time being as decided by the Aprākrta Nama
Prabhu is His special mercy upon conditioned souls who can only chant and hear
material sounds with their material tongue, ears and mind.
Though the sound produced by us is invested with all His potencies and becomes
the Śaktyāvēşa Nama such power will manifest only to the extent the Aprākrta
Nama Prabhu decides as He is the source of that potency depends on purity of
chanter. It is not automatic impersonal release of power. So we can say that
Śaktyāvēşa Nama is omnipotent to different degrees based on the reciprocation
of the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu which depends on the purity of the chanter.
However the power for burning all sinful reactions is vested by the Lord
unconditionally in every syllable of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra in Kali yuga
notwithstanding the purity of chanter. That is why Kali Kale Krishna nama rupa
avatara . As far as further empowerments beyond burning sinful reactions and
awarding punya are concerned, it all depends on the reciprocatory relationship
between the chanter and the Lord.
Recall the discussion on the analogy of wire and electricity. If electricity
was a person then he can decide how much power should go through the copper
though normally the characteristic properties of the copper wire like purity of
copper and guage of the wire etc are also criteria as to how much it can draw
from the source. A super conductor can draw almost all the current for source .
Conductivity of copper can be compared to the quality of chanting and hearing.
Soulful chanting is high quality chanting unlike both mindless or even mindful
chanting. Soulful chanting is like superconducting state of the chanter that
attracts all the mercy from the Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu.
The chanting by a pure devotee is therefore more powerful than a neophyte in
practical terms.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
10:44
Quote 24
Subject: Krishna can change matter to spirit and vice versa
Conversations with Shyamsundara Dāśā.
Śrīla Prabhupāda “Ultimately everything is spiritual, because the matter
is Krishna’s energy. If Krishna is the original cause, therefore the matter can
be changed into spirit, and spirit can be changed to matter. Just as it is the
same electric energy acting as heater and cooler, because the original cause is
electricity. Similarly the original cause of Krishna. So Krishna can change
matter into spirit, spirit into matter. This is His power. The rascals and
fools, when Krishna appears in His own body, atmamaya, they think it is just
like material body, but they do not know that to Krishna there is no such
distinction of material and spiritual.”
Application to Japa
First the Aprākrta Suddha Nama who is the Avatari expands as Aprākrta Nama
Prabhu having features resembling the prakrta or material Nama-sabda. Aprakrta
Nama Prabhu with His empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama is combinedly the Nama avatara.
When He enters the prakrta Nama, that spiritualizes or converts matter sabda
into spirit for time being and is called the Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Then the
Śaktyāvēşa Nama acts as a vehicle or satcitananda-ized body of the Lord through
which He expresses his lilas in this world including his omnipotency.
For the time being as and when and how much we are capable of invoking the
mercy that much He decides to release the potency through the Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
Therefore we can say that Śaktyāvēşa Nama is potentially omnipotent.
There is quote of Srila Prabhupada (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.24.31-32) that
depending on the purity of chanter, the Śaktyāvēşa Nama that comes out the
devotee varies in its spiritual power. We can say that the Śaktyāvēşa Nama is
omnipotent depending on how much Aprakrta Nama Prabhu wants to express Himself
through the Śaktyāvēşa Nama in reciprocation to different situations of the
chanters. When a pure devotees chants the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama, it is more
powerful than when a neophyte chants.
How much of the omnipotency of the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu is finally expressed
through the Śaktyāvēşa Nama is a matter of sweet will of the Aprākrta Nama
Prabhu as required for enacting His lila in the material plane.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 25
Subject: Aprakrta Avatara having features resembling prakrta Nama-sabda is a
plenary expansion of Avatari
Lecture September 8, 1966, New York
Incarnation of God means the expansion which is as good as God Himself. That
is called incarnation. So, this, I mean to, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna
Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, is the
expansion, incarnation, sound incarnation, of God. It is expansion and a
plenary expansion, sound, sound representation... Not representation. God,
present Himself in this form of sound.
Application to japa
Aprakrta Nama who descends has features that resembling the prakrta-
namasabda. Nama Prabhu is plenary expansion of the Avatari. Avatari is the
eternally sounding Suddha Nama in the spiritual world. He incarnates into the
externally produced prakrta namasabda and invests it with His spiritual power.
It is invested with all potential powers to express all of the transcendental
acts of Aprakrta Nama Prabhu into the prakrta dimension.
Actual touch of the soul is by touching the details of sound-features with
attention. Therefore the importance of distinctly chanting and discerningly
hearing and not general hearing of undiscerned sounds. Hare sounds different,
Krishna sounds different and Rama sounds different and so also the string of
sounds of the mahamantra sound different than the individual names.
Matter energy is originally spiritual but when it acts in a particular way it
is called material. If it acts in service of the Lord it retains it's original
spiritual nature. Like electricity can manifests an effect of coldness in a
refrigerator and the same electricity can manifest an effect of heat in a
heating equipment.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
10:45
Quote 26
Subject: One Aprakrta Nama of the spiritual world descends into the material
world as many Aprakrta Namas on different tongues of chanters with sound
features resembling the sound on the tongue. They are all same personality.
Bhagavad Gīta Lecture March 25th, New York
“But God’s reflection and God, there is no difference. God’s bodily rays and
God, there is no difference, Advaya-jnāna, that they are not in the duality or
relative world. They are in the absolute world.”
Application to japa
Srila Prabhupada gives another example with regard to Supersoul seated in
all our hearts. As sun is situated far away as one, it reflects differently on
many different water bodies on the earth, in the same way one Supersoul is
reflected in the hearts of different jivas. In the case of sun it just remains
a reflection and is not the sun. But in the case of God, there is no different
between God and His reflection. They are one. In the same way Kali kale Krishna
Nama rupa avatara means the Lord descends into this world as the Aprakrta Nama
resembling the nama-sabdas produced by our tongues. ( the shape of reflection
depends on the shape of the reflecting body). The Aprakrta Nama whose features
resemble the features of nama-sabda on my tongue and is non different from the
Suddha Nama and is a plenary expansion of the Suddha Nama. Plenary expansion
means as powerful as the source from which expansion happens.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 27
Subject: The Nama Avatara is omnipotent or Śaktyāvēşa avatāra.
Śrī Çaitanya-Çaritāmrta, Madhya-līlā 20.245-255 -- December 16, 1966, New
York
Kali-yuga in this age, this incarnation of name—Hare Krishna, Hare
Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare—to give facility to the conditioned soul.”
Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nijasarva-śakti. Śakti, this word is used, Śakti. And from
Śakti, that energy, Śaktya avatāra. So, this name is also Śaktyāvēşa avatāra.
Application to japa
The namasabda on our tongue that we chant into which all shakti is invested
by the empowering Aprakrta Nama Prabhu is the Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Their
combination is like soul and body. The Soul is the Aprakrta Nama Prabhu and the
body is the Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 28
Subject: We cannot see the Aprakrta Lord with material senses
Cc. Madhya 17.136
Because we cannot see God with our present eyes, present eyes, because
this is not our proper eyes. They are material eyes. You don’t think that this
eye, the transparent thing which is floating in this, I mean to say, hole...
That is not seeing. Similarly, if you can present, or if you take this eye...
You cannot see. That cannot see. It is simply a lens only. It is only lens. So,
none of this body, bodily part, is actually the thing which is taking part. So
therefore, with these eyes, with these material eyes, you cannot see. Ataḥ
śrī-Krishna-nāmādi na bhavēd grāhyam indriyaiḥ
Application to Japa
Aprakrta Nama Prabhu is having features resembling the namasabda on our
tongue and it is a transcendental sound and cannot be chanted or heard or seen
with material senses or the material mind. As far as sound features of both are
concerned they merge in our perception as one sound feature and sensed by our
attention simultaneously. The spiritual mind is also hearing with its dreamy
attention just like in a dream we also have a hearing experience though it is
not real hearing experience with our real ears with awakened attention. As far
as features of both are concerned they are indistinguishable from each other
like identical twins. Attention on detailed features of one is like
automatically placing attention on the detailed features of the other. Serving
one is serving the other.
They act together in this material world to receive and reciprocate and relate
with the chanter. They act as two in one. Eventually there is direct chanting
and hearing with our spiritual mind and spiritual senses.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
7 September 2019
MD
06:21
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 29
Subject : Understanding spiritual nature of
Nāma
Sri Chaitanya sikshamarta by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
"Even before entering the feild of nama-bhajana one should first
know for certain that Krishna's form, Krishna's name, Krishna's service,
Krishna's servants are all eternally free. That is , they re beyond the grasp
of Maya., the illusory energy. Krishna, Hus transcendental abode and His
paraphernalia are totally beyond material imagination. Similarly, His throne,
His rooms, His gardens, forests , Goverdhan Hill and the river yamuna, in fact
everything about Krishna cannot be touched by Maya. It is especially
important to remember this transcendental nature of Lord Krishna when we
approach His service of which chanting His holy name is foremost. This
understanding is not based on blind belief but on absolute and eternal
truth".
Application to japa
In japa there are three components SEVYA, SEVA, SEVAK. All three with their
mutual relationship has to be known by a japa doer and same has to
automatically come up in the background of our attention. SEVYA is Krishna
& Radharani or their combination Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, SEVAK is jiva or
devotee ego who is eternal servant of Krishna and SEVA is bhakti or service of
chanting, hearing and tasking a targetted number of repetitions.
Understanding Sevya to be transcendental or Aprākrta is starting point is what
this quote says.
Let us recall the same in a nutshell what we discussed over last few modules
and questions and answers. By now all of us are aware that the Avatāri who is
eternally sounding as Suddha Nāma in the form of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra
in the spiritual world, out of compassion, mercifully expands into Aprākrta
Nāma with sound features resembling the sound produced by our chanting and
descends into it and empowers that sound into Śaktyāvēşa Nama which we chant
with our tongue.
We cannot have experiential-touch of the Aprākrta Nāma prabhu because of our
sleeping spiritual senses. As neophytes we are still blessed with the golden
chance of association of our attention with the Aprākrta Nāma through the
experiential-touch of the omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Full presence of the Lord
before us is when that experiential presence manifests for our awakened
spiritual senses. Only existential presence means He is existing before me but
I cannot experience Him with my spiritual senses.
What is the prescription for experientially touching of the empowered
Śaktyāvēşa Nama?
Experiential-touch of empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama is achieved by distinctly
chanting and sharply hearing with serving attention, faith and affection or
priti.
Through the experiential-touch of the omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nama our attention
automatically associates with the sound features of the all-pure Aprākrta Nāma
Prabhu. And our material senses, mind and attention becomes pure which in turns
awakens my spiritual mind and senses eventually.
Ultimately pure japa means all three namely Sevaka, Seva and Sevya have to be
on the transcendental platform free from the three modes of material nature.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
--
9 September 2019
MD
07:57
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 30
Radhastami day 6th September 2019
Subject: Hare is praying to Radharani
Lecture by Srila Prabhupada on Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi 4.89
Srimati Radharani is the eternal consort of Lord Krishna. Five
thousand years ago, when Lord Krishna came to this planet to perform
His pastimes, Srimati Radharani also appeared. This year we celebrate
her appearance on September 06. This special day is known as
Radhashtami.
“On a half-moon night in the month of Bhadra, King Vrishabhanu came to
the Jamuna to bathe and found himself engulfed in a golden aura, the
golden aura of pure love. It was emanating from a lotus, which had a
baby girl standing on its whorl. When the king returned to the palace
with the baby, Queen Kirtida was delighted. She was also shocked that
the girl was blind.
“Lord Krishna's mother, Yashoda, heard that her best friend Kirtida
had a baby, so she came to visit along with her husband and her son.
Krishna crawled up to the cradle and pulled Himself up and looked in.
At that moment, Srimati Radharani's eyes fluttered and opened wide and
blossomed like lotuses. It seems that she did not want to see anything
of this world, only the form of Sri Krishna. Everyone was delighted.
“Srimati Radharani is the mother of the universe, the spiritual mother
of all souls. And the concept of mother is the most sacred symbol—that
of purity, selflessness, caring, sharing, nurturing, and love. That is
why our sacred mantra is the holy names. It is the holy names in the
vocative. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare /
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
“'Hare' means 'Radhe.' It is a plaintive, desperate cry for the
mother. 'Radhe! Please wake us up from this nightmare of mortal life!
Remind us of the father we have forgotten and take us home!'”
In the Krishna consciousness movement, devotees carefully worship
Srimati Radharani as the bestower of devotional service to Krishna, by
attentively chanting her name in the maha-mantra, by worshiping her
deity form, and by following the instructions of the most merciful Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the combined form of Radha and Krishna.
“(Therefore) Radha is parama-devata, the supreme goddess, and She is
worshipable for everyone. She is the protectress of all, and She is
the mother of the entire universe.”
15 September 2019
MD
20:03
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 32
Subject: Srila Prabhupada beautifully explains Nama Avatara
September 8, 1966, New York
Similarly, there are two kinds of expansions of
the Lord. One kind of expansion is called Viṣṇu-tattva. Viṣṇu-tattva means the
expansion, they are as equal as the God Himself. And there are expansions which
are called the jīva-tattva, the living entities. This expansion of the living
entities, they are not equally powerful, but the expansion of Viṣṇu-tattva is
equally powerful, as good as God Himself. So, the incarnation...
The present senses, cannot have any knowledge of the Supreme God. But how then
we can have knowledge? If my senses are unfit, then how can I make it fit? Oh,
that is the thing. That is the thing, that you have to spiritualize,
spiritualize these material sense, I mean to say, organs. And then, when you
spiritualize, then you can have the spiritual vision and see God and yourself.
The same example which I have recited many times: just like the iron rod. Iron
rod, you put into the fire. It gets warm—warm, warmer, warmer. And when it is
red hot, then it is no longer iron. Iron it is, but it does not act as iron,
but it acts as fi re. That iron rod which is red hot in association with fire,
you can take that rod and touch anything; it will burn. That means it is no
longer acting as iron; it is acting as fire.
Similarly, if you associate with this transcendental incarnation, sound
incarnation of God, then you will be gradually godly. You will be godly. You
can become godly with God’s association, not by any other material, extraneous
things. No. Just like you can have fire only in association with fire, not with
water. If you want to get yourself warm, then you have to associate with fire,
not with water, not with air. Similarly, if you want to spiritualize your
vision, if you want to spiritualize your action, if you want to spiritualize
the whole constitution of your existence, then you have to associate with the
Supreme spirit. And that Supreme spirit is very kind because He is everything.
That we have already explained. Everything is interrelated with the Supreme;
therefore, He is interrelated with sound also. So, by God’s inconceivable
potency, He can present before yourself in sound incarnation. That is His
potency. That is His potency. He can do that. And therefore, this name,
Krishna, and the Supreme Lord Krishna, there is no difference.
So our, this sound representation of the Supreme Lord constantly will make
us...
Just like our association with the fire, the, I mean to say, iron rod’s
association with the fire makes the rod equally qualified, exactly— not equally
qualified, but almost the quality of burning it gets—similarly, by our constant
association with Lord.
Appliction to Japa
Associating with the Supreme spirit is the way
to spiritualize the constitution of our existence. He is very kind because the
ordinary nama-sabda we utter with our material tongues is His energy, He, by
His inconceivable potency makes the sound uttered by us, the prakrta nama-sabda
as good as Him in the matter of giving us His association and receiving and
reciprocating to our services and relating with us as His servant.
We become godly by association with God just like iron associating with fire
becomes fire like in quality.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
21:00
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 13
Role of Shraddha or faith. Two kinds of feeling the presence of Lord.
Unmanifest presence and Manifest presence
As revealed by the scripture, the Lord is existing right there before the
chanter having descended from the spiritual world. Though the presence of
Aprākrta Nama can be felt to exist due to our faith, we can experientially
sense Him only when our spiritual mind and senses are awakened plus He agreeing
to show Himself up experientially. Then we say that the Aprākrta Nama which was
felt till then in his unmanifest-presence through faith has now becomes manifest-presence
before our spiritual senses. And Srila Prabhupada says that both kinds of
presence of the transcendental Lord are identical.
The point is we should not think that the Aprākrta Lord does not come before us
since we have not awakened our spiritual mind and senses when we do our japa.
If you chant with faith then the Aprākrta Lord who is inaccessible to our
material senses will compassionately give us His unmanifest-presence and
energise the external sound into the Śaktyāvēşa Nama and receive our services.
In the material Aprakrta Lord is present on my tongue but only in his
unmanifest-presence. This means i don't experience Him with my senses but
presence can be felt by faith. So unmanifest-presence can also be called as
faith-presence.
Why is it that we can now have only the faith-presence of the Lord and not the
manifest presence? It is just like if you had a polythene sheet cover the
surface of your tongue, you cannot taste a sweet rasogulla placed over it
though you have access to it as it is right there on the tongue. My material
senses and mind are covering by spiritual senses and mind.
Or if you wear a rubber gloves and touch a hot plate you will not feel the heat
though you are touching it as far as access is concerned. These are examples of
how you are close in access to the Aprakrta Nama but cannot experience Him with
our senses. For such sense access I need my spiritual senses which are sleeping
now.This understanding helps us develop faith in the presence of the Lord even
though we are not able to experience Him with our material senses. This builds
up our desire for some day to chant the Aprākrta Nāma with my mind and
uncovered senses over and above the touch of the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma.
Similarly, even my present attention is not also having the spiritual
sensitivity to feel the Aprākrta Nāma. But by continuously touching Him through
my serving attention with faith that He is present before ( faith-presence),
the tongue, ears and mind becomes purified by the awakening of pure
transcendental Self-self knowledge from the Avatāra.
The spiritual energies flows into the chanter’s contaminated consciousness,
senses, mind and soul and sat-çit-ānanda-izes them just like how a pieces of
iron put into a fire for long time becomes red hot and acts like fire. These
merciful energies of the Śaktyāvēşa Avatāra melt away the material covering of
the chanter and his attention gets gradually purified.
The present senses, cannot have any knowledge of the Supreme God. But how
then we can have knowledge? If my senses are unfit, then how can I make it fit?
Oh, that is the thing. That is the thing, that you have to spiritualize,
spiritualize these material sense, I mean to say, organs. And then, when you
spiritualize, then you can have the spiritual vision and see God and yourself.
The same example which I have recited many times: just like the iron rod. Iron
rod, you put into the fire. It gets warm—warm, warmer, warmer. And when it is
red hot, then it is no longer iron. Iron it is, but it does not act as iron,
but it acts as fire. That iron rod which is red hot in association with fire,
you can take that rod and touch anything; it will burn.
You have full faith that He is before you and yet He is not directly experienceable
with our present senses. The sweetness of the transcendental sat-çit-ānanda
Aprakrta Nama is glorified so much in the sastras.
16 September 2019
MD
06:29
Madhu Pandit Dasa
....contd
Moving from un-manifest faith-presence of Aprakrta Nama to manifest-presence
The fact is that after intensive repeated hearing of the transcendental
knowledge from scriptures about the Nāma incarnation, faith is increased and
His presence before us is felt intensely. Let us call this as existential
presence or faith-presence. Faith-presence is the stage of japa where you get
access to the Nāma’s energies but without any direct transcendental sense
experience of the Nāma Himself. Transcendental manifest presence is the stage
where you get transcendental sense experience after His energies allow your
entry first into His unmanifest-presence by spiritually hearing Him with my
spiritual mind and senses . We have to access His transcendental energies and
purify our minds before we can experientially touch Him or experience manifest
presence.
Unmanifest presence expands into manifest presence by His sweet will.
Feeling of presence of Aprakata Nama is like how a blind man stands before
a mountain and feels its presence before him because of faith that it is before
him. Likewise till we become pure to chant and hear the Aprakrta Nama with our
spiritual senses, we can feel only His compassionate unmanifest presence or
aprakata-presence (existential presence) during our japa through the eyes of
faith. And because of faith, except for direct experience of Krishna, we know
for sure that me and the Aprakrta Nama is having an active relationship of Lord
and servant. It is a real relationship where Krishna is near me and is
receiving my services though I cannot see Him or hear Him with my spiritual
senses.
And as soon as we chant, He descends on our tongue and merges with the features
of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama that we chant and hear. For those who faith in act of
incarnation of the Lord, chanting also give us also remembrance of the Aprākrta
Nama's unmanifest presence which is highly purifying and this is what
eventually builds up to smaranam.
Till the spiritual blindness is removed I can relate with Him during my japa by
remembering the unmanifest-presence of Aprākrta Nama on my tongue and mind when
I chant and hear the Śaktyāvēşa Nama. But our attention can touch Aprakrta Nama
through the gateway of our detailed hearing of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama with faith
that I am touching.
CC Madhya 13.155 Purport says:
Krishna has two kinds of presence—prakata and aprakata, manifest and
unmanifest. These are identical for the sincere devotee. "
It is said the gopis of Vrindavan always felt the presence of Krishna
everyday even when He was living in Dwaraka. But that presence was, by design of
Krishna, only the aprakata- presence or un-manifest presence. It is not
that the gopis were blinded so they could not experience prakata-presence.
They were fully purified yet to increase their feelings of separation Krishna
did not give His prakata-presence to them. Prakata-presence is possible only if
He decides to be transcendentally seen or chanted & heard. His sweet will
is also required for Him to be experientially seen by our senses. It is said
that Krishna never stepped out of Vrindvan because he was there in his
aprakata-presence in their midst and was relating with the devotees in
separation from His prakata-presence as His lila.
Please note that the meaning of 'aprakata' or unmanifest when applied to God,
does not mean 'absent'. It only means His presence is not experienced with our
senses.
In this world also we remember loved persons but by such remembrance, they
cannot be present in any unmanifest form. Only God and his pure devotees can
have unmanifest presence anywhere and anytime because of their omnipotency.
When we chant, He appears there as Aprākrta Nama Prabhu and is present with us
in his compassionate unmanifest-presence which is felt by faith as remembrance
though now we are incapable of hearing Him with our spiritual senses.
contd.......
17 September 2019
MD
14:39
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Serving Nāma Prabhu with such craving caused attention with faith in his
unmanifest presence accelerates flow of Nāma’s sat cit ananda energies.
Attention connection is the pathway and existential faith in Aprakrta Nama is
the opening of a big gateway to the ocean of satcitananda energy of Śaktyāvēşa
Nāma.
Just like before you go into the sun you have to cross the sunshine. Such
association of Nāma’s energies from the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma purifies all our mind
and senses and prepares us for tasting the sweet transcendental sound-embrace.
Transcendental faith combined with this deep contemplation and anticipation for
the transcendental sweetness of the sat-çit-ānanda Nāma Avatāra described in
the scriptures creates the greed. Such anticipation and greed will attract the
reciprocation from the merciful Avatāra wherein He can give us His direct
transcendental manifest presence to our spiritual senses after awakening the
same.
However the Nama Prabhu when pleased by the devotion of the sādhaka, at His
sweet will, may gift him also with sweet experiential presence of Himself to
different degrees at different stages of our progressive japa even though we
have not yet completed his self-purification and not yet awakened our spiritual
senses as in the case of child Narada Muni and Dhruva Maharaj.
They were blessed at sādhaka stage itself with glimpses of manifest presence of
the Lord for a few moments when they were meditating on Him with intense desire
and to see Him. That too in spite of they being beginners whose spiritual mind
and senses were not fully awakened. He did this just to give a taste of His
transcendental beauty which would act as an inspiration for them to take up
intense sadhana for rest of their life.
So it is not that only fully awakening our spiritual mind and spiritual senses
that we can ever taste the sweetest manifest presence of the Suddha Nama. He is
omnipotent and can give the transcendental experiences of His Aprakrta Nama out
of turn even to a neophyte if he is craving for it with shraddha just to
inspire his sādhaka devotee.
However His manifest presence can never be captured by our material senses on
our own. On our own we can chant and hear the Aprakrta Nama only when one's
spiritual senses are fully awakened.
For such out of turn our experience of manifest presence strong feelings of
greed and the Lord gifting us the same is required. Such glimpses of sweetness
of the sat-çit-ānanda Nāma Avatāra is totally unpredictable but can happen as
willed by Him.This can happen, even in the early stages of a sādhaka and it can
create goose bumps in the sādhaka's body and even uncontrollable tears during
those fortunate moments with blissful feelings of cooling divine shelter of Nama
Prabhu spreading into our whole being never felt before.
EK 5: Knowing Krishna’s Energies
We cannot see Krishna with our material eyes, nor hear about Him with
material ears, nor touch Him with our hands; but if we engage our tongue in His
service, He will reveal Himself, saying, “Here I am.”
Such out of turn experiences of the glimpse of sweetness to different
degrees of the Aprākrta Nāma cannot be repeated artificially because these are
occasional causeless gifts from Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu who is the soul of
Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. No other way one can get that experience.
The memory of such deep spiritual experience is a life-time treasure for the
sādhaka that continuously inspires him to engage in serious and intense sadhana
to accelerate the process of self-purification through more serious association
of Nāma Avatāra free from all offenses.
And it is advised that such experiences should be not be freely talked about to
others as they may relate faithlessly to your experience and offend the
Aprakrta Nama's real act. At the most you can speak about it to your spiritual
mentor only to confirm if it is not some trick of the mind. Otherwise just keep
such experiences only between yourself and Nama Prabhu.
contd.....
14:46
......contd
Srila Rupa Goswami says that eventually when we are fully purified even in this
body and blessed by direct transcendental manifest presence of the
transcendental Nama, one will want a million tongue and ears to taste the holy
name. That means such is the infinite sweetness of Suddha Nama for the tongue,
ears and mind of the soul.
First step of soulful japa
Faith in unmanifest presence is when one moves from mindful japa to soulful
japa.
CC Madhya 15.106
With such faith in the holy name one may begin a life of Krishna consciousness.
But an ordinary person cannot chant the holy name of Krishna with such faith.
One should accept the holy name of Krishna to be identical with the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Transcendence Himself. As the Padma Purana states, “The
holy name of Krishna is identical with Krishna and is like a citamani gem, a
touchstone. That name is Krishna personified in sound and is therefore
perfectly transcendental and eternally liberated from material contamination.”
Thus one should understand that the name “Krishna” and Krishna Himself are
identical. Having such faith, one must continue to chant the holy name.
What does chanting with faith mean in practical sense during japa. Having
faith in the mind is different than applying that faith when you do your japa.
What we need is applied faith. When you apply faith it becomes a truth-feeling
in the heart. Thus applied faith is a kind of feeling of unmanifest presence of
Aprakrta Nama. During Japa the background mind should have the truth-feeling in
the heart that 'it is true that He is before me'. This is called
existente-faith. It is faith in somebody's existence though you don't see or
hear Him with your senses.
Only when we feel the unmanifest presence our relationship or devotional
service becomes realistic with the Aprakrta Nama Prabhu who is the Sevya.
Chanting with feeling of faith that the Aprakrta Nama who is a surya of
satcitananda is before me though I cannot transcendentally hear Him is to chant
with applied faith.
Further existentce faith expands into relationship faith. It is not only
existence faith that He has come before me but also relationship faith that He
will mercifully receives and reciprocates my services out of His unlimited
compassion. He will release His causeless mercy upon me in the form of flow of
satcitananda energies into me to purify my cittam and awaken me.
Existence Faith and Relationship Faith
Thus during japa we should have two kinds of faith. Existence faith and
Relationship faith. Both are feelings about truth. One is feeling the truth of
existence of God and other is the feeling of trust of faith about a reciprocal
relationship by God.
For instance Krishna tells Arjuna to declare that my devotees shall never
perish. Kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhaktah pranashyati. Based on this statement
when you have faith that Krishna will always protect me that is called
relationship faith.
For now we will leave the subject of faith here and develop it further as the
very first background item in soulful japa as a separate module. We are right
now only introduced some basics of shraddha that will support our first
practice of mindful japa.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
19:03
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Q
Questions For Japa 17.09.2019 17:45:59
22 September 2019
MD
03:51
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 33
Subject: Krishna Himself speaks to Arjuna
about that His Name is the greatest.
Quoted from Adi Purana by Srila Sanatana Goswami in Hari-bhakti-vilasa
11.465-469
465
na nāma-sadrsham jnanam
na nāma-sadrsham vratam
na nāma-sadrsham dhyanam
na nāma-sadrsham phalam
There is no knowledge equal to my Nāma. No vow is equal to My Nāma. No
meditation is like Nāma. No result is like Nāma.
466
na nāma-sadrsha tyagi
na nāma-sadrshah shamah
na nāma-sadrsham punyam
na nāma-sadrshih gatih
No renunciation is like my Nāma. No peace like my Nāma. No piety is like my
Nāma. No goal of life is like my Nāma.
467
nāmaiva paramā muktir
nāmaiva paramā gatih
nāmaiva paramā santir
nāmaiva paramā sthitih
My Nāma is the supreme liberation. My Nāma is the Supreme goal. My Nāma the
topmost place.My Nāma is the Supreme abode.
468
nāmaiva paramā bhaktir
nāmaiva paramā gatih
nāmaiva paramā pritir
nāmaiva paramā smrtih
My Nāma is the Supreme devotion. My Nāma is the Supreme thought. My Nāma is
Supreme happiness. My Nāma is Supreme meditation.
469
nāmaiva karānam jantor
nāmaiva paramā prabhur eva ca
nāmaiva paramārādhyo
nāmaiva paramo guruh
My Nāma is the life of all living entities. My Nāma is the Supreme Lord and
master. My Nāma is supreme object of worship. My Nāma is the supreme guru.
Application to japa
This is an interesting perspective to see the Nāma Prabhu the way Krishna
Himself thinks of His Nāma.
03:52
Quote 34
Subect : Proper chanting means direct
connection to Krishna
Srila Prabhupada in Vrindavana - September 16, 1976
"The holy name, chanting of holy name, if we chant it properly,
without any offense, then we are directly in connection with Krishna"
Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta Antya Lila 20.12
"One who hears the Hare Krishna mantra thus vibrated is awakened to
spiritual consciousness or Krishna consciousness. In this way one's mind
gradually becomes purified as stated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu "(
Cato darpana marjanam)
Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta Madhya Lila 22.105, Purport
"When mind is purified, the senses are also purified. Instead of
using the senses for sense gratification, the awakened devotee employs the
senses in the transcendental service of the Lord. This is the process by which
dormant love for Krishna is awakened".
Application to japa
Self explanatory
Quote 35
Subject: Special mercy of Nama Avatara
EK 5: Knowing Krishna’s Energies
We cannot see Krishna with our material eyes, nor hear about Him with
material ears, nor touch Him with our hands; but if we engage our tongue in His
service, He will reveal Himself, saying, “Here I am.”
Application for japa
Krishna's form, nama, body are all aprakrta and therefore He cannot be
seen, heard or touched by our prakrta senses. But He incarnates as a
prakrta-like form, sound into a prakrta form and sound so that we can serve
that incarnation with our action and attention with our prakrta mind, senses
and body. He receives and reciprocates as good as serving Himself.
03:53
Quote 36
Subject : Sun acts through sunshine to distribute light and heat
CC Madhya 5.97
Just as the sun can act through the sunshine and
thus distribute its heat and light, so Krishna, by His inconceivable power, can
appear in His original spiritual form in any material element, including stone,
wood, paint, gold, silver, and jewels, because the material elements are all
His energy.
Application to Japa
Self-explanatory.
Quote 37
A Letter from Srila Bhaktididdhanta Sarasvati Thakura!
From: Srila Prabhupadera Patravali, Vol 1, pp 4-5
I am overjoyed to hear that your enthusiasm for chanting is increasing. As
our contaminations are removed by chanting, the Lords form, qualities, and
pastimes will be revealed to us in the Holy name. There is no point in
making a separate effort to artificially remember the Lord’s form, qualities and
pastimes. The Lord and His name are one and the same. This will be understood
clearly when the coverings in your heart are removed. By chanting without
offense you will personally realize that all perfections come from the Holy
Name. Through chanting, the distinction that exists between self, and the gross
and subtle bodies is gradually effaced and one realizes one’s own spiritual
form. Once aware of the spiritual body, as one continues to chant, one sees the
transcendental nature of the Lord’s form.
Only the Holy Name reveals the spiritual form of the living being and then
causes him to be attracted to Krsna’s form.
Only the Holy Name reveals the spiritual qualities of the living being and then
causes him to be attracted to Krsna’s qualities.
Only the Holy Name reveals the spiritual activities of the living being and
then causes him to be attracted to Krsna’s pastimes.
By service to the Holy name we do not only mean the chanting of the Holy
Name; it also includes the other duties of the chanter. If we serve the Holy
name with the body, mind and soul, then the direction of that service
spontaneously manifests like the sun in the clear sky of the chanters heart.
What is the nature of the Holy Name? Eventually all these understandings
spontaneously appear in the heart of one who chants the Holy Name. The true
nature of harinama is revealed by listening to, reading and studying the
scriptures .It is unnecessary to write anything further on this subject. All
these things will be revealed to you through chanting.
Application to Japa
Please read once again the underlined parts of the letter. He says chanting
will reveal our spiritual form, spiritual qualities and spiritual activities
and then we will be attracted form, qualities and pastimes.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa.
MD
10:01
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Extra page
10:02
Soulful Japa
Module 14/108
Summing up the discussion on Nāma Avatāra
The eternally sounding sat-cit-ānanda Krishna Nāma in the spiritual world is
the Avatāri or the source of Nāma Avatāra There is no difference between
Krishna Nama and Krishna Himself. When He decides to incarnate into His
material energy, He, with his effulgent sat-cit-ānanda energy expands Himself
into several spiritual sound forms resembling the detailed features of the form
of the external sound or individual namasabdas on our tongues. It is just like
one sun reflects on different waterbodies on the earth. Reflection of the
absolute is non-different from the absolute. This is the self-effulgent
satcitananda Aprakrta Nāma Prabhu having aprakrta sound features resembling
sound features of external nama.
Satcitananda Nāma Prabhu transmits the sat-cit-ānanda energies just as sun
distributes its light and heat through sunshine. This is His specific act of
mercy as the avatara. Because the sound features of the Nāma Prabhu are
resembling the sound features of the externally produced namasabda features of
both of them indistinguishably merge into one common overlapping perception in
the mind of the attentive chanter at the point of providing attention. The
prakrta namasabda is spiritualized completely and becomes the potentially
omnipotent empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama. The combination of the Śaktyāvēşa
Nama and the empowering Nama Prabhu is called the Nama Avatāra. The empowered
nama-sabdha or Śaktyāvēşa Nama is the sarira or body of the Aprakrta Nama
Prabhu in this world like how Krishna walked amidst us 5000 years back. Here
the Aprakrta Nama is present amidst us in an empowered potentially omnipotent
sound body called Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
A simple sense-touch, with our serving attention, of the sound features of
these spiritually charged and externally perceivable empowered potentially
omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nama purifies the contaminated consciousness of the
person who touches those features with his attention. Touching a namasabda with
attention can also develop into the remembrance of the person whose name the
sound is. Touching the features means being attentive to the details of
namasabda by distinctly chanting with carefully hearing and recognizing the
Name and person whose name it is with faith that Aprakrta Nama is receiving my
service. To do both these two functions properly, serving attention is a must
to set up connection with the Nāma Avatāra.
Since the detailed features of the sat-çit-ānanda Aprākrta Nāma are resembling
the features of the externally produced Śaktyāvēşa Nama, when our serving
attention touches and serves the features of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama with our
senses and mind, our attention is also enabled to touch and serve the Aprākrta
Nāma Prabhu at the plane of our consciousness. Therefore, it is extremely
important to perceive the sound by means of attention-touch of the Śaktyāvēşa
Nama as they appear to our senses, in order to establish contact of our
attention with the satcitananda Aprākrta Nama Prabhu.
So soulful japa means distinctly chanting and carefully hearing and tasking of
repetition of the same bead after bead while in the background there is
constant effortless recognizing and remembering of the all-merciful effulgent
satcitanana Nāma Prabhu with feelings of affection, faith, humility, devotion,
gratitude and surrender and repentance for making offenses in past and present
and seeking forgiveness.
Hence distinctly chanting and clearly hearing concurrently each Nama that
manifests before me with attention by avoiding all thought processing by the
mind is mindful japa. This makes our serving-attention touch and serve the
Divine incarnation of the Lord in the form of remembrance of His effulgent Nama
Prabhu and receive the flow of causeless mercy from Him. When we do mindful
japa with existence-faith and relationship-faith in the
...........contd
10:03
............contd
background soulful japa begins. And when mindful japa is done with above
feelings of not only faith but also humility, respect, love, gratitude,
repentance and surrender, in the background mind it develops into advanced soulful
japa.
Note that attention on the sound features is the pathway for the soul to
connect the soul with the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama and also the gateway for
holding attention or attention embrace of Śaktyāvēşa Nama. And faith is the
next gateway for extending the attention embrace of Śaktyāvēşa Nama to
attention-embrace of the satcitananda Nāma Prabhu having sound features
resembling sound features of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama .
And due to inattentiveness, we are deprived of the direct association of the Lord’s
Avatāra who is an ocean of satcitananda. By such association of the Nāma
Prabhu, all spiritual perfection is achieved. Just see what we are missing by
not being attentive to the sound incarnation during japa. By absorbing the
attention on some other thought processing during japa we get disconnected from
the incarnation.
The Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu is described in Padma Purana as one whose vigraha or
body is chaitanya rasa vigraha.
Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ Krishnaś chaitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto
’bhinnatvān Nāma-nāminoḥ
‘The holy name of Krishna is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all
spiritual benedictions, for it is Krishna Himself, the reservoir of all
pleasure. Krishna’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental
mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less
powerful than Krishna Himself. Since Krishna’s name is not contaminated by the
material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with Māyā.
Krishna’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by
the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Krishna and Krishna
Himself are identical.’
Śri Chaitanya-Charitāmrta Madhya 17.133
When Lord Chaitanya says that the holy names are invested with all energies,
(namnam akari bahuda nija sarva shakti) He is referring to investing energies
into the externally perceivable namasabda since the question of empowering
Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu does not arise as He is Krishna Himself.
Aprākrta Nāma is not generated by the phenomenon by vibration of air molecules
like the Śaktyāvēşa Nama. Aprākrta Nāma or transcendental Nama is eternally
self-sounding, self-manifest, all-powerful, all-loving and all-intelligent
satcitananda person emanating effulgent rays of satcitananda descending from
the spiritual world. Even when He incarnates into this world into the namasabda
created by our tongue, He is fully pure (Pūrna śuddha), eternally liberated
(nitya mukta). He is Krishna Himself as His Nama. And that is the Nāma Prabhu. But
Śaktyāvēşa Nama comes into existence as soon as we vibrate and as soon as
vibration stops Aprākrta Nāma exits. By vibrating we create this powerful sound
body of Śaktyāvēşa Nama . And therefore we should hear the Nama concurrently as
we chant for effective attention connection and attention-embrace.
In additon to empowering, He inconceivably becomes one with this external
Śaktyāvēşa Nama on our tongue for the time being. Even ordinary jiva spirit can
take up a material body and identify with itself for rasa then why God cannot
become a sound of this world for his lilas while remaining transcendental as
the Aprākrta Nāma . This is not difficult for God for He is eternally linked
with material energy as its eternal source and cause. The Nāma Avatāra combination
of Aprākrta Nama and Śaktyāvēşa Nama interacts with the chanter on the
principle of as you surrender I reciprocate.
.......contd
26 September 2019
MD
08:03
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.........contd
One should never think that the external Nama itself is not an important
component of the incarnation and that it is just a material thing. That would
amount to not recognizing the wish of the Lord, who, for the sake of mercifully
awakening the love for Him in the conditioned souls of this world, has decided to
empower external sound into a Śaktyāvēşa Nama with His omnipotence and make it
as good as Him.
In fact, all the benefit for the soul is coming from the association of the
external Śaktyāvēşa Nama, because our access is only to what is perceivable by
our prākrta senses. The Śaktyāvēşa Nāma, to whom our senses have access, is as
good as the Aprakrta Nāma Prabhu for ( rasa) purposes of receiving and
reciprocating our services. He is complete in Himself and yet He becomes the
soul of the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma not because it is needed for Him to come into
material dimension but because He is fulfilling our need.
The Lord being absolute can be in the material world in His original body and
still sense everything as they are being free from all illusion. But then we will
not be able to perceive Him. Hence for all His lilas in this material world His
spiritual body is accompanied by a parallel Śaktyāvēşa body into which He
incarnates for us to see, hear, etc
The Lord always act in His satcitananda spiritual body even when He acts
through the Śaktyāvēşa component of the incarnation in this world unlike
conditioned jivas who act only with their material body forgetting their
spiritual self.
One should have faith that if the Lord decides He can become any of His energies.
And that is how, just for us, the Aprākrta Nāma mercifully not only empowers
the external Nama but also mercifully becomes that Śaktyāvēşa Nama for the time
being and receives our services and reciprocates with us. Just like I can
validly say 'I am my hand' but my hand cannot say 'I am the whole body.'
Though, He, being the energetic is spiritually different from His energy,
whenever He wants He can decides to manifest His person in the energy by
becoming that energy. That is His omnipotence. When He does that, then the
energy is as good as Him. This is the principle of inconceivable simultaneous
oneness and difference between the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama and the
transcendental Aprākrta Nama Prabhu of the Avatāra. Only those who faith in the
above can have access to the full mercy of the Lord’s incarnation.
If the Nāma Avatāra is pleased by sincere devotional service of attentive
chanting and hearing, in obedience to the order and directions of a sad-guru,
He will enlighten the chanter with pure self-Self knowledge within a very short
time. He will liberate him from misidentification with matter and continue to
spiritualize his attention, intelligence and mind resulting in awakening of our
spiritual sensibilities.
He takes charge of the material life of such a surrendered devotee. Nāma Prabhu
enables the soul one day, to chant and hear Him with the soul’s awakened
spiritual mind and spiritualised tongue and ears than mere attention-touch as
in the beginning. If we submit ourselves to the Nāma avatāra for the
association, the Lord will enter our lives in all of its details, to the manner
in which we surrender to Him.
Gradually He will mercifully reveal to the chanter, the Aprākrta or absolute
name, form and lilas by His sweet will.
ataēva kṛṣṇēra ‘Nāma,’ ‘deha,’ ‘vilāsa.’ prākṛtendriya-grāhya
nahe, haya sva-prakāśa
“The holy name of Krishna, His body, and His pastimes cannot be understood by
the blunt material senses. They are manifested independently.”
Sri Çaitanya-Çaritāmrta Madhya 17.13
Once we develop faith and a relationship of loving service with the Nāma
Avatāra by the daily service of chanting and hearing and make it our aspiration
in life to surrender and serve Him and His mission through the sađ-guru, Hare
Krishna Nāma Prabhu becomes the master of our life. He takes us closer and
closer to Him by active reciprocation and relationship as His loving servant.
contd.....
08:07
Potentially we can be
guided and empowered by Him every moment in His service. All depends on our
level of surrender. This connection is not limited to the only japa but every
aspect of our lives in this material body throughout our day. The devotee under
the shelter of the Nama avatara serves the spiritual ambitions of the pure
devotee like Srila Prabhupada.
The three components are 1. The Nāma Avatari or Suddha Nama in the spiritual
world. 2. The Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu who descends as avatara. 3. His external,
empowered sat-çit-ānanda-ized Śaktyāvēşa Nama. There are three stages of japa
seva and realization of the Nāma Avatāra namely Nāma aparadha stage , Nāma
abhasa stage and Suddha Nāma stage. Soon we will see how these three stages are
related to progressive realizations of above three different component of Nāma
Avatara.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 15/108
Pancharatrika vidhi and Bhagavata vidhi - A comparision
The Acaryas in our pramapara have perfectly combined both two parallel devotional
activities in our daily life. Pancharatrika vidhi of Deity worship and
bhagavata vidhi of chanting and hearing holy names and Srimad Bhagavad Gita,
Srimad Bhagavatam.
I am repeating the key principle of avatara again. Please read scrutinizingly
the following two quotes as there is an open secret in them. I say it is an
open because once you discover it then it is appears open. But until you
discover it is a secret right before our eyes but not understood. That secret
is in the underlined words in the two quotes.
You assume a form resembling a material body just to give us
instructions like those of Bhagavad-Gīta, but actually, you are the Supreme
original person. I, therefore, offer my respectful obeisances unto You.” Śrīmad-Bhagavatam
9.8.24
Another similar quote:
Only for us, who cannot experience anything beyond matter in our present
conditioned state, do the dhamas and the Lord Himself, in His arca form, appear
before us resembling matter to give us the facility to see spirit
with material eyes. In the beginning this may be difficult for a neophyte to
understand, but in due course, when one is advanced in devotional service, it
will be easier, and he will appreciate the Lord’s presence in these tangible
forms.
Bhakitvedanta Purport . CC Adi 5.20
The three components of Nama Avatara are Satcitananda Avatari,
Satcitananda Avatara and Satcitananda-ized Avatara.
1. The first component: The absolute Suddha Nama who is the Avatari in the
spiritual world which is of Aprākrta or spiritual or transcendental nature.
Avatari is the source of all expansions. In the analogy of electricity Avatari
can be compared to electric power generator or source of electricity.
........ contd.
08:07
.........contd
2. The second component: The expansion of Avatari Nama into the material world
whose nature is Aprakrta or spiritual or transcendental and whose features are
resembling the sound vibrated by our tongue is called the Aprākrta Nama
avatara. This can be compared to the intermediate power house or distribution
centre that distributes electricity to individual consumers of electricity.
3. The third component: The Aprakrta Nama taking on features identical to
external sound produced with our material tongue and making that sound
potentially omnipotent, Shaktyaavesha Nama for the time being. This is compared
to the electrified copper wire caused by infusion of electricity into the
copper.
Similarly the three components of Archa avatara are
1. First component : The pure original spiritual satcitananda form of the
Krishna in the spiritual world who is the source of all expansions and
incarnations. He is the Avatari. This can be compared to the source of all
electricity in the city.
2. Second component: The expansion of Avatari whose is Aprakrta archa avatara whose
nature is spiritual or transcendental or satcitananda but having features that resemble
the features of externa deity or archa vigraha. This can be compared to the
electric power house or electricity distributing centre.
3. Third component: The external Deity vigraha that we have carved out of
matter and made potentially omnipotent by the Aprākrta Archa avatara. It is
like the electrified copper wire.
Let us see what happens in the case of Deity incarnation.
Let us start from beginning. A vigraha is made of material elements that
fits description of the Lord's form in the sastra. Sastric rituals of
installation ceremony are done under the direction of the Acharya. These
rituals prescribed in the sastras are for purifying the material elements and also
for invoking total subtle material energy or virat energy with senses and
infusing prana into the gross vigraha.
Then Lord in the spiritual world understands the Acharya's desire to invite Him
to incarnate into that external archa vigraha. The omnipotent Lord expands
Himself into a satcitananda spiritual form whose form-features resembles
form-features of the external Archa vigraha ( eg.The features of form of
Vrindavanchandra of Vrindavan temple are different from Krishnachandra of
Bangalore temple. Different Deities look differently). This is the Aprākrta
Archa vigraha whose features resemble the external vigraha. Aprākrta Archa
vigraha is the second component of archa incarnation who cannot also be seen
with material eyes or touched with material hands. The third form is
sacitananda-ized external Archa vigraha which is made of material energy (
prakrti) is like an identical twin of the sacitananda Aprākrta Archa vigraha.
This is the external Deity that appears to our eyes. The fact that Aprakrta Archa
vigraha has adopted the features of the external Archa vigraha is only for our
attention to touch Him through attention on the external Archa vigraha.
When the Lord with His satcitananda energies ( like sun surrounded with its
brilliance) incarnates into the external vigraha, the matter of the Deity gets
spiritually energised by satcitananda or gets satcitananda-ized ( like by the
brilliance of the sun is reflected on different water bodies) and becomes free
from qualitative reactions of three modes of material reactions. Matter is
converted for time being to spirit because it acts like spirit for the time
being as long as the Aprakrta Archa vigraha resides therein.
Note that the omnipotent Lord can expand Himself into unlimited number of forms
and names and they are all non-different from each other. As jivas it is
inconceivable of one person having so many transcendental bodies, names and
forms and each acting like a complete person with unique lilas and yet
non-different from each other.
....contd
08:08
........contd
That is how God, the Supreme Person is different from jiva, the tiny person.
Now let us understand the differences in the three components of Nama Avatara.
What is difference between first and second. Both are Krishna Himself and are
Absolute Name. Only the features of the sound differ. If the chanting you
produce with your material tongue and the sound incarnation that has descended
were compared with each other they will have sound features that are identical.
What is the difference between the second and third? Second is Krishna Himself
but third is His spiritualised and empowered matter energy like the electrified
copper wire. Basically substance of third is Lord's immediate energy and the
substance of second is Lord Himself, the source of all energies. there is big
difference in substance of the two, though the features of both are alike.To
think that copper is electricity is ignorance of the truth of electricity.
There is big difference between saying the live copper wire is electricity
itself as against saying that it acts as good as electricity when it flows
through it. The latter is the accurate description.
Archa Avatāra Vs. Nāma Avatāra.
1. External vigraha is omnipotent and is as good as Lord Himself.
a. Archa avatara
Matter form or prakrta form of the Deity is fully spiritualized and made
potentially omnipotent by the descending into it of the omnipotent
sac-çidānanda Aprakrta Archa vigraha . Omnipotent external form is as good as
Lord's transcendental form to receive and reciprocate services of His devotees.
b. Nama Avatara
Matter namasabda is fully spiritualized and invested with all energies and
made potentially omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nama by the descending into it of the
satcitananda Aprakrta Nama Prabhu. Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija sarva śakti.
Omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Nama is as good as as Lord Himself to receive and
reciprocate services of His devotees.
2. Lord incarnates with local features resembling external incarnation.
a. Archa Avatara
Sac-çid-ānanda Aprakrta Archa vigraha, who cannot be seen with material
eyes descends into the Deity, assumes a transcendental form that resembles the
prakrta-rupa or the form of external Deity and is a merciful incarnation of
original sac-cid-ānanda form of the Lord (Avatari) in the spiritual world. He
merges His form-features into the form-features of external matter form of the
Deity and resides therein to receive and reciprocate services from the
conditioned souls rendered through the spiritualized external Deity.
b. Nama Avatara
Sac-çid-ānanda Nāma Prabhu who has descended into the externally vibrated
Nama assumes a transcendental sound-feature that resembles the sound-features
of the externally vibrated Nama and is a merciful incarnation of the original
Suddha Nāma (Avatari) in the spiritual world. Nama Prabhu merges His
transcendental sound-features into the sound-features of the externally
vibrated Nama and resides therein to receive and reciprocate the services from
the conditioned souls rendered through the spiritualized externally vibrated
Nama called Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
3.Serving with attention and faith and love
a. Archa Avatara
The external form of archa vigraha whenever rendered service with faith and
love, it is same as serving the Aprakrta Archa vigraha, who has descended and
merged His transcendental form features into the spiritualized matter though He
is seen directly only with our spiritual mind and senses. He is served with
attention that is charged with faith and love even though we may not yet be
capable of seeing the Aprākrta Archa form with our spiritual senses as they are
not awakened due to ignorance covering our spiritual mind and eyes.
b. Nama Avatara
The empowered externally vibrated Nama or Śaktyāvēşa Nama whenever chanted,
heard and remembered with faith and love, it is the same as serving the
sac-cit-ananda Nāma Prabhu having sound-features resembling Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
Even though we
.......contd
30 September 2019
MD
06:38
Madhu Pandit Dasa
........contd
may not yet be capable of chanting and hearing the Aprākrta Nama Prabhu with
out material senses, still He is served with attention that is charged with
faith and love.
4. Offensive stage of serving:
a. Archa avatara
We can commit offenses to the Deity by not respecting His act of descended
presence of Aprakrta Archa vigraha by not treating or serving Him attentively
and respectfully as God should be served. This is called sēva aparadha.
b. Nama Avatara
We can commit offenses to the Nāma Prabhu by not respecting His act of
descended presence by not treating and serving Him attentively and respectfully
as God should be served. Instead we see the sound like any other ordinary
sound. That is called Nāma aparadha.
5. Devotional service to the avatara purifies our mind and
senses and minimizes offenses.
a. Archa Avatara
When service is rendered to the Archa vigraha attentively with shraddha and
priti on the instruction of Guru while remembering the presence of the Aprakrta
Deity form and carefully minimizing offenses, we are gradually purified and
liberated and our mind and senses become purified.
b. Nama Avatara
When service is rendered to the Śaktyāvēşa Nama attentively with shraddha
and priti on the instruction of Guru while remembering the presence of the
Aprakrta Nama Prabhu and carefully minimizing offenses, we are gradually
purified and liberated and our mind and senses become purified.
6. When purification is completed the transcendental Lord is manifest to our
purified senses according to our intensity of eagerness
a. Archa vigraha
By regular service and association through the practice of devotional
service of worship of the Archa avatara, our purification is completed someday.
The soul achieves qualitative oneness with the Absolute with the flow of
self-Self knowledge or cit prasadam from the Deity. At this stage, according to
our intensity of eagerness we transcendentally see and serve the pure
sac-sid-ānanda Deity and experience His experiential or manifest presence with
our spiritually awakened senses. Thus, unmanifest presence turns into manifest
presence of the Aprakrta Archa vigraha before our purified senses. When one is
blessed with seeing of the sac-çidānanda Aprakrta Archa vigraha with one's
awakened spiritual eyes, one gets all symptoms of ecstasy just as Chaitnaya
Mahaprabhu fainted on having the darshan of Lord Jaganath on the altar.
b.Nama Avatara
By regular service and association of Nāma Avatāra, through devotional
service of the Nama avatara by way of chanting and hearing offenselessly, the
purification is completed some day. The soul realizes qualitative oneness with
the Absolute with flow of self-Self knowledge or cit prasadam from the Nama. At
that stage, according to our intensity of eagerness, we can transcendentally
perceive and serve satcitananda Nāma Prabhu ( Shudda Nama) with our awakened
spiritual tongue, ears and mind. Then, unmanifest presence pf Aprakrta Nama
Avatara turns into manifest presence of satcitananda Nāma Prabhu before our
spiritual tongue, ears and mind. At that time we will seek a million ears and
tongues to taste the sweetness of Nāma Prabhu as Rupa Goswami has described.
But as beginners, we can touch experientially the empowered Śaktyāvēşa Nama
with our prakrta senses along with only attention-embrace of the Aprākrta Nama
Prabhu. By such regular spiritual touch the understanding and the faith
develops of the Avatara's fullness as three features of the incarnation in one.
It means to see the Avatara as three in one consisting of Aprakrta God
(Avatāri), as God’s own expansion as Aprakrta Nama Prabhu with sound features
similar to external sound, and as spiritualized matter or Śaktyāvēşa Nama . Of
the three, the second and third are on our tongues and the first is in the
spiritual world and all three never distanced from each other by material space
and time.
3 October 2019
MD
08:09
Madhu Pandit Dasa
....contd
Thus the Nama or Archa Avatara is one complete absolute truth or Advaya jnāna
experienced by the chanter partially in the beginning and completely
experienced in advanced japa. It is similar to realization of Brahman,
Paramatma and Bhagavan.
Realization of omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa Namais like Brahman or realization of the
spiritual energy of the Lord. Realization of Aprākrta Nāma avatara or
satcitananda Nama Prabhu with prakrta-namasabda-resembling features is like
Paramatma realization because Namasabda features are local features . And the
realization of the Avatari Aprākrta Nama is like the Bhagavan realization.
" The Deity is known as the arça-vigraha or arça-avatāra, an
incarnation of the Supreme Lord in the form of a material manifestation (brass,
stone or wood). Ultimately there is no difference between Krishna manifest in
matter or Krishna manifest in spirit because both are His energies. For
Krishna, there is no distinction between matter and spirit. His manifestation
in material form, therefore, is as good as His original form,
sat-çidānanda-vigraha"
Brahma Samhita 5.1
Srila Prahupada in Teachings of Lord Kapila chapter 4
" Krishna is always Krishna, but because we cannot see anything beyond
material elements like wood, stone, and metal, He appears in a form made of
these elements. But He is neither wood, metal, nor stone.
When we associate with the Deity, we associate with Krishna personally.
Because Krishna is invisible, He very kindly takes a form that is visible to
us. This is Krishna ’s mercy. Do not think, “Oh, here is a stone Krishna.”
Thus Krishna's vastu is never made of material energy or maya as He is the
eternal source and master of all energies including the material energy.
Vaishnavas understand that Krishna is always Parabrahman and we are tiny
brahmans. We are qualitiativley one with Parabrahman but not quantitatively. He
always remain transcendental in His Aprākrta body. But He incarnates as He is
into a prakrta form or sound and makes it as good as Him in order to mercifully
receive, relate and reciprocate with our services. He is achyuta or eternally
infallible and does not fall down into any of the three gunas which are
eternally serving Him.
From the comparison of Archa and Nama avatara it obvious that Nama is more
accessible to masses than Archa avatara. You have to go to the Archa vigraha to
meet Him but in the case of Nama avatara, He comes to where we are just for
moving the tongue with faith. Installing and worshipping Archa avatara requires
so many pure ingredients and is very elaborate procedure. But worshipping Nama
avatara does not require any ingredients nor any preparations, not even a bath.
Simply we have to receive the Nama with faith from a pure devotee and chant and
hear concurrently with attention, faith and devotion under the guidance of his
pure devotee spiritual master.
We have to appreciate the super merciful nature of Nama Prabhu and take full
advantage of His free distribution of His mercy.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
08:11
Module 16/108
The big secret- Importance of the
Lord assuming features resembling the external sound.
Serving attention on resembling features-A gateway to transcendence.
The namasabda or sound features of the sat-çit-ānanda Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu
resembles the sound-features of the satcitananda-ized namasabda uttered with
our tongue. The sat-çit-ānanda Aprakrta Nāma Prabhu is the sound incarnation
that descends from the spiritual dimension. It is called namasabda and not just
sabda because in the spiritual world every name is cit-sound and not a
impersonal sound. Spiritual namasabda is inseparable from the possessor of the
name. Therefore the personality of that spiritual sound is Krishna Himself.
Thus the satcitananda Aprakrta Nāma Prabhu is a self-sounding and
self-conscious and spiritually effulgent namasabda that resembles the sound
that the chanter is producing externally. Self-sounding and self-aware means He
does not need a material tongue to generate the sat-çit-ānanda Aprakrta Nāma
Prabhu. The self-sounding sound is a self-willed expansion by the eternally
sounding Nāma Avatari or the Suddha Nāma of the spiritual world. This
self-sounding aprākrta sound of the spiritual world descends and merges its features
into the sound features of the perception of the sound produced
with our material tongue and spiritualizes those features fully and
makes such materially generated audible sound features potentially
omnipotent called Śaktyāvēşa Nama.
The purpose of the Suddha Nama expanding as satcitananda Aprakrta Nama Prabhu
with features resembling external Śaktyāvēşa Nama is to create a gateway
for the attention of our soul to go from the world of matter to world of spirit
and touch Him. When attention is applied on the sound features through chanting
and hearing varieties of original functions of the soul like being, desiring,
thinking, feeling, willing, seeing and doing are also activated. That is why it
is said that the effect of process of chanting and hearing one’s own japa
cannot be replaced by one simply hearing other's japa where there won't be full
involvement of all the soul functions as in doing one's own japa.
Touching God
Application of our mind on the features of avatara by way of sharply
perceiving those features is the gateway for the attention of the materially
trapped soul to peep into the transcendental dimension and touch God. When the
chanter distinctly pronounces and carefully hears in detail the external
namasabda with his serving attention, that very same attention simultaneously
and concurrently touches the transcendental namasabda features of the sac-cit
ananda Aprakrta Nama Prabhu who has descended into it. And the features of
Aprakrta Nama Prabhu and the external empowered Nama both overlaps at the mind
plane of perception where attention in applied when you hear external Nama. You
are directly touching God Himself with your attention because there is no
difference between the features of the Lord are Lord Himself. Touching a
sound with attention means perceive carefully the sound.
The sat-çit-ānanda Aprakrta Nama Prabhu cannot be touched by material senses. Atah
sri Krishna Nāmaadi bhaved grahyam indriyam. Chanting and hearing sound
features of incarnation with serving attention is the secret of associating
with that incarnation and transforming ourselves .
External sound features equivalent to transcendental sound features.
This expansion, the sat-çit-ānanda Aprakrta Nāma Prabhu with all His
satcitananda energies, descends into the features of external sound and
spiritualizes and empowers it just like electricity electrifies the wire
through which it passes.
By His sweet will, the externally charged or sat-çit-ānanda-ized potentially
omnipotent sound features executes all the function that the
sat-çit-ānanda Nāma Prabhu wants to do with regard to moving gross or subtle
matter.
.........contd
08:13
.....contd
The omnipotent Lord creates this functional oneness of the aprakrta and prakrta
sound features for the sake of receiving the worship of the worshipper.
Equivalence here same means functionally both become one.
Śaktyāvēşa Nama is dress of Aprakrta Nama Prabhu.
Thus the external Śaktyāvēşa Nama features can be veiwed as an omnipotent
dress worn by the Aprakrta Nama when He descends only fpr us in the material
world though he does not need a dress to act in this world as He is the real
mover of everything in existence. Aprakrta Nama acts transcendentally even in
His incarnation. The external Śaktyāvēşa Nama mimes such transcndental acts of
the Aprakrta Nama in the material dimension. The dress enables us to relate
with Him through our material senses. He exists in the material world and
performs wonderful pastimes apparently like other embodied living entities
except that He has an omnipotent body that can do anything he wishes in the
material nature in order to reciprocate with his devotees.
Nama Prabhu acts in this world with external Nama as His body just as we act
with our bodies.
Though the sat-çit-ānanda Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu is transcendental to material
dimension , He can accept directly any and every service that can be rendered
to the sound features of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama body. When we are embodied in our
material bodies we can offer and receive services to each other through our
bodies but in illusion. Further what we can offer or receive is limited by the
what the body can offer and receive. Suppose you are 1 km away from me then I
cannot offer an embrace to you nor can you receive that embrace even if I wish
due to limitation of our bodies.
This is very important to know that while we may have limitation in receiving
the mercy released by the Aprākrta Nama due to limitations of our body-mind
system but there is no limitation for the Aprākrta Nāma to receive any service
rendered to the Śaktyāvēşa Nama or give out any mercy because it is His
omnipotent body and has no material limitations.
However when I am embodied the limitations of my body-mind system limits my
capacity to receive His reciprocations. I can receive only to the extent the
body-mind system allows. For instance, a pure devotee's spiritualized body-mind
system can receive and manifest transparently His Will in this material world
than one who is still under influence of three gunas.
Material energy is as good as Him since all energies belong to Him. Nama Prabhu
along with His incarnated Śaktyāvēşa Nama body performs wonderful pastime or
activities in the life of the chanter as He wishes, like any other person of
this world would act and live..He is in relationship with the devotees in
accordance with his surrender and service to Him. So also the devotees sees the
Lord before Him out of love and does not even note the intervening material
energy because He focusses not on the vibrating matter itself but focusses on
the sound features produced by that vibrating matter which are as good as the
features of the transcendental Nama Prabhu.
Normally spirit cannot be accessed with material senses. It has to be accessed
with spiritual senses. Yet the Lord mercifully makes it possible by His
omnipotency to serve His Aprakrta Namasabda by serving His Śaktyāvēşa external
Namasabda. Therefore this is a great opportunity to associate with Him who is
verily the ocean of satcitananda spirit.
Tattva and Rasa
There are two aspects to reality. Tattva and Rasa. Tattva means objective
existential truths. Rasa means relationship between these truths called
functional truths. Real living of life is about actions for generating rasa
from combining the tattvas using one's free will and not about dry tattva
itself. Tattvas or existential truths facilitate rasa.
Even the conditioned jiva in this world do not disturb his rasa of being in
bodily concept of life by unnecessarily remembering the tattva of his body that
it is a skin bag filled with blood, mucus, stool, urine, muscle and bones.
........contd
08:14
.........contd
Hardly we think of this tattva till we fall sick or more clearly when we have
to undergo surgery or when a transcendentalist who is above bodily concept of
life separates matter and spirit upon seeing anybody.
In the material world all our rasas are experienced as Maya perceptions in our
mind and not on any perception of real tattva or true existence. For instance
there is no real cinmaya male tattva bodies or female tattva bodies or animal
bodies in this world. We, out of this dead matter world, read in our minds as
if the bodies are live cinmaya males and females etc which are in reality made
out of the impersonal tattva of material energy of the Lord consisting of
transient earth, water, fire, air, ether, manas, buddhi and ahankara just as
decorated mannequins look-alike of humans displayed in shop windows of a
clothes store imitating material bodies. There are only flesh-males and
flesh-females in the material world being read in our mind as cinmaya-males and
cinmaya-females.The illusion is only a skin deep trap by Maya meant for jiva's
false ego who still hope for love, intimacy, play and pleasures independent of
Krishna.
Lord's own features and the features formed of Lord's energies become
one at the plane of perception.
Focussing our active serving attention on the tangible features of the
external vibration or Śaktyāvēşa Nama by distinctly chanting and sharply and
discerningly hearing with appreciative remembrance, it amounts to
simultaneously serving the transcendental features of the sat-çit-ānanda Nāma
Prabhu. The sat-çit-ānanda Aprakrta Nama Prabhu is the very soul of the
features of Śaktyāvēşa Nama not only on the tongue but also the soul of the
perception of that Nama on my mind screen or consciousness. Thus you
simultaneously touch with your attention both the features of Lord in person as
Nama Prabhu and also as features of His external energy that has become as good
as Himself. You are associating with total existence, Energetic Lord and His
energy.
As you surrender I reciprocate
By serving the Śaktyāvēşa Nama the Supreme sat-çit-ānanda Nāma Prabhu
accepts that service and reciprocates. Though we cannot spiritually experience,
with our serving attention, the transcendental features of sat-çit-ānanda Nāma
Prabhu residing therein due our sleeping spiritual senses, nothing bars loving
reciprocation between devotee and the satcitananda Nama Prabhu through the via
medium of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama based on the spiritual principle of as we
surrender Krishna reciprocates. So should not think that since my spiritual
mind and senses are sleeping I cannot have receiporcations with Aprakrta Nama
Prabhu and distance from Him. Our minds are connect able to transcendence based
on our surrender to Aprakrta Nama.
The main function of the externally perceivable sat-çit-ānanda-ized Śaktyāvēşa
Nama is to facilitate the soul to act as a medium of reciprocation between the
chanter and sat-çit-ānanda Nama Prabhu. Eventually the sat-çit-ānanda Nama
Prabhu’s function is to purify us through the external omnipotent Śaktyāvēşa
Nama and make us realize the His sacitananda nature with our spiritual mind and
senses.
When our consciousness is charged with transcendental knowledge, remembrance,
faith and attitude of service and chant and hear the sat-çit-ānanda-ized
vibration with our serving attention we get only the attention-touch of the
transcendental satcitananada sound but not the experiential touch until our
sleeping spiritual mind and spiritual senses have awakened.
Omnipotency & Causeless mercy.
Normally through matter the jivas can never access spirit. This
transcendental possibility of simultaneously touching the transcendental
sat-çit-ānanda Nama Prabhu with our attention when we touch the sat-çit-ānanda-ized
Śaktyāvēşa Nama of material dimension with is made possible by the omnipotency
and causeless mercy of the Nama Prabhu.
.....contd
08:15
......contd
The Lord says he incarnates by His ‘sva-atmamayaya’. It is exactly this ‘atmamayaya'
potency which makes it possible for a spiritualized matter body to become a
bridge to access the Aprākrta Nama.
The cycle of purification
Every attention-touch or association of the Lord through attentive chanting
and hearing with appreciative and grateful remembrance results in incremental
awakening of our sleeping soul a little more then before due to purification or
removal of ignorance by infusion of fresh spiritual cit & sat energy from
the Nama Prabhu, resulting in development of little more faith &
self-knowledge than before. And because of this the soul becomes a little more
better enabled spiritually or more awakened to chant and hear Him with little
more purity than just before. When we again chant and hear Him with freshly
achieved increased purity we develop again more faith, knowledge &
thought-feelings. And this cycle of constant purification which is followed by
increased faith, knowledge & feelings on Aprakrta Nama Prabhu goes on till
the soul’s mind and senses is fully awakened some day resulting in full
experiential access to satcitananda Aprakrta Nama Prabhu. This is the self
purifying cyclic process of japa. Repeating this bead after bead results in
dissolving the covering of the soul more and more to eventually uncover the
soul of all ignorance and awaken our spiritual mind.
We gradually begin to experience the transcendental chanting and transcendental
hearing over and above normal ordinary chanting and hearing with our material
senses to the extent our lording attention is purified into purer and purer
serving attention and also to the extent the aprakrta sound permits us to
transcendentally experience the attention-touch. As japa progresses over
extended period of time, not only the transcendental nature of personality of
Nāma Prabhu is experienced, even the doer and experiencer of japa is awakened
into a purer spirit doer and a purer spirit experiencer free from false ego.
Self realization & God realization happens simultaneously.
Thus, realization of one's true authentic self and realization of the
eternal Nāma of the Lord keeps happening together since soul is the one who has
to realize and he cannot be in self-ignorance. There cannot be realization of
satcitananda Nāma Prabhu without simultaneous realization of self as
satcitananda The chanter by virtue of association with Nāma Avatāra first
realizes that the soul is distinct from bodily concept of life. The serving
attention, which is freed from lording attitude and full of serving attiude is
eventually freed from the influence of the three modes of material nature
awakening one to to serve Him eternally through pure chanting, hearing.
In the impure stage even though we may not be spiritually experiencing the
transcendental sound, our attention on the features of external sound leads to
attention touch of God's spiritual Name directly because the sound-features
of the external sound and the transcendental sound resemble each other.
Such attention on the sound-features amount to touching His existence
(existential touch) with remembrance of the all-spiritual satcitananda Name of
the Lord in experiential separation.
Nama smaranam
When someone admirable is not before your senses and your attention is
maintained on any features of his self in your mind without break and
appreciate that person, then that is nothing but appreciative remembrance or
smaranam of that person. Features of self could be form or name or quality etc.
Similarly active doing attention to chant and knowing attention to hear applied
on the sound-features of sat-çit-ānanda-ized Śaktyāvēşa Nama with appreciation
with feeling of separation from experiencing the satcitananda Nama with
spiritual senses is called Nama smaranam. Smaranam means I can engage in
serving the transcendental Nama only with attention-touch and remembrance but
not with my spiritual senses as they are sleeping.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
12:45
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 39
Harinaam Kevalastakam
Author: Nilakanta Goswami
Book Name: Panca Ratnam
Language: Sanskrit
(1)
madhuraḿ madhurebhyo ‘pi
mańgalebhyo ‘pi mańgalam
pāvanaḿ pāvanebhyo ‘pi
harer nāmaiva kevalam
More sweet than all other sweet things; more auspicious than all other
auspicious things; the greatest purifier of all purifying things. The holy name
of Sri Hari alone is everything.
(2)
ābrahmā-stamba-paryantaḿ
sarvaḿ māyā-mayaḿ jagat
satyaḿ satyaḿ punaḥ satyaḿ
harer nāmaiva kevalam
The entire universe, from exalted Brahma down to the lowly clump of grass,
is a product of the illusory energy of the supreme Lord. The only thing that is
reality, reality, again I say reality. The holy name of Sri Hari alone is
everything
(3)
sa guruḥ sa pitā cāpi
sā mātā bandhavo ‘pi saḥ
śikṣayec cet sadā smartuḿ
harer nāmaiva kevalam
That person is a true preceptor, or a true father, a true mother, and a
true friend also only if they teach one to always remember. The holy name of
Sri Hari alone is everything
(4)
niḥśvāse nāhi viśvāsaḥ
kadā ruddho bhaviṣyati
kīrtanīya mato bālyād
harer nāmaiva kevalam
There is no certainty when the last breath will come and put an abrupt halt
to all one’s material plans; therefore, it is wise to always practice chanting
from very childhood. The holy name of Sri Hari alone is everything.
(5)
hariḥ sadā vaset tatra
yatra bhāgavatā janāḥ
gāyanti bhakti-bhāvena
harer nāmaiva kevalam
Lord Hari eternally dwells in that place where truly exalted, spiritually
advanced souls sing in the mood of pure devotion. The holy name of Sri Hari
alone is everything.
(6)
aho duḥkhaḿ mahā-duḥkhaḿ
duḥkhād duḥkhataraḿ yataḥ
kācārthaḿ vismṛtam ratna-
harer nāmaiva kevalam
Aho! What a sorrow, what a great sorrow! More painful than any other misery
in the world! Mistaking it as a mere piece of glass, the people have forgotten
this jewel. The holy name of Sri Hari alone is every
(7)
dīyatāḿ dīyatāḿ karṇo
nīyatāḿ nīyatāḿ vacaḥ
gīyatāḿ gīyatāḿ nityaḿ
harer nāmaiva kevalam
heard again and again with one’s ears; It should be uttered over and over with
one’s voice; It should be perpetually sung and sung anew. The holy name of Sri
Hari alone is everything
(8)
tṛṇī-kṛtya jagat sarvaḿ
rājate sakalopari
cid-ānanda-mayaḿ śuddhaḿ
harer-nāmaiva kevalam
It makes the entire universe seem insignificant as a blade of grass; it
reigns supreme over all in a splendorous manner; it is full of eternally
conscious divine ecstasy; it is supremely pure. The holy name of Sri Hari alone
is everything.
Madhu Pandit Dasa,
4 October 2019
MD
19:32
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 40
Quote
Sub: Entire Krishna's pastimes are present in the Nama.
HariNāma Cintamani 2.31
krishnera samagra lila naame vidyamaana
Naama se parama tattva tomara vidhaana
“ The entire panaroma of Lord Krishna’s pastimes is present in the Hare
Krishna maha mantra. Lord Gouranga has personally declared the Hare Krishna
mahamantra to be the highest Absolute Truth”
Application to Japa
Since the Aprākrta Nama sound is absolute, one should have faith that all
transcendental existential truths will be revealed by that Absolute sound, and
our consciousness does not need the help of material mind or intellect or false
ego to generate thoughts by artificially thinking of Krishna’s līlā, etc.
during japa. The mind is required only to receive the name, form, qualities, and
pastimes that will bestowed upon us by Śuddha Nāma on His own will based on our
desire and greed for the same and played into our minds like a television
through a top-down process as revealed by Srila Prabhupada.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
5 October 2019
MD
06:15
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Slide 5. Mindless Japa, Mindful Japa & Soulful Japa from Module
4/108
MD
09:24
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Slide 6. Energies of the soul ( Module 3/108)
MD
21:54
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 17/108
How to establish a rapport or a two way relationship of worshipper-worshipped
with Nama or Deity
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati–lecture 10th November
1936 recorded ‘Śrīla Prabhupāda, Gaudīya 16.24.403-6
"I see the statue”- This kind of
thinking is in the spirit of enjoyment, whereas " The Deity sees me, my
uncovered pure self is Deity Darśana or Dŗg Dŗśya viçāra."
Best way to feel the presence of the Aprakrta Deity is by feeling in your mind
the true fact that the Deity is seeing you. With this thought about Him in our
background mind that He is seeing me, one should have darshan of the Deity
form.
In the same manner the best way to feel the presence of satcitananda Nama
Prabhu is by perceiving in my mind that He is aware of me chanting as I go on
chanting by Him hearing my chant.
This is a basic paradigm on how to perceive the the Nama Prabhu. When we hear
the Nama, immediately we must become aware in our mind that the Nama Prabhu is
seeing me with all my limited purity and yet is hearing and receiving my
chanting service mercifully. This is not imagination but it is a fact.
Percieving a person means perceiving the person's mind and what is in his
mind about us
Percieving a person in relationship means perceiving his mind, his
intentions for you and expectations from you. Perceiving what is in the mind of
the Deity or Nama Prabhu in relationship to you as worshsipper is not at all
difficult as it is revealed in the sastras. The mind of the Nama Prabhu is
"I have mercifully descended as an incarnation for you. I have taken a sound
form resembling the external or prakrta namasabda and have entered that sound
and made it Śaktyāvēşa Nama and am waiting to bless you by accepting the
devotional service of chanting and hearing of those Śaktyāvēşa Nama"
And what is His expectation from us? " I want you to chant and hear My
Śaktyāvēşa Nama with attention, humility, respect, affection and surrender and
desire to please Me and take My association in this way".There is no doubt
that this is in the mind of the incarnation as per the revelations of the
sastras.
Further how does the Deity or Nama Prabhu see our situation? It is
important to feed our subconscious mind with that reality too, so that as soon
we are before Him that thought of how He sees our situation gets loaded into
the background of conscious mind.
The Deity or Nama Prabhu sees us differently than how we see ourselves in
ignorance
Obviously, the Deity or the Nama Prabhu does not see my situation in my
body as myself and others see me in ignorance. His seeing is absolute and is
free from illusion. He perceives me as the pure oncovered spirit jīvas with my
‘beingness’ actively trapped into illusory perception of 'I-ness' that my
'being' is my material body and therefore have surrendered my being, thinking,
feeling, willing, desiring, doing and expereincing for the pleasure of that
false 'being'. By the mercy of my pure devotee spiritual master, he is now
chanting my Names and I will deliver him from the entrapment on the basis of
"As he surrenders I reciprocate."
Our mind must be charged with these bonafide thoughts of His perception of our situation,
His intentions for us and His expectations from us. This is
called situational perception of Nama Pr's mind during our japa. It is only
with a mind charged with these vichara or thoughts in the background citta as
well the thought that the Nama Prabhu is seeing me attempting to chant and hear.
We should feel the personal presence of the Aprakrta Nama Prabhu’s mind as the
knower of each of my chant which is the medium through which the Nama Prabhu
receives and reciprocates to my services. My prakrta senses cannot touch Him
but from His side He has no such limitations as everything is His energy. He
receives our serving action to chant and hear our even if it is done by the
prakrta senses since everything is spiritual for Him.
...contd
6 October 2019
MD
16:43
Madhu Pandit Dasa
....contd
This meditation that the satcitananda Nama Prabhu is also hearing me as we
chant and hear the avatara with our prakrta senses is equivalent to the Dŗg
Dŗśya viçāra for Nama darshan as advised by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarawati
Thakura.
It is a very powerful spiritual perception to feel the presence of Deity or
Nama Prabhu in the passive background mind or citta while we worship Him with
our actions in our active foreground mind.
Knowing the situational mind of the one who is worshipped as per guru, sadhu
and scriptures is Dŗg Dŗśya viçāra. Perceiving Him this way means you are
automatically presencing His situational consciousness in relationship to you.
You are in rapport or in a two way relationship with the Nama Prabhu.
Mind seeing and sense seeing
We will coin two new phrases. The mind-seeing and sense- seeing.
Mind-seeing means we see in our mind the person's mind and sense-seeing means
seeing the physical features of that person with our physical senses.
Mind-seeing of the presence of Nama Prabhu with faith along with sense-seeing
of features of is the holistic seeing of the two in one Nama avatara by the
sadhaka.
This kind of background perception of Nama Prabhu's mind perceiving our
situation as we really are as a spirit soul, reinforces powerfully our pure
identity or 'I am'-ness as eternal servant of the Lord each time we relate with
the Lord.
Powerful self realization exercise of seeing ourselves as the Lord sees us.
Thus, there is no better practice of our our self- perception and self-awareness
of what we really are beyond this body than by meditating on oneself as being
transcendentally seen by the Lord in this 'as it is' manner. It is quickest way
to attain qualitative oneness of our I-ness with Him and also attain
separateness from our material body. We have constitutionally nothing to do
with matter. Soul is not matter but has a relationship with matter.
Whenever we naturally close our eyes before the Deities to pray, we first have
to actually perceive His situational mind in the above manner and engage our
mind in Dŗg Dŗśya viçāra instead of filling our mind with only our problems and
petitions. We should think that Lord is seeing me as a eternal part of Him but
being subjected to illusion imposed actively by my mind in the form of illusory
perceptions of my own self or false ego and beg Him that such influence of
illusion on my pure ego be removed or I get exorcized from all false egos.
First things first. Before beginning Deity darshana or japa fill your
background consciousness with Dŗg Dŗśya viçāra or these generic meditative
thoughts of the incarnation's mind. This viçāra does not have to begin only
when you stand before the Deity or when you are doing your japa. Even when you
are approaching the Deity your viçāra should begin. As you walk towards the
temple for Mangal ārati, charge your mind with the situational thoughts of the
Lord on the altar towards the worshippers which is true reality.
Everyday when you wake up, you can meditate on how the Supersoul would be
seeing you as an aspiring devotee and then surrender your day to guru and Him.
That is best way to see the Supersoul. To see Supersoul's generic intentions
for us and expectations from us. Any our minds are totally naked before the
Supersoul. Nothing can be hidden from Him.
Establishing a rapport with Nama Prabhu
Before you start your japa, meditate on your ongoing relationship with the
Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu of serving so many years etc. It is not a new
relationship every bead or everyday japa. Every bead you do japa, you are
accumulating His mercy and eternal history is being built up and Krishna never
forgets even a bit of service rendered to Him. When you practice to see the
Lord in that way after ‘Dŗg Dŗśya viçāra’ in the mind, by the mercy of the Lord
one can actually realize the transcendental experience
....contd
MD
17:28
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
that the Lord as specifically seeing your mind. Then a spiritual rapport is
established between the mind of the worshipper and the Deity or Nāma Prabhu
just like a rapport is established between two people’s mind.
This ability of establishing a rapport with the mind of another person who
comes before you, is quite common faculty in all of us. The feeling of
intention and expectation is the way we see each other as persons of ‘cittam’
beyond the body.
But when it comes to the Lord we hardly activate this ability to come in
rapport with another person. What is urged here is to proactively activate this
kind of rapport by invoking faith (without concocted imagination) as per the
revelations of the śāstras about the mind of Deity and Nama incarnation, Their
merciful mood, intentions and His expectations from worshipper and act
accordingly to please the Nama in a loving. serving relationship.
Thus, worshipping Arça Avatāra or Nāma Avatāra becomes a real relationship
between the sēvaka and the Sēvya based on feeling the presence of His Mind.
Such a relationship is not a ritual or any imagination though none of our
senses are able to yet transcendentally hear the sweetest sounding Aprakrta
Nama or transcendentally see the most beautiful Aprākrta Deity form for want of
full purification.
The Lord and His service are
identical, being on the absolute plane. Therefore, the unalloyed intelligence
and the mind are merged into the Lord, and thus the living entity does not
remain a seer himself but becomes seen by the Lord transcendentally.
Śrīla Prabhupāda Purport: SB 2.2.16
Note the words ' seen by the Lord transcendentally'. It means he does not
see me as others in this world see me or even as I see myself ignorantly as my
bodily and worldly identity. But He sees me as spirit soul who is His eternal
servant who is serving Him. He will see the chanter's real situation of either
being situated in a pure liberated platform or now being in a sadhakas
situation of being still entrapped within a material body in world of false
egos and trying to take shelter of devotional service unto Him in order to
purify himself. In all cases He sees us in our actual condition.
Dŗg Dŗśya viçāra should always in the background mind
Having said all about Dŗg Dŗśya viçāra, please note that during japa our active
attention cannot be on this vichara and it should always remain in the
background. Active attention is always on distinctly chanting and discerningly
hearing sharply keeping such viçāra as appreciative remembrance only in the
background of attentive japa.
We had given example earlier of a theatre play having a backdrop sets that
creates the context for the play on the stage. In the same situational
thought-feelings of situational vichara is loaded from the subconscious memory
or our cittam into the background mind automatically when you pick up our bead
bag to start japa or you go before the Deity, effortlessly. Just like if you
happen to suddenly come across an old friend, his personality is loaded into
the background mind effortlessly while your active attention is in talking to
him. This concept of Dŗg Dŗśya viçāra is as simple and common as this. The Lord
being unlimited he enjoys the unlimited varieties of chanters who are chanting
with different kinds of devotional background context.
If effort is required to remember these in the background, it means you have
not fed them into your subconscious mind sufficiently about the japa situation
and not sufficently contemplated to turn that knowledge into faith. More
pre-japa period work has to be done. Therefore I advise that you read this
module two or three times daily over three next four weeks.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Completed writing and editing of Module 17/108 at Sri Sri Radha
Damodar temple, Vrindavan by the causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada, Srila
Jiva Goswami and Srila Rupa Goswami and Sri Sri Radha Damodar on 6.10.2019
2 November 2019
MD
20:31
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful japa
Module 18/108
Mayavadis and thier offensive understanding of Krishna
Those preaching in India have to know what is
the understanding of Mayavadis about Krishna. It is 180 degree opposite of
Vaishnava understanding. Mayavadis say that Vishnu and His inarnations
including Krishna have come from aprakrta brahman and that impersonal
brahman accepted a karmic triguna material body of Krishna, Rama etc ( maya
body) like our bodies but with very high sattva guna. And then He became
fully realized back into that one formless brahman without a second. And
the lilas of all these incarnations are within the jurisdication of Maya. Krishna
does not have any Aprakrta existence, or Nama, guna or lila. Everything about
Him is part of prakrti.
All identites , form, name, bodies , relationship etc are Maya, Krishna is
not exception
According to them any kind of persons, identities, forms, names, bodies,
senses activities etc can be only within the domain Maya. There is no absolute
personality of God. So where is the question of any absolute Aprakrta Purusha,
nama, guna, lila etc. Absolute spirit or brahman cannot be a person and does
not have all these variegatedness of identity, form, name, master rasa, servant
rasa or rasa of any personal relationship. Therfore bhakti is not eternal since
worshipper and worshipped are all prakrta and has to eventually merge
individual existences into that One existence. Bhakti is only a means for them
to focus their mind on one Deity to facilitate merging.
Deities, mantras, vedas are all within maya.
They hold that all deities and mantras and their worship described in the
vedas are all meant for this one purpose of helping us to attain self
realization of merging into that Aprakrta impersonal Oneness. Only
variegatedless Nirguna brahman is the Aprakrta vastu and that even vedas are
not absolute and are part of Maya world. They say that there is nothing like
Aprakrta Archa, Nama, sabdha, etc. Note that even sastras are not absolute for
them. . Vaikunta is also not Aprākrta.There are no two brahman like Para
brahman and brahman.They say these are only Maya's differentiations till we
attain self realization.
What they unfortunately miss out is the absolute concept of a transcendental
person unlike mundane person. Therefore they are called impersonalists. What
escapes them is positive variegatedness of the of Absolute Existence belonging
to an Absolute Personality of Godhead as His energies. They misinterpret all
the absolute personal varieties we talk about as simply high sattvic state
within Maya and you have to go beyond all variegatedness of existence to
realize that One Brahman above the gunas.
To common man this philosophy trickles down by saying that there is some
impersonal power that incarnates as different personal Gods as described in
the vedas. And you can practice bhakti and worship any of them with
exclusive devotion only to help you merge into nirguna brahman where the worshipper
and worshipped, who were both illusion, just vanishes like how darkness
vanishes when light comes on. Including guru and disciple identities has to be
transcended for perfection of self-realization. Guru is only a stepping stone
to realization of that One Absolute truth.
Fortunately most of the common people in India who are traditionally connected
to these schools of thought are not hardcore Mayavadis as it requires lot of
twisting of scriptures and high level grammar logic and arguments as Sripada
Sankaracarya did to get this concocted understanding of absolute truth and
become a hard core Mayavadi. Most of them are simply ignorant and innocent.
I have changed many Hindus who have this idea by one simple example. I tell
them if I right now punch you, whom will you attack as the cause of that
punch. Is it the energy that came as the punch or the person behind that
energy? Naturally he will say it is the person. Then I establish that person
comes before power in all cases and
....contd
20:31
........contd
not other way round. Brahman comes from a para brahman, a Supreme Person who is
the owner of brahman and all energies in existence. And that is declared by
Krishna himself in Bhagavad Gita as Himself in umpteen verses.
We all know from Padma Purana that Lord Shiva is ordered by Vishnu to
incarnate as Sripad Sankaracarya to do this twisting of vedas in kali yuga in
order to drive away Buddhism which rejects the vedas. Vedas had to be brought
back to the society and therefore cleverly Sankaracarya gave an interpretation
that was very close to atheistic philosophy of buddhism by not taking direct
meanings of the vedas.
He successfully brought back vedas into the society by converting Buddhists to
impersonal or nirguna school of thought close to sunyavadism of Buddhists. In
the place of Sunya he introduced nirguna brahman and brought back the vedas too
by very clever strokes of his intellect. Buddhism doesn't believe that there is
spirit. But ultimately we have to understand that the impersonal school of
brahman is more or less atheistic since for them 'person' means Maya person.
However he himself composed the famous 'govindam bhaja govindam' song and told
common folks don't waste your time in analysing the grammar of the vedas but
simply worship Govinda. Apart from that, here and there in his writings he has
revealed the real truth that Narayana is transcendental or Aprakrta or beyond
the three gunas.
Therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says one should never hear Mayavada
philosophy as it was meant for some other purpose. Just like even though Lord
Buddha is one of dashavataras we do not accept his philosophy knowing very
well, Buddhism was spread by Lord Buddha for another purpose. Buddhism was an
arrangement of the Lord to control rampant animal sacrifice by misusing the
rare licence in vedas to kill for certain sacrifices. Thus the basic tenet of
buddhism was ahimsa. Misuse of vedas were stopped by Lord Buddha. Hearing
Mayavada or Sunyavada can destroy your true bhakti to the eternal Lord.
Note in Srila Prabhupada's pranam mantra we glorify Srila Prabhupada as
one who has driven out the western world ( nirvesesha sunyavadi paschatya desha
tarine) Buddhists are not as dangerous as Mayavadis because they dont talk
anything about Krishna and Srimad Bhagavatam. But Mayavadis talk about the
Krishna, Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavatam but with deep faith that everthing about
Krishna is within the three modes of material nature and He does not have a
transcendental existence as the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead except
as formless, nameless, identity-less brahman which every soul is. In one sense
everybody is God-Nirguna brahman. To get over highly personal direct
statements by Lord Krishna to the contrary in Bhagavad GIta where He declares
Himself to be transcendental, they give so many interpretations to make it
impersonal. To bring forth direct meaning of what Krishna spoke Srila
Prabhupada called his translation and purports Bhagavad Gita As It Is.
One should not even hear Krishna Nama bhajan and Bhagavat katha from
Mayavadis. Such Krishna katha is mixed with their subtle poisonous
faithlessness and denial of His Absolute existence of God as a person. Such
katha is just like how when milk is touched by a poisonous snake becomes
poisonous. By submissively hearing about Krishna from a Mayavadi, there is this
danger of subtle offensive faithless understanding of Krishna entering the
hearer's heart. Especially if you have respect for such a speaker as person
from whom you can learn about Krishna by thinking he knows so many lilas of
Krishna which I do not know.
If anyone wants to know what is Mayavadi philosophy to counter the same while
preaching you should hear from Srila Prabhupada about it. Please read wonderful
Bhaktivedanta purports of Chaitanya Caritamrta Adi lila volume 1 and don't read
Mayavadi's book to know their philosophy.
.........contd
20:35
I have expereince of one
devotee many years ago who was reading Mayavadi books and subtly swallowed the
poison that impersonal Brahman is the highest but still had great appreciation
of Krishna as an avatara of that brahman for some time. But very soon He could
not chant His 16 rounds and eventually gave up Krishna consciousnes practices
and Krishna consciousness itself.
ys
Madhu Pandit dasa
Quote 41
Subject: Hearing from impersonalists
Bhaktivedanta Purport SB 3.19.33
" It is also stated in the Bhagavatam that simply by hearing from an
authoritative source, with the ear and the heart, one can relish the pastimes
of the Lord, otherwise it is not possible. Sanatana Gosvami, therefore, has
especially warned that one should not hear anything about the personality of the
Lord from the lips of a nondevotee. Nondevotees are considered to be like
serpents; as milk is poisoned by a serpent's touch, so, although the narration
of the pastimes of the Lord is as pure as milk, when administered by
serpentlike nondevotees it becomes poisonous. Not only does it have no effect
in transcendental pleasure, but it is dangerous also. Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu
has warned that no description of the pastimes of the Lord should be heard from
the Mayavada, or impersonalist, school. He has clearly said, mayavadi-bhashya
sunile haya sarva nasha: if anyone hears the Mayavadis' interpretation of the
pastimes of the Lord, or their interpretation of Bhagavad-gita,
Srimad-Bhagavatam or any other Vedic literature, then he is doomed. Once one is
associated with impersonalists, he can never understand the personal feature of
the Lord and His transcendental pastimes."
Application to Japa
Explained in Module 18/108
Quote 42
Subject: Mayavada Philosophy
Srimad Bhagavatam Purport 3.24.35
There are many so-called devotees who think that in the conditioned state
we may worship the Personality of Godhead but that ultimately there is no
personality; they say that since the Absolute Truth is impersonal, one can
imagine a personal form of the impersonal Absolute Truth for the time being,
but as soon as one becomes liberated the worship stops. That is the theory put
forward by the Mayavada philosophy. Actually the impersonalists do not merge
into the existence of the Supreme Person but into His personal bodily luster,
which is called the brahmajyoti. Although that brahmajyoti is not different
from His personal body, that sort of oneness (merging into the bodily luster of
the Personality of Godhead) is not accepted by a pure devotee because the
devotees engage in greater pleasure than the so-called pleasure of merging into
His existence. The greatest pleasure is to serve the Lord. Devotees are always
thinking about how to serve Him; they are always designing ways and means to
serve the Supreme Lord, even in the midst of the greatest obstacles of material
existence.
The Mayavadis accept the description of the pastimes of the Lord as stories,
but actually they are not stories; they are historical facts. Pure devotees
accept the narrations of the pastimes of the Lord not as stories but as
Absolute Truth. The words mama paurushani are significant. Devotees are very
much attached to glorifying the activities of the Lord, whereas the Mayavadis
cannot even think of these activities. According to them the Absolute Truth is
impersonal. Without personal existence, how can there be activity? The
impersonalists take the activities mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam,
Bhagavad-gita
contd......
20:35
.....contd
and other Vedic literatures as fictitious stories, and therefore they interpret
them most mischievously. The have no idea of the Personality of Godhead. They
unnecessarily poke their noses into the scripture and interpret it in a
deceptive way in order to mislead the innocent public. The activities of
Mayavada philosophy are very dangerous to the public, and therefore Lord
Caitanya warned us never to hear from any Mayavadi about any scripture. They
will spoil the entire process, and the person hearing them will never be able
to come to the path of devotional service to attain the highest perfection, or
will be able to do so only after a very long time.
Bhaktivedanta Purport to SB 4,24.17
In this regard, it is stated in the Padma Purana that Lord Siva appeared
as a brähmaëa in the age of Kali to preach the Mayavada philosophy, which is
nothing but a type of Buddhist philosophy. It is stated in Padma Purana:
mäyävädam asac-chästraà
pracchannaà bauddham ucyate
mayaiva vihitaà devi
kalau brähmaëa-mürtinä
Lord Siva, speaking to Parvati-devi, foretold that he would spread the
Mayavada philosophy in the guise of a sannyasi brahmana just to eradicate
Buddhist philosophy. This sannyasi was Sripada Shankaracharya. In order to
overcome the effects of Buddhist philosophy and spread Vedanta
philosophy,Sripada Shankaracharya had to make some compromise with the Buddhist
philosophy, and as such he preached the philosophy of monism, for it was
required at that time. Otherwise there was no need for his preaching Mayavada
philosophy. At the present moment there is no need for Mayavada philosophy or
Buddhist philosophy, and Lord Chaitanya rejected both of them. This Krishna
consciousness movement is spreading the philosophy of Lord Chaitanya and
rejecting the philosophy of both classes of Mayavadis. Strictly speaking, both
Buddhist philosophy and Shankara's philosophy are but different types of
Mayavada dealing on the platform of material existence. Neither of these
philosophies has spiritual significance. There is spiritual significance only
after one accepts the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita, which culminates in
surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Application to Japa
Self explanatory. Refer Module 18/108
6 November 2019
MD
06:57
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 19/108 (Being edited. Dont read)
Various practice levels of Japa-
Soulful Japa is chanting-cum-hearing and tasking to remember Nama Prabhu with
background absolute feelings about Nama Prabhu and towards Nama Prabhu. What is
an absolute feeling? Absolute feeling flows from absolute thoughts towards Nama
Prabhu. Where do you get absolute thoughts? You get that from guru, sadhu and
sastra.
We generate feelings when the respective Krishna conscious thoughts flow in our
mind repeatedly in a contemplative reflective mood for over long period of
time. These feelings and thoughts get seamlessly pasted together and become
thought-feelings or bhakti bhaavana. Thought-feelings is the language of
feelings where feelings come first in the background mind but it is loaded with
thoughts. You mind is speaking to you in the language of feelings. We have
already established the foundation of mindful chanting which is there should be
no thinking or thought processing during japa by the foreground mind. Static
thought feelings that Krishna is Most important Persons ( MIP) in the background
mind does not amount to thinking.
Soulful Japa is accompanied by many static thought-feelings in the background
mind like knowledge, faith, gratitude, begging forgiveness for offenses,
begging for mercy, feelings of helplessness and surrender, feelings of
transcendental Krishna conscious delight and happiness in His association etc.
1. Practice Level 1. Mindful ritual japa: Japa is the activity of 1.
chanting clearly cum 2. hearing carefully that very chant which is the
empowered satcitananda-ized Śaktyāvēşa Nama 3. tasking repetition of
each mantra, bead after bead, uninterrupted towards a fixed targeted number of
malas. Period of practice 30 days . Go to training Module 38 to begin.
Basic Soulful Japa Practice Level 2 to level 12.
First round of training for level 2 to Level 12 is 11 weeks consisting of
one week training for each level. We can recycle the training level 2 to level
12 four times in a year. In other world in one year the sadhaka would have
triggered these each of these feelings for four weeks.
2. Practice Level 2. Spiritful japa doing-delight: To 1, 2 and 3
foreground activity add 4. Effortless background feelings of
delight-relish-hope in tasking chanting-cum-hearing bead after bead.
Considering hearing like your heart drinking Nama through hearing. You start
your mala with a desire to take 108 sips of the soul drink of Nama. First
finish chanting-cum-hearing on first bead, then release quick micro-second
feeling of doing-delight of success in drinking one sip of soul drink of Nama
simultaneously thirsting for the next sip. Repeat this between every two
chanting-cum-hearing, Feeling success of just finished bead and simultaneously
feeling thirsty for next sip.
Off-japa contemplation is in Module 28,29, 30
3. Practice Level 3. Soulful Japa-shraddha : To Level 1
& 2 add triggering effortless background feeling " The
Nama Prabhu, sun of satcitananda is before me".
Off-japa time contemplation exercise is to read Module
4. Practice Level 4. Soulful Japa-gratitude: To Level 1 & 2 add
triggering effortless background feeling of gratitude that "
Nama Prabhu, I am grateful for coming to save me ".
Matter for off-japa time contemplation exercise is in Module....
5. Practice Level 5. Soulful Japa-forgiveness : To Level 1
& 2 add triggering effortless background feelings " Nama
Prabhu please forgive my offenses at your lotus feet".
Matter for off-japa time contemplation is in Module....
6. Practice Level 6. Soulful Japa- priti: To Level 1 & 2 add
triggering effortless background feelings " Nama Prabhu, you
are an embodiment of love and compassion and I desire to please you by
soulfully chanting and hearing you".
Matter for off-japa time contemplation matter is in Module.... .
7. Practice Level 7. Soulful Japa- asha,iccha: To Level 1 & 2,
add triggering effortless background feeling " Nama Prabhu, please be
pleased with my offering of 1 to 4"
contd.......
06:58
........ contd
Matter for off-japa contemplation is in Module.....
8. Practice Level 8. Soulful Japa-humility : To Level 1 &
2 add triggering effortless background feeling " Nama
Prabhu, I am hopelessly fallen and lost in this ocean. You are my only
hope".
Matter for off-japa time contemplation is in Module....
.
9. Practice Level 9. Soulful Japa-mercy: To
Level 1 & 2 trigger effortlessly background feeling "
Nama Prabhu, I cry out to you that my heart is dry of bhakti rasa. Please
release your mercy into my heart"
Matter for off-japa time contemplation is in Module...
10. Practice Level 10. Soulful Japa-surrender: To Level 1 & 2 add
triggering effortlessly background feeling " Nama Prabhu, I
surrender my total existence to you" .
Matter for off-japa time contemplation is in Module....
11. Practice Level 11. Soulful Japa -maintainer : To Level 1 & 2
add triggering effortlessly background feeling " Nama Prabhu,
You are my only maintainer of life"
Matter for off-japa time contemplation is in Module....
12. Practice Level 12. Soulful Japa- protection: To Level 1 & 2
add triggering effortlessly background feeling " Nama Prabhu, I
have full faith that you are and will protect me in all circumstances".
Matter for off-japa time contemplation is in Module....
Advanced Practice of Soulful Japa
13. Practice Level 12 to 37. Soulful japa- soul Happiness: To
Level 1 & 2 add triggering effortless background one item of Krishna
conscious happiness (KCH) like " Nama Prabhu, you are the supreme Person
to whom no one equal to or greater" etc from list of 25 items
of KCH to be provided in 25 modules.
Matter for off-japa time contemplation is in Module....
Note that all feelings are directed towards the currently manifesting Nama
Prabhu before you. Our attention nor the feelings go out of the ambit of the
currently manifesting Nama Prabhu. In soulful Japa you are talking to Nama
Prabhu in the language of your background feelings.
ys
Madhu Pandit Das8
MD
08:14
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 20/108
The key faith points with regard to japa
1. Krishna's Name is a sun of satcitananda
radiating satcitananda energy and cannot be seen or heard with material senses
or ears. We cannot see or hear Him materially. He exists in a transcendental
dimension.
2. We are also transcendental and made of satcitananda stuff having
satcitananda body and senses but are now covered by material body and senses
which is asat-acit-nirananda. We cannot see ourselves too with our material
eyes.
3. We are constitutionally belonging to Krishna as His eternal loving servants.
4. HIs transcendentlal Names, forms etc are non-different from Him and are all
aprakrta and are all self-effulgent personalities and are suns of sat, cit,
ananda potencies.
5. Krishna has incarnated into the external namasabda as a Aprakrta Nama that
resembles that external namasabda and has spiritualized and empowered it to
become Śaktyāvēşa Nama just as a person in this world constitute soul plus
body. Soul of the Avatara is self-sounding, self effulgent, self-willed
Aprakrta Nama Prabhu and His Śaktyāvēşa body is the identical sounding
omnipotent sabda.Together they become the Nama Avatara or simply Nama Prabhu on
our tongues.
6. The Śaktyāvēşa Nama is potentially omnipotent and releases potencies for
self realization and God realization unto our heart based on our relationship
of surrender to the Śaktyāvēşa Nama who is as good as Aprākrta Nama.
7. Attention (cit) is spirit energy coming from the soul (sat-cit is soul
substance) and when applied on the features of Śaktyāvēşa Nama, that connect us
to Aprakrta Nama Prabhu through the attention-embrace. Spirit energy alone can
connect to Spirit.
8. Serving attention for japa consists of application of doing effort &
doing attention for chanting and knowing effort & knowing attention for
hearing the sound features of the Śaktyāvēşa Nama and repeating it for
interrupted embrace of the Nama Avatara with our attention.
9. Each and every chant is too valuable and important. Hearing is sound-embrace
or attention embrace of the Nama Prabhu. We should not let go even one sound
without attention-embrace. That is attachment to Nama. When you are attached to
something you don't let go. We get attached to so many stupid things. In the
same way if one gets attached to Nama for the sake of getting attached, it is
his greatest fortune.
11. Tasking uninterruptedly without distracting our attention builds up the
tapasya to develop our mind's attachment to the Nama Prabhu. Uninterruptedly
holding anything in the mind is remembrance and a symptom of attachment. Initially
uninterruptedness will be a practice of remembrance but eventually it comes
naturally as a result of attachment to Nama Prabhu.
12. But serving the Śaktyāvēşa Nama is as good as serving Aprākrta Nama and
also by touching Him with our attention through His resembling features. But faith
in this fact can make one feel His presence like a mountain before a blind
person. His presence should be felt by the chanter as compassionate existential
presence.
13. Attention-connection with Nama Avatara spiritualizes our material mind and
senses and parallelly energises our spiritual mind and senses. Śaktyāvēşa Nama
purifies our material system and Aprakrta Nama Prabhu awakens our spiritual
mind and senses.
14. Chanting and hearing directly the Aprakrta Nama Prabhu with our awakened
spiritual mind and senses will eventually reveal the Lords form, qualities
pastimes etc in the purified heart of the devotee.
Please rewrite these jewels of faith points in your own words and contemplate
on it and feel these truths in your heart. What is faith? Faith is a 'truth
feeling'. To plant the faith in your cittam or subconscious, repeat these
truths as a thought-feeling that 'this is true', 'this is true', 'this is true'
with conviction.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
24 November 2019
MD
19:51
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 21/108
Lord incarnates not only on the tongue but also on my mind screen when I am
attentive and purifies it.
Perception of a thing is different from the thing itself.
Let us see the whole incarnation process from the perspective of our perception
of the Nāma avatāra on our consciousness or mind screen. Here is one basic
fundamental truth about 'perception' and the 'perceived'. There is difference
between a real object like 'pen' outside you which is called the' perceived'
and the 'perception of pen' which exists only in your mind. A 'thing' is
different from the perception of that 'thing'. The perception of a thing is on
my consciousness or mind-screen while that real thing is outside of me.
What happens when we chant and hear attentively?
When we chant attentively , the external Nama-sabda is generated by our prakrta
tongue producing its detailed signature sound features. When our attention is
applied and made to fall on the details of sound generated outside of us, then
the features of that sound are impressed on our consciousness screen and that
is experienced as a sound 'perception'. Thus there is the sound features
outside us and the perception of it on our mind screen or consciousness screen.
Next, instantly and simultaneously to our attentive hearing the self-manifest,
self-sounding, self-conscious and brilliantly self-effulgent Aprakrta Nama
Prabhu incarnates not only into the sound on the tongue but also into the
perception of that sound on my consciousness screen provided I am attentive to
the features of the sound.
Aprakrta Nama Prabhu is now not only the soul of the sound on the tongue in a
sound form that resembles the sound we chant but is also the soul of the
perception of the sound on the mind screen. Just gross sound is on gross body
of a material vibration, sound perception is also an effect on the subtle
material body. Next instantly after descending into these two planes , the
Aprākrta Nāma invests his omnipotency to that externally produced sound as well
as to its perception and spiritualizes both. The externally produced sound and
its perception on our mind screen becomes the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma or the
potentially omnipotent empowered Nāma at both the locations namely tongue and
the mind.
Thus the Aprākrta Nāma features is existing on my tongue as the soul of the
Śaktyāvēşa Nāma features and also existing on my mind-screen as soul of the
perception of that external sound. The Nāma Avatāra is before us as the the
Empowering Nāma Prabhu incarnated with His Empowered sound body on our tongue
and as an empowered perception body ( subtle sound body) on our mind screen.
The empowered Nama can be sensed with our material tongue and ears and mind but
the empowering Nama Prabhu can be felt to be present only with faith.
In this material world we cannot see each other's soul but can relate with each
other's soul through the medium of material bodies that is surrounding the
soul. Similarly we, the souls, can also relate with the Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu,
through chanting and hearing His Śaktyāvēşa Nāma with our material senses
though we cannot chant and hear Him directly. Aprakrta Nāma Prabhu receives our
services rendered to the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma.
We can see from this why when attention is not offered to chant by hearing that
chant, the Aprakrta Nama incarnates only on the tongue but not on the
consciousness or mind screen. Only if you are attentive He incarnates on our
consciousness screen. Otherwise only the tongue is touching the Śaktyāvēşa
Nāma. Such association only on the tongue by inattentive chanting cannot give
any eternal benefit of awakening our bhakti. It gives merely some high punya
benefits.
Attentive chanting is a precondition for getting association of the Aprakrta
Nama for my consciousness purification at my consciousness plane.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
19:51
Soulful Japa
Module 22/108
Nāma aparādha, Nāma abhāsa and Suddha Nāma
Nāma aparadha , Nāma ābhasa and Suddha Nama are
three kinds of progressive relationship with the Nama Avatara based on
progressive realization of the transcendental nature of Nama. The first two are
progressive relationship based on chanter's relalization of two consitituents
of Nama Avatāra namely Śaktyāvēşa Nāma and the prakrta-nāmasabda-resembling
Aprākrta Nāma. Suddha Nāma relationship is the relationship of the chanter with
the satcitananda Nāma of the spiritual world. There is no definite point as to
when Nāma aparādha relationship matures into Nāma ābhasa relationship. Nāma
apradha gradually moves into Nāma ābhasa relationship. The same holds good
regarading progressing from Nāma abhāsa to Suddha Nāma relationship. It is not
all of a sudden. The three relationships are description of the chanter
gradually evolving in his spiritual relationship with Nāma Avatāra.
Nāma aparādha relationship
Nama Avatara's personality is the Aprākrta Nāma with his body in this world as
sound body of Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. It is not an impersonal sound.
When a devotee is unable to see that the Krishna Nama before him is a personality
who is having His own mind and is expecting an interpersonal relationship of
right kind of attitude of respect for Him, it will lead to the chanter falling
short of those expectations. This will result in offenses to the holy name and
this stage of relationship with Nama avatara called the 'Nama aparadha'
relationship.
'Nāma aprādha' relationship of a chanter with Nāma Avatāra means he is ignorant
of and/ or hence no faith in the concurrent presence of Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu
who is Krishna Himself who is empowering the external sound. By default he is
thinking that what exists before him is only the holy external impersonal
namasabda produced by his prākrta senses. He is faith-blind to the presence of
the Aprākrta Nāma who is Krishna Himself as being the very soul of that
external nāmasabda. Also he does not have knowledge or faith that the external
sound becomes empowered sound or Śaktyāvēşa Nāma by the action of the
omnipotent Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu upon it.
In Nāma aparādha relationship the chanter has no faith or only a weak faith
about the existential presence of the Aprakrta Nāma Prabhu.
If we take the analogy of Nāma Avatāra to be an electrified copper wire, a
chanter who has little or no knowledge or faith about the wire's connection to
the electric power house ( Aprākrta Nāma) does not know how electricity
is flowing through it (nija sarva shakti) and is ignorant of how it
becomes electrified copper ( Śaktyāvēşa Nāma). Situation of chanter
having no knowledge or faith in these transcendental happenings around the
externally produced Namasabda is at the lower end of spectrum of range of Nama
apradha relationships.
Assume that the powerhouse was conscious and would release the electricity when
he touches only in accordance with the toucher's degree of faith in the
powerhouse ( ye yatha mam praparyanta tam taithaiva bhajami aham). Then
If the toucher, who does has only little knowledge and faith and thinks that it
some special copper ( holy name) different from ordinary copper ( ordinary
sound) then the powerhouse( Aprākrta Nāma) will release some
electricity (divine energy) into the copper in proportion to the quality
and quantity of faith (shraddha) of the toucher which can be experienced
by the toucher( chanter) as flow of electricity (as spiritual energy
for self purification). This amounts to varying kinds of progressive Nama
aparadha relationship depending on the degree of knowledge and faith and
decreasing offenses.
Because of still continuing to perceive the sound as impersonally powerful sound,
this kind of Nama aparadha chanting has a tendency to be emotionally dry and
rituaiistic inattentive chanting-hearing due to lack of proper background
faith, recognition, respect and appreciation for the presence of the
personality or Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu who
.....contd
19:51
.....contd
has incarnated into the external sound.
Whether the chanter knows or not, the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma acts upon the attentive
chanter just as a child burns his hand irrespective of whether it has knowledge
or not of consequences of putting the hand in the fire. The act
of Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is to purify the mind and heart of the chanter. Ceto
darpanam.
Padma Purana lists ten such offenses which a devotee can make knowingly or
unknowingly. Please read the ten offenses in Quote no 41 below. Most of these
offenses are due to lack of faith, knowledge with regard to who is on your
tongue during japa. Inattentiveness itself is an offense because of neglecting
His presence.
As a new devotee, the chanter is in Nāma aparādha relationship. He is ignorant
or weak in conviction or faith that Krishna is the Supreme Personality and that
He is transcendental and His devotional service of chanting and hearing and
remembering is also transcendental. Because of his ignorance he is prone to commit
offenses to the Nāma.
Gradually being in association of devotees he develops faith in guru and the
devotee becomes an initiated disciple. When under the guidance of the guru,
sadhu and sastra, he executes his daily Nāma seva of 16 rounds on the order of
guru with conscious efforts to avoid the ten offenses to the Nāma Avatāra, his
heart and mind begins to get purified and transcendental self-Self knowledge or
cit energy from the Nāma Prabhu flows into heart of the sadhaka by the mercy of
guru and Nama Prabhu.
Even though one is in ignorance of the Nāma tattva in the begining, if he
sincerely executes the order of the spiritual master everyday trying to be free
from offenses, that service to the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is as good as serving the
Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu who receives that devotional service. With the rise of
transcendental self- Self knowledge in his heart by the mercy of Nāma Prabhu,
there is dawning of faith also in the Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu's unmanifest or
unseen presence during his chanting leading to His remembrance. His
relationship with Nāma Avatāra slowly progresses (through lessening of
aparadhas or offenses )to beginning stages of Nāma abhāsa relationship.
One of the reasons why every new chanter has to pass through the Nama aparadha
relationship before Nāma abhāsa relationship is because the neophyte chanter is
trapped and stuck in the bodily concept of self and does not having realization
of his own transcendental existence as spirit beyond gross and subtle material
energy. Such a person in bodily concept cannot understand transcendental truths
or realities beyond gross and subtle material reality. However when a person in
Nama aparadha relationship as above chants and hears attentively, the repeated
attentive-touch of Śaktyāvēşa Nāma in Nāma aprādha relationship will still
gradually infuse and awaken pure self-knowledge in his heart by flow of sat and
cit energy from the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. As cloud of ignorance starts dissolving a
bit, the chanter slowly realizes the existence of alternate eternal reality
called brahman or spirit and that he himself is eternal and is brahman and not
this body and that the Lord, His Names, qualities, lilas etc are all of the
same brahman substance beyond matter or prakrti. This flow of transcendental
knowledge itself will help him reduce the offenses to the Nāma avatāra and move
towards the Nāma abhāsa relationship.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
19:51
Soulful Japa
Module 23/108
Nāma abhāsa relationship
The prakrta-namasabda-resembling Aprākrta Nāma
Prabhu is transcendental and therefore we cannot chant Him with material tongue
or map that sound through our material ears on to our consciousness screen. We
can start feeling His compassionate existential presence to different degrees
on the tongue and mind screen by applying different degrees of faith in these
scripturally revealed facts. In the beginning of Nāma abhāsa relationship, when
we serve and please Him by chanting and hearing the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma there are,
we have different degrees of faith in the presence and grace of Aprākrta Nāma
before us and His merciful action towards us of endowing us with sat cit ananda
spiritual energies
And when one is able to add appreciative and grateful remembrance or smaranam
of Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu in the background before each mantra over and above
chanting and hearing the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma, while begging for forgiveness for
offenses, then japa moves into advanced Nama abhāsa relationship leading to the
appearance of early rays of pure transcendental ananda or twilight of pure love
for Krishna in the form of affection and attachment for Krishna in our
consciousness.
When we associate with the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma Avatāra, we associate with
Krishna Nama personally.......” Srila Prahupada in Teachings of
Lord Kapila chapter 4.
In the quote above ' Krishna Nama' means transcendental Name of Krishna or
Aprākrta Nāma.
In the Nāma abhāsa relationship, the chanter patiently continues sustained
service and association of the externally manifest Śaktyāvēşa Nāma with faith
in the compassionate existential presence & grace of Aprākrta Nāma and
becomes gradually sensitive to offenses and becomes successful in freeing
oneself from all offenses. It is the flow of divya jnana or self-Self knowledge
from Nama Prabhu that helps one to avoid the offenses.
This leads to an affectionate grateful relationship with Nama Prabhu with
appreciation for showering enlightening self-Self knowledge and gving His
graceful association through the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma.
In progressive Nama abhasa stage, different degrees of awakening of affection
for Nama also rises in the heart caused because of expereincing loving
reciprocations of Nama Prabhu in the form of flow of divya jnana and also help
and protection in one's practical life to help the devotee in his devotional service.
Reciprocations from Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu generates natural feelings of
affectionate relationship of service with gratitude, respect, and surrender.
Nāma abhāsa relationship is a stage between Nāma aparādha relationship and
Suddha Nāma relationship.
100% freedom from offenses is possible only in Nāma abhāsa relationship because
of pure transcendental knowledge rising in our heart as a reciprocation from
Aprākrta Nāma.
Nāma abhāsa relationship experience is a spectrum of relationship experiences
with the Nāma Avatāra. At the lower end of the spectrum is the highly improved
Nama aparādha relationship where offenses have been minimised and the higher
end of the spectrum is the beginning of Śuddha Nāma relationship where offenses
have been eliminated fully.
In summary in the Nāma abhāsa relationship phase, the focus is on chanting and
hearing of the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma with the following in the background mind at
different stages of developing the relationship.
1. Faith in the compassionate presence & grace of Aprākrta Nāma and
2. Increased shining of divya jnana in the heart and
3. Appreciative smaranam or remembrance of the existential presence ofAprākrta
Nāma Prabhu with
4. Feelings of begging forgiveness from Nāma for offenses
5. Affectionate feelings caused by loving reciprocation of Nama Prabhu in one's
spiritual and the supporting material life.
6. increased feelings of gratitude & affection, respect & humility,
surrender & service towards the Aprākrta Nāma
.....contd
25 November 2019
MD
04:13
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
The meaning of abhāsa.
The word abhāsa is used to refer to 'shadow' or 'semblance' to
differentiate it from the original or suddha. The external Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is a
abhāsa of the Aprākrta Nāma because its sound features are identical to the
sound features of the Aprakrta Nāma. But they two different things like how the
shadow of a real thing is separate from thing though their features resemble
each other. Entire material energy is shadow energy separated from the Lord. Representation
of Krishna's name, form and even feelings of bhakti etc in the material energy
during our sadhana stage are called abhāsa name, form, feelings of bhakti etc.
From the soul performing abhāsa bhakti as a sadhaka with its material mind and
senses the soul goes to pure bhakti with his spiritual mind and senses.
Nama abhāsa stage is also called by that name also because in that stage we are
largely expereincing the association of Śaktyāvēşa Nāma which is the empowered
abhāsa Nāma of this world with our senses and mind while only remembering
Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu who cannot be touched with our material or abhāsa senses
and mind. From abhāsa name you go to pure name or Suddha Nama. The material
world itself is an abhāsa of the spiritual world.
Whereas the Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu is not a shadow but an expansion of Suddha
Nāma Prabhu with features identical to the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. In spiritual
dynamics the expansion is same as the original thing unlike shadow. Stuff is
same. So the Suddha Nāma Prabhu and Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu is of the same
satcitananda nature except the latter has adopted local features of Śaktyāvēşa
Nāma for purpose of incarnating on our tongue.
Nama abhāsa stage of relationship is also said to be the 'clearing stage' of
offenses where there is increasing effort to avoid all ten offenses completely.
In this stage the cit shakti or self-Self knowledge that one receives from the
association of Śaktyāvēşa Nāma helps the chanter to clear the offenses since
most of offenses are due to ignorance. One also receives 'sat' shakti or
spiritual power making us want to chant more and more malas leading to
'kirtaniya sada hari'. Of course even 'ananda' is expereinced in the form of
loving shelter and relationship of Nama Prabhu.
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in – Renunciation through wisdom 3.1
Citing many appropriate verses from the scriptures, Srila Haridäsa
explained that just as fear of nocturnal creatures like thieves, ghosts, and
hobgoblins evaporates at dawn’s first light, so all sins and offences are
erased and liberation is attained in the clearing stage of chanting the holy
name, called Nāma abhāsa, which comes long before pure chanting.
Only a liberated, highly evolved soul can utter the Lord’s name purely and thus
achieve the highest realization, untainted love of Godhead.
Srila Prabhupada is saying above that nāmābhāsa is the clearing stage of
chanting and hearing and that it precedes Suddha Nama relationship.
nāmābhāsa haite haya sarva-pāpa-kṣaya
”If one offenselessly utters the holy name even imperfectly, one can be
freed from all the results of sinful life”
Nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura CC Antya 3.61
nāmābhāsa haite haya saṁsārera kṣaya
”Even a faint light from the holy name of the Lord can eradicate all the
reactions of sinful life”
CC Antya 3.63
nāmābhāsa-mātre ’mukti’ haya
Haridāśā Thäkura said,”Why are you doubtful? The revealed scriptures say
that one can attain liberation simply by a glimpse of offenseless chanting of
the holy name.
CC Antya 3.195
By continuing association in advanced Nama abhasa relationship
gradually the material enjoying attitude that seeks security, power, pleasure,
love and play for oneself undergoes gradual transformation into an attitude
which seeks the higher taste of taking pleasure only in giving pleasure to
Krishna. He loses taste for sense gratification with the rise of this higher
taste. When japa is done by pure ego with this cleansed consciousness free from
false ego, one begins the Suddha Nama relationship.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa'
28 November 2019
MD
21:13
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 24/108
Suddha Nāma relationship
As association ( by chanting, hearing and
remembering) with the Nama Avatara continues in advanced Nāma abhāsa
relationship with the additional ingredients of intense desire, eagerness
and craving and hope to experience the spiritual taste of Suddha Nama with
one's spiritual senses about which so much has been heard from guru, sadhu and
sastra, Suddha Nama relationship begins. Such chanting and hearing in advanved
Nāma abhāsa relationship with remembrance in separation from experience of
Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu in background, with whom the chanter has by now developed
an affectionate relationship, accelerates the awakening of one's spiritual self
and mind. Awakening of spiritual self and mind also means awakening the
spiritual mind's pure attachment, taste and love for Krishna. Thus one
continues to chant Śaktyāvēşa Nāma with remembrance of the Aprakrta Nama with
an awakened spiritual mind longing for meeting the Aprakrta Nama experientially
with his senses. His material mind- body-senses are also fully spiritualized or
satcitananda-ized by virtue of rapid purification effected by the above
feelings of intense eagerness for direct experience of Aprākrta Nāma.
Srila Prabhupada talks about the ingredient of 'intense eagerness' in Nectar of
Devotion lecture ( Bombay, Dec 26th 1972)
This is called laulyam. Laulyam means just like we become very much greedy
in achieving some success or receiving something sometimes. We become mad. That
is required. Laulyam eka mülyam. To achieve Krishna consciousness perfectly,
this ecstatic eagerness or greediness, to serve Krishna, that is the only price
to achieve success in devotional service. That is the only price. Not money,
not anything. Not prestige, not good parentage, not beauty—nothing. Simply this
ecstatic, intense desire, "How I shall get Krishna?" Then you'll get
Krishna. He'll take you. That is the example of the gopis, intense desire.
Tatra laulyam eka mülyam. Now, janma-koti, na labhyate janma-kotibhih
sukritnah. This ecstatic desire, that "I, this life, I shall get
recognition by Krishna, that I have sacrificed everything for Krishna,"
this is required.
Further, after such full purification and awakening of one's spiritual
mind, by mercy of Suddha Nama, the chanters spiritual self, mind and senses are
awakened. At this point he can chant and hear the Suddha Nāma with his
spiritual mind and his original spiritual senses in pure untainted love of
Krishna along with parallel chanting and hearing of the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma with
his spiritualized material mind, tongue and ears. Srila Rupa Goswami says that
in that stage one would desire millions of tongues and ears to taste the
sweetness of the Suddha Nāma.
The Aprākrta Nāma of the Lord being transcendentally blissful, He immerses the
soul in bliss of ecstatic love of Krishna as exemplified by the life of Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Once one comes to this stage, what else happens further
to our consciousness, it is not under his control any longer. The soul will be
under siege and the transcendental form, name, qualities, pastimes of the Lord
play in the heart of such a pure devotee just like a television..
In Bhaktivedanta Purports to Srimad Bhagavatam 1.6.33, Srila Prabhupada
explains this:
The Absolute Personality of Godhead is not different from His transcendental
name, form, pastimes and the sound vibrations thereof. As soon as a pure
devotee engages himself in the pure devotional service of hearing, chanting and
remembering the name, fame and activities of the Lord, at once He becomes
visible to the transcendental eyes of the pure devotee by reflecting Himself on
the mirror of the heart by spiritual television. Therefore a pure devotee who
is related with the Lord in loving transcendental service can experience the
presence of the Lord at every moment.
.....contd
29 November 2019
MD
08:41
Madhu Pandit Dasa
...........contd
What are the qualities of Transcendental Name of Krishna?
Śri Çaitanya-Çaritāmrta Madhya 17.133 says:
Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ Krishnaś çaitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto
’bhinnatvān Nāma-nāminoḥ
‘ The holy name of Krishna is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all
spiritual benedictions, for it is Krishna Himself, the reservoir of all
pleasure. Krishna’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental
mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less
powerful than Krishna Himself. Since Krishna’s name is not contaminated by the
material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with Māyā.
Krishna’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by
the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Krishna and Krishna
Himself are identical.’
The above are the qualities of Suddha Nama as well that of the
prakrta-namasabda-resembling Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu who are identical with
Krishna Himself. One has to learn the above verse with meaning and engage in
repeated contemplation of it during times other than japa time along with
desire for transcendental expereince for chanting and hearing the Suddha Nama
some day. Such practice will result in the rise of grateful appreciative
remembrance or smaranam of these qualities in the background with intense
eagerness, hope, begging and anticipation for expereintial realization of the
Suddha Nama.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
3 December 2019
MD
14:33
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 25/108
Conclusion on stages of japa
In conclusion progressive Nāma aprādha
relationship means different stages of development towards Nāma abhāsa
relationship. And progressive Nāma abhāsa relationship means different stages
of moving towards Suddha Namā relationship. And progressive Suddha Namā means
moving towards full awakening of spiritual mind and senses.
How fast we want to move from one relationship to the next depends on how fast
we offer the respective additional ingredients required to progress from one
stage the next stage of japa and how patient and determined we are..
Essential ingredients for progressive japa
Nāma aparadha to Nāma abhāsa
Note the additional ingredients for moving our Nāma aparadha relationship
to Nāma abhāsa relationship is to chant and hear with shradda or faith
with effort to avoid offenses especially inattentiveness or neglect of
presence of Nama. Simply by continuing such japa even if it is with unavoidable
offenses due to ignorance but with effort to avoid all kind of offenses to the
Nāma and also putting efforts to learn about transcendental knowledge from
guru, sadhu and sastra, he can move his japa towards improved Nāma aparadha
relationship where offenses have been highly reduced. This is also the begining
of Nāma abhāsa relationship. This progress may take either for days or years or
decades or lives depending on our efforts and mercy of Nāma.
Nāma abhāsa to advanced Nāma abhāsa
Further when the begining stages of sustained Nāma abhāsa relationship is
sustained daily and patiently for over periods ( either for several days, years
or decades or lives) then faith increases and knowledge about the Sevya as the
combination of Śaktyāvēşa Nāma and Aprākrta Nāma Prabhu becomes clearer in our
heart leading to the additional ingredient of offering background
appreciative remembrance of Nama Prabhu from start of each mantra and
feelings of humility, respect, affection, surrender to Nama Prabhu. And by
mood of begging forgiveness for offenses to the Nāma Prabhu, the chanter
progressively moves toward advanced offenseless Nāma abhāsa relationship.
Nāma abhāsa to Suddha Nama
When advanced offenseless Nama abhasa relationship is sustained daily for
prolonged period of time ( for either days or years or decades or lives
depending on the sweet will and mercy of Suddha Nāma ) along with releasing the
additional ingredient of genuine and intense desire, eagerness, craving, hope
and begging to be allowed to chant and hear the transcendental pure Name or
aprākrta Suddha Nama with one's spiritual senses, its leads one to the
beginning of Suddha Nama relationship. The fulfillment of Suddha Nama seva is
chanting and hearing with one's original spiritual senses in pure love of
Krishna from a completely liberated state which is very very high stage and
ultimate goal of japa.
Please note that with the help of this knowledge of different progressive
stages of japa one should identify which stage he is and offer appropriate
ingredients for moving to next stage. For instance if one is in Nama aparadha
stage there is no point in offering 'laulyam" for Suddha Nama. We should
patiently offer effort or chesta to move towards Nama abhasa stage by
minimizing offenses with increased shradda and determination. Then patiently
continue such association to be liberated from the three modes of material
nature and bodily concept by seeking mercy of flow of self-Self knowledge from
the Nama and develop affection and attachmentfor the Aprākrta Nāma. With rise
of realized self-Self knowledge and affection there is meaning in offering
laulyam for the direct experiential realization of Suddha Nama. Suddha Nama
further reveals to our spiritual senses Krishna's transcendental name, form,
qualities, dhams, pastimes etc.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
14:35
Quote No. 41
Subject: The ten offenses
Bhaktivedanta Purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.11
"Srila Jiva Goswami instructs that chanting
of the holy name of the Lord should be loudly done, and it should be performed
offenselessly as well, as recommended in the Padma Purana. One can deliver
himself from the effects of all sins by surrendering himself unto the Lord. One
can deliver himself from all offenses at the feet of the Lord by taking shelter
of His holy name. But one cannot protect himself if one commits an offense at
the feet of the holy name of the Lord. Such offenses are mentioned in the Padma
Purana as being ten in number.
1. The first offense is to vilify the great devotees who have preached about
the glories of the Lord.
2. The second offense is to see the holy names of the Lord in terms of worldly
distinction. The Lord is the proprietor of all the universes, and therefore He
may be known in different places by different names, but that does not in any
way qualify the fullness of the Lord. Any nomenclature which is meant for the
Supreme Lord is as holy as the others because they are all meant for the Lord.
Such holy names are as powerful as the Lord, and there is no bar for anyone in
any part of the creation to chant and glorify the Lord by the particular name
of the Lord as it is locally understood. They are all auspicious, and one
should not distinguish such names of the Lord as material commodities.
3. The third offense is to neglect the orders of the authorized äcäryas or
spiritual masters.
4. The fourth offense is to vilify scriptures or Vedic knowledge.
5. The fifth offense is to define the holy name of the Lord in terms of one's
mundane calculation. The holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord
Himself, and one should understand the holy name of the Lord to be nondifferent
from Him.
6. The sixth offense is to interpret the holy name. The Lord is not imaginary,
nor is His holy name. There are persons with a poor fund of knowledge who think
the Lord to be an imagination of the worshiper and therefore think His holy
name to be imaginary. Such a chanter of the name of the Lord cannot achieve the
desired success in the matter of chanting the holy name.
7. The seventh offense is to commit sins intentionally on the strength of the
holy name. In the scriptures it is said that one can be liberated from the
effects of all sinful actions simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. One
who takes advantage of this transcendental method and continues to commit sins
on the expectation of neutralizing the effects of sins by chanting the holy
name of the Lord is the greatest offender at the feet of the holy name. Such an
offender cannot purify himself by any recommended method of purification. In
other words, one may be a sinful man before chanting the holy name of the Lord,
but after taking shelter in the holy name of the Lord and becoming immune, one
should strictly restrain oneself from committing sinful acts with a hope that
his method of chanting the holy name will give him protection.
8.The eighth offense is to consider the holy name of the Lord and His chanting
method to be equal to some material auspicious activity. There are various
kinds of good works for material benefits, but the holy name and His chanting
are not mere auspicious holy services. Undoubtedly the holy name is holy
service, but He should never be utilized for such purposes. Since the holy name
and the Lord are of one and the same identity, one should not try to bring the
holy name into the service of mankind. The idea is that the Supreme Lord is the
supreme enjoyer. He is no one's servant or order supplier. Similarly, since the
holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord, one should not try to utilize
the holy name for one's personal service.
..... contd
14:36
.......contd
9. The ninth offense is to instruct those who are not interested in chanting
the holy name of the Lord about the transcendental nature of the holy name; if
such instruction is imparted to an unwilling audience, the act is considered to
be an offense at the feet of the holy name.
10. The tenth offense is to become uninterested in the holy name of the Lord
even after hearing of the transcendental nature of the holy name.
The effect of chanting the holy name of the Lord is perceived by the chanter as
liberation from the conception of false egoism. False egoism is exhibited by
thinking oneself to be the enjoyer of the world and thinking everything in the
world to be meant for the enjoyment of one's self only. The whole materialistic
world is moving under such false egoism of "I" and "mine,"
but the factual effect of chanting the holy name is to become free from such
misconceptions. "
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 41A
What happens to the heart during cleansing by Nama Prabhu.
*What are the ''three stages of cleansing'' by chanting the Hare Krishna
Mahamantra?*
HDG Srila Prabhupada answers in a letter :
"The chanting is a process of purification. Just like we use soap to
cleanse the body, this is material, but the chanting is spiritual cleansing.
The three stages of cleansing are *first* to clean the mirror of the mind. In
the Bhagavad Gita it is said, "The mind is the best friend and the worst
enemy, for one who has learned to control the mind it is the best of friends
but for one who has failed to do so it is the worst enemy." Due to long
term association, the mind absorbed in material things has become contaminated,
or dirty, the chanting process purifies the mind.
Then the *next (second)* stage, when the mind is cleansed one becomes free from
the symptoms of material existence. Material existence means to be always
hankering and lamenting. I must have a new automobile, I must have more money,
I must have good wife, I must have this I must have that. Then when I have the
thing, I lament, I have lost my wife, I have lost my money, I have lost my car,
simply lamenting. So the second stage is to be free from this anxiety.
The *third* stage is "He never laments nor desires to have anything; he is
equally disposed to every living entity. In that state he attains pure
devotional service unto me." Bhagavad Gita 18/54. The next verse
continues, "And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by
such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God." It is further stated
in the Gita that when one is so situated even in the midst of greatest danger
he is not disturbed. In other words when one has achieved perfection in
chanting the Holy name of God he is always joyful, even death does not disturb
him, what to speak of other things.The conclusion is that one should learn the
art of chanting the Holy name of Krishna 24 hours a day and that alone is the remedy
for all problems of material existence. How is it possible to chant 24 hours a
day? Lord Chaitanya gave the hint, "One can chant the holy name of God in
a *humble* state of mind, thinking himself lower than the straw in the street,
more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all kinds of sense of false prestige, and
always ready to offer all respects to others. In such a humble state of mind
one can chant the Holy name of God constantly." So I cannot give you any
better advice for your problem, simply chant Hare Krishna and everything will
be all right.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Susan Beckman -- Herts, England
August 29, 1973
4 December 2019
MD
05:41
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 41B
How to free oneself from the 10 offenses.
Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.23-24
There is no way to atone for any of these offenses. It is therefore
recommended that an offender at the feet of the holy name continue to chant the
holy name twenty-four hours a day. Constant chanting of the holy name will
make one free of offenses, and then he will gradually be elevated to the
transcendental platform on which he can chant the pure holy name and thus
become a lover of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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 Nama-kaumudi it is recommended that if one is an
offender at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava, he should submit to that Vaishnava
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....
One should be very humble and meek to offer one's desires and chant prayers
composed in glorification of the holy name, such as ayi mukta-kulair upasyamanam
and nivrtta-tarsair upagiyamanad [SB 10.1.4]. One should chant such prayers
to become free from offenses at the lotus feet of the holy name.
Quote 42
Subject: Nama avatara reveals the form, qualities and pastimes.
When we chant, we must concentrate our mind on the sound vibration and in that
way everything will be revealed one after another; the form, qualities,
pastimes, etc. of the Lord.
And this is the way of cultivating spiritual realization.
Lᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴏ Jᴀɢᴀᴅɪsᴀ - Lᴏs Aɴɢᴇʟᴇs, Fᴇʙʀᴜᴀʀʏ 27, 1970 by Srila Prabhupāda
Application to Japa
Concentrating our attention on the sound features of the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma
which is the externally manifest empowered prakrta-namasabdha on our tongue is
same as concentration our attention on Aprakrta Nama which has assumed sound
features that resemble the prakrta-namasabdha.
Aprakrta Nama is transcendental Suddha Nama. Suddha Nama is non-different from
the Lord HImself. Pure devotional service to Suddha Nama is rendered with our
awakened spiritual self and mind and senses.
Brahma samhita describes the personal body or vigraha of the Supreme
Perosnality of Godhead as ananda-cinmaya-sad-ujjwala vigraha or sat cit ananda
vigraha. So the Name of His satcitananda vigraha is also satcitananda Nama. The
form of His satcitananda vigraha is also satcitananda-rupa. The qualities of
His satcitananda vigraha is also satcitananda-guna. The activities of His
satcitananda vigraha is also satcitananda-lila etc. His satcitananda vigraha or
body is the culmination of everything about Himself.
So any one of them can reveal every other aspects of His satcitananda vigraha.
Suddha Nama can reveal His satcitananda vigraha which is containing His form,
qualities, pastimes etc. Anyone of then contains every one of the other. This
principle is called advayajnana or non-dual knowledge.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
12 December 2019
MD
20:20
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 42
Subject: Don’t Take the Lord’s Name in Vain
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada
Pure devotees do not chant the Lord’s names to counteract sinful reactions,
accumulate piety, attain heavenly pleasures, to mitigate famine, devastating
epidemics, social unrest, disease, civil strife, or to obtain wealth or an
earthly kingdom. Since the Lord is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to ask
him to fulfill our wishes is to treat him as our servant. This is an offense.
Therefore, calling the Lord’s names for any reason other than to attain his
devotional service is useless. Jesus Christ told us not to take the Lord’s name
in vain. However, this does not mean we do not need to always chant the Lord’s
names — while sleeping, remaining awake, eating, or enjoying happiness. To
chant the Lord’s name, begging for his service, is not a useless activity. It
is our only duty. But to make a show of chanting for some other purpose — in
other words, to fulfill our own desires — is useless. We should not take to the
chanting of the Lord’s names uselessly. We should not chant to attain
religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, or liberation. Instead,
we should always chant to attain the Lord’s service. — Amṛta Vāṇī, a
collection of statements from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur.
Originally compiled in Bengali. Translated into English by Bhumipati Das.
Touchstone Media. Mumbai. 2004. Page 166
13 December 2019
MD
03:49
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 43
Subject: Lord's Virat rupa and the external Deity or
Archa are not eternal forms manifest in spiritual sky. But they non different
from the eternal forms. Similarly Shaktyavesha Nama is a material
manifestation. But such Nama of the Lord all non- different from Aprakrta
Suddha Nama.
Srimad Bhagavatam 3.6.4 purport.
“The virāṭ-rūpa is not, therefore, an eternal form of the Lord exhibited in
the spiritual sky; it is a material manifestation of the Lord. The
arcā-vigraha, or the worshipable Deity in the temple, is a similar
manifestation of the Lord for the neophytes. But in spite of their material
touch, such forms of the Lord as the virāṭ and arcā are all nondifferent from
His eternal form as Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Application to Japa
We have been differentiating between the Aprakrta Nama and the Śaktyāvēşa
Nāma in all our modules as two categories of Absolute Truth. One is Lord
Himslef and the other is the spiritually empowered manifestation of the Lord's
material energy. Srila Prabhupada confirms this in the above quote.
Further he reveals the non-difference of both as far as function or rasa is
concerned. They are both one in rasa and difference in tattva. Oneness in
function but difference in substance. One is energetic-substance or vastu and
the other is the energy-substance vastu. Though Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is different
from the eternal Aprakrta Nama, yet the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is non-different from
His Aprakrta Nama for the purpose of His Iilas in this material world. Serving
Śaktyāvēşa Nāma is serving Aprākrta Nāma.
Why is it so? Because the Aprākrta Nāma has taken up a form resembling the
externally vibrated namasabdha and descended (meaning of 'avatara' is
'descended') into it and empowered it to turn that sabda into Śaktyāvēşa Nāma.
Because of identical sound features, touching the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma with our
attention is also attention-touch of the Aprākrta Nāma. As we explained before
the prākrta or matter vigraha of every incarnation of the Lord is potentially
omnipotent body whose soul is the Aprākrta Lord Himself.
Nama Avatara means both together, just like how, we, in this world, are our
soul and body together.
Aprākrta Nama would say to the chanter: just as you are the soul within your
body in this world I have also incarnated myself with a omnipotent body of Śaktyāvēşa
Nāma. You cannot see your true 'self' in the body with your material senses. So
also you cannot my hear or chant my aprakrta Nama within the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma.
You, as an aprakrta soul and Me as the Aprakrta Nama are both of the same
quality.
Serve and associate with my Śaktyāvēşa Nāma draw spiritual energy from Me and
dissolve your false ego covering your true self and then you can
transcnedentally chant and hear My Nāma with your transcendental mind and
senses which are now in deep slumber and dreaming thinking you are the material
body and other people are thier material bodies.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
06:34
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Module 26/108
Practice of humility and faith
The very first practice of humility to accept a
bonafide spiritual master, have full faith in him and surrender unto his
instructions.
In Srimad Bhagavatam purport 3.32.42 Srila Prabhupada writes:
" In the beginning, no one can be elevated to the highest stage of
devotional service. Here bhakta means one who does not hesitate to accept the
reformatory processes for becoming a bhakta. In order to become a devotee of
the Lord, one has to accept a spiritual master and inquire from him about how
to progress in devotional service. To serve a devotee, to chant the holy name
according to a certain counting method, to worship the Deity, to hear
Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita from a realized person and to live in a
sacred place where devotional service is not disturbed are the first out of
sixty-four devotional activities for making progress in devotional service. One
who has accepted these five chief activities is called a devotee.
Only to one who has the same degree of faith and respect in guru as the
faith and respect for Krishna, are all the secrets of existence revealed. Yasya
deva par bhakti yathe deve tatha gurau. Note this verse talks of the same
level of faith as what we have on Krishna. All of Krishna’s mercy is available
for a sādhaka easily through the mercy of a bonafide spiritual master on having
full faith in him as much as faith in and respect for Krishna. Thus the secret
of success in spiritual life is that quality of faith and respect for the
bonafide spiritual master and in His divine words and instructions.
Often meaning of something is understood by studying the opposite of that
thing. Pride, vanity, envy is opposite of humility, simplicity and appreciating
Lord's mercy on someone. Pride and vanity in their relationship with
other jīvas while showing so-called humility only before God and Guru is also a
neophyte consciousness. Because everything and everyone is part of Him,
everything and everyone deserves to be offered due respect
while not seeking and expecting respect for oneself from anyone. That is
definition of humility.
Sadhakas who wants perfection of Nama seva should carefully cultivate humility.
Self-importance, self-adoration, self-agrandisment and self -promotion is a
disease that destroys humility. God, who is all knowing, is not carried away by
anyone’s superficial so called love and humility offered to HIm while
personally living a life of false ego desiring social gratification of
self-importance in different forms in the name of devotional service. He is two
faced.
Especially when a devotee's prarabdha karma is good and he has karmically good
abilities to acheive things for Guru and Krishna, there is a tendency towards
seeking self-importance among devotees. This is just a remnant of our old karmi
consciousness and we have to get rid of it. If it is not checked such a desire
becomes slowly a wrong motivation or a drive for his devotional service.
Any praise or credit from any devotees towards us should be honestly offered in
our mind to Srila Prabhupada and also express the same openly to the person
glorifying you for your service since Guru and the Lord in the heart is jointly
in charge of managing your karma, good or bad after surrendering to him. We
should practice thinking where and what we would without all the mercy that e
have received thus far from Guru and Krishna.
Pride is an unnecessary weed that can grow around our creeper of devotional
service. Pride is negative emotions in relationship with jivas who have less
than us. Either wealth or education or intelligence or influence or skills or
position in society. Envy is a negative emotions in relationship with jivas who
have more than us, all these things. If we do not see that I and others have
what we have only by the will of the Paramatma, then
contd.....
06:34
..........contd
there is place of pride and envy. If we do not regularly de-weed by
introspection and beat our minds, the weeds will consume all the water (
chanting) that you are pouring and grow wildly and can choke the growth of
bhaktilata or the creeper of devotion.
Therefore Srila Bhakti siddantha saraswati thakur asks us to mentally beat our
minds when we wake up with our shoes hundred times and before you sleep beat
the mind with a broom 100 times. This is because mind of a sadhaka always seeks
self-importance and prominence among the devotees as a great devotee.
This mental excercise is very useful. One mind-slice can be beaten by another
mind-slice. Remember the concept of mind-slice introduced earlier. Each mind
slice is like a person. If you do it with feeling, it will check the disease of
of self-importance and pride.
Social gratification in the name of devotional service by exploiting the
services of other devotees for one's own name, fame and adoration is even worse
and will not last long. All these happen unknowingly due to anarthas if we are
not cautious while living in a society of vaishnavas.
Such self centered desires becomes a poison that fattens one's false ego and
covers the real ego (satcitananda ego) resulting in one day covering one's
taste for devotional service. Devotees are always careful in relationship with
other devotees to give due-credit to where-all it belongs and not protest in
one's mind if he is not given his due credit and always execute services is the
mood of servant whether one is a leader or follower in each of his practical
engagement.
Even if he is a leader, he should think I am a servant of these devotees under
me but with service to lead. Humility will naturally follow if we cultivate
such a servant-leader paradigm.
Another subtle pride is to think that one is qualified to directly serve and
please the Lord. This is also not very pleasing to Krishna. One should chant
the holy name in a state of consciousness of feeling of being unqualified and
not deserving direct service of the Lord due to being impure and not capable of
giving Him the right kind of respect and fear making offenses from such
shortcomings. He should think that I have got the privelege of serving His Nama
directly only because of mercy of my spiritual master on whose order alone I
chant 16 rounds daily. One begs for the causeless mercy with full of faith that
the holy name will forgive me for all unknown offenses upon my trying to follow
his order sincerely.
In Srimad Bhagavatam purport 3.32.42 Srila Prabhupada continues to writes:
One must be prepared to offer the necessary respect and honor to the spiritual
master. He should not be unnecessarily envious of his Godbrothers.
......."
Krishna is especially pleased with those devotees who have a internal mood
of being ready to be servants of the servants of His servants and who never
wants themselves to be served personally by anyone.
And the best of the servants for a sādhaka is one’s spiritual master who is not
only a pure devotee but a confidential servitor of the Lord entrusted with the
mission to distribute His mercy to the conditioned souls. He is also eager and
willing to become a servant of any sincere servant of His spiritual master as
advised by Srila Prabhupada in the above quote. That is called sadhu seva and
sadhu sanga.
A devotee does not expect anyone to respect him and serve him thinking that he
is a senior devotee or because he is an achiever.This kind social rasa is
distraction from the path of our bhakti. Srila Prabhupada said that the
attitude in the community should be that of a silent worker. Not drumming one's
own glorious achievements.
All-respect and due-respect
All-respect in the heart for all jivas as part and parcel of
.....contd
06:34
.....contd
Krishna is cornerstone of humility. But there is this concept of due-respect
when it comes to the matter of expressing all-respect in the heart. The
injunction in this world for expressing humility is to give due-respect to
all jivas. Degree of respect is not binary value of either having respect or no
respect.There are grey shades of expression of respect.
For instance If you find a snake inside your house you don't pay obeisances to
that snake. That is not humility. Give all-respect inthe heart but expression
of that comes in the form of due-resepct which is to chase it away or kill it
if it is a poisonous snake that is going to be harmful to the surrounding
habitat. But if you go to a forest and kill a snake it amounts to not
expressing due-respect to that jiva.
Taking association of a Mayavadi sanyasi by hearing Krishna katha from him is
not due-respect to be offered to him. Expression of humility in such a
situation, without being sentimental, is to quietly avoid association and leave
the place. It is not pride that you refuse to hear from a Mayavadi who
ultimately denies absolute existence of Krishna.
There is no end to explaining and elaborating what is humility. Being humbler
than a blade of grass who does not protest after being trampled upon and being
more tolerant than a tree which continues to give shade despite its branches
being chopped in the formula given by Sri Chaitanaya Mahaprabhu to decide how
to relate with every other jiva, especially devotees. Srila Bhaktivinode
Thakura sings that the Aprakrta Nama Prabhu will manifest His taste to us only
when one can offer due-respects to all jivas without malice towards anyone.
The Nama Prabhu is so merciful that by allowing the prarabdha karma ( the seeds
of past karma that are destined to fructify in this life and expereince before
death) of his devotees to act upon us either as it is or in any modified way as
He thinks appropriate and takes them through trials and tribulations in the
course of performing devotional service in the association of other devotees
and teaches them lessons on humility. This is the gift we get by living and
mixing with other vaishanvas and is called sadha sanga. Sadhu sanga is a major
factor for advancement and that is practical field where we practice the
attitude of 'being' the servant of all vaishnavas. Guru, sadhu and sastra. None
of the three can be missing in ones life to ensure progress.
Unless one is beaten up nicely by the material energy now and then in one's
life as a devotee, it is very difficult to realize what is real humility and
pride and envy can raise its head more so among the devotees due to presence of
more knowledge, power and external success bestowed upon him by the mercy of
Guru & Krishna. Soon he will lose that knowledge and power. In a second it
can get covered by the modes.
It is said that the force of prarabdha karma of devotees are managed by the
Lord in one's heart like cat lovingly carrying its kitten between its teeth.
This is unlike the action of force of kala on the karmis which is like the cat
crushing a rat between its teeth. Therefore devotee take all sufferings due to
one's past karma as mercifilly being allowed by the Lord to act upon him to
purify him. The Lord never forsakes His devotees who regularly worships His
Names though he may find himself in a mess from the worldly point of view. He
is on the look out for what spiritual lesson the Lord wants him to learn
through the material mess and learns it.
Pandavas, Prahlada, etc had so many trials and tribulations in life but they
were gifted with Krishna consciousness and protection from Him.
And for exalted devotees the Lord sometimes does not visibly save the devotees
in their difficulties just to glorify their devotion. Like Nama Acarya Haridas
Thakur. Though he was whipped in more than two dozen market places, he was
unaffected and was even smiling because he was fully liberated from bodily
concept of self.
.....contd
15 December 2019
MD
14:12
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Srila Prabhupada struggling to preach in India but not successful for decades
was Krishna's plan to glorify him as his servant as the world Acharya by
facilitating the Hare Krishna explosion from America through him at the right
time in American History. Krishna always has a master plan for his devotees
rendering devotional service to Him.
To be humble always is a tall order. But we, have to at least know these
standards so as to aspire and struggle always towards achieving true humility.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote no. 44
Subject: Srila Prabhupada's example of responding to praise. He is an
epitome of humility.
Srila Prabhupada lecture, Surat, December 19, 1970
Revatinandana: You must be higher than the paramahamsa stage, Prabhupada.
Prabhupada: I am lower than you. I am lower than you.
Revatinandana: You are so beautiful. You are paramahamsa, but still, you are
preaching to us.
Prabhupada: No, I am lower than you. I am the lowest of the all creatures. I am
simply trying to execute the order of my spiritual master. That's all. That
should be the business of everyone. Try best. Try your best to execute the
higher order. That is the safest way of progressing. One may be in the
lowest stage, but if he tries to execute the duty entrusted upon him, he is
perfect. He may be in lowest stage, but because he is trying to execute the
duty entrusted to him, then he is perfect. That is the consideration.
Application to japa
Read previous Module 26/ 108 on humility and faith.
20 December 2019
MD
07:10
Madhu Pandit Dasa
4_6044160338671175295.mp3
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07:12
Quote 45
Subject: On offenses to holy name.
CC Madhya 19.160-
"If one does not distinguish between the bhakti-latā creeper and the other
creepers, the sprinkling of water is misused because the other creepers are
nourished while the bhakti-latā creeper is curtailed.
PURPORT-If one chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra while committing offenses,
these unwanted creepers will grow. One should not take advantage of chanting
the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra for some material profit. As mentioned in verse 159:
'niṣiddhācāra', 'kuṭīnāṭī', jīva-hiṁsana'
'lābha', 'pūjā', 'pratiṣṭhādi' yata upaśākhā-gaṇa
The unwanted creepers have been described by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. He states that if one hears and chants without trying to
give up offenses, one becomes materially attached to sense gratification.
One may also desire freedom from material bondage like the Māyāvādīs, or one
may become attached to the yoga-siddhis and desire wonderful yogic powers. If
one is attached to wonderful material activities, one is called siddhi-lobhī, greedy
for material perfection. One may also be victimized by diplomatic or crooked
behavior, or one may associate with women for illicit sex. Others may make a
show of devotional service like the prākṛta-sahajiyās, or one may try to
support his philosophy by joining some caste or identifying himself with a
certain dynasty, claiming a monopoly on spiritual advancement. Thus with the
support of family tradition, one may become a pseudo guru or so-called
spiritual master. One may become attached to the four sinful activities-illicit
sex, intoxication, gambling and meat eating, or one may consider a Vaiṣṇava to
belong to a mundane caste or creed. One may think, "This is a Hindu
Vaiṣṇava, and this is a European Vaiṣṇava. A European Vaiṣṇava is not allowed
to enter the temples." In other words, one may consider Vaiṣṇavas in terms
of birth, thinking one a brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇava, a śūdra Vaiṣṇava, a mleccha
Vaiṣṇava and so on. One may also try to carry out a professional business while
chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra or reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or one may try to
increase his monetary strength by illegal means. One may also try to be a cheap
Vaiṣṇava by chanting in a secluded place for material adoration, or one may
desire mundane reputation by making compromises with nondevotees, compromising
one's philosophy or spiritual life, or one may become a supporter of a
hereditary caste system. All these are pitfalls of personal sense
gratification. Just to cheat some innocent people, one makes a show of advanced
spiritual life and becomes known as a sādhu, mahātmā or religious person. All
this means that the so-called devotee has become victimized by all these
unwanted creepers and that the real creeper of bhakti-latā-bīja has been
stunted."
Application to japa
The tenth offense is to be inattentive to chanting and to maintain
material attachments. Just doing japa without applying endeavour to avoid
offenses, our material desires which may be bad for spiritual growth will get
quickly fulfilled and it may completely choke our bhakti lata. Such is the
piety power of chanting the holy name.
As sadhakas we all have the anartha of material attachments. That is a reality
and it is not problem as such. But to maintain such attachments without
desiring and endeavouring to become free from it is the tenth offense.
.....contd
21 December 2019
MD
07:37
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Thus there is difference between finding ourselves having so many attachments
as against actively maintaining and holding and fuelling those attachments. For
awakening one's bhakti, the latter attitude is an obstacle. Otherwise material
attachments are cleansed slowly by association of the Nama Prabhu either by
fulfilling some desires that help us in executing bhakti or by developing
detachment from desires that can be potential obstacles to bhakti. This makes
the devotee materially also peaceful as everything is left to the will of Nama
Prabhu by applying the instruction of Krishna in Bhagavad gita
"yadrachhaa-labha-santhusto" that we should be happy with what comes
of it's own accord. Nothing impractical is advised in Krishna consciousness.
Otherwise it is like pouring water over fire of bhakti that is built up by
chanting and hearing.
Hence so important to put continous effort to move our japa from Nama apradha
relationship to Nama abhasa relationship to advanced Nama abhasa relationship
free from all offenses.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
08:14
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Module 27/108
Sankhya-purvaka japa. Tasking with a
target.
The main reason we are not attentive to our japa is obviously because we have
not awakened sufficient love and attachment for the Krishna and HIs Nama
Avatara. Once that is awakened there is no effort required to keep the
attention on the japa. The Nama ruci or the intrinsic taste of holy name itself
will anchor our attention. Just like you don't have to struggle to keep you
attention on eating if the food is very tasty. The taste will anchor our
attention. However as a early sadhaka or practitioner we do not have Nama ruci
to be able to anchor our attention and unless we anchor our attention
uninterruptedly on Nama Avatara we won't get to the stage of Nama ruchi. There
is a way out of this situation of chicken came first or egg came first. Till
our Nama ruci is awakened there is another easily available ruchi or delight to
anchor our attention. We will see that in this module.
Main reason for inattentiveness during japa
The repeated question for a sadhaka again and again is how to keep the
attention on chanting-cum-hearing for prolonged periods during japa without
falling into the trap of chanting-cum-thinking japa. This module and the next
few, if scrutinizingly read and studied will provide the answer as well as the
remedy. And by applying meticulously what we advise, the very same mind which
causes distraction of attention can be trained to do the opposite, which is to
anchor our attention on hearing our japa without distraction.
Remember that the ability to move and hold attention on different domains
though potentially is at the command of our free will it has been handed over
to our mind. Therefore managing attention means managing the mind.
I have told in the beginning of this course that this is a japa doctor's
course. We will be doing here a micro analysis of our mind's role during japa
like doctors study human anatomy. This knowledge will help us repair our own
inattentive japa by being able to diagonize the essential missing elements of a
good japa just as doctors knowledge of human anatomy helps them treat ill
health. If any of the readers find it hard to intellectually follow this
module, you can go straight away to the next module which is an applicaton of
the knowledge in this module and just follow the prescription there.
Analysing mind's role in japa
Let us begin the analysis. Our perception of japa in our minds determines
how we perform of japa. The perception of japa that it is the act of only
chanting-cum-hearing one mahamantra and then just physically repeating that act
108x16 times does not describe to oneself the complete set of actions involved
in japa. If you are surprised by this statement, then that incomplete
perception is the very cause of not being able to cure the problem of
inattentiveness in japa. Thinking that chanting-cum-hearing alone is japa is an
incomplete understanding as to what all different action-offerings constitutes
a japa.
Even a child can chant and hear perfectly one or two or three or four mantras.
But if you tell a child to do uninterrupted 108 beads, he will find it
difficult. Why? Because this third component that I am going to talk about is
missing in the child unless he is trained to offer it.
What is that third component that help solve inattentiveness for sadhaka? That
is effort of 'tasking' that our mind usually offers to get any work done in the
form of a sequence of actions. A sequence of connected actions with an
objective to be achieved in the end of that series of action is called
'activity'. Japa is not to be seen as only several actions (kriya)
isolated from each other, but it is also a tasking activity (kaarya) to
building up action over action or cumulative actions with cumulative effects.
...... contd
30 December 2019
MD
08:40
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Let us go to Srila Prabhupada's example of iron placed in fire becoming red
hot. If you extend that analogy, we can see that there is relationship between
the duration of time you leave the iron in the fire and the speed at which it
becomes red hot. If you place it in fire and take it immediately it is not
going to become red hot, though it may become a little hot. Similarly if you
don't even put it in the fire hold it only six inches away from fire, it will
get only a bit warmer. So we say there are two factors that make it red hot.
One is it should be fully in the fire and it should not lose contact with fire
for sufficient time for it to become red hot.
Our souls are all immersed in the material fire of asat-acit-nirananda or three
modes of material nature. When I do one bead of concurrent chanting cum hearing
of Hare Krishna, my soul moves out of the material fire and enters into the
spiritual fire of sat-cit-ananda of the Nama Prabhu. The moment we stop the
chanting-cum-hearing, my soul is back in the material fire of three modes of
material nature. When we mechanically do inattentive japa, we only stand near
the sat-cit-ananda fire of Nama Prabhu but not even entered into it. Being in
the fire is not same effect as being outside the fire near it. The experience
of the two fires are opposite on the living entity.
Our ultimate perfection of life is to always remember Krishna and never forget
Him for a moment. it is very obvious that Nama Prabhu is pleased if it is an
offering of exclusive devotion of our attention to Him for prolonged continuous
duration of time. This amounts to offering Him uninterrupted, undistracted
attention exclusively to Him for as long a duration that you can do it. That
does indicates the exclusive-ness of our devotion to Him by excluding
everything else from our attention during that time. Devotion of attention is
called devotion. Unless we love we cannot be devote our attention. Actually the
material fire is impersonal. The fire of satcitananda is personal. So
Shaktyavesha Nama, the fire of satcitananda gives us more mercy if offer
chanting-cum-hearings in an uninterrupted manner because un-interrupted means
more devotion. As you surrender to the Nama Prabhu, He reciprocates.
We should consider our vow to do 16 rounds is like a rehearsal of being in the
spiritual world that for at least two hours. Whether we can stay in the
satcitananda fire of 16 rounds of concurrent chanting-cum-hearing? If you chant
one round every one hour and finish 16 rounds a day, the effect on our
consciousness is different from sitting and doing in one stretch 16 rounds. It
is like sixteen times you go inside the fire and come out. When you come out
your are back in the material of three gunas. Basically from the spiritual
point of view uninterrupted repetitions of chanting-cum-hearing expresses to
Krishna our exclusive devotion to Him. Obviously it pleases Him more if stay in
the fire of satcitananda at a stretch. No doubt He is definitely pleased even
if you chant once. But next level of pleasure for Nama Prabhu is the duration
and exclusive devotedness of surrender our attention to Him.
Thus mindful japa is not just 16 rounds of concurrent chanting-cum-hearing but
it is best if done uninterruptedly. That brings best cumulative effect of all
the actions on individual beads on our consciousness.
contd.....
08:41
......contd
Let us take another mundane impersonal example. If you take 108 bricks and
spread them on the floor in 108 spots the force below each brick is just the
weight of one brick. But if you pile up these 108 bricks one above the other
then the force below each brick is its own weight plus the weight of all the
bricks on top of it. Consider the floor to be like our consciousness or cittam.
We can either be satisfied with the effect of each action of
chanting-cum-hearing on our consciousness like spreading out the bricks or you
can pile up individual actions of attentive chanting-cum-hearing to create a
cumulative effect on our consciousness. Spreading the bricks distracted
everywhere is also a kind of tasking. But piling up the bricks one above the
other is more effective tasking. Similarly finishing 108x16 malas with
distractions is one type of tasking but finishing 108x16 uninterruptedly by
piling up the effect of one chanting-cum-hearing on the other without
distraction is more effective tasking.
Tasking of japa seen grossly is just a physical repetition of isolated unit
action of chanting-cum-hearing like spreading the bricks. We need to change
that perception. Repetition of unit action has to be tasked in a cumulative
manner so as increase the pleasure of Nama Prabhu and also to build up the
cumulative effect on the mind for its purification.
"So in the third stage, if you follow the regulative principle and
chant with some prescribed number, numerical strength, then your all misgivings
will be over automatically." Srila Prabhupada March 9 1968
Interview.
What is that particular way of chanting with numerical strength? The
individual action of chanting-cum-hearing has to be tasked one after another
with a tasking impulse between the chants to build up the targeted number of
malas. For this to happen we need to put extra micro-effort (karya cesta)
between the two beads in the form of micro tasking impulse to repeat
chanting-cum-hearing as soon as previous action of chanting-cum-hearing of one
bead is over without allowing the attention to escape to something else. This
requires training. Tasking impulse is a feeling from the background mind. Once
trained it can be left to auto-tasking unlike chanting and hearing which always
require on line kriya cesta and jnana cesta from the soul.
This kind of japa needs effort for tasking the activity (karya cesta)
with uninterrupted attention over and above individual action-effort ( kriya
cesta) to just chant-cum-hear each of the Śaktyāvēşa Nāmas. And tasking has
to be driven by the tasking intention ( iccha-asha) and a goal in
the background mind to reach that goaled number of repetitions with
uninterrupted attention to please guru and the Nama Prabhu.
Japa has to be done by a sadhaka by taking delight ( micro feeling between the
beads) in progressive tasking success (kriya-karya siddhi ) in
chanting-cum-hearing-cum- tasking bead after bead and mala after mala. This is
called sankhya purvaka japa or doing japa with a feeling of
progressively building up of numerical strength by counting. This is exactly
the reason japa is prescribed to be done on a japa mala by counting. There is
spiritual technology behind this prescription by the Acharyas. Behind the gross
counting is this subtle activity of micro-tasking impulse, micro-delight
between every two chants with a micro intent of not letting go our attention
for the targeted goal from Nama.
.....contd
08:42
.....contd
Usually tasking in japa is wrongly understood as just physical repetition to
finish our rounds without all these subtle mental tasking action bead by bead
for uninterrupted japa.
The activity of tasking is nothing new to us. We do task different activities
everyday to achieve different goals. And whenever we are devoted we give
uninterrupted attention. Your mind which is combination of conscious mind and
trained subconscious mind tasks brushing your teeth everyday, your mind tasks
shaving, your mind tasks driving, your mind tasks shopping for groceries, your
mind tasks cooking, your mind tasks conducting a festival and even very
complicated tasks. Tasking is a series of actions towards a goal either
consciously done if it is being done first time or automatically executed if it
is a repeated doing with or with attention.
The good news is that auto-tasking is perfectly ok. Automatically your
background mind will learn how to take that micro delight between the beads.
Many devotees have unknowingly take delight in fulfilling guru's order as they
progressively complete the rounds one after another. That tasking delight has
become automatic and they take pleasure in completing their rounds daily. But
there are many who have not. This is because they think japa is only
chanting-cum-hearing and have not considered tasking as an important part fo
japa. Here the opportunity is there for both to practice and deepen that
tasking delight during japa.
Cesta or directed effort is a spiritual energy.
Effort or Cesta is a energy emanating from the soul like attention. Cesta
applied to chant one individual mantra is called kriya cesta. Effort
applied to hear every mantra is called jnana cesta. Kriya cesta
supplies attention to do and jnana cesta supplies attention to know.
Chanting-cum-hearing means chanting and hearing that very chant concurrently.
If you offer kriya cesta to do and jnana cesta in order to
concurrently know what you do, then the attention is locked as far as that one
bead of chant is concerned. But before you go to your next bead you attention
can still escape from japa. That is where tasking effort or Karya cesta
supplies micro-tasking impulse by taking pleasure in tasting successful tasking
called karya-siddhi ruci.
An example of tasking in japa
Suppose, as a father, you sit next to your 2 or3 year old child and make
him chant one mantra.Then as soon as he finishes one mantra you instruct him to
do one more. When he does the second mantra congratulate him for successfully
doing two beads. Immediately ask him to do one more and again when he finishes
that third mantra again congratulate him for his success in doing three beads.
And tell him to do one more bead. When he does that fourth bead again make him
feel good that he succeeded in doing four beads of chanting-cum-hearing. Then
tell him again to do one more bead and make him feel good that he did cumulatively
five beads and so on. And the intention of the father is to make the child do
uninterrupted chanting-cum-hearing for108 beads by making him feel a sense of
delight of progressive acheivement by seeing the father being pleased with each
success.
The father should ensure that after each bead of chanting, he feeds the child
with that cumulative success or built up accomplishment pleasure and ask him to
accomplish one more chant on the next bead. The child simply obeys the father
because it has become delightful to experience success and see the father being
pleased each time and derive accomplishment ruchi or pleasure. As you move like
this bead after bead, the child as well as the father takes joint pleasure in
or enjoy feeling a sense of delight of cumulative accomplishment or success
after each bead of attentive chanting-cum-hearing.
.....contd
08:43
.....contd
In the example above , the child was not only doing chanting-cum-hearing on
each bead attentively but was also doing several many subtle things during the
time between the two beads in his mind. In that micro-second time gap, his mind
was rewarded by the father by showing his pleasure at his progressively
increasing doing-success bead after bead. That created
a micro-expereince of delight or feel good after each bead of
chanting-cum-hearing. This delight is called divya karya-siddhi ruchi.
It was followed by again another micro-tasking to move to the next bead with
intention to build up his success-delight by one more bead and one more drop of
divya karya-siddhi ruchi and so on till completion of 108 beads of the
mala with undiverted & uninterrupted attention.
Tasking is between the beads
This engagement while on the bead of chanting-cum-hearing immediately
followed by tasking with tasking intention to task towards the goal between the
bead for undiverted & unintertupted japa and feeding a drop of
micro-delight or ruchi of taking pleasure is enough to keep the mind away from
indulging in any other kind of mental activity like thought processing. This
kind of tasking with a tasking intention of undiverted & uninterrupted is
the third basic component of japa called tasking, over and above merely
chanting-cum-hearing which most chanters are not consciously aware of.
Let us call the individual tasking action in the mind between the two beads as
micro-tasking done with tasking intention and micro tasking -effort to task by
taking delight. And the cumulative success pleasure be called tasking delight.
And the series of conscious actions of micro-tasking with tasking delight is
done between every two beads of chanting-cum-hearing to complete 16 rounds of
japa seen together is the perception of tasking activity in japa.
One might wonder how is it possible to offer this micro tasking effort and take
micro-delight in the short time between the beads.Will it not be a distraction
to chanting-cum-hearing. Actually once practiced it will happen in an instant.
Note that the three items namely micro-tasking effort is an action-feeling and
micro-intention and micro-delight are thought-feelings. When practiced these
feelings roll into one integrated feeling called delightful tasking impulse
which can be applied instantly on finishing one chant before going to next
bead. We will learn all these when I begin posting training modules.
Brain phenomena is dovetailed in Japa
Tasking japa always involves delight of success rasa or accomplishment
taste or ruci. Our brains are wired to taste the delight of success. Our
minds always likes to repeat any task that repeatedly succeeds and such sense
of delight of 'progressively ever increasing cumulative success' is fed
into our brain bead after each bead of chanting-cum-hearing. The delight of
incrementally increasing cumulative success at the end of each bead becomes a
reward for the brain for the action of chanting-cum-hearing. This create a
pleasurable habit loop around each bead of chanting-cum-hearing. Here all these
brain phenomena are nicely dovetailed to serve us in our service to Nama
Prabhu.
Enthusiam or utsaha to do japa is a direct consequence of this kind of tasking
because wherever there is delight for the mind and soul, there is enthusiasm.
Tasking delightfully is answer for another standard question of how to be
enthusiastic in doing japa.
You will be glad to know that repetitive functions of the child mind and father
mind in the example can be set up easily in our own minds which help us to
meticulously execute tasking for uninterrupted attentive chanting-cum-hearing
in a simple and easy way.
Thus before we can expereince actual Nama ruchi which can happen only in
advanced japa, we as sadhakas can have take plessure in spiritual karya
siddhi ruchi or spiritual delight of spiritual success and cling on to it.
.....contd
08:43
.....contd
We all have experienced divya karya-siddhi-ruci
In fact this karya-siddhi-ruci has helped all of us, without our
being aware of it, when as new devotee we began with one round then increased
it to 4 rounds and felt good and finally when we did first time16 round we felt
more good and when we became capable of doing every day we felt even more good.
But that was all a crude undefined gross sense of accomplishment without really
understanding correctly how it is a spirtual absolute accomplishment too.
Because of that very soon it became ordinary affair for the mind and we were no
longer feeling the sense of delight in accomplishment.
Material success is all relative and would soon become bored. Still even an
untrained chanter will feed his mind with drop of karya sidhi ruci or
accomplishment delight at the end of completing each mala even if he does not
do it at the end of each bead which is reccomended. There should a feeling that
chant on every bead is as absolute as every other bead of chant.
Mind is a wonderful equipment. Be releived to know that 100% of the background
content is arranged by the subconscious mind once it is trained. Your conscious
mind has to only offer attention, intention and effort for chanting-cum-hearing
on each bead with a automatic release of delightful tasking impulse between the
beads.
We carelessly and unconsciously defined to ourselves success as simply as
grossly finishing 16 rounds whether attentive or not. Once you define properly
to yourself as to what is this spiritual success then accomplishment ruchi or
tasking delight will sustain and even expand its delightfulness to the chanter.
So much so that one would not want to keep the bead bag down after starting
one's japa. To experience this it does not require great advancement.
Opportunity to do Japa is rare and is an eternal earning
To accomplish building up of more and more number of attentive
chanting-cum-hearing of Lord's Names is an absolute achievement which stays
with us eternally. We should not take for granted and take its value lightly as
it is easily available. Just because you got it don't think the desire to chant
given easily. few years back you did not possess that desire. Lord does not
descend on every tongue in this universe. Even you have got this chance after
going through billions and billions of lives through 84 lakh species. Every act
of chanting-cum-hearing of Krishna's Nama on your lips is invaluable as per the
scriptures. Such accomplishment delight includes a sense of satisfaction of
eternal earning or asset for the soul for having added one more chant into
one's absolute account with Krishna.
What will be the delight expereinced if someone put you in a room full of high
value currency and told you that as much you can pack in a bag as much you can
pick without any guilt, within a limited time as you have a right to it which
you never knew till then. You will go on picking up the bundles and with each
picking and packing it into your bag you will feel accumulation of something
valuable and would want to pick up as much as possible within that limited
time.
In absolute sense the value of accumulating one bead of attentive
chanting-cum-hearings cannot be compared to any number of bundles of any
denomination of money, even a room full of it. I am giving this example for you
to take that template of thinking, feeling, willing (TFW) of such a situation
and apply the same kind of TFW to generate the tasking impulse between every
two beads of japa . This rare opportunity is gifted in short human life, of
being able to give delight to Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu by chanting-cum-hearing
with background appreciation of this opportunity to earn His mercy by every
additional bead of japa.
Rupa goswami's Padyavali 30
viceyāni vicāryāni vicintyāni punah punah krpanasya dhanāniva
tvan-nāmāni bhavantu nah
O Lord, just as a miser continually collects, counts, and remembers his money,
in the same way let us continually collect, count, and remember your holy
names.
.....contd
31 December 2019
MD
05:28
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Even a new devotee can experience this empowerment rasa or spiritual sat-shakti
from Nama Prabhu to do uninterrupted japa, if spiritual success delight or
ananda is defined to ourselves as below.
Defining exactly what is spiritual accomplishment ruchi or spiritual
accomplishment delight
We have to define to ourselves that the real accomplishment delight as
being the absolute delight of giving delight to Nama Prabhu. It is the delight
expereinced in personally taking delight in pleasing Nama Prabhu as ordered and
directed by Guru with offering service of each bead of attentive effortful
chanting-cum-hearing followed by immediatley micro-tasking without diverting
the attention followed by taking up the next bead of chanting-cum-hearing and
again micro tasking and feeding a
micro-delight again. Repeat this again and again and feel progressive build up
(sankhya purvaka) of increasing delight bead after bead approaching closer and
closer to 108 beads and then one mala after next mala.
During the entire gross and subtle process we should synchronize our mind
visualization on the movement of gross bead after bead and feel the progressive
delight of absolute spiritual accomplishment as we move closer to 108 bead.The
key is to feed our mind and soul with the incrementally increasing cumulative
accomplishment delight of pleasing Nama Prabhu bead after bead with attentive
chanting-cum-hearings. It is the transcendental delight for oneself of giving
more and more delight that locks our attention. This fact of Nama Prabhu
actually being pleased with our offer of attention and cesta for more and more
utterances of His Divine Name is revealed by guru, sadhu and sastra.
This delight of pleasing the Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu in the sadhana stage is
the abasa or shadow of our constitutional pure loving experience of the
awakened soul which always want to see the delight of the Lord ever increasing
by our devotional service. Therefore practice of this will eventually awaken
our pure soul-delight. It not an imagined delight even now. Even now, at
sadhaka stage itself, the experience is delightful to the soul in addition to
being delightful to the mind because Nama Prabhu is pleased. Difference between
delight now and in advanced japa is like the difference between the taste of a
semi ripe mango and ripe mango. As it ripens the same mango taste (delight
)will increase and increase.
In short, If we learn, by practice, to taste this spiritual delight of
increasingly scoring or gaining one more absolute credit in our eternal
existence of having once more tried to please Nama Prabhu on finishing each
bead and looking forward to do the next bead as we go from bead one to the next
and the next upto the 108th bead, then our present thinking japa will transform
into chanting-cum-hearing-cum-delightful tasking to gain something every bead;
chanting-cum-hearing-cum-delightful tasking ;
chanting-cum-hearing-cum-delightful tasking x for 108 beads x16 malas in the
background from start of the chant.
But in every good attentive japa by anyone, knowingly or unknowingly, some
tasking delight is being experienced in a subtle mental plane. Even for a
beginner, success pleasure being is fed to his brain while counting on beads
though it may not have been systematically trained as we are planning now. What
I have done here is to keenly observe the mind and catch all the elements to
share with all of you and exploded view of japa action. Idea is to train the
mind in action of tasking delightfully once you know that this is what it takes
to lock the attention on Nama.
Uninterrupted tasking means uninterrupted Nama smaranam
Tasking and smaranam are also connected. Smaranam is always in the
background mind during japa. Tasking is linked to successful continuous
repeated remembrance or smaranam. High quality japa means continuous unbroken
repeated smaranam of Nama Prabhu while chanting, hearing and tasking is
attentively executed in the foreground mind and identity of the Nama Prabhu
will be felt transcendentally.
.......contd
MD
08:24
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Attention on Him by prolonged repeated remembrance in the background will make
Him be pleased with us for us more than intermittently broken remembrances.
Remembrance is the first step of deeper relationship of respect and love. Here
it is the repeated remembrance of the string of Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu. Thus
we see that uninterrupted tasking is connected to continuously repeated
appreciative remembrance in the background mind without diversion &
interruption of attention.
Milestones and Goals for Tasking
If at the beginning of every single session of japa, there is no target for
that session, then the quality of tasking will suffer. It is a must to tell
yourself the sādhya or goal to be achieved in the sitting. It does not matter
even it is 4 rounds or even one round for uninterrupted japa. But sādhya has to
made up in the mind before each session even if you are doing japa everyday
same time.
The role of milestones and goal in the background context for successfully
tasking is not only useful at sādhana stage, but as well as in advanced stage.
Tasking intention is to achieving the milestones and goals uninterruptedly. We
cannot do our japa mindlessly, in a spaced-out frame of mind without sensing
feelings of success in progressive accomplishment of the desire to give
pleasure through achievement of different milestones and finally the goal. That
accomplishment feelings from tasking is integral part of japa.
No one can task without a goal. No one can task without being aware of
feedback-knowing at each moment where he is at every instant of the tasking
journey, concerning his goal. No one can enthusiastically task without feeling
a sense of continuous progress towards the goal. So if one thinks that japa is
means only distinctly chanting and sharply hearing then he is missing out on
another important part of japa which is tasking effort with tasking skills and
tasking pleasure or delight. Tasking the work of completing the 16 rounds
uninterruptedly is as important as chanting and hearing.
contd.....
28 January 2020
MD
08:08
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Divya karya-siddi ruci is a spiritual taste
So the feeling or divya karya-siddi ruci can also be the
sense of feeling of being spiritually successful in continuous repeated
remembrance of Aprakrta Nama Prabhu as we go on with chanting, hearing and
tasking the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. Wanting to remember more and more and again and
again at a stretch bead after bead to please Nama Prabhu more and more.
To the above background in addition to appreciative remembrance if feelings of
faith or shraddha, humility, love or priti and surrender, gratitude for the
mercy, are tirggered from the subconsciou mind, such japa becomes soulful japa.
Therefore soulful japa means chanting, hearing, tasking in the foreground with
spontaneouosly triggerred appreciative, loving, grateful remembrance of Nama Prabhu
with knowledge, faith and feelings and surrender.
On hearing that so many things are to be offered during japa please don't get
discouraged that soulful japa is a complicated process. If you mistakenly think
your consicous mind has to do all this while doing japa then it is surely
bewildering. All this is actually not done by the conscious mind alone but it
is fully assisted by the trained subconscious mind. Be patient and hopeful. The
foreground mind is handled by conscious mind and background mind is handled by
your subconscious mind.
There is a way to train the subconscious mind for this. As explained the
child-mind and the father-mind in our example can be created in our own larger
mind. You will learn, a very simple mind management system using the concept
called mind-slices in the subconscious mind to assist the conscious mind in
doing uninterrupted attentive japa and super charge your consciousness with
unbroken attention-touch of the Nama Avatara.
You can actually begin to create desirable mind-slices in your subconscious
mind after you practice offering that tasking impulse between the beads
consistently for 90 days. Once the right kind of mind-slices are created and
wiping out currently wrongly formed japa mind-slices that you are using now,
you will be looking forward to taste delightful-doing of japa and the days of
burdensome japa to finish 16 rounds will be gone once for all. Take my word for
it.
But nothing comes free without offering time, desire, effort, determination and
patience from our side to practice for few months to create these right mind
slices. And of course divine grace from guru and Krishna to succeed in it. Then
excellent japa habits are formed and fruit of few months of hard practice can
be reaped for rest of our japa life.
Meanwhile for next one week please read this module again and again once a day
and understand the idea of this impulse of tasking delight. This exercise will
help settle this knowledge of delight into your system before you can turn that
into a skill, both yantra skill by practice and soul skill by devotion. Having
learnt what is the definition of delight in japa, take a decision with
determination that from today onwards I will never again do dry delight-less or
morose japa without taking transcendental accomplishment delight of pleasing
Nama Prabhu with every bead.
Thus soulful japa is not only to be done spiritfully and not clumsily and
morosely.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
11 February 2020
MD
13:45
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 47
*How to chant?*
Malati Dasi : In the beginning we were curious about how to chant. What do you
do when you chant, and what do you think?
Srila Prabhupada said, "Two things.
1. *You don't do anything, and you don't think anything*.
2. *You simply hear*."
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Application
Earlier also we have posted similar quote of only hearing while chanting
without thinking. This is the single biggest secret of successful japa. Hearing
is the attention-touch of the soul.
To do this kind of japa we need to have full faith that the sound of the Hare
Krishna Nama Prabhu is Krishna Himself. To develop the faith you need to have
unflinching faith in the words of guru, sadhu and sastra. Gradually the clear
transcendental knowledge on how the name-sound and the person whose name it is
are inseparable from each other.
Even we should not put effort or cesta for remembrance or
smaranam as that will divert our 100% effort to hear the name-sound. Smaranam
should automatically happen effortlessly in the background on it's own. Effort
always takes place in the foreground mind.
During off japa time and not during japa, one can put efforts in the foreground
to prepare one's mind by repeated contemplation for this automatic remembrance
of the Nama Prabhu. Then remembrance will rise in the background mind or
consciousness as soon as the sound manifests in the foreground mind or
consciousness.
If automatic remembrance does not happen in the background, don't worry. It
will soon happen if you practice hearing. But do not do forceful remembrance.
Then it will be at the cost of losing on hearing with our attention-touch.
Hearing is the real attention- touch of Shaktyavesha avatara.
Therefore no more thinking japa. We need hearing japa. Thinking japa is not
even 1/1000th as powerful as in hearing japa to purify our conscious and lift
us to the transcendental plane. This is the essential message of all the
modules in soulful japa. Hear, hear, hear with sharp attention. Again thinking
of hearing, that I should hear, I should hear, I should hear is not hearing.
That becomes another kind of thinking. Just simply hear.
Our free will has two sides like a coin. Positive enabling free will and
negative rejecting free will. Sankalpa shakti and vikalpa shakti.
Positive free will is will power to do something is called sankalpa shakti.
Negative free will is will power to reject or not to do something else while
exercising the positive willing and it is called vikalpa shakti. Free
will can exert it's full power over the mind when there is application of both
positive free will and negative free will in the situation. Freewill can act
simultaneously in both ways. In japa the positive free will is to be applied to
hear and simultaneously the negative free will is to be applied not to think.
The order is to hear and prohibition is not to think during japa. Hear with sankalpa
shakti and reject thinking with vikalpa shakti.
The muscles of our will power is called determination. Will power can be
powerful or weak based on intensity of determination. Sometimes we are
stubborn. We should use our stubbornness not to think during japa and only
hear.
Taste for japa means our consciousness takes delight inuninterrupted attention
touch of the sound of the one Hare Krishna Nama aftet the next bead after bead.
That is hearing.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
5 March 2020
MD
18:03
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Video file
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02:39, 9.4 MB
Japa lesson: The monkey
here is like our mind that distracts us and, we, the soul should be like the squirrel
who is determined to 'eat' the holy name uninterruptedly by hearing through our
ear holes.
Thats the giant 'Malabar' squirrel. And its so greedy that you cannot distract
it from its greed. Eventially we dont have to be determined if our greed for
eternal soothing shelter of Nama Prabhu from the smelting heat of adhyatmic,
adhidaivic and adhibhautic miseries of the material world makes us oblivious to
all other distractions is awakened and tasted. Daily japa is the most urgent
thing to do.
Practice japa with determination and a sense of urgency of an existential
crisis and slowly the serving-attention to hear Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu will
result in continuous touch of Nama Prabhu. Such attention-touch with devotion
will soon awaken our soul's natural taste of this soothing eternal shelter and
make us greedier and greedier for the association of our Hare Krishna Nama
Prabhu.
Ys Madhu Pandit Dasa
8 March 2020
MD
22:00
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 28
Spiritful Japa
Chanting Delight + Hearing Joy + Tasking Enthusiasm + hoping mercy = Serving
spirit
The most important aspect of japa is the serving
attention-touch or surrendering our attention to Nama Prabhu. The soul touches
the Hare Krishna Nāma only because the doing-attention to chant and
knowing-attention to hear established the connection between the soul and the
Nāma Avatāra. Initially due to being totally new to the process of japa in the
beginning days of japa, such newness was holding attention during japa since we
did not even know the full mantra by memory. However once mind practiced
chanting, the tendency is to fall into auto-japa mode without attention. And
the mind along with its attention would be diverted from japa and get entangled
in some thinking of a problem or aimlessly wandering or even go into a sleepy
mode. We get disconnected from the Nama Avatāra. Further such inattentiveness
is an offence at the feet of the Nama Prabhu.
The solution to inattentiveness is Rasa or taste. When you relish the taste of
some nice dish then even if you take it every day for years you will still give
your attention to consciously taste it. So taste or rasa is the secret to lock
the attention in spite of becoming familiar with something daily. You would
never leave it to unconscious eating even though your mind has been trained to
automatically eat. Doing-delight to do something is a rasa. Relishing-joy to
hear is a rasa. Hope-pleasure when you chase something desirable is a rasa.
Success feeling in getting the desirable is a rasa. Delighting to do the
activity of chanting with the tongue and relishing the joy of hearing
the sound carefully enthusiasm from accomplishing the task to
complete the targeted rounds with hope for mercy flow ensures that the
soul's conscious doing effort and knowing effort and attention energy are all
locked on to the sound incarnation, Nama Prabhu even if our mind and body gets
trained to chant and track and task mechanically or automatically. Our goal is
combination of both trained doing, tracking and tasking by the body mind as
well as and also soul's conscious doing , knowing & tasking. That is total
offering of soul, mind and body to Nama Prabhu. Of course you should have
reasons for taking doing-delight to , relishing-joy to hear, taking hope
pleasure for flow of sat, cit, ananda mercy and enthusiasm to task etc. We will
discuss soon.
We have seen that when we chant and hear concurrently the Nama, there is flow
of doing-knowing cesta ruchi or taste in the form of flow of pleasant energy to
'do' and to 'know' into you mind and heart and that is boosted by karya siddhi
rasa or tasking delight to makes us do more and more of concurrent doing and
knowing . These tastes put together is called kriya-jnana-karya sidddi rasa or
doing-knowing-tasking delight.
Once the brain learns how to do the activity, unless you take delight in
chanting and/or take relish joy with hope in hearing and/or feel accomplishment
in tasking after each bead , the attention cannot be held on japa and it will
stray away to any other mental activity where there is need, urgency or delight
and relish, hope etc. My soul would have gone away from Japa and it will become
mechanical. Even if we forcefully try to hold the attention by our will power,
we are sure to slip up if there is no rasa in the activity.
The big question is if I am not delighted by the Nama how do I take delight in
it artificially? You have to be first intellectually be convinced of reasons to
be delighted. It is true that unless you have reasons to be delightful, it is
artificial to take delight.
contd.....Doing
22:00
contd....
If you have to be emotionally angry there has to be angry thoughts behind it
that are the reasons for that anger. Similarly if you have to be emotionally
delightful to chant, emotionally relish joy to hear and emotionally feel
success pleasure of tasking a targeted number of rounds with hope pleasure for
satcitananda mercy flow, you need reasons that generate these positive
feelings. What are the reasons for being delightful in chanting, relishing joy in
hearing and being enthusiastic in tasking with hope for mercy , for a beginner?
Let us see.
In the last module we introduced the concept of accomplishment or success rasa
or kriya-kārya siddhi rasa. We discussed about the chanter taking
micro-delight of progressive accomplishment after chanting and hearing each
bead before he starts the same on the next bead. We have explained in that
module the reasons as to why chanting and hearing Nama Prabhu daily is the
greatest accomplishment in life and hence the tasking delight.
Suppose a great personality whom you admire and a role model, a VIP , comes to
your house, will you be continuously delighted and excited and enthusiastic to
receive him or be in a stoic mood without any hope & excitement? Will you
not do everything to offer him respect, love and service to please him? Does
that delight sound artificial? Not at all.
We have to realize that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is infinitely
important person or VV......VVVVVVVVVIP or infinitely Most important person or
MIP is willing to come on our tongue and into the room of our heart during
japa. Is it artificial to be delighted and excited? Is it artificial to relish
His sound-embrace with our attention? Is it artificial to go about the task of
serving Him delightfully in whichever way pleases Him? Not at all. Simply
loading this context in our background mind is enough to take doing delight to
welcome Him, relish joy in associating with Him, enthusiastically serve Him
with hope pleasure of surely receiving krpa or mercy.
Will the Most important Person or MIP, Nama Prabhu not be pleased if you offer
this spirit of reception and service unto HIm ? In fact it is artificial if you
don't receive Him with delight seek relish in his association and show enthusiasm
to serve Hiim. We have to delight in His coming by chanting, relish joy His
association by hearing, hope for causeless mercy flow from Him and delight in
enthusiastically serving Him 16 round by tasking till He leaves for the day. We
should be elated as soon as we lift our bead bag.
All these spirit energies can rise in the heart naturally only as a result of
the transcendental knowledge and faith in HIs presence before you and
consequent recognition of the high value or worthiness of His coming to you for
you and the super worthiness of the activity of serving Him. The more deep is
your recognition and realization of the presence of the Nāma Avatāra before you
and the value of the same, the more will be the soul delight to welcome the
Nama by chanting and more you will relish the sound embrace by hearing. This
kind of delighting to welcome and relishing to associate by hearing or
sound-embrace for a sādhaka means to voluntarily take soul pleasure in the very
act of clearly chanting and carefully hearing of the transcendental names of
the Lord and task enthusiastically with great hope pleasure.
Doing-delight to chant and relishing joy in hearing and hoping for mercy
Doing delight from the heart in the very act or ‘doing’ of uttering the
names of the Lord is the soul energy called hrstam.
Relishing joy in his association by the hearing-embrace of the sound of His
names is the soul energy is called ahlada. Ahlada means something
that brings joy in the heart. To touch the Lord through hearing is not any
ordinary opportunity. So there is reason to take relish or joy in hearing which
is like embracing the Sound God by hearing. Is not the faith that we are
embracing God Himself though only with our dull attention, not a relishable
fact ?
contd.......
22:00
.......contd
Here is an important principle of pleasure- If we take joy from our side to
hear, then spiritual relish energy will flow into our hearts from the Nama Prabhu.
If you take delight in chanting, spiritual delight energy will flow from the
Nama Prabhu. If you take delight in uninterrupted tasking to please Nama Prabhu
with more and more beads of japa, real spiritual power or accomplishment rasa
of kriya-janana-karya siddhi rasa will flow from the Nama Prabhu.
We are familiar with this word ‘ahlada’ from the Narasimha prayers where
we say Prahlad ahlada daayine. Prahlad relishes joy in hearing Lord's
name. In the same way hearing the sound of Nama Prabhu brings relish or joy in
our heart. Note we are not talking of the intrinsic taste of Nama called Nama
ruci. Simply faith in his presence before us brings us all these rasas of hrstam
and ahlada.
Delighting or excitement to task
When the chanter is excited to task not just one bead with hrstam-ahalada
but bead after bead and mala after mala with hope, due to taste of tasking
delight or kriya-karya-siddhi ruchi , it results in enthusiasm (utsāha)
for japa. Tasking delight and hope in japa generates enthusiasm to do more and
more to move towards accomplishing the goal called sādhya which prefixed
before we start the japa. Sādhya may be to please Nama Prabhu by 16
rounds in one sitting or in four sittings etc. Before you begin your japa you
should fix the sādhya. What 'cumulative doing’ called work you want to
achieve. You cannot execute a work enthusiastically (utsāha) unless we
fix the goal and take delight in progressive accomplishment of the goal or sādhya
of doing it step by step.
"Drink more and you become drunkard. Similarly, chant more and you
become perfect chanter."
Mexico, February 11, 1975
BG 2.11 class
Where there is hope there is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm means looking forward
to something with hope or krpa apeksha. When there is hope there is also
excitement to execute the work to completion because we hope to see the result
of that the work. In japa this is the hope and excitement to receive their
causeless mercy flow of satcitananda for the purification of our consciousness
due to continuously hearing the sound incarnation one after the other without
interruption.
Hope pleasure- krpā apeksha rasa
There are two stages of pleasure from something. One is happiness of hoping
to get the pleasure called hope happiness and the other is fulfilment pleasure.
Hope happiness or antah sukhah ( happiness within) is different from pleasure
of fulfilment (ananda). Suppose I surprise you by saying that there is
going to be a grand prasādam feast today, your pleasure of having the feast
starts immediately. That is called hope pleasure within. Note hope pleasure is
also a kind of advance pleasure experience. It is different from the fulfilment
pleasure (ananda) which you experience when you enjoy the feast. Happiness in
the mind that begins before the fulfilment or actual gain is called
hope-pleasure. Hope pleasure is fully in the hands our hands to release during
japa. Here it is the constant hope pleasure of potentially receiving
unspecified causeless mercy from the Nama Prabhu. Also the hope pleasure of
being able to give pleasure to the Nāma Avatāra by distinctly chant and sharply
hearing each Name next 16 rounds.
contd....
22:00
........contd
The Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu is more pleased when He is welcomed delightfully
and we take relish in His association through the hearing-embrace and is served
repeatedly enthusiastically with hope pleasure than merely chanting japa
because it is routine and because the rounds have to be somehow completed. The
point being made is that though daily japa is routine it can still be chanted
delightfully and heard relish fully with hope for mercy and tasked
enthusiastically with tasking delight by dint of our choice to offer the seva
spiritfully.
Japa is an active exchange of respectful loving relationship with the all
merciful Nama Prabhu. The relationship of the sēvak trying to please the Sēvya.
Offering doing-delight, relishing joy (the spirit of 'I like to chant' &
'hear' again and again) and enthusiasm and hope for mercy to task is in our
hands.
We have seen all the reasons for naturally offering these feelings . So it is
not at all artificial to take delight to chant, take joy to hear, hope for
mercy and take enthusiasm to task. This forms the serving spirit of japa.
Shall we not offer these spirit energies to Krishna when there are solid
reasons? If we don’t offer doing delight, joy, hope and excitement to chant,
hear and task daily then our minds will find expression of delight, joy, hope
and enthusiasm wasted in engaging with Māya. Anyway our brains which are
nothing but hard wired part of our mind needs its daily dose of delight, joy,
enthusiasm and hope for mercy (hrstam-āhlada-utsāha-krpā apeksha) either
in service of Krishna or or in service of Maya. The more we take doing-delight
in chanting, relishing joy & hope in hearing and doing-delight in tasking
for two hours of our japa time everyday, the more peaceful and happy we become
both spiritually and materially with a calm brain. Offering such spiritful japa
eventually attract the intrinsic taste of Nama called Nama ruchi from Nama
Prabhu.
What is the training for spiritful japa for the release of hrstam-āhlada-utsāha-krpā
apeksha from the soul during japa. ? Training for this is not during japa.
It is a off japa training. Simply read and understand module 27 on day one, and
this module on day 2, and module 29 on day 3 in the night before you sleep.
Then your repeat this three day cycle of 30 days, then automatically during
those 30 days of your japa, the subconscious mind will start load these
feelings in the background mind. After that your mindful japa will become
spiritful japa.
Note that the feeling of serving spirit is also a big driving force for the
foreground activity of concurrent chanting-cum-hearing
Your servant
Madhu Pandit Dasa
22:00
Soulful Japa
Module 29/108
Delight-relish-enthusiasm-hope comes from repeated contemplation on
transcendental knowledge and faith
This kind of taking pleasure in the heart or hrstam-āhlada-utsāha-krpā
apeksha are feelings centered around Nama Prabhu and it arises from transcendental
knowledge and faith on how God’s names are nondifferent from Him and chanting
and hearing God’s name is the greatest activity and not something ordinary and
why and how it pleases directly none other than God Himself. You need to
develop absolute value for that activity of touching directly none other than
God Himself who is the sun of sat-cit-ananda Himself emanating or radiating
eternally satcitananda energy. And knowledge of the absolute value and good
fortune of personally being able to directly please Him, the Hare Krishna Nāma
Prabhu by offering our serving ‘desire’ and serving ‘attention’ with serving
‘spirit’ of delight-relish-enthusiasm with faith that He is indeed receiving
our service of our chanting-cum-hearing & tasking.
It is feeling of open ended hope for mercy and excitement in association of
infinite Name of the Lord. One should have immeasurable respect for the
opportunity for uttering and hearing the greatest of Names of the Supreme Sound
personality of Godhead. Then, it is very easy to offer to chant with delight or
hrstam and hear with āhlada and task with utsaha and hope for mercy which helps
us to lock our attention 100% to chant and hear uninterruptedly the Hare
Krishna Nāma Sound Personality of Godhead. Hare Krishna Nāma will be more
pleased with anyone who serves him spiritfully with delight, relish & hope
rather than an obligatory duty without delight as a routine, though He accepts
both.
The chanter should have developed strong faith through transcendental knowledge
in the absolute worth for this soul’s activity of chanting the greatest
name-sound in existence as most valuable activity among all activities that
anyone can possibly do ever in his life. He integrates all the remembrances
of the different reciprocations of the Nama Prabhu by active contemplation
of the same during off japa times and builds up a real relationship with Nāma
Prabhu. He has the truth-feeling of faith that there is no other activity that
is as sanctifying and benefitting for the soul as directly calling out and
hearing the Hare Krishna Nāma and it is most foolish and offensive behaviour to
just leave it to mechanical doing by the trained auto-mind without offering
attention, delight, relish, enthusiasm& hope and excitement and from our
side.
Remember that attention is the spiritual energy of the soul. One should
value doing this act with heart and soul so much that one will not allow even
one chanting to go on in vain without taking chanting-delight, hearing-relish,
tasking-enthusiasm & hoping for mercy . He will not allow even one bead
of japa to pass without it being devoted 100% to please Nama Prabhu. One should
become attached to the relish of the experience of sharply hearing repeatedly
the names Hare, Krishna and Rāma and their combinations as the the maha-mantra.
Even though a beginner does not have awakened attraction for the real spiritual
chanting of the Hare Krishna Nāma through Nama ruchi, he has to build up the
spiritual asset of transcendental knowledge and a very high faith in the existential
truth of the presence of the Lord before him as the sound incarnation of God
and also appreciation for the value for the act of chanting and hearing by
gaining knowledge about it from authoritative sources.
Such transcendental knowledge and faith (jnana + shraddha) can be
engraved into our subconscious mind only by off japa repeated contemplation.
The more the sādhaka repeatedly contemplates over long periods of time these
secret of Nama avatāra revealed to us, he develops natural delight in chanting
and relish in hearing every bead and will excitedly and enthusiastically task
the repetition of the Hare Krishna Nāma uninterruptedly wanting to do more and
more rounds.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
22:00
Soulful Japa
Module 30
Flavours of kriya-kārya siddhi ruchi or chanting-hearing-tasking accomplishment
rasa from bhakta to pure devotees
Kārya siddhi rasa is the pleasure of accomplishing or succeeding in tasking. It
drives the chanter of japa, whether a bhakta or pure devotee like Haridāsa
Thākura, in its different emotional flavours. A bhakta may feel the simple
accomplishment pleasure of having completed the desired task. Desiring to do a
task and completing it gives a sense of success which is pleasurable. A pure
devotee may feel delight, bead after bead, in accomplishment rasa that my
aspiration to give pleasure to the Nāma Prabhu by completing a vowed number of
malas is progressively being fulfilled.
For us this accomplishment pleasure can take the emotional flavour of feeling
success in pleasing one’s spiritual master by fulfilling his order to task 16
rounds. It is the accomplishment pleasure of tasking one’s rounds. It can be
the delightful feeling of progressive accomplishment of giving more and more
pleasure to guru and Krishna, with every bead and mālā completion.
Or it can take the emotional flavour of offering so many units of concurrent
chanting cum hearing successfully, for His pleasure. Or it can take the
emotional flavour of having accumulated that much credit of offering service
successfully in our eternal bank account. Or it can take the flavour of taking
that many steps on our march towards reaching the spiritual world. Or it can
also take the flavour, “I have successfully received these many blessings from
the Personality of holy name, who has allowed my fallen self to chant His names
so many times,” etc. Later, it can manifest as the pleasure of having received
the mercy with feelings of gratitude to serve the Personality of holy name
repeatedly.
To genuinely feel success in the hearing of every mantra, one must believe that
every unit of sēva done is adding up to one’s spiritual wealth or eternal bank
account. It is not an ordinary thing to get a chance to accumulate one more
chanting and attentive hearing in our life. Thus, feeding the mind with
pleasure of accomplishment or accumulation is not artificial when we know the
absolute value of every utterance and attentive hearing as declared by the
scriptures. The scriptures declare it to be the greatest achievement for the
soul than any other activity. Thus, one will feel the absoluteness of every
single chant.
Once there is a devotional spiritual flavour to this accomplishment delight, it
turns into bonafide drops of bhakti rasa even though it is success pleasure.
The chanter takes spiritual pleasure in tasking for more and more rounds.
Enthusiasm and success of pleasing guru and Krishna is the soul’s
constitutional pleasure. Giving pleasure to Krishna is called love. When the
mind is not subjected to doing and tasking delight and success pleasure in
pleasing Krishna’s mind, it will task something else where it can get that
success rasa or delight. All of our fruitive tendency is burnt and purified by
counting and doing japa. Tasking implies a desire to succeed towards achieving
a goal. The mind is always tasking something with a desire and hope for
success, whether spiritual or material.
Thus tasking is an integral part of japa. And not only chanting and hearing
requires training , even tasking requires training.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
23:26
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 31
Different tastes of Spiritful Japa
A beginner always complains that he has no Nāma
ruchi for japa which the sastras describe. So why should he take delight in
chanting and relish in hearing and excitement in tasking? The answer is before
he gets direct advanced taste or Nāma ruchi from the Nāma Japa, he can
experience six other tastes or ruchi in his mind realistically without it being
artificial.
1. Faith-taste or shraddha ruchi which is the faith or truth-feeling
that Krishna is before me though not experienced by senses and faith in
compassionate nature of Nāma Prabhu who is seeking out a relationship with us.
2. Value-taste or sat ruchi which is the appreciation of something or
some activity for its intrinsic worthiness. In japa it is the appreciation of
infinite value for the soul in serving the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu and
pleasing Him who is come before Him.
3, Doing delight and hearing joy or hrstam-ahlada in concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing
4. Success-taste or kriya-karya siddhi ruchi in progressively
accomplishing or accumulating (bead after bead, more and more) of the greatest
thing in my existence of pleasing none other than the greatest personality, the
Nama Prabhu.
5. Hope for compassionate mercy taste or anukampa-krpa apeksha ruchi-
Taste of hope pleasure of receiving the flow of satcitananda energies from Nama
Prabhu who is the surya or sun of satcitananda
6. Reciprocation-priti taste. Nama Prabhu not only reciprocates with His
devotees for purifying our heart but he also reciprocates externally in the
life of the devotee by arranging things favorable to advancing in spiritual
life. He builds up remembrance of priti from the Lord.
A beginner should begin with culturing the faith-taste, value-taste, taste of
doing delight, hearing joy, success-taste, hope for mercy-taste combined with
reciprocation-priti taste before even beginning to expect intrinsic Nāma-ruchi
from Nama Prabhu. It is only later on by such matured cultivation that we can expect
to attract the direct transcendental Nāma-ruchi of the Hare Krishna Nāma itself
for the spiritually awakened tongue, ears and mind to the degree to which our
senses and mind are being purified by attentive association with the Śaktyāvēşa
Nāma Avatāra for a prolonged period of practice.
The intrinsic taste of the Hare Krishna Nāma or Nāma-taste itself cannot be
tasted by our materially covered senses. But if for the realised reasons the
other six tastes listed above are engraved in our subconscious mind, then,
those tastes can be triggered to be loaded in the background mind during japa.
Then one naturally releases on-line delight rasa for every chant and relish
rasa for hearing it and excitement rasa to task and hope rasa of compassionate
mercy of the Lord. Thus the serving-attention becomes anchored to every bead of
our japa charged with delight, relish, hope and excitement. All four put
together can also called tasking pleasure.
The soul cannot be trained as it is not a machine. Soul is always ‘live’ with
his attention in the eternal present or moment to moment. Only the subtle body
or sukshma sarira and jada sarira of the body-mind yantra can be trained. The
very desire of japa is to offer moment to moment personal service by the soul
facilitated by trained body and mind. It should never be reduced to just an
offering of only by the trained gross and subtle body actions.
The soul is the experiencer and owner of actions at the point of applying the
free will, whether serving Krishna or serving Maya. Whenever there is
doing-rasa in the mind, attention in the executing foreground-mind is
automatically anchored there to facilitate the soul to relish that doing-rasa.
This is also what the Nama Prabhu wants from us. He wants us to take pleasure
in calling out His Names and in relish hearing them and tasking with
excitement. The Lord is happier if we take pleasure in chanting, hearing and
tasking because you realise the very value of pleasing Krishna Nāma with every
bead of concurrent chanting-cum-hearing.
contd........
23:26
......contd
These delightful feelings are something that you decide to offer from your side
exclusively because of the various intelligent reasons we narrated above get
embedded in our subconscious by repeated contemplation on the nature of this
divine activity of japa. Note that voluntarily delighting & relishing from
chanter’s side is what is being discussed.
When the chanter offers these soul energies from his side, Nama Prabhu
reciprocally will plant in our heart by His sweet will by release of
transcendental delight energy to be mixed with our delight. ye yatha mam
prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajami aham. As they surrender, I will reward them
accordingly. Then the enhanced delight energy tasted in our heart becomes
addictive which is combination of your delight and the super delight planted by
Nama Prabhu.
Though you are giving delight you should know what is experience in your heart
is the super delight which is combination of your delight and Lord's delight
energy.
If one knows what japa is all about, with faith and value as foundation, one
will take pleasure in japa. Taking pleasure in doing japa means
1. chanting-delight, hrstam plus
2. hearing-relish, āhlada plus
3. hoping-mercy, krpā apeksha plus
4. tasking-delight, utsāha
Serving Attention
Serving spirit is a umbrella feeling of all the above feelings put
together. Attention is spirit energy. When doing effort and knowing effort is
offered for concurrent chanting-cum-hearing and tasking effort in the above
serving spirit then the resulting attention is called serving attention. Lord
prefers offering of serving attention more than just plain attention. Attentive
japa with serving attention becomes spiritful japa. Thus my serving spirit
consists of offering hrstam-āhlada-utsāha-krpā apeksha appropriate for
the presence of Krishna , the most Important Person ( MIP) before me. We have
to take release the serving spirit as soon as we desire to chant and hear the
divine names. That is the kind of reception that the Nāma Avatāra should be
offered when each Hare Krishna Nāma descend on our tongue or into our plane of
existence. As explained soon the Nama Prabhu will mix His transcendental
delight in reciprocation to our delight and when these two delights mix in out
heart, it is a transcendental delight that can make our heart cry in joy. Still
remember, this is not the intrinsic Nama-ruci which needs a million tongues and
ears to taste it.
The confusion about taking delight being artificial is due to not understanding
that delight in any relationship is two way. It is not that you sit like a
stick in the mud and the Nama Prabhu will come down to delight you. You take
delight, He takes delight and both enjoy the total delight of both.
You offer delight in his descending and in reciprocation He offers super
delight energy and finally both the devotee and the Lord drink that rasa from
common pool of delight rasa as the servant and the served. Similarly when you
relish joy of the association by hearing-embrace with great hope, He will
reciprocate by releasing that transcendental relish of hearing His Nama.
Association between two persons is complete when both delight in each other's
presence. Therefore we have to take doing-delight, relish hearing-joy, take
hope-pleasure, tasking-excitement on our own before He embellishes them with
His mercy makes our doing of japa blissful. Thus It is not artificial at all to
take pleasure in doing japa. Taking pleasure to give pleasure to the Nama
Prabhu by offering these feelings is very spirit of the Nama seva.
Your servant
Madhu Pandit Das
9 March 2020
MD
00:04
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 32/108
Negative spirit of doing japa
Let us see now different types of undesirable
doing spirit of the act of chanting and hearing.
Burdensome Japa -One can do any work thinking it is a burden that has to
be executed somehow. Japa should not be done as a burdensome doing and tasking.
This happens when you don't take drops of tasking delight after each bead and a
bigger tasking delight after each mala.
Mechanical japa -One can also do any work as a routine that needs to be
done. Japa should not be done and tasked as just another routine work like
brushing your teeth or bathing etc.
Fruitive-Japa - One can do work with the attitude to create a fruit
which one can materially enjoy at the end of that work, or do some work to
avoid a bitter fruit. Japa should not be done to gain something material or to
avoid something materially undesirable.
Enjoying Japa - One performs japa imagining that he has Nama ruchi. Japa
should not be done with the attitude of extracting sense pleasure out of
chanting and hearing for the material senses. Nama ruchi for ones spiritualized
tongue is gifted to the chanter whenever the Lord grants. Pleasure for senses
in bhakti is gifted by Krishna and not extracted by lording over. Hoping for
that gift of that experience of intrinsic sweetness of Nama from Nama Prabhu is
different from we trying to extract sweetness by our will.
Forced japa – One may be circumstantially forced to work to ward off
some unfavourable situation. Children chanting japa everyday to avoid being
reprimanded by parents is this type of japa. From childhood you are making the
child attach a negative rasa to japa. When child grows up and gets freedom, he
will not like japa at all.
Intermittent Japa - Offering Japa Seva only when there is trouble in
life and when one needs God’s help. But you forget the Nāma other times. You
don't serve for the sake of pleasing Him/
The spirit of doing delight, hearing relish and tasking enthusiasm is
completely different from all the above undesirable doing spirits.
Japa is a service to the Nāma Avatāra that pleases that very Nāma Avatāra that
is being chanted here and now. Once there is faith in these revelations of the śāstras
about the glories of serving Nama Prabhu, then taking delight, relish and hope
will bring enthusiasm in japa (utsāha) as very natural consequence.
The Supreme Lord will sense the spirit with which we are chanting His names.
The more one hears about the glories of the Lord and of His holy names one will
naturally serve delightfully with enthusiasm and hope.
Hope pleasure- krpā apeksha rasa
There are two stages of pleasure from something. One is happiness of hoping
to get the pleasure called hope happiness and the other is fulfilment pleasure.
Hope happiness or antah sukhah ( happiness within) is different from pleasure
of fulfilment (ananda). Suppose I surprise you by saying that there is
going to be a grand prasādam feast today, your happiness of having the feast
starts immediately. That is called hope happiness within. Note hope happiness
is also a kind of advance pleasure experience. It is different from the
fulfilment pleasure (ananda) which you experience when you enjoy the feast.
Pleasure in the mind that begins before the fulfilment or actual gain is called
hope-happiness. Hope happiness is fully in the hands our hands to release
during japa. Here it is the constant hope happiness of potentially receiving
unspecified causeless mercy from the Nama Prabhu. Also the hope happiness of
being able to give pleasure to the Nāma Avatāra by distinctly chant and sharply
hearing each Name next 16 rounds.
contd......
00:04
.....contd
Tasking delight or kriya-kārya siddhi rasa and taking relish to hear and taking
hope for mercy and enthusiasm or hrstam-āhlada-utsāh-krpā apeksha
energy are very valuable spirit energies of the soul, just like attention
energy. These energies of the soul are moved by the mind to any action based on
knowledge and faith about the greatness or value of the action itself.
By not taking pleasure in japa by not voluntarily offering delight, relish,
hope and enthusiasm energies of the soul to Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu amounts to
being miserly with our spiritual assets. That too when we have access to the
ocean of satcitananda before us. If we don't spend these soul energies to offer
them we are losing a great investment opportunity to please Nama Prabhu.
We should tell ourselves strongly that whenever japa is done, it will be done
with full of delight to chant and task , relish to hear, and with hope for
mercy. It is an activity connected to the infinitely delightful Lord with
abundance of hope pleasure. We have to know that if we do not take delight,
relish and enthusiasm in chanting, hearing and tasking, it will reduce itself
to a common doing in our minds. This happens because we do not feed our mind
sufficiently with the true infinite value of the very act and activity of japa
though it is executed in an extremely simple manner without any complication.
We are conditioned to undervalue or minimise acts and activities that are
simple and easily done. And paste inflated value only to actions and activities
that are difficult or challenging to do or achieve. We should not fall into
that thought-trap of undervaluing the act of japa because it a simple act of
chanting and hearing. It would be like minimizing a diamond to be a piece of
glass. We should never forget that we are relating with Nāma Chintamani, the
transcendental touchstone.
A person who has progressed in japa will never do japa spiritlessly. He is
finished in his life with burdensome japa or mechanical japa or fruitive japa
or Enjoying japa, circumstantially forced japa and intermittent Japa.
It should be done as a very rare activity in this material world, which we are
fortunate to be able to do. Though simple to do, it is of infinite pristine
value.
Your servant
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
05:50
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 33/108
Serving Intention & Desire in japa ( icchā-sankalpa-āśā)
1. Intention (icchā-sankalpa) of japa
action of concurrent chanting-cum-hearing is to create attention connection and
attention embrace
2. Desire (āśā) of japa action is
a) Priti, to please the each of the currently manifesting Nama Prabhu by
offering our soul and soul energies.
b) krpā apeksha, Hope in Japa is to anticipate the unspecified causeless
reciprocations of different kinds within my heart and in my life.
And serving spirit ( you take pleasure in serving) is hrstam-āhlada-utsāha-krpā
apeksha as discussed in the previous modules,
Serving desire and serving spirit and serving attention is something
that you offer from your side to the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu to attract Lord's
reciprocation wherein He infuses a super delight energy from Him into our
heart. When this happens the divya cesta ruchi we offer becomes a multiplied
divya cesta ruchi of blissfully chanting-cum-hearing.
By the mercy of Nāma Prabhu if our tongue and ears and mind are touched by the
multiplied divya cesta ruci of serving Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu, all of
our senses will be completely satisfied and make us lose interest in all stupid
material so called sense objects. The proof of this is the lila of Haridas
Thakur where a prostitute could not disturb him sitting next to him for three
days to allure him. This state of consciousness cannot be expected to happen
immediately but every sādhaka should definitely aspire for it some day. Nama
Prabhu can make it happen.
But taking chanting-delight, hearing-relish and tasking enthusiasm is within
our control whereby we can attract delightful spiritual energy from the Nama
Prabhu which is added to the delight, relish, hope and excitement offered by
the chanter. Delight, relish, hope and enthusiasm that is to be offered from
our side is to be offered from day one even as a beginner and does not require
advancement. Just requires rudimentary knowledge and faith in the holy name
being personal in offering japa sēva.
Delight, relish, hope and enthusiasm means you like to do those actions of
chanting, hearing and tasking and they are executed happily for reasons of
intrinsic worthiness of the activity. Because the activity itself is delightful
and relishable as an end it itself. Just like people like to play something
irrespective of whether they win or not. They like the activity of playing for
the sake of playing. In the same was one should develop a liking for calling
out the Names of the Lord by distinctly pronouncing and embracing that sound by
hearing carefully and tasking to build up association irrespective of whether
the Lord reciprocates or not with his release of super delight energy. If He
does not reciprocate then that also to be taken as a kind of reciprocation from
Him for deepening our desire to please Him with deepened faith, longing and
attachment to Him. Very soon he will reciprocate.
contd......
MD
07:42
Madhu Pandit Dasa
contd
The reward of distinctly pronouncing Krishna’s Names and hearing sharply those
names is better chanting and better hearing itself. It is an activity that
rewards itself. The desire of present action of chanting and hearing is to better
our future chanting and hearing.
Offering for every bead of japa, chanting-cum-hearing & tasking with serving
desire of icchā-sankalpa-āśā to touch Nama Prabhu, to please Nama Prabhu
and to receive mercy from Nama Prabhu and with serving spirit of hrstam-āhlada-āśā-utsāha
is the clue to glue the serving attention namely doing-attention to
chant and knowing-attention to hear the Nāma Avatāra. With these feelings
naturally activated there is no question of attention going away from japa.
Permanent solution to inattentive japa is finally not go on forcefully hold it
on the chanting and hearing. Solution is to deepen ones transcendental
knowledge and faith about Nama Avatāra, which in turn will naturally release
the serving desire ( icchā-sankalpa-āśā) and serving spirit of hrstam-āhlada-āśā-utsāha
and serving attention from the soul. Tapasya is required for attentive japa in
the beginning when the transcendental knowledge and faith in the Nama Prabhu is
not yet deepened or you do not learn the secret of mindful and spiritful japa.
Such austere attention-touch on the order of guru to be attentive is required
for a beginner as such attention touch reveals the transcendental truths and
increases our shraddha or faith.
Attentive japa begins as a tapasya but later it is joyfully performed. My
challenge is if practiced seriously as per these modules, that can happen in
six months of training the mind during off-japa time contemplation as well as
six month's of training the mind during japa. By reading these theory modules
again and again and thinking about it itself repeatedly over six months you are
already engaged in the first part of the training of the mind during off-japa
time. By this you engrave this knowledge and faith in your subconscious mind.
This in turn will enrich your background mind during japa with transcendental
feelings for Nama Prabhu. Thus by reading the japa modules, understanding
contemplating on it oyu are already undergoing the first part of training for
soulful japa.
Offering these three, serving desire, serving spirit and serving spirit is also
a pre requisite to attract out of turn causeless reciprocation in gifting the
chanter with rare and occasional taste of the intrinsic Nāma ruchi released by
Him whenever, howsoever and how much extent He wants to reciprocate even if we
are not fully spiritually awakened. Hare Krishna Nāma who is a reservoir of
rasa for the tongue, ears and mind who out of His sweet will can release His
intrinsic sweetness into the heart of any sincere devotee even if he is a
sadhaka.
The occasional merciful release of transcendental pleasure of intrinsic Nama
ruchi by Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu is not in our control. We do not artificially
imagine sensory pleasure till it is gifted by the Nama Prabhu to us. It would
take a considerably long period of self-purification to achieve that
transcendental ecstasy.
Your servant
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
08:12
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 34
The reciprocation of prīti rasa from Nama Prabhu-explained
Love or priti is always two way. When we know and realize that someone loves us
we feel love towards that person. We hear that Krishna loves us all. But how
can we realize this truth. If we realize this truth, we will naturally want to
love Him. The very act of the Lord descending on my tongue to give me His
direct association itself should be seen as standing expression of priti from
His side personally towards me. If we simply think of this alone it will
release so much priti from us to please Him by concurrent spiritful
chanting-cum-hearing.
The Nāma Prabhu reciprocates to our desire to please every Nāma who is
manifesting on the tongue with priti by releasing the ananda rasa of His priti
into our heart. His priti is also expressed towards us in multitude of ways
including loving interventions in real life.
Let us understand how the Nama Avatara is pleased with me if I chant and hear
attentively through the following simple example.
Suppose you ask a baby who is just learning to walk to go from point A to point
B. He does this attentively by a combination of ‘doing’ each step towards B
with doing-attention and ‘knowing’ each step with knowing-attention exactly as
to he progresses step by step towards the goal of reaching B. There is a
progressive doing combined with progressive knowing of such doing step by step
towards the target till he completes the task.
And suppose you make that baby who is learning to walk from point A to B for
two or three weeks everyday, then his walking can become unconscious
auto-directed auto-walk .After that when he walks his attention will go somewhere
else to ‘do’ and ‘know’ something else with his mind when he is walking in that
auto mode.
Now let us add one more element of 'rasa' into the scene. If the father of the
child goes on appreciating the child at the end of each step for successfully taking
each step, then the child knows that he is being watched and the father is
showing his pleasure with his performance as expected by the father. This
exchange of rasa of feeling-good of having pleased the father gets added to the
basic kriya-karya siddhi rasa or accomplishment delight in having walked from A
to B successfully. This added rasa in this scene is the taste of prīti rasa.
Rasa from knowing that you pleased the Nama Prabhu each bead of chanting and
hearing.
Here the rasa of the baby is to walk in such a way so as to see that the father
is pleased and appreciates him fulfilling his desire to see him learn to walk.
Father’s pleasure and his appreciation of the situation was pasted on the
action of the baby walking from A to B. With the element of priti rasa in the
picture, such walking never becomes mechanical even if it is repeated many
times. In fact the child would want to repeat the performance to enjoy the
priti rasa of seeing him give pleasure to the father. Priti rasa means the
pleasure of seeing or knowing that our object of service or love is pleased.
Thus in addition to basic kriya-kārya-siddhi-ruchi arising from the flow of
spiritual energy from concurrent chanting-cum-hearing the sādhaka should also
take pleasure in being loved and giving love in form of pleasing every Nama who
is currently manifesting by such chanting with delight-cum-hearing with
relish-cum- tasking with enthusiasm. In the example of the baby the father
involved in that prīti rasa exchange was before the child's eyes. In the case
of japa, if there has to be realistic prīti, it has to be preceded by sraddha
or faith that the Nāma is really the Sevya and He is present before me and is
receiving my service of attentive chanting-cum-hearing. Nama Prabhu is pleased
to different degrees based on quality of japa. He is more pleased with mindful
japa than mindless japa. He is even more pleased with spiritful japa which
includes mindful japa. He is even more pleased with soulful japa which includes
both mindful and spiritful Japa.
......contd
MD
18:36
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Therefore this prīti-rasa of me trying to meet the expectation of guru &
Nama Avatara for having descended on my tongue by our chanting-cum-hearing-cum
tasking is proportionate only our transcendental faiths associated with Krishna
consciousness. If you have no faith in the presence of the Lord or Sevya, then
there cannot be priti rasa in the scene. A neophyte has only philosophical
understanding but not developed that faith in the presence of the Lord. For
prīti-rasa to be a strong rasa it requires strong faith that japa is an
interpersonal relationship with a person who is present before you. And it is a
personal relationship to take pleasure in seeing Krishna is pleased. This
priti-rasa of pleasing guru and Krishna may not be a tangibly realisable one
for a fresh sādhaka whose sraddha or faith is yet to deepen.
Therefore for beginners, the taste or ruchi that can naturally be generated in
the mind to help in locking our attention is obedience to guru, value-ruchi,
kriya-kārya-siddhi and hope for mercy-ruci.
As discussed earlier in any kind of rasa or pleasure there are two stages of
pleasure. Pleasure of hope of that expected pleasure followed by fulfilment of
that pleasure experience. In Priti rasa there is expectation that the object of
love is pleased. Therefore when we have a desire to please Him by not only
chanting-cum-hearing concurrently each Nama but also fulfilling the task of
repetition of the same for a pre fixed number of rounds, then that is also
driven by priti. As we keep moving our japa towards fulfilment of our fixed
number of rounds one there is fulfilment of hope to please Nama Prabhu by
successful tasking that many rounds. This hope is different from the hope rasa
of anticipating bountiful reciprocal flow of satcitananda energies from the
Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu into the chanter's heart. That hope pleasure of
anticipation of mercy of flow of satcitananda energies from the Nāma Avatāra is
called krpa apeksha-rasa and is a very tangible rasa of hoping to
receive more and more flow of mercy from the association of the holy name.
As the sādhaka becomes purified this rasa component of prīti rasa of taking
pleasure in seeing the pleasure of guru and Krishna also becomes more and more
of a motivator for attentive japa.
Remember Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita " bhajatam prīti purvakam".
Prīti means combination of feeling of desire-hope to give pleasure to the
object of prīti even at the cost of hardship or tapasya or even pain for oneself.
It is opposite of kama which is to take service and pleasure for oneself by
exploiting others.
Your servant
Madhu Pandit Dasa
10 March 2020
MD
09:15
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 35 Part 1
What is Sat-cit-ānanda?
The Hare Krishna Nāma is like a sun of sat cit
ananda. Why we don’t see it or experience it. Because our experiences are stuck
in dimension of āśāt, acit which is opposite of sat and cit. In such a
spiritually diseased state how can we perceive sat cit and ananda? Just like you
cannot see the electricity in a wire. You have to see by its effect. But by the
effect of electric current you will develop faith that there is current in the
wire. In the same way don’t try for direct perception of the ocean of sat cit
ananda that surrounds the sun of Hare Krishna Nāma. By hearing about it first
and then perceiving its effect on the soul from continuous attention touch the
chanter will develop faith in the fact that Hare Krishna Nāma is indeed a sun
of sat cit ananda.
Again sun is a good example to understand what what is soul. The sun is
concentrated light and heat, and its energy is also light and heat. So also,
the soul or 'sat' can is described as satcitananda emanating cit and ananda
energies.
‘Sat’ means soul or brahman or spirit with faculty of free will. Soul is also
called ‘sat-cit’ or eternal consciousness substance with radiating knowing
energy or 'cit'. That ‘sat-cit’ soul further has qualities of wanting to enjoy
(ananda) and hence the soul can also be called as sat-cit-ananda. But the
substance of the soul is 'sat'. 'cit' and 'ananda' are qualities of the soul
just like light and heat are qualities of sun. And sun is concentrated light
and heat itself. Each soul is like unique particle of joyful satcitananda
consciousness. Each of us is an unique particle of satcitananda consciousness
with free will , with quality to know and to enjoy. Each of these units of
consciousness particles of satcitananda are having unique free will.
These things are best understood through examples. Example of ‘sat’, which a
particle of consciousness or spirit with free will is the soul in this material
body. Soul is the person who always exist in this body though the body is
constantly changing from baby body, childhood body, middle aged body to old age
body. Spirit or soul itself does not change but its experience of knowledge
(cit) and bliss (ananda) that is ever changing. ‘Sat’ is simply denoting the
fact of the eternal existence of a personality or eternal core pure being
situated in all our bodies along with its generic personal faculties like
knowing ( cit) and enjoying (ananda). Only spirit or ‘sat’ can ‘know’ and
‘enjoy.’ Matter cannot know and enjoy. A dead body cannot know and enjoy. Thus
the soul is 'sat' with free will, çit, ānanda energies .
Spirit person ‘sat’ is a particle of never changing consciousness substance
radiating knowing potency called ‘cit’ and enjoying potency called 'ananda'.
Everything in existence is combination of spirit persons and the knowing
energies (cit) that come out of them. Sat is eternal consciousness substance
with free will who was never created or nor ever destroyed. They eternally
exist.
How does the soul 'know' & 'enjoy'?
For knowing & enjoying the eternal being or sat has got further
secondary spiritual faculties of identifying with a body, being that identity,
seeing through that body and bodily identity, desiring, thinking, feeling,
willing with a mind that comes with the body and doing (activities) with that
body and senses to enjoy. Sat-cit-ananda soul in this body has the ability to
enjoy knowledge about himself and everything around himself starting from his
own body through his five jnana indriyas or knowledge acquiring senses and
intelligence. Similarly the sat-cit-ananda soul in this body has the ability to
enjoy sense pleasures and also enjoy working through his five subtle and gross
karma indriyas and mind to fulfil his desires.
contd.....
09:17
.....contd
So when we say sat cit ananda soul, it means all these basics of self. Now what
is the experience of this 'sat' or soul in this world? Our body is 'asat' or
temporary and so we don't experience as eternal or 'sat'. We are ignorant of
even know who we are. This is experience of ignorance as against 'cit' or pure
knowledge. Material happiness and pleasures never satisfies us and so we
experience nirananda and never pure ananda as we expect. Thus it is an
experienced fact that the soul seeks eternity, knowledge and bliss and it is
also an experienced fact that do not get that experience in this body.
Basically in the above analysis we are separating the body whose qualities are
asat, acit and nirananda from the spirit person which is satcitananda and
residing in the body.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 35 Part 2
Satcitananda Krpa apeksha for rasa is a major motivator of japa for beginners.
Krishna is satcitananda vigraha. Krishna is the unlimited surya of sat cit
ananda shining the sat-cit-ananda energy. Sat rasa means freedom rasa &
power rasa, cit rasa means knowledge & intelligence rasa and ananda rasa
means love & pleasure rasa. All kinds of happiness and pleasure comes under
these three umbrellas whether in real rasas of spiritual world or fake rasas of
material world.
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Śrīla Prabhupāda are distributing the Holy name,
the sound or name incarnation of Krishna as the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu freely
to one and all. The Absolute Name of the Absolute Lord is non different from
Him and is an expansion from Him into this world in the form the transcendental
Name or Aprakrta Nama Prabhu. Aprakrta Nama Prabhu who incarnates into this
world is also a surya of sat cit ananda surrounded by sat cit ananda energies.
They are inundating the world with the opportunity to all souls to directly
touch the spiritual sat-cit-ānanda energies of the Supreme Being to get
purified and awaken their love for Krishna. .
Where does he descend or into what does he descend? He descends into the Nama
that we utter with our tongues. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu reveals that when he
descends, the Aprakrta Nama Prabhu invests all His satcitananda energies into
that sound. Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija sarva śakti.
And Srila Prabhupada's says that when Nama Prabhu descends into the sound on
our tongue, that sound becomes Shaktyaavesha Nāma. Shaktyaavesha Nāma is
potentially omnipotent Nāma. Thus Shaktyaavesha Nāma is unbelievable downpour
of mercy from the Name Prabhu.
We, within this body is also sat-cit-ananda in nature and therefore all jivas
seek sat cit ananda rasa through application of our free will on this body and
world around us. We are of the same nature as that of the Lord, just as drop of
sea water is salty like the sea. We are part and parcel of satcitananda Krishna
therefore we are also satcitananda. But in this material world, because of
wrong application of our free will to enjoy sat rasa, cit rasa and ananda rasa
independent of the Complete sat cit ananda Krishna, material energy of the Lord
puts us in illusion that 'I am this material body'. And makes us work to extract
rasa that looks like sat rasa but it is asat , rasa that looks like cit rasa
but acit and rasa that looks like ananda rasa but it is nirananda thinking that
I am this material body.
Hence the souls in this asat and acit world can never satisfy their deepest
instinct for satcitananda rasa. But we still keep chasing fake sat rasa-
freedom & power rasa, fake cit rasa of knowledge & intelligence rasa
and fake ananda rasa of love & pleasure believing that they are real sat
cit ananda rasas.Thus all the souls in the material world are starved of its
real spiritual food which is satcitananda rasa. They has mistaken their divine
sat or eternal existence to be this asat body that lasts from birth to death.
Soul's misidentification with the body and bodily interests in the form of 'I'
and 'mine' is at the root of an ignorant material life.
contd.....
09:18
.....contd
When the conditioned soul associates with the Shaktyaavesha Nāma through our
attentive concurrent chanting-cum-hearing, our soul gets a chance to touch and
receive the powerful pure sat-cit-ananda energies of the Lord through his
attention energy acting as a conduit for the flow of such energies from the
Shaktyaavesha Nama. The cit energy from the Lord dissolves all ignorance or
'acit' energies about the self that 'I am this body'. This is the first mercy
from Nāma Prabhu. Gradual awakening of self-knowledge.
This flow of mercy in the form of sat cit ānanda energies from the Nāma Prabhu
to our soul is just like how heat flows into a piece of iron put in fire
becomes like fire, when in a long association with fire. Gaining sat cit ānanda
mercy from the spiritual association with the Lord is the eternal benefit of
Japa for the soul.
Thus soulful japa turns into a dynamic relationship of exchange of sat cit
ananda rasa between the chanter and the Nāma Prabhu. We are capable of offering
sat cit ananda rasa for Him. Our offering of surrender is sat-rasa for Him from
us. Our offering of humility is sat-cit-rasa for Him from us. Our offering of
gratitude is also ananda rasa for him from us. Our offering of priti is also
ananda rasa for Him from us. Different kinds of feeling of bhakti towards Him
is ananda rasa for Him.
Role of Kripa apeksha rasa or hope rasa in mindful, spiritful and soulful
japa.
The question may be asked how can hope be a rasa. Because hope is only hope
for rasa but not the a rasa itself. This notion is wrong. There are two stages
of pleasure from something. One is happiness of hoping to get the pleasure.
This is called hope happiness and the other is fulfilment pleasure. Hope
happiness or antah sukhah ( happiness within) is different from pleasure of
fulfilment (ananda). However happiness and pleasure are both are bliss.
Suppose I surprise you by saying that there is going to be a grand prasādam
feast today, your happiness of having the feast starts immediately. That is
called hope pleasure within. Note hope pleasure is also a pleasurable
experience in the mind. It is a kind of advance pleasure experience. It is
different from the fulfilment pleasure (ananda) which you experience when you
enjoy the feast with your senses. Pleasure in the mind that begins before the
fulfilment or actual pleasure is called hope-pleasure. Hope pleasure is fully
in our hands to release in our mind during japa.
In japa it is the constant hope pleasure of potentially receiving unspecified
causeless mercy flow of sat cit ananda energies from the Nama Prabhu. Hope
pleasure is not only in receiving mercy flow from the Lord but it is also from
the thought that I hope to give Srila Prabhupada and Nama Prabhu the pleasure
of 16 rounds of soulful japa bead after bead. Thus as you task bead after bead
you have the fulfilment pleasure of having hoped what you wanted to offer. That
is why sadhya or the goal of how much you want to serve the Lord in each
sitting is important to generate this hope rasa followed by fulfilment rasa of
having accomplished it.
Thus, during japa our heart should be seeking two kinds hope rasa. One is the
great hope of Nāma Prabhu sanctioning merciful flow of sat cit ananda rasa as
He wishes, how much He wishes and when He wishes in accordance with his
universal principle of love of ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy
aham. The other is the hope pleasure of serving the Nama Prabhu with a fixed
number of chanting-cum-hearings with priti. What kind of reciprocation does the
soul receive from Nama Prabhu through the hope pleasure? It is flow of
satcitananda energies from the Nama Prabhu to our soul.
contd......
MD
22:40
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Sat-cit rasa flow from the Nāma will eventually give us spiritual freedom of
liberating the soul from this deep misconception that I am this body. And
shining our true self knowledge that I am eternal loving servant of Krishna.
Sat-cit flow creates opportunities, knowledge, strength, skills for serving
HIm. It also infuses soul power over one's mind and senses to engage in service
of the Lord as His eternal servant free from Maya.
Ananda rasa flow from the Nāma Prabhu begins with the divya kriya-karya cesta
ruchi that make you wanting to chant more and more and more tirelessly. The
Lord also infuses super delight doing-knowing-tasking energy to reciprocate to
the delight-relish offered by the chanter in chanting and hearing Him. And the chanter
taking pleasure in pleasure-giving to Nama Prabhu bead by bead and His loving
reciprocation flowing into our heart. This is also ananda rasa.
Empowerment to do his service of preaching is flow of His 'sat' mercy on
the devotee.
Srila Prabhupada letter dated 8/7/1969
Oh Hare, Oh Radharani! Oh Krishna! Please engage me in Your service so
that I can get relief from the service of Maya.
Hare Krishna address ( last part)
The chanting is a spiritual call for the Lord and His energy, to give
protection to the conditioned soul. This chanting is exactly like the genuine
cry of a child for its mother's presence. Mother Hara helps the devotee achieve
the Lord Father's grace, and the Lord reveals Himself to the devotee who chants
this mantra sincerely.
This 'cry' of the chanter to the Lord and His energies is called krpa
apeksha.
The krpa or mercy that flows from the personal energies of the Lord is not
merely some good-feel energies for the soul but also flow material power
relevant to day to day life of the devotee beyond his own karma power. The
material world is also spiritual energy in the absolute sense and it belongs to
the Lord. He is the Supreme controller of all energies in existence or ‘sat’.
Reciprocations of ‘sat’ means also flow of power into the servant’s personality
to move existence for His service and glorification in extraordinary ways. It
may include money, abilities, influence, men etc being mystically arranged to
compete with the demoniac forces.
‘Cit’ energy flow for practical service means reciprocation in the form of
chanter being shined with not only spiritually enlightening knowledge but also
practical brilliant ideas and intelligence and directions to spread the Hare
Krishna movement against the demoniac forces. The devotee enjoys being
instrument in the hands of the Nama Prabhu to fulfil His mission to save the
innocents on this earth under His direction.
And ‘Ananda’ reciprocation means real loving reciprocations from the Hare
Krishna Nāma in terms of kindness, care, protection and gift of service
opportunities. . It is not that the benefits of japa is all only
transcendental, in purifying our hearts with no impact in the material world.
When it comes to serving the Lord, even matter and material world becomes
spiritual and transcendental as it all belongs to Him and is meant for serving
Him as Śrīla Prabhupāda explains several times. Such empowerment rasa within
and without a devotee flows from the Nama Prabhu as a loving reciprocation or
lila of the Nama Prabhu. Honouring prasadam is such a great spiritual ananda.
There is nothing in the phenomenal world that is not produced by the Supreme
energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Bhaktivedanta Purport SB 4.22.28
So if we accept everything as expansion of brahmanah sakti, energy of
Krishna, and utilize it for Krishna, then there is nothing, such thing as
material. Everything becomes spiritual.
Śrīla Prabhupāda
Conversations 751218. Morning walk, Bombay
contd....
MD
23:27
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Inferior means not actually inferior, because they, there cannot be anything
inferior which is emanating from Krishna. The inferior in this sense: by our
absence of Krishan consciousness. Because we come here , in this material world
, to enjoy to satisy, sense satisfaction, sense gratification, we have made it
inferior. One who knows how to utilize this energy for Him, it is not inferior.
Nirbhandha-krsna-sambhande yukta-vairagyam ucyate. One who does not know how to
utilize this material energy for the purpose fo Krsna, for them, it is
inferior. Otherwise advaya-jnana, absolute…. Idam hi viswam bhagavn ivetarah.
VRN Oct 29 1972
Hope for krpa apeksha is powerful motivators of Japa
We are starved for sat cit ananda in this body is a fact. Life is meant for
satisfying our sat cit ananda hunger. And the discovery that Lord who is a
surya of satcitananda is accessible to us as His Nama Avatara generates most
intense hope as the hunger is also that intense. Therefore when we do our japa
and associate with Shaktyaavesha Nama, we have to constantly be in the mood of
begging mercy which is called krpa apeksha with that He will shower His mercy
of permanent satcitananda Krishna consciousness upon me. And the Lord will
surely reciprocate as per His unfailing statement, ye yatha maam prapadyante
tams tathaiva bhajami aham.
There is nothing wrong in seeking benefit of the mercy of sat-çit-ānanda
energies for a beginner or an advanced chanter. It does not fall under being
selfish because such desire of the chanter gives pleasure to the Lord as the
result of such desire is the chanter becomes from from ignorance and awakens
his love for Him.
In an advanced consciousness, the ‘to-please’ desire is the primary and desire
for mercy, even if it is spiritual need, is secondary. Though it may recede to
a secondary position, the desire for mercy is always there since we are
constitutionally in need of His mercy for our existence. Devotional service is
never done independent of the Lord but always by depending on HIs mercy.
Depending on the Lord eternally for sat-çit-ānanda mercy does not mean that we
take personal service from the Lord. That is seeking loving reciprocation from
Him. It is so because we eternally need the help from His association as
eternal dependants.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
14 March 2020
MD
07:03
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 35/108 , Part 3
Srila Prabhupada's long letter to you on the purpose of soulful Japa ( This is what Srila Prabhupada is actually loudly speaking
throughout all his teachings)
" You are a satcitananda being
You are eternal joyful sentient being or the soul who is a part and parcel
of Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. You can potentially have sweet
joyful loving relationship with Him. For the time being, you are residing, in a
temporary material body being forgetful of this potential fact about your
potential. You are not this body in which you now reside. It is a leather bag
of flesh, blood and bones. You are entitled for life in a spiritual body which
is the quality of sat-çit-ānanda vigraha like Krishna’s body. Krishna is the
sun of sac-çid-ānanda or the Absolute Whole and source of all energies in
existence. You are Absolute Part who has emanated from that Absolute Whole in
the form of tiny sparks of sac-çid-ānanda. Being Absolute Part of that Absolute
Whole, your true nature is eternal existence (sat) , knowledge (cit) and bliss
(ananda).
Free will & freedom are the two most unique feature of the soul.Your free
will can make your positive liberating life experiences of happiness and
pleasure or negative life experiences of suffering and pain. When you misuse
your free will to independently enjoy, you can lose your natural life of joyful
satcitananda consciousness and get covered by the life in this material body.
If you use your free will properly in this body to associate with Krishna and
His devotees then you can regain your eternal life of joyful Krishna
consciousness in this body and .
How did you lose your satcitananda status?
That is the cause, kāranam guna-sanga [Bg. 13.22]. Guna-sanga. Means
associating with different quality. Guna-sanga asya jivasya, of the living
entity. That is the cause. One can ask: "If the living entity is as good
as God, why one living entity has become dog, and one living entity has become
god, demigod, Brahmā?" Now the answer is kāranam. The reason is guna-sanga
asya. Asya jivasya guna-sanga. Because he's associating with a particular guna.
Sattva-guna, rajo-guna, tamo-guna.
Lecture London August 7 1973
When you, the satcitananda person, choose with your free will to associate
with material energy in a mood of independent enjoyment as against
serving the Absolute Whole, Krishna, the material energy covered you, the soul,
with a 'asat' or temporary body-mind system like a shirt and coat over the material
body. This material body-mind system has three characteristic ways or gunas of
adversely influencing the pure sac-çid-ānanda consciousness of the soul. The
three gunas convert our satcitananda consciousness into material consciousness.
The material consciousness of futilely seeking for oneself rasa of security,
power, social position, knowledge, love and pleasure independent of Whole.
Through that misidentification with the body, your pure joyful consciousness
has turned into the experience of material consciousness of combination of
three gunas. Material consciousness means complete forgetfulness of Krishna who
is your eternal shelter and ananda-partner who is an infinite sun of
satcitananda. This insentient or asat and acit material body is an embarrassment
for the satcitananda soul.
I have explained from
Préma-vivarta
So this material world means the living entities are given chance. They
have come here to enjoy.
Krishna-buliya-jīva bhoga vānchā kare pāsate māyā tāre
jāpatiyā dhare
You, being eternal joyful sat-çit-ānanda personality , intrinsically
possess an eternal loving consciousness ( ananda) and a quality of your
substance ( sat) as same as that of Krishna who is the Supreme satcitananda
Person. Covered by the experiences of three modes of material nature, you, the
joyful satcitananda self has become morose in this world by being forgetful of
your divine eternal loving
contd......
20 March 2020
MD
16:52
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Your personal story
continues.......
relationship or pure eternal ananda with Krishna. To enjoy bliss of Krishna
consciousness is your existential right.
But being forgetful of your true self, you falsely feel that you are this dead
material body and belong to the material world and that Krishna is a stranger
to you as if you are coming to know of Him for the first time in our life
though you are eternally related to HIm as a indestructible Absolute Part is
related to the eternal Absolute Whole. That is depth of your forgetfulness of
your greatest friend.
You are like fish out of the water in this material world. Your joyful
spirit is entitled to be in the satcitananda world with satcitananda
self-conscious forms and self-conscious senses with a consciousness of
uninterruptedly loving and serving Krishna the perfect lovable Supreme Person
who cares for a relationship with every bit of His existence including you.
Remember, there exists only Krishna and His energies in existence. You are are
bit of that Krishna existence.
Your lording attitude is the cause of loss of satcitananda consciousness
The original spirit of satcitananda is the joyful attitude of loving
service. But material consciousness is attitude of Lording or controlling.
When, you, the particle of spirit, the soul, does not give up lording or
controlling attitude and surrender to Krishna who is your eternal shelter, you
cannot recover your joyful Krishna consciousness. You have been experiencing
lording rasas only by identifying yourself as the material body sometimes as
toy males and sometimes as toy females of different species made of material
flesh. Only after being trapped in these artificial bodies, you have been
playing the perverted lording Karma-Game as if you are your material body you
are in then. As long as you continue to live this big lie of life that you are
this temporary material body, you can never experience the real satcitananda
nature of your soul. Living in the body with joyful Krishna consciousness is
not all the real problem and can even be joyful but living in the body by
thinking that you are that body is the problem.
You have come into the material world to play the game of fake satcitananda
rasas
The material creation is His set up for those jivas to freely do what they
cannot do in the spiritual world of pure love of Krishna. If you have to go to
the moon you cannot go there with this earthly body alone. You need a special
suit designed to be worn over your earthly body. In the same way to fulfil your
independent enjoying attitude forgetting Krishna, you need to have a suit of a
material body-mind system over your satcitananda spirit. That is how and why
you are in the material body in this world. While you taste the rasa of lording
or controlling in this world through identification with material body, the
deeper truth of your situation is that you are lorded over by Maya’s dictates
through the material mind. You have become a servant of Maya or illusion to
live a life which is not your own but that of a mistaken imaginary identity. In
the material world you have surrendered your soul powers like free will power,
identifying power, being power, desiring power, thinking power, feeling power,
willing power, acting power, for experiencing enjoyment of Krishnaless fake sat
rasa , fake cit rasa, fake ananda rasa resulting in the experience that is
exactly reverses of satcitananda experience but are still samples of sat cit
ananda. These fake sample experiences keeps the world of Maya running. This
world is a factory of fake sat, cit, ananda rasas.
Old age, bodily sickness and death hits at the so called sat rasa or enjoyment
though your deepest sat instinct is to exist eternally free from old age and
sickness to enjoy rasa eternally. Life offers only transient momentary lording
pleasure of power, knowledge and love and sensual pleasures for the soul
haunted by ghost of bodily identity and ego. Ultimately experiencer is of the
soul. Thus you have been
contd.....
MD
17:33
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Your personal story
continues.....
starving your real ego's need for satcitananda existence by allowing the
ghost-like bodily ego to stealing away all your soul powers for bodily
gratification and live life for the bodily ego.
Karma-Game is the name of the massive game of fake satcitananda rasas
That Supreme mother is the internal energy of the Lord, who is the Supreme
Father of all jivas. She expands as the external material energy and provides
jivas with material bodies. She protects the spiritual atmosphere of the
spiritual world from the attitude of selfish enjoyment of any jiva. In the
spiritual world there exists only pure unalloyed love and service without a
tinge of self-centeredness and exploitation.
By this arrangement Krishna respects our free will to an absolute degree by
allowing us to enjoy self-centred Krishnaless so called happiness and pleasure
and permits us to freely act and enjoy or suffer as per the laws of karma in
this toy world trying to enjoy Lording rasa as much as we want. Here any jiva
can become very powerful like Hiranyakashipu or Ravana by his tapasya as per
laws of karma. This is the Game-karma of lording that all the jivas in the
material world are part of knowingly or unknowingly.
Each life, from birth to death, is one game of Karma-Game of fake
satcitananda rasas
These imitation rasas in the game called Karma-Game are so perfectly
orchestrated to feel like the spiritual rasas of the spiritual world just for
that moment. So much so that it is difficult to say if it is illusion. Only
when you gain objective knowledge of body that is not your eternal self is the
illusion disturbed. And bubble of illusion for everyone breaks at inevitable
death of the body. Many many times you have experienced birth in different
bodies and death of those bodies along with the different enjoyer-identities
who all vanishes into thin air, lock-stock-barrel at the point of death. Death,
though happening at one point of time, it makes entire life of material desires
itself meaningless. What identity you thought of as your own being and lived
your whole life for that being, along with everything as relating to that body
itself vanishes from your consciousness at death. You are eternally severed
from all the life situations you were thinking as your life. Though the world
we created in our heads vanishes like bursting of a soap bubble, the world
outside does not vanish.
Your each life just remains a temporary memory in some other temporary minds
and become temporary history to be soon forgotten in few years or few
generations which is irrelevant to you. Such a world of identities of material
bodies and its relationship to the world outside consisting of friendship,
society and love exists only in minds interpreted reality whether it is in
present, past or future. Each of those material lives was a dream that you
weaved out of the real material energy just like you weave out a movie world by
giving a meaning in our minds to the colourful light patches on the movie screen.
What really exists is the movie director, projector, screen, light patches and
the you the movie watcher and your temporary experience of the movie. Your
movie experience is not fully under your control. Everything is real except the
meaning content of the story of the movie. The movie shooting locations in the
real world and theatre etc is real though the story weaved by your minds is
false.This is exactly your position in this material world. The stories of your
life based on the body as the soul is a big bubble that can burst any moment as
death. These are stark facts of life that nobody discusses because they believe
that there is no solution to this situation. But in Krishna consciousness we
have a solution.
Ultimately this material body is not eternal existence. The meaning content of
life of the bodily identified self that is experienced is all
contd.....
21 March 2020
MD
18:52
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Your personal story
continues.....
illusion but the mechanism and ingredients that creates the illusion is real.
This world of matter is real. But you read the world of matter based on false
bodily concept of self.
Though you experience happiness and distress, pain and pleasures of the
characters in the movies they are all merely identified rasa of an identified
toy like material body. It is just like while watching a movie. We identify
with the hero along with all his pains and pleasure. They are not really your
own pain and pleasure but only read to be so by your mind by identifying the
the hero as the self. You are living a life of mistaken identity, a fake life
that lasts till death. Something is said to be fake only when there is a
deficit between what experience we really expect and the experience that we
really get. Our expectation is always sat cit ananda and we experience the
opposite in this Karma-Game. Karma-Game will never satisfy our core instincts
for sat cit ananda.
Laws of karma are the rules of Karma-Game for fake satcitananda rasas
Kala is eternal time energy that continuously reconfigures the material
energy from the way it is at the present moment to the way it becomes the next
moment. Moment to moment the configuration of matter of this world is changing.
There is a subtle law behind that is beyond natural laws of physics. Our free
will and its reaction is impacting on the material energy of this world. The
subtle rules of this Game-Karma is called laws of karma.
Kala or time is the dispenser,of different types of perverted fake rasa in the
form of momentary power rasa, knowledge rasa, love rasa and sensual rasa both
at the bodily plane and at social plane of this world in complete forgetfulness
of Krishna. The entire thing is facilitated by the Lord’s all pervading
expansion in this material world as Paramatma. He remains Himself completely as
a neutral person observing and sanctioning the results of the activities of
every jiva.
The game purely runs according to those laws administered by His agent Kala
through gunas as per karmas of each person. So everything experienced in this
world is a play of guna-kala-karma responding to our independent actions and
sense gratification arising from the independent attitude under the supervision
of all pervading Paramatma expansion of the Krishna.
It is to be remembered that though it a life of fake rasas, the experiencers of
fake rasa are real eternal beings. The experience itself by the experiencer is
not an illusion but always real though the meaning of experience may be false.
Law of karma, which determine the quality and quantity of imitation or fake
sat, cit and ananda rasa experiences of the jiva, is a manifestation of
universal principle of equality and justice incorporated by God or Paramatma,
the designer of material nature. The law of karma dispenses material rasa on
the principle of equality of all jivas and justice between the jivas. Law of
karma is also an expression of fairness or impartiality of God.
Just as in dream laws of dream operate and you cannot dream anything you want,
in the same way material life experiences, centred around the ego that I am
this body, are governed by laws of karma though they are fake rasas from an
absolute point of view. We just cannot choose the 100% the content of our
material experiences but have to choose them by working through the laws of karma.
As you sow so you reap is the law of material rasas. You want good dreams you
have to sow good seeds in the form of good deeds in the very same dream world
of bodily concept of life. That is called punya. It is never the choice of God
to give punishing rasas of pain for some bodies or rewarding rasas of pleasure
for certain others bodies. Life is an interactive movie playing in our
consciousness screen.
contd.....
22 March 2020
MD
18:09
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Your personal story
continues......
But remember that you are not the body but the soul. You give out free willed
decisions to move gross and subtle matter and there is a reaction to each of
your actions. Kala takes into account these things in reconfiguring matter
moment to moment around you.
Krishna’s creation of illusion is so perfect that the jiva cannot break that
illusion till, by the grace of Paramatma, he becomes conscious that body is
toy-like fake body like any other machine in this world and concludes that he
is just operating the machine through his will. He discovers who he really is
beyond body from the revelations of guru, sadha and sastra. This illusion can
be busted easily only by flow of awakening transcendental knowledge in our
consciousness from the source of all consciousness, Krishna.
Lord Krishna is a neutral spectator and facilitator of Karma-Game for fake
satcitananda rasa
In the material world, the sat-çit-ānanda Lord as the Supersoul or
Paramātma, is residing in your material body along with the you in His
invisible expansion to facilitate your miserably failed unconstitutional
journey of perverted rasa to lord over the toy-like fake forms, names,
qualities and activities displayed by the material energy of the Lord. The Lord
in your heart, as a friend, respects your free will to exploit matter and
permits or sanctions your lording to be successful or to be a failure as you
desire & deserve in accordance with the Laws of Karma.
Without Paramatma we cannot experience even the fake satcitananda rasas
Though He is neutral to all, without His ordained or sanctioned system of
guna-kala-karma not a blade of grass can move. Just like no vegetation in the
forest can exist without the common factor rain. Every material experience of
jivas is because of the mere presence of the all pervading Lord in the body.
Just as rain is the common cause for all seeds it is not the specific cause for
a one seed to become a mango tree or and other to become banyan tree or a pupil
tree or any other tree, Paramatma is not the cause of happiness and sufferings
of the jivas. The characteristics of the seed is what causes it to be the kind
of tree by taking advantage of the rain. The rain is not responsible for
variety of one seed from the other seed. Similarly in this world of karma you
become what you are by you own choice of material actions followed by reactions
but only by the sanction of the Lord in the heart. But if the Paramatma wants
He can change anything beyond laws of karma just by His sanction. And the
material energy will carry it through. He does this as reciprocation to those
devoted to God.
You are experiencing rasas which is not your own satcitananda rasa
In this material world you are disconnected from the source of all sat çit
ānanda, Krishna. All sensual, emotional, intellectual and ego desires are all
your soul's expressions trying to fulfil its deepest urge for feeling
completeness of sat, cit, ananda nature, though always unsuccessful through
material life in different material body.
You are disconnected from the source of satcitananda rasa
To fill this spiritual incompleteness due to your disconnect from the ocean
of Sat çit ānanda, Krishna, you go on creating false material bodies and
identities one after another with hopes and desires to enjoy freedom, power,
knowledge, love, and pleasure through different forms of gross and subtle
material arrangements. All of jivas rasas come under these categories. A little
careful observation will reveal that your search of sat cit ananda fulfilment
through material energy only remains a chase but never a reality.
contd.....
23 March 2020
MD
16:50
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Your personal story
continues......
This is sum and substance of non fulfilling material lives you have gone
through. It is this satcitananda incompleteness caused by disconnecting from
God, that makes a you run around madly, trying to seek completeness through
different kinds of gross body and subtle body sense and social gratification in
this material world called as material happiness and pleasure.
You are deeply experiencing what a fish would experience when kept out of the
water.This unnatural state of existence is caused because of you being of sat
cit ananda nature are swimming in an ocean of asat and acit called samsara.
Your madness begins to subside when you begin your journey to reconnect with
your own forgotten Supreme satcitananda Person, Krishna through surrender to
Him in your heart.
Real world is satcitananda world of satcitananda bodies
Your real spiritual eternal body is of the quality of sat-çit-ānanda and not of
matter. And the real spiritual world is also a world of only satcitananda
objects, each of them having unique identities and consciousness. The different
identities you experience in the material world are just roles play identities
as your temporary body in the Karma-Game. Material energy under the supervision
of the Supersoul situated within you and everyone creates varieties of material
bodies for different living entities for varieties of independent Krishna-less
fake happiness & pleasures.
So the material world can be seen as a real world which is full of real eternal
beings being haunted by this ‘I am this material body’ playing the game called
Karma-Game. The real eternal satcitananda identity of yours is to be uncovered
enabling you to fulfil your need for being back in the sat cit ananda
consciousness. All the while your eternal friend, the Lord as Paramatma has
been accompanying you within your heart and is waiting to assist you to wake up
to eternal reality of eternal rasas of pure devotional service to Krishna. Your
eternal identity is that you are lover of Krishna and are eternally loved by
the Supreme Personality, Krishna.
Great comforting truth. Lord's pure devotees and incarnations are the
beacons of light dispelling ignorance of your existence
In the midst of this grand disaster of this material life for the
satcitananda soul, there is a great comforting truth. It is revealed by the
scriptures that the Krishna as Paramatma who is observing each jivas journey in
this material world for millions of lives, intervenes in the life of one who is
search of satcitananda rasa. Search for fulfilment of satcitananda rasa is
nothing but search for Krishna.
There are called mukta purushas walking in the midst of jivas to awaken their
love for Krishna. They are pure devotees of Krishna who are full realized and
awakened to the absolute situation of everything free from bodily concept of
self and life. They operate in this world out of their real ego as servant of
Krishna. They are free from belief there is ananda in anything that is
disconnected from Krishna's pleasure, the Supreme satcitananda Person. Because
you have been looking for satcitananda rasa or perfect existence, perfect
knowledge and perfect love beyond the temporary fake rasas, the Lord in your
heart has guided you to me.
Even greater comforting truth is Krishna, the satcitananda Lord incarnates into
this world in many different forms like Nama Avatara, archa Avatara, lila
avatara etc. The basic function of all these incarnations is to give
satcitananda association to the jivas who are seeking to satisfy the deep
instinct for satcitananda after being fed up of this Karma-Game of Krishna-less
fake rasas. Their divine association awakens the taste of your original loving
serving consciousness. Their association cures you from the lower tastes of
independent and selfish Krishnaless pleasures of three modes of material
nature. You have been fortunate enough to be gifted with the shelter of Nama
Prabhu by me.
contd.....
.
25 March 2020
MD
17:23
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Your personal story
continues.......
Krishna brings one to a 'sadh' guru
He lovingly guided you to me and you have surrendered to my guidance and
instructions to come out of this illusion and awaken your original satcitananda
consciousness. From then on Lord in your heart became your first guru known as
Chaitya guru. The combined effort of Chaitya guru and the external 'sadh'-guru
like me, you are undertaking this journey towards satcitananda Krishna
consciousness. Slowly you are beginning to replace your material consciousness.
At every aspect of life there is a loving reciprocation of the Lord internally
within you in the form of giving you intelligence to understand reach Him. Even
externally He is arranging things in your material life to guide and facilitate
you to get liberated from the illusion and realize your satcitananda nature of
eternity, knowledge and bliss as the eternal loving servant of Krishna.
Paramatma also intervenes with the karma account of a soul who surrenders to
Him and desires to go back to Him. He intervenes invincibly by mixing His
perfect intelligence or directions, with your tiny karmic intelligence, exactly
as a good intelligent friend of this world would advise his friend to come out
of a troubled situation.
Awakening
Therefore, the real need of yours in this material world is nothing but
awakening of your original eternal identity as lover of Krishna and to wake up
others whom you happen to love too. Each living entity can potentially become
free or liberated from the material energy, by awakening his own sat-çit-ānanda
nature of consciousness by association with the Supreme Person and His
satcitananda energies. Your awakening will be characterised by transcendental
knowledge of separateness of spirit and matter in every body and humility
arising from realizing the vulnerability of the soul to be again engulfed by
Maya. You will regain your lost wealth of Krishna conscious happiness and will
relish the rasa of uninterrupted remembrance of Krishna in endless appreciation
of Him along with His unconditional love and compassion under my guidance as
your eternal spiritual master. The Lord as Chaitya guru in your heart and me as
your spiritual master are guiding you in your journey to re-join Krishna in the
spiritual world.
The main process of awakening is by transmission of spiritual sat-cit-ananda
spiritual energies from the Lord to your soul which dissolve the contaminated
consciousness that is now covering your soul. This transmission of spiritual
energy to awaken your soul happens by the principle of association with the
Lord who is an ocean of sat cit ananda-eternal existence, knowledge and bliss.
Just like if a piece of iron is kept immersed in the fire, it gets gradually
heated and eventually it becomes red hot and acts like fire, in the same manner
when the soul who associates with the Supreme Personality Krishna under the
guidance of the guru, sadhu and sāstra, he can awaken his original Krishna
consciousness. Krishna's different incarnations are different merciful
manifestations in this material world.
And In this age. Krishna has decided that he will very liberally give out His
association through His Nama Avatara to one and all without pre-qualification
of any sort simply for worshipping Him in the form of chanting and hearing His
names. You are already blessed to get the shelter of Nama Prabhu.
Japa invokes the unlimited fire of sat-cit-ānanda before oneself
Japa is a mystical process, by which, through the mercy of the spiritual
master, one invokes the fire energy of Sat çit ānanda, called the internal
energy or the immediate energy surrounding the Lord. As a neophyte, you do not
presently have spiritual eyes to see and experience sat & cit nor the
sensitivity to relish spiritual ananda . But by the mercy of the Hare Krishna
Nāma, as a sādhaka, you will slowly start experiencing this brilliant spiritual
energy by associating with the Hare Krishna Nāma.
contd......
2 April 2020
MD
17:43
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.......contd
It starts with the flow into your heart the experience of 'sat' in the form of
a sense of eternity, beyond everything that you now think you are as a bodily
ego and social ego of this world.
You will start seeing this body as machine on which you are riding in this
world of fake rasas. Unless you become charged by the touch of the supreme
eternity or 'sat' energy of God and receive that energy, you cannot realize
your true self as pure eternal existence. Serving the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu
through soulful japa will cause transfer of real ‘sat-çit-ananda’ energies to
your heart from Nama Prabhu and will enlighten you to realize what you really
are along with your eternal experience of satcitananda.
The early drops of mercy begin flowing from Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu when you
associate with Him through mindful japa by serious training of the foreground
mind. As you advance in associating with Nama Prabhu, your original
self-knowledge or 'cit' which is a sense of eternal identity as servant of
Krishna begins to awaken. You advance your japa to spiritful and soulful japa
by reading my books to build up the absolute thoughts of Krishna consciousness
and contemplate on them and turn them into Krishna conscious feelings towards
Nama Prabhu. This will make your background mind rich with bhakti bhāvanas
enabling your background mind to offer these bhāvanas to the most merciful Nama
Prabhu during soulful japa every day and awaken your absolute feelings of your
soul for Krishna. You soulful japa will become most blissful activity and you
begin to experience original ananda of sense of eternal belonging to Krishna
called love of Krishna and experience the ananda of loving service unto Him.
The sense of sat-cit-ānanda completeness is possible only in the association
of the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu
When you connect yourself with Krishna, who is a reservoir of Sat çit ānanda
through mindful and spiritful japa, you starts to experience spiritual
completeness, and begin to quench all your spiritual thirst for sat cit and
ananda. And when that matures into soulful japa then your perfection of life is
achieved and I will take you to the spiritual world and make you dance with
Krishna. I have explained this in my book the Matchless Gift;
Those who thus see Krishna are not anxious because they know where they are
going at death. One who has taken the gift of Krishna consciousness knows that
he will not have to return to this material world to take another body but that
he will go to Krishna. It is not possible to go to Krishna unless one attains a
body like Krishna's, a sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha body, a body full of eternity,
knowledge and bliss. One cannot enter into fire and not perish unless he
himself becomes fire, and similarly one cannot enter into the spiritual realm
in a body that is not spiritual. In a spiritual body one can dance with Krishna
in the rāsa dance like the gopis and the cowherd boys. This is not an ordinary
dance, but the dance of eternity, in the association of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. Only those who have become purified in their love for Krishna can
participate in it. One therefore should not take this process of Krishna
consciousness as something cheap, but as a matchless gift bestowed upon
suffering humanity by the Lord Himself. Simply by engaging in this process, all
the anxieties and fears of one's life, which in actuality revolve about the
fear of death, are allayed.
Thus, the purpose of the soulful japa, is a progressive experience of
spiritual completeness of your satcitananda consciousness of love of Krishna
resulting in eternal attachment to Krishna and His service and freedom from
material miseries even when in this body. Be blessed."
Thus ends the story of life of all jivas in this world, every bit of it, loudly
spoken by Srila Prabhupada, though not in these words, to all of us throughout
his divine teachings.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
4 April 2020
MD
08:23
Madhu Pandit Dasa
11 April 2020
MD
09:41
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MESSAGE FOR NEW MEMBERS
FROM GROUP ADMIN
Dear All,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Welcome to this SOULFUL JAPA MODULES group that has been started by Sri. Madhu
Pandit Prabhu. The target audience are those who are already doing japa every
day but want to increase the quality of japa.
These modules are essence from his yet to be published book 'Soulful Japa'. He
plans to post 108 modules in the next one year. The postings will be designed
almost like a course on basic concepts of soulful japa and hence it would
benefit members to stay with the flow that builds up concept by concept
systematically over one year period module after module.
There is another group Soulful Japa / Q&A . Please join that group to by
clicking the link at the end of this message.
FAQ
1. Who can join this group?
Any devotee who has started chanting japa and who have started reading
seriously Srila Prabhupada's books. Even devotees with one or two rounds daily
is also fine provided they want to take up chanting 16 rounds eventually. You
can freely send invite link to such devotees.
2. Where should I post the questions?
Post your questions to Ananth Kirti Dasa who admin for this group. (9342190589). Make them short and
crisp. I will forward that to Sri.Madhu Pandit Prabhu and he will post his answers
in group along with the questions in the group called Soulful Japa Q&A
whose link is given below. Please join that group too.The names of devotees
asking questions will be withheld and only questions will appear with answers.
3. What kind of questions can be asked?
Try to restrict your postings to three types that are related to the modules
that are posted by Sri. Madhu Pandit Prabhu. Type one is questions seeking more
clarity on what he writes. If you post general scattered questions on japa, he
will include the answers in some modules in future that relevant to the
question.
Type two questions are on how to overcome challenges that you are facing as you
implement soulful japa.
Type three is your feedback too on how it is helping you and any suggestions to
improve the group learning. Feedbacks will be individually replied by Sri.
Madhu Pandit Prabhu and may not be posted in the group. That way you have a
direct connect with him in the matter of your japa.
5. Can I ask questions to Madhu Pandit Prabhu for personal spiritual guidance?
Sure. You can directly send the questions to him. But you may have to patiently
wait for the answer as per his time frame. His first priority is to answer
questions for the group.
5. Can we send invite to new joiners at any stage ?
All modules from day one are available in this group for a new comer to read.
Devotees can be invited to join the group at any stage. They only have to read
all the past Modules to get into the flow.
https://t.me/joinchat/KpcplUyXLe-wRdQdP4KgFQ
Thank you
Your servant
Ananth Kirti Dasa
Madhu Pandit Dasa pinned
this message
13 April 2020
MD
00:28
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 36
Intensifying purpose-desires-Intentions
Purpose means what do we want to ultimately achieve. When we execute
many desires we achieve a purpose. And we achieve a desire by several intentioned
actions. Now we will how these three interconnected items are the driving
spirit of japa
Chanting of Hare Krishna is not meant for achieving any other better things
than Krishna..
Letter by Śrīla Prabhupāda, July 14, 1968
All forms of incompleteness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge
of the Complete Whole. The human form of life is a complete life in the cycle
of birth and death. If in this human life of full consciousness the living
entity does not realize his completeness in relation to the manifestation of
the consciousness of the living being, and it is obtained after evolving
through 8,400,000 species of Complete Whole, he loses the chance to realize his
completeness and is again put into the evolutionary cycle by the law of
material nature.
Because we do not know that there is a complete arrangement in nature for our
maintenance, we make eff orts to utilize the resources of nature to create a
so-called complete life of sense enjoyment. Because the living entity cannot
enjoy the life of the senses without being dovetailed with the Complete Whole,
the misleading life of sense enjoyment is illusion. The hand of a body is a
complete unit only as long as it is attached to the complete body. When the
hand is severed from the body, it may appear like a hand, but it actually has
none of the potencies of a hand. Similarly, living beings are part and parcel
of the Complete Whole, and if they are severed from the Complete Whole, the illusory
representation of completeness cannot fully satisfy them.
The completeness of human life can be realized only when one engages in the
service of the Complete Whole. All services in this world—whether social,
political, communal, international or even interplanetary—will remain
incomplete until they are dovetailed with the Complete Whole. When everything
is dovetailed with the Complete Whole, the attached parts and parcels also
become complete in themselves.
Sri Isopanishad, Invocation-
Bhaktivedanta Purport
What is the ultimate purpose of Japa:
One line answer is 'to feel eternal completeness'. In the face of the
glaring transiency of life in these material bodies, everyone of us feel
incompleteness of our purpose of existence in this world. Our constant effort
is to do something, to enjoy something or possess something with the hope that
it will make us feel more complete. The urge to feel complete in sat-cit-ananda
or existence, knowledge and joy are very deep constitutional urge of every living
entity for the simple reason that the living entity is not complete in Himself
as he is part and parcel of Krishna who alone is complete existence, knowledge
and love. He can feel completeness only if he develops love for Krishna. He can
develop love for Krishna only of he associates with Krishna's devotees and His
incarnations.
None of us in this world really feel fulfilled in our look out for sense of
completeness because we are trying to be and feel complete on our own without
God, our counter Whole. God alone is complete on His own. All of our material
desires, at the soul level, are a constant attempt to fill one’s existential
incompleteness on our own without God. We try to add so many things into our
life for this purpose. We try to feel more sat-completeness in the form of
wealth, our health, security and power. We add so many loving relationship in
our life to feel more ananda completeness through our sense of belongingness
and experiences of loving exchanges. We acquire knowledge to feel cit-completeness
of our understanding of self and existence.
But we can feel that completeness only when we connect with Krishna, the real
absolute supremely complete personality whose eternal parts we are. This is the
purpose of japa.
contd.....
00:30
......contd
What do we, as souls, need or want ultimately? The eventual purpose in doing
japa is to get association of the Nāma Avatāra in order to rejoin with the Lord
who completes our existence by engaging us in pure loving devotional service.
It is to become one with Him in quality and serve Him eternally. It is to
dissolve all kinds of separateness of my desire from what Krishna desires for
me.
The nature of the part and parcel is same as the nature of the Whole. A piece
of gold jewellery is same quality as a ball of gold. It is the completeness of
achieving an eternal existential position of awakened loving relationship with
Him and eternally engaging in the sweet mellows (rasa) of loving service
including the eternal service of purely chanting and hearing His eternally
sweet names.
In this state of completeness with the Lord one is fully satisfied. That will
make us stop seeking anything illusory material desires. One is irrevocably
freed from the illusion of bodily concept of life and its concomitant body-serving
illusory desire called lust. A devotees who has tasted this spiritual
completeness in association and relationship with Krishna sees lust as a poison
for the soul camouflaged as pleasure by Maya.
The purpose of japa is to attain God realization, which means to see God face
to face, taste the love of Godhead and to lovingly serve Him. This is the
doing-purpose of japa. This purpose trickles down as different desires and
moment to moment action intentions.
Intention anchors attention; Desire pleases every Nama Prabhu who
appears on my tongue; Purpose awakens our love for Krishna
Whenever someone speaks to us, how quickly our attention fixes on what he
says. If a speech is interesting, we can sit silently, rapt in attention,
hearing for hours together. Why? Because of two things:
1. The intention to get some need fulfilled like the need of ‘knowledge’ that
the speaker had to share.
2. And progressive fulfilment of need-intention by progressive success of
receiving that knowledge as he speaks and unfold his ideas in turn sustains
attention.
When we stop getting what we expect from the speaker, attention will gradually
drift away from the speech. Understanding the reasons for this difference is
extremely important. The reason is lack of intention or desire or purpose to be
achieved anymore from hearing the speaker.
However, when it comes to hearing the Nama Prabhu, we cannot keep our attention
on hearing, even for a few minutes. Why is it so? Again the reason is lack of
intention-desire-purpose. Intention is what holds attention on a domain of
doing and knowing.
Our purpose of japa is transcendental completeness in shelter and association
and loving service of Krishna. For attaining this purpose we need to desire to
awaken our love for Him. And for that we need flow of mercy of satcitananda
energies. And love means pleasing the one whom you love. And here is an
opportunity where the Lord Himself has descended before us as Nama Prabhu to
give us an opportunity to awaken our original love for Him by practicing to
offer our desire to please Him in a tangible way by chanting, hearing and
tasking on each bead. The desire to be fulfilled of each bead of japa is to
please every manifesting Nama Prabhu and also desire for mercy flow of
satcitananda. This desire cannot be fulfilled unless first unless you set up
the attention-connected to Him and maintain it by uninterrupted tasking. The
intention of japa action that trickles down from the above purpose and desire
is to establish attention connection with the Nama. The above is the
understanding of how from purpose of japa , desire is generated and from desire
in japa, intention is generated.
contd.....
00:32
contd.......
Purpose- To experience satcitananda completeness of existence in
association of ocean of satcitananda Krishna.
Desire- 1. To please each Nama Prabhu by concurrent chanting with
delight -cum-hearing with joy 2. To hope and beg for mercy flow of satcitananda
from Nama Prabhu called Krupa apeksha.
Intention - 1. To establish attention connection with Nama Prabhu 2. To
maintain that attention-connection by uninterrupted tasking with tasking
delight or Karya cesta ruchi.
In Japa we have to culture the intention to connect with Nama Avatara through
attention, desire to please each Nama Prabhu and task uninterruptedly to
multiply the pleasing activity and awaken our original love for Krishna in
order to achieve the purpose of transcendental completeness of my satcitananda
existence.
To desire to please the Nama Prabhu can best be done through desire to please
the spiritual master by obedience to his directions and guidance to serve the
Lord. Therefore the desire in japa is to please both guru and Nama Prabhu.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks in this connection that a disciple
must accept the words of his spiritual master as his life and soul. Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu here exemplified this by saying that since His spiritual
master ordered Him only to chant the Holy name of Krishna, He always chanted
the Hare Krishna mahāmantra according to this direction (‘Krishna-mantra’ japa
sadā,—ei mantra-sāra). And I do not know what is happening to me. I am going
mad with love for Krishna.
We have discussed in earlier sections the instruction from Śrīla Prabhupāda
that we should simple chant and hear that very sound without indulging in any
kind of thinking so that through our full attention we can touch the Nāma
Avatāra and purify our soul by pleasing Him and receive the mercy of the sat
cit ananda energy that flows from Him.
Culturing need for intention, desire to please, desire for mercy and
purpose
The need to be fulfilled by the intention of japa, the need to be fulfilled
through achieving the desire of japa , is something that has to be a compelling
need and is not just a preference. And we have already discussed that strong
purpose is the purpose of achieving the transcendental feeling of completeness
of one's existence in Krishna consciousness even on a day to day basis. That
strong purpose gets translated into a strong desire to please each Nama and
desire flow of mercy from HIm and immediate intention is to gain the
attention-connection and attention-embrace of the Hare Krishna Nāma. Something
for my own eternal benefit drives the intention to establish
attention-connection with Hare Krishna Nāma. Seeking a constitutional need of
satcitananda is a not a considered as selfish desire. Wanting to experience
love of Krishna for oneself is not a selfish desire because it is
constitutional desire of the soul.
Other competing intentions carries away the mind with the attention
When someone wants to tell you something, but if you go on talking to
yourself, with no intention to get anything that you need from the him, then it
is not possible to give him an attentive hearing. In the same manner, if we
continuously chat in our mind for some other need-intention or want-intention
during japa, we will be unable to give attention to hear and receive the
transcendental knowledge or pure ‘çit’ energy that is emanating from the Hare
Krishna Nāma which awaken our eternal relationship with Krishna. No connection-
no flow of spiritual energy.
Because of not having a strong purpose, desire and intention for japa, other
stupid worldly desires and intentions engage the thinking during japa which
obstructs us from receiving the mercy of the Lord. We must determine (vikalpa)
to kill all extraneous intentions other than to please the Nama Prabhu and
yearning for the causeless mercy from Him. If negative determination, vikalpa,
is applied to stop extraneous intentions and apply positive sankalpa is
.......contd
00:33
.......contd
applied to maintain the intention to touch, desire to please to please and
yearn for mercy, it will further lock the attention on to the sound incarnation
to chant and hear.
What is the strong need-intention for the chanter in the beginning? It is to
receive the mercy of the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu in the form of flow of
transcendental divya cesta ruchi to please the Hare Krishna Nāma by delightful
concurrent chanting cum hearing. It is also accompanied by seeking the flow of
mercy in the form of 'cit' or transcendental knowledge that opens our inner
eyes of knowledge to the absolute inner truths of self and existence.
This mercy in the form of the self purifying sat, çit and ananda energy from
Krishna who is the reservoir of Sat, Cit and Ananda awakens our eternal
relationship with Krishna. However we only can hope in anticipation of mercy
without demanding it. That is the meaning of krpa apeksha. Our desire to please
each manifesting Nama should not be conditional to getting a reciprocation of
flow of energy from Him. Desire to please Nama Prabhu is unconditional.
Sometimes Krishna tests the devotee by not giving his that divya cesta ruchi to
see if he is still determined to offer concurrent chanting cum hearing against
the forces of the mind.
If we love Krishna, that love will not be destroyed as love is in the
material world. In the material world, a servant serves the master as long as
the servant is pleased and as long as the master is pleased. The servant is
pleased as long as the master pays, and the master is pleased as long as the
servant renders good service. However, in the spiritual world, if the servant
cannot serve under certain conditions, the master is still pleased. And if the
master does not pay, the servant is also pleased. That is called oneness,
absolute.
TLK vs. 38
To have a personal spiritual intention, desire and purpose is not selfish
Even in bhakti the sastras declare that our ultimate self-intention of the
soul is to attain Vishnu; Svartha gatih hi Vishnuh. Even in pure love one
desires the satisfaction of having pleased the beloved. So intention, desire
and purpose for oneself is not spiritually speaking a ‘bad’ word because jiva
is eternally dependent and is in need and is never complete in himself without
desiring the mercy of Krishna.
The desire to experience the divya cesta ruchi or pleasure of concurrent
chanting cum hearing is not a selfish desire because it is the pleasure of
giving pleasure to Krishna.
contd......
00:36
.....contd
How can a sādhaka’s japa please the Lord:
It is not only pure loving offering that pleases the Lord. Even the attempt of
a sādhaka devotee to serve Him in a less than pure manner under the guidance of
another pure devotee also pleases Him. Just like a father is thrilled with
every attempt of a lost son to come back to him. In fact he gets more
attention. Help from the Supersoul will flood the life of such a devotee who
though not pure himself surrenders and follows a pure devotee.
Our sādhana bhakti pleases Him as long as it is an attempt of ours to awaken
our constitutional love and service unto Him and not for any stupid purposes,
intentions and desires of this world. A sādhaka is asked to chant to please
guru and Krishna. It is by following their instructions by the sādhaka, that
guru and Krishna is pleased because that makes Them happy for us. Krishna is
complete in Himself. We cannot add something to give him extra pleasure as if
he lacks anything. But the act of a devotee sincerely calling out His name by
itself adds pleasure to the Lord. He likes to hear His own names when called
out sincerely. As much deeply as we call out for Him out of desperate
existential need for his association that much the heart of the Hare Krishna
Nāma Prabhu is also moved.
But when a sādhaka chants and hears as per the rules it gives Him pleasure
because of the hope it generates in Him for our eternal benefi t and not
necessarily because your calling is completely pure. So Krishna being pleased
by a sādhaka’s chanting and hearing means He is pleased for the sādhaka. He has
never forgotten us. It is only we who have forgotten Him.
He has everything except each of our love which cannot be substituted by
anothers’ love. A father loves every child. Love from one child cannot
substitute for love from another child. So we can only offer our own self in
the form of giving all our soul faculties to chant and hear His Names with
proper purpose, desire and intention.
Please note that purpose, desire and intention amplifies our serving spirit of
delight to chant (hrstam) , relish to hear ( ahlada), hope for mercy flow
(krupa apeksha) and enthusiasm to task ( utsaha).
your servant
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
04:49
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 37 ( Theory for Mindful Japa)
The Japa Experiment that changed everything
A few years ago, I had gone on a break from my
regular routine, to our organic farm in Mysore by the river Cauvery, in order
to dedicate a ten days entirely for japa and nothing else. I had decided that I
would chant 108 mālās of Hare Krishna Mahāmantra every day, during the next ten
days. Until then, I had never attempted to chant more than 25 mālās on a single
day.
The first day’s Struggle
On the first day, I started my japa at 5 a.m. However, I found it a big
struggle to after finishing about 35 mālās. It was a big struggle, as the mind
would want to read or write or philosophize; would want to make telephone
calls, reply to emails, etc. Somehow, I put up a big fight against the mind and
managed to complete my vow to chant 108 mālās by 10 p.m. with great struggle
and austerity. It was not at all pleasant and was mentally exhausted.
The story of the gardner
I was all alone and the only other person around the guest house was a
gardener from the village, who was assigned to help me during my stay. He
waited upon me in the guest house the whole day outside my room. The second day
morning when I saw the gardener, I thought that since he practically had
nothing to do, I could engage him in chanting of the holy names. I told myself
that chanting being the yuga dharma, even a simple-minded common man like him
should be able to take it up. I decided to venture into the project of making
him chant 16 mālās as an experiment!!
On the second morning I approached the gardener with the proposal. The Lord in
my heart inspired me to present the japa in as simple a manner as possible, so
that he would easily do it. These workers are very used to carry out any
directed task given to them as a work. That is the only language they
understand- to carry out works as ordered. Obviously, I couldn’t have started
by giving him philosophy. The Lord inspired me to break the ice in an
interesting way. I called the gardener and asked him, “If I give you some new
work, would you learn and do it?” He said, “Why not! As long as it is not very
complicated, since I am an uneducated person.” Then I asked him to bring 108
pebbles from the sand heap nearby. He brought them and placed them before me on
the door step where I I was sitting. He was in the mood of executing some work
that I was going to give him. He sat on the floor below the step.
I said, “You have to pick up one pebble at a time, counting from number 1 to
108 audibly, and place them aside, on the step below.” He laughed like a child,
since the work sounded so simple, and I sounded like a child asking him to do
such a ‘silly activity.’ He smilingly did as he was asked.
Then, I asked him to place one pebble at a time, back to where they were,
counting again as he did so. He easily did it and smiled again, amused by the
silliness of work I gave him. Then, I gave him a Hare Krishna mantra card in
the local language with Krishna’s picture on one side and Mahamantra on the
other side. I said ‘I want you to utter these holy names of God. Whatever
understanding of God he had, he took the card in his hands and touched the
picture of Krishna to his forehead, very respectfully.
Then, he told me that he did not know how to read and write. So, for the next
half-hour, I made him memorize the Mahāmantra by making him repeat it several
times. First two words at a time, then four, then eight and then the entire set
of 16 words at a time and he learned it soon. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma,Hare Rām, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
I made him repeat once the Pança Tattva mantra: Śri Krishna Çaitanya Prabhu
Nityānanda Śri Advaita Gadhādhara Śrivāsādi Gaura bhakta Vṛnda, one syllable
after another, to seek the blessings of Lord Çhaitanya and His associates.
......contd
MD
06:01
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
I directed him to shift the 108 pebbles again to a new heap one by one by
chanting the Mahāmantra with each pebble that he moved. Once the 108 pebbles
were moved, he would have to repeat the task, moving them to back where they
were, one by one, while chanting. He would have to think all along, that he is
making an offering to God.
The gardener was eager to do as I said. In half an hour, in my presence, he
simply followed what I said, and all the 108 pebbles went back and forth as I
had directed. Haribol! He had chanted 2 rounds (mālās) of japa with no struggle
at all!
The only thing he could relate with, was that these were God’s Names, and
should be respected. And he also had respect for me and what I said as a sādhu.
He did not even have specific knowledge that Krishna is the Supreme Personality
of Godhead.
I was very excited with the result and wanted to continue further with this
experiment. I was already confident that if he could do two rounds in this
paradigm of a work, he can also do 16 rounds. I told the gardener that since he
was sitting there with practically nothing to do the whole day, other than
waiting on me, he could do more of this ‘worship work’ of God, and it would be good
for him. I asked him to bring 16 bigger pebbles and made another heap of it. We
moved two big pebbles to a fresh spot, since he had already completed two
rounds of japa.
Next, I posed a challenge to him, that he had to move all the 16 bigger pebbles
by the evening. A visual clear work goal. He could take a break, every time he
moved a big pebble. I assured him that it would earn him a lot of blessings
from God.
The gardener was excited with the challenge of a new work that I assigned to
him. He wanted to prove to me that he can do it. He said, “What is so big about
moving some pebbles and having to utter the same words each time I move them?”
He said even a child could do this task. I was surprised by his tone of
easeness with which he spoke. This is exactly what Śrīla Prabhupāda had said
that even a child can do it. To my great surprise by evening, before he went
home, the gardener had chanted 16 rounds delightfully without any struggle just
like it a simple work to be done. He said he was dissatisfied as he could have
done more, but could not, as he was called away for an hour to fi x a leaking
hose pipe at the other end of the farm.
My struggle with japa
Meanwhile, my second day of struggled japa of 108 rounds had gone by like it
was on the first day. It was a great austerity to go beyond 25-30 rounds and to
control the mind in order to concentrate on doing only japa. After 16 rounds,
the mind wanted to do so many other things. It wanted to write down list of
pending tasks at Bangalore, trying to figure out solutions for management
problems, to visualize the new temple that was under construction imagining how
it would like and be walking through the completed project and dream of
completing it. Thinking of what all to be done to move the reality to the
vision from when it was today. I wanted to write some philosophical
realizations etc thinking that I will forget it. If I had to complete my target
of 108 rounds I did not have the freedom to do these things because I was aware
that there was no time for both. So I had to curtail my mind to sacrifice these
thoughts and because of that the mind was putting lot of pressure on my willing
and I had to spend mental energy to manage the rebelling mind. And every now
and then I would succumb to the pressure and let the mind go into thinking of
all these things by japa will go mechanically into an auto-mode which I knew
was wrong and offensive to the holy name. Again I would bring it back.
contd.......
14 April 2020
MD
10:02
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
On the other hand, in sharp contrast, the gardener had done his 16 rounds
without even a semblance of a struggle, and that surprised me. A big question
that arose in my mind that day and answer I found to that question has lead me
to a greatest discovery that was always under my nose. The question was that
why was my mind struggling to do my japa, when a new-comer to japa had no
struggle at all to finish 16 round? The gardener’s ease of doing japa set me
thinking as to what was different about the way the gardener and I did japa? He
was just a beginner, while I had done japa for three decades. Common sense and
default thinking said that struggle should be more for him as a novice to japa,
than for me since any new task should have been harder for a first timer than
it was for someone doing it for over thirty five years.
The gardener’s japa analysed
This made me do a microscopic analysis as what all gardener was doing and
what the role of attention energy was during his chanting and hearing. By going
through this exercise I discovered somethings that once for all cured my
inattentive japa with which I have been struggling for decades.
Let me present the discovery first and then we will see how it was derived by
studying closely the different factors that made the japa of the gardener
attentive.
Because of the important factor of newness of the mantra and the process, the
gardener’s japa was forced to be centred around only chanting and hearing the
sound-string of the holy names and nothing else. But what all elements of japa
were there in his japa, because of his newness to the process, which made his
japa attentive?
The first discovery was that japa is basically offering of a ‘doing’ or a kriya
along with ‘knowing’ of that kriya or very doing. Chanting is ‘doing the sound’
and hearing is ’knowing’ that very sound concurrently. Doing both concurrently
was the secret. This came out of the analysis of what all acts, both gross and
subtle, that the gardener did which enabled him to chant 16 rounds so easily
and energetically without struggle of his mind to hold the attention.
That evening I did some search on vedabase on chanting and hearing. I was so
thrilled to find the following four quotes where revealing this secret of
concurrent chanting-cum-hearing practice of which changed my life in six
months.
Here are the four quotes:
“ The process is that you chant Hare Krishna, and exactly the same sound you
hear”
Lecture Bhagavad Gita in New York (660725NY)
Chanting. You simply hear. When you say, “Hare Krishna” you try to hear the
very sound, “Hare Krishna.” That’s all. Nothing more. This is meditation.
Lecture CC Madhya 6.24 Jan 8, 1968
You don’t keep your mind elsewhere. You keep your mind on the chanting.
“Hare Krishna” and hear. So, practice it, and you’ll see how spiritually you
are making advancement. You simply chant Hare Krishna and try to hear the
sound, that’s all……….
Lecture CC Madhya 6.24 Jan 8, 1968.
Prabhupada: Yes. When you chant, you must hear also. This is attention.
This is yoga………. The chanting must be heard by you. That is attention, with
attention.
Initiation Lecture in
Los Angeles ( 690110 IN LA)
While chanting, you must hear. Hare Krishna-you must give attention to
hear.
Lecture-Montreal July 29, 1968
Srila Prabhupada confirmed the key discovery of japa was to chant Hare Krishna
and exactly the very same sound we should hear. My analysis was on the spot as
Srila Prabhupada was advising. These are only five quotes that I found that
evening. By now I had discovered total of 12 quotes which given in the Module
39 with explanations. All of them speak of the same thing. That we should
chant and hear that very sound we chant.
contd.....
16 April 2020
MD
09:16
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
The fruit of understanding this fact and learning how to execute chanting and
hearing concurrently brought upon me a tremendous change in my japa. This
knowledge when applied deliberately was the way to be empowered to do good japa
for a sādhaka and receive abundance of mercy that the holy name is raining unconditionally
on the jivas in this kali yuga as His Lila.
When discovered, I realized that japa is so simple and obvious. If we do not
discover the simplicity of the method of energising the soul by concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing of the same sound, it can evade us even after we do japa
for decades keeping us far away from the benefits of attentive japa.
Third day of my japa
On the third day, I decided to forget whatever I had learned about japa
over three decades. I got into the simple mood of the gardener as if I was a
first day novice to chanting and tried to ‘be’ him the way he was chanting as
if I was new to the mahamantra and was doing japa for the first time. It was
the paradigm of japa being simple deliberate doing of ‘work’ of repeating of
chanting and hearing the chanted sound concurrently. He was not engaging his
mind in any thought processing and his mind was involved fully in directing
process of chanting with concurrent hearing. I also told my mind that japa has
nothing to do with ‘thinking’ or stopping to think and it was only about
‘doing’ and ‘knowing that doing’. Thinking was always the culprit which steals
the knowing energy required for hearing.
All of which was done with the background intention for to be give attention to
Nāma Avatara to connect my soul. I was hearing with the intent to know at all
points of time as to which part of the whole mantra I am in so I can move my
bead at the right points of time just as the gardener did. Each bead of japa
was done with doing-attention to distinctly chant and knowing-attention
simultaneously on the every Nāma-sound that was manifesting one at a time. Bead
after bead, the repetition of the same was tasked uninterruptedly, mala after
mala to complete the 108 rounds by evening. The slogan was do nothing but chant
and hear that current Nama before you. remember the name string,
The new japa experience
Voila! There was immediately a stark difference in energy level experienced
to carry on japa and the smooth flow with which 108 rounds happened with zero
mind struggle, on the third day, mala after mala when it done as a concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing applying the doing effort and knowing effort from the
heart without any other thinking. If the the first two days of 108 rounds was
like moving my finger through thick viscous honey, the third day’s japa moved
like moving my finger in the air. Definitely a new energy and strength that
locked the attention had entered the scene due to chanting with concurrent
hearing of the same sound and uninterrupted repetition.
contd.....
09:16
.....contd
Doing attention and knowing attention
This was in complete contrast to the usual struggle when I tried to
attentively chant isolatedly without attempting to concurrently hear that very
chant. When concurrently chanted and heard uninterruptedly there was no
struggle at all. Now the simple smooth flowing effort was not only to offer
doing-effort to distinctly chant but was also to concurrently offer
knowing-effort to hear that very sound. Hearing that very sound that was
chanted was the relationship between chanting and hearing. This was unlike the
struggling to offering of doing attention either to chant or knowing attention
to hear. The key was the discovery of the relationship between chanting and
hearing and between doing and knowing. Hearing is knowing the chanted sound
with knowing effort. Doing effort cannot be on 'doing' two things at a time. So
also knowing effort cannot be on knowing two things.
Cause of difference in first two days and third day japa
Whenever any mental activity is fatiguing, it is not at all pleasant
activity for the mind and it is natural that the mind will try to come out of
that unpleasantness. That was exactly what was happening the first two days of
my japa of 108 rounds. I was mentally tired trying to pull my knowing-attention
again and again repeatedly throughout the day to hear my inattentive
auto-chanting which was going one without applying my doing-effort to chant on
that sound. There was this demand on the mind to continuously keep the
attention under control from going away to think leading to mental fatigue. I
was waiting to finish my rounds somehow or the other and be relieved of the
mental fatigue.
The clue of offering deliberate directed doing effort to release
doing-attention and knowing-attention concurrently on the same sound was
missing in my japa the first two days. No spiritual energy other than what I
put into the situation was felt in such japa unlike when it was done
concurrently. When done concurrently, there was definitely a flow of new energy
into the situation from the sound incarnation .
Doing ‘effort’ or kriya cesta from the heart released doing-attention
and knowing ‘effort’ or jnana cesta from the heart released
knowing-attention of the soul.
Hearing is not a 'doing'
Further the hearing (knowing) was not being related as the experience of
knowing of that immediate chanted sound because there was no realization about
the link between chanting and hearing of the same common target or the sound
string. The chanting and hearing were wrongly taught to the mind as being two
independent activities. Because of this when we focus on one we defocus from
the other ending up with one of them falling into trained automode.
Chanting and hearing are not two doings
Misunderstanding of hearing as a 'doing' and not realizing that it is a
'knowing, was the culprit. By default we all think we have to 'do' two things
in japa. Chanting and hearing. It is wrong. Chanting is 'doing' and hearing is
'knowing'. My mind cannot 'do' two things at a any moment. But it can do
something and know that something concurrently at the same moment.This ties up
chanting and hearing the same sound.
Suppose you want to pound some medicine into fine powder. You will use your
doing effort and knowing effort simultaneously on the target that you are
pounding and because of that the doing attention is on pounding and the knowing
attention is on the result of pounding concurrently. Doing and knowing had to
be on the same common target for something to be a involved attentive activity.
We apply doing and knowing together most naturally in so many of our daily
activities and it is not a difficult thing at al to do these two activities at
a time. But
contd....
17 April 2020
MD
09:13
Madhu Pandit Dasa
contd......
when it comes to japa, because of repetition, wrong habit is formed by
carelessness resulting in applying doing attention and knowing attention in a
disconnected manner.
Primary focus of both the efforts should be on the same target sound which is
currently manifesting before me on which the deliberate directed doing effort
and deliberate knowing-effort would simultaneously operate upon. The linking
factor for each bead of chanting-cum-hearing is the common sound string.
Because there is no knowledge and realization about this connectedness between
doing and knowing, this linking was not happening in the background mind.
Chanting and hearing was not being done as two connected operations on a common
target of the sound string but was always seen as two independent 'doings'.
We also engage in mistaken thinking that since I am not able to chant and hear
attentively let me atleast struggle to do one of them attentively. But that too
never works to keep the attention on japa. You can chant and hear with full
attention successfully only if you succeed in executing both concurrently as
related activities acting upon the same sound. Effort to do only one of then
will not lock the attention.
We also engage in mistaken thinking that since I am not able to chant and hear
attentively so let me atleast struggle to do one of them attentively. But that
too never works to keep the attention on japa. You can chant and hear with full
attention successfully only if you succeed in executing both concurrently as
related activities. Effort to do only one of then will not lock the attention.
Rest of my stay, the gardener chanted his 16 rounds everyday easily and
delighfully as a 'work' and I did my 108 rounds with so much energy flowing
from the Nama that by 7.30 pm I finished it and my tongue did not want to stop.
What a difference and a big discovery. Previous two days I was waiting to keep
the bead bag down and it dragged till 10 pm.
Please scrutinize the above Golden Quotes of Japa carefully. All the secret for
curing of inattentive japa is hidden in these few statements spoken by Srila
Prabhupada. That farm trip changed my life second time . First time my life
changed when I read two pages of who is Krishna from one page of Krishna book
by Srila Prabhupada in my IIT library as a student which caused me to join the
temple. And this was the next one that changed my life. The discovery resulted
in a growing relationship of flow of causeless mercy of Nama Prabhu ever since
then which I am sharing with all of you here in these modules. I only wished
that somebody had taught me this secret when I joined the temple in 1981. I
could have done nice japa for 30 years.
In next six months by practicing concurrent chanting-cum-hearing, my mind
learnt almost 90% to connect the doing and knowing acting upon the same Nama as
they manifested on the tongue one by one. Therefore I have made this as the
first training to develop mindful japa.
Why holding attention on japa seems a formidable task?
It is not possible to do japa by expending self-control by forcefully hold
knowing-attention or doing-attention, one in isolation of the other
contd....
09:13
.....contd
without both being together for 16 rounds or even one round. If our japa
demands struggle for that kind of self-control to hold the knowing attention or
doing attention, then we have to immediately conclude that the two activities
of doing and knowing are not linked to the same sound or sound string. We
should teach our mind that there cannot be sustained chanting without hearing
concurrently and there cannot be sustained hearing without chanting
concurrently. Sustained japa means concurrently chanting-cum-hearing.
Anyone who does chanting isolated from hearing or hearing isolated from
chanting will have to experience of struggle to hold attention. Because of this
struggle such a person would unconsciously form a perception or an impression
in his mind that offering continuous attention for japa is an energy draining
activity. This is exactly opposite of what real japa is about. Real chanting
and hearing is energy providing for the mind if done concurrently. Due to this
repeated failure to hold the attention, he creates a default paradigm that
attentive japa is a herculean task. When something is mentally tiring,
especially with repeated failure one will not be very enthusiastic to do that
activity. Either we struggle again and again to bring back the attention that
keeps running away or we just give way to use the wrongly habituated mind to do
inattentive japa.
Attentive Japa is not a struggle at all
The perception that attentive japa is always a struggle is not true at all
provided it is done as it should be done. Attentive japa is not a struggle if
it is done as concurrent doing and knowing that doing was the major discovery
by the mercy of the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu. The slogan should for attentive
japa should be ‘Desire’ nothing else, ‘Do’ nothing else and ‘Know’ nothing
else but Desire only to please the sound, Do only chanting and Know only the
sound before you here and now’.
So the solution to handle thinking during japa is not struggle to stop thought
processing by self control but instead start applying concurrently deliberate
doing effort to chant and knowing effort to hear with the help of direction of
Srila Prabhupada for it from the background mind.
A big problem solved
The gardener did 16 energetic rounds with so much ease and I also did my
108 rounds with great energy from the third day by applying the above steps of
chanting and concurrently knowing that very chanting for each of bead with
desire and hope to please that very Nama before me. There arose a hope and
confidence at the end of the third day that attentive japa was not after all an
impossible task if done properly as a concurrent doing of the sound and knowing
that sound. Rather it turned out to be a soul and mind energising activity.
Definitely that was a new energy entering the mind of the chanter in chanting
with concurrent hearing. I could get a glimpse of how great devotees like
Thakur Haridas got the energy to chant three hundred thousand names every day.
It appears like a herculean task only because we think there are two ‘ doings’
in japa and the idea of linking them to the same sound as absent. Actually
there is only one doing. The other is knowing. They are two different functions
of the soul which it is capable of applying simultaneously. When I did the japa
like the gardener did as doing and knowing that very doing my japa became
energising and there was zero mental fatigue in keeping the attention on japa
for the entire 108 rounds. My attention never ran towards some thought
processing as it usually happened unless there was some emergency situation.
Foreground, background mind and subconscious mind.
Please read Modules 5 to understand what is foreground mind,
background mind and subconscious mind. This knowledge is essential for the next
module which is a training module for chanting-cum-hearing concurrently.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
14:35
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 38 ( Training Module)
Name of Training: Concurrent chanting-cum-hearing
Pre-requiste- Read Module 37, 39 to 54
Method of Training:
Step 1. Foreground activity before japa is for planting the directions
and inspiration in short term memory to last the duration of one round
on the background mind by reading few quotes in a contemplative mood just
before chanting each round to drive the practice activity to be undertaken by
the foreground mind in step 2. This is to plant the content in short term
memory on the background mind. We are all capable of holding short term memory
of few hours to a day in our background mind by feeding it from outside. Now
here we are wanting it to last only for maximum 10 minutes during the period
you do one mala. Once trained background activity settles in the sub-conscious
mind and after that the subconscious will feed the same background content
automatically without needing step 1 at all.
Step 2. Foreground activity of Japa is the actual linked chanting and
hearing with the directions and inspiration from the background mind planted as
per step 1.
Prescription for first four weeks of practice
To be applied on all 16 rounds of daily japa daily.
Background objective: To charge background mind with the knowledge and
feeling of determination of linking chanting and hearing the same sound like a
obedient child.
Foreground objective: To train the mind to chant and hear that very
chant in a linked way.
First week
External resource: Print outs of points 1 to 3 below on a small pieces
of paper.
a) Foreground activity to feed background mind: Hear the following
instructions of Srila Prabhupada, for three times before you begin each
round by reading slowly from the printout in the spirit of an obedient child
and generate the feeling of determination (sankalpa) to follow Srila
Prabhupada's instruction exactly. It takes 1-2 minutes to read three times and
feel the process.
1. "The process is that you chant Hare Krishna, and exactly the same
sound you hear." Feel Srila Prabhupada stressing on the direction 'exactly
the same sound you hear'.
2." So, practice it, and you’ll see how spiritually you are making
advancement" - Feel Srila Prabhupada stressing on ' practice it'
and feel excited with great hope in Srila Prabhupada's assurance of making
spiritual progress.
3. "Chanting is very simple, but one must practice it seriously".
Note the stress on " simple" and " practice it
seriously"
Also remind once
Chanting is offering of a 'doing effort' and hearing is an
offering of a 'knowing effort' of that very sound to Nama Prabhu.
Hearing is not a 'doing'
b) Foreground activity to link to create linking mind slice :
Execute your japa on each bead to distinctly chant and hear that
very chant by the foreground mind driven by the feelings of determination from
the background mind to link both as instructed by Srila Prabhupada on
each Nama. After each mala go back and read once all 3 points. During the
chanting time once in a while look at the print out for extra support from
outside for linking chanting to hearing that very chant. Complete 16 rounds.
It is expected that first 30 days mind will wander due to old habit. As soon
as you detect immediately read the first quote and offer fresh doing effort and
linked knowing effort by loudly chanting. How to lock the mind is explained in
Module 49/108 ( also check out diamond quotes in Module 50)
c) and d) below is not for practice. Allow it to be there if it comes
naturally due to chanting so many years.
c) Tasking impulse between the beads: Once you finish
chanting-cum-hearing on each bead in the time gap before you move to the next
bead, feel a micro-second impulse of having accomplished one more successful
chanting-cum-hearing seva to Nama Prabhu and then move to the next bead with a
micro desire to build one more count of chanting-cum-hearing seva.
contd......
MD
14:56
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.......contd
d) Background Seva Bhaavana before each mala: During all the
practice sessions, thought-feeling or bhaavana that the activity on each bead
is being received by Sevya, who is Nama Prabhu as a service from me is
desirable in the background.
Second week
Resource : Take print out of points 1, 2 & 3
a) Foreground activity to feed background mind: Hear the following two
instructions of Srila Prabhupada for three times before you begin each
round by reading slowly with spirit of a obedient child and generate the
feeling of determination(sankalpa) to follow.
1. " You try to hear that very sound". Feel Srila Prabhupada
stressing ' that very sound'.
2." So, practice it, and you’ll see how spiritually you are
making advancement" -Feel the stress on 'practice it' and feel
excited with great hope in Srila Prabhupada's assurance of spiritual
advancement.
3. "Chanting is very simple, but one must practice it seriously".
Note the stress on " simple" and " practice it
seriously"
Also remind once that
Chanting is an offering of 'doing effort' or kriya cesta from the
heart and hearing is an offering of 'knowing effort' or jnana cesta
from the heart.
b) Foreground activity to link to create the linking mind slice : Same
as in first week
Optional c) Tasking impulse between the bead: Same as first week
and d) Background seva bhaavana: Same as first week
Third week
Resource : Take print out of points 1, 2, 3 & 4
a) Foreground activity to feed background mind:
Hear the following instruction from Srila Prabhupada, for three times
before you begin each round by reading slowly with spirit of a obedient child
and generate the feeling of determination to do it.
1. " When you chant you must hear also". Feel the
stressing by Srila Prabhupada on the word 'when' and 'must' which means
concurrent
2. " So, practice it, and you’ll see how spiritually you are
making advancement" - Feel the stress on ' practice it' and feel
excited with great hope in Srila Prabhupada's assurance of making spiritual
advancement.
3. "Chanting is very simple, but one must practice it seriously".
Note the stress on " simple" and " practice it
seriously"
4. "The words “Hare Krishna” should be very distinctly pronounced
and heard". Note the instruction 'distinctly pronounce'
Also remind once
Chanting is an offering of 'doing effort' or kriya cesta from the
heart and hearing is an offering of 'knowing effort' or jnana cesta
from the heart.
b) Foreground activity to link to create linking mind slice : Same as in
first week
Optional c) Tasking impulse between the bead: Same as first week
and d) Background seva bhaavana: Same as first week
Fourth week
Resource : Take print out of points 1, 2, 3 & 4
a) Foreground activity to feed background mind:
Hear the following instruction from Srila Prabhupada, for three times
before you begin each round by reading slowly with spirit of a obedient child
and generate the feeling of determination follow
1. "You simply chant Hare Krishna and try to hear the sound, that’s all"
Feel the stress by Srila Prabhupada on 'that's all' and be determined (vikalpa
shakti) not to do or know anything else. Only that much.
2." So, practice it, and you’ll see how spiritually you are making
advancement" - Feel the stress on ' practice it' and feel excited with
great hope in Srila Prabhupada's assurance of making spiritual advancement.
3. "Chanting is very simple, but one must practice it seriously".
Note the stress on " simple" and " practice it
seriously"
4. "The words “Hare Krishna” should be very distinctly pronounced and
heard". Note the instruction 'distinctly pronounce'
Remind yourself once that
Chanting is an offering of 'doing effort' or kriya cesta from the
heart and hearing is an offering of 'knowing effort' or jnana cesta
from the heart.
b) Foreground activity to link to create linking mind slice :
Same as in first week.
Optional c) Tasking impulse between the bead: Same as first week
and d) Background seva bhaavana: Same as first week
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
15:21
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 39
Sub: Golden commandments of Mindful Japa.
Srila Prabhupada reveals the secret: We have to chant and hear concurrently
The commandments of direction in the Golden
quotes 1 to 12 in this module confirms that proper way of japa is
chanting-cum-concurrent hearing. These commandments are simple specific and
concrete on how to japa is to be executed as a concurrent chanting as a doing
and hearing as a knowing of that very sound that you are chanting. The beauty
and simplicity of these instructions can strike us only by his causeless mercy
and when this understanding strikes you, it will completely change the quality
of our japa. Because it is so simple, it misses our attention normally.
Even after receiving this knowledge you don't benefit and your japa can be
still same as before if you do not follow the process to train the combination
of background mind and foreground mind to jointly execute this commandment . So
just taking satisfaction in discovering that we should chant and hear that very
chant is useless unless we stick to the daily training process for the period
prescribed period of 30 days in phase 1 and extended to another 60 days without
interrupting it even for a day.
Spiritual experience: When there is concurrent chanting and knowing that
very chant, there is a subtle flow of spiritual energy from the Nama Avatara
for each bead into the chanter's mind. It is the feel good of a flow of
spiritual energy that makes you chant and hear with super ease and want to
chant and hear more and more. But as you become free from inattentive japa
through this kind of attentive japa, this delightful taste of association of
Nama Avatara goes on increasing. Please note that I am not talking of the Nama
ruchi or intrinsic taste for tongue and ear that an advanced chanter tastes.
This is something even a beginner can feel in the form of uninterrupted divine
doing-knowing-tasking spiritualized energy. divya kriya-karya-cesta ruchi. it
is feeling of a taste of wanting to 'do'the sound and 'know' that very sound
more and more. This energy is coming because our cesta shakti releases
attention which is connects our soul with Shaktyavesha Nama. .
We often never catch simple points when we read Srila Prabhupāda’s
instructions. Every word uttered by him has great significance as we shall
discover below. Please note the bold portions of the quote, the implications of
which is explained below the quote in the light of the discovery that happened
in the gardener experiment.
These quotes can be called the Golden Commandments for mindful japa.
Please pay special attention to what is in bold within the quote.
Golden Quote 1
Hare Krishna means when I hear the sound, the transcendental sound
vibration Krishna, that means Krishna is on my tongue, on my ear. Therefore, if
we chant this vibration of transcendental sound with devotion and with
attention, that is the highest type of meditation and yoga. And very easy. The
process is that you chant Hare Krishna, and exactly the same sound you hear.
Lecture Bhagavad Gita in New York (660725NY)
Explanation : “the process is that you chant and exactly the same
sound you hear”. The direction given here by Srila Prabhupada hearing the same
sound that you chant is unambiguous and cannot be clearer than this. Śrīla
Prabhupāda is using the words “process” and “exactly the same sound you hear”. The
concept of chanting and hearing by concurrent action from our doing and knowing
on the common target of current Nama manifesting before us is very clear. Common
target of current Nama is what unites the doing effort and knowing effort.
(description of doing effort and knowing effort is in Module 41). This
again means hearing is linked as knowing the same sound. Doing and knowing is a
composite activity of concurrently chanting of the sound and knowing that very
same sound. Chanting and hearing ( knowing the sound) experience is one
simultaneous activity.
contd.....
15:22
Golden Quote 2
Chanting.
You simply hear. When you say, “Hare Krishna” you try to hear the very sound,
“Hare Krishna.” That’s all. Nothing more.
Lecture CC Madhya 6.24 Jan 8, 1968
Golden Quote 3
As you chant, try to hear each word very carefully and always complete your
sixteen rounds. Regular and attentive chanting, along with following the
four regulative principles will keep one pure. Simply by following these
principles and chanting Hare Krishna one can make his life successful and
perfect.Letter to
Tosana -- Calcutta 20 February, 1972:
Golden Quote 4
Prabhupäda: Yes. This is very important. When you will
chant, you’ll hear also.
Then your attention will be there. And you are chanting and you are
thinking something else, oh, that is also another offense. You should be
careful. Hare Krishna , Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. If you cannot
hear, then you will chant loudly, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna,
Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare. So you must hear. That
is wanted. Otherwise you will be inattentive. That is offense.
Initiation Lecture Los Angeles (710713 IN LA)
Golden Quote 5
You don’t keep your mind elsewhere. You keep your mind on the chanting. “Hare
Krishna” and hear. So, practice it, and you’ll see how spiritually you are
making advancement. You simply chant Hare Krishna and try to hear the sound,
that’s all……….
Lecture CC Madhya 6.24 Jan 8, 1968.
Explanation : Śrīla Prabhupāda is instructing us again to practice keeping
the attention on chanting and hearing the same sound concurrently so they get
linked. That is possible only if ‘doing the sound’ and knowing the
sound’ is targetted on the same sound. Chanting and hearing are not on two
targets but one doing and one knowing acting on the same sound.
Golden Quote 6
Prabhupada: Yes. When you chant, you must hear also. This
is attention. This is yoga………. The chanting must be heard by you. That is attention,
with attention.
Initiation Lecture in
Los Angeles ( 690110 IN LA)
Explanation : Śrīla Prabhupāda says “when you chant....". 'When' means
timing. You should hear concurrentlythe same current Nama that you are
chanting. Attention for chanting and hearing gets concurrently offered simply
by the application of doing-cum-knowing effort on the current Nama.
Golden Quote 7
While chanting, you must hear. Hare Krishna-you must give attention to hear.
Lecture-Montreal July 29, 1968
Explanation : ‘while chanting’ means concurrently you must hear the
current Nama.
So this process of chanting Hare Krishna, if we do it very nicely... Very
nicely means sincerely and with great attention. The process is the highest
yoga system. This transcendental vibration, if you simply concentrate your mind
on the vibration “Hare Krishna...”
Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam in Montreal ( 680819 SB Mon)
......
Golden Quote 8
The words “Hare Krishna” should be very distinctly pronounced and
heard......
Chanting is very simple, but one must practice it seriously.
Śrī Çaitanya Çaritāmrta Ādi-līla 17.32
Explanation: Note 'Pronounced and heard' means both as done
concurrently on same target sound, the currently manifesting Nama
contd......
15:24
......contd
Golden Quote 9
Therefore to clear this cloudy consciousness Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recommended
that one should simply chant the holy name of God sincerely and hear it with
attention.
VRN 6 Dec 1975
Explanation: Note 'simply chant... and hear it'. He is again
stressing that you should hear the same Nama that you chant. And that is the
currently manifesting Nama.
Golden Quote 10
Yes. Chanting and hearing, locked up. Mind is locked up. An because
Krishna vibration is locked up, then Krishna is locked up, because there is no
difference between Krishna and his name, absolute. Krishna is absolute.
Room Conversation- December 21, 1970, Surat.
Golden Quote 11
As soon as you chant Hare Krishna, you hear it, then your mind becomes
locked up.
Pandal Lecture Delhi, November 12, 1971
Golden quote 12
By chanting Hare krishna, one captures the mind immediately. Just by saying the
name krishna and hearing it, the mind is automatically fixed on krishna.
Book : The path of perfection
What is locking of attention on each Śaktyāvēşa Nāma mean? Locking of
attention means the doing the sound and knowing the same sound or Śaktyāvēşa
Nāma in a concurrent manner. So when you apply these two cestas on
each divine Namas concurrently the attention gets locked. Once attention is
locked there is flow of a drop of Divya cesta ruchi of serving
the Nama Prabhu with full attention. This ruchi is experienced as a
pleasant doing-cum-knowing taste. If only one of the two cestas is
offered then the locking does not happen. The locking or linking happens
only when the target of both cestas is the same sound. Only when both the
soul efforts from the heart are applied as per the linking direction to apply
them on the same sound and the attention gets locked. We have discussed how
attention locking does not happen if we don't target the cestas towards
the same sound which is the Golden commandments derived from the Golden Quotes.
Thus even if we attempt to apply both cestas without aiming at the
common target, the locking of attention does not happen. They have to be
offered in a linked manner at the point of the common target of current Nama.
Knowing cesta is to know the result of doing cesta which is to
hear the sound. That is how concurrently both can happen.
Our practice consists of
1. Offering Kriya cesta or doing effort to chant on the target of
current Nama.
2. Offering jnana cesta as knowing the same target of current Nama
concurrently to hear that very chant.
That is the commandment of Srila Prabhupada in the golden quotes. Chant and
exactly same sound you hear. The trained mind slice does exactly this as per
the golden quotes. It directs the Kriya cesta and jnana cesta to the common
target of the current Nama before you. Once trained then this part of linking
to a common target happens automatically while from your heart Kriya cesta and
jnana cesta will be flowing as the on line offering.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
15:24
Soulful Japa
Module 40/108
Habit can be a boon or a bane
We have to use the power of habit or habit will
use us arbitrarily. Japa is a daily activity that we perform. Any daily
activity, whether we realize it or not, habits get formed. And they could be
good or bad habits. If we have not carefully taken care of the training, our
present japa habits are sure to have a mixture of many good and bad habits.
Good habits are blessings, and bad habits are a bane and both become our second
nature and rule us. Changing habits can be painful. Especially if they are
pleasure habits.
So, should we not be careful about what we do with our mind day after day as it
is bound to automatically turn those learnings into habits, irrespective of
them being good or bad for quality japa? If you are satisfied by inattentive
japa every day, then you will train your mind for inattentive japa forever. If
you train your background mind to direct the foreground mind to execute
concurrent chanting-cum-hearing and also train the foreground mind to chant and
know the chant as per the linking direction from the background mind, then your
mind will learn attentive japa forever. If it is partly attentive and somewhat
inattentive, then the mind will learn that too. Training of the mind is anyway
happening for everyone because japa is a daily activity. The question is,
whether it is getting trained rightly or wrongly.
If the mind is not trained in a directed manner, the attention energy, which is
the main soul energy employed to touch the Nama Prabhu is diverted, distracted,
and ‘wheeled’ to so many other things during japa. Without attentive japa we
will never advance to the next level of soul purification - to the point of
development of attraction and attachment to Krishna and eventually do japa as a
personal service, with love and devotion.
Better late than never. Being a machine, the mind and body system takes a
finite time and a definite process to be trained in the essentials if we are
serious. This will take an even shorter time for a fresher, since a beginner
has not wrongly trained the yantra, and his slate is clean. For those who are
having wrong japa habits, it takes a longer time to undo these unproductive
japa habits.
Stagnating vs. Crawling vs. Galloping towards better Japa
Thus, simply a large number of years of chanting do not amount to anything
substantial unless we get ourselves to actually spiritually touch the sound
incarnation with our attention continuously without distraction of the
attention to 'thinking' or thought processing.
For instance, a devotee who is chanting 16 rounds religiously every day, while
he nurtures the habit of continuously thinking about his day’s preaching
services or solving problems or doing creative thinking for Krishna’s service
during japa, has got into a bad habit of thinking during japa.
His thoughts should be engaged in appreciative remembrance of the each
name-sound incarnation as he descends in real time before him as the Sevya to
whom you are offering you chanting and hearing . Otherwise such thinking
permanently blocks the soul from directly touching the Nama Prabhu, the
Personality of holy name, as his attention is not on chanting or hearing, and
he will only stagnate spiritually with that wrong habit.
Or, if it is partially mixed with some thinking along with some attentive
chanting and hearing here and there, then one may be making crawling progress
by such minimal association.
And if one goes through the phase of disciplining and training his mind in a
certain way to maximize the flow of unlimited spiritual energies of the
Personality of holy name to touch and purify the mind and body, then the
sādhaka’s progress can be likened to be galloping towards a better and better
japa and making significant spiritual progress.
So, one can choose to either stagnate in his japa, make a crawling progress
with his japa slowly, or gallop quickly towards good japa. It is the sādhaka’s
choice
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
16:35
Madhu Pandit Dasa
16:36
Soulful Japa
Module 41/108
Doing effort and knowing effort.
This misconception that hearing is some kind of
a doing causes us to struggle to hear as if we have to 'do' something. Fine
perception of what is 'doing' and what is 'knowing' has to perceived within us
by observing them carefully as we use them for everything. That fine differentiated
perception that these are two kinds of effort, namely doing effort and knowing
effort is a must for attentive japa. These are two distinct efforts of the
heart which releases attention to do and know. Subtle cesta is heart action and
is called atma cesta. Krishna wants that. Offering that cesta to chant and hear
from our heart is the devotional service. Not mechanical trained auto doing,
mindless, soul-less body japa.
Doing and knowing are very fundamental faculties of the soul. One is a soul faculty
that activates our karma indriyas, senses of action and other is a faculty that
activates our jnana indriya or knowledge acquiring senses. When these two
different kinds of efforts are applied simultaneously on one common target
Nama, it merges into a composite activity which will resulting in
simultaneous doing-cum-knowing. To chant and as well as hear simultaneously.
When we put effort or cesta through karma-indriya our soul releases
doing-attention. When we put effort or cesta through jnana-indriya we
release the knowing-attention. And when we apply the two efforts simultaneously
on the same Nama we release composite doing-knowing attention. That means we
'do' the sound and 'know that sound' concurrently. But knowing effort and doing
effort are two different kinds of cesta or effort.
Śrīla Rūpa Gōswāmi in his Bhaktirasāmrta Sindhu uses the phrase Krishnārthākhila-çēstā,
indicating that one should always offer çēstā or efforts which pleases
Krishna. Krishnārthā means for Krishna’s purpose or pleasure. Japa is
offering of one such Krishnārthākhilaçēstā. Atma cēstā means an act of effort
to offer attention from the subtle plane of the soul for doing and knowing.
Also, as already discussed, cēstā or effort is also one of the five factors for
accomplishment of all actions as revealed by Krishna in Bhagavad Gītā 18.14. In
japa this cēstā is the deliberate doing effort or kriyā cēstā to chant
one Nama and the concurrent knowing-effort or jnana-cēstā to distinctly
hear that very same mantra. On each of the Namas it becomes one combined
concurrent doing-knowing effort.
An example of spanner and screw driver
By doing effort you cannot know. To know you need knowing effort. Otherwise
it is like using a spanner to unscrew a screw instead of using a screw driver.
Spanner is a tool for opening a nut and bolt. Screw driver is another tool for
unscrewing a screw. We have to use the spanner to remove a nut- bolt and use
the screwdriver to unscrew a screw. There is no use of having both tools in
your hand but wrongly applying spanner on the screw or applying the screw
driver on the nut-bolt. With all good intentions to do attentive japa we
precisely do this mistake of applying doing effort to hear the Nama. We have
use each tool for what it can do. Use spanner for nut-bolt and use the screw
driver for the screw.
Spanner and screw driver working together
Now let us take a different scenario. Suppose there is a screw holding
together something with a nut on the other end of the screw. To separate the
nut from the screw you need both screw driver to turn the screw and spanner to
hold the nut. Then you can tighten it or undo both in mutually linked manner.
Japa is like this. We have to use doing effort for chanting and knowing effort
to hear that very chant in a linked manner on a common sound.
Focussing on only one instruction in isolation is the problem-Solution is to
offer concurrent-linking instruction from background mind
When we hear one sided instructions that we should chant distinctly, that
time we
contd......
16:36
......contd
apply that instruction alone in isolation and focus on only chanting with doing
effort or kriya çēstā releasing only the doing-attention and we end up
doing inattentive japa after few beads. Another time we hear instruction that
we should hear sharply the details and that time we again over emphasise only
that instruction alone in isolation and we focus on hearing or jnana çēstā
to offer only knowing-attention. Again we again fail after few beads.
This kind of focussing on only one effort and trying to be attentive without
linking them together concurrently as doing and 'knowing that doing' is the
cause of mental fatigue during japa . Because it creates mental fatigue the
attention runs away to more comfortable concurrent doing and knowing activity
which is thought processing where doing and knowing is happening concurrently
due to the need of thinking activity. Japa means concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing and not just only chanting or just only hearing.
Forcefully trying to take away knowing-attention from thought processing where
it is locked up demands self-control energy and that is never the way to do japa.
We have to first lock doing-knowing attention on to each current chant in the
first place taking cue from the linking direction from the background mind.
Keep the doing effort and knowing effort concurrently on each Nama in a linked
manner and doing and knowing that doing. Then there is no question of self
control energy to be expended as the background mind will lock the attention on
sound.
During training due to old habit even if the knowing attention goes away once
in a while, self control to bring back the attention on japa each time against
the pull of the attention from some other activity is a mental energy sucking
effort. It is not a pleasant cesta or effort. Fatigue leads to sleepiness. That
is how we bring back the attention to japa.That is not the way of attentive
japa. The right ways advised by Srila Prabhupada is, whenever mind escapes
japa, the a background mind slice should be trained to prompt us to offer fresh
doing effort and knowing effort and fresh attention on the current Nama.The way
to do is to do it exactly as Srila Prabhupada has asked us to do in the Diamond
Quotes ( Module 50).
Sankalpa is a feeling of determination to keep our doing-knowing effort and
vikalpa is also feeling negative determination to keep away doing effort or
knowing effort from going away to some other domain of application of doing and
knowing is required during the new habit formation. In this way we use our
positive free will and negative free will to link our knowing attention to
sound being chanted.
If we have to succeed we have to apply both the doing-effort and knowing-effort
on the same sound each time we chant. Neither is there need for self control
energy to hold the knowing-attention to hear the Hare Krishna Nāma once they
are linked and applied on the same sound because of the flow of pleasant
taste flowing into our heart from Nama Prabhu. This is the secret of concurrent
chanting and hearing. Applying both doing and knowing concurrently on the same
sound is the way of struggle-less mindful attentive japa because of the flow of
that pleasant taste that flows into our mind and heart of the divine
doing-knowing-tasking ruchi released by Nama Prabhu.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
16:38
MD
17:00
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 42
Training process explained.
When we chant-cum-hear the same sound in a
linked manner as a doing of uttering the sound and knowing of that sound as
soon as it is uttered, it results in releasing of this self-energising
spiritual energy taste from Nama Prabhu. This flow of energy arising from the
attention connection that is established by doing the Nama-knowing the Nama (
Shaktyavesha Nama) on one bead, encourages our heart to go for the next bead to
taste once more that pleasant taste. Soon the concentration becomes subtly
addictive as we go bead after bead. And that holds the attention. Once we
create a pleasant tasty energetic situation for the mind and heart, the
attention will not go away anywhere. It will want to taste the concurrent doing
and knowing of each manifesting Nama before us.
Ultimately we can hold attention only by the mercy of the Nama Prabhu in
reciprocation to our sincere efforts to offer doing effort to chant and knowing
effort to hear that very Nama currently before us. After practice stage the
targeting on same sound and linking is done automatically by the trained mind
slice and there is no need the reading the golden quotes before each round.
The gardener, for the reasons like newness of the mantra and newness of the
process , end of the day the result was that the attention stayed on the holy
name. After the gardener’s mind learns the process in few weeks, the newness
will be gone. After that his attention will not stay on the Nama unless he
voluntarily offers doing-cum-knowing effort. It is the newness that made him
know the mantra concurrently and execute a doing-knowing linked japa. Once
mantra becomes memorised and process becomes trained this automatic linking
effect is gone.
This is what happened to each one of us too. Once newness was gone, our
attention started roaming. Now we have to find some other means by which we
keep the doing-cum-knowing on the same sound. As long as that happens the
spiritual energy to hold attention comes from the divine sound or Nama Prabhu
Himself and old habit can be broken easily with His help.
The training process
So by what means do we do this. Background mind can be trained to give
direction to the foreground mind by creating a habit of concurrent application
of doing effort and knowing effort on the current Nama as doing the sound and
knowing that very sound. Just like if you want to drive to the Airport, your
background mind will give direction to the foreground mind on the route to be
taken while it is busy in operating the steering, brakes etc to deal with the
traffic on the road. So background mind is very powerful and can be trained to
help the foreground mind in this task current chanting-cum-hearing each Nama
that is manifesting 'here and now' before you.
We meet this challenge in japa first by practicing to repeatedly take help of
the direction in the background mind to drive the foreground mind to direct the
two efforts on to the same target Nama currently before us. The combination of direction-giving
background mind and direction-following foreground mind gets trained
when they combinedly repeat the linked chanting-cum-hearing. This is the only
possibility and it works wonders.
To train the mind, initially you have to place this linking direction in the
background mind for each mala of japa by reading these quotes just before
beginning each mala with the intention that it stays there in the background
only for 108 beads.
contd......
MD
20:17
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
We also take external help too by keeping a print out of the direction before
you while doing the japa as prescribed in the Module 38. During practice
time its take more time for completing each round. In two three days it takes
about 8 to 8.5 minutes per mala.
Soon the background mind will learn its role to direct the foreground mind
to apply the doing effort and knowing effort on the same target which is the
currently manifesting Nama and linking them as chanting and hearing that very
chant. At end of training period you will find that you don't need to read
the quote or keep your print out in front of you as prescribed in training
module Module 38. This is why I assured that you can learn mindful japa in
maximum of six months for sure. It is matter of training the mind to combine
the doing cestas and knowing cesta on the same target sound. A material
phenomenon of programming the mind takes finite time. However the new habits
over rule old habit only because of the pleasant taste infused by Nama Prabhu
as against unpleasant tiresome old habit. Spiritually the result is because the
chanter avoids the tenth offense of being inattentive and are helped by the
pleasant energy from Nama Prabhu Himself due to the soul touching the
omnipotent Nama avatara wiht his attention.
Good japa feeds energy by itself for better japa:
One of the fundamental propositions being made here, is that there is energy to
do good japa in the Nama itself if we connect ourselves with the Nama Prabhu
with concurrent chanting-cum-hearing. Burdensome, tedious chanting is due to
the reason that a few minute aspects of the japa process has still not struck
the mind of the sādhaka sufficiently. Being the yuga dharma, japa is meant for
common man. It is very much possible to do attentive japa naturally and easily
by everyone , without it becoming a big tapas or austerity like other forms of
meditation. Even if tapas is there due to wrong japa habits already existing in
you subconscious mind, it is only for the first few months of training of the
mind under the direction of the Āçhārya. Tapas appears more for us because we
have taught the mind all bad japa habits. Now by regular practice of concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing of each sound a new mind slice is trained in 30 days. And
if we continue that for 90 days the old bad japa habits are completely wiped
out.
Once that stage is crossed, there is no tapas for japa. It evolves into a
smooth flow of loving association, service and surrender to the Lord, energized
by the Lord Himself with transcendental knowledge, spiritual strength, and
blissful doing. Good japa acts as a spiritual energy feed to help us better our
japa if we lock our attention by simultaneously doing-cum-knowing effort on
each sound. The better our japa gets, the more energy we are supplied with, for
even better japa. It is a continuous improvement process of perfecting japa,
both on the mind plane and soul plane.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
18 April 2020
MD
10:40
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 43/108
Diamond quotes to control the wander mind
Subject: How to bring back the mind from inattentive
chanting during practice
Diamond Quote 1
Chapter 5 - Determination and Steadiness in Yoga (The Path of
Perfection)
Rather, the recommended method is chanting loudly and hearing Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Then, even if the mind is diverted, it will be forced to concentrate on the
sound vibration “Kṛṣṇa.” It isn’t necessary to withdraw the mind from
everything; it will automatically be withdrawn, because it will be concentrated
on the sound vibration. If we hear an automobile pass, our attention is
automatically diverted. Similarly, if we constantly chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, our mind
will automatically be fixed on Kṛṣṇa, although we are accustomed to think of so
many other things.
Explanation: Every time the mind goes away from japa into thinking, just
apply freshly doing effort/ kriya çēsta and knowing effort concurrently as per
direction in golden quotes. No separate endeavour required to bring the mind
back.
Diamond Quote 2
Morning walk Feb 3 1975 Hawai
Devotee: Srila Prabhupada, it's is very difficult to control the
mind when I chant. It wanders.
Prabhupada: So what is the controlling of the mind? You have to chant
and hear. Thats all. You have to chant with your tongue and the sound you hear.
That's all. What is the question mind.
Explanation: Srila Prabhupada stresses on applying cesta and not dragging
your mind. The whole idea of the practice is to activate a new mind slice for
mindful japa and keep making it stronger and stronger by the day through
repetition than starve the old mind slice of mindless japa as much as possible.
Starve the old habit which you want to kill and feed the new habit which you
want to train.
Diamond Quote 3
Bhagavad-gītā 6.25-29 Lecture, Los Angeles, February 18, 1969
Therefore this is the only method, that you chant loudly and hear Hare
Kṛṣṇa. If your mind is in other things, it will be forced to concentrate on
the sound vibration "Kṛṣṇa." You haven't got to withdraw your mind
from other; automatically it will be withdrawn, because the sound is there.
Explanation: Again don't try to withdraw the mind from where it has gone.
Just apply fresh doing effort and knowing effort as per golden quotes. Each
time it goes simply apply direction as per golden quotes.
Diamond Quote 4
Bhagavad-gītā 7.1 Lecture, Durban, October 9, 1975
Mind is so agitated, you cannot concentrate. But if you chant loudly,
"Hare Kṛṣṇa!" your mind will be forced to be drawn and hear Kṛṣṇa.
Then mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. If you practice
this, then asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu: [Bg. 7.1] "If
you try to hear Me attentively..." Bhagavān uvāca. Who is speaking?
Bhagavān, the Supreme Person, the Absolute Person. There is no mistake, there
is no cheating, there is no imperfection, and there is no illusion. It is
perfect.
Explanation : When not able to concentrate simple apply the direction as
per golden quotes and chant loudly using kriya cesta from your heart and jnana
cesta will force the mind to come to hear the chant.
Diamond Quote 5
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.28.19 Lecture, Nairobi, October 29, 1975
Suppose one is big businessman. He is always thinking of his business, how
to sell this, how to purchase this. This is... His mind is absorbed with these
things. So if he sits down to meditate upon the Lord, it will not be possible.
It will not be possible. His mind will be disturbed, and he will think of his
business transaction. So that is natural. But if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa
loudly, you will be forced to hear "Kṛṣṇa," and that Kṛṣṇa
immediately comes within your mind by force. So it is better process than sit
down and think of Kṛṣṇa.
Explanation: loudly chant to bring back the disturbed mind to mindful japa.
contd.....
19 April 2020
MD
07:35
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Diamond Quote 6
Letter to: Gerald, 19th February, 1971
Do not be disappointed if sometimes your mind gives some agitation. Such
agitation is only temporary and will be driven away by chanting. So chant
loudly whenever there is some disturbance and hear the transcendental sound
attentively.
Explanation: When mind is agitated just apply kriya cesta and loudly chant
and concurrently jnana cesta to know that very chanted Nama as per direction of
the golden quotes.
Application to Japa
In short, every time mind goes away to thinking during japa just apply
doing effort and concurrent knowing effort from the soul afresh as per
direction of the golden quote and the mind will automatically come back. This
superior method of mind control by invoking Nama Prabhu in the scene than the
inferior and arduous way of taking the bull by its horns as other yogis do to
bring back the roaming mind without Krishna in the scene but just by his own
mind power.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
07:59
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 44/108
The role of Diamond commandments in controlling the wandering mind during
practice
Handling the wandering mind during practice is
not to handle the old mind-slice but feed the new mind slice. Now during
practice stage due to old habit, the mind goes into thinking mode leaving the
japa to auto doing and auto tracking. Practice means we have have to bring back
the mind on japa. There are two ways of bringing back the mind. One is inferior
method and other is superior method. Yogis who do silent meditation try to
bring back the mind with their free will and exercise free will to hold it on
one point. This is inferior method. It is inferior because Krishna's help is
not in this method as He is not in the scenario.This will create a fatigue in
the mind and hence it is a big austerity It is merely the mental strength of
the yogi. This is clearly not our method.
Our method is to apply the Diamond Commandments in the six quotes in the
previous module. is the superior method. In japa practice it is not at all
effective to hold the mind and bring it back to the Nama Prabhu directly as the
yogis do and that will create a mental fatigue. Instead of holding the mind and
bringing it back we should follow the superior method where we get help from
Krishna Nama Himself. That method is to apply the kriya cesta/ doing
effort from the soul to chant along with jnana cesta / knowing effort to
know that very chant again and again by ignoring the mind slice that has gone
away. Just repeat the action, kriya cesta, as per commandment in the
golden quotes as many times as the mind runs away.
contd......
08:01
.....contd
Why does it work so well and easily? Remember soul is superior to mind. Mind is
a servant of soul. We are ones who create mind slices by training who are our
servant. The cesta shakti from the soul is the master of the mind at all
times. So use the master to create the kind of mind slice we want . We want
mind-slice that will lock our two cestas on each Nama in a linked manner. A
mind slice that will facilitate a mindful Japa. For this we have to repeatedly
apply concurrently the two kinds of cestas to serve none other that
Krishna Himself. Strengthening the desirable mind-slice while ignoring the old
mind slice is the trick. This is the superior method.
If the mind goes away from japa ten times in a minute just apply cooly kriya
cesta ten times freshly and chant and hear that very chant with concurrent
jnana cesta. Slowly ten times will decrease to 9 times a minute and then to
8 times a minute and to 7 times a minute and so and finally 0 times a minute.
From out of this repeated practice one new mind-slice learns this work of
linking our two efforts onto to same target and facilitate concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing which locks our mind on the Śaktyāvēşa Nāma. After that
you don't have to worry about mindless japa. This way the mind itself learns
how to lock the attention on the sound. Remember our goal concurrent
application of the two cestas to touch the same Nama.
Srila Prabhupada advises the above described method in thes diamond quotes to
implement the golden we quotes.
Chapter 5 Path of Perfection
Therefore this is the only method, that you chant loudly and hear Hare
Kṛṣṇa. If your mind is in other things, it will be forced to concentrate on the
sound vibration "Kṛṣṇa." You haven't got to withdraw your mind from
other; automatically it will be withdrawn, because the sound is there.
Note Srila Prabhupada says " you haven't got to withdraw your mind from
other". Your only effort should be to "chant loudly and hear
Hare Krishna" and not struggle to bring back the mind. Mind will follow
where the cesta shakti of the soul goes. Control point is cesta
shakti from the soul. Control point is not the mind nor its attention.
Again in a Morning walk Feb 3 1975 Hawai
Devotee: Srila Prabhupada, it's is very difficult to control the
mind when I chant. It wanders.
Prabhupada: So what is the controlling of the mind? You have to chant
and hear. Thats all. You have to chant with your tongue and the sound you hear.
That's all. What is the question mind.
There are four other similar diamond training commandments of Srila Prabhupada
in the previous module.
Srila Prabhupada stresses on applying cesta and not dragging your mind. The
whole idea of the practice is to activate a new mind slice for mindful japa and
keep making it stronger and stronger by the day through repetition than starve
the old mind slice of mindless japa as much as possible. Starve the old habit
which you want to kill and feed the new habit which you want to train.
...........
Two phases of practice
Practice stage consists of two phases. First phase is 30 days. Phase two is
60 days after that. In thirty days the old thinking japa is overtaken by
hearing japa 100%. The mindless japa is overtaken by mindful japa. The
competitions between them stops. But it takes another 60 days for the new
program of concurrent chanting-cum-hearing to get deeply engraved in our
subconsciousness.
Meanwhile in these 60 days the old programming of thinking japa gets once for
all erased because of non-use. When a muscle in the body is not used regularly
and kept idle from use for long time it decreases its size and they become
weaker and weaker by the day and eventually begin to shrink. In medical terms
it is called disuse atrophy. Same thing happens to any habit which is not used
regularly. It gets weaker and weaker by the day and finally the habit no longer
has any strength to push the mind or the senses. Old habit is finished. The
neural circuits in the brain are dismantled.
.....contd
MD
08:29
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
However during first 30 days the old programming of thinking japa will
influence and succeed many times to defeat hearing japa. How to deal with it.
Tell yourself it is normal to expect the mind to go away from hearing japa into
thinking leaving the japa to body japa during this period. So during this
period your japa will be combination of mindless and mindful japa. Not to
worry. Each time it goes away just apply the kriya cesta or doing
effort from the heart (soul) to chant with jnana cesta to know that very
chant as per golden quote as explained above. Don't try inferior method of
trying to bring the mind or attention back. Just follow the golden commandment
of Srila Prabhupada and apply it. Don't bother about your old mind slice at
all. Just keep activating the new mind slice and strengthening it. Cesta
shakti does not originate in the mind. It originates in the soul beyond the
mind and it will bring the mind back to japa.
Once trained, rest of life you don't have to worry about mindless body japa.
Detailed training module is Module 38. Please do step by step what is
prescribed there to kill old mindless Japa and establish mindful Japa.
Investment for 90 days will serve you rest of your life even if it is ninety
years. And what is fruit of such Nama Japa whole life? Serving attention-connection
and attention-touch of Śaktyāvēşa Nāma and the merciful release of flow
of satcitananda energies into our soul awakening from ignorance resulting in
self realization and God realization and experience of love of Godhead even in
this life. Is it not worth the effort of 90 days?
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
08:38
Minimum background
thought-feeling of seva bhaavana for all practice modules.
My concurrent chanting-cum-hearing is an
offering of seva being received by Sevya who is the very name-sound I am
currently chanting-cum-hearing to please. Remember that adding any
thought-feeling in the background mind does not distract our practice steps.
But thoughts alone in the foreground mind without converting it into a feeling
in background mind distracts giving the foreground mind. Background mind main
job is to give linking direction to foreground mind in this training phase.
Therefore during off japa time repeat this thought and convert the activity on
each bead into the feeling or bhavana of 'offering'. Note that 'offering' is
thought-feeling or bhaavana of the heart.
If you prepare this simple bhaavana in the background mind, then the
pleasantness being already experienced on each bead due to concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing increases multifold.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
09:20
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.......contd
Soulful Japa
Module 45/108
Subject : Tug of war between old mind slice of thinking japa and new mind slice
of mindful japa which is being trained
Vishnujana: How will it be possible, Prabhupada, for a man whose mind is
clouded to constantly chant Hare Krishna? A man who's always thinking thoughts
about family, friends, country, nation?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Think of. At the same time, chant. Two things will go on, and
this will conquer. [chuckling] As maya is forcing you to drag you from this
Krishna consciousness, you also force maya by chanting Hare Krishna. There is
fight. And mäyä will go away.
daivi hy esā gunamayi
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etām taranti te
[Bg. 7.14]
This māyā is very strong. She'll force you to entice you to other path. But if
you do not stop, if you chant loudly...
Just like Haridāsa Thakura was chanting, and maya could not victimize him. You
know that? What was his stand? Simply chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. māyā could
not entice. Māyā failed. Māyā became his disciple. He did not become māyā's
disciple.
This is tug of war. So don't be afraid of māyā. Simply enhance chanting
and you'll be conqueror. That's all. Nārāyana-parāh sarve na kutashcana
bibhyati [SB 6.17.28]. We are not afraid of māyā because Krishna is there. Yes.
Krishna says, kaunteya pratijānihi na me bhaktah pranashyati [Bg. 9.31]. You just
declare, "My devotee will never be vanquished by māyā " māyā cannot
do anything. Simply you have to become strong. And what is that strength?
Chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, loudly. Yes.
Woman devotee: What is maya? I know that it's attractive...
Prabhupāda: māyā means which drags you from Krishna. That is māyā.
Woman devotee: Is it a spiritual form?
Prabhupāda: Whatever form may be, [it is] force. We shall see form later on.
You just... Just like a police sends a warrant, arrest. You do not ask what is
the form of the police, but here is warrant, you have to go. Force, that's all.
Similarly, don't try to understand what is māyā's form, but you just feel her
(as a force), how she is acting. How she is putting you in difficulty. Mäyä
puts into this difficulty and you are encumbered. That we have to understand,
how I have become encumbered. In my childhood I was free. There was no
encumbrances. Now I am encumbered. I am harassed. This is māyā's action. So if
you want to get out of this māyā's influence, then you have to become Krishna
consciousness. There is no other alternative. Chant Hare Krishna.
Application to Japa training module 38.
Here Srila Prabhupada is saying that there will be a tug of war between the
old japa habit of thinking japa and the new mind slice your are preparing for
the mindful japa. This kind of wandering of the mind is what has been explained
in the training module 38. We can be easily be successful in this tug of war if
we take help of Golden quotes and Diamond quotes in a very effective way. The
following is one additional tip that makes the golden quote work very
effectively for you.
Summary Tip for applying golden quotes ( Module 39, 40)
It is very important that during practice sessions as per training module 38,
when you read three times the golden quotes before you begin each round, you
should have only a very simple intention of remembering it for the duration of
one mala. Tell your background mind "I want to remember this
instruction only for 108 beads of my foreground japa". While reading
do not make the mistake of giving a big task to memorise it for rest of life.
Just for one mala. Do the same thing before each mala. This is the way to teach
the mind. If you do this then, it will easily drive the foreground mind with
the direction for a full round of japa from the background. Without your effort
for that if you do what is told for 30 days, you will automatically remember it
for rest of your life.
MD
16:44
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Remember that you the foreground mind should be driven by the background mind
who is charged with determination to follow Srila Prabhupada's golden
commandments. And essential direction is to apply both kriya cesta and jnana
cesta on the same target of the currently manifesting Nama. This linked
application merges the two efforts on the same Nama to create the composite
Doing-knowing activity.
Summary Tip for applying diamond quotes.
As many times as the minds goes away from the Nama to thinking japa, you simply
apply the Kriya cesta to chant loudly as per the diamond commandments.
The goal of training is to activate more and more beads of concurrent
chanting-cum-hearings to fatten the new mind slice for mindful japa by applying
it many times and to deactivate only mind slice which does thinking japa.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
17:18
Madhu Pandit Dasa
In reply to this message
Chanting is doing
faculty of the soul applied in producing the name-sound and hearing is a
knowing faculty of the soul applied on the very same name-sound on each bead.
And it is a personal offering to the very sound that is chanted and heard. The
very same sound whom we are chanting currently is the Sevya , the Nama Avatara
who is receiving my offering of doing and knowing.
MD
21:20
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 46
Concurrent chanting-cum-hearing forces us to be here and now
Mindful means being here and now. If
chanting and hearing is linked up as concurrent activity of doing and knowing
of that very doing, then it is a requirement that our consciousness or
attention has to be sensitive to what is happening at every moment. Mind cannot
go out of the present. The Names are continuously changing from Hare Krishna to
Hare Krishna to Krishna Krishna to Hare Hare to Hare Rāma to Hare Rāma to Rāma
Rāma to Hare Hare. So, to be on top of it to hear the currently chanted sound,
the consciousness or attention of the chanter compulsorily has to be here and
now on what is happening, and attention cannot be free for anything else
especially thinking about past or future. As a corollary, if attention is
locked up here and now, chanting and hearing will be a linked chanting and
hearing.
Vikalapa shakti means the negative determination (it is a feeling) for each
bead during practice : Apply vikalpa shakti to
‘Desire’ nothing els,
‘Do’ nothing else
‘Know’ nothing else.
Sankalapa shakti means positive determination ( it is a feeling) for each bead:
Apply sankalpa shakti to
‘Desire’ only the Nāma sound’,
‘Do’ only the Nāma sound and concurrently
‘Know’ only the Nāma sound.
Apply this in a single stretch for 108 beads and then mala after mala. This is
the positive determination and negative determination of japa.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
23 April 2020
MD
23:38
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote 57
Dr. Patel: But if only tongue works and the mind
does not work, it has no value.
Prabhupāda: So mind will... You chant loudly, "Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare
Kṛṣṇa"; the mind will come.
Dr. Patel: This mind, buddhi, and the jīva in it, all the three must carry on
with the chanting.
Prabhupāda: Hmm.
Dr. Patel: Then it is real chanting.
Prabhupāda: You have to practice. You have to practice. Not all of a sudden
these three things can be combined so you can become.... It requires practice.
Jaya. Abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena cetasā nānya-gāminā [Bg. 8.8]. You have to practice.
Your mind cannot go outside. Then it will be... You have to become the master
of your mind. You cannot be dictated by the mind. Then you are victim. There is
a verse that "The mind is friend, and mind is enemy. One who can dictate
the mind, his mind is friend. And one who is dictated by the mind, his mind is
enemy." So we have to learn how to dictate, control the mind. And that is
yoga system. Yoga indriya-saṁyama.
Application to Japa
Srila Prabhupada says that all three, namely tongue, mind and intelligence and
soul cesta to combine, it requires practice. This is the training for mindful
japa. This is what we are doing. the quotes are direction how to do and when to
do which is nothing but intelligence. The intelligence turns it into a feeling
of determination to do it that way. Then intelligence is involved in japa.
Feeling of a determination to something in a particular way is a function of
the intelligence. Then when the foreground mind executes the direction of that
intelligence then mind is involved. Generally when the word mind is used it
means also intelligence. So both background mind and foreground mind can be
trained by practice.
Mind will become what we want it to become is confirmed by Srila Prabhupada.
The mind has no more powers than what powers we have given it by training it in
a particular way. It can be our friend if we make to our friend by training it
to act intelligently. It can be our enemy if we make it our enemy by training
it to act ignorantly.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
24 April 2020
MD
05:19
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 47
Doing is an output activity and knowing is an input activity.
Doing is an effort or cesta of the soul which
involves moving something outside the soul. But 'knowing' is an effort or cesta
to know something. By knowing we do not move anything. We just know. Doing
effort is an act of the soul whereby one of our karma-indriyas act upon this
world. You are impacting the world by 'doing'. Knowing is an input coming from
the world into you. Knowing impacts your inner world. By doing you impact the
world and by knowing the world impacts us.
Knowing effort of the soul is to take something into you. It is effort for an
input activity. You need knowing effort to take into your mind forms through
eyes, sounds through ears, tastes through tongue, touch through skin, smell
through nose. Therefore eyes, sound, ear, tongue, skin, nose are called jnana
indriyas. Jnana-indriya means senses that facilitate knowing. Soul's jnana
cesta or knowing effort acts through the gross and subtle jnana indiyas to
perform attentive knowing by releasing knowing attention.
Similarly there are karma indiyas through which we act upon the world. Voice,
hands, legs, genitals and anus. Our kriya cesta acts through the karma indiyas
to perform attentive doing or moving things by releasing doing attention.
Where should be apply our free will when we find the attention has escaped
and you find yourself doing only mechanical japa? Should it be applied for
releasing doing attention and knowing attention or for releasing doing effort
and knowing effort. Please understand this law. Attention follows effort or
cesta. Apply your free will in offering doing effort from the heart to chant
and concurrently knowing effort from the heart to know that very chanted sound.
You don't have to bother about attention at all. Effort will automatically
direct attention to the domain of application of effort or cesta. It is that
simple. The principle is that our attention follows our cesta or efforts.
From now onwards don't say I am unable to control my attention. Attention is a
consequence of cesta. Instead you learn to say I am unable to control by cesta
or effort. Then your free will can keep on reapplying cesta again and again in
a linked manner to the Sabdha driven by the feeling of sankalpa/vikalpa loaded
in the background mind by reading the golden quote with feeling of obedience to
Srila Prabhupada before you begin each new round.
In the next module we will discover some diamond quotes that guide us as to
what to do when mind wanders during practice based on this principle that
attention follows wherever atma cesta or soul's effort is applied.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
25 April 2020
MD
08:37
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 48/108
Quality of doing-attention is called Ēkatva and
Quality of knowing-attention is called Anutva
One ayurvedic student who was hearing my japa
seminar informed me that they are taught from the vedas that that there are two
qualities of mind. One is ēkatva, and other is anutva. I did some
further reading and found out these as a measure of the qualities of our
attention. Eka means one and tva indicates quality. Ekatva
means quality of doing only one well defined thing without being distracted to
to other doings. Anu means minute details. Anutva means sharpness
in knowing the details of what you are knowing..
Ekatva in japa is the quality of doing-attention or doing concentration
to chant. It means single pointedness of doing-attention to only chant on each
bead the full mantra and repeat it and not to do anything else till I reach my
prefixed target like 108 beads. Doing only one thing and nothing else. Thinking
is thought processing and hence it is also a doing. Therefore our mind should
not indulge in thought processing. Please note that 'no thinking' does not
means no static feeling-thoughts like I am serving Nama Prabhu etc. 'No
thinking' means no processing of those thoughts or internal chat between one
part of the mind and another part of the mind. We can never be totally free
from thought/s even for a single moment. We are not talking about
thoughtlessness when we say 'no thinking'.
Anutva is a quality of knowing-attention to hear or knowing of details of what
is being known. It means sharpness or fineness of knowing-attention or resolution
level of knowing-attention of details of what you are knowing. It means knowing
of one word should not overlap with that of another. Each names Hare, Krishna,
Rama of the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu should be heard by recognizing its unique
way of sounding which is different from other two sounds in quick succession
without overlap between one and the next name-sound you are uttering. Anutva
is just like you need high resolution of your seeing faculty to see the
separate dots of a colour picture. The general awareness you are chanting is
not enough. Anutva means specifically knowing the sound form of the
current name on the tongue as against the past one and the next one coming.
There is clear separation. All this is done extremely fast by the mind at the
speed of your chanting as soon as you chant each Nama. That is called good
quality of anutva or distinctly knowing. This the reason I used the word
distinctly hearing and not just hearing.
For instance, take the example of a table tennis game. First, you offer doing
endeavour to strike the ball that comes into your court by applying your
doing-effort with doing attention. Then without distraction of doing anything
else you wait for the ball to return to your side of the court. It should be
single-pointed on playing the game by offering kriya-cesta. That is ēkatva.
Next, immediately after striking the ball, you need to move your knowing-effort
to move your attention swiftly in knowing the detailed location where the ball
is moving every moment. That sharpness and agility of knowing-attention to pick
up details of changing location of a moving ball while doing something is
called anutva in this case. Ēkatva is a quality of your undivided
doing-attention and anutva is a quality of your detailed discerning sharp
knowing-attention. Discerning means ability to separate one word from the
other.
And the doing effort which releases doing attention is more prominent when the
ball which is hit by the opponent comes to your court. And knowing effort
releasing is more prominent after you hit the ball and watch it going to the
opponent’s court and how it comes back. Thus these two kinds of effort and
their respective kind of attentions is active during the game. Doing and
knowing the process and result of doing. In the case of the table tennis doing
effort is followed by knowing effort to know where the ball is moving and we
exert doing effort followed by knowing effort. I have
contd.....
08:37
.....contd
given this example for you to clearly see the two kinds of efforts (cesta)
and the two kinds of attention that they release. However in the case of japa
doing effort to chant and knowing effort to hear is happening concurrently
unlike in the case of table tennis where it is applied one after the other.
In japa, we need directed doing effort or kriya cesta for ēkatva
quality of doing-attention exclusively on ‘doing’ of chanting till you finish
the mala. Then, we simultaneously application of jnana cesta for anutva
quality of knowing-attention to know each word of the mantra distinctly and
quickly in succession leaving behind the last one and and also remembering the
full string of 16 names as one unit formed of these 16 names. We have to be on
current mantra without overlap with its preceding and succeeding mantra.
High resolution hearing is anutva.
It takes time and training of the mind to develop concurrent ēkatva and anutva
on each Nama by offering respective deliberate doing effort and knowing effort
applied on each Nama.
Tasking for uninterrupted Japa also needs ēkatva quality of the mind to
task nothing else while doing japa.
Concentration in anything means ekatva in ‘doing’ and anutva in
‘knowing’ . Doing effort means kriya cesta. Knowing effort means jnana
cesta. both these cestas are heart action or act of the soul. Concentration
in japa means combination of simultaneous ekatva in chanting the sound
and anutva in knowing that sound.
A good ekatva-anutva japa, not only purifies our heart or contaminated
consciousness but even the mind, intelligence and ego will develop excellent
material abilities to concentrate on any task with sharpness for details and
swiftness leading to better comprehension of what is being heard. Thus, doing
good japa will sharpen even the material abilities of our body-mind-cittam yantra.
It is not enough if the tongue touches and ears touch the sound incarnation. To
touch the sound incarnation through two kinds of soul’s serving-attention is
the goal. Serving-attention, both doing-attention through tasteful kriya
cēstā with quality of ekatva and knowing-attention through tasteful
jnana cēstā with anutva quality on the same sound is the only conduit for flow
of spiritual mercy to the soul from the Nāma Avatāra who is manifest before our
senses.
And for uninterrupted flow of sac cid ananda energies from such association, we
have to enthusiastically task at the end of each mantra with a action-impulse
to build up the numerical strength of such repetitions with target of 108
beads. This tasking impulse will prevent the mind from running away to
'thinking' between the two beads. Right now in the practice of four weeks
releasing a simple tasking impulse will do. Tasking in its details have have
been discussed separately on Module 27. I will take practice of that separately
and you could read it then. So it is not necessary for you to read that now.
Just focus practice of linked chanting and knowing the sound that you chant
concurrently.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
14:48
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Dear all,
If you wish to, you may send written feedback, audio feedbacks clips or video
feedbacks clips. Whatever suits you. This is mainly for a soulful japa website
to inspire more devotees to join and take advantage of the soulful japa
training. In that website we plan quizzes and self assessment modules for one
to check for oneself how one is progressing in the assimilation of the key
concepts of soulful japa etc.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa.
26 April 2020
MD
15:30
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 49/108
( This module is for optional reading. It is for
those who want sastric evidence that soul is the 'doer' and 'knower')
Doing and knowing are fundamental functions of the soul. In Japa we are
offering that to Nama Prabhu.
Now let us proceed to analyse further why doing and knowing is so
fundamental for the soul. We will now analyse the japa situation from the
sastric point of view to strengthen our conviction about the crucial role of
doing and knowing of the soul and the attention to do and to know in japa.
The soul is the seer who knows, and doer who does, is revealed in the
sāstras.
In Bhaktivedanta Purport to Bhagavad 18.14 Srila Prabhupada writes:
The soul within the body is acting to bring about the results of activity
and is therefore known as kartā, “the doer.” That the soul is the knower and
the doer is stated in the sruti. Esa hi drasta srasta (Prasna Upaniñad 4.9). It
is also confirmed in the Vedānta-sütra by the verses jno’ta ēva (2.3.18) and
karta śāstrārthavattvāt (2.3.33).
Thus, the soul is also the knower and doer and not merely the body-mind
system and three modes of material nature. It is also confirmed by the
Vēdānta Sūtra. Verse 2.3.17
jno’ta ēva-
The jiva is the knower and
Vēdānta Sūtra Verse 2.3.31
karta śāstrārthavattvāt-
The jiva is the doer, because this gives meaning to the scriptures and
Vedanta sutra Verse 2.3.32
vihāropadeśāt-
The jiva is the doer because the scriptures describe that even the
liberated jiva plays.
Prasna Upanishad 4.9
esa hi draśtā, spraśtā śrotā rasayitā grātā mantā boddhā kartā vijnānātmā
puruśah
The jiva is the seer, the toucher, the hearer, the taster, the smeller, the
thinker, the comprehender, the doer, and the knower.
In Bhagavad Gita 13.2 Krishna confirms that the jiva is the knower in this body
Sri-bhagavān uvāca
idam sariram kaunteya
ksetram ity abhidhiyate
etad yo vetti tam prāhuh
ksetrajnah iti tad-vidah
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: This body, O son of Kunti, is
called the field, and one who knows this body is called the knower of the
field.
In Bhagavad Gita 18.17 Krishna also confirms that soul is the doer and is one
of the factors in accomplishment of any kind:
tatraivam sati kartāram ātmānam kevalam tu yah pasyaty akrta-buddhitvān na
sa pasyati durmatih
Therefore, one who thinks himself the only doer, not considering the five
factors, is certainly not very intelligent and cannot see things as they are.
Thus it can be seen how ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ are the two very fundamental
faculties of the soul (kartā vijnānātmā puruśah). These quotes debunk the
impersonal popular understanding that brahman or soul has no individuality and
that it is not a person but some impersonal spirit who does not ‘know’ or ‘do’
like a individual persons. These revelations from the Upanishads reveal that
soul is a person who knows and does in his limited way. Therefore it is no
wonder that offering both, doing effort and knowing effort along with desire to
please Nāma Prabhu, in an undivided manner is like offering the soul itself to
Him.
Soul is the Knower and Doer
As per the above revelations, though soul is trapped in this body, it is
still the jno’ta (knower) and karta (doer) at the the
spiritual plane which is the finest plane of existence. And this doing and
knowing is what needs to be offered to Nāma Avatāra by ‘doing the sound’ which
is chanting and ‘knowing the sound’ which is hearing. The material
mind-body yantra is also a parallel shadow knower and doer at their respective
planes of subtle body and gross body. When we do something only the soul can
experientially ‘do’ and ‘know’ finally. Thinking (manta) and comprehending
(boddha) is what develops into sraddha or faith. Faith or sraddha in an
existential truth is a state of knowing a truth just before vijnāna. Thus faith
is also a powerful faculty of the soul.
contd....
15:32
.....contd
Yantra or this body, by itself, cannot experience anything as matter cannot
experience anything. The faculty of experience does not belong to yantra.
Therefore, yantra’s mechanical auto doing, by itself without the soul’s cēstā,
is a shadow or experience-less doing and knowing, which has no spiritual value
to be offered to the Nāma unless makes an offering out of it.
Doing (kartā) , knowing (jno’ta or kshetrjna) are basic faculties
of the soul even for a conditioned soul though his doing and knowing is like
that of the haunted person’s doing and knowing. The desiring, thinking, feeling
and willing is done to serve the intention of haunting ghost identity that is
let loose on the jivas by Maya and not done for his real-self intentions. The
difference between a conditioned soul and a liberated soul is determined by
which of the two intention rules, the self-Krishna’s intention or self-Maya’s
intention.
And it is significant to note that it is these basic soul functions of
‘desiring’ ‘doing’ and ‘knowing’ that are engaged in service of the sound
incarnation of the Lord in japa. Japa is curing our diseased or haunted
desiring, doing and knowing faculties by the attention-connection and touch
with the all merciful Lord Himself whose association will dissolve this false
ego or impersonator egos by engaging with Nāma Avatara who is the Supreme
Spirit and awaken our real ego as His eternal servant. It is spirit touching
Spirit through the attentive-connection and touch in japa by combined soul
energies of doing-attention and knowing-attention and desire (icchā) that makes
it so effective in purifying our self.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
15:33
Soulful Japa
Module 50/108
Back to analysing the gardener’s japa ( Module 37)
When we analyse the gardener's japa, we will discover the the gardener was unknowingly
applying Srila Prabhupada's Diamond rule of Diamond Quotes during his 16 rounds
of chanting every day. Of course out of circumstance of newness and not because
he wanted to follow Srila Prabhupada. Whatever reasons may be, if one follows
it works to hold the attention.
The moment you offer your doing effort with knowing-effort for distinctly
knowing in such a way that you apply it on the common target of each Nama that
is manifesting before you, you will be surprised that attentive chanting is not
a struggle and both doing attention and knowing-attention will stay on there
without there being a need for the exercise of self-control to hold the
attention. Rather it becomes energising. The gardener incidentally was exactly
doing this circumstantially without his knowledge. Doing-effort combined with
simultaneous knowing-effort on each Nama as He is manifesting alone establishes
a sustained attention-connection with the Hare Krishna Nāma.
The willfully directed doing-effort of gardener was not ‘doing’ any thought
processing because he had to engage them since the activity that was very new
and there was no trained chanting in his system to take over chanting and free
the doing-effort to do anything else. Circumstantially his doing-effort was
engaged fully to continuously chant distinctly and knowing-effort to ‘know’ and
track what he is doing due to necessity of knowing properly to move his bead
with desire to complete his target.
Because the activity was new for him, both the knowing-effort and doing-effort
had to be engaged in chanting and hearing which resulted in a fully attentive
japa. There was no other way he could have done the task assigned to him since
he did not have a trained way of doing auto-chanting and auto-tracking. His
attention was locked up not because of personalised calling out the Names nor
because he liked calling out but only because of wanting to pronounce clearly
something that was newly taught to him. The newness resulted in the
attention-touch of the holy name. He had to do 16 rounds as a challenge. Hence
his effort and the attention that follows effort had to be compulsorily on it
to meet the challenge that he can do what I asked him to do.
Does this all mean that the gardener was spiritually advanced since he could do
his japa without distraction of thinking? No. He could do it only because it
was a new activity and there was a pressure to reach the target by evening.
Because of the newness of the activity, he had to give all his effort to
directing and detailed sharp knowing of doing, without having any effort to be
spared for thinking. He did mindful japa but not a bit of soulful japa.
Eventually, as soon as his mind learns or gets trained this simple doing in a
few days, his ‘doing effort ’ is bound to also fall into ‘thinking,’ for sure.
Unless he teaches the mind to do mindful japa.
Every one of us also did excellent rounds when we chanted the first time in our
life. Our effort was fully on directed-doing with our doing-attention and
distinctly-knowing of that doing with our knowing-effort only out of necessity
to do the activity and that too only till the mind learnt it and could do it in
auto-mode.
contd......
15:33
......contd
The gardener was touching the Nāma Avatāra unknowingly
The gardener was ‘doing’ chanting attentively of each bead by directing it
and knowing what he chanted as both these functions were circumstantially
necessary for him to handle the otherwise new and unfamiliar activity of japa
that he had taken up. Knowing-effort was playing a supporting role to the
‘doing.’ Japa is prominently a 'doing’ activity supported by ‘knowing’ activity
since doing effort is leading and knowing effort is following
The gardener was not just giving only plain attention like a spectator. He did
not even have a perception of what attention is in the first place in order to
isolate it and direct it here or there. He was circumstantially giving his
doing-effort because he had to direct himself through the new process without
which he could not have performed the task he had taken up. Because of
doing-effort, the doing attention was also present. Further, his doing-effort
was not free to indulge in any thinking because he had to put all his
doing-effort on the new and unfamiliar doing. Therefore, circumstantially he was
fortunate to touch the sound incarnation each mantra which gave him the
spiritual energy to do 16 rounds the very first day.
The gardener, even without love but with tiny respect in the form of reverence
that it is God’s name, he became a recipient of the mercy of the Nama Prabhu in
the form of getting the spiritual strength from the Lord to do 16 rounds for
the first time on the very first day and for the next 8 days delightfully.
From my first two days of chanting experience in the farm ( ref. module 37) and
comparing it to next eight days of chanting experience it was proved beyond
doubt that when the mind was engaged in any kind of ‘thinking activity’ during
japa, it acted as a drag on the japa sēva by disconnecting my soul from Hare
Krishna Nāma.
ys
Madhu Pandit dasa
MD
22:59
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 51/108
Krishna wants our atma cesta from the soul and not just auto-doing and
auto-tracking
Why chant and hear consciously even after learning?
One may ask the question when something is
carried out in a trained mode and if the job gets done by the auto-mind then
why one should bother to offer citta çēsta or conscious effort. After all, the
task is done of completing one’s rounds. The answer is that japa is not about
getting the job done mechanically by the trained subtle and gross material body
for a subtle or gross fruit. It is about the soul personally engaging in
repeatedly calling out to the Lord, which is a personal activity done with the
attention or consciousness of the soul and not by the material tongue merely as
a gross job. It is calling out or addressing the Lord. When there is no
atma-cesta consisting of kriya cesta and jnana cesta of the soul, the soul will
miss out touching the Shaktyavesa Nama. Our material tongue alone will be
touching the Nama.
The doing at the yantra plane by the subtle body ( trained sukshma sarira ) and
gross body ( trained jada sarira ) is only an expression of soul’s doing (atma
cesta) in the consciousness plane. Real doing is in the consciousness plane.
Therefore, in spite of being a learned or trained activity by the mind-body
system the soul has to choose to consciously ‘like’ and desire to offer from
his heart, atma cesta to call out His names distinctly with delight and hearing
with relish the glorious Names of the Lord. This happens only when doing effort
and knowing effort (kriya çēstā, jnana çēstā) and tasking ( kārya
çēsta ) and free will and desire (icchā-āśā) are all offered from the heart
or the soul. Tongue or ears cannot offer desire, effort, attention and delight.
Only heart can offer these.
The fresh and alert atma-cesta has to be offered to Nama Prabhu and not just
the trained auto-mind and auto-tongue movement. The recorded sound of the name
of a person coming out of a sound recorder is impersonal and never be same as
calling out the name of one person by another person. Chanting with trained sukshma
sarira and jada sarira are merely like the working of a yantra or
machine like bio-recorder-player which does not attract the Nama Prabhu. The
soul has to involve on-line in real time by offering atma çēstā followed by the
entire gross body and subtle body which will serve the soul in its service to
the Nama Prabhu.
Offering attention out of need to execute the ‘doing’ or the task due to its
newness, like in the case of the gardener, is a good beginning but the Lord
wants our attention as a loving offering. It has to go beyond offering
attention only out of a need to execute the task like the gardener could do few
days till newness lasted. It is attention but not serving attention. The real
test of devotion is, whether even after your mind has become expert in
auto-doing of chanting and auto-tracking with mala, would you still like to
call out His Names consciously with your kriya cesta and embrace the sound
incarnation with your jnana cesta out of respect and gratitude for the Hare
Krishna Nāma? I like to chant and hear these three names, Hare, Krishna and
Rama. That constitutes devotional service to the Nāma Avatāra out of appreciation
of absolute value for the very act of the personalised calling and hearing and
not just leaving it to auto-doing and auto-tracking of counting and moving mala
and completing 16 rounds.
Krishna wants our soul’s involvement in offering our service. He is not merely
satisfied with our auto-chants and auto-tracking of our soul-less chants or
body japa. It is of some benefit for the soul. It is better than nothing. No
doubt even that is great because after all your tongue and trained mind is
offered though you have held back your heart from Him. Your soul and its
attention is where your cesta is. But what He is really expecting is our
doing effort and knowing effort as a personally involved offering of one's
doing and knowing.
contd.....
23:00
......contd
Therefore, the spiritual master’s order is not just chant 16 rounds but to
chant 16 rounds by trying to avoid the offense of inattentive chanting.
When ever fresh kriya cesta and concurrent jnana cesta is offered, it causes
the flow of spiritual energy from the Nāma Avatāra as a reciprocation from Nama
Prabhu. This energises our japa and gives the experience of pleasantness of a
divine doing-knowing-tasking . This is apart from unlimited personal
reciprocations throughout the day. This energizing experience is empowering in
contrast to the thinking japa which extracts mental energy in the form of
constant self-control.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
27 April 2020
MD
00:01
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 52/108
Japa is a Kriya yoga because doing-effort is at
the lead
Sometimes regulated bhakti yoga or devotional service is also called as kriya
yoga. Only when remembrance of Lord in soulful japa starts happening
spontaneously at advanced stage, it also becomes a meditation or smaranam
yoga. It begins with Sravanam and kirtantanam later on smaranam in the
background mind adds on. Japa, for a sādhaka, is a doing-yoga or kriya yoga
kind of devotional service. In japa we see that the 'doing effort' takes the
lead first and is devoted to the chant the holy name followed by 'knowing
effort; to know or hear that chant concurrently.
One is leader and other is follower is the mood though both are some
concurrently applied. This is because unless you start chanting there is
nothing to hear. That is why Srila Prabhupada's diamond rule also directs to
chant loudly by applying our doing effort first whenever our mind goes away
from japa into some thinking and not the knowing effort. When attention goes
away our mistake is we try apply the knowing effort to bring back the attention
to the Nama and we find it very stressfull for the mind. We have to apply the
leader first and then follower will follow where the leader is. This word Kriya
yoga helps us remember that our offering of exclusive kriya cesta shakti
is leading cesta in Japa. Note it is different from auto-doing of japa
without offering our Kriya shakti to the Nama Prabhu. Srila
Prabhupada writes;
SB. purport 3.27.1
"Devotional service is also expressed by the word kriya-yogena. Kardama
Muni not only meditated but also engaged in devotional service; to attain
perfection in yoga practice or meditation, one must act in devotional service
by hearing, chanting, remembering, etc. Remembering is meditation also. But who
is to be remembered? One should remember the Supreme Personality of
Godhead."
Over-stressing only on hearing or knowing effort is a common problem
It is important to understand this in order to avoid over stressing only on
hearing which will lead to the offering of only jnana cesta or knowing
effort and leave our chanting to auto-chanting without kriya cesta.
Basically trying to consciously hear our auto chants. This will also not
sustain our attention as you are not offering your kriya cesta to Nama
Prabhu on the same target Nama. Kriya cesta cannot keep quiet and it
will very soon find some other engagement which is mostly 'thinking'. Once you
start thinking, there is demand for your knowing effort for a satisfying
thinking activity. Then you need extra self control energy to hold the knowing
attention on Nama from going for that thinking. Mind cannot take that tension
for long and it will snap and decide to leave japa to auto-mode and will fully
involve in thinking. So if we want to hear by offering knowing-effort it has to
linked to the doing-effort on the same Nama and not applied in isolation.
Over-stressing only on chanting or doing effort is also a common problem
In the same way over stressing on chanting leads to offering of only the
kriya cesta without offering our jnana cesta. The result is that soon jnana
cesta will find another engagement. If that engagement is more interesting it
will soon pull the kriya cesta to that activity and again leave the japa to
mindless soulless body chanting.So the slogan should not be chant distinctly or
distinctly hear told to ourselves isolated manner. The slogan to our mind
should be 'chant distinctly-cum-distinctly hear.
Stressing doing helps only reconnect with Nama when attention strays
away
However stressing doing effort is a powerful method to bring back the mind
as we have seen in the diamond quotes whenever it strays away. But as soon as
you give your doing effort you should merge your knowing effort on the current
Nama to lock the attention. Merge the doing effort and knowing effort together
on the current target Nama which is continuously chanting and creating a new
'present'.
contd....
MD
08:11
Madhu Pandit Dasa
....contd
Thus you are always' here and now' in your experience of time though time is
flowing in normal mundane concept of time.
Both cestas should merge into current Nama with equal intensity to produce
concurrent chanting and hearing distinctly.
Though doing effort is on the lead in japa and knowing effort is only following
the doing effort, both take help from each other and remain merged into a
interrelated activity upon the common target Nama which is chanting the sound
and knowing that very sound. The follower's activity of 'knowing' merges into
the leader's activity of 'doing' due to their common target which is current
Nama manifesting,
Doing effort is the king and knowing effort is the queen
Doing effort is no doubt the king in japa. But knowing effort who is the
queen also has to be with the King. They don't like to separate. But by our
free will we can take either the king or the queen separately to a domain of
activity. Soon both of them will join together for the activity which has more
rasa out of the two and leaving the japa to ritualistic auto-mode.
Because japa is being lead by chanting first, we normally speak in terms of 'chanting'
our rounds though it also means concurrent 'hearing' too. We don't normally say
I have to 'chant and hear' my rounds'. We normally say ' I have to chant my
rounds'. This is because doing makes the first move and not because king alone
is important. We need the king and the queen together surrendering to the
current Nama Avatara before us.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
10:10
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 53/108
Can we think of Krishna's form or pastimes when we do japa?
Wiithout knowing the secret of locking the
attention by concurrent chanting cum hearing, we struggle and fail in attentive
japa. Then we make our next assumption that may be I am not doing the right
'thinking' while I am chanting and hearing and therefore I failing. Then to correct
this we start trying to engage our mind consciously thinking of Krishna's form
or Krishna's Lila etc. And again that too fails to keep the attention on 'here
and now' japa because the attention goes in thinking. Even if the foreground
mind is thinking about Krishna we will not be able to keep the two cestas on
the chanting-cum-hearing. It is not the best.
Let us see why exclusive chanting and hearing that very chant by the foreground
mind is even better that thinking of Krishna or philosophising about Krishna by
the foreground mind. Note we are talking of thinking of Krishna by the
foreground mind and not spontaneous remembrance of the Lord in the background
mind which is perfectly ok.
In kali yuga, Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu has discounted all of our
disqualifications of not having high quality of our consciousness normally
needed to associate with the all-pure Lord and is mercifully allowing us to
directly touch and associate with His Nama Avatara in spite of the
disqualification.
However if a sādhaka wants to practice meditating on the form or lila of the
Lord before self-purification without going through attentive japa for long
period of time, he will not get access to spiritually touch the form or lila.
Not like how it happens easily in the case of Nama Avatara in Kali yuga.
This is because the sādhakas’ present thinking is infected by the three modes
of material nature. One needs pure thinking to touch the from of the all pure
Lord. Therefore thinking of Krishna can come only after self purification by
chanting His Name or doing and knowing His Name for considerable period of
time. First things first.
In the case of serving the Nama Avatara, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has declared
that anyone can touch the Nama Avatara without any pre-qualifications of having
a pure mind etc. That is His merciful concession. Therefore people of kali yuga
should take full advantage of the presence of Nama Avatara who is ready to give
association to the fallen souls in an unconditional manner. When there is super
discount of a valuable thing people rush to buy. In the same way we should
adopt as many chanting-cum-hearings as possible before we die. This great
opportunity willed by the Lord is the meaning of Kali kale nama rupe Krishna
avatara. It does not mean that in other yugas if you chant His name, the Lord
does not incarnate. It means Nama Prabhu will be very merciful in Kali yuga.
Srila Prabhupada answers
Srila Prabhupada was asked if we can think of the lilas of Krishna while
doing japa. Srila Prabhupada replied that you just chant and hear now and when
you are purified the lilas of Krishna will spontaneously play in the purified
heart ( purified background mind ) of a devotee. So there no need to struggle
to think of Krishna's pastimes when you do your japa.
Teachings of Queen Kunti, 5: The Vision of Lotuses
That meditation can be possible by hearing and chanting, and then thinking
of Krishna will automatically come.
That is the process of Krishna consciousness. If we chant and hear, then remembrance
will automatically come, and then we shall engage in worshiping Krishna’s
lotus feet.
Letter to Satsvarūpa, April 10, 1969
But the process is to hear, and then Krishna’s pastimes, form,
qualities, etc. will automatically come to mind.
SB 4.8.53 Purport
One should not artificially try to see the form of the Lord while chanting
Hare Krishna, but when the chanting is performed offenselessly, the Lord
will automatically reveal Himself to the view of the chanter. The chanter,
therefore, has to concentrate on hearing the vibration, and without extra
endeavor on his part, the Lord will automatically appear.
contd......
30 April 2020
MD
14:40
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
Letter to Jagadīsa, Los Angeles, February 27, 1970
When we chant, we must concentrate our mind on the sound vibration and
in that way, everything will be revealed one after another; the form,
qualities, pastimes, etc. of the Lord. And this is the way of cultivating
spiritual realization.
Sri Çaitanya Çaritāmrta Madhya-17.134
Such spiritual hearing will reveal spontaneously the transcendental
remembrance of Krishna, Krishna’s Nāma, form, and pastimes.
ataēva Krishnera ‘Nāma’, ‘deha,’ ‘vilāsa.’ prākṛtendriya-grāhya nahe, haya
sva-prakāśa. The Holy name of Krishna, His body, and His pastimes cannot be
understood by the blunt material senses. They are manifested independently.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Thākura in Amrtvani- translation from Bengali
We should pray to the Holy name in such a way that the Holy name bestows
its mercy upon us. It is not the business of those filled with anarthas to
remember the aśta–kāliya -līlā. When we will learn to hear as we chant, the
opportunity to see will arise automatically. At that time, remembering the
aśta– kāliya -līlā will become possible. There is no need to try for it
artificially.
The simple answer to the question of how to think and what to think during japa
is: ‘don’t think’ at all but ‘Just do & know the
current Nama' . Do not allow your thinking mind to steal your doing-effort
and knowing effort from concurrent chanting-cum-hearing japa. Basically japa is
a doing yoga or kriya yoga. During Japa we have nothing to do with 'thinking'.
Remember this. Off japa times work has everything to do about thinking
repeatedly what you read from Srila Prabhupada's books or what you read from
these modules to make them sink into our subconscious so that these things are
automatically are triggered by hearing the Names during japa and they rise up
into our background passive mind and increase the quality of our foreground
offering. When you sit for japa tell yourself you are sitting for a doing and
not a thinking.
Japa is Kriya yoga or a doing yoga and not a thinking yoga for a beginner. Even
in advanced Japa, at the foreground mind japa remains a Kriya yoga but in the
purified background mind the Lord's blissful transcendental form, pastimes etc
are spontaneously and effortlessly play like a television. The only difference
is spontaneous background meditation gets added to the foreground activity of
chanting and hearing and tasking the divine names.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
2 May 2020
MD
10:42
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 54
Summary points regarding training session 1.
1. Aprakrta Nama or Suddha Nama incarnates in to
the vibration that we produce with our tongue and invests all his potencies in
that sound and it becomes omnipotent Shaktiavesha Nama.
2. The soul can get connected to Him only through attention.
3. Nama Prabhu wants our soul energies especially our iccha-asa and atma cesta
to willfully and desirefully chant and hear and not auto-doing and
auto-tracking japa.
4. Atma cesta means kriya cesta or doing effort and jnana cesta or knowing
effort. iccha-asa means will fully and desire fully These are fundamental soul
energies
5. Doing effort releases doing-attention to karma indriyas and knowing effort
releases knowing-attention to jnana indriyas.
6. Chanting is a outgoing doing activity and hearing is a intaking knowing
activity. Hearing is not a doing activity.
7. Spanner ( kriya cesta), nut and bolt ( doing) and screw driver ( jnana
cesta) and screw ( hearing) example.
8. Golden Rule of Golden quotes direct us to chant and exactly the same sound
you hear. This is called concurrent chanting-cum-hearing.
9. The common target which is the currently manifesting Nama enables merging of
our kriya cesta as well as jnana cesta on same Nama.
10. Aiming both at the same target sound is called the linking direction.
11. Since the focus is currently manifest Nama, the two cestas keep the mind
'here and now'
12. Concurrent chanting-cum-hearing attracts the flow of a divine doing-knowing
energy from Nama Prabhu that gives a pleasant taste to chant-cum-hear more and
more. It is never tiring.
13. There is inferior way and superior way of controlling the mind. Inferior
ways does not have help from Krishna. In superior way we get strength from Nama
Prabhu to control senses by means of the divya-cesta-ruchi.
14. Training objective is to create a back ground mind slice to provide
direction, inspiration and determination to the foreground mind to apply Kriya
cesta and jnana cesta on the same common target of the currently manifesting
Nama and also for the foreground mind to follow that direction.
15. Diamond Rule of Diamond quote is for training the mind as per the superior
method of mind control. When the mind goes away from japa, apply kriya cesta
and chant loudly. Applying jnana cesta to bring back the attention is not the
method.
16. Quality of doing attention is called ekatva or doing only one thing and not
doing anything else. .
17. Quality of knowing attention is called anutva or distinctly hearing.
18. Why holding attetnion is a struggle? a) isolated application of chanting
without hearing. b) isolated hearing without conscious chanting. c) trying to
being back attention instead of applying kirya cesta to loudly chant or d) no
intention at all for attentive japa.
ys
Madhu Pandit dasa
3 May 2020
MD
06:10
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 55
Disciplined Japa Vs Priti Japa.
Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk April 1, 1974
Abhyāsa-yoga…you practice this. Therefore, we say, “You must chant 16 rounds
“This is Abhyāsa yoga. When one becomes attached to chanting, he doesn’t
require to be under discipline. But so long is not practised he must be
disciplined.
Letter to Bhakta Das:26Aug,1976
All initiates of mine must strictly follow the four principles of no meat,
fish or egg, eating; no gambling; no intoxication of any kind; and no illicit
sex. They must chant 16 rounds a day minimum with attention, clearly chanting
the mantra, and listening very carefully. This is the recommended process for
purifying the heart.
Kindly note that Srila Prabhupada says 16rounds a day with attention,
clearly chanting the mantra and listening very carefully. He does not say just
chant 16 rounds a day. He says 16 rounds minimum. Further it should be chanted
clearly with attention and hear carefully. The purpose of this training is how
to follow this basic instruction of Srila Prabhupada which is to do mindful
japa.
Japa is driven by two forces: Sacrifice and love
Japa begins with two kinds of driving force. In the beginning stage of
learning to do mindful japa, of the two driving forces, most of it is tapas or
wilful discipline to keep the attention locked on to chanting and hearing and
repeating taking help from the Nama Prabhu himself. It is through the attentive
association achieved through the power of sacrifice or discipline or tapasya we
get to touch Nama Prabhu with our attention. When we touch the one who is
All-pure, we slowly start getting purified. As we get purified our natural
attraction to chant Krishna's names starts rising in our heart little by
little. Even now all of us have some attraction for Krishna that is awakened,
even if you are a beginner. But very little and difficult to significantly
feel. Otherwise why would we be attracted to Krishna consciousness at all. We
would not be doing japa at all if we did not have some attraction directly or
indirectly. Some priti or love or shraddha resulting from this attraction is
there for anyone who has voluntarily chosen to begin japa.
Thus two factors drive japa. Voluntary discipline (tapas) and attraction (
resulting in priti) to whatever extent one has awakened. Slowly when we get
fully practised, discipline or tapas portion comes down to zero. Simultaneously
attraction and attachment keeps rising more and more. Finally the driving power
is fully love (priti) due to attachment and attraction and not tapas or
discipline. That is the way we move from mindless japa to mindful japa to
soulful japa.
So it is not that whole life I have struggle with discipline or tapas to chant
16 rounds. Be relieved. In 90 days, tapas or discipline will taper down by
almost 90%. Spiritual life is eventually spontaneous devotional service.
Discipline is only the pathway to that spontaneity. Bhakti is eventually fully
driven by love. Even in the beginning that tapas is driven because of some love.
It may be love for eternal life free from birth, death, old age and disease. It
may love for knowing God, seeing God etc. Japa is never dry tapas. Devotional
service means bhajatam priti purvakam as Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita.
But you have to go through the Abhyasa yoga stage. Discipline is a must
to awaken bhakti. Through the application of you tapas shakti or power to
sacrifice of so called freedom of a roaming mind, follow the instructions of
Srila Prabhupada in the Golden and Diamond quotes ( Module 39 & 44) . That
requires the spirit of sacrifice. Remember sacrifice comes before love. No pain
no gain is a universal unfailing principle.
contd....
06:19
.....contd
And in my experience if we go through seriously the training module for mindful
japa for 30 days the basic practice stage for mindful japa gets completed. The
mind learns and creates a new mind slice for concurrent chanting-cum-hearing of
each Nama. Then, further continuous application of the newly formed mind slice
for another 60 days will strengthen and consolidated mindful japa.
Right now the mind has a mix of good and wrong japa habits. Six months of
serious tapas-cum-priti japa is required. Thereafter the sails of mind and
senses are set in place and winds of conditioned mind join the driving powers
of priti purvaka anandamaya japa.
Śrīla Prabhupāda often gives the example of how what you learn in the
kindergarten school, that 1+1= 2, is valid even after you do a PhD. This basic
attentive japa through discipline being dealt with now for mindful japa is
school maths. Maths does not end in school. Its progress continues in the
university and upto PhD and further, through the rest of the researcher’s life.
The prtiti or love in Priti-japa forever expands since priti has no limits for
rest of eternity but will always include within it the basic mindful japa. When
mindful japa is part of soulful japa, it will be done by the power of priti and
not by force of discipline.
Be patient and follow the process and results are bound to be there. My best
wishes for all those who are undergoing the 90 days training for mindful japa
as per the training module 38.
ys
Madhu Pandit Das
MD
19:32
Madhu Pandit Dasa
<unknown> –
AUD-20200503-WA0001
Not included, change
data exporting settings to download.
08:08, 11.1 MB
Training for mindful
japa.
This is Srila Prabhupada doing japa with
interspersed golden commandments from him. Play this while you are practicing
mindful japa but the volume can be adjusted to hear your own japa and just know
that Srila Prabhupada is around doing japa. When he speaks golden quote. Stop
your japa and listen to him. Note this is additional support over and above
instructions in Module 38. Also after training period don't use this spliced
recording. After training, the golden commands from background mind will
automatically drive your foreground mind. There is no need of this spliced
Audio. You can play softly un-spliced japa of Srila Prabhupada.
7 May 2020
MD
03:43
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Letter to Tosana --
Calcutta 20 February, 1972:
I am glad to hear that you are always keeping engaged in Krishna's service and
chanting Hare Krishna. As you chant, try to hear each word very carefully
and always complete your sixteen rounds. Regular and attentive chanting, along
with following the four regulative principles will keep one pure. Simply by
following these principles and chanting Hare Krishna one can make his life
successful and perfect.
MD
06:02
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 56
Running away from the virus of thinking or ‘thought processing and run after
the attention-embrace of the Nama Prabhu
The virus is a foreign body that enters our body
and multiplies itself and harms the body system; then we are said to be
diseased. As we discussed, psychological research has measured that about 130
thoughts bombard our attention from the subconscious mind every minute. These
thoughts bombard our attention and taking away our atma çēsta, both kriya cesta
and jnana cesta to engage in thought processing of different things during
japa. These thoughts automatically rise into our background mind by the force
of guna-kala-karma. the only force that can counter the force of
guna-kala-karma is the power from the Nama Prabhu which becomes available when
we lock our mind the current Nama through offer of concurrent kriya cesta and
jnana cesta on the common target.
Run after the attention-embrace of the Nama to escape from 'thinking virus'
We should exercise our sankalapa or positive desire and determination to give
our doing potency consisting of kriya çēstā and jnana çēstā only to Japa. The
mood of the japa sēvak should be to literally run away from these thoughts by
showing his back to it and running after sound embrace of every word of the
Hare Krishna Nāma sound and not allowing any gap for another doing to steal our
kriya cesta. Then that is the fulfilment of Śrīla Prabhupāda ’s instruction to
‘ simply hear’ .
Letting into our attention even one thought even for a second is like allowing
a virus to enter our attention body. It will sit there and multiply and nibble
away our doing-attention and knowing-attention . That thinking-seed that you
allow due to lack of determination during japa to give atma cesta only to Nama
Prabhu, is like a virus which will slowly multiply and multiply into more and
more thinking and by the time you realize your attention is entirely gone out
of Nama Prabhu and fully guzzled by the thought processing while the japa will
be happening mechanically or even put the sēvak into sleep.
Therefore to avoid this, the atma cesta has to be steadily given from the heart
to do and know the sound. To do this you should have a strong intention for
being in state of serving attention-embrace of Shaktyaaavesha Nama who is
audibly manifesting before you. And you should have a strong desire to please
each name by offering exclusive atma cesta. And the purpose of that embrace is
self-purification and eventually to awaken your original Krishna consciousness.
Intention-desire-purpose will establish uninterrupted attention embrace.
Letter to: Sri Padampat Singhania, 7 May, 1957
The etymological alphabets [Sanskrit] are so surcharged with spiritual
potency and as such all Mantra indicating the transcendental holy name of God
or Godhead is to be understood in that way. When we chant the Mantra as were
presented by the authorities – the process helps communication with the
personality of Godhead by the sound waves as we have now experienced in the
material world of physical waves vibrations. The powerful Mantras have such
potency if they are sounded in the right direction. And by chanting the Mantras
only one can spiritualize the whole existence as heat can expand on the
spherical objects. Mantra Siddhi means complete liberation. Therefore, there is
no difference between the holy name and Mantra. Man means mind and tra
deliverance. That which delivers one from mental speculation is called
"Mantra".
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
11 May 2020
MD
22:16
Madhu Pandit Dasa
22:17
22:17
Six Summary facts of
Nama Avatara and Archa Avatara. Please read Module 15.
15 May 2020
MD
06:18
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Three components of Nama
Avatara and Archa Avatara. Please read Module 15
23 May 2020
MD
10:06
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote...
Two things will go on, and this will conquer. As māyā is forcing you to drag
you from this Krishna consciousness, you also force māyā by chanting Hare
Krishna. There is fight. And māyā will go away.
Śrīla Prabhupāda lecture. Bhagavad Gita 3.6-10
Dec 23 1968, Los Angeles.
Application to japa
This is similar to the he instruction of the
diamond quotes which are commands from Srila Prabhupada what to do when the
mind goes away from japa into thinking. Māyā is always trying to take our
attention away from Krishna. The way to handle this is not to focus on the
enemy , like taking on a bull by its horns. That is not our process. Or process
is not to focus on Maya to fight Maya. Our process is focus on Krishna and then
Maya will have to retreat. That is why in the diamond quotes Srila Prabhupada
says don't bother about bringing back the mind that is gone. As soon as you
detect the mind is gone, immediately again chant loudly and fix a new mind
slice on the Nama Prabhu. So when Srila Prabhupada is saying you also force the
mind by chanting Hare Krishna. On our own we cannot handle maya.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
26 May 2020
MD
01:15
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote
Chant anyway !!!
Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Saranagati (quoted from
Adi Purana)
Your mind is wandering all over the universe
when you chant.
Chant anyway!
Your mind is wandering to the past and future when you chant.
Chant anyway!
You are not able to concentrate on Krishna’s names while you chant.
Chant anyway!
You have no taste for chanting.
Chant anyway!
You have lusty desires.
Chant anyway!
You are making offenses in chanting.
Chant anyway!
You are not praying to Krishna to help you chant better.
Chant anyway!
You often chant late at night.
Chant anyway!
So WHY? Why should you chant despite all the above obstacles?
This is why:
There is no vow like chanting the holy name, no knowledge superior to it, no
meditation which comes anywhere near it, and it gives the highest result.
No penance is equal to it, and nothing is as potent or powerful as the holy
name.
Chanting is the greatest act of piety and the supreme refuge.
Even the words of the Vedas do not possess sufficient power to describe its
magnitude.
Chanting is the highest path to liberation, peace and eternal life.
It’s the pinnacle of devotion, the heart’s joyous proclivity and attraction and
the best form of remembrance of the Supreme Lord.
The holy name has appeared solely for the benefit of the living entities as
their lord and master, their supreme worshipful object and their spiritual
guide and mentor.
Whoever continuously chants Lord Krishna’s holy name, even in his sleep, can
easily realize that the name is a direct manifestation of Krishna Himself, in
spite of the influences of Kali-yuga.
01:17
Quote
Nāma heals all ailments
The Bṛhan-Nāradīya Purāṇa quoted in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 11.353 by Sanatana
Goswami states:
acyutānanda-govinda-nāmoccāraṇa-bhīṣitāḥ
naśyanti sakalā rogāḥ satyaṁ satyaṁ vadāmy aham
I vow this is the truth. By hearing the names Achyuta, Ananda and Govinda one
becomes strong and all diseases are cured.
Parāśara-saṁhitā quoted in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 11.354 says:
na śāmba vyādhi-jaṁ duḥkhaṁ heyaṁ nāny auṣadhair api
hari-nāmauṣadhaṁ pītvā vyādhis tyājyo na saṁśayaḥ
O Shamba! Diseases are not cured by other medicines, but by using this great
medicine of hare kṛṣṇa they are definitely removed.
The Skanda Purāṇa quoted in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 11.355 states:
ādhayo vyādhayo yasya smaraṇān nāma-kīrtanāt
tadaiva vilayaṁ yānti tam anantaṁ namāmy aham
I offer my prostrated obeisance to that infinite Lord, because by remembering
him, singing his names, all physical and mental ailments are forthwith rooted
out.
The Vahni Purāṇa quoted in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 11.356 says:
mahā-vyādhi-samācchanno rāja-vādhopapīḍitaḥ
nārāyaṇeti saṅkīrtya nirātaṅko bhaven naraḥ
A person who is highly afflicted by acute and chronic diseases and oppressed by
the ruling powers is relieved of all fears and anxieties by mere chanting of
the name Sri Narayan.
Application
These are the glories of Hari's divine Names. These are automatic side
benefits for one who is worshipper of the holy Names. It is not that we
propogate it to be used by karmis to cure material diseases. Devotees anyway
are taken care as a side benefit, as they are anyway chanting holy names as
bhakti and for bhakti. So devotees also don't have to chant for removing bodily
diseases. Idea is not to take service from Nama Prabhu but offer service to
Him. It is for him to give relief or no relief because often no relief bodily
pain and suffering spiritually purifies our attitude towards material life. But
devotee knows that I don't have to ask anything from the Lord. He knows what is
spiritually best for me.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
07:09
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Announcement
Soulful Japa, Module 35 Part 1, 2 and 3 is
completed. Please read them. Part 3 is very interesting. Please read. It about
your personal story. In this Telegram App, there is search option on the right
corner of your screen. Search for Module 35/108 Part 3
27 May 2020
MD
04:50
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Completed
Soulful Japa
Module 57/108
Thinking is the biggest enemy during japa and greatest friend of off-japa times
for preparing background mind.
Let us see what is thinking during japa so that we can recognize it, catch it
by its ears and throw it out.
Thoughts are not thinking. Thought-feelings are not thinking. Then what is
thinking?
Thinking is an thought processing activity or active ‘doing-cum-knowing’ of
thoughts just like japa is active 'doing-cum-knowing' of sounds. Thinking is
the most valuable foreground activity of the soul for off- japa work. But
thinking needs foreground mind. Hence should not be doing thinking activity
during-japa. Japa time is for foreground mind concurrently chanting-cum-hearing
of Nama. It is time for rendering direct service to the sound incarnation of
the Lord.
Thinking is movement or processing of thoughts. It is different from presence
of static thoughts themselves in the mind during japa. Further we are not
against thought-feelings during japa but against processing of thoughts. We
have already discussed thought-feelings or bhaavanas. Thought-feelings means,
those thoughts which have been transformed into its respective feelings through
the process of repeated contemplation over long period of time.Thought-feelings
are not thoughts. They are only feelings. Since they originate from thoughts,
it is called thought-feelings. Thought-feelings are in the mind. When they come
down to body level it gets converted to emotions. Thus during japa though we
are against thinking but we are not against static thoughts and
thought-feelings.
For instance plain golden quote is a command of Srila Prabhupada and it is a
static thought-command. It is not thinking. If you think how to apply the
golden quote during thinking it becomes thinking of the golden quotes. Instead
hear the command and follow the command. Don think about the command. Chant and
hear exactly that very sound is a thought-command. Following it like a child is
important. why did I advise to repeat the golden command three times before
each mala three times in mood of an obedient child. Because a child does not
think. It just follows. Golden quotes and diamond quotes are simple commands
that only need following and not great thinking. You may think about it when
you are not doing japa to send it into the background mind. But during japa
just follow the command.
Why is thinking during japa a problem ?
Because it consumes the foreground mind and the atma cesta or effort and citta
shakti, the attention energy of the soul. Thinking, whether logical or
illogical, directed or undirected is about movement of thoughts. It requires
atma cesta shakti and citta shakti. And we all know by now that foreground mind
and our atma cesta and citta shakti to concurrently do-cum-know is required
100% for concurrently chanting-cum-hearing every Nama. We have also learnt that
we cannot 'do-cum-know' for two purposes at the same time. And if effort &
attention is taken away by thinking, then there is no attention-connection for
the soul with the Nama Avatara. The very basic intention of japa action is
attention-connection is not fulfilled. If there is no attention-connection,
where is the association for the soul with the Shaktyaavesha Nama? And if our
soul is not associating with the sound incarnation where is the question of
receiving the pleasant divine doing-cum-knowing energy or divya cesta ruchi
from Nama Prabhu which makes us want to chant more and more. When divya cesta
ruchi is not there, the japa becomes tasteless mechanical repetition.
contd....
04:50
.....contd
Different kinds of thinking
Thinking is an act of consciously accepting and rejecting thoughts in order
to come up with directions for action to achieve some objective. The objective
to be achieved by thinking could be directions for mind to achieve something
external or even internal like managing our own difficult emotions etc.
Intellect can chat with itself intellectually of different alternatives to the
problem at hand. Intellect can also can chat with the feeling-mind which is our
feeling body. Mind will chat whether the solutions offered by the intellect is
a 'feel-good' solution or a 'feel bad' solution. If it is feel bad solution it
will reject. If it is 'feel good' solution it will accept and take it forward
by moving the senses into action. Or if it rejects, the intellect further chats
within itself propose to the mind of a higher 'feel good' by accepting the
immediate 'feel-bad'. The same mind will accept to go ahead even it is
immediate' feel-bad'. In short thinking is self chatting activity both within the
intellect and mind itself or between them. To do all this activity it requires
the fundamental requirement is 'doing and knowing' cesta and attention energy.
Like if there are two people, they can be talking to themselves or can talk to
each other. Mind processing refers to the chats between the one mind-slice with
another mind-slice or one intelligence-slice with another intelligence-slice or
talks between one intelligence-slice with another mind-slice.
The cycle of questions of the mind and the potential answers of the
intelligence are repeated several times as long as the mind 'feels-good' about
the solution. This is called thinking, and it is the biggest enemy of during
japa , even if the subject matter of thinking is the philosophy of Krishna consciousness
or devotional service. It is even worse when the mind is thinking during japa
about mundane life problems that arise from material desires. It amounts to
total neglect of the Nama Prabhu who has descend before us to be welcomed,
associated with and lovingly served by concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing-cum-tasking with delight, relish, enthusiasm and hope for
mercy.
Different kinds of thinking activity that are the enemies during japa
Problem-solving ; Accepting and rejecting probable solution to a problem-
Plan-making; Accepting and rejecting alternative intends to create a
desired objective-
Creative ideation; Accepting and rejecting alternative ideas to create
new ideas
Hankering and lamenting; Hankering about the future or lamenting about
the past good and bad situations-
Worrying; Anxiety and indecision about negative outcome of future
‘Rasa’-ing; Dreaming about the enjoyment of future situation and rasa
Daydreaming; Aimless wandering of thoughts, searching for rasa, like
surfing TV channels
Thinking is an internal noise during japa. We need internal silence during
japa for clearly hearing
The mind-intelligence dialogue is a subtle material noise that disturbs our
quality of hearing of spiritual sound or the Hare Krishna Nāma. Thinking is
tasking for problem-solving, plan-making, generating ideas for a creative goal,
worrying about something, lamenting about something that happened in the past,
dreaming about some desirable future situation or aimless wandering of
thoughts.
contd......
MD
07:22
Madhu Pandit Dasa
contd......
The foreground mind should not be in ‘chat mode,’ but in a silent ‘doing’ mode
during japa. This is achieved in concurrent chanting-cum-hearing. The
mind-slice of the foreground mind trained for soulful japa is trained to simple
'do and know' the sound. As soon as the mind does any thought processing, the
effort and hence attention will not be available for the chanting-cum-hearing
the Hare Krishna Nāma. The attention is eaten away by the ‘noise,’ preventing
the soul from touching the Hare Krishna Nāma.
Every thinking of the material mind is a noise that prevents us from hearing
pure omnipotent sounds that is descending from the spiritual world. Such a rare
opportunity is wasted if we don't hear Him but hear our limited potency less
material thoughts instead. Every thought in our minds is a subtle sound.
Thinking is a distracting internal noise during Japa. Though the golden
commands of Srila Prabhupada lead to mindful japa often powerful thinking noise
surfaces up in the background mind due to the unpredictable guna-kala-forces
which pulls away our minds from Nama Japa. That is why, even if we are trained
in mindful japa, the diamond quotes are always required to be applied by loudly
chanting to deafen these noises. Loudly chanting will deafen you to the
thinking noise and re-establish the doing-effort and knowing effort on the same
Nama.
contd.....
MD
08:05
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
Subtle hearing is smaranam
We may be able to mechanically chant the gross sound. But holistic hearing
of the sound includes subtle hearing of the meaning of the sound. When I say
'pen', I can also hear the idea of the pen in my mind. That is subtle hearing.
In the case of Nama Japa, the subtle hearing of Nama means the manifestation of
the idea of the presence of the absolute identity and personality of Hare
Krishna Nāma Prabhu. That sat, çit ānanda identity will fill our mind on His
own when heard with a materially calm noiseless mind with faith and devotion.
This is not surprising if we know from guru, sadhu and sastra that Krishna Nama
is all spiritual and is Krishna Himself. His Name cannot be separated from His
identity, form etc. That is why it is said that hearing clearly will
automatically one day spontaneously become nama-smaranam. But that experience
comes from clearly hearing and totally noise less hearing of Nama and of course
the mercy of Nama Prabhu.
The tasking of japa is a very big spiritual force to count upon to silence the
mind of the 'thinking' noise. Tasking with a tasking impulse of delight
maximizes spiritual energy flow from the piling up or stacking up of unit
doings of chanting -cum-hearings of the Nama Prabhu uninterruptedly. This
building up spiritual energy is very essential to silence the thinking noise
that invariable happens due to the thoughts that continuously keep rising from
the background mind due to forces of guna-kala-karma at the time of japa
especailly when we begin our japa. There is greater build of spiritual energy
when you do uninterrupted tasking just as a iron piece immersed in fire keeps
on gaining energy with time from the fire if you don't remove the iron from the
fire. A slackened easy going japa with no idea of uninterrupted tasking will
never build up the spiritual energy to keep back the thinking force attacking
the chanter.
The sub-conscious mind or cittam is always prompting ‘thinking’ by the force of
time or kāla. Modern research in psychology has discovered that every minute,
about 130 thoughts surface into the conscious mind from the unconscious mind.
To keep the conscious mind fixed on chanting-cum-hearing hearing the Nama
during extraordinarily disturbing times which is unpredictable, the chanter has
take strength from everyone of the different rasas of Nama Japa we talked about
from the background mind like having a strong purpose for japa,
desire-intention during japa, delight-relish-enthusiasm & hope to drive the
japa. ultimately rasa anchors attention inspite of all other pulling forces.
Threshold austerity for each japa session
When we begin our japa everyday, even if we have practiced mindful japa, to
push away the currently running train of thoughts, first 10 to 20 beads or even
upto finishing one mala we have be ready to offer a little extra tapasya or
austerity to set up uninterrupted tasking and lock up the attention. This I
call it as the threshold anchoring tapasya or austerity for setting up
uninterrupted tasking . After crossing the threshold tapasya, our concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing-cum-tapasya will lock our mind to the Nama without
tapasya. What is this austerity? it is the process of observing if the mind is
going away to thinking and whenever it does, then apply diamond quote to chant
loudly and re-anchor the mind on the Nama by application of fresh atma cesta.
Exactly what you did in the practice session, you should be ready to do for the
first mala for each japa session. For those who have gone through the practice
of mindful japa for 30 days this is easy. Otherwise this anchoring tapasya
requires lot of practice. But it is exciting to know that this works
wonderfully.
If you are not doing your 16 rounds in one shot, then for each sitting you will
need to exert this anchoring tapasya to consciously hold the effort and
attention without break on the Hare Krishna Nāma. It is like a warm up round
before entering into energy giving mindful japa.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
28 May 2020
MD
10:35
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 58 Part 1
Divine dependency for japa
Teachings of Lord Kapila.
If Krishna sees that someone is sincerely chanting Hare Krishna, He will
help. He is within everyone, and He can understand whether one is sincere or
not. Krishna helps a sincere devotee internally and externally. Internally He
helps as Paramātma by giving intelligence from within. Dadāmi buddhi-yōgam tam.
Externally He helps as His representative, the spiritual master.
Energy for japa comes from attentive chanting & hearing itself
One mala of japa is a simple concurrent chanting cum hearing-tasking-
concurrent chanting cum hearing-tasking- concurrent chanting cum
hearing-tasking- concurrent chanting cum hearing- tasking- concurrent chanting
cum hearing- tasking-concurrent chanting cum hearing- tasking- concurrent
chanting cum hearing- tasking-concurrent chanting cum hearing- tasking-
concurrent chanting cum hearing- tasking-concurrent chanting cum hearing-
tasking-concurrent chanting cum hearing- tasking-concurrent chanting cum
hearing- tasking-concurrent chanting cum hearing- tasking-concurrent chanting
cum hearing- tasking-concurrent chanting cum hearing- tasking-concurrent
chanting cum hearing- tasking-concurrent chanting cum hearing- tasking-
concurrent chanting cum hearing- tasking-concurrent chanting cum hearing-
tasking-......................................................x 108 times.
This is as far the foreground mind is concerned. Concurrent chanting cum
hearing on the bead and tasking between the two beads. Remember I have told you
without tasking it is not japa. It is only sravanam and kirtanam of mantra in a
disconnected way. Japa is connecting the repetition in an uninterrupted way so
as to build up the warmth of the satcitananda fire before you. That is why when
you do uninterrupted tasking with tasking pleasure there is zero attention leak
.Then no amount of distraction can pull your heart cesta away from the Nama
seva.
As we discussed in the previous module, when we begin our japa session, it
takes a little focussed extra effort to hold the kriya cesta and jnana cesta on
each Nama for a threshold number of concurrent chants cum hearings, consuming
our mental energy. But after loud chanting of 20 or 30 beads we cross that
threshold barrier and some fresh divya kirya-jnanakarya cesta shakti-ruchi
enters the scenario and the tapasya tapers down to zero. Rest of the japa will
be a smooth energy giving delightful japa wanting to taste that
doing-knowing-tasking energy wanting to do more and more that activity.
The source of this pleasant doing-knowing-tasking energy the Hare Krishna Nāma
Prabhu. It did not come from nowhere. It has come only through the unbroken
attention acting as the connector for the passage of this extra energy from the
Hare Krishna Nāma to the soul. That is the mercy energy from the Divine Sound.
The truth about the actual flow of energy into the chanter from such chanting,
was an exhilarating discovery from the gardener's japa ( refer module 37). It
is not that in japa the chanter is struggling alone with some impersonal sound.
Initial anchoring tapasya has to be offered as an expression of our wish to the
Lord that I want uninterrupted association. Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu helps
those who help themselves. Soon Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu releases the
kriya-jnana-karya çēstā shakti and it ruchi in our hearts which not only locks
our attention but also would want to drink more and more Nama without even
losing a single Nama.
"Drink more and you become drunkard. Similarly, chant more and you
become perfect chanter."
Mexico, February 11, 1975
BG 2.11 class
contd....
10:35
.....contd
Quoted in Srila Rupa Goswami’s Sri-Padyavali, verse 30
Sri Bhavananda
viceyāni vicāryāni vicintyāni punah punah krpanasya dhanāniva tvan-nāmāni
bhavantu nah
O Lord, just as a miser continually collects, counts, and remembers his
money, in the same way let us continually collect, count, and remember your
holy names.
God helps those who help themselves. It is only by the mercy of the Hare
Krishna Nāma Prabhu that we will be able to offer mindful, spiritful or soulful
japa by releasing all the soul energies at His lotus feet. Just by seeing our
sincere desire to take delight in chanting-rejoice in hearing-and
enthusiastically task, the Nama Prabhu through the Śaktyāvēşa avatāra or the
empowered omnipotent sound releases His mercy and allows us uninterrupted
blissful association through the the sound-embrace.
Śrīla Prabhupāda says
“The Mahāmantra (Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare) is also simply an address to the
Lord and His energy. So, to anyone who is constantly engaged in addressing the
Lord and His energy, we can imagine how much the Supreme Lord is obliged. It is
impossible for the Lord to ever forget such a devotee. It is clearly stated in
this verse that anyone who addresses the Lord immediately attracts the attention
of the Lord, who always remains obliged to him.”
Nectar of Devotion 21 / 17.
Hence, praying to the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu before starting japa that He
may kindly pull my otherwise distracting attention unto Him, will attract His
transcendental energy or kriya-jnana-karya cesta shakti or energy
to lock our serving attention on Him. We should pray Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu
that He sanctions the same to be able to lock our attention on Him for 16
rounds and He will for sure release that divine energy.
Our anchoring tapasya for the threshold number of initial chants of each mala
is just an expression to Him of our desperation to want to get our attention
locked up with Him. He mercifully reciprocates. Making an offering of threshold
tapasya is an expression of seriousness and sincerity to touch him and
associate with Him by offering ourselves unto Him. The Nama Avatara or the
sound incarnation of the Lord observes that sincerity and struggle and permits
us to lock our serving attention on Him. Without divine dependency on cannot do
mindful japa.
Thus, God helps those who help themselves. If we are not sincere about it,
serving attention can never get locked up. Remember we are relating with God.
Based on simplicity, sincerity and humility Nama Avatara will accordingly
reciprocate actively. Thus hundred percent attentive japa is impossible without
the flow of mercy energy from the Hare Krishna Nāma Prabhu. He should allow us
such a continuous divine sound embrace.
contd....
10:36
....contd
But we should know that unless so sanctioned by the Holy Name, no one can lock
his serving attention on Him. It is a great privilege offered to the soul. We
have to desire His association then He will reciprocate. If now you are able to
do concurrent chanting cum hearing uninterruptedly, that is also due Him
allowing you to do so. Even if you have not expressed your prayer in words, the
Nama Prabhu has captured your feelings of you wanting to follow these
instructions of Srila Prabhupada in improving your chanting. That is why you
are successful. Without the mercy of a pure devotee of the Hare Krishna Nāma
Lord like Śrīla Prabhupāda who is distributing agent of Nāma Prabhu and the
mercy of the Hare Krishna Nāma Himself, nobody can tirelessly give his
exclusive undivided attention to tasking uninterruptedly chanting cum hearing
bead after bead.
Uninterrupted japa is not a mechanical achievement of tapasya and if achieved
on a day to day basis then it is not a small achievement. It means you have
attracted the causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Nama Prabhu. And if we
sincerely want that kind of association, there is no reason They will hold back
that mercy because they only have advised us as to how we should associate with
Nama Prabhu. The simple process of concurrent chanting cum hearing of every
Nama who is manifesting in real time as you do your japa can elude even
devotees with elaborate knowledge of all sastras unless he attracts the mercy
of Srila Prabhupada.
Without this mercy of Divya cesta shakti ruchi one cannot sustain attentive
japa, whether at anchoring stage or at the later stage after crossing threshold
number. From the above realization it should be a great relief to know that
japa is not at all a struggle or tapasya all through the sixteen rounds by the
mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Nama Prabhu except for initial threshold number
of beads. Exercising continuous self-control for two hours is tiring and is not
a comfortable activity that anyone would look forward to especially in the
beginning when our natural love for Krishna is not awakened to drive it.
contd....
10:36
Soulful Japa
Module 58 Part 2
Struggling to hold attention means you are yet to cross anchoring tapasya
To do entire 16 rounds with struggled effort to
hold attention is very very tiring because it is mentally very exhausting. The
mind will buckle down and will get into some thought processing while your japa
will be going on mechanically and inattentively. At the most, one mālā can be
done in this manner, and japa does not appear to be what Krishna says
devotional service is, su-sukham kartum avyayam. Devotional service is joyfully
performed; more so with chanting His Names. This happens when the chanter never
takes off into his mindfull japa by offering anchoring tapasya to hold his
kriya-karya-jnana cesta for the first few beads till attention is locked.
Japa has to begin with the anchoring tapasya by begging the Sound Personality
of Godhead to show divine mercy and allow us the uninterrupted sound-embrace.
Doing japa with anchoring tapasya is like starting to turn the engine with
battery power with the self-starter before the engine fires on its own. Holding
the attention uninterruptedly with desire and determination till you cross the
threshold number of beads is a must like the self-starter. During this period
your japa is like running on batter power. The engine has not yet fired. You
should not leave your self started button till the engine fires. Before firing
if you leave the self-starter, then engine will never fire. If, for whatever
reasons you give up anchoring tapasya before the attention gets locked to a
state of zero attention leak, then you will not take off on mindful japa.
Mindful japa engine has fired. It means the pleasant divya kriya-karya-jnana
cesta energy has started flowing into your heart.
Suppose you give up prematurely anchoring tapasya then you entire japa has to
run on your doing-knowing-tasking power alone which is like turning the engine
by battery power. Since still you have to finish your rounds you will do it
with your battery power or tapasya. Entire 16 rounds will be a tapomaya japa.
And because of this your entire japa is running on battery power again and
again in bits because you never allowed the engine to fire by offering
anchoring tapasya continuously for uninterrupted concurrent chanting cum
hearing for sufficient number of beads. Again this anchoring tapasya amounts to
expressing your desire and determination to Nama Prabhu of wanting the
transcendental pleasure of uninterrupted association of Nama Prabhu.
If japa has to sustain for two hours, it should energize the mind rather than
tire it. Therefore if we start our japa with tapasya but atma cesta got
diverted to something before crossing the threshold tapasya, we should start
again apply threshold tapasya continuously till a state of zero attention leak.
contd.....
10:37
.....contd
Doing your 16 rounds with great difficulty? Why?
Let us say someone never crosses the threshold number of uninterrupted
concurrent chanting-cum hearing because he does not know this principle of
anchoring japa. His attention breaks away every now and then and never cross
the threshold level required to start energetic japa with energy from Japa.
Then, his entire japa of 16 rounds would be nothing but adding up bits of
uninterrupted japa always falling short of anchoring tapasya. This also happens
to devotees who finish their 16 rounds in the course of the whole day in bits
and pieces. In such a scenario, the entire 16 rounds is a big struggle and very
tiring for the mind. If we are particular about finishing of japa but do not
know about this threshold tapasya, our tendency will be to postpone difficult
things. We will do it in bits the whole day so that we don’t tire out, and
somehow finish the 16 rounds before sleeping. Such a japa is not the best.
Automobile example
Let us again take the example of the self-starter in an automobile. If you
turn the ignition key and hold it for the few seconds as designed and
instructed by the user manual, then the battery power would turn the engine
initially to suck the fuel into the chamber and a spark in that chamber from
the spark plus would ignite the petrol. Once the engine fires, it generates
energy by itself for the further movements of the pistons and the self starter
disengages the battery power. The anchoring tapasya in japa is like the battery
power of an automobile. It can be compared to contributing our effort. Petrol
fire can be likened to the energy flow from the Nama Prabhu.
If we do not muster patience and don’t hold the self starter for long enough to
let the engine fire as designed by the manufacturer, then the engine will not
self fire and start at all. And if you repeat this act of not holding self
started for long enough even a hundred times, not only will the engine not
fire, your battery will drain off very soon. We have to ensure that our effort
for attentive japa does not become like this, an unpleasant tapasya for two
hours just because we do not manage to apply anchoring tapasya to cross the threshold
number.
It is just like running the car engine only on battery without making the
engine fire with petrol power. It is impossible. So mentally fatigued is such
japa, that we will tend to think that attentive japa of 16 rounds is a
herculean task. Whereas it is not so at all if we attract the mercy of the Nama
Prabhu.
Because of having never crossed the threshold tapasya, a negative experience
may develop lethargic default perception towards touching the japa mālā and
starting to chant. This has happened to many beginners. If we still do it
because it has to be done, our japa will fall back to just doing inattentive
chanting of 16 rounds which is very easy because the mind can do it in auto
mode because you have done it for so many days. Thus inattentive japa is easy
but offensive. Attentive japa is also easy once you offer your anchoring
tapasya to express your desire and determination to attract the mercy of divya
kriya-karya-jnana shakti & ruchi of Nama Prabhu.
All this happens because of lack of understanding that if the threshold number
of concurrent chanting cum chanting is tasked uninterruptedly is crossed, then
the struggle ends by the flow divya kriya-karya-jnana shakti & ruchi.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
29 May 2020
MD
08:51
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 59/108
Refresher of key concepts of japa till now
Japa has two parts.
1. Doing and Knowing activity Foreground mind and
2. Feeling activity Background mind loaded from subconscious mind.
Japa is uninterrupted tasking of concurrent chanting-cum-hearing by the
foreground mind driven by
1. Purpose of achieving completeness of satcitananda
2. Desire to please
3. Intention to connect
Read Module 36 & 37 for more.
with the spirit of japa in the background mind
1. doing delight to chant each Nama ( hrstam rasa)
2. joy to hear each Nama ( āhlada rasa)
3. delight to task between each bead. ( utsāha rasa)
4. hope pleasure for mercy pervading the entire Japa time. ( krpa-akesha rasa)
with devotional feelings or sad-bhaavana in the background mind of ( future
modules will discuss this)
2. Humility
3. Gratitude
4. Respect
5. Love
6. Seeking Forgiveness
7. Total helplessness
8. Begging of Mercy
9. Surrender of self
10. Items of Krishna consciousness happiness
Secret of mindful Japa-
1. Concurrent application of both doing effort to chant and knowing effort
to hear on the same Nama currently being manifest with doing delight (hrstam)
and hearing joy (āhlada)
Secret of Spiritful Japa-
Task between two beads with tasking delight of hope pleasure of
accomplishing & accumulating one more bead of divine credit before chanting
on the next bead and successfully accomplishing and accumulating it and
progressive build up total accumulation on completion of chanting-cum-hearing
on that bead. Also hope with faith that there is definitely flow of
satcitananda mercy from Nama Prabhu into the soul.
Secret of uninterrupted tasking-
Chanting is procuring the tastiest drink and drink continuously through the
ears Nama after Nama and taking satisfacting in accomplishment and accumulation
of seva.
Method of training foreground mind.
To prepare a new mind slice by practice of what exactly you want to do for
30 continuous days. In mindful Japa use golden commands of Srila Prabhupada to
do concurrent chanting cum hearing and use diamond commands to re-anchor the
mind if it goes away.
Golden command: Chant and exactly same sound you hear. When you cant you
should hear. While you chant you hear. As soon as you chant try to hear.
Diamond command : If the mind goes off from japa, simply chant loudly
and fix your doing effort back on the Nama. Dont bother about bringing back the
mind or attention. If you apply you fresh cesta the mind and attention
automatically follow cesta. This is superior method of mind control with help
of shakti from Krishna.
Method of preparing the background mind
Convert absolute thoughts into thought feelings through reading and
contemplation about Japa seva, sevya and sevak from these modules. Reading book
Namamtra. When you understand what you read and think on your own then those
thoughts transform slowly into feelings. Finally everything in background mind
is a feeling.
Feelings of three types
1. Feelings of Truth ( knowledge)
2. Feelings of purpose-desire-intention
3. Interpersonal feelings.
If you want to offer hrstam-ahlada-utsaha and krpa apeksha read modules 27 to
30 several times for several days and think about it
if you want to offer purpose-desire-intention read module 36 & 37 several
times for several days and think about it.
If you want to offer faith then read module 1 to 12 about Sevya.
If you want to offer different items of interpersonal feelings please read the
modules 60 to 108 ( to be posted) several times for several days and think
about them.
Practical tip of starting the daily japa
1. Fix the number of rounds to be done in that sitting.
2.Pray to Srila Prabhupada and Nama Prabhu to gift you continuous association
3. Offer anchoring tapasya to lock the attention with desire and determination
for uninterrupted association
Enemies during Japa.
1. Thinking to solve problems
2. Thinking for daily to do plan making
3. Thinking for creative ideation
4. Thinking as in hankering for something material
contd.....
Q
09:43
Questions For Japa
https://youtu.be/52GOqddWIj8
SOULFUL JAPA: Session 65
By His Grace Madhu Pandit Dasa
*Date: 29/05/2020*
*Time: 11:00AM to 12:00Noon*
Q
09:43
Questions For Japa
Q
Questions For Japa 20.05.2020 10:30:19
MD
19:59
Madhu Pandit Dasa
......contd
5. Thinking as in lamenting for something material
6. Thinking of past enjoyable moments
7. Thinking of future enjoyments
8. Thinking as in worrying
9. Thinking as in philosophising
10. Thinking as in day dreaming
11. Thinking as in aimless wandering of the mind.
12. Thinking about what you forgot to do yesterday or in the past
13. Thinking about what you should not forget to do later today or future
14. Thinking about the next activity after japa.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
30 May 2020
Q
14:59
Questions For Japa
Volunteering Opportunity
:
Hare Krishna!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to Nama Prabhu.
We have been immensely getting benefited from Soulful Japa Sessions. Now we
have a great opportunity to serve the Hare Krishna Nama Prabhu and His Mission.
We have a varied range of services like Content Management, Content Creation,
Social Channels, Making Videos, Graphic Designs, documents creation, etc
If you are interested in volunteering, Please fill the form. It's a First Come,
First Serve opportunity.
https://forms.gle/kAMGLwP23wCxr91s8
31 May 2020
MD
07:32
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Announcement
In yesterday's video session I have announced
that from now on instead of daily YouTube sessions, we will have sessions only
on all Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. We have done 66 session on
mindful and spiritful japa. The yagna is to complete 108 sessions. So we have
another 42 sessions to go which is specifically on soulful japa. They are
mostly on how to move from mindful-spiritful Japa to soulful japa. At the rate
three sessions a week, we need 14 weeks to complete the course of soulful Japa.
Thank you
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
19:06
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Quote
SP lecture BG 8.22-27NY, 20 Nov 1966
Just like Arjuna is deriving the benefit, being
associated with Krishna, similarly, you can also derive the same benefit as
being associated with Krishna simply by chanting this Hare Krishna, Hare
Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare
Hare. This is possible.
So Lord Caitanya says... It is not my version... Lord Caitanya says who are
realized soul, who is considered to be the authority and incarnation of
Krishna, Krishna Himself is saying that "You have been... The Lord, You
have become so kind to these people of this material world or of this age
especially that they cannot have any facility for understanding God." But
God has descended in the form, in the sound, in the sound form, transcendental
sound form. Simply by vibrating, you associate with God. Simply by vibrating,
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma,
Räma Räma, Hare Hare. It is so much kindness of the Supreme Lord, that He
wants to associate with you. So you should receive Him.
Application to Japa
Just note the last sentence. Srila Prabhupada is revealing the Nama Prabhu
wants to associate with us. Out of so much kindness he has come. So this alone
is more that enough to offer him priti back by concurrent chanting-cum-hearing.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
2 June 2020
MD
07:43
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Driving Spirit of Japa-
June 2.pdf
Not included, change
data exporting settings to download.
232.6 KB
Improved version
07:44
Tasking Impulse -June 1
.pdf
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data exporting settings to download.
421.1 KB
MD
08:11
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Mindful & Spiritful
Japa- June 2.pdf
Not included, change
data exporting settings to download.
388.1 KB
One slide showing both
MD
08:29
Madhu Pandit Dasa
SOULFUL JAPA_2nd
June-2020.pdf
Not included, change
data exporting settings to download.
983.5 KB
ll slides updated. these
slides are good for revision. It hardly takes 15 minutes a day. Please flip through
them for a month. If any improvement I will keep posting latest
Q
10:04
Questions For Japa
https://youtu.be/Xsw-oGJXf1c
SOULFUL JAPA: Session 67
By His Grace Madhu Pandit Dasa
*Date: 02/06/2020*
*Time: 11:00AM*
10:05
MD
10:41
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 59/108
Daily 16 rounds- Practice Sessions
Soulful Japa is chanting-cum-hearing and tasking to remember Nama Prabhu
with background absolute feelings about and towards Nama Prabhu. What is an
absolute feeling? Absolute feeling flows from absolute knowledge, thoughts
related to Nama Prabhu. Where do you get absolute thoughts? You get that from
guru, sadhu and sastra.
How do we generate feelings? When the respective Krishna conscious thoughts
flow in our mind repeatedly in a contemplative reflective mood regularly for
over long period. These feelings and thoughts get seamlessly pasted together
and become thought-feelings or bhakti bhaavana. Thought-feelings is the
language of feelings where feelings come first in the background mind but it is
loaded with meaning of those thoughts without verbalising the thoughts. You
mind speaks in the language of thought-feelings or bhaavana.
We have already established the practice of mindful japa by the foreground
mind. We have already explained that faith is truth-feelings. Purpose,desire
intention are also feelings. Humility, respect, love, gratitude, surrender etc
are interpersonal feelings. Please note that all feelings are about or towards
the currently manifesting Nama Prabhu. Focus is Nama Prabhu for both the
foreground executing mind and background feeling mind.
The practice below can start after completion of 30 days of mindful Japa.
Foreground executing mind : Engaged in concurrent chanting-cum-hearing on all
16 Malas.
Background feeling mind : Feelings will change from Mala to Mala as explained
below.
1. Mindful Japa: ANCHORING ROUNDS
On Mala 1 & 2
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing driven by intention to
concurrently chant cum hear the same chant.
Background mind: Trigger the “feeling of obedience” or surrender to Srila
Prabhupada's golden and diamond commands.
Link for Srila Prabhupada's training Audio
https://soundcloud.com/ac-bhaktivedanta-swami-srila-prabhupada/japa-track-with-srila-prabhupada-giving-his-golden-commands
Off-Japa training Activity : Summary direction in Module 60 /108. For
detailed directions read Module 37 to 56
2. Soulful Japa: SHRADDHA ROUND
On Mala 3
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Trigger effortless background truth feeling "The Nama
Prabhu, sun of satcitananda is before me just for me".
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 61/108.
For detailed directions read Module 13, 15
3. Soulful Japa: FORGIVENESS ROUND
On Mala 4
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Trigger effortless background feelings “Nama Prabhu please
forgive my offenses at your lotus feet. Without your forgiveness I have no
hope"
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 62 /108
4. Spiritful Japa: DOING-DELIGHT ROUND
On Mala 5
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is manifesting
Background mind: Triggering “Feeling of Doing-Delight”. Delightfully welcoming
Nama Prabhu or Calling out desperately with feeling of success that He is
mercifully responding to your call bead after bead by manifesting into the
sound that you vibrate.
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & Contemplate on Module 63 /108
5. Spiritful Japa: JOYFUL HEARING ROUND
On Mala 6
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Triggering “Feeling of Hearing-Joy”.
• Joyful embrace of each Nama Or
• Joyfully Drinking the Nama sip by sip by hearing Or
• Joy of feeding the soul with soul food.
With Feeling of success on each bead.
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 64 /108
contd......
10:41
6. Spiritful Japa: TASKING
DELIGHT ROUND
On Mala 7
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is manifesting
Background mind: Feeling of accumulating delight
1. Feel Hope to build up, one after an another, the number of
chanting-cum-hearings as accumulating of my soul's wealth
2. With each bead of chanting-cum-hearing towards the target, feel success of
having accumulated more wealth
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 65 /108
7. Soulful Japa: PRITI ROUND
On Mala 8
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is manifesting
Background mind:
1 Feeling of pleasure-giving by me and pleasure-taking by Nama Prabhu, bead
after bead by delightful chanting-cum-joyful hearing
2. Feeling success of one more loving exchange.
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 66 /108
8. Soulful Japa: KRPA APEKSHA or MERCY-1 ROUND
On Mala 9
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is manifesting
Background mind: Trigger “Kripa Apeksha 1” Nama Prabhu, I cry out to you that
my heart is dry of bhakti rasa. Please release your mercy into my heart"
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate Module 67 /108
9. Soulful Japa: GRATITUDE ROUND
On Mala 10
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Trigger effortless background feeling of gratitude that “Nama
Prabhu, I am grateful to you, for coming to save me.”
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 68/108
10. Soulful Japa: HELPLESSNESS ROUND
On Mala 11
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Trigger effortless background feeling “Nama Prabhu, I am
hopelessly fallen and lost in this ocean. You are my only hope.
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 69/108
11. Soulful Japa: HUMILITY ROUND
On Mala 12
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Trigger effortless background feeling "Nama Prabhu, my
fallen self not worthy of respect but I will respect to everyone and everything
in terms of their eternal relationship with you"
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 70/108
12. Soulful Japa: KRPA APEKSHA or MERCY-2 ROUND
On Mala 13
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Nama Prabhu, I completely depend upon you for inspiration,
knowledge and strength and skills required to serve Srila Prabhupada mission.
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 71/108
14. Soulful Japa: MAINTAINER ROUND
On Mala 14
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Trigger effortlessly background feeling "Nama Prabhu, You
are my only maintainer of my life"
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 72/108
15. Soulful Japa: PROTECTOR ROUND
On Mala 15
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Trigger effortlessly background feeling "Nama Prabhu, I
have full faith that you are and will protect me in all circumstances".
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 73/108
15. Soulful Japa: SURRENDER ROUND
On Mala 16
Foreground mind: Concurrent Chanting cum Hearing each Nama that is
manifesting
Background mind: Trigger effortlessly background feeling "Nama Prabhu,
Your pleasure is my only purpose of existence. I surrender my total existence
to you"
Off-Japa training Activity : Read & contemplate on Module 74/108
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
3 June 2020
MD
07:30
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Announcement
Here is the improved cue card for 16 rounds of
practice sessions of Soulful Japa as per Module 59/108.
Ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
20:30
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:45:56
For Mala 1 & 2
MD
20:31
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:46:30
For Mala 3
MD
20:31
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:46:50
For Mala 4
MD
20:32
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:47:03
For Mala 5
MD
20:38
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:47:15
For Mala 6
MD
20:38
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:47:34
For Mala 7
MD
20:39
Madhu Pandit Dasa
For Mala 8
MD
20:40
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:48:28
For Mala 9
MD
20:41
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:48:41
For Mala 10
MD
20:42
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:48:53
For Mala 11
MD
20:42
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
Madhu Pandit Dasa 03.06.2020 18:49:05
For Mala 12
MD
20:46
Madhu Pandit Dasa
For Mala 13
20:46
For Mala 14
20:46
For Mala 15
20:47
For Mala 16
MD
21:23
Madhu Pandit Dasa
SOULFUL JAPA_Cue
Card.pdf
Not included, change
data exporting settings to download.
319.1 KB
Cue Card as PDF files
4 June 2020
MD
03:31
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Module 59 in Tabular
form. Mala 1,2 & 3
03:32
Module 59 in Tabular
form. Mala 4 & 5
03:33
Module 59 in Tabular
form. Mala 6 & 7
03:35
Module 59 in Tabular
form. Mala 8 & 9
03:36
Module 59 in Tabular
form. Mala 10 & 11
03:37
Module 59 in Tabular
form. Mala 12 & 13
03:38
Module 59 in Tabular
form. Mala 14 & 15
03:39
Module 59 in Tabular
form. Mala 16
MD
09:32
Madhu Pandit Dasa
Soulful Japa
Module 60/108
Inspiration for obedience to Srila Prabhupada's Golden commands. (for Mala 1
& 2 of practice session)
Concurrent chanting-cum-hearing ( explained
in Module 39) is the foundation of soulful Japa. The very first
soul-offering to Nama Prabhu is the offering of our effort energy ( atma cesta
shakti) . Wherever our effort (atma cesta shakti) is directed , the soul's
attention energy or citta shakti falls on that domain. Two kinds efforts (cesta
shaktis) are involved in any effort (cesta). Doing effort of kriya cesta shakti
and knowing effort or jnana cesta shakti. We offer jnana cesta through our
jnana-indriyas to 'know' things and offer kriya cesta through our karma-indriya
to 'do' things.
Chanting is a 'doing' and hearing is 'knowing'. You apply kriya cesta or doing
effort to chant and jnana cesta or knowing effort to hear concurrently on each
manifesting Nama. Note that hearing is a 'knowing' and it is not a 'doing'.
Japa means on each word of the mantra we offer one 'doing' and one 'knowing' at
the same time. Chanting and hearing are not two 'doings'. Concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing automatically sets up the attention-connection with
Shaktyaavesha Nama and Aprakrta Nama Prabhu on our tongue which is potentially
omnipotent sound. You are in touch with God directly. Concurrent
chanting-cum-hearing is the secret to connect with God directly.
Thinking during japa steals away our cesta shakti and hence the attention
energy too. We break our attention-connection with Krishna Nama. Then our japa
becomes a yantra japa or mindless japa or mechanical japa. Krishna is pleased
when we keep offering on line in real time our atma cesta to chant and hear His
Names. Thus thinking during japa is the biggest enemy of Japa as we are missing
out the opportunity for our soul to connect to Krishna. Thus thinking during
japa is big big loss for the sadhaka.
How this becomes an offering to the Nama Prabhu?
What do we do in this world with our kriya cesta and jnana cesta ? We 'do'
and 'know' with the purpose of enjoying our false ego through performance of
fruitive activities or gratifying our senses. Normally all 24 hours our
material life means only this. Constantly there is this doing force and know
force from the mind-body system acting dragging our soul's cesta shakti into
service of Maya based on per our past karma. In the background of this push,
jivas use thier free will and choose to engage their cesta shakti for performing
new actions seeking material happiness and pleasures or seeking to avoid
material suffering and pains. Voluntarily giving cesta shakti means using our
free will too ( iccha shakti) . This in this world jivas use free will to act
to fulfil their desire & hope (asha) for happiness and pleasure or to avoid
suffering and pain.
Now look at concurrent chanting cum hearing on each manifesting Nama . You are
surrendering your cesta shakti and iccha-asha shakti to please guru by
following his golden commands ( Module 38) to serve the Nama Avatara.
Nama Prabhu is Krishna Himself.
contd.....
MD
09:52
Madhu Pandit Dasa
....contd
These soul energies of yours that are surrendered to the lotus feet of Nama
Prabhu during japa would otherwise be engaged one way or the other in other
activities, including mental speculation, pushed by the urges of our
guna-kala-karma. Therefore concurrent chanting-cum-hearing without 'doing'
anything else, without 'knowing' anything else, without 'thinking' anything
else but only to please Guru and Nama Prabhu is actually surrender of the soul
to Krishna. Thus if you are concurrently chanting-cum-hearing the Names of
Krishna, it simple means you are offering your soul to Nama Prabhu. It is
nothing but directly surrendering to Krishna. Such devoted activity of Nama
Japa pleases Krishna and we become unlimitedly blessed when we please Krishna
with every bead and every mala of concurrent chanting-cum-hearing japa.
Lord Chaitanya taught us how to surrender to Krishna
Krishna demanded that we surrender to Him in Bhagavad Gita sarva dharma
parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja ( BG 18.66) . Lord Chaitanya taught us
practically how to surrender our soul to Him. By surrendering our primary soul
shakti of atma cesta to chant His Names, we automatically surrender our free
will (iccha shakti) our attention ( atma citta) and our desiring potency (asha
shakti) to Him during Japa.
Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita 'Tasmat kalesu mam anusmarasya yuddyaca'. Always
remember me and fight. Best way to remember Krishna is utter His Nama and
remember Nama Prabhu. If you are daily doing your 16 rounds of uninterrupted
mindful japa, then it same as surrendering to Him everyday and taking Nama
Prabhu's blessings for the rest of day to engage in our daily duties remembering
Nama Prabhu and always uttering Him whenever we get any time gap between our
duties. Then you are following Krishna's direction in life 24 hours. Fighting
for him like Arjuna. We become only instruments the war against Maya is really
fought by Him as He did in Kurukshetra.
Srila Prabhupada lecture BG 1 Introduction
Tasmat, the Lord suggested therefore, tasmat sarvesu kalesu mam anusmara
yudhya ca [Bg. 8.7]. He advises Arjuna that mam anusmara yudhya ca. He does not
say that "You simply go on remembering Me and give up your present
occupational duty." No. That is not suggested. The Lord never suggests
something impractical. This material world, to maintain this body, one has to
work.............
The same thing is advised by Lord Caitanya, kirtaniyah sada harih [Cc. Ädi
17.31]. Kirtaniyah sada. One should practice to chant the name of the Lord
always. The name of Lord and the Lord is not different. So here the instruction
of Lord Krishna to Arjuna that mam anusmara [Bg. 8.7], "You just remember Me,"
and Lord Caitanya's instruction that "You chant always the name of
Krishna." Here Krishna says that "You always remember Me," or
you remember Krishna, and Lord Chaitanya says, "You always chant the name
of Krishna." So there is no difference because Krishna and Krishna's name
are nondifferent in the Absolute.
Note that If we offer our kriya cesta, jnana cesta we are automatically
offering iccha shakti, citta shakti, and asha shakti. If you act, you have to
have a purpose or desire or intention ( asha) for the act and you also have to
use your free will (iccha). You don't have to separately offer these three
because you are already a devotee and you have a standing desire and
willingness to chant His Names. They precede atma cesta automatically. And as
far as attention is concerned, it is eternally flowing out of the soul. It only
needs redirecting to serve the Lord. And Atma cesta does this exactly. It
converts our ordinary attention into serving attention directed to chant and
hear the Nama.
Controlling attention is by controlling your cesta shakti. Remember Srila
Prabhupada's diamond comman. It is based on this secret. The diamond command is
to offer kriya
contd......
5 June 2020
MD
05:15
Madhu Pandit Dasa
.....contd
cesta for loudly chanting the Nama if the mind goes away from japa. This is
instead of putting effort or cesta to bring back the mind by self-control .That
will assure that the mind will automatically get locked on to japa.
Thus obedience to Srila Prabhupada is surrender to Nama Prabhu.
Why the first two malas are called anchoring rounds?
Though we have a trained mind slice for mindful Japa, it has to be put into
action.Every moment our soul energies are taken away by one mind slice or the
other. Since we are just beginning the day's japa, some other mind-slice is
engaging our cesta in something else. Like what all I should do today and
achieve by the send of the day. Or one could be bugged with emotional problem
with someone and your mind is constantly thinking what to do about it even
after you wake up. That mind-slice has to be disengaged and the mindful
mind-slice has to be engaged with our soul. Just like we say " we have to
change the gear". Pushing all other competing mind-slices and hooking on
to the mind slice for mindful japa requires some tapasya or deliberate effort
with clear intention to offer the doing effort and knowing effort on the
currently manifesting Nama.
So the first two anchoring rounds have to done with deliberate effort with
intention to link doing and knowing or chanting and hearing the Nama that
is manifesting each moment. Or in other words, the anchoring rounds have to be
done in the same mood as if you are learning mindful japa till it the Divya
cesta shakti and ruchi starts flowing into your heart. Anchoring rounds are
exactly like using the self-starter and battery power to start a automobile. (
read Module 58 Part 2) . Once the engine fires then battery power is no
longer required. Rather the battery gets charged as the engine runs by petrol
power. Similarly our soul gets charged with Divya Cesta shakti wanting to chant
and hear more and more endlessly.
ys
Madhu Pandit Dasa
MD
05:16
Madhu Pandit Dasa
A
ATKD 04.06.2020 09:54:19
https://youtu.be/ih4hxEmKP8s
SOULFUL JAPA: Session 68
By His Grace Madhu Pandit Dasa
*Date: 04/06/2020*
*Time: 11:00AM*
MD
05:16
Madhu Pandit Dasa
A
ATKD 04.06.2020 09:54:45
Ref: https://www.iskconbangalore.org/soulful-japa/
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