Nama Retreat. Session 6
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Govardhan · 2024
Chapters
Definition of false ego and asmitā
Yesterday we spoke about rāsa-ahaṅkāra or in terminology of Patanjali, asmitā. As me. I am. Now we need solution.
I understand that yesterday I mostly spoke about the problem and not enough about the solution. So let's emphasize the solution for this problem.
I'll give the definition of false ahaṅkāra, asmita, which is given by Patañjali. Drik-darśana-śaktyoḥ ekātmatā iva asmitā. Asmita of all, sigour means when you, in simple terms, mix the experience with the experience. We,
the soul, which has the ability of experiencing, so used to experience whatever we experience, that we think that we are the act of experience. It has become very clear, eh? It's very simple.
Because we always interact with this world, because we always see, always hear, always smell, always eat. That we definitely do always.
So, and you know, sleep and do all kinds of experiences, undergo all kinds of experiences in this world.
Uh, they're so used to it, then it's very difficult for us to separate us who experiences this from these acts or actions of experience.
And because we're always doing it, the kind of thing, that's me, that's me, that's me. Whereas I'm separate. So, and therefore he says, drik-darśana- śaktyoḥ ekātmatā iva.
We think that, you know, our ability to experience and this, this process of experiencing and me who is the experiencer is the same.
Therefore, in other traditions, what they do, in other spiritual traditions, what they do, they try to facilitate this process of separating the act of experience from the experience. This act of awareness.
Three primary factors of mental stress
Sorry, the awareness. And what happens because I always experience something and I think that's me, I take it very seriously.
You know, something is happening with me, you know, somebody told something about me and, you know, or what will be in the future. Basically, there are three main factors of stress which continuously produce the stressful emotions.
The first factor is time. You know, we always worried what's going to happen in the future. You know, will mori win or not? Or maybe Trump or Biden.
Uh you know, what will be the crisis, next crisis, ecology, this and that you know the time is is is a factor of stress and because it's a very acute factor of our day to day experience, what's going to happen. Especially in the future, or what I lost, you know, we always dwell either in the future or in the past.
And because we never identify ourselves with this awareness, with the ability to aware about things, we hardly ever in the future in the present. The second factor of our stress and worry is the condition of our body.
Something is always wrong. We only forget about body when we hear about Krishna.
The rest of the time something goes wrong, you know, this joint or that joint because we have so many joints, you know there will always be some uh some problem on the heart of the stomach or the liver and or the kidneys and we are acutely aware of its presence especially with the passage of time and we become older, you know, we we start knowing about something which we never knew before, that we have kidneys.
Blissfully unaware of the but all of a sudden it becomes a very serious factor of all life.
So you know this pain or that pain, this discomfort or that discomfort uh and uh so the body is the second factor which always is there in our mind?
And the third factor which is always bringing us some unpleasant or stressful emotions is the circumstances. You know, it's too hot now. Or it's too cold.
Or it's uh, you know, the especially of course circumstances is people. You know, this why did he look at me like this? What did he mean by this? What did he mean like this? He just he just had a stomach.
We always you know have some concerns about the circumstances. Something is always wrong this this or that was and uh you know we always absorbed in all these circumstances or situations, emotions.
And emotions, as I explained to you, and they have this ability to completely swallow our consciousness.
They overwhelm us and the more strong they are the more overwhelming they are and therefore we never ourselves. We forget this very simple and very vivid and very you know very obvious fact that I, the ability to aware of all these things, don't change.
I am the same. No matter what you know whoever speaks something about me, I am the same. It doesn't touch me.
I am the soul capable of seeing this and I'm capable also of separating myself from this from all these experiences so this is this is what we always uh forget and uh with give undue importance to what is happening and give uh uh less importance, much less importance uh to uh and you neglect uh to ourselves to our real self so that's what is happening.
You know, so many things happen in our life. We forget most about this. We don't remember all this rubbish. But in the process of experiencing it, it was so important. We don't remember it. Where is it now?
You know, we were little children and you know we we had so many serious problems as a child. Somebody took our favorite toy. How dare you do this? This is my toy. You know, does it influence you at this moment? No.
But at that moment it was so serious. It was damn serious. Damn serious, it probably transformed our personality. You know, my childhood trauma, somebody dare to take my little, you know, whatever.
Separation of consciousness through emotional surrender
So what I mean to say because we give undue importance to the experiences and forget about ourselves we always dwell in this soup of experiencing and what other traditions do.
Other traditions they uh they help to separate us, the soul, uh, with the ability to experience, with the ability to be aware, to be aware of everything which is happening from this by more or less artificial means.
As I explained, you know, the artificial means in other I mean they're not artificial, they're very helpful, they're good, you know, but they say, you know, please uh you try to uh you know not to identify with the all this stuff which around you with the matter with the gross matter. You know it's not you, it's it's here now with you, with money, with house, with this and that. You know, try to not enjoy too much, not to invest too much of your consciousness into this process.
Then they say try uh not to uh you know limit your contact with the environment at least for some period of time.
You know, go into seclusion, go into retreat, regulate your contact with the environment because every time we experience something, it affects our consciousness.
And so we because we're always dwelling in the content of our consciousness, we never dwell in the consciousness itself, in the soul. And then of course they say you should behave yourself humbly, try to be humble.
uh not to to be too proud by your achievements, by your you know position, by your diplomas, you know, by your degrees and PhD or you know what else is there? M.A., Ph.D. or ABC or GBC also really important.
You know, you add something to yourself and dwell in this situation in this all these upadhis. But actually you're not this, you will die, and you know who will remember that you were to see? you will not remember it.
Who cares about this or that? Your spirit soul, you will remain. You will be, you are eternal, you are eternal. This individual ability to aware about yourself will remain. The body will be gone, everything will be gone.
All the praises which were there, all the blames which uh you experience, that will that's gone. That's the water under the bridge. It's already so much we experience. Forget about this.
So there is this policy in other spiritual traditions and in our tradition as I explained that we limit our contact, regulate our contact with the environment.
Then we try uh you know distance ourselves from all this external stuff and they try to behave very humble.
But there is also a very powerful way of doing it by replacing all the stressful emotions which are produced by the act of experience with the emotions of
surrender because what bhakti is, bhakti means that we turn away from the external world and we turn ourselves towards God, towards Krishna.
So, and the emotions which are produced by this act when we turn away from the world. And at least try to turn towards the Lord to see Him. This act is called surrender. I surrender myself.
You know, because turning away from the Lord means surrender, from the world around us. Means surrender.
So and this act itself, this desire, this determination to turn away from the world and to establish some relationship with the Lord is very emotional.
And if we learn these emotions, if we rehearse these emotions again and again and again, you know, this is my determination. I do want to re-enter into relationship with the Lord, which is reality.
I don't want to live in this changing illusion. Constantly changing driver and which which doesn't bring me any lasting happiness. I don't want to identify myself with all this as Prabhupada said, tabernacles.
This is the tabernacle. It was just a very short English word. So you know this act is emotional, emotional. And this energy of these emotions is very helpful.
Chanting japa with deep emotional meaning
As I said it's like a fuel and if you use this energy of these emotions then it will be easy for us to chant this deep meaning. Patanjali Muni is his yoga sutra.
He explains the process of japa. He says jabba is a very easy and simple process of achieving samadhi. He explains there is you know difficult, long, protracted process of He explains the process of achieving samadhi.
And then he says, tat japa, he says that you know if you just chant the name of God, very easy you can achieve samadhi. But he explains how to do it. He explains the process.
The process is tat japa tat artha bhavanam. You repeat again and again and again the name of God. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. But not only this.
You also have to meditate on artha, on the meaning of what you're repeating. Artha bhavanam. You have to dwell on this on the meaning of you know this act should be meaningful.
Sometimes we do it in the very mechanical way, yes, yeah I have to do it, yes, I promise 16 rounds. Not even one being less. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. No, but we have to understand what is the meaning.
The meaning of the word Krishna, the meaning of our mantra, the meaning of Hare. And the meaning of the whole process. And emotions is the meaning.
If we do it with the emotions, then this act will become meaningful, and this act very quickly changes your personality.
You know, as I said, because we are in this vicious circle of karma, uh by getting stuck in it, easily getting stuck. In our you know psychological traits, in our uh
reactions, and our emotions, in our anger, and our greed in our lust and our illusions. So but this is a powerful process to use this emotions of surrender. Yes, my lord, I'm yours.
I don't care about anything else at least for two hours. You have 22 hours to care about the whole world. Just two hours to care about God. It's a good deal.
But because the process is so powerful, this two hours is enough, you know, to neutralize the effect which you will get by interacting with the world. But you have to use these two hours very effectively.
You know, the problem is that yes, we use these two hours, but not very effectively, that's the problem.
Examples of emotional surrender in scriptures
We are not getting the full use of this japa. Because we can only erase all these experiences which are there and not to dwell in them, not to be absorbed in them, if there is something, you know, something meaningful in what we're doing.
One thing to do it like Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Swami, he wrote this beautiful book in Sanskrit and in Bengali, Prapanna-jivanamritam. The book which explains the six limbs of surrender by quoting different shastras.
And each and every verse of this book is the content which will help us to dwell meaningfully on the process of shastra or the process of japa. Because so many different verses in the
scriptures describe this the emotions of different people who surrender themselves fully.
And by reading these verses, chanting these verses, remembering these verses, we can actually experience the glimpse of their emotions. Like Gajendra. You know, Gajendra completely for after so many years of struggle,
after so many years of being stuck in this very difficult situation of you know fighting with this crocodile, you know, ultimately he realized, you know, there is he just remembered, yeah, there is God who can help me.
And before he didn't know about this, he didn't remember about this. But ultimately, you know, it became clear to him that yes, there is somebody who can help me.
And he took you know lotus with his how do you say this? And he pronounced this prayers. And these prayers, you know, it's the content of his uh of his prapati, of his surrender. So uh this is the content.
This is the emotional content which will help us to erase all the stress which is accumulated in our consciousness, all the childhood traumas. You don't need to go to psychologists. You don't need to spend money for them.
If we do it properly. If we do it in a proper way, our consciousness will quickly become very clear and uh dedicated to the Supreme Lord.
So this is one thing or the songs of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, which he wrote specifically for us.
All the songs of Saranagati, Makti Rakshak Maharaj he he collected all these verses to help us to feel different aspects of these six limbs of surrender.
Because each and every aspect of this limb, of this limbs of surrender, of six limbs of Śaraṇāgati, they are multi-dimensional.
You know, it's uh and uh those great devotees who experience this they experience is reflected in the verses which are recorded in the scriptures.
Symptoms and emotions of self-surrender
So I will read a very beautiful part of Jaiva Dharma which explains this very briefly explains this uh five emotions uh uh of Sharanavati. Uh this is what Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes.
There are six symptoms of self-surrender. The first two are Anukulyasi Sankalpa and Pratikulyasi Varchana.
I will not do that, which I uh I will only do that which is favorable for an Aloy Bhakti and I will reject all that is unfavourable. This is called Sankalpa or pratiya. Solemn vow.
So the first emotion is this solemn vow pratigya. I'll do it no matter what. Sometimes it's difficult, but I'll do it. I will not betray my Lord.
Because every time we do something which is displeasing to him, we're basically betraying him. We're basically saying I don't care about him. So this is basically the determination within us. Yes. The Lord is there.
I feel his presence. He is present. He is in my heart. I feel he is present there. So the first emotion is this pratigya. Yes, I will do it. And of course, sometimes we will fail. But still, we failed.
And after that, what is the conclusion? I will still do it. Even though I failed, I will still continue doing it because what else to do? What is the alternative?
There is no viable alternative to this, otherwise you will be just completely, you know, you will be just while giving our consciousness to the matter we become matter ourselves. We betray our higher spiritual nature.
So the first is that, yes, this pratigya or sankalpa determination. The third symptom is rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāsaḥ — faith in Bhagavan as one's protector. Titi Vishvasu faith and Bhagawan as one's protector.
Bhagavan is my only protector. I can derive absolutely no benefit from jñāna-yoga and other such practices. Well, it's very difficult for me because I do yoga every day.
You know, we may do this, but ultimately we know that only because Bhagavan allows us to do yoga. We can do yoga. And very soon he will not allow us to do yoga, because, you know, for how long you can do yoga.
Ultimately we have to understand the simple fact that if there is anyone who can protect us, it's only him. Everything else is not a very, you know, it's, uh, like Prabhupāda says in his translation of
the second canto, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: falible soldiers. We try to surround ourselves with different protective measures. But as Prabhupāda says, they are all falible soldiers.
You know, all these soldiers which we are surrounded by and trying to protect ourselves will fall. You know, we may have money, we may have this, we may have relatives, oh my goodness, we may have wife, Hare Krishna.
Fallible soldiers. Only Bhagavān is the protector. So this is an expression of trust, viśvāsa. So this is the second emotion. First emotion is determination. Yes, I'll do it. And you know if internally you really mean
it, you immediately feel the energy, which will help you to do it. Isn't it? I'll do it. And yeah, I can do it, no problem. The second emotion is viśvāsa. Viśvāsa, the Sanskrit word viśvāsa is very special.
Śvāsa means to breathe. And viśvāsa, which means trust, means to breathe in a certain way. Like when we are completely, when we feel completely safe and protected and secure, like a little child on the lap of the mother.
The child may be crying, the child may be frantic, you know, and because he's frantic, his breathing is completely chaotic.
As soon as he is put on the lap of the mother and he is you know hearing the beat of the mother's heart, he becomes very peaceful. And very soon he falls asleep. Deep, a peaceful, beautiful breathing.
So viśvāsa is this peaceful breathing when you feel that you're protected? Viśvāsa is this condition when you feel there is nothing to fear. Even at this moment of time if a tiger will appear now,
you know I will say Hare Krishna and let's see what's going on. So if you have this viśvāsa, yes, there is somebody who protects me. I don't have to worry about this.
The only thing which I have to do is just to breathe very peacefully. I mean trust again I don't say it's easy but what I mean to say is that uh we can rehearse it. That's the emotions which we can reverse.
This is the third emotion. The emotion of complete trust, complete assurance that I'm safe because Bhagavān is there. I'm the soul, will always be with him. He's there with me. So the fourth symptom is gopṛtve varaṇam.
Deliberate acceptance of Bhagavān as one's maintainer. I cannot obtain anything or even maintain myself by my own endeavor. I will serve Bhagavan as far as I am able and he will take care of me. So that's me.
What I can do, I can serve. That I can always do. I can always do something for Bhagavad.
I can always help somebody, I can always if if deeply inside I feel that yes I'm I'm the servant of Bhagavan then and then he will take care of me. I don't have to worry myself.
And you know, so many times we experience this. You know, there's some some problem is there, but somehow rather miraculously it's been resolved.
So this deep understanding deep down that, uh, you know, Bhagavan will take care of me, uh then uh it's the emotional Gokritville Varanam that yeah he will maintain me. Now Tukaram is a famous example of this.
He had his wife, Janabai, and she was always naming, you know, there's not enough in our house. And he used to say, let's sing some bhajan for Bhagawa and let's see what's going on.
Let's sing some bhajan somehow rather everyone is maintained by the Lord. You know, the big big elephant is living in the jungles and he needs some hundred kilos of food every day, you know, and he's not so worried.
Uh somehow or other he's being maintained, everyone is being maintained, you know. Yeah we we should do the needful but uh at the same time, internally we should have this conviction. Yes, I am being maintained.
He gave me this body. He made this arrangement. He made this beautiful world. He gave me the air to breathe, the water to drink, the food to eat, everything is there. No need to worry. So this is what is meant by dependence.
Nirbharata. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura translates this limb of surrender, goptṛtve varanam, as a complete dependence, nirbharaṭā. Tyavarana, as a complete dependence, Nir Bharata. The internal emotional dependence.
Yes, I am dependent on Bhagavan, and uh it means that he will maintain me.
And then I said as I explained to you, this is the complete surrender. Everything else is just a particular case of surrender. But this is the complete surrender which is there. The fifth symptom is Atmanikshepa, surrender proper.
And in Sri Samradaya, when they explain and they are very emphatic about this, they say actually that Saranagati is Bhakti.
Two stages of self-dedication in bhakti
But they say that aṅgī of śaraṇāgati is this ātmanikṣepa or ātmanivedana. We have different conception, but you know we can argue, but it's not the point of arguing. Nikshappa basically means to throw oneself.
Ātmanikṣepa means I give my ātmā to the Lord. And there are two kinds of ātmanikṣepa or ātmanivedana.
Because one kind of ātmanivedana or ātmanikṣepa, the first kind of ātmanikṣepa, is included in the six limbs of śaraṇāgati. And another one is included as the last link of the nine kinds of bhakti, right?
Śravaṇam kīrtanam viṣṇusmaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ... So in the beginning I said that śaraṇāgati is the preliminary stage
of bhakti and then after explaining everything, what is bhakti starting with śravaṇam, we again say ātmanivedanam. So what is this? Uh there are different uh it's two different things.
When we're talking about Atman Nikshepa in Saranagati, it's the word is the same. Ātmanivedana or ātmanikṣepa is the same.
But because in the beginning we don't know what is our ātmā, it's very difficult to give our ātmā proper, the soul proper to the Lord, because we don't know what is our ātmā.
So ātmanikṣepa means, ātman what we think we are now, and now we identify with the body and with the mind. Ātmanikṣepa in śaraṇāgati means I give my body, my mind and my speech to the Lord. Because there is no other ātmā.
I don't know what is what is this. If I do some surgical iteration is it's somewhere there? No. We cannot give ātmā proper to the Lord, but we can give the body, right?
We can serve by our body, we can serve by our speech, we can serve by our mind. This is ātmanikṣepa in śaraṇāgati. It basically means whatever I have is yours. The body I have is yours body. Nice body.
I maintain this body because it's your property. I take care of it. You know, I take care of my health and everything else because it's your property. But it's it's yours.
My mind is yours, my speech is yours, everything is yours, I'm doing. But then when we do when we do the proper bhakti, starting with śravaṇaṁ, kīrtanaṁ, smaraṇaṁ, etc., at the end, we understand I am the spirit soul.
I am a beautiful little girl in my mañjarī-svarūpa or whatever. Whatever svarūpa is there. Maybe you are some friend of Krishna, whoever. On the level of āsakti it will become very clear.
ānandāmbudhī-vardhanaṁ prati-padṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ sarvātma-snapanam paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam
Lord Chaitanya explains the stage of āsakti by saying I'm your little kiṅkara, little tiny kiṅkara, a little servant of yours. So this second Ātma-nivēdana is this real
Ātma-nivēdana when we know who I am in my spiritual svarūpa and how to serve the Lord in my spiritual identity by my spiritual emotions, by interacting with Him in this emotional exchange.
So that's why it's very interesting. When we do Navadvīpa-dhāma parikramā, Navadvīpa-dhāma is a representation of nine processes of bhakti. So we start Navadvīpa-dhāma parikramā where? Antardvīpa. In Antardvīpa.
Antardvip is the symbol of what? Ātma-nivēdana. We start at Yoga-pīṭha, in Antardvīpa, which is the symbol of ātma-nivēdana.
It basically means first kind of ātma-nivēdana or ātma-nikṣēpa from śaraṇāgati, we do everything for the Lord. And then we go through all the processes of devotional service through all nine islands
and when we finish our Navadvīpa parikramā in Antardvīpa, in the same place, we come to the Ātma-nivēdanaṁ again. But this Ātma-nivēdanaṁ is real Ātma-nivēdanaṁ. This is the real stuff.
So that's the idea behind this Navadvīpa-dhāma parikramā when we ultimately understand what is our ātmā and how to serve the Lord and the sixth symptom and, yeah, sorry. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura continues. Who am I? I am his.
My duty is to fulfill his desire. This is submission of the self, Atmaniveda. Submission, I am yours. And the sixth symptom is Karpanya, meekness. I am wretched, insignificant, and materially destitute.
This is what is meant by humility, carpanya o dainya. So, yes, I am I'm what I am, you know, but uh I already gave myself to you and you do whatever you like with with me the way I am now you know I gave myself to you.
And this is the fifth emotion. So Bhakti Nina Thakur basically says that within the six limbs of surrender there are five emotions. He lumps together anukuliasy sankal path and particulyasi vajannu.
And we should try to feel this to really feel this on the level of the soul. And that's why Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura wrote Śaraṇāgati songs. Because music is the most powerful means to evoke emotions.
When we hear music, musical tune, and the musical tunes themselves, emotions are already there. If you do it properly, of course, if you do it not very properly, you may not, but still,
you know, the music written and the mood will give you very vivid understanding what it means.
And by taking these emotions and changing with this emotion, you feel this emotion chanting the holy name with this emotion uh you will just go to Krishna Hare Krishna
Hare Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama This is how it works. This is the this is the idea which which uh which I was trying to present to you.
And then you will easily forget everything, because you will be so happy, so blissful. Like yesterday during the kīrtana, you know.
Did did you have any worries what's going to happen tomorrow when and during the Forget it, I'm yours. I surrender to you, you take care of me, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna
So you have the lifetime to rehearse it and then at the moment of death you will say Are this the rocket will take off. So that's basically what it is.
Gradual purification through persistent holy name chanting
And I wanted also to read one more little quote from Jay Jaiva Dharma by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura to how the process, it's a very positive quote, how the process of changing works Yes.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains at the end of the section of Jaiva Dharma, which is devoted to Namabhajan, the most important process. He explains the gradual process of getting rid of the offenses.
Vijaya is asking, Prabhu, I understand that the result of nāmāparādha is very dangerous. But is there any good result derived from the
names that are uttered offensively? So, in other words, if we still do what we used to do, you know, neglectfully
chant Hare Kṛṣṇa while driving the car, or you know, by thinking about all kinds of stuff in the universe and by worrying about you know who will be elected, who will be the next president of the United States.
You know, sometimes devotees think about this. Even not American devotees. Want to speak about American devotees, but God himself ordered them to think about it.
So, uh, this Vijaya is asking, is there any use of this sort of chanting? And, uh, the answer is very, uh, optimistic and positive.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, yes, Śrī Nama will give whatever result nāmāparādhī desires while he is chanting the names, but it will not award Kṛṣṇa prema.
At the same time, the offender has to suffer the result of his offenses against Śrī Nama. One who commits offenses to Śrī Nama and who takes the name with a wicked mentality will receive the following results.
Please listen very carefully. In the beginning nāmāparādhī takes Śrī Nama with a wicked mentality but after some time he occasionally chants Nama free from wickedness. Very interesting.
Initially, we are completely absorbed by this. But Nama is very powerful. And when we chant, we continue to chant despite of all these problems, despite of all this inattentiveness, despite everything else.
Occasionally we will chant some seemingly pure holy name, a little pure holy name.
This chanting of the name without a crooked mentality causes him to accumulate sucriti. So when we have all these ideas or whatever and they are you know not very athletic and everything. That's not very useful.
But still, in between, we sometimes chant with some good favorable mood. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Oh Krishna. Oh I love you.
I don't know who you are, but they say you are very nice. So uh you chant with this mood as bhakti vinoda says free from crookedness, from crooked mentality, and that will give you some Sukriti.
And slowly, slowly, as that Sukriti increases, its influence enables him to receive the association of saintly people who are chanting shuddham.
The influence of satsanga induces nāma-parādhī to chant śrī-nāma constantly which frees him from nāma-parādhās. Even people who had a great desire for liberation have gradually become
Hari-bhaktas by taking shelter of this process. So it brings you to some association and in this association you get the proper mood.
And by getting the proper mood, uh you you actually start chanting happily. You're not bored. You're happy. Okay. Let's read a few more lines.
Vijay asked me the question If simply chanting one name can successfully remove all sins, why is it necessary to chant śrī-nāma constantly like an unbroken string of fragrant oil. Babaji.
The inner self and dealing of the Nama Paradhi are always crooked in every way. He is opposed to Krishna Bahirmukha by nature.
And therefore, he has no taste for saintly people or auspicious paraphernalia and times related to Bhāgavata.
Like it's very difficult to get up for you know brahma-muhūrta which is favorable time for chanting and therefore we chant during the you know our driving period and japa period somehow or other coincide.
This natural inclination is towards his natural inclination is towards unworthy people, things, conclusions and activities.
Like we attach to see some internet news you know some people some devotees sometimes attached and because by uh knowing all the news you know what is going on, if Kejriwal is still in the prison we get the false sense of control, you know. As if anything depends whether upon you whether Kejriwal will be released or not. You know.
Knowing the news gives you this false sense. I am I'm in control. I know what's going on. You know, I uh I'm in control. So uh this is what Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says here.
There is a natural inclination for something which is not very helpful. To you know to get some stuff into the mind which is not really good. So his natural inclination is towards unworthy people, things, conclusions, and activities.
However, if he always chants the holy name, he will have no time for unwanted association and activities.
And because he is not in bad association, his chanting of the holy name will gradually become pure and give him a taste for auspicious objects.
So basically, Bhaktivinoda says that the process of purifying from the Anarthas is twofold.
One is that it brings you to a good association, a sādhu association, and the saintly association gives you the push, the enthusiasm to chant more. And by chanting more you avoid doing nonsense and by avoiding
doing nonsense very quickly you you will get a taste for the holy name. So otherwise, you know, and therefore Prabhupāda said, actually we should chant twenty-four hours a day, but you know, minimum sixteen rounds.
But sixteen rounds is a bare minimum. The rest is you still have to try to chant within your mind, of course you have to do so many duties that's fine. But you know within the mind this feeling should be there. I'm Krishna.
And I'm with him.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. And in this way we will be protected, we will be completely uh how to say inoculated. We will get a good injection of vaccine of the holy name and we will be protected from the infection
of material contamination.
Practicing japa with devotional emotions
And uh this is a beautiful simple process but there is some science behind it and we must try to explain this science how it was. So thank you very much.
So we can chant a little more or shall we chant japa or shall we kīrtana? Chant japa? Questions? Questions we have then, right, more questions we have, so many questions, so many. Let's chant.
Still have half an hour, so we can we can practice this because the the better we practice better than this. So this this five emotions which I try to describe, try to try to feel what is there?
To feel the vِśvāsa or nirvēda or saṅkalpa or dainya by chanting Vande Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Caitanya-prabhu-nityānanda Śrī-advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare.