Chanting or Cheating Yourself?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
25 December 2010, part 2

সতাং প্রসঙ্গান্মম বীর্য্যসংবিদো
ভবন্তি হৃৎকর্ণরসায়নাঃ কথাঃ ।
তজ্জোষণাদাশ্বপবর্গবর্ত্মনি
শ্রদ্ধা রতির্ভক্তিরনুক্রমিষ্যতি ॥

satam prasangan mama virya-samvido
bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah
taj-jonanad asv apavarga-vartmani
sraddha ratir bhaktir anukraminyati

"In devotees' association, the talks about the Lord are like nectar to one's heart and ears, they are endowed with special power. By constantly hearing about the Lord, very quickly the soul becomes liberated and established on the spiritual path—first comes faith, then attachment, and finally love awakens."

When you continuously hear about the wonderful activities of the Lord, when you hear and hear, then all unfavourable things and obstacles are destroyed. It is necessary to practise hearing. If you do not listen to Hari-katha, you can never get relief from the bondage of Maya. Why did Guru Maharaj tell us to always recite the kama-gayatri? For this reason. We must always recite it, we must do it...

Why did Gurudev tell us to chant? The problem is that we do not chant—we are all cheating Gurudev. We do four rounds, put the mala down ("OK, I have done my rounds") and start talking, talking, talking, gossiping—how will you get the result in this way, Prabhu? Does attachment to the Holy Name come in this way? Or you are always holding the mala in your hand and at the same time thinking and talking so much. Is this Harinam? We are only showing mala in our hand, but we are saying so much nonsense. Is this Harinam? It is Nama aparadh and Namabhas, and that is also good—something is better than nothing...

সাধুসঙ্গে কৃষ্ণনামে—এই মাত্র চাই ।

সংসার জিনিতে আর কোন বস্তু নাই ॥

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai
samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

I desire only to chant the Name of Krishna in the association of the sadhus. There is no other way to conquer samsara.

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13)

I have seen many times that when I am chanting, someone gets tired and the Holy Name does not come to their mouth... We can chant Hare Krishna ten times, fifteen times, twenty times, then people become tired. You can also see it yourself. Is it correct or not? But it is said that Mahaprabhu chanted and danced all day and night, Nityananda Prabhu chanted the whole day and night! How is it possible? The answer is that we must remove the bad elements, bad environment—until and unless you remove all dirty things from your heart, the real Holy Name will not come to your mouth.

অসাধুসঙ্গে ভাই কৃষ্ণনাম নাহি হয় ।

নামাক্ষর বাহিরায় বটে তবু নাম কভু নয় ॥

asadhu-sange bhai krsna-nama nahi haya
namaksara bahiraya bate tabu nama kabhu naya

"Brother, the Name of Krishna never appears in bad association: the letters of the Name may appear, but the Name never does."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.1)

The Holy Name will never come in bad association, only the letters, some Namabhas can come, but the transcendental Name (chinmoy Nama) does not come in this way. If the real transcendental Name comes even once in your life, then you can see the transcendental vibration everywhere. There is also another sloka,

অবৈষ্ণব-মুখোদ্গীর্ণং পূতং হরিকথামৃতম্ ।
শ্রবণং নৈব কর্তব্যং সর্পোচ্ছিষ্টং যথা পয়ঃ ॥

avaisnava-mukhodgirnam putam hari-kathamrtam
sravanam naiva kartavyam sarpocchistam yatha payah

(Padma Purana)

The meaning is that if you take the milk, you get some energy, you get healthy, but if some snake drinks some milk and you drink it after that, then you may die from poison—that milk becomes poison. In the same way, if you chant Krishna's Name, it is OK, but it is necessary to chant the Holy Name with sadhu-sanga (good association). If you chant the Holy Name in bad association (in the association of non-sadhu, of those who are not Vaishnavs), it will also be chanting Hare Krishna, but you will die by that chanting—you will fall into hell as a result. That is the meaning of this sloka.

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