Daily Practice

— { Daily Kirtans } —

"If somebody has no manpower, or stays alone in the house, they can sing songs with kartals. It takes only 20-25 minutes to sing five songs—Sri Guru charana-padma, a Pancha-tattva song, Vaishnav Thakur, Nityananda's kirtan, Mahaprabhu's kirtan, and mahamantra. When you chant on your beads, that is another thing—when chanting on the beads so many things can come to your mind, but when you are singing so many things will not come to your mind at that time. Sing five songs in the morning and five songs in the evening. Can you not find 40 minutes? Practise Krishna consciousness in this way and you will see how much your spiritual life will increase and you will not get any taste for the outside world."

"It may not be palatable every day, but it is necessary and very important to realise why we sing these songs every day—through that we can cross over the illusion."

"I sing every day for your practice, to engage you in kirtan. Every day I sing the same songs, morning and evening—what for? I can sing all songs, but I do not do that because you must practise. You too must sing the same songs every morning and evening at the place or temple where you live. That is necessary."

"Sometimes you will not get taste, but you should think, 'Why am I not getting taste?' You must think, 'Something bad has come into my mind, that is why I am not getting taste through chanting.'"

"Nistha [be fixed]: what I will do, I will do that every day. Everybody does not have that service mood, seva pravritti [desire for, or engagement in service]. 'I am only doing today, next day I am not doing'—this is not devotion, this is emotion."

"...Engaging in service. How? Follow bhakti-anukul (accept what is favourable to devotion), do sadhu-sanga, read books, do Nama sankirtan, Bhagavat sravan, you must come to the mangal arati, come to the morning class, sing morning bhajans, evening bhajans, cook for the Deities, offer the bhog, and so on."

"Somebody may not be a good singer, somebody cannot sing Hare Krishna maha-mantra so well, but Krishna does not want your tune, Krishna knows what you are singing, what you want to say, Gurudev knows it. You must understand it."

"If you understand the meaning of the song, you will get more pleasure, it will be then kirtan. And we do not really sing songs—we do kirtan. Singing a song and doing kirtan is not the same thing. Most of the people sing songs and do not know their meaning, but if you know the meaning of the song, you will actually get pleasure.

"Kirtan means practising—practising Krishna consciousness. When you practise Krishna consciousness, you will get pleasure. If you just sing a song, you will not get pleasure. If you know the meaning of the song, you will always get energy to do kirtan; if you just sing a song, you will not get that energy.

"When somebody does not understand the meaning of the song, they start playing, making naughty, disturbing when others are singing—I have seen this many times... But those who are doing the actual kirtan get pleasure and always do kirtan. When one does Krishna kirtan, chants the Holy Name of Krishna, Krishna's Name, Beauty, Pastimes are all there. Nityananda's kirtan is Nityananda's Pastimes, Krishna's kirtan is Krishna's Pastimes, Mahaprabhu's kirtan is Mahaprabhu's Pastimes. Remembering is also one kind of practice."

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana
bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord's guardianship, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me', engaging only in activities that are favourable to devotion, rejecting everything unfavourable to devotion.

We sing this song every day, but we must understand its meaning and keep that meaning in our hearts.

"If you try, you can do everything. You can listen to Gurudev's lectures, listen to some songs of Bhakti Vinod Thakur, or you can sing some songs of Bhakti Vinod Thakur—but you must know the meaning of the songs otherwise you will not get taste through it; when you understand the meaning, you will get the real taste, the real sweetness through it."

Vandana:
"Why do we recite the vandana of Vaishnavs, Nityananda Prabhu, Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Radha-Krishna, Tulasi Devi? Vandana means calling them, praying them for mercy, 'Prabhu, we are going to chant Your glorification. Please give us some mercy.'"

Amara jivana:
(1) "Prabhupad Srila Saraswati Thakur said, 'Every day, when you leave your bed, first broom, dust your mind and make it clean through this song.'"

(2) "Srila Guru Maharaj always says that we should sing this song because we do not realise what our condition is. Actually what is written in this song is a fact, this is our real life."

Sarvasva tomara:
(1) "If you always recite this song from Saranagati, your ego will not come, you will not think you are a Vaishnav. Take remnants of the Vaishnavs, prasad, and always think you are a fallen soul, then you will never get proud, "Oh, I am taking the remnants!" Humility, dainyata, will come."

yad asanga kriya karma janata vapy ajanata
purnam bhavatu tat sarvam sri harer nama-kirtanat

May whatever offences I have knowingly or unknowingly committed be completely absolved by chanting the Holy Names of the Lord.

"If the priest or the person who is doing a sacrifice lastly chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, he will think that the sacrifice has gone with full satisfaction. Whatever we do, we will do it with Krishna Nama sankirtan: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare; then, if we do everything with this mantram, it will be fulfilled and satisfying to Krishna and Guru-Gauranga."

Introduction
• Setting up the altar
• Arati
• Daily kirtans
• Bhog, cooking, offering
• Cooking Viddhi
• Observing Ekadasi
• Observing Festivals
• Tulasi Devi
• Four regulative principles
• Scriptural regulations