What’s Wrong
Why do we fail to find taste, why do we lose the discipline to perform chanting and hearing as a daily duty of life? In the Harinama Chintamani, Bhakti Vinod Thakur analyzes this difficulty in regard to inattentive chanting of holy names. He states that if a neophyte devotee is not very scrupulous in taking up the practices of chanting and hearing, he will quickly grow distracted, and this will produce “a type of illusion,...
Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta on mechanical chanting
"The holy name of Krishna means divine sound. It can be compared to a capsule of medicine. The capsule is not the medicine. Externally one capsule may look like another, but within one capsule maybe medicine and within another may be cyanide. The capsule itself is not the medicine. It is not the sound of Krishna’s name that is Krishna. Krishna is within the sound. The holy name must be be surcharged with the proper spirit...
Prabhupada’s Practical Tips on Chanting
Sruti-kirti Prabhu, a disciple and former personal servant of Srila Prabhupada, recounts Prabhupada's practical instructions regard¬ing chanting rounds."It was easy to understand that Srila Prabhupada enjoyed chanting japa. He always stressed the importance of chanting our 16 rounds. He once told me that as a householder, he used a simple process for completing 16 rounds that we could apply. 'When I was a...
What I Do Today Affects My Chanting Tomorrow
What I do when I am not chanting affects the quality of my rounds. For example, if I am critical of devotees (or even of non-devotees), it will be more difficult to chant good rounds. If my mind is engaged in activities from morning to night that have nothing to do with Krishna, my attraction to chanting the next day will diminish. However, if I make an effort to be as Krishna conscious as possible during the day, my rounds the next...
Give Yourself A Gift
Prabhupada said the highest realization is to save yourself. I have so often neglected to chant well that I sometimes feel like I am dying of thirst for the nectar of the name. On the 64 rounds day (at the retreat, one day is reserved for 64 rounds and a vow of silence) I was finally taking the time to give myself the nectar that I so desperately needed. But because I had dried up so much over the years and thus was so thirsty, no...
