Sivarama Swami

chant
 Sivarama Swami

chant

a
Lal Pubhlishing
2011.
Sivarama Swami: Chant

Editor: Braja Sevaki devi dasi

Publisher: Manorama dasa

Lal Publishing
8699 Somogyvámos, Fő u. 38
info@lal.hu

© Sivarama Swami, 2011.

© Lal Pubhlishing, 2011.
All right reserved

ISBN 978-963-88672-6-1

www.sivaramaswami.com
www.srsbooks.com
 Contents

The Seven Wonders of the Word 11

The Spiritual Sound Vibration 12
Panca-tattva & Other Mantras 15
Chanting Quality Japa 17
Steadiness 20
Sankirtan 23
It is meant to be done with love, devotion, attention, and care 24
It is the single most important activity that we perform 25
Why Japa is More Austere than Kirtan 27
Take the Mind to Vrindavan – Morning 28
Chanting is Our Sadhana 31
The One & Only Process 34
Qualification 35
Spiritual Principles of the Holy Name 40
Endless Chanting 44
Take the Mind to Vrindavan – Afternoon 46
Effective Increased Chanting 51
Spiritual Sounds – Musical Enhancement 55
Crying for Krishna 57
Perfection of Chanting 60

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The chapters in this book are a compilation of podcasts posted on SivaramaSwami.com

since its inception in 2006. They are a combination of inspirational, meditational, and

philosophical talks on the subject of chanting japa, sankirtan, harinama, and sadhana.

It is hoped that the words herein will inspire the readers to increase, improve, deepen,

and relish their chanting…

The Seven Wonders of the Word
What is the effect of chanting Hare Krishna?

The names of the Lord—Hare, Krishna, and Rama—are invested with His full potencies.
Singing God’s names, therefore, is to contact Him through the medium of transcendental
sound. Thus, the effect of chanting is the same as the effect of directly associating with
the Lord. The following beautiful verse, written by Lord Caitanya, describes the seven
effects the Hare Krishna mantra has on chanters.

ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam
sreyah-kairava-candrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam
anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamrtasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam

Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Krishna, which
can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of
material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus
of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The
chanting of the holy name of Krishna expands the blissful ocean of transcendental
life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every
step. (Sri Siksastaka 1)

Although many books have been written explaining the theological implications of this
verse, the following is a simple summary of the seven effects of chanting Hare Krishna:

(1) The chanting of Krishna’s name is a purifying agent that cleanses our hearts of
envy—the root cause of our descent to this world—and other bad qualities we have since
acquired like lust, greed, and anger.

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(2) As it purifies the heart, Krishna’s name also protects sincere chanters from any further
contamination from the worldly energy and those effected by it.
(3) Chanting awakens pure devotion to Krishna, the soul’s dormant propensity to serve
the Lord with love; and further chanting revives the loving devotion that qualifies one
for the greatest good fortune—Krishna’s association.
(4) A result of acquiring devotion is that devotees become illuminated with spiritual
knowledge. Further chanting matures that knowledge into realization, which in time
reveals devotees’ original position in one of the five relationships with Krishna.
(5) As much as the heart is relieved of unwanted habits, to that degree we become devoted
to Krishna; as much as devotion is firmly fixed in our hearts, to that degree we acquire
realized knowledge; and as much as the heart is illumined by both devotion and knowl-
edge, to that degree we taste spiritual happiness. In this way the ocean of bliss swells.
(6) Chanting frees conditioned souls of the illusion of identifying themselves with their
body and mind, and establishes them in the cooling reality that they are eternal spiritual
entities.
(7) When devotees finally achieve the perfection of chanting, they taste the full nectar of
loving devotion to Krishna—a nectar that makes the bliss of liberation seem insignificant.

The Spiritual Sound Vibration

When we chant Hare Krishna, we are meant to be in contact with Lord Krishna and His
associates. It is the nature of spiritual sound vibration, which is different from the kind
of sound vibration that is only heard. When you write Hare Krishna on a piece of paper,
that’s as much it is sound vibration as when you speak it. It is sabda. It is not limited to
something that is communicable from the mouth to the ear. It is the spiritual energy or
potency that manifests itself in sabda. And because it is spiritual, it doesn’t have the type
of restrictions that we have here in the material world.

Generally when we speak of sound, it means something we must hear with the ear. And
certainly that is also the characteristic of spiritual sound or the spiritual sound vibration,

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but it is not limited to that. Material sound is something we generally relate to as being
a transmission of information. But Hare Krishna is a transcendental sound vibration;
if I say some other words, these are material sounds. The difference with the spiritual
sound is that it is more than just communicating a message. It contains within it and is
empowered with a spiritual potency and that means it represents the spiritual realm or
energies, either in part or whole. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, namnam akari bahuda nija
sarva saktis, that Krishna’s holy name has all spiritual potency. When you say “how are
you,” how much potency is in that? But when you say Hare Krishna, then everything
that exists within the spiritual world is compressed within that sound vibration. And that
presence is there when you see it on paper, or when you hear it in your ear.

It also exists in the reality of Srila Prabhupada’s purports. Srila Prabhupada uses the same
words we use. He also asked “how are you?” but because he’s speaking from the spiritual
platform his words are saturated with spiritual potency, and it has therefore more impact
than just a mere question. Aside from posing the question, it also purifies the heart, frees
one from material contamination, it is liberating, and it brings about a certain series of
spiritual realizations that devotees can attest to from their experience with other spiritual
personalities, and with Srila Prabhupada, that they may just ask “how are you?” but it is
a lot more than just a question. It is not a mere enquiry about wellbeing, but behind it
is the intent. And the intent is coming from the spiritual world to liberate us, to bring
us closer to Krishna, and that in itself comes across. It is a complex and detailed matter.

In the Vedanta-sutras it is said that sabda actually liberates. So when we say Hare Krishna,
these are names, but within these names, because it is nija sarva saktis, all the potency of
Godhead is there. It is like being in the presence of the Lord, like reading all the Vedas,
like seeing the spiritual world, like hearing all of Krishna’s pastimes, like understanding
the philosophy: if you know how to connect with the sound. That is the challenge: con-
necting with the sabda. Because with any kind of relationship, there has to be more than
transmission, there has to be reception. If the other person isn’t receiving then it is not
working. So there’s a transmission, but if the receiver is no good, you don’t get the mes-
sage. Same with all our modern media communication: all of it is based on information

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coming from one side and being received on the other. If the receiver is faulty, the whole
thing fails.

Like when someone sends you a kirtan on your computer: if you don’t have the right
program on your computer, then the file appears as a bunch of squiggles. It is the same
if we are not tuned in to the sound vibration.

So the real challenge of Krishna consciousness is to actually be proper recipients. We

have ears, and those are the general instrument, but those are not enough. Because it is
not just sound. Sabda works on the level of consciousness. It is not just a sound vibration,
though we use that terminology. You have to have the proper consciousness in order to
connect with that sound vibration. So the purification of consciousness needs to come
about so that there is no obstruction. So when, without offense or interference, we can
hear Hare Krishna, then Srila Prabhupada says, we come directly in contact with God.

Sometimes when you are preaching to people they say, “Show me God.” So this is how
to see God, by saying Hare Krishna. But you have to hear it in a certain way, because it
is your consciousness that is perceiving, not your ear. Just like, my tongue is speaking and
that sound is going through the microphone. But the microphone isn’t hearing anything
because it is not conscious. It is transmitting sound, but it is not hearing. Same with my
ear: it is an instrument. I am hearing. The soul is hearing, but if the soul is contaminated,
it cannot pick up the message of Hare Krishna. Then we are interfering.

So purification of consciousness is necessary. How? By chanting Hare Krishna. It is the

means and also the end. Even by faulty chanting and hearing, the consciousness becomes
purified, more and more until it is pure. Then one can actually recognize that there’s no
difference between Krishna and His name, and the whole spiritual world unfolds when
one says Hare Krishna, because nija sarva saktis. Then all eighteen potencies of Godhead
are present within the sound vibration, nothing is held back. It is a wonderful experience.

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What we are doing is practicing. We are trying to purify our consciousness in order to
perfectly hear and chant the holy name of the Lord. Then what happens when we can
do that? We continue to do chant, because there is nothing more pleasurable. Srila Rupa
Gosvami expresses the mentality of the perfect chanter:

I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krish-na’ have produced. When
the holy name of Krishna is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We
then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we
desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of
the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become
inert. (Vidagdha-madhava)

That is the experience of the transcendentalist. We are getting a taste in our conditioned
state, and for transcendentalists, their experience is millions of times greater, and the
nature of the experience is that it makes you want to have more and more and more.

If we keep these things in mind and appreciate the very divine nature of the Hare Krishna
mantra, despite the fact that we don’t have to pay for it, or that we can take it anywhere,
or that it is not secret – none of these things diminish its sanctity. Understanding these
things, we should see what a wonderful thing Hare Krishna actually is.

Panca-tattva & Other Mantras

In Caitanya-caritamrta Srila Prabhupada says the chanting of the Panca-tattva mantra
should be chanted before the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. Contextually that
means, Srila Prabhupada is referring to kirtan. Devotees have incorporated that into
their japa, and there is certainly no harm in doing so; it will only purify one and free
them from offenses. But it is not an official standard and it is not an instruction from

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Srila Prabhupada. It is a tradition or practice, just like devotees chant their guru’s pranam
mantras before and after each round. Srila Prabhupada didn’t give that instruction, but
there’s nothing wrong with it: it is certainly good to remember the spiritual master and
offer obeisances to him.

Some devotees take up the practice of chanting different stotrams, different mantras,
and so on (ie: 1008 names of Vishnu, etc). People should take up Krishna conscious
practices for which they are both qualified, and for which they have an attraction. All
those things we have an attraction for may not be actually necessary for our spiritual life.
In our advanced stage, these things might not be favorable for cultivating a devotional
mood. For example, chanting the 1008 names of Ramacandra, which some devotees do.
By all means we should do those things for which we have an attraction, because that
will purify our hearts, and it means we will fix our minds on those practices. However,
this type of general attraction – chanting different mantras and stotras which may be
related to different incarnations of the Lord – though beneficial and purifying, they do
not focus the consciousness of the devotee on their worshipable deity, which is Radha
and Krishna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Not having that focus is fine in the beginning stages of devotional service, but Raghunatha
dasa Gosvami describes in his Sri Manah-siksa, a devotee turns away from all other
forms of Godhead and other mantras, not due to aversion—which is a symptom of the
modes of material nature—but because their focus of worship is more clear, and in order
to increase their attachment to Krishna devotees want to only chant those mantras and
perform those devotional activities which increase that particular attraction. And even
at a later stage when attraction becomes matured, they will only perform activities there
is attraction for, but it is not a general attraction, it is very specific at that stage.

We should know that the ultimate goal is simply to increase our attachment to Radha
and Krishna, and we do that by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, which is more
powerful than any other mantra or stotram. Like Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, however,

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“I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction to chanting these holy names.” When

that real taste awakens within us, we will realize it is the most valuable thing. And that
realization is the goal of chanting all other mantras.

Chanting Quality Japa

Japa is, for initiated devotees, the compulsory and most regular form of harinama that
they perform, and very often not with the type of results they should be experiencing.

The real criteria is that japa requires quality time. That time is ensured for temple devotees,
where time is given in the morning only for japa. Unfortunately, though, some devotees
engage themselves in doing other things during that time, but it is not fair to ourselves,
not fair to the holy name. There are certain services that have to go on at that time: pujaris
on the altar and in the kitchen, the gosala devotees. But other than that, devotees should
stay together and chant Hare Krishna and really get absorbed in what is going to be the
main, if not the only, thing that determines their advancement in Krishna consciousness.
Rupa Gosvami says, this cultivation must be taken seriously.

Generally devotees should be able to sit and chant Hare Krishna. Kneeling is good if you
have a tendency to fall asleep. But one thing for sure is that japa should not be a struggle to
stay awake. If you are struggling, you are not listening to the holy name. Circumambulating
Tulasi devi while chanting is okay, but Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Prabhupada also
recommended that devotees should sit. When you are walking you have to navigate, and
that navigation requires energy and attention, and distracts us from chanting. The ideal
is that you sit down and close the eyes and concentrate on that beautiful sound vibration.
But in any case the concentration should be there.

If we are actually hearing that name, then Rupa Gosvami says that we won’t be able to
get enough. The question comes up often, is it enough to hear the holy name, but Rupa

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Gosvami says that the holy name is so sweet that if you are really hearing it, one set of
ears isn’t enough, you’ll want thousands of ears.

After a devotee has been chanting Hare Krishna consistently for ten to fifteen years, he
should be able to experience ecstasy when chanting Hare Krishna. And by that I don’t
mean that he is rolling on the ground, but that he is so satisfied by the sweetness of the
holy name that his mind doesn’t ramble and go from one thing to another, he doesn’t talk
to others while chanting, evil thoughts of sensual activity don’t come into the mind—or at
least if they do, they are immediately discarded—and one doesn’t get sleepy or distracted.
One devotee wrote to me and said, “I was told that japa time was a good time to plan
the day.” It is not a good time to plan the day! It is a good time to chant Hare Krishna.

Chanting Hare Krishna is what should be done during japa, and devotees should feel
great satisfaction, happiness, and a sense of spiritual well being, and a spiritiual strength
that will guide them through the day and through the natural obstacles that come from
household life, preaching, and so many other things. And Srimad-Bhagavatam says, only
this thing can actually satisfy the self. If someone is not satisfied by the nectar that comes
from chanting the holy name, then the tendency will be there to find some other form
of entertainment: to watch movies, to be distracted by other things, to be caught up in
what is happening in the world like football and soccer tournaments. And these things
lead to maya: the subtle things lead to gross things, and the gross things lead to grosser
things, and then one falls down.

If one is chanting Hare Krishna properly, and after regularly cultivating and practicing
that chanting over a period of time, devotees should really be masters of it. I often listen
to how devotees chant to see if they’re chanting the words properly. When devotees are
in the practice of not listening, they won’t chant properly. I listen to see the quality of
the chanting; some devotees chant very sweetly, and some devotees chant automatically
and mechanically, in the sense that they’re not paying attention. And one can sense that
kind of indifference in the sound vibration. If we develop attachment to Krishna, then
we chant the holy name with great love and devotion.

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With that mood and mentality, one will be compelled to think of Krishna. The taste of
the holy name becomes so wonderful and palatable that the person who is non different
from that name, His form becomes attractive to the mind, His pastimes become attrac-
tive to the heart and intelligence, and in this way devotees become lost in chanting. And
that is what we should do: become lost in the chanting.

We should see, after five years, ten years, fifteen years: where am I in chanting Hare
Krishna? And if we are not where we should be or want to be, then we should really make
a beeline for getting there quickly, because at a certain point we are going to be standing
on death’s door. And that is not the time for practicing Krishna consciousness: that is
the time for perfection, or achieving the benefits of that perfection.

For householders who cannot get to the temple, still quality time should be found. And
the best quality time is in the early morning, before children rise, before work begins,
before all the passionate activities of the day take place. And that means taking rest early,
which means then that so many other things have to adjust: we have to actually manage
and build our lives around what facilitates our chanting of Hare Krishna. It may not be
easy, but if we are serious it is what we need to do. I often see grhasthas, working peo-
ple, who have to leave home at 6 or 6.30am, and it is not an easy thing, it is so difficult.
Nonetheless, everyone has to have some form of morning program, and quality time
for japa. It may not be as long as it would be if you are in the temple; but rise early, take
bath, and chant four rounds, better eight rounds, but then structure the day so that you
can also chant more quality rounds.

It is important to have good habits in relation to chanting. As we get older, those habits
aren’t something that we need to break; in other words, that we’ve developed such bad
habits that we can’t get out of them in our 50s and 60s. We should have good habits that
can be developed and perfected into quality absorption of chanting 16 rounds all in one go.

That is one thing devotees can do when they ask “What can I do?” Take a day off and
chant 64 rounds, or 108, or 192. And if you do that it will be an experience in seeing

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how much your mind wanders, in what it means to chant. It will give you a connection
to the holy name, and give a strength and insight into the wonder, potency, and beauty
of chanting and hearing the holy name. So do that. If as a consequence of reading this
you realize you’ve been neglecting chanting, then do this: get up at midnight and chant
the whole day, midnight to midnight, and have that determination. It will change your
life, you will get an experience that will give you strength, and tesam satatam yuktanam,
Krishna will give you the intelligence how to improve and correct any defects that are
there, and if you are doing it perfectly, then He will show you how to do it even more
perfectly. Hare Krishna.

Steadiness
Devotees often ask what the meaning of steadiness is: some consider that chanting six-
teen rounds a day and following the four regulative principles means that one is steady,
while others say it is steadiness in one’s service; yet others give different variations of what
they consider steadiness to mean. But these things mentioned—regularly chanting and
regularity in serving—are physical symptoms that may or may not indicate real steadiness.

Suddha-bhakti-cintamani deals with the subject of steadiness from several different per-
spectives. What does real steadiness mean? nasta-prayesv abhadresu nityam bhagavata-
sevaya: “nasta-prayesu,” when almost all the inauspicious things in the heart, which are of
so many variations, when they are more or less eradicated then there is steadiness. And
this “more or less,” Srila Prabhupada said “75%,” so when 75% of impurities in the heart
are eradicated, then the devotee achieves a certain level of spiritual steadiness that ena-
bles him to think about Krishna, to chant Krishna’s names, because his mind and senses
are no longer distracted from chanting, serving, and thinking of Krishna. Why? Because
the effect of the anarthas still remaining in the heart is minimal when compared to the
storehouse of devotional energy that the devotee has acquired.

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So when we speak of steadiness we speak of a certain degree of purification of the heart

which has its threefold symptoms, according to Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura: steadiness
of mind, speech, and physical activities. These are listed in increasing order of grossness;
the most subtle form of unsteadiness is in the mind. A devotee can determine how steady
their mind is by how easy it is for them to think about Krishna, to chant Hare Krishna
and not allow their mind to wander and be distracted. That may happen once in a while,
but overall they are able to focus on the holy name. With steadiness of speech, one is
able to avoid prajalpa, unnecessary and foolish talks. And steadiness in bodily activities,
this means sensual steadiness.

So these are the symptoms of steadiness, but real steadiness is that 75% purification of
the heart. It is technically called nisthita bhajana-kriya, when the kriya, the activities, of
one’s bhajana are unwavering, then that is steadiness, or, as Srila Prabhupada said, “fixed
up” in devotional activities. And by definition of the word itself, bhajana kriya, the activi-
ties of bhajana will really indicate how steadily one is situated in Krishna consciousness.
For instance, we will often see how someone is so fixed up in their service they don’t even
have time to chant sixteen rounds a day, and this is no good. When that devotee is asked
to just sit and chant and make up their missing rounds, then we see that they cannot do
so, their mind is distracted.

Therefore, even though someone may appear very steady in terms of their activities, it
simply means they have some other qualification: it may be that by nature they’re very
dutiful persons. That someone is dutiful does not necessarily indicate that they are steady
in devotional service. If someone is steady in devotional service, then they will be dutiful,
but the converse does not automatically apply. As a good friend used to say, “I judge a
man by his japa!”

So this is nistha bhajana kriya: chanting Hare Krishna, hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam asso-
ciating with Vaisnavas, worshipping the deity. And when devotees have fixed attention to
the performance of these activities, a natural, observable taste for these activities of pure

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devotion exists in the devotee. Even if it may appear that they are not so steady in their
duties, still this kind of devotee is superior to those who may appear to be steady in their
duties but who are not steady in devotion. Because ultimately, even if one can imitate
the external activities, or if one has a particular karma or qualification and therefore has
the external symptoms of nistha, still if the concomitant purification of the heart is not
there, then one will not advance to the next stage of devotional service, which is rucih.

The spiritual benefit of being steady in devotional activities means that one actually
focuses on the acts of sravanam kirtanam, when one is not distracted. Therefore by being
offenseless in those activities, one achieves the full benefit. And that is rucih: param drstva
nivartate, one attains a higher taste, and when that happens one becomes attached to
Krishna Himself. This higher taste is attachment to the acts of devotion, and those acts
mature into an attachment to Krishna, His form, His pastimes. That ultimately becomes
the doorway to transcendence.

Vaisnavas really strive to achieve this purity of heart called steadiness, because from that
stage devotional service progresses rapidly. There are no significant obstructions to one’s
advancement in Krishna consciousness and the devotee can really shoot forward, back
home, back to Godhead, without delay.

So let’s be conscientious in our bhajana kriya, even if we are not nisthita, even if we are
anisthita, unsteady, then by effort and good association with devotees who are fixed, by
avoiding bad habits, by avoiding carelessness in devotional activities, by avoiding offenses,
then very quickly the process of chanting and hearing fructifies, and one of the primary
benefits of that maturing creeper of devotional service is that it becomes steady. Just like
a tree at a certain point is no longer a sapling, it isn’t green and tender, prone to being
easily toppled, but it starts to develop a bark, it becomes brown and strong and can stand
on its own without any kind of support, so it is with the creeper of devotional service
when the stage of steadiness is achieved. And this is, as Srila Prabhupada says, the stage
of 75% purification of the heart, purification from these unwanted habits. Hare Krishna.

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Sankirtan
There are different forms of chanting that we refer to as sankirtana.

The first type of nama sankirtana is japa, and the japa that the devotees do in the temple
room or when they are together is congregational chanting of the holy name. Devotees
are chanting together and they are chanting aloud.

The other type of nama sankirtana is when we chant with instruments, either sitting down
doing bhajan-style chanting, or standing up and chanting and dancing in the presence
of the deity. And of course there is harinama on the streets as well.

All of this chanting is important. Public chanting in one sense is more important because
it benefits others as well as benefiting ourselves, but we should recognize that the quality
of a Vaisnava is his/her taste for chanting Hare Krishna. We can measure our advance-
ment in devotional service by how much we are attached to chanting Hare Krishna, by
how much taste we have for the holy name, by how nicely we chant, and of course how
much we chant the holy name free from offense.

The mark of a Vaisnava is his chanting, in the same way as a runner is known by how he
runs, or a swimmer by how he swims; a devotee is judged by how he chants.

In terms of japa, often devotees who are not temple residents or don’t come to temple
programme every day, japa can be something which is very easily sacrificed into the fire
of inattention – pramada . We chant inattentively, fit in rounds either while driving cars
(which is really completely bogus), sitting on public transport (not so bad, although really
third class), or walking around the house doing all kinds of chores like cooking, or while
talking or doing other things (again, completely bogus).

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Here I should make a distinction between chanting ones rounds and chanting Hare
Krishna. Chanting Hare Krishna can be done any time: you can be chanting while you are
driving a car, while you are cooking (although it may not be so good as you may end up
spitting into what you are preparing for the Lord). But doing meditative japa means that
we do nothing else but be absorbed and dedicate 2 hours of our day, 16 rounds to the holy
name of the Lord. That needs to be done as one would do worship, with full attention, put-
ting time aside for it, not squeezing it in, because Krishna is not meant to be squeezed in.

It is meant to be done with love, devotion,

attention, and care
For householders Srila Prabhupada gave himself as a personal example; he said that if
devotees make a point of chanting 4 rounds before every meal then in that way they will
always finish their rounds. Prabhupada said you chant 4 rounds when you get up, chant
4 rounds before breakfast, noon, and dinner, or another 4 rounds before you go to sleep.
So in that way one always has time to chant 16 rounds, but those 4 rounds should be
chanted patiently, by sitting down and chanting with attention.

Devotees in the temple chanting japa together should also be very attentive, not falling
asleep. Japa period is not about staying awake, that is not what chanting Hare Krishna is
about. It is about being attentive to the sound vibration of the holy name, fully absorbed
in the sweet sound of Hare Krishna, and as one becomes more advanced, allowing the
sound vibration of the holy name to take one into rememberance of Krishna’s form,
pastimes, and qualities.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that devotees do this nicely, because if they
don’t then for sure they won’t be able to maintain the standard of devotional service and
ultimately they will fall down from the devotional path. This is our process – chanting
Hare Krishna; it is the means by which we purify our heart, by which we please Krishna.

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It is the sacrifice which everyone is meant to perform, and if not done nicely then many
years, many decades, can go by and we turn around and find out, “Wow! I cant even chant
Hare Krishna nicely.”

Often we see that devotees aren’t even pronouncing the words of the maha mantra prop-
erly, or the syllables, and that is because they’re not being attentive. So please concentrate
on the holy name when chanting japa – make this your life and soul.

It is the single most important

activity that we perform
Our japa beads, our japa bag, the activity of chanting japa – these are our life and soul,
they are the essence of Krishna consciousness and by doing these things nicely we should
definitely be assured of going back to Godhead and advancing in devotional service. By
neglecting them, then we neglect our own welfare.

Then there is chanting during kirtan, chanting and dancing in front of the deities, sing-
ing with instruments in the temple. Srila Prabhupada wanted the devotees to be doing
this an hour or two a day. He said Caitanya Mahaprabhu would be doing this 3 hours
in the morning and 3 hours in the evening. Unfortunately, because we have so many
duties, sometimes the morning programme cuts short the kirtan to 20-30 minutes. And
devotees get used to that being the only kirtan of the day, and even then very often they
may walk out of the temple room during guru puja.

We should be absorbed in kirtan however long it is or however short it is and if possible

we should have extended kirtans on our days off, in the evenings. Chanting Hare Krishna
is a must, it is not something that we try to get away from. We should try to do as much
of it as possible. And when we do that in the company of enthusiastic devotees, it will
lift us beyond the influence of the material energy.

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In New Vraja Dhäma, for instance, we have annual Holy Name days. One weekend
dedicated to chanting Hare Krsna. It is a wonderful experience, everyone loves it and
participating in such activities. Bhaktivedanta Manor has regular long kirtans – a whole
day of simply chanting Hare Krishna. They invite Madhava prabhu (an expert kirtanier
trained by Aindra in Vrindavan), and some days Prana Bhandu prabhu has a whole
afternoon programme for just kirtan.

This is the type of thing that devotees need to be absorbed in and they can judge their
advancement in Krishna consciousness by how much attachment they have for partici-
pating in kirtan, sitting down and chanting and making an offering of love and devotion
to the Lord that purifies and cleanses the heart.

Then of course, finally, chanting Hare Krsna in the streets. Whereas this used to be our
daily activity in Krishna consciousness in the late 60’s and early 70’s, with the importance
of book distribution being emphasized street sankirtan unfortunately got minimized.

Srila Prabhupada wanted us to both things simultaneously. He didn’t want us to sacrifice

one for the other. So Saturday harinama was a common thing in many centres–in places
like Soho Street in London there is daily harinama. Devotees go out as much as possible;
we should try to do that type of activity. It is beneficial for conditioned souls and very
beneficial for devotees that participate . But particularly, this is our means to distribute
Krsna consciousness to others and to be recognized by others. We want to be recognized
by others as Hare Krishnas – those who chant Hare Krishna. It is the way that people
most fondly remember us. They always ask, “How come you are not always chanting on
the streets? Where are you now?” People like to see us there.

We should not disappoint Caitanya Mahaprabhu, we should not disappoint the general
public, but whenever possible we should go out. It is very enlivening and beneficial for
others, and of course devotees can meet together, gather together. Either a family, a group
of Vaisnavas, or an entire temple and go out as often as possible, as regularly as possible,

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and distribute prasadam , distribute books, and in that way, give others the opportunity
not only to hear the holy name but to taste prasadam and find out what Krsna conscious-
ness is about.

Why Japa is More Austere than Kirtan

In the conditioned stage, kirtan is easier to perform than japa, because it is more potent
than japa. There is a quote from Nadiya-purana that states kirtan is one hundred times
more potent. Why? Because all the senses are engaged, it is done in the association of
others, and most importantly, kirtan is the yuga dharma for this age. It is the means
through which Krishna has appeared: He has appeared as His holy names. But He has
especially empowered the congregational chanting of the holy name. And therefore it is
easier to enter into the relishing of the holy name through kirtan than japa.

We should not necessarily try to get something out of japa, but put things into it: we
should put our love into it, our heart into it. Because Krishna is His holy name. And a
pure devotee doesn’t want to get anything out of Krishna, he wants to serve Krishna.
So we should serve the holy name by chanting it purely, by giving it a place to dance on
our tongue: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare
Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Lord Krishna and Srimati Radharani are present in that sound vibration. They’re always
engaged in blissfully chanting and dancing. If you chant purely and give Them a place to
dance in the courtyard of your heart, upon the stage of your tongue, within the Govardhana
Hill cave of your ears, then that becomes great service. So in that way we should try to
serve the holy name, and with that service attitude, that is the easiest access to the pure
chanting of the Lord’s names.

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Take the Mind to Vrindavan – Morning

Meditation during japa, Hungarian Padayatra, 2007

It is still early morning, the sun is starting to rise over the horizon, and it is reddish—it
reminds me of Srimati Radharani’s tilak upon Her beautiful broad forehead. And the
glowing of the sun, the rays that it casts everywhere, paint the village nearby and the field
in front of me a golden color.

There are flowers everywhere, and those flowers are growing in tall grass, knee-high grass,
which sways to one side and then another. It is like the way the Brijbasis sway under the
winds of their prema, their extraordinary love for Krishna—sometimes they let it go in
one direction, sometimes they bend in another direction; sometimes they display extraor-
dinary affection for Krishna, sometimes they chastise Him; sometimes the cowherd boys
wrestle with Krishna, at other times they massage His feet; sometimes the gopis throw
Krishna smiles, at other times frowns from their arched eyebrows.

Amongst this green swaying grass are different types of flowers. And I can see bees flying
from one flower to another flower collecting honey. It seems that they never tire—just
like Krishna always flies from one devotee to another, and wherever He can find even
just a little honey-like affection, He immediately collects that. Therefore in the Gita He
says, yo me bhaktya prayacchite…

Jayadeva Goswami says dhira samira yamuna tira vanamali—that when Krishna felt the
wonderful breeze blowing along the banks of the Yamuna, He was very much invigor-
ated and thought about His wonderful pastimes with the gopis. This breeze is also nice,
cooling. It was a very hot day yesterday. The night was pleasant, but there was no wind.
But now the wind blows and it brings remembrances of the winds that sweep across the
Vrindavan landscape, bringing with them aromas of different wonderful flowers—beli,
cameli: these are different types of jasmines—as well as the very small and fragrant drops
of spray carried from the Yamuna river which make an extra cooling effect.

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In the meantime, the birds are singing, some making a staccato sound; I can hear the coo-
ing of some doves not far away. This is like the sound of Cupid’s bowstrings as it twangs,
shooting flower arrows—pushpa-banaya dhimahi—either at Krishna or the gopis. I heard
some roosters before, there is one right now crowing in the distance. Roosters also crow
in the early morning in Vrindavan, along with the singing birds, and even there are some
dogs barking in the background. The sun is now shining through the leaves of the trees
just like it would do in Vrindavan, and with all of these uddipana, Vrinda Devi tries to
convince Radha and Krishna that it is certainly time to rise, as the villages of Vrindavan
are coming back to life. The Brijbasis are rising early in the morning to go about their
particular duties. They’re going to start moving within the courtyards of their homes.
They will start moving along the paths that lead from one home to another, that lead
from one village to another. And if Radha and Krishna don’t rise very quickly from the
rest that They have taken after Their long nocturnal festival of dancing, singing, laugh-
ing, and wonderful pastimes, then certainly They will be seen, and once the Brijbasis see
Them coming back to the village from the dead of night in the early morning then they
will immediately be suspicious: “O ho! Where has Krishna been at night? Where has
Radha been, coming back so red-eyed with Her other gopi friends, who also look equally
disheveled and tired?”

When Radha and Krishna hear these wonderful sounds of Vrindavan, They become
immersed in the beauty of that transcendental place. They feel the wonderful breezes that
serve Their bodies by pressing Them, and the smells of the forest, the aroma of the flowers
growing upon the vines. They hear amongst the cooing of the birds the light giggling of
Their gopi friends who are watching, waiting to see when They are going to quickly get
up and go Their own ways.

Our cooks have begun to prepare breakfast, and just like the elderly gopis who rise early
in the morning and begin to cook on their cow-dung fires and make very wonderful
rotis, which are then offered to their respective deities, I can also smell the cooking in
our portable kitchen.

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Srila Prabhupada taught us to see this material world as an impetus for remembering
Krishna. Krishna is everywhere, He is within everything. In fact, every blade of grass,
every leaf that rustles is chanting Hare Krishna, is glorifying Him, and if we utilize the
process that Krishna has given us in the Bhagavad-gita then we will be able to see Krishna’s
majesty, Krishna’s glory, His sweetness, and His pastimes in every aspect of this material
world. After all, the material world is only an illusion for those who want to forget Krishna,
and therefore it covers them. But for those devotees that want to remember Krishna, then
the material world is simply a bookmark that helps them continue remembering from
one pastime to another, one aspect of Krishna’s beauty or another.

Just seeing the green—I am sitting here underneath small trees, with this meadow stretch-
ing out before me—that color green is said to be soothing to the eyes; it is known to be
the best thing for the eyes. But why is that so? Because if you take the golden complex-
ion of Srimati Radharani and the bluish complexion of Lord Krishna—what happens
when blue and yellow meet? They become green. So the meeting of Radha and Krishna
is symbolized by this color green, and devotees take the greatest happiness when they
know that the Divine Couple are enjoying Their pastimes together. Therefore green always
gives them that remembrance: “Oh, now Srimati Radharani and Krishna are meeting, and
that meeting has turned the entire world green.” I see green forests here, trees, everything
is colored green, and therefore it is a reminder of the eternal loving exchange between
Krishna and His devotees.

Not only is Srimati Radharani’s love golden—that is the color of maha-bhava—but the
color of prema is also like that. So our attachment to Krishna, our love for Krishna when it
is offered to Him, it will also increase the greenness of all things, and green of course means
that things are growing very nicely. When things become burnt out they turn brown, or
when they die they wilt. So similarly, if our thoughts are always green with remembrance
of Krishna’s pastimes, then that means we have a healthy state of Krishna conscious-
ness. And it indicates that soon there will be many beautiful leaves of real attachment to
Krishna developing, and from those leaves there will come very, very beautiful flowers

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of ecstasy and love for Krishna. And those flowers are very aromatic. They draw Krishna
just like a bumble-bee to that devotee, and whereas bees usually take from the flower and
the flower becomes bereft, when Krishna comes and He touches—Srila Prabhupada uses
the word “kisses”—the flower-like devotees, then they begin to bear the fruits of rasa,
or real relationship with Krishna. And once again our eternal relationship, our mellow
of friendship, or parental, or conjugal attraction for Krishna becomes manifest and we
find ourselves in our eternal home, Goloka Vrindavan, in loving exchanges with Krishna.

When rising in the morning, singing mangala-arati, chanting on our beads, we should
follow the train of thought that is inspired by the words of the prayers, by the sound of the
maha-mantra, by the vibration of Sukadeva Goswami as he speaks Srimad Bhagavatam.
All of these things are meant to lead us back to the pastures of Vrindavan.

Thoughts of Krishna…

Chanting is Our Sadhana

Sanatana Goswami writes: “All glories, all glories to the all blissful holy name of Sri
Krishna, which causes the devotee to give up all conventional religious duties, medita-
tion, and worship. When somehow or other uttered even once by the living entity, the
holy name awards him liberation. The holy name of Krishna is the highest nectar. it is
my very life, and my only treasure.”

Jiva Goswami says, “Chanting the holy name is the chief means of attaining love of
Godhead. This chanting or devotional service does not depend on any paraphernalia,
nor on one’s having taken birth in a good family. By humility and meekness one attracts
the attention of Krishna. That is the verdict of all the Vedas. Therefore if one becomes
very humble and meek, he can easily attain the lotus feet of Krishna in this age of Kali.
That is the fulfillment of all great sacrifices, penances, and austerities, because when one

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achieves ecstatic love of Godhead he attains the complete perfection of life. Therefore
whatever one does in executing devotional service must be accompanied by the chanting
of the holy name of the Lord.”

Rupa Goswami has written in Padyavali: “The holy name of Lord Krishna is an attractive
feature for many saintly, liberal people. It is the annihilator of all sinful reactions and is so
powerful that, save for the dumb who cannot chant it, it is readily available to everyone
including the lowest type of man, the candala. The holy name of Krishna is the control-
ler of the opulence of liberation, and it is identical with Krishna. Simply by touching the
holy name with one’s tongue, immediate effects are produced. Chanting the holy name
does not depend on initiation, pious activities, or regulative principles generally observed
before initiation. The holy name does not wait for all these activities. It is self sufficient.”

In Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Krishnadas Kaviraja writes, “The absolute truth is Sri Krishna,
and loving devotion to Sri Krishna, exhibited in pure love, is achieved through congre-
gational chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all bliss.”

If someone chants offensively, then Caitanya-caritamrita says they may take many many
births. Chanting properly means trying to become free from offenses, and chanting
without offense. If we chant offensively it is a very slow process. Offensive chanting is a
dark shadow of the holy name and has little potency.

Chanting Hare Krishna cannot be compared to pious activity. No pious activity potentially
becomes pure devotional service. But chanting has it is phases, and offensive chanting
can end up becoming pure chanting. So you can dig as many wells as you like, which is a
pious activity, but you’ll never go back to Godhead and achieve love of God. But chanting
Hare Krishna, even if it is done offensively, eventually it will take you back to Godhead.
So it is not a pious activity: it is devotional service. They are two very different things.

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There is benefit in offensive chanting: the main benefit is that you keep chanting. You
still chant. But then it becomes slow – nama aparadha.

All the forms of chanting are described in the 6th Canto, and even chanting unconsciously
means one is freed from results of past sinful activity. That’s what “liberation” means. Not
that you go back to Godhead. It is faithless chanting, so it doesn’t “take” you anywhere, but
it is better than offensive chanting. It is unconscious. If someone doesn’t know anything
it is the only reason he doesn’t commit offense. It is offenseless chanting but it is not
pure. This is what devotees experience when they come to Krishna consciousness. They
experience the illumination of offenseless chanting because they don’t know anything in
Krishna consciousness. Then as they come to learn more about devotional service, then
more responsibility comes, and the chanting becomes offensive.

Proper chanting means there are the ten offenses that need to be avoided. If one does
that, then according to the level of his faith, then the quality of his chanting will be
offenseless to a greater or lesser degree. There is a large scope in offenseless chanting.
Offenseless chanting is connected to faith and to one’s understanding of Krishna con-
sciousness: understanding the basic principles. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and
Srila Prabhupada have said, unless you understand the basic principles, sambandha-jnana,
then you cannot chant offenselessly.

The examples like Ajamila, etc., these aren’t examples of sadhana: these are examples
that show the potency of the holy name, when a person calls out in fear, or at the time
of death. It shows the potency of the holy name. But it doesn’t refer to sadhana. These
are exceptional circumstances. But we are followers of Rupa Goswami, Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati, Srila Prabhupada, and they have given us the path of sadhana bhakti. So that
is the path we follow: chanting as part of our sadhana.

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The One & Only Process

In terms of the nine processes of devotional service—hearing, chanting, remembering,
serving, worshipping, praying, obeying, maintaining friendship, and surrendering every-
thing—Jiva Gosvami says in Bhakti-sandarbha, he quotes Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that in
Kali-yuga the other 8 processes only bear fruit in relationship to kirtan. In other words, it
is the yuga dharma, so you can’t become perfect by performing deity worship. Our deity
worship is connected to chanting Hare Krishna. Even the other activities we perform are
to remember the Lord and chant His holy name. So he says, all these other process have
to be connected to chanting Hare Krishna for them to be effective. It may be possible to
achieve perfection through one of them, but it will be exceedingly difficult. So devotees
may have a preference for something else, and it is a fact, some prefer deity worship, some
prefer prayer, some prefer to hear. But the minimum standard Srila Prabhupada gave was
chanting sixteen rounds and engaging in kirtan, those should be there, and they empower
these other processes to give results, to give fruit.

With kirtan, devotees find often that particular kirtans, or kirtan leaders, or places—like
the holy dhama—and certain events like festivals and so on, these are inspirational in
terms of the quality of kirtan, and it is easy to be inspired, to feel ecstasy. But in the ordi-
nary day to day program, that situation might not be available, and so it is difficult to
feel inspired when the kirtan is not the same standard, when it is out of tune, and so on.
This isn’t an offense; kirtan is a type of devotional practice, and at least when we become
utthama adhikaris, the advanced utthama adhikari’s ability to relish the holy name isn’t
dependent on these things, like the excellence of the music, the tune, et. He relishes the
holy name, especially when it is chanted by someone chanting purely. In Prema-vivarta,
Jagadananda Pandita speaks of himself, and it is interesting because he’s an incarnation of
Satyabhama. And he is saying of himself that all the devotees make fun of him because
he can’t sing in tune, he can’t hold a note, and when he dances it is like a duck! So it is
like that: he points out that the devotees think it is humorous. But obviously his chanting
is perfect and pure, and therefore to Caitanya Mahaprabhu it doesn’t matter if it is like
this or that. Advanced devotees are also like that.

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But the lower stage utthama adhikari still prefers to have these things in place, his taste
is dependent on it. And even in the spiritual world, it is very much like that, everything
is very pukka. For example, Mother Yasoda is a very good cook, and so to offer Krishna
a banana peel, you’d be in deep trouble. But to show the other example, that Krishna
accepts the love, if His friends offer Him a flower He will put it in His mouth and eat it
because it is offered with love. But that’s not the standard, that’s the exception.

It is part of the nature of an individual, but it is also the nature of the soul to want perfec-
tion in these things, and all of these things come in time. Srila Prabhupada didn’t place
so much emphasis on these things, to get into the science of for example sangita-vidya,
it is so complex and difficult you could get lost forever learning all the different ragas and
tunes. They will come; particularly when one comes to the perfectional platform and we
have a spiritual body and memory is no longer a problem, then these things are taught
by Krishna’s associates. They teach us how to sing and play instruments and how to do
these things perfectly.

Qualification
Kali-yuga limits the ability of conditioned souls: because they’re conditioned, they’re sus-
ceptible to the influence of Kali. So yajnas, long penances and austerities, meditation—all
these things, the mind and senses are too disturbed to focus on the Lord for any extended
period of time. That’s why chanting Hare Krishna is particularly potent, because it lends
itself to being practiced by conditioned souls. And the reason it does that is not because
of the mantra, but because of the person giving the mantra: Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu is maha-vadanyaya, He is very munificent. So He empowers

the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, which requires the highest qualification. It is
golokera prema dhana, it is for eternally liberated souls. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu makes
available something that you can only really do when you’ve gone back to Godhead:
chanting Hare Krishna.

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Everyone is only eligible for something according to their qualification. For example,
reading the original Srimad-Bhagavatam requires that you can read Sanskrit, that’s the
eligibility. At least in terms of the original Srimad-Bhagavatam, before it was translated.
So this is what Caitanya Mahaprabhu does: it doesn’t matter who you are, you are eligible
to chant Hare Krishna. What Narottama dasa Thakura and Locana dasa Thakura say is,
the more unqualified you are, that is your qualification.

It is not a qualification established by the holy name, but by the owner of the name. The
holy name is reserved in that respect. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it is His name, so He
can empower it so that the most unqualified becomes the most qualified. And that is why
we are here chanting Hare Krishna: we don’t have qualification even to be human beings,
what to speak of chanting Hare Krishna. A human being is someone who, without effort,
follows the four regulative principles. And we don’t do it without effort. For us, being a
human is more or less tantamount to exerting all of our abilities to just conduct ourselves
according to the way Aryans—people in the mode of goodness—are meant to behave.

Because we are so disqualified, if it was an issue of qualification then it becomes hopeless.

But Caitanya Mahaprabhu gives us hope. Because He is very merciful He puts aside the
question of qualification, of being human or not. He says, just chant Hare Krishna. And
if we make an effort to follow the process that great devotees follow, like Rupa Gosvami
and other great Vaisnavas, then the special potency of the holy name will qualify us.

By offensively chanting you will become qualified to chant without offense; by chanting
without offense you will become qualified to chant with love; by chanting with love you
become qualified to go back to Godhead.

This is the real wonder of Krishna consciousness which we really neglect. We think, “Oh,
I will check my astrology, I will get some rings, I will sit in a yajna and get purified, do
some psychological course…” But nothing gives you qualification for chanting Hare

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Krishna except chanting Hare Krishna. It will do everything, but one has to have faith.
If you don’t have faith, then it won’t act. That’s the minimum.

So give up sinful activities, despite the effort; Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, sraddhavan jana
he, you have to have faith that nothing else works, and nothing else is needed but this.
And thinking these other things will help is an offense. The only thing we need is the
holy name. That type of strong faith, that is our qualification for chanting.

Everything will come from the chanting. Srila Prabhupada says that, “I have no qualifica-
tion, but I have great faith in the holy name of Krishna.”

That is also our mood, that’s what we should follow. We should follow Srila Prabhupada’s
example; he came with nothing, just some books no one could understand, although he
convinced them to buy the books. Then they began to understand the books, not because
they were scholars but because Srila Prabhupada got them to chant Hare Krishna. He
went to this square in New York and he just started chanting. No one had seen a Hare
Krishna before, no one had heard the Hare Krishna mantra before. Srila Prabhupada just
knew if he did this it would fulfil the desire of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that Krishna consciousness would spread.

This is what Srila Prabhupada did until his last days. He had devotees there chanting
Hare Krishna and reading Srimad-Bhagavatam, alternating those two things. He didn’t
do something new or special; it wasn’t that Srila Prabhupada said, “OK, now I’m leaving
this world, I’m going to show you something I’ve never shown you before.” No. He just
showed the same thing, chanting Hare Krishna and depending on Krishna.

Chanting together in kirtan enables us to chant with like-minded people. We can become
absorbed, we can do our own thing without anyone intruding. And we chant to develop our
faith, to increase our qualification, because by associating with others, we will associate with

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those who have a taste for chanting, and it is that taste that will become the mature fruit. If we
acquire a taste for chanting, then it can be said our investment is giving returns. It is a good sign.

Ultimately, Srila Prabhupada says, we should be mad for Krishna, mad for chanting Hare
Krishna. And that’s what Krishna consciousness ends up being, you are not any good to
anyone in this world, because mad people aren’t any use! So better at that stage to go back
to Godhead, because the spiritual world is full of such people, mad men and mad ladies.

Therefore we should somehow or other, by sadhu sanga…Rupa Gosvami says that you
associate with like-minded people, devotees who like to chant Hare Krishna the way you
like to chant. It is natural that there is grouping of Vaisnavas. In fact, academics go nuts
over the grouping they find in Vaisnava literature; they find it extremely pedantic that
everything is in 8’s, and 108’s, and there are unlimited stratum of divisions amongst gopis,
and cowherd boys. What to speak of that, even the cows have their groups, and they have
their leaders, and there’s a chief cow…this has to be mythology as far as these academ-
ics are concerned. Spiritual life can’t be this organized! Like George Harrison (from the
Beatles) told Srila Prabhupada, “I don’t like organized religion.” And Srila Prabhupada
replied, “Religion is very organized! It has to be very organized.”

And it is extremely organized in the spiritual world. Krishna, contrary to revolutionists,

does not like anarchy and chaos. Krishna likes everything to be organized. He obviously
has a very structured mind, which is good for us in terms of how the world functions,
otherwise imagine the chaos. So Krishna is highly organized, and He likes us to be organ-
ized. And that’s why we see Srila Prabhupada was very organized. So even with chanting
Hare Krishna it becomes a very organized affair. It is done very very nicely. When we
have kirtan, when we gather together, we are chanting with instruments, with western
instruments also, and doing things in a systematic way.

There are two different pinnacles of chanting; one was done by Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
When you read Caitanya-caritamrta, Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very particular. He would

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have certain devotees chanting, some playing instruments, some singing; He had his own
mrdanga player and He wouldn’t even chant if he wasn’t present. He was systematic with
musicians: how many, seven kartal players for each mrdanga, 2 mrdangas for each kirtan
group, a limited number of participants, lead dancers, lead singers, responding singers.
This is really structured and organized. We read how Vasudeva Ghosh and his brothers
were the kirtaniers. This was their service, to lead kirtan. They were incarnations of gopis
who do the same thing in the spiritual world.

The other pinnacle takes place all the time; there is this picture of Krishna and the cow-
herd boys, He is playing His flute, He is dancing, the cowherd boys are dancing. That is
their kirtan. The Brahma-samhita says the residents of the spiritual world, they don’t know
anything else but kirtan: when they walk, they dance, and when they speak they sing.
On top of that they have performances, but ordinarily kirtan is always going on. When
Krishna is with the gopis, they are dancing and singing. And it is highly structured and
organized, the rasa dance. You read about the multiple circles, concentric circles. And
in Kavi Karnapura’s Ananda Vrndavana Campu, he says when the gopis begin to dance,
they put their hands up in the air, and put their feet one in front of the other and sway
like that. In other words, it is the Swami Step that Srila Prabhupada taught us. This is
what they’re doing in the spiritual world. I’m sure no one is surprised that what Srila
Prabhupada taught us is authorized, and it is coming from the spiritual world, the high-
est realm.

What to speak of the whole system of music. What we call kirtan doesn’t make the grade
at all in terms of what these transcendental personalities know about music, notes, semi
notes, quarter notes, and so on. They sing on the 5th note and the 7th note, so many dif-
ferent modulations and variations. It is stated that when the rasa dance took place, there
are 16,108 main ragas, and they sang all of them. That’s why it required a day of Brahma
for it to take place. Everything was sankirtan. Everything in glorification of Krishna. A
special type of sankirtan: prema sankirtana. That’s the terminology used in Caitanya-
caritamrta. But they’re even higher, the gopis, in maha-bhava. And when everyone is

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chanting on the platform of prema, it is different. That’s called svajatiya. You can imagine
when everyone is chanting on the platform of prema.

So when we are chanting for Krishna, any old way isn’t good enough, it should be the
best. Part of trying to please Krishna means using all the resources He has given us in
order to please Him. That’s the kind of sankirtan that keeps Krishna going forever. He
thrives on that.

Spiritual Principles of the Holy Name

Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains, and Srila Prabhupada explains, and Krishna also says in
Srimad-Bhagavatam, that according to the knowledge by which one performs an activity,
one gets a proportional result. For example, if someone chants Hare Krishna but doesn’t
really know the potencies, glories, and principles underlying the holy name, he gets a
different result than the person who does.

Therefore devotees should know the truths that underly the process of chanting Hare
Krishna. There are the philosophical principles behind the holy name, there are the
principles of rasa, rasa tattva, bhava tattva; there is the lila of the holy name. And all of
these constitute knowledge of Krishna consciousness. It is not that we are meant to be
selective, although it may be that one learns chronologically, according to one’s level of
qualification.

That means that to get full benefit with enhanced speed, one should chant the Hare
Krishna mantra knowing what it is. And it is like cintamani; someone who considers the
holy name of the Lord to be a mundane sound vibration, or thinks that because it can be
spoken or written then it must be a product of material energy, he remains an offender
and his advancement is slow.

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Just as Krishna is fully transcendental, so His holy name is transcendental. Everything

it touches becomes transformed. This is the principle of cintamani. So if we touch the
holy name, by the potency of the holy name, we also become transcendental. Caitanya
Mahaprabhu says one’s heart becomes cleansed, fully purified, and one comes to the
spiritiual platform.

But it is very difficult in our conditioned state to conceive of something being spiritual
or cintamani. Like if we speak of prasadam; we can talk about it, but no matter how
much you talk, talking is different from tasting. When one becomes spiritually situated,
you don’t have to eat prasadam, you can just talk about it and become spiritually sati-
ated. But we are not on that level. When we speak about spiritual things, it is a different
experience than that of the liberated souls. Padma purana says it is the “fully conscious
form of transcendental mellows.” But can we experience that? So from our perspective
we can see what it is not; sometimes we have to appreciate something by what it is not,
because we don’t have direct experience of what it is. We don’t have experience of what is
spiritual, so we indirectly try and define it by the material experiences we have, by saying
it is none of those things.

Srila Prabhupada dedicates the whole introduction of Caitanya-caritamrta to explain-

ing the word “Caitanya.” And caitanya rasa vigraha. The form of trascendental mellows
is described in two ways; first it is nondifferent from the person the name belongs to,
namely Krishna. So it is also the form of the Lord. Sometimes Krishna is referred to as
the form of the holy name, which is interesting because it is reverse. But because they’re
nondifferent you can say it. And the other aspect is, it is the form in which we perceive
the Supreme Personality of Godhead in this day and age because we vibrate Him upon
our tongues.

These things describe that He is complete, eternal, fully liberated, beyond the touch of
matter: one must have full faith in these things. By having full faith in the holy name, it
reciprocates with us, with the strength of our faith in Him.

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Then there is the aspect of the taste of the holy name. Rasa means taste, as opposed to rasa
dance, and there’s a particular mellow involved in chanting Hare Krishna which reflects
the spiritual identity of the living entity. Just like Krishna reciprocates with devotees in
any one of the five moods, similarly Krishna’s holy name, when chanted free of offense,
reveals that rasa or relationship we have with Krishna. The method of achieving perfection,
the stages of perfection, are only possible through chanting Hare Krishna. When devotees
come to the perfected platform, then to taste the mellows of perfection, they chant Hare
Krishna. It is the holy name that reveals the highest ecstasies of Krishna consciousness.

To value something means we treat it differently. So when we hear of the divinity of

Krishna’s trascendental name, and we appreciate that, then our chanting becomes more
and more reverential, more appreciative, and therefore more potent. Because Krishna
reveals Himself through the agency of His holy name.

Devotees speak of having faith in Krishna, in the process of devotional service. However,
Krishna’s position, as well as those things related to Him, like His holy names, they exist
eternally. They aren’t existing because we have faith in them. They exist whether we have
faith or not. It is not Krishna’s business to prove Himself to us. Sometimes people ask,
“Prove that God exists.” But whether we prove He does or not makes no difference to
the fact that He does exist. He doesn’t need to prove Himself to anyone. In fact, the
whole process of spiritual life is the other way around. We are the ones who need to prove
ourselves to Him. Therefore Srila Prabhupada says that you do something wonderful to
attract Krishna’s attention. We are the ones who are wayward, who are off-track. So we
are the ones who need to perform activities that attract Krishna’s attention and show
Him we are worthy of His faith.

We might have faith in Krishna, and that is good. But it doesn’t mean you go back to
Godhead. If our faith is really strong, then we will behave in a way that becomes con-
ducive for attracting Krishna’s attention. And when Krishna sees a devotee is sincere,
steady, honest, hardworking, then Krishna develops faith in that person and thinks, “This
person has proven himself,” and when Krishna has faith in us, then He reveals Himself.

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When we are chanting Hare Krishna, the means we use to chant the holy name—chanting
with humility, chanting with faith, chanting consistently, avoiding the ten offenses—when
a devotee does this steadily for a long time, then Krishna manifests His full potencies
through the agency of the holy name.

At the end of his play, Lalita Madhava, Rupa Gosvami writes that Krishna tells Srimati
Radharani to ask for a benediction, and She says, “What could I possibly ask for? Why
should I ask a benediction? Now that I have You, who is everything that anyone, espe-
cially Myself, could want, what could I possibly ask for?” And Krishna says, “Anyway
just ask, because I’m offering,” and She says, “Very well. For those devotees who for a
very long time practice devotional service, and they come here and live in Your holy land
of Vrndavana, worshipping You as their dearmost friend, please reveal Yourself without
hesitation.” And Krishna says, “So be it.”

So if devotees show their sincerity and expertise and attention in chanting Hare Krishna
for a long time—and it doesn’t take a long time for a “long time” to go by: ten years,
twenty years. A snap of the fingers. And we should be careful that twenty years doesn’t
go by and it hasn’t become steady. But if it is nicely done, then Krishna reveals Himself
to the devotee as He promises. In so many places, in the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna is saying
like that, He promises we will come to Him. So with faith and determination we should
chant Hare Krishna, and have faith that, although it is very rare, Krishna will certainly
one day be very kind to me.

Sanatana Gosvami prays like that, he says, “Great personalities, sages, etc., they perform
great austerities in order to see You, and when I think of that I become very hopeless;
then I remember You are merciful to Your devotees, and so I take heart and await Your
mercy upon me.”

So this is the mood we chant Hare Krishna in, awaiting Krishna’s mercy, waiting for
Him to bestow His kindness on us. That is Srila Prabhupada’s promise also. He prom-
ises you will go back to Godhead and see Krishna face to face. In Caitanya-caritamrta,

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Srila Prabhupada is talking about meeting Krishna, and so to clarify it so devotees aren’t
perplexed, Srila Prabhupada explains it as, “devotees will see Krishna face to face as one
man sees another face to face.” Hare Krishna.

Endless Chanting
Though chanting daily may seem to have a beginning and end to it, the chanting never
stops. It always goes on in the devotee’s heart. Srila Prabhupada had a godbrother, Krishna
dasa. Srila Prabhupada called him Akincana Krishna dasa. There is a story that Srila
Prabhupada told, that once when Krishna dasa was sick, a doctor was called, and he put a
stethoscope to Krishna dasa’s heart, but he only heard the sound of the mrdanga and the
chanting of Hare Krishna. So that was Krishna dasa Babaji’s program; he only chanted
Hare Krishna. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura instructed his disciples once to put an
ad in the paper, that if you want to come and join the Hare Krishna movement and chant
all day and live in our temple, then come. And that is how Krishna dasa Babaji came, he
read the ad. So his godbrothers were always trying to get him to do other things, but all
he did was chant Hare Krishna.

So like that, there is no beginning and no end – we should always keep the vibration
going on in our hearts. And certainly if one can do that he is performing his sadhana in
a perfect way. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, kirtaniya sadah harih. But you can’t do that
unless you are humble. And he gives these four qualities of humility:

trnad api sunicena: One should think himself lower than the straw in the street…
taror api sahisnuna: …and more tolerant than a tree
amanena: One should offer all respects to others…
manadena: …and expect no respect himself…

Then, kirtaniyah sadah harih, in such a state of mind, one can chant the holy name of the
Lord constantly.

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And this is a mood in which Vaisnavas chant Hare Krishna, and it becomes the devotee’s
absorption. The very mood of chanting Hare Krishna is this trnad api sloka. It is good for
practicing and perfected devotees; it is the mood of Srimati Radharani, and of Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. It works for everyone. Whereas receiving an assigned manjari bhava—or
being given one’s siddha pranali­­—might not work, especially if you are chanting with
offense.

Chanting is the best mood, and within that one will find one’s own spiritual identity.
And Srila Prabhupada points out on commenting on Lord Kapila’s instructions in the 3rd
Canto, that there are different ways of chanting Hare Krishna, all chanting isn’t chant-
ing: there is chanting in the mode of ignorance, passion, goodness, and then there is pure
chanting, spiritual chanting.

The mantra is the same, the words are the same, what’s different is the motive. You can
call that the mood, but it is a motive. The motive for which one chants to harm someone
(believe it or not), or acquire some power or siddhi to lord it over others; or when one
is really ignorant of the process of chanting, the sadhana; if one doesn’t know Krishna,
doesn’t know the process or technique, this is all chanting in the mode of ignorance.

If some has some awareness of the principles but is chanting for recognition, for example
in singing or as a musician; if one chants for some material benefit, like attaining the
heavenly planets; if one chants to benefit oneself or one’s family in some material way
(health, good exam results, etc.), then this is in the mode of passion.

Chanting in the mode of goodness is when we chant to advance spiritually, and that
type of chanting purifies. The other types also purify but more slowly. Other types will
not liberate us, but they guarantee we will take birth again and continue to chant. Even
if one chants offensively it is better than not chanting at all. Sometimes people ask if it
is better to chant a few rounds offenselessly, or a lot offensively, which is a silly question
because if you can chant a few rounds offenselessly, why not chant all offenselessly! So
sastra says chant under any circumstance, and try to chant with quality.

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The best quality is to chant for the pleasure of the Lord. This is spiritual chanting, the
highest. We should chant for the pleasure of the Deities—chanting, dancing, clapping.
In other words, that is what we are meant to be doing; that is what advanced devotees
do. We try to please the Lord. And when we are trying to keep that mentality, it is the
ideal impetus for chanting and the maximum benefit is gained.

Take the Mind to Vrindavan

– Afternoon
Meditation during japa, Hungarian Padayatra, 2007

Sitting in the same place I sat earlier this morning, the sun is no longer to my right
but is setting, to my left, about to sink behind a very tall tree. Birds continue to sing,
some chirping in a staccato way, others questioning, “Where is Krishna?” The doves and
pigeons are cooing, making the background music to the beautiful symphony that is the
heartbeat of Vrindavan dhama. At this time of day, almost 6 o’clock in the afternoon, we
could be thinking of Krishna, wonderfully dressed in fresh clothes that the cowherd boys
had dressed Him in, decorated with the beautiful flowers from the forest of Vrindavan.
Different colors, pigments, and minerals from Govardhan hill are illuminating and
highlighting His beautiful transcendental form, and that of Balarama and His associates.
His peacock feather fluttering in the wind, and everything, from the top of His peacock
feather to His bare lotus feet…Krishna is covered in the cintamani dust of Vrindavan.

That dust that has been further purified by the transcendental surabhi cows who raise
the dust in the air and make a beautiful cloud which then settles upon the cowherd boys,
who are still full of unlimited energy—dancing, singing Krishna and Balarama’s names,
frolicking, playing jokes amongst each other, cutting jokes about each other, throwing bael
fruit like balls, and increasing the great ocean of transcendental bliss that is this pastime
called go-carana, Krishna returning again from the forest pasture grounds of Vrindavan
to Nandagram.

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Krishna doesn’t go directly back to Nandagram, but rather He will go past the village
of Javat. Srimati Radharani has already returned there after Their midday meeting and
is cooking sweet preparations to be taken by Her gopi associates on Mother Yasoda’s
instructions to Nandagram for when Krishna enjoys His supper.

Krishna wants to see Her, and wants Her to see Him. Therefore He tends His cows in
that direction…and everyone else wants to see Krishna and Krishna wants to see eve-
ryone else, because everyone, regardless of who they are, whether they be little children,
babies in their mothers’ arms, or whether they be the household animals, brahmanas,
elder men, elder ladies, the young gopis, the young boys—everyone loves Krishna. That
is what Vrindavan is about. And when we will have such love for Krishna then we will
be always living in Vrindavan.

When you love someone, you want to see them. You just can’t get enough of seeing
them. Your senses cry out for them—your eyes by seeing, your nose by smelling, touch
by touching… and in the same way the Brijbasis, they have not seen Krishna all day,
and they live only for the opportunity to be able to have His direct association. So when
that great cloud of dust is seen on the horizon, then the Brijbasis know, “Oh, Krishna is
returning!” And to confirm that this cloud is not some ordinary cloud, that it is not one
of Kamsa’s demons coming to disturb the them, the Brijbasis can hear the sound of the
cows’ hooves; they can hear the beautiful lowing of the cows as they call out for Krishna,
competing with each other just to be close to Him.

Most important of all, they can hear the sound of the flute.

And when they hear the sound of the flute, it is not just a sound, but it is actually a song
which touches their hearts. That flute sound Krishna sings as one melody, but actually it
has an individual message for every living entity in Vrindavan.

Actually Krishna’s flute song has a message for all living entities. In Brahma-samhita
Lord Brahma understood the message that Krishna’s flute playing meant for him, and in

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the same way, Krishna’s flute playing has a message for us. Krishna is calling us: “Come
back, come back!” Now we have to hear Krishna’s flute and decide that yes, we want to
come back, we don’t want to stay here any longer in this material world.

When the gopis hear this commotion of the cows mooing, when they see the dust, they
tell Srimati Radharani, “Quickly come, your beloved Syamasundara, whom you have been
missing for the last few hours, is just about to pass by the house!” Then Srimati Radharani,
with Her friends Lalita and Visakha, runs up to the top of the moon tower, a six or seven
storey tower that is part of Her house, and in that way, from the top of that moon tower,
She can see this vast, vast ocean of cows and cowherd boys.

Actually, there is no counting the number of cows, and those cows, some of them are
snow white, some of them are reddish—there are so many different colors. Some of them
have faces like mridangas, others have straight horns, others have curved horns. They are
decorated with different colors which are generally the hand prints of the gopas, and of
course their hooves and horns are gold plated. They all wear beautiful garlands, some of
them—the groups leaders—have silk blankets on top of them, and around their necks
they have bells which are jangling. Just imagine the sound of these hundreds and thou-
sands of beautiful bells, and all of the bells are chanting Hare Krishna. Just like everyone
chants Hare Krishna.

By the arrangement of Yogamaya, within the midst of this cloud, within the sea of cows,
Srimati Radharani—directed by the sound of the flute—sees Syamasundara.

And when She sees Him then He sees Her. And at this time different things may hap-
pen. Sometimes, with their eyes locked in a glance, Krishna faints in ecstasy; sometimes
Srimati Radharani faints in ecstasy; sometimes both of Them faint in ecstasy. Sometimes
He pretends not to see Her. Sometimes She turns away. There is no telling what the
exchanges of love induce in the Prince and Princess of Vrindavan.

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Rupa Goswami says aher iva gatih premnah; that these loving exchanges are just like the
movements of a snake. They are winding and crooked, and it is very difficult to determine
whether there is any cause to them, or they simply happen by some transcendental accident.

When Krishna and Srimati Radharani have seen each other, when the inhabitants of
Javat have seen Krishna, and even Jatila and Kotila, who are Krishna’s greatest critics,
they can’t help but come on top of their rooves and, on the plea of criticizing Krishna
for His loose behavior, they also fill their eyes with His beauty, His loveliness, His sweet
smile which melts everyone’s hearts. And they fill their ears with the sound of His flute.
If this is how those who are transcendentally inimical to Krishna react, then you can just
imagine the reaction of Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja, who have been standing
on top of their palace for such a long time.

For them it appears like yugayitam nimeshena; it appears like ages, just to hear the sound
of the flute, just to see that cloud raised by the hooves of the cows. And when they finally
do see it, then their eyes become so full of tears of love for Krishna that they again don’t
see it, and they panic thinking, “Maybe it is just an illusion, maybe I didn’t see,” but
thankfully their assistants are there to tell them and therefore Mother Yasoda and Nanda
Maharaja turn to each other, and Nanda Maharaja says to his beloved wife, “Your son
is returning to give joy to your eyes and your senses…very soon you will be able to hold
Him on your lap and embrace Him to your full satisfaction.”

When Mother Yasoda hears that she becomes so overwhelmed with ecstasy, the tears pour
forth from her eyes and her body shivers, and if not for the assistance of her gopi friends
like Rohini and others, she would faint on the spot. But they tell her, “No! Yasoda-mayi,
you must make arrangements to receive your son, get the arati tray to remove any inauspi-
ciousness that may have clung to Him as a result of being out there in the forest with wild
beasts, where Kamsa’s demoniac friends come. Make sure that the feast is being properly
prepared. What about His bath? Is that being properly set out? And His new clothes
that you had the tailor specially design for this very occasion, and the special ornaments
that you want Him to wear tonight. You must immediately make these arrangements!”

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As soon as Mother Yasoda hears about the many services that she has to do for Krishna,
immediately she is the transcendental and ultimate temple commander of Nandagram;
she starts giving many instructions to her friends, associates, and servants and they are
bustling, running back and forth, because Krishna is coming back to Vrindavan.

If this is how Mother Yasoda is when Krishna is still some far distance away, then you
can just imagine when she atually sees the cowherd boys approaching, and when amongst
those cowherd boys, she sees her sons, Krishna and Balarama, she becomes so ecstatic,
so overwhelmed that although she reaches out her arms she can’t move, she becomes
stunned in ecstasy just standing there like a statue. It requires Krishna to come running
into her arms and touch her so that she can then melt in motherly affection and resume
again her non-statue-like form.

This is the wonderful return of Krishna to Vrindavan that happens at this time of day.
Learned Vaisnavas who try to think about the Lord meditate upon this pastime. In fact,
Krishna’s pastimes as they happen throughout the twenty-four hours of the day are the
subject of absorption of both practicing devotees as well as perfected devotees. So in that
way, we should also take the opportunity whenever we have an extra moment to think,
“What is Krishna doing now?” We are always thinking about what our family is doing,
we are thinking about what we are doing, or what we want to be doing, or about the news,
about what materialistic people are doing what things all over the world. But rather than
spending our very valuable time with this, why don’t we always make a point that at least
a few times a day we ask ourselves, “Now what is Krishna doing?” and try to remember
what Krishna does as it is written in KRSNA Book, in Srimad Bhagavatam; Venu-gita
describes Krishna’s daily activities…and we spend a few minutes remembering them. It
will only bring us ecstasy.

tava kathamritam tapta-jivanam

kavibhir iditam kalmashapaham
sravana-mangalam srimad atatam
bhuvi grinanti ye bhuri-da janah

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 Chant

The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul
of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned
sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears
them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual
power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.
SB 10.31.9. The Gopis’ Song of Separation

Effective Increased Chanting

The recommendation is that even if one is chanting offensively, if one chants more then the
qualification will come and eventually one will become more purified at heart. Attention
comes from purification of heart. Caitanya-caritamrta says, bahu janma koti. It can take a
long time, offensive chanting: many births. And the summary of all offenses is inattention.

Everyone has experience in trying to focus the mind; it becomes distracted by so many
things. Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Bhaktivinoda Thakura state that attachment
to material things, talking or gossiping while chanting Hare Krishna, these contribute
in different ways to committing that offense of inattentiveness, which causes further
impurities in the heart. So at least the basic qualification of a Vaisnava is that he should
avoid offenses to the holy name.

Often we misunderstand offenses to the holy name as something you do while you are
chanting your rounds. But offenses to the holy name means that in any devotional activ-
ity we perform throughout the day, when one commits these oversights, transgressions,
sins, they constitute offense to the holy name. It doesn’t refer only to what’s going on in
kirtan or japa.

For instance, the first offense, committing offenses to Vaisnavas. Any time you do that it
becomes an offense to the holy name. The holy name, which is Krishna, takes offense, and
the result of that is He doesn’t bestow His mercy, and no matter how much we chant the

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result doesn’t come. The results should be perceived in many ways, and one is an increased
taste for devotional activity, and the other is decreased attachment to material things.

Inference is one of the ten types of Vedic evidence. So if one’s taste for Krishna conscious-
ness is not increasing, and one’s attachment to material things is increasing, then one can
infer one has committed offense to the holy name. If one can identify the cause of that
offense, there are different processes recommended. If one has committed and offense
to a Vaisnava, then the process is that you ask forgiveness from that Vaisnava. But if you
can’t identify the cause of the offense, the only solution is to chant.

But this concept of being attentive means one is able to focus the mind, and the mind
becomes more able to focus to the degree the heart is purified.

If you read the letters in Vedabase, you will see that when devotees were errant, or fell
down, Srila Prabhupada would tell them to go to Mayapur and chant Hare Krishna all
day, chant 64 rounds. And it is a fact some devotees may not be able to do it, though
that is a psychological block. It is not that you can’t do it: it is not like telling someone
to go and climb Mount Everest. It is a very nice experience that devotees can do; even
if they can chant more than 64, that is better. It changes your perspective on Krishna
consciousness, on chanting rounds.

For instance if devotees can chant 192 rounds, it takes 24 hours; it will give a certain type
of experience; even if that experience is struggling with the mind, it makes 16 rounds
seem very childish. And anyone I’ve seen do that, they have that experience. So there
is definitely an effect that extra chanting has on inattention. There are so many effects.
One is getting out of your comfort zone of, “OK, sixteen rounds finished, haribol,” and
hanging up the bead bag. It is what we are used to.

So when you chant more rounds, your frame of reference really changes. You get that
experience of how fallen we really are; it is a simple thing to say, but really, it is only three

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words we are chanting but if you sit down and chant all day, your mind can just go “Bang.”
But then, with other devotees, even if their minds are doing that, they get inspired to
attain a certain degree of mastery over their minds, to keep going. And what happens at
a certain point, when the mind is subdued, when it gives in, then the only thing there is
you and the holy name. With kirtan, there are other devotees, music, moving around. But
with japa, there are none of these other distractions, even though they’re transcendental
distractions. It is just you and your senses, but when you persevere, you get an idea of
what the effort of sadhana in Krishna consciousness is like.

We have experienced that this is an easy phrase to say, “Bring the mind under control,”
but the reality is it is more like a Battle of Kuruksetra has to take place before it does
come under control. And very often, winning the war means losing a lot of battles in
the process. Because “mind under control” for some time is one thing, but “mind under
control” permanently means one has attained such a stage of purification of the heart that
there is no interest in going back. There is the purification of the heart of jnanis and yogis,
but they fall down again. The real mind control of a Vaisnava is that, as a practitioner, he
comes to a stage of purification where the taste of Krishna consciousness is much more
attractive to the mind than the taste for material life.

So that is where the battle takes place, in this kind of “no man’s land,” when you are giving
up material life and you are looking at spiritual life, but due to the influence of impurities
in the heart, the taste is very little. So you are fighting not on the basis of taste, but on
the basis of duty, on the basis of vows that we’ve taken. Sometimes we even forget why
we are fighting and we are just encouraged by devotees to keep fighting. That is a tough
place to be, that intermediate stage. Then when the real taste begins to flow—not the
taste that comes from occasional contact, but the taste that is ever-increasing and never
decreasing—then that pushes aside all other things and the mind really does believe it is
better to be Krishna conscious than not Krishna conscious, because the senses are more
gratified than they were in material life.

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Then real sense control comes on the spiritual platform, and there is no question of “con-
trol” anymore. Material life isn’t even part of the formula.

Certainly the more time and effort we put into chanting Hare Krishna, the more perfect
we become at it. Whereas the process is very easy, chanting is very easy, the overall sadhana
is not so easy. In Srila Prabhupada’s words, “I tricked you all, I told you this was a very
easy process. It is not so easy.” But by Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy, and the mercy of the
Vaisnavas, very difficult things can become very easy. And particularly that mercy comes
when we preach and take responsibility for preaching. Caitanya Mahaprabhu becomes
very pleased with devotees then, and He gives them that taste for chanting Hare Krishna.

So everyone has a taste. What we need to do is just feed or nurture that taste for chanting
by any and all good means that are possible. Because it is our real wealth, and it is our
key to advancing in Krishna consciousness. You may have the experience when you first
come to Krishna consciousness that you experience wonderful things, then as you keep
chanting Hare Krishna, the wonderful things decrease, or seem to. Of course, the reason
for this is we start committing offenses, and our taste decreases.

And certainly with increased chanting, the effect of the offenses we commit is lessened
and the purification increases. But then as one moves on in Krishna consciousness, as
one advances, those experiences should increase and develop, and Krishna says devotees
should be feeling ecstasy. Anytime Srila Prabhupada is talking, he’s speaking of how
devotees are dancing in ecstasy, chanting in ecstasy. When he speaks to reporters, he is
saying, “They’re chanting in love of God.” He wasn’t exaggerating. He was saying it for
our benefit.

Particularly older devotees who have been in the movement for 10, 15, 20 years—though I
don’t want to put a time on it—they should master the process of chanting the holy name
and executing devotional service. Their chanting should be offenseless and their service
should be offenseless, and the result of their past offenses should be waning, the result

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of which is that they feel exhiliration in chanting Hare Krishna. And that exhiliration
increases and increases as we advance in Krishna consciousness. We can’t just be preaching
about something that we are not experiencing ourselves. Devotees should be experiencing
this, not just saying “Chant Hare Krishna and be happy.” Of course sometimes we are
not happy because we are living in the material world, and it is not a comfortable place.
But generally speaking, that experience should be there.

Spiritual Sounds – Musical Enhancement

Different melodies are meant to invoke different types of bhavas, or moods. Original
spiritual music is phenomenally complex, much more so than western or modern music.
It is content and style is extremely scientific. Most everyone would agree that music is
the most powerful medium for communication, for transmitting moods, for sending a
message. That is because music in its original form is spiritual, and the highest form of
spiritual loving exchange—the rasa dance—is performed through the medium of music,
to the accompaniment of music. One can read about this in Krishna Book. Caitanya
Mahaprabhu introduced an essentially simplified version, with mrdangas and kartalas.
And the style was particularly meant for practising devotees. The reason it is simplified is
because in the spiritual world everyone is perfect, they already know everything, whereas
in the material world, if we become so absorbed in the intricacies of the music, then we
forget about perfecting the chanting of Hare Krishna. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu placed
the emphasis on chanting Hare Krishna, and musical accompaniment as secondary.

Still there are different melodies that are sung at different times of the day. For example,
the Sri Guruvastakam prayers in the early morning is a melody that is particular to that
time of the day. It invokes a specific mood and, in the advanced stages, different ecstatic
moods. And as there are unlimited moods of ecstasy, so there are unlimited melodies.
According to sastra there are originally 16,108 main ragas, which have an unlimited variety
of combinations and forms, and they’re all displayed when Krishna engages in His rasa

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dance. More or less all those ragas are sung, and that is why the dance takes so long to
perform. Srila Kavi-karnapura writes, “To facilitate His pastime, [Krishna] lengthened
the night to equal the duration of Brahma’s night.” (Ananda Vrndavana Campu 17)

Dancing is another aspect. And just as the singing is systematic, so also the dancing is
systematic. There are detailed and complex dances, from cartwheels to the step that Srila
Prabhupada taught, the “Swami step:” hands in the air, and stepping in rhythm, side to
side, to the music. Srila Kavi-karnapura describes this as one of the steps performed dur-
ing the rasa-lila. Again, though, Caitanya Mahaprabhu didn’t want people to get lost in
the dancing. Certainly He wanted them to dance and taught essential dances which His
associates would practise. Sometimes Caitanya Mahaprabhu would become absorbed,
and in the presence of His associates would display the same kind of dancing that goes
on in the spiritual world.

So we should always keep in mind that music and dancing are meant to facilitate the
chanting, and that chanting is successful when it brings about a stirring in the heart. In
Caitanya-caritamrta Ramananda Raya says to Caitanya Mahaprabhu, “What is the use
of a bowman’s arrow or a poet’s poetry if they penetrate the heart but do not cause the
head to spin?” (Antya 1.195) In other words, the whole thing is meant to have a spiritual
effect. Are we getting that effect? If through chanting via the process of music and dance
our attachment to Krishna is growing, then we are going in the right direction. On the
other hand if we are getting too lost in the music and dancing and not in the essence,
which is the chanting, we may become good musicians and dancers, but that is all.

This is prevalent in India. There are many professional musicians and dancers who do
just that: they chant Hare Krishna professionally, or promote Bharata-natyam or Odissi
dances displaying Krishna’s lilas. But they become so absorbed in the activity that they
lose sight of the goal, and so their attraction to Krishna isn’t necessarily developing—or
at least not to the stage of perfecting their lives in this lifetime, but rather the chanting,
being secondary, has a secondary effect on them.

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And the mood, the bhava, is what is important. With the right bhava, everything becomes
valuable. Krishna says, yo me bhaktya prayacchati, if it is offered with the right mood, I will
accept. We don’t sing perfect ragas or perform perfectly executed dances. We chant Hare
Krishna to different melodies, and probably most of the melodies we chant are not pure
melodies, nor are the instruments we use necessarily a part of the spiritual entourage—
like a bass guitar, for example, or a saxophone. But in the spiritual world they have the
original equivalent of these, and use hundreds of instruments in their chanting. So if the
essence is there, then the secondary elements are acceptable: we can use modern tunes
and instruments. And we say “modern,” but they are originally from the spiritual realm,
though so filtered through the material energy that they manifest in this other form that
we know as “modern” music or instruments.

But whatever it is, Caitanya Mahaprabhu says tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah; there
are no niyam, rules and regulations. These are not so important. The important thing is
that one chants in the mood of devotion. And those other things, those perfected means
of chanting, they’ll come when one returns to the spiritual world; or rather upon leav-
ing this world, a devotee goes to the material world where Krishna is engaging in His
pastimes. And there one can learn all these things from Krishna’s eternal associates: the
proper way to chant, dance, engage in loving exchanges. The spiritual world is not the
place for learning. It is the place of perfection. The material world is where one learns,
and when one develops that, perfects it, and displays it in Krishna’s pastimes in the mate-
rial world, then one can go back to Godhead. But in fact, that moment it is perfected in
the material world, that is also “back to Godhead,” because that is where Krishna is, and
wherever He is, that is Godhead. He is Godhead. Hare Krishna.

Crying for Krishna

Chanting Hare Krishna is so wonderful, the only real activity that we have. Everything
else is complementary to it, secondary to it, or meant to help us increase our attachment
to it. Calling out, as Srila Prabhupada would say, as a child calls out to his mother.

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But what does it mean, chanting Hare Krishna like a child? Caitanya Mahaprabhu says,
ayi nanda tanuja kinkaram; that I am fallen, we are fallen in this material world, we are
in this material condition, and so like a mother, when she sees her child has fallen on
the ground, what does she do? She doesn’t leave him there, but she opens her arms, she
bends down, she lifts him up, she takes the baby to her breast and embraces him. So when
we are chanting Hare Krishna, we are crying out to Krishna, begging for Krishna, “I am
also fallen here in this material world, it is not a place that I like, it is a horrible place.
Although there may be very nice facilities, I am separate from You. Please lift me up.” We
want Krishna to extend His hand; we are looking to Him, reaching out with our hearts
to Krishna, and asking Him to lift us up, to bring us close to Him, to embrace us, to lift
us up from the material platform to the spiritual platform, to be with Him.

And Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, “Please situate me like a particle of dust.” So we don’t
want to be here in this material world, we want to be situated at the lotus feet of Krishna,
we want to be where He is. He is always transcendentally situated, He is always above
the influence of matter. So we want to be on the same spiritual platform.

This desire to be spiritually liberated, to be freed from the miseries of material existence,
and even better, to be able to render pure devotional service with spiritually enlivened
and purified senses, in knowledge of kinkara, as Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, it means to
be a servant. It is such a beautiful word, kinkara or kinkari. Kin means “what” and kara
means “do.” So, “what can I do.” Isn’t that a wonderful word. When you are in that men-
tality, “what can I do?” As Srila Prabhupada wrote in his last letter to Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Thakura, “What service may I render.” When one has this attitude, the he is
called a kinkara, or a kinkari. So then he is situated in his original spiritual position.

Being situated in our original spiritual position, with purified senses, we want to be able
to render pure devotional service like that. It is not suitable being in this material world,
even if we are fortunate to be in the mode of goodness, still the distraction of happiness
that comes from transcendental knowledge, of being freed from material miseries, and

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being peaceful, that is also not the spiritual platform. Although it is a peaceful situation,
it is not our real spiritual situation.

In this way our chanting Hare Krishna is for real, our japa is calling out to Krishna,
“Please lift me up to that place where You are.” And it requires that He lift us up. Like
a little baby cannot climb on its own into its mother’s lap, it requires lifting up. So like
that, we need Krishna to lift us up, we are dependent on Him. And that is called sadhana.
Rupa Gosvami says this is sadhana. The mood of devotion by which one is chanting Hare
Krishna, or doing everything, is to come to that really satisfactory place of rendering
devotional service, which is the spiritual platform.

This type of abhimana, or identity, conception, absorption, it is what we want. Japa is not
just pacing back and forth to finish our rounds, to get them finished so we can get on
with the important thing that is our service, but being absorbed in a certain mood.

This morning when I was chanting I was meditating on a wonderful verse by Raghunatha
dasa Goswami, when he is praying for that time when he can see Radha and Krishna when
they are strolling through the forests of Vrndavana, singing each others’ glorification; when
the trees are scattering flowers in their path; when the birds are singing in accompaniment to
their song; when everything is participating in the glorification of the Divine Couple. And
as they are strolling along with radiant smiles and sidelong glances, all who see them become
overwhelmed in bliss, and those who even think of them feel an upsurge of emotion in their
heart. Still, says Raghunatha dasa Goswami, I am unfortunate because I have to be absorbed
in these thoughts, rather than actually be at that place where those things are taking place.

So we cry out, Hare Krishna, Hare Rama. Perhaps Srimati Radharani and Sri Krishna,
while they are strolling, they hear that heartfelt call, which rises above the rustling leaves
of Vrndavana and the sounds of musical instruments played by their associates, then per-
haps they will look down and reach down and lift up those souls who sing with enough
heartfelt devotion to attract the attention of Radha and Krishna.

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Then chanting Hare Krishna will be for real, and meditation will no longer be an exer-
cise of the mind but a natural perception of the senses, that our eyes are able to see the
form of the Lord, our ears hear their voices, our nose the natural fragrance of Vrndavana
dhama. Perhaps one day that wonderful opportunity will come. All we can do is chant…

Perfection of Chanting
In the introduction to his play, Vidagdha Madhava, Srila Rupa Gosvami writes this
famous verse,

tunde tandavini ratim vitanute tundavali-labdhaye

karna-kroda-kadambini ghatayate karnarbudebhyah sprham
cetah-prangana-sangini vijayate sarvendriyanam krtim
no jane janita kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varna-dvayi

I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krs-na’ have produced. When
the holy name of Krishna is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We
then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we
desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard
of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses
become inert.

He is glorifying the holy name of Lord Krishna, and exhibiting the symptoms of a liber-
ated soul, he says he can’t get enough: “If I had millions of tongues I wouldn’t be satis-
fied chanting Krishna’s names, and if I had a million ears I wouldn’t be satisfied hearing
Krishna’s names.” And then he says, “When the holy name dances in the courtyard of the
heart…” that is a beautiful example. In India, there is no need for a temple, it is outside
in the courtyard. Only the deities have a covered area, or actually They’re walled in. The
courtyard may be covered, but no walls. And that is where the dancing and kirtan takes
place, in the courtyard. And a real Vaisnava, his heart is like a courtyard.

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There is one group of apa-sampradayas called the Bauls, and a characteristic of theirs is
they sing beautifully. Unfortunately they are also debauchees. So their singing of Krishna’s
pastimes is very attractive but it has no potency. So in order to actually attract these Bauls,
Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote under a pseudonym, a false name, a name that indicated he
belong to these Bauls (it wasn’t Hari Baul!). And he wrote a whole series of songs, the
Baul-sangita—this famous song, mama mana mandire is one of them—and they’d sing
the songs of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and because his songs were in line with the siddhanta
of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Bauls would get benefit and give up their wayward ways.

So this song, mama mana mandire, means “my mind is like a temple.” So devotees live
with Krishna all the time, because He is present within our hearts. But we are not aware
of that, so we make our hearts a garbage place of so many things. However, as devotees
become more developed in their Krishna consciousness, Krishna and their worshipable
deity appears within their hearts, because it is become like a pure place, like a temple.
In the same way deities appear in a temple, and They’re installed there, They come at
the desire of a pure Vaisnava. So in the same way, the deity appears within the heart of
a pure Vaisnava.

That is what our hearts should be like, so wherever we go Krishna is there, Krishna is
present. Vaisnavas see that within their heart, Krishna is always present. And as they’re
chanting Hare Krishna, the holy name is dancing within their hearts, and when the holy
name is dancing, it means Krishna is also dancing.

According to the individual desire of a devotee, or as Caitanya Mahaprabhu points out

according to a devotee’s worshipable deity, devotees become attracted to a specific form of
the Lord. Generally Gaudiya Vaisnavas worship Radha Krishna, Gaura-Nitai, Jagannatha:
these are the worshipable deities of devotees. And devotees have their preference, they
become attracted to a form or feature of the deity: Radha Gopinatha, Radha Madhava,
They all have unique moods which They display, and it relates to the mood of the devotees.

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If you see this book the BBT published, Darshan, it is full of all the Deities in ISKCON.
And the deities very much resemble the people of that particular country. The deity reflects
the real pure devotional mood of a devotee.

Therefore when devotees call out Krishna’s name, then Srila Prabhupada explains that
“Hari” means different things; it means Krishna, it is His name that means He removes all
our material suffering. It also means someone who is a thief, and Krishna is a butter thief;
He steals the hearts of the inhabitants of Vrindavan, and the hearts of His devotees. So
when devotees think of Krishna in a particular feature they call out to Him in that way.

Hare, it means Hara, referring to Srimati Radharani. Krishna is never separable from
His associates, so devotees call out to His internal potency. And that is superior in the
sense that it is superior to approach Krishna through His associates. Like it is said,
Guru-Gauranga, we go through Guru to reach Gauranga. And Radharani is also the
original spiritual master; Her entire mood is to bring others to Krishna, and that is what
guru means, someone who brings others to Krishna. And that is reflected in Caitanya
Mahaprabhu’s avatar, because Caitanya Mahaprabhu is radha-bhava-dyuti, Krishna who
has the mood of Srimati Radharani. And one of the aspects of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s
mood is that He’s very concerned for the fallen conditioned souls. Krishna also has that
same mood anyway, of His own volition. It becomes very much heightened by His adopt-
ing Srimati Radharani’s mood, that is why Caitanya Mahaprabhu is more compassionate
than Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada says Krishna is unlimitedly merciful, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu is even
more so. Because Srimati Radharani wants to bring others to Krishna. Krishna’s mood
of giving mercy is that He sees the living entity suffering, and He wants to see them
come out of that and enter the spiritual realm. On the other hand, Radharani’s mood
is superior; She knows how great it is to be Krishna’s devotee. Krishna only knows how
great it is to be Krishna. He doesn’t know how great it is to be a devotee of Krishna. So
Her motivation is stronger. It is more heartfelt, it is more realized because She’s bringing

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people to Krishna. She’s exhibiting mercy from the point of view of someone who’s tast-
ing unlimited bliss in Krishna’s association, and She also wants others to taste it. She
doesn’t discriminate.

It is interesting that this lack of discriminatory ability is present in women, which is why
Srila Prabhupada says women are less intelligent: their discrimination is overwhelmed
by their emotions. Because men aren’t such emotional creatures they are able to keep a
balance better. In the pastime of Asvatthama’s punishment, when Arjuna finally brings
Asvatthama back to Draupadi, she is a ksatriya, so she’s very fiery, but when it comes
to punishing him, she says to let him go, she doesn’t want his mother to suffer the way
she has suffered (because Asvatthama killed her five sons). The war had finished, there
was nothing to achieve. And in the purport, Srila Prabhupada says that Draupadi is
Krishna’s eternal associate, she is a partial expansion of the Goddess of Fortune, she is
not an ordinary personality. But this shows the nature of women, they act according to
their emotions, so they don’t exercise their discrimination. So even though Asvatthama
should have been punished, she wanted to let him go.

In an even more transcendental sense, Srimati Radharani doesn’t make that discrimina-
tion, no distinction whether they’re qualified or not qualified, sinful or not sinful, every-
one should come to Krishna. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu reflects that mood, namo maha
vadanyaya. He is willing to give Krishna prema to anyone. Lord Nityananda is even more
in that mood, too.

When we call on Hara, O Hare! We are invoking this extraordinary mercy and it is very
much to our advantage to be the beneficiaries of Srimati Radharani’s mercy.

There are so many meanings to the word “Krishna,” but most relevant is that He is the
supreme all attractive person. So “Hara, Srimati Radharani, please allow me to also be
attracted to Krishna.” For those living entities on the other side of the material ocean, it
is incomprehensible how we are not attracted, and for us, it is incomprehensible how we

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are going to become attracted. Some attraction is there but still, our attraction to Krishna’s
external potency is very strong. And we somehow or other need to awaken in our hearts
the recognition of how attractive Krishna is.

But we can experience that. Srila Prabhupada talks about how Krishna is all attractive, so
very beautiful; in Los Angeles Srila Prabhupada was speaking in the garden, and there
was a Karate School behind the temple there, and in the background, really loud, is this
noise, constantly, “HUT!!!! HA!!!” and Srila Prabhupada is saying, “They think they are
going to be saved by chanting this, but we will be saved by chanting Hare Krishna.” And
he is speaking about how attractive chanting is. And we can only chant because Krishna’s
name is so attractive. No matter how much maya a devotee gets into, no one ever says, “I
got really tired of looking at the deities.” Because They are so attractive.

So there is this competition going on between this growing attractiveness to Krishna, and
the habitual attraction to the material energy. But the more we associate with Krishna, the
more that attraction fades and the real attraction develops until, Srila Prabhupada says,
we become mad for Krishna. We realize more and more how attractive Krishna is, until
we become unhinged. The reason is the attractiveness has an intoxicating effect, and when
someone is intoxicated, they are overwhelmed by the substance. Similarly, the substance
of Krishna’s beauty becomes so attractive that it makes you actually lose your mind. In
other words, the regular balance we keep in relating to things goes out the window. And
everything else appears not so beautiful.

When the gopis met with Krishna at Kuruksetra, they spoke this famous verse, cursing
Lord Brahma because he made eyes that blink, because when the gopis blink they can’t
see Krishna. So they called Brahma a fool because he didn’t make eyes that don’t blink.

Then “Rama,” this means the source of all transcendental pleasure. Srila Prabhupada
wrote a very wonderful essay for BTG named “Beauty and Truth.” There was a popular
discussion about whether the truth was beautiful or not. Srila Prabhupada pointed out

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that the truth was a person, and He was the most beautiful person, and also the source
of all transcendental bliss. So when we become Krishna conscious, we become blissful.
One becomes blissful immediately when one comes to the spiritual platform, because
it is the nature of the soul. It is the nature of the purusa of Lord Krishna, He is also full
of bliss, as is everything in relation to Him. So when we see Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s
extraordinary exhibitions of transcendental emotion, these are all different ecstasies, and
they’re also blissful. And we do have experience of crying in happiness, though generally
we cry because we are miserable.

Sanatana Gosvami gives an example, that if you put your hand in fire it will feel cold; in
the same way if you put your hand on ice it will burn, it is a kind of burn when it freezes.
So he says in the same way, what appears as pain of separation, it looks like pain, but
actually it is the greatest happiness. So we can see these things in a philosophical way,
but ultimately it is meant to be experienced, or tasted.

Hare, Krishna, Rama: these wonderful words, everyone chants Hare Krishna. Our acaryas
have explained these words in so many places, the entire mantra. And sometimes in dif-
ferent contexts: from a practicing devotee’s viewpoint, from a perfected devotee, as how
Srimati Radharani chants it. Everyone chants. It is not something that is meant for us.
We say “mantra,” as something being part of the Vedic literature, but it is not a “mantra.”
It is the song which is the highest expression of love that is displayed by the inhabitants
of the spiritual world for Krishna. In other words, when you come to the most wonderful
stages of ecstasy, what comes out of your mouth is the Hare Krishna mantra. Narottama
dasa Thakura says, golokera prema dhana harinama sankirtana.

So that topmost expression of bliss has been made available to us, who are in the low-
est of mundane misery. So we must take this extraordinary jewel, beyond which there is
nothing more valuable. True to Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mood, Srila Prabhupada came
to New York, to the most degraded people, and gave this most wonderful thing, and gave
us so many books to help us appreciate what chanting Hare Krishna is all about. So if

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 Sivarama Swami

we can just do it, follow in the footsteps of the previous acaryas, then for sure all success,
all perfection will be there.

Therefore we should think we don’t need anything else: mantras, tantras, yantras. Anything
you can get by any other process or ritual can be had by chanting Hare Krishna, even
by a shadow of the holy name. By the real holy name, you get that which you can’t get
by any other means: you get love for Krishna. And by love for Krishna, you get Krishna.
And Srila Prabhupada says in the introduction to Krishna Book, our goal is to enter the
rasa dance, to chant Hare Krishna along with Krishna.

Recently I received a letter from a devotee in Mayapur, and they were telling me about
Mata Saci Devi Dasi, she was from South America, and she was dying from multiple
sclerosis. She left her body around Gaura-purnima time, and over many months…she had
sons, and her husband was there, and gradually she was giving up her attachments. One
evening as she lay there, her body was trembling, and her husband asked her what was
wrong. She said, “Krishna came to me and asked me to dance with Him, and I couldn’t
go.” Then some time later a similar thing happened, and again the husband asked, “What
is it now? Krishna again?” and she said, “No, this time it was Srimati Radharani, and
She said, ‘You can refuse Krishna, but you can’t refuse Me.’” Then she left her body on
Rasa-purnima, the night of the rasa dance. She left her body in Mayapur dhama, so she
went back to Godhead.

Who would have thought, a South American household lady with children, going back
to Godhead? But you just have to follow the process, and Krishna will come and ask you
to dance. Because that is what Krishna wants, He’s very greedy and He wants more and
more people to come and participate in His festival.

Srila Prabhupada ki jai. Hare Krishna.

66
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