20110912 Class on the Importance of Chanting the Holy Name.

20110912 His. Holiness. Jayapatākā Swami gave a class on the importance of chanting the Holy Name.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

paramānanda-mādhavam

Śrī Caitanya Iswaram

Hari Oṁ Tat Sat.

 

Gurumahārāja: I am quite happy to learn that this week is the week of the holy name. The idea is, this holy name is actually non-different from the Lord. That’s why even in Goloka Vṛndāvana, they also chant the name of Kṛṣṇa. And then, same when Kṛṣṇa left the Gopī’s during a rāsa-līlā, the gopī’s chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa.

When Yaśodā was churning butter, she was chanting also names of Kṛṣṇa. So, it is said, Golokera Prema Dhana Harināma Saṅkīrtana. That the chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa brings love of Kṛṣṇa down from the spiritual world. So, I today got a letter, in Coimbatore they had ten thousand people chanting one round on... ten thousand people chanted the holy names. They chanter one hundred and eight. So... how the holy name, like they could say, a voice is like inside me repeating this names, and when I was a new devotee in Montreol, that time we had to work outside to maintain Śrīla Prabhupāda. So, where I was working that place, one of the employees fainted. So, I chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa in his ear, and very soon he came back to consciousness... [Haribol]

He said, the sound was like echo, but how was it. ... You know how echo.. slower and slower, but this became louder and louder, it became so loud that it woke him up (laughter) The sound filled the whole universe.

So, the holy name has this quality. It’s not different from Kṛṣṇa, and by chanting the holy name you feel spiritual bliss. [Haribol]

Is that true? [Haribol]

We heard that we did the old lady program, and that day we were chanting and feeling bliss and dancing. Mantra Rock. [laughter]  ??12.25

So, also recently on the 14th... 13th I went to a program in Durgapur, at the NIIT., and the engineering students were listening to all our presentations and classes, and then I said how Lord Caitanya had given a process which was simply bliss.

Save Avatāra Sāra Śiromaṇi

Keva Ānanda Kāṇḍa.

So, I said, Prabhupāda, he had gone to the West give this process and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, dancing, hearing some classes and giving some Prasad.

When I said Mahārāja had given this process, we should give chant  and dance, so move your chairs, and in the chanting came the suns??... they were lazy, everybody danced, everybody chanted. 

So, I was Śrī Laṅkā, and they said, “You always talk from the Bhagavat Purāṇa, please tell something from Skanda Purāṇa, Devī Purāṇa or Śiva Purāṇa. So, I found that there was a quote in the Skanda Purāṇa, there it said, chant the two syllables, Ha and Re.

Ha Re.................. Ha Re.... Hare (everyone)

Ha Re.... .............. Ha Re.... Hare (everyone)

Ha Re.................. Ha Re.... Hare (everyone)

By chanting these two syllables, Krishna will stay... with you. He will steal all your suffering, all your problems, all your karma’s, bad karmas,

Ha Re.................. Ha Re.... Hare (everyone)

Ha Re.... .............. Ha Re.... Hare (everyone)

Ha Re.................. Ha Re.... Hare (everyone)

We know that if we chant the names of Gaura Hari we get love or Kṛṣṇa.

Gaurahari......... Gaurahari (everyone)

Gaurahari......... Gaurahari (everyone)

Gaurahari......... Gaurahari (everyone)

Nityānanda.............Nityānanda (everyone)

Nityānanda.............Nityānanda (everyone)

Nityānanda.............Nityānanda (everyone)

Nityānanda.............Nityānanda (everyone)

So, this process of chanting the holy names was... is mentioned in all the Purāṇas, but it was propagated by Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda. So, they are supremely merciful. 

Parama Karuṇā  Pahū dui jana Nitāi Gaura Chandra.

They are supremely merciful. That means Parama Karuṇā. They are also fully, they are the Lords, they are the incarnations of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. So, they have nothing to achieve, they got everything, but they are giving out their mercy. So, Locan Das Ṭhākura, he recommends, Bhaja bhaja bhāi Caitanya Nitāi Sudrira Biśwāsa Kori, viṣaya chadia se rase majiyā mukhe bolo Hari Hari. That we should give up the illicit activities, like gambling, meat eating, intoxication, drinking wine, taking drugs. We are against illicit sex, but families we are also promoting, and that is the reason in Ḍubāi... I saw one lady from Bagbag. 21.18?? He said, these children they are same like Kṛṣṇa, and we are very fortunate that we can help them in their spiritual progress. They are actually Vaikuṇṭha kids. [Haribol]. So, we Brahmacharis and Sanyasis, we cannot have kids, but only grihasthas they can have. So, Prabhupda said, Don’t be confused. This is a very important sevā. He wrote to Arundhatī, if you don’t have time to take care of your child, then give up Pūjārī Sevā. You must take care of your children. I am very happy to see today nice kids. This is one way of making devotees, but it also takes a lot of time, it’s not an easy service. So, we should encourage them to take care of the children and bring them very much positive 24.01 ?to Kṛṣṇa.

So, we give up the illicit activities, and we observer ourselves in the Rasa of Kṛṣṇa Bhakti, and also with our mouth we chant the holy names.

Se rase majiyā mukhe bolo hari hari. That we absorb in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and with our mouth chant – Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

So, the śloka goes, dekho ore bhāi tribhubane nai emono dayala data, study my dear brothers, you won’t find anyone in the three worlds as merciful as Nīta, Gaura, Chadra.  Even Paśu Pākhī Jure Pāṣāṇa Vidare Śuni Tar Gua Gāthā. Even the animals are chanting, and the stones melted, and this actually happened. By Lord Caitanya’s mercy the animals in Jharkhanda were also chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and in the Alarnath Temple also we can see how Lord Caitanya melted the stones. So, Prabhupāda said, “Lord Caitanya had given animals to chant.” So, we should atleast try to get the human beings to chant.

So, I am very grateful that all the girls were chanting.

Haribol...............Haribol (everyone)

So, this is the week of the holy name. We want to see everybody chant and dance in bliss.

Sukhadeva Goswami advised that this Kali Yuga is an ocean of defects.

Kalau doshe nidhi rājan .. this is not the idli-dosha (laughter) This is an ocean of defects.

Asti hy eka mahān guṇa... there is one good quality, what is that? 

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

So, if someone is not chanting, then  what they have that... 29.24 says, there is one good quality, if you are not chanting then what? Nothing good.

So, we are very.... also grateful to Sumitra Kṛṣṇa and so many others who are so much focussed on giving everybody to chant.

This chanting process is actually not only frees us from the Māyā, but also takes us to the supreme destination. So, please chant everyday and by chanting your life will be perfected.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. .....................Hare Kṛṣṇa (everyone)

Hare Kṛṣṇa. .....................Hare Kṛṣṇa (everyone)

Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa .....................Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa (everyone)

Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa .....................Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa (everyone)

Hare Hare........................Hare Hare (Everyone)

Hare Rāma .....................Hare Rāma (Everyone)

Hare Rāma .....................Hare Rāma (Everyone)

Rāma Rāma......................Rāma Rāma (everyone)

Hare Hare ..........................Hare Hare (Everyone)

Now Prabhupāda said that you cannot chant any name of Kṛṣṇa, any name of Ram. When he arrived from Tehran in Calcutta in 1975, he mentioned he had talked to Islamic scholars, and Allah O Akbar means Para Brahman. So, like that he told them, if you have trouble chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, chant Allah O Akbar. Like this Christians can chant their names of God in Hebrew. One nun in South America, she was chanting, Jesu Christo Jesu Christo Christo Christo Jesu Jesu, and then she thought, none is watching, why not try out Hare Kṛṣṇa? So, then she chanted, 

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

And she found that same spirit, what was more powerful. 33.55??

In the Vedas there is only one God, one parabrahma, and he has unlimited names. So, like that he encouraged that everybody, especially this week that we should all chant. If they don’t want to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, let them chant whatever name they have faith. It should be a name of God. So, like this everybody should immerse in the chanting of the holy names. Now of course in India 80% are Hindu’s, more or less. So, we can get all of them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa this week.

Lord Caitanya when He visited the .... of Karikeyaor Giriraj, Rāvaṇa or Śiva, they were chanting the same Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

So, we also want to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in all the temples, and the devas are very much pleased if we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Infact in Śiva Purāṇa it says that chanting the Sahasra Nam is transcendental, and chanting one name of Ram is equal to the thousand names of Viṣṇu, and this is spoken by Lord Śiva,

Eka rāma rāma two of us,

Eka rāma rāma sahasra nam.

...

(repeated)

And if we chant one name of Kṛṣṇa, that is equal to three thousand names of Vsnu. You know that śloka.

So, I think that you should also learn that śloka.

Lord Caitanya liked to go to Brihad Naradia Purāṇa.

Hare Nāma Hare Nāma

Nāmaiva Kevalam, Kalau Nastheva Kalau Nastheva Nasthev Gatair Anaitha.

So, please encourage everybody to chant. This chanting is very very powerful. We cannot underestimate how powerful this is.

Anyway is there is any questions on the holy names. We will try to answer.

Question: Recently we had this Ganesh festival. So, they met the devotees. So, the devotees were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. All the devotees, hundreds of Ganesh worshippers started clapping their hands and started chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

Gurumahārāja  as you were mentioning even Christians were chanting. We have one devotee here, Jerome, he is from the Pentacoastal Christian, he was the father in the Church. He happened to read a Bhagavad-gītā, started chanting, making many Christians chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (applause) And now Bhaktivrajendranandana Mahārāja has given his shelter, and he has named him Jayram Das. Jerome has become Jayram. Not only that... when he was a Christian, he had made many Hindus, forcibly he converted Hindus into Christians. So, Bhakti Vrajendranandana Maharja told him, it is your duty now to reconvert them back to Vaiṣṇavas.

Gurumahārāja: Prabhupāda, he never as such converted people. He said, we don’t convert, we convince, and actually since we believe in this one God, we don’t have to reject Jesus. We respect Jesus, but we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and we know that Jesus is one of the sons of God. Prabhupāda said that he is a good son, we are not so good. We know that Kṛṣṇa, he sure is the father. 42.38? So, like this the Vaiṣṇavism is a vey great ... bringing everybody together.

Any other question?

Question:  We do this bits programs and get people to chant once or a few times, then we don’t see them again. What is the benefit that we have given them by that small introduction to Hare Kṛṣṇa?

Gurumahārāja: So, the youth in Coimbatore, they said that we request the people to please chant everyday one round at least. And they said, 70% agreed to chant everyday. They also got three thousand contacts.... [Haribo] So, when we get people to chant we request them to please chant everyday. Also those who are interested, try to take their whole names. But even if they chant one time, this puts them in the orbit of Kṛṣṇa. So, like this also by chanting one time they are inspired to again also come into association of the devotees.

 

Question: How to practically increase the taste for chanting?

Gurumahārāja: Ipdi.... How?

You should chant more and more. Also get the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda.

Shri Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda

Sriadvaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi Gaura Bhakta Vṛndā.

And then one day he said that he was chanting sixteen rounds for twenty six years, but he felt no taste. I asked him, Do you chant the names of Lord Caitanya? He said, “I come from some other sampradāya.” So, I gave this Panchatatva mantra, and then he started chanting that, and then Hare Kṛṣṇa.  After three months I came back to the same place. From a distance he came running, he fell at my feet, he said with tears in his eyes, “what mantra did you give me? Now I have taste for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.”  ...[Haribol]

Also Śrīla Prabhupāda said, there are so much...to much sinful, they can chant the names of Nitāi-Gaura. You see, how others gave their mercy to the followers but Nitāi Gura gave mercy even to the non-followers.

Jagāi-Mādhāi, they were not followers. They were very rough, bad people, they were you could say anti-social elements, but they also got the mercy of Nita-Gauranga.

 

Pāpī tāpī jata chila Harināme Udharila

Tar Sachi Jagāi Mādhāi re.

In Katwa I saw the Samādhi of Jagāi-Mādhāi. It was two hundred metres from the Ganges. It is said that everyday they would go and chant to the Ganges, dancing and chanting, and they would be praying, they would cry,

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. (repeated by devotees)

What mercy!

Please grab at the lotus feet of Nita-Gaura. .... [Haribol]

Last question.

Question: People who have mental stress, how many rounds they can chant this mātra....

Gurumahārāja:

We think that we keep telling, encouraging and telling them. (applause)

We know that sixteen rounds works. Those who chant sixteen rounds, they do one crore of the holy name in a year. So, we like all of you to become crorepatis.  [Haribol]

But if you are not able to chant sixteen, twelve is seventy lakhs, and eight rounds is fifty lakhs, and four rounds is twenty five lakhs.

So, exactly how many rounds are needed to give you relief from stress and anxiety; that’s a good experiment. I got so much bliss the day I chanted thirty two rounds... [Haribol]

So, all my stress, all was gone. So, I don’t want to ask. So, I want the person to ask.

You can see... of course... how much anxiety or what stress do you have?

Maybe that if you...also if you chant Panchatattva mantra in between, this will help you.

Thank you all very much.