20240802 Question-and-Answer Session

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Please write your questions in the chat box. [audio break]

Question: Mahārāja, any tips for good japa?

Bhakti Pracāra Parivrājaka Swami: I generally give a small seminar on this, will try to summarize it. It is called the LAMP Formula to chant the japa effectively. LAMP – ‘L’ represents lifestyle, ‘A’ represents attitude ‘M’ represents mode of goodness and ‘P’ represents [audio break] can become an expert doing any other service like become expert manager, we can become expert singer by singing but we cannot become expert chanter by chanting. It is a whole [audio break] our attitude determines the quality of chanting. So we should have the service attitude, we are the servant of Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, just like the baby calls for mother’s help, while we chant the holy name, we should have that kind of attitude. Then mode of goodness, we have to bring our mode to the mode of goodness, if we are in the mode of ignorance or passion it is very difficult to have quality chanting. Chanting early in the morning is the best. Brāhma-muhūrta time and by sitting down is the best because sitting down is mode of goodness. And early morning is also mode of goodness. Chanting during daytime is mode of passion because daytime is mode of passion and evening time is mode of ignorance. And sometimes people cannot chant sitting down due to health problem, that is alright. But generally best quality of chanting happens when we sit down properly. And Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say, “Sit properly! Sit properly!” Because it is a process of yoga, bhakti-yoga, so sitting properly is very, very important. But we have a tendency to walk and walking and also doing so many other things along with walking. That is not so recommended and sometimes people become very relaxed, lie down on the bed and chant. So that is also not recommended. One child was telling his parents that I want to lie down and chant. They asked why? He said, because I heard that if I lie down and chant, then Kṛṣṇa will hear! And if I sit down and chant then Kṛṣṇa dances. And when I dance, Kṛṣṇa faints. So I don’t want to give trouble to Kṛṣṇa! So I chant lying down so that He can relax.

Jayapatākā Swami: It says that lying down in the dhāma is the same as paying obeisances. So someone even would like to lie down in the dhāma.

Bhakti Pracāra Parivrājaka Swami: Guru Mahārāja is saying by lying down in the dhāma, you get the benefit of doing daṇḍavats! So don’t try to follow that during chanting but benefit will be there.