SINCERE QUESTIONS

[spiritualbhakti]

What is a good way to calm the mind to be able to listen attentively to the holy name while chanting?

[Deleted]

Jay Nitai,

Meditate on the biography of great saints to whom you like most would inspire you to calm your mind before chanting . And the chaniting of Holy name itself would do the rest.

Jay Nitai

[Sakhicharan Das]

Sept 22, 2010 23:21:42 GMT -6 spiritualbhakti said:

What is a good way to calm the mind to be able to listen attentively to the holy name while chanting?

Jai Nitai!

Pure food makes a pure mind.

AhAra-zuddhau sattva-zuddhiH sattva-zuddhau |
dhruvA smRtiH smRti-lambhe sarva-granthInAM vipramokSaH ||Chandogya 7.26.2

“From purity of eating comes purity of existence, from purity of existence you can attain perpetual meditation, and from perpetual meditation, you will attain deliverance from all bondage.”

Kris, I would say that by cooking simple vegetarian foodstuffs, offering them mentally, and taking them alone in a quiet place will help you to a huge degree to settle an agitated mind. Also, censor your sensory input. Don't expose yourself to unfavorable things. Don't listen to too much music that is not spiritual, or watch much tv that is providing a negative vibration, such as the news. And avoid poor association, don't listen to what the common man has to say in most situations. Even if you perform all of this immaculately you will still face oppostion. In this case you just have to persevere and you will eventually meet with success in keeping the mind in check.

[spiritualbhakti]

Sakhi you know me so well.
note taken.
heres my next question.

So when im chanting sometimes i try to imagine the form of Krsna taken from what the scriptures and saints say especially karnamritam. I just try to visualize Krsna as a living breathing person just sitting on the bank of a river. just looking normal as can be.

So my question is: Should i do away with this type of visualization until I get a clearer mind, and just focus more on the sound?

Is what im imagining to be Krsna disrespectful to the true spiritual person of Krsna since the imagination is a product of mind?

[Sakhicharan Das]

Jai Nitai!

Sorry, but I just now saw your response and I have been waiting for one. Quite often I find that this board marks things read when I have never seen them. I have been suffering from a high fever for several days, but I will say a little something.

I would say you could let the visualization go until a later point in time. There is no need to try to force anything or make an exaggerated effort at all. Just happily take the Name. Trust in Sri Nam and feel comfort in knowing that the Name is arranging for your spiritual welfare in the most loving fashion all on its own with nothing required by you except to perform the act of chanting it.

[madanmohandas]

Sorry to but in here, but it occured to me that the question contains the answer, ie. listen attentively to the name with assiduous effort. Gradually the mind is to be absorbed and as the Bhagavat says, evaM prasanna manaso, the mind thus pacified, bhagavat bhaktiyogatah, by the discipline of bhati to the Almighty, bhagavat-tattva vijnAnam, there is intuitive realisation of the Almighty, muktasangasya jAyate, and there is release from worldly affinities/attatchments.

Or, listenining to the holy name attentively while chanting is a good way to calm the mind.

Also we are often urged to simply hear the name, but if you find that a bit boring it is also good to read a verse or two describing some nice meditation on the qualities, deeds and beauty and think deeply about them while silently muttering the japa of Sri Nam.
As Sikhicaranji has said it is no use forcing some experience in visualisation, but it all depends on how eager you are to experience the relish, but ah me! what do I know?

[spiritualbhakti]

Thank you both for the wonderful answers.
I find this teaching about naam japa from the sermons Sadguru Bijoy krishna Goswami very helpful.

9.Is it easy to make the mind tranquil? Everything becomes achievable when the mind is tranquil. Initially the mind does remain restless, repeating the naam causes disgust. But one should not give up. Even during extreme unwillingness, naam must be repeated, like swallowing distasteful medicines. It will not help if naam is not repeated forcefully. Once this forms a habit, no more problem remains. Unless the practice of naamjapa becomes a habit, this should not be stopped. Effort must continue. Keep trying. By the grace of God you will achieve everything.

[spiritualbhakti]

Another question.

Why so much emphasis on lotus feet?

I cant help but feel there is something symbolic but I dont know for sure; complete surrender.

[Nitaidas]

Sorry I missed the discussion on calming the mind. One other thing you can try is simple pranayama. I do it before my mantra-smarana and find that it does help calm the mind and put me in a contemplative mood. Just a few minutes is all you need. I am not sure what the kind of pranayama is that I do, but it involves inhaling slowly through the right nostril (the left is cover by the middle fingers of my right hand), holding it in while I recite a certain number of mantras, and exhaling slowly through my left nostril. Then I reverse the process. I time myself with the Gopala mantra, but since you do not have that yet, you can use either the Mahamantra or the Pancatattva mantra (Sri Krsnacaitanya ...) or even Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. Try it out and see how it works.

I am in favor of adding some aspects of astanga yoga to the practice of CV. Pranayama, Asana, and the yamas and niyamas are good examples of useful practices for CVs. Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi have already been incorporated or adapted by Sri Rupa (Asakti, Bhava, and Prema).

[Nitaidas]

Sept 29, 2010 21:17:26 GMT -6 spiritualbhakti said:

Another question.

Why so much emphasis on lotus feet?

I cant help but feel there is something symbolic but I dont know for sure; complete surrender.

We belong to a tradition that has a thing about feet. We are foot-fetishists and we like them soft and pink like lotuses. Yumm if they have dust on them.

I am, of course, joking, but every joke carries a kernel of truth in it, as my wife is always reminding me. It is a way of referring to the presence of someone. If you are in the presence of a holy man or women or of a divinity you are "at their lotus feet." It is a way of recognizing the experience of being in the presence of someone or something great, awe-inspiring, in some sense beyond our capacity to comprehend. Only the feet, that is, that part of the great being which touches the earth or our plane of existence can be registered by us. Apart from this original numinous meaning, it has mostly become a kind of etiquette in Vaisnava literature to set certain people apart. Sometimes I ignore those references in my translations.

[spiritualbhakti]

Thank you Nitai dasji

that more than answers my question!

a couple more

1) What components have to be in place for a song to be considered kirtan?
2)Can a particular verse from the scriptures, like from Bhagavatam or Charitamrita be used for kirtan?
3) Anybody ever heard English Kirtans or does it take away from the rythym?

[Deleted]

Jai Nitai!

Dear S.B., I hope you don´t mind if I join in the conversation and offer my opinions.

1) For a song to be kirtan it should extoll the beauty, virtues, acts and/or Names of Sri Hari.
2) Yes, I believe so!
3) I have heard some English kirtans, some more aesthetically pleasing than others. ¨It is He,¨ and ¨My Sweet Lord¨ by George Harrison are English kirtans. So are some of the songs of Snatam Kaur and Krishna Das. I think English kirtan is an exciting idea, underdeveloped as a genre and deserving new writers and exponents. I am really enthusiastic about the idea of ¨fusion¨ kirtan... English lines of poetry about Hari intermingled with Bengali, Hindi or Sanskrit lines and Harinam.

[gerard]

Some people here translated songs into Dutch but it didn't catch on. I got the impression at the time that devotees liked it when they did not completely understood the Sanskrit or Bengali text, that gave the songs an extra mystique, but it seemed that the emotions expressed in the tone of singing did not correspond to the content of the song.

[Nitaidas]

I, too, would like to see kirtan songs written in English and other modern languages. That is not to say that Bengali and Sanskrit should be neglected, but I don't think that we can really consider CV duly transplanted until that happens. Along with that should be the production of literature in those modern languages. I am not referring simply to translations, though that might be a good first step. I have often thought of starting a yearly competition for the best poem on CV or on CV topics (Mahaprabhu and Radha-Krishna, the search for the truth, the impermanence of worldly life and pleasures, etc., etc) in my Baba's name. Maybe we will try it out this year. If my guru-bhais and I put together some money, there will be a cash prize and the poem or several of the best poems will be published by BSP. What do you think? Maybe something similar can be done for songs, and short stories, and well, whole novels.

[spiritualbhakti]

These next couple of questions are very important for me to understand correctly.

1) Sri Krsna is rasaraja and Sri Radha is mahabhava, how to understand the acintya bheda abeda of the divine couple as explained by Sri Rupa goswami?
2)I don't doubt the spiritual forms of Sri Sri Radha Krsna,we as jivas have these "forms" so it would be illogical if the absolute could not have a divine"form" of its own but how do i understand my diety in priciple and what the mahajans are trying to exxplain symbollicaly?
3)How to understand the Union and Seperation of the divine couple?

I am eagerly awaiting your responses everybody.

Thank You!!