Chanting Kṛṣṇa's sacred name is a deeply personal experience. It’s an opportunity that should be taken with utmost gratitude and sincerity. We need to approach śrī-nāma with an appropriate mentality to experience any tangible results from the practice.
In our mundane lives, we can’t approach others with any mindset that suits us. We have to adapt according to the interpersonal dynamics required for that individual. For instance, we don’t treat our employers, police, or leaders with the same casual mindset enjoyed with friends and family. Even within our personal circle of friendship, different people require different treatment. To think otherwise is a miserable, self-absorbed condition.
nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto 'bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥThe holy name of Kṛṣṇa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṇa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṇa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṇa Himself. Since Kṛṣṇa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṇa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical.
-Padma Purāṇa (as quoted in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 17.133)
Kṛṣṇa is His name. How kind of Him to let us use our mouths to render Him into our presence?
For our chanting to be effective, we have to want Kṛṣṇa. We can’t be distracted by the scenarios presented by our minds in relation to this ever-changing world. This understanding needs to be honestly embraced and our vulnerability acknowledged. We can’t do it on our own. We need help. There is no weakness in this, quite the opposite. Kṛṣṇa is the one who possesses all-attractive strength, and He wants to lend us a hand.
Pride is really an ignorant reaction to a perceived threat. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda offers this insight in his purport to Bhagavad-gītā 13.8:
“Humility means that one should not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honored by others. The material conception of life makes us very eager to receive honor from others, but from the point of view of a man in perfect knowledge – who knows that he is not this body – anything, honor or dishonor, pertaining to this body is useless. One should not be hankering after this material deception.”
On its own, cultivation of humility seems counter-intuitive to our self-preservation in this world. It’s pivotal to understand that our experience is accompanied by Kṛṣṇa, and He is lovingly looking after us. When this fact is deeply internalised, humility is a natural consequence. We have no need for false pride because we don’t feel threatened and no longer need to identify as anything other than a servant of our beloved Kṛṣṇa. The satisfaction of this identity, even in a preliminary stage, offsets our anxiety and makes us teachable. I’m afraid that, without this, we will gradually lose interest in chanting Kṛṣṇa’s names and chase the myriad desires of our minds. The great sage Śrī Nāradajī said:
nindana-stava-satkāra-nyakkārārthaṁ kalevaram
pradhāna-parayo rājann avivekena kalpitamBlasphemy and praise, chastisement and respect, are experienced because of ignorance. The body of the conditioned soul is planned by the Lord for suffering in the material world through the agency of the external energy.
-Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.1.23
Ambivalence towards our material status is only sensible when we feel we have something better. We have to understand that Kṛṣṇa is looking after us. He practically pleads this to us in Bhagavad-gītā to the point that it’s thematic:
For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me. (6.30)
I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have. (9.22)
O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes. (9.31)
Do not fear. (18.66)
So our chanting should reflect this confidence in Kṛṣṇa’s promises, and we should drop our guard. The solution to all of our problems is Kṛṣṇa, and here He is, kindly appearing from our mouths. We’re like toddlers begging for our mother to pick us up. No amount of prestige can help. We just want to be with our beloved.
This is when chanting is effective and does not depend on any material circumstance. We can be in prison, a world leader, a cherished artist, a stay-at-home mum/dad, a CEO of a big tech firm, and Kṛṣṇa, the master of all mystics, generously makes Himself available to us.
This is suburban mysticism.
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Thanks for sharing. It's always nice to hear the realisations of friends about the holy name