Three Words that Changed History
We should never underestimate the power of words. A few properly chosen words, spoken or sung, can change history. La Marseillaise inflamed mobs during the French Revolution. Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” inspired the Yankees to continue giving “the last full measure of devotion.” The Horst Wessel Song fueled the dictatorship of Nazi Germany. We Shall Overcome unified the civil rights movement. And the songs of Bob Dylan and the Beatles helped create an entire counterculture.
But all these words, powerful as they were, couldn’t solve the real problems of existence—repeated birth, old age, disease, and death. Time passed, the impact of these songs and pronouncements faded, people forgot. And the inexorable problems of life in the material world continued unabated.
To solve these problems we need to hear and vibrate words that are supra-mundane, words that can inspire us at the deepest spiritual level. Such words do exist, and they are described in ancient India’s Vedic literature as shabda-brahman, “the Absolute Truth in the form of words, or sound.”
For thousands of years the sacred texts of the Vedas have taught that one can extricate himself from the bonds of material life by hearing and chanting transcendental sounds. The common, unenlightened person is in a sleeplike state, oblivious of his real nature as a spiritual being and of his relationship to the Supreme Being. The Vedas say, “Wake up! Having attained the human form of life, achieve self-realization and break out of the bonds of repeated birth and death.”
According to the Vedic literatures, shabda-brahman can awaken us from our materialistic slumber. But this spiritual sound must be received from those adept at the process of bhakti-yoga, devotional service to the Supreme Lord. In other words, these sounds may be given to the common man, asleep to spiritual life, by one who is awake and fully cognizant of his spiritual nature. Such an initiator into the truths of spiritual sound is called a guru, or spiritual master.
The Vedic literature asserts that the nonpareil of all spiritual sounds is the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, the Great Chant for Deliverance—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Chanting these sixteen words is the best way to awaken to our spiritual life. The word Krishna is a name of God meaning “the all-attractive one,” Rama means “the all-pleasing one,” and Hare is an invocation to Hara, Krishna’s internal spiritual energy. Thus the Hare Krishna mantra is a prayer to the Lord and His energy for the privilege of engaging in His service. If we regularly hear and chant this sound vibration, we will become pure, enlightened, and awake to our eternal life of bliss and knowledge in the service of the Lord.
Although anyone can start chanting Hare Krishna at any time and make definite spiritual progress, there is an art and science to chanting. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Krishna Himself in the role of His own devotee, appeared in Bengal, India, five hundred years ago to teach that art and science. Lord Caitanya based His teachings on authoritative Vedic texts like Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. He taught that the name of the Lord is His sound incarnation and that since the Lord is absolute there is no difference between His name and Him personally. Thus, by chanting the holy name of God, we can directly associate with Krishna through sound.
As we become adept at chanting and hearing the Hare Krishna mantra, we pass through three stages: the offensive stage, the clearing stage, and the perfected stage. In the offensive stage we still desire various kinds of sense pleasure, but we are struggling to become pure. In the second stage we clear off all material contamination and begin to taste the real nectar of the name. And in the perfected stage we attain the most coveted goal—pure love of God. Lord Caitanya taught that love of God is the highest goal of all living beings, the very essence of authentic spirituality. The mission of the Hare Krishna movement is to follow, realize, and propagate the teachings of Lord Caitanya.
The information in the Vedic literature about sound vibration and man’s relationship with God is extremely confidential. Nonetheless, by the mercy of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who first propagated the Hare Krishna mantra outside India, everyone can now enter into the mysteries of these divine truths simply by chanting the transcendental names of God—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. These are truly the words that are changing history.
by Satyaraja dasa
Date : 05 Oct 2015
Why is Kirtan so Important, and how?
In India there are sacred places where yogis go to meditate in solitude, as prescribed in Bhagavad-gita.
Traditionally, yoga cannot be executed in a public place, but insofar as kirtan—mantra-yoga, or the yoga of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—is concerned, the more people present, the better.
When Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was performing kirtan in India some five hundred years ago, He organized in each group sixteen people to lead the chanting, and thousands of people chanted with them.
It is specifically stated in Bhagavad-gita that to perform meditational yoga one should go to a secluded and holy place. In other words, it is necessary to leave home. In this age of overpopulation it is not always possible to find a secluded place, but this is not necessary in bhakti-yoga.
In the bhakti-yoga system there are nine different processes: hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping the Deity in the temple, praying, carrying out orders, serving Krishna as a friend and sacrificing for Him.
Out of these, sravanam kirtanam, hearing and chanting, are considered the most important.
At a public kirtan one person can chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, while a group listens, and at the end of the mantra, the group can respond, and in this way there is a reciprocation of hearing and chanting.
This can easily be performed in one’s own home, with a small group of friends or with many people in a large public place.
One may attempt to practice meditational yoga in a large city or in a society, but one must understand that this is one’s own concoction and is not the method recommended in Bhagavad-gita.
-an excerpt from The Perfection of Yoga, an edited series of lectures on the sixth chapter of Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
Date : 05 Oct 2015
EKADASI OBSERVANCE
From the very beginning of His childhood life Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu introduced the system of observing a fast on the Ekadasi day. In the Bhakti-sandarbha, by Srila Jiva Goswami, there is a quotation from the Skanda Puran admonishing that a person who eats grains on Ekadasi becomes a murderer of his mother, father, brother and spiritual master, and even if he is elevated to a Vaikuntha planet, he falls down. On Ekadasi, everything is cooked for Vishnu, including regular grains and dhal, but it is enjoined that a Vaisnava should not even take visnu-prasadam on Ekadasi. It is said that a Vaisnava does not accept anything eatable that is not offered to Lord Visnu, but on Ekadasi a Vaisnava should not touch even maha-prasadam offered to Visnu, although such prasadam may be kept for being eaten the next day. It is strictly forbidden for one to accept any kind of grain on Ekadasi, even if it is offered to Lord Visnu. = REF. Adi 15.10 Ekadasi literally means "the eleventh day." There are two Ekadasis in a month : on the eleventh day after the new moon, and on the eleventh day after the full moon. Of all vratas (vows of austerity), Visnu is most pleased with those who observe the Ekadasi vrata. Therefore anyone who does not observe the vrata and eats grains on Ekadasi is said to eat sin, for he disobeys the Lord's order and thus displeases Him. Thus, although Ekadasi fasting is good for health, it should be undertaken principally for the sake of pleasing Krsna. To observe Ekadasi vrata and Dvadasi vrata means to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those interested in advancing in Krsna consciousness must observe Ekadasi regularly.(SB 9.4.29) Hari Bhakti Vilasa quotes from many scriptures to establish the necessity of observing the Ekadasi vrata, to glorify the vrata, to establish the proper day on which to observe the vrata, and to give the proper mode of observance. Observing the Ekadasi vrata (vow of austerity) is one of the principal duties of Vaisnavas. To fail to do so is a serious offence. Bhaktivinoda Thakura has sung, madhava-tithi bhakti-janane jatane palana kari (Suddha-bhakata, from Saranagati): "I observe with great care the holy days like Ekadasi and Janmashtami, for they are the mother of devotion." All people, male and female, of all castes and ages, from eight to eighty, should observe the Ekadasi vrata in all circumstances. This applies to the Ekadasis of both the waxing (gaura or sukla) and waning (krsna paksa) phases of the moon.
FASTING
Date : 02 Jun 2015