We are here in Sri Mayapura dhama, I have taken inspiration to my chanting from different writings about the Holy name. In 2000, one of our sannyasis wrote in his diary:
"Fear is also coming, fear of becoming a servant. I am attached to a world that moves for my comforts and pleasures and not for the satisfaction of God. Good chanting always comes to the point of facing one's lack of surrender. The choice is then given - continue with determination, purify yourself, go further and surrender....or slacken up and stay where you are. The anchor of attachment has to be pulled up, but it takes sincerity and courage."

There is a little story that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati used to tell,

There was a veterinarian and his apprentice, they went to see a horse and upon examining the horse the veterinarian noticed a lump in the horses throat, after inspecting further he asked his assistant for a wooden mallet, and then proceeded to hit the horse in the throat with the mallet,

Sure enough the horse could eat normally again and recovered. The assistant thought he understood how to treat sick horses. He opened his own practice and went around whacking horses on the throat.

Eventually the veterinarian caught up with his renegade disciple and chastised him sufficiently.

The moral of the story, "If your are going to use a mallet you better be sure you know what you're doing."

Sometimes devotees try to imitate the externals of Srila Prabhupada's style of preaching instead of trying to understand the essence of what made his preaching successful.

It will be a good choice for all of us to follow this simple rule - "Early to Bed, Early to rise". This one rule can make our chanting strong. If we rise early then we can chant early and have a good 2hrs of ride on the transcendental platform of krsna consciousness where all talking is singing all walking is dancing and there is festival everyday!!!! So chanting should be done during the Brahma Muhurta time - hat time is best to chant our Japa.

Try it and see it, you will not regret that you got up early.

"Your Devotional Service will be tested at the time of death. Practice to chant the Hare Krsna Mantra. Do not chant like the Parrot who may learn to Utter "Hare Krsna", but when grabbed at the throat cries, "Caw,Caw!". Prabhupada said Practice so that when death comes, you will chant Hare Krsna."

Japa Reform Notebook

Upon Manu Prabhu's advice I started my very own tv show. Maybe I'm having a mid life crises in my blogging career.

I actually had no plan to this video online it was just a little test run, but I thought what the hell, I don't have anything better to blog about anyways.

I didn't realize how stupid I looked until I saw myself on camera, anyhow.

Eventually we might even have live shows with discussions and all that stuff, or maybe it will just be a passing fad.

You can check out the show site here.

"Distraction in chanting breeds illusion which becomes the cause of further serious offenses against the Holy name. This illusion, difficult to overcome, engenders attraction to wealth, women, position, success and the cheating propensity. When these attractions cover the heart, the neophyte becomes neglectful of the chanting of the Holy name."

Harinama Cintamani

"Out of madness they frankly say that there is no need for self-realization because they do not realize that this brief life is but a moment on our great journey towards self-realization."

It really is madness to not recognize that the purpose of life is self realization.

To make sense gratification the goal of life, or even to consider it of any value, is madness when one actually understands how short life really is.

We are living in a civilization of mad people.

Keeping the paper in front of me the Doctor wrote:
'USE IT OR LOOSE IT'.Then something came in my Mind How true it is in case of our Spiritual life. Use it or loose it,I thought are we loosing something in this Human Form of life?It is said that there is similarity Between Animals and Human Beings. what are those Similarities?1. Eating2.Sleeping3.Mating4.Defending.SO then what is the DIfference Between us and the Animals?What can It be?Yes we have the Urge and Intelligence to Inquire. Inquire abt our self.This is the major Difference.But in todays world where People are going? Infact nobody now has that urge to inquire abt God.They are Busy in Gratifying their sense. They want to enjoy.People today think that just eating,sleeping, mating and Defending is the Goal of life.Due to advancement in Science and Technology Peolpe have started loosing one thing i.e. faith in GOD.Srila Prabhupad Had rightly told once after arriving to London in 1969. there was a press conference. and one Question was asked to Srila Prabhupad that Why have u come here?He said: 'I have come here to tech u what you have forgotten: love for GOD'This is very sad state. this Human Form of life which we Get is only after Transmigrating through 84 Lac species. And Hence the real Goal of our life is to Get out of this cycle of Birth and Death.But today people have become so much ignorant that they don't have time for religion and spirituality.They think this is waste of time and money. Instead of reading Bhagavad Gita they are reading all sorts of non-sense stuffs like Magzines Newspapers.Really we need to do something so save our self from our Ignorance.That's why God came in this age of Kali 500 years Back as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to establish the Yug Dharma for this age.And what is it?It is by chanting the Holy names of the Lord which is

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare HareHare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

I was listening to a lecture by a devotee about chanting Japa the other day. She brought up what I consider to be a great idea for chanting.
Her suggestion was to say a prayer to guru and Krsna before each round or even between each and every bead if you want to.
I have tried this before and it has helped me to better focus my mind attentively on hearing the Holy Names. My mind, when chanting Japa, seems to wonder quite often. I find myself thinking of many things of not so much importance. So to be brought back to my proper mindset for chanting, was a great experience. I felt more connected with Krsna and guru than I had in a long time. If you are having problems controlling the mind, it might be a good idea to give this a go!

Hare Krsna,

Bhaktin Geri-Lynn

In The Japa Room one of the things we instruct devotees about is sleeping enough, and also not sleeping too much. I really got a strong reminder this morning of just how much of a problem sleeping too much is.
For reasons that aren't important to mention, I had to sleep much more than I usually do yesterday. Well, this morning, trying to chant, was one of the most difficult times I've have in ages. I felt drugged. I felt dull. I didn't feel like chanting at all. I had no taste for chanting. It seemed like a total chore. I was tired (even though I had slept extra).
Most of all... my mind was a total nightmare! It was all over the place, totally uncontrolled. This thought, that thought, any thought. Complete distraction.
I fought and struggled, using every technique I have learned over the years, just to try to accomplish some attentive japa. After about 12 rounds this way, fighting and struggling to "pay attention", I was finally back to the state of consciousness that I am usually in when I START chanting on any "normal" day!
So, I was really thinking how important this is, not sleeping too much. We get so many people in The Japa Room asking about controlling the mind, and not having a taste for chanting, so it occurs to me, after this struggle I just went through that perhaps they might be helped by reducing the amount of hours they are sleeping.
I have found that we really don't need as much sleep as we think we do. When you sleep a lot, you have to work really hard at chanting. Much harder than if you sleep less. Why make it harder than it has to be?

Hare Krishna

Navasi

"If you're going through hell, keep going."

-Winston Churchill

I recent found this quote on a friends blog. I thought it was a great quote.

Slightly more profound than his more famous quote,

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly."

But in all seriousness, when we are put into hellish situations, sometimes externally, and sometimes internally by the working of our own mind, we just have to keep going.

Heaven and Hell come and go but we just have to keep going in our spiritual life.

And ultimately we will have to pass through the ultimate hellish condition as we approach the last stage of our life but if we practice throughout our life at the time of death we will be able to just keeping going, all the way back to home back to Godhead.

"It is the nature of saintly Vaisnavas to be always engaged in devotional activities. They never waste time uselessly. One should become attracted to this devotional trait. One should ask himself how he also can become like these devotees, immersed in meditation upon the Holy name; how, from this very day, he can increase his chanting step by step until such time as he can actually chant three lakhas of Holy names with inspiration and eagerness. When Lord Krsna sees such enthusiasm, He reciprocates by removing the neophyte's mental inertia with the power of His name, and by allowing him to remain in the association of His advanced devotees."

Harinama Cintamani

Sorry. I haven't been active or the blogosphere or in any other sphere for that matter.

Mostly I've just been spending as much time with Mother Mitravinda as possible.

I would say that I've hardly been eating or sleeping but that not exactly the case. Devotees have been bringing all kinds of wonderful prasadam to keep us well fed. And as far as the sleeping it is somewhat true I did spend one entire night awake with Mitravinda but then I got sick so I been having to sleep at bit more since then but still not alot.

Overall it has really been absolutely amazing thus far and I am grateful for every second that I can spend with someone who is so close to Krishna.

The material energy is always bombarding us constantly every single day.
So we have to chant our rounds very carefully and very attentively every single day so we will be strong enough to cope with it.

Our Japa is our protection.

Hare Krishna

Navasi

"Inattention arising from laziness (jadya) prevents a person from relishing the nectar of the Holy name. He is slow to chant and remember the Holy name. Even after trying, he very soon finds the effort unendurable and wants to sleep or otherwise engage himself in frivolity. Advanced devotees are cautious against such an offense. They never waste a single moment in useless talks or activities. Their meditation on the Lord's holy name is unbroken. They are so absorbed in the nectar of the Holy name that they do not want anything else. One must therefore aspire to associate with such rare devotees and follow their example, thus ridding himself of his laziness."

Harinama Cintamani

Last year for Janmastami the Alachua youth got together and created a beautiful "Village of Vrindavan." Raghunath was one of the team members that made this happen and his mother, Mitravinda, and wife Yamuna were two of the main artists who made it happen.


Taking care of Radha Syamsundara was Mother Mitravinda's life and soul, here is a little darshan slide show of Radhe Syam.

Over the years I have discovered some effective ways to overcome inattention:

1. Don't do anything else whilst chanting Japa

2. Listen very carefully to the sound coming out your mouth...choose a quiet place to chant - or some devotees hold a cupped hand to their ear to hear more clearly

3. Pronounce each word very clearly...even if it means slowing down your chanting

4. Read the Mantra whilst you chant (in Temples this was a common addition to the Temple room...the Maha Mantra on the wall)...I personally found this a very effective way to keep the mind from wandering.

(Guest house on the property of Balavanta and Ballavi)

It is always a strange feeling coming back to Alachua. In so many ways it feels like home, there is something about the Spanish moss that tells me I am home, not to mention all the friends who I grew up with.

But this trip brings with it something else, it brings a stark reminder that this place is not our home, that our eternal home lies beyond this temporary miserable existence.

Yesterday I spent sometime with Mother Mitravinda and her family. Although this is naturally a difficult time they are all very Krishna consciousness.

I'll being going back today and spending most of my time there from now onwards.

I know this is a simple concept and everyone who reads this Japa Group website knows this, but I was just realizing (further and deeper) this and wanted to write about it. Forgive me please if it's too simple or basic for anyone.
I was thinking about association and how important association is to our spiritual advancement. So we make a lot of effort to seek out association that will help us progress in Krishna consciousness. We also make a lot of effort to avoid association that drags us down or hinders our progress.
However, chanting Japa is associating directly with Krishna every single day. We don't have to make any extra endeavors to get this association, it's given to us freely as a Golden Opportunity. Here we have about 2 1/2 hours every single day where we can directly associate with Krishna Himself.
So I was realizing this (again) and really appreciating the incredible mercy contained in this aspect of chanting Japa. For me this totally removes the "chore" mentality when I'm aware and realizing this, because we are not devotees for any other reason than to be able to associate with Krishna (ultimately). So with Japa we don't have to be totally pure, yet we are already being given this amazing and causeless blessing of being able to directly associate with Krishna in the form of His Holy Name.

Lord Chaitanya distributed Love Of God freely to everyone without qualification, without distinction through this chanting of the Maha Mantra.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Navasi

We participated in an enlivening Sri Vrindavan festival - senior devotees like H.H. Mahanidhi Swami and H.H. Janananda Gosvami had many nice sayings concerning the Holy name:

"If you want to love the Lord of play, you must chant your days away"

"The more you chant, the more Krsna likes you to chant"

"Everything in this material world will go off, but this Holy name will
always go on"

"Even once in your life, for one round, be so absorbed that you don't notice anything that happens around you, even if someone asks you for prasadam"

"The more attentive we are towards the Holy name, the more attentive the Holy name becomes towards us"

ys

Mrd