The main thing is to fix your mind on the sound of the chanting. As you strain and yearn to keep your attention fixed, this naturally brings a mood of devotion. This is the way you serve the holy name. Just as when cooking, if you try very hard not to burn the preparation, to spice it nicely, and to keep it cooking nicely, then you express your devotion in this way.

From Japa Reform Notebook by SDG

Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world...simply send me an introduction email and I will be happy to make you a member:

rasa108@gmail.com

ys

Rasa Rasika dasa

Hare Krsna my dear devotees, I hope your Festival of Gaura Purnima was great and you were able to remember how important is the advent of Lord Gauranga to this world and how lucky we are to have got the holy names of the Lord to chant. I was reading a very beautiful message on H.H. Sacinandana Swami 's site and I got this beautiful article from him, I hope you like it.
How to Obtain the Merciful Gift of Lord Gauranga
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu distributed the treasure of divine love primarily through the chanting of His Holy Names. It is said He garlanded the whole world with the Holy Names, strung on the thread of prema. That means anyone who wishes to be garlanded by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu must accept His gift of chanting the Holy Name with affection. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu will give this garland to almost anyone. The only exception is a person who wilfully commits offences against His devotees. In Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s own words:
"I turn My face away from someone who offends My devotees."

"Let us today pray to become full of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy and let us also turn our face away - away from vaisnava apraradha."
I liked very much the part that maharaj says that we were garlanded with the holy names and we must accept it with affection, means we should give great value to this chanting and avoid commiting the ten offenses, this is the only reason way we stop chanting, because we may have offended devotees or the holy names by being inattentive, so we must always be reminded that we have to have this humble state of mind to approach the vaisnavas, accept their blessings and always seek in them the good qualities they own, also we should pray every single day to Lord Gauranga in order to be free from these offenses so we can constantly chant the holy names and purify our hearts from false ego and the desire to be in control of the Lords properties.
I start by asking the vaisnavas that bless my life so I can always chant the holy names of the Lord and that I can serve them and understand through their precious preachings why I am here and how I can be free from material desires.
I thank all the humble vaisnavas that contribute to the preaching of the holy names of the Lord and pray so the Lord showers lots and lots of nice realisations to their lives bringing to them pure devotion and affection to chanting.

your servant,

Aruna devi

This was going through my mind today...the mind wants to be distracted away from the Holy names, it wants to think about everything going on in the future and what has happened in the past. If these distracting thoughts enter, then we need to ignore them and push them out, much the same as you would remove furniture from a room.Distraction is the enemy of the Japa chanter...by concentrating on the sound and focusing on the Holy names we can defeat this enemy with the sound of the Holy names.
I hope your chanting is going well and that you are able to overcome obstacles with determination.

Getting a head start on my rounds made me very jolly. I’ve chanted ten rounds so far, and they were swift and efficient. I paid attention to the syllables of the holy names. I put my feelings into it and thought of Krishna. You wish you always had days like this when chanting is smooth and swift, it’s better than eating when hungry, it’s better than sleeping when tired, it’s better than leaning back in my chair. It’s a favorite occupation. You know you are making direct contact with Krishna, and that’s the most important thing in the world. All glories to Lord Caitanya for giving us this gift, especially for the fallen souls in the age when nothing else is possible.

From Bhajan Kutir #359

If you are always repeating the Hare Krsna mantra whenever you can — within yourself or even aloud — it will solve many problems. If Krsna is with you all the time, then you will not be in anxiety—if you can develop this constant chanting. It will take time to be able to always chant Hare Krsna. Srila Prabhupäda used to say, “Chant sixteen rounds on beads and then innumerable rounds off the beads.”

From Japa Reform Notebook by SDG

The main thing is to fix your mind on the sound of the chanting. As you strain and yearn to keep your attention fixed, this naturally brings a mood of devotion. This is the way you serve the holy name. Just as when cooking, if you try very hard not to burn the preparation, to spice it nicely, and to keep it cooking nicely, then you express your devotion in this way.

From Japa Reform Notebook by SDG

As you chant Hare Krsna, your dormant love of God will come out, just as butter comes out when we churn milk. Butter is already there in milk, but it has to be brought out by the process of churning. So your love of God is there, it just has to be brought out by your chanting.

From Japa Reform Notebook by SDG

Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world...simply send me an introduction email and I will be happy to make you a member:

rasa108@gmail.com

ys

Rasa Rasika dasa

You must think of chanting in terms of serving the spiritual master, not just as your own sadhana. I am thinking Srila Prabhupada has given me different responsibilities, and if I don’t carry them out he will be displeased with me. Spiritual life rests on chanting. That’s the main teaching. Chant Hare Krsna, chant sixteen rounds. So how can that not be thought of as service to the spiritual master?

From Japa Reform Notebook by SDG

Inattention is a serious problem in chanting. As the nondevotee does not understand the value of human life or the urgency to be Krsna conscious, so a devotee sometimes does not fully understand the urgency and necessity of calling on the holy name. Then despite his theoretical acceptance of the principle of chanting Hare Krsna, he stubbornly deliberates on other things while uttering the holy name.

From Japa Reform Notebook by SDG

It seems hopeless to stop the mind’s wandering, but at least let the other track (as in multiple-track tape recordings) contain the full, awake, articulated sound: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare. Chant clearly, no matter what. Admitting the impossibility of stopping all impure thoughts, at least always keep the sound track clear. Then I know whenever I switch back to chanting, pure sound will be there. By a flick of the mental switch, I can be out of mäyä into japa.
From Japa Reform Notebook by SDG

Hare Krsna my dear devotees. I hope your chanting is going well and you are able to concentrate on the Lords Holy Names. Gaura Purnima is coming soon and we may think about how much we need this Harinam Sankirtan and how important is to spread the Lords holy names throughout the world. Every single day we see in peoples eyes how they need this chanting, even the ones who have money & fame....follow a vegetarian diet and so on, they feel empty sometimes because they still need a relationship with the Lord.
We forget sometimes how we were before this practice and how we were eager to experience this love between Krsna and us, now we feel more confident and we don't even fear death so much, just because we feel safe in the Lords hands - we know that when we are in danger the Lord will hear our prayers. He will feel touched by our service, our chanting and we will be protected. Here follows a text I received by email from a devotee, I just felt like sharing with you because it's very beautiful.

The Lord's Feelings Toward Someone Who Chants His Name

Srila Prabhupada told us that the chanting means to address the Lord. We talk to Him by calling His name.

But we may wonder, How does the Lord feel about those who chant? Does He notice them?

Yes. Krsna notices chanters even if they don't notice Him - and He thinks of them. As Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakura said, "When someone chants the Lord's name, the Lord's mind dwells on him. Krishna thinks, 'This person belongs to Me. I will always protect him!' "

Srila Sridhara Swami explains in this connection: "When the Lord heard that Ajamila was chanting His name, He thought about Ajamila deeply and then ordered the Visnudutas to bring him to Him. How much more, then, will the Lord remember a person who chants His Name with a service attitude?"

Let us not try to see the Lord.
Let Him see us.
And let us not try to hear His voice in the beginning.
Let Him hear us first.
Then one day the morning will dawn
when we hear him say:
"You are Mine."

HH Sacinandana Swami's newsletter Amrta-vani
I pray so we can all have this feeling that Krsna accepts our chanting, that He looks at us as His servant so we may have this love exchange and feel His blessings every minute of our lives.

May your chanting be connected to the Supreme, through your heart in a way that the sound vibration of the holy names are able to subdue your mind.

your servant,

Aruna devi

I’m always hopeful for improving my japa. And improve I do. I get better sessions. I get sessions without a headache. I get sessions where I wake up early and get a good head start. So I experience ups and downs and go on hoping and go on with determination overall. And I go on with faith in the scriptures. You can call it academic faith or you can even call it blind faith. Prabhupada said he distributed books on blind faith because his spiritual master told him to. I have a similar “blind faith” that the chanting of the holy names is the only way to attain God consciousness in this age.From Bhajan Kutir #350

I was thinking this today before chanting Japa....we have the knowledge how to chant properly and we know about the offenses and how to avoid inattention - the next step we must take is to put this knowledge into practise and to take a step towards the Lord.....to show Him we are serious about knowing Him and having a relationship with Him through the Holy names.
In the end it's all up to us - to take that step towards the Lord and to chant with great attention and avoid the offenses. We have this extremely rare chance to chant the Holy names, this is our greatest fortune and we should take full advantage to chant the Holy names properly with devotion.

Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world...simply send me an introduction email and I will be happy to make you a member:

rasa108@gmail.com

ys

Rasa Rasika dasa

Bhaktivinoda Thakura says if you chant and just go through the motions you’re not really chanting the holy names. You have to chant with quality. So there is a difference, that I have to admit. And I know I’m not at the apex. But I chant as the ultimate habit of my life with complete obedience to the sixteen-round quota and with adherence to Prabhupada’s blessing on me and my vow to him. Just go on chanting through the rest of your days and try the best you can.
From Bhajan Kutir #347

Hare Krsna my dear devotees. I hope your weekend is going well and your japa too. Here today everything was very peaceful. As I normally do, I cooked for the Deities some salad, pasta and a nice fruit salad with some strawberry lassi...the Summer in Brazil is being very strong, today was very hot and almost impossible to do anything but by the Lord's mercy we could prepare everything....bathe our Deities and serve Them properly.
I will be having 2 days holidays here because Brazil celebrates a Carnival these days so I am happy because I don't need to work and can concentrate more on my service and japa.
I found a quote from Srila Prabhupada talking about the importance of practice and how we should stick to chanting and hearing.

Srila Prabhupada: “Practically everything depends on practice abhyasa-yoga- yuktena cetasa nanya-gamina - Bhagavad-Gita 8.8. Abhyasa-yoga means yoga practice. Practise it. The whole Krsna consciousness movement is a practice to learn how to transfer from one kind of consciousness to another. For that we require practice. Just like one man can run a few miles. I cannot run even one mile. The difference is, he has practice. The strength of the heart is increasing by practice. By practice everything can be attained. Life is short and it is so much disturbed. So how is it possible to practise? Therefore this one practice—chanting Hare Krsna and hearing—that is very nice and praying to Krsna: “Please give me strength.” “Hare,” “O energy of Krsna, o Krsna, I am fallen, I have no strength. Please accept me.” That’s all. I have no qualification. I am frail. I am trying, but I am failing. All these appeals should be made. And Krsna is all powerful, He can do everything.”Morning walk, March 23, 1968

I liked very much this part that Srila Prabhupada talks about the importance of chanting, hearing and praying....asking the Lord to accept our service, putting ourselves in a humble position and saying we have no qualifications to chant but still we want to have the Lords mercy to be accepted by Him. Krsna is so merciful that He reciprocates with every little effort we make. I notice how my efforts of cooking, even in the hot weather, became successful because I had good japa with the boys before - this made me more powerful and I could be calmer and experience the nectar of my service.

I really wish you can have nice realisations on your service and experience the Lord's mercy in any situation.

your servant,

Aruna devi

Hare Krsna my dear devotees. I hope your week has been blessed by the mercy of the Lord, we all need this mercy to carry on with our service and sometimes because we want to act as a naughty child we tend to live our lives as if we are the proprietors of this body, world and feel like controlling. We are all here because we were envious of the Lord but now we are learning how to put Krsna in our lives and understand that He is first in everything we do.Chanting the holy names makes us more aware of our consitutional position of eternal servants. Here is a nice quote from the Sri Caitanya Candramritam:

svadam svadam madhurimabharam sviya namavalinam
madam madam kimapi vivasibhutavisrastagatrah
barambaram vrajapati gunan gaya-gayeti jalpan
gauro drstah sakrdapi na yairdughata tesu bhaktih (15)
Always absorbed in chanting and relishing his own holy names, Gaurasundar becomes intoxicated with ever-increasing passion. Sometimes he swoons, falling to the ground in a display of ineffable exultation. The Lord invites everyone, repeatedly encouraging them to sing the wonderful qualities of Sri Krishna, the prince of Vraja. But those who have never seen or perceived him in meditation, even only briefly, for them the attainment of prema bhakti is almost impossible.
Sri Caitanya Candramritam by Prabodhananda Sarasvatipada- Excerpt of his prayers.

The symptoms of one who is fully engaged in the process of chanting with love is difficult to describe but we have an idea of the love our acharyas showed while chanting, first feeling lots of mercy and love for every living entity trying to engage every one of them in Harinam Sankirtan. Goura Purnima is coming soon and this verse is to remind us of the great love Lord Chaitanya showed so we can have an idea of this pure love of Krsna, prema.

I pray so I can constantly chant the holy names of the Lord and receive association of the great vaisnavas so I can always be reminded of my position as eternal servant of the Lord.

Wishing you all a very good week of chanting and lots of inspirations and blessings coming from the Lord.

your servant,

Aruna devi

"What is the use of these other rules and regulations. First, just do these things. Do the simple things that I ask you to do. Don't concern yourself with all these rituals. First, chant your 16 rounds and follow the principles."
From Nectar of Srila Prabhupada by Srutakirti dasa