Haribol ,
My humble dandavath pranams to all the devotees of Lord Sree Krishna. I am a neophyte as far as regular chanting is concerned.
I started just 2 weeks back. first week I started with 1 round.Then second week I did 2 rounds (up to today). Next week onwards I am planning to do 3 rounds of Mahamantra japa.I find it difficult to control mind from wandering , but some of the thoughts below powers me a lot to concentrate my mind on mahamantra :
What my thoughts are that:
1) Before starting Mahamantra japa, If I do dhyana of the great acharyas in the disciplic succession like
a) Sree Bhakthi vedanta swami prabhupaada Maharaj.
b)Sree Bhakthi pragyaana kesava goswami maharaj .
c)Sree Bhakthi Siddhanta saraswathi maharaj.
d)Sree Goura Kishora Das Babaji Maharaj.
e)Sree Bhakthivinoda Thakur Maharaj.
f)Sree Jagannatha das Babaji Maharaj.
g)Sree Sree Goura Nitai.
f) samastha goura Bhaktha vrinda
seeking help from them to stabilize my mind and protect me from doing offensive chant,
and also do pray to Lord Nrsinga deva , and remember great devotees like Prahlada Maharaj , really powers me and encourages me to do chanting.
2) One more thought that empowers me is :
Lord Sree Krishna is the supreme maintainer and sustainer of everything.
Sarvasya dhaathaaram achinthya rupam .
He is the basis for progress of anybody's sadhana.without his will and wish nobody can progress even a little bit in spiritual sadhana.
If His wish is there nothing can stop any one from achieving his goal.
So hey Krishna ! Please show mercy on me , and kindly sustain my japa , Its getting heavy on my part to control this mind and senses. Make me able to control my mind and senses.
I am your kid.Iam part and parcel of you , kindly have mercy on me
my dear.
3) finally focusing on the sounds of the mahamantra, while chanting loudly helps in further concentration.

Jai Shree Radhe
Jai Shree Krishna

thank you all for this topic and the comments. my mind is always so restless. i have a picture of Krsna and i look at it while i chant. I try to remember that Krsna is not different from His picture, so if Krsna is there, i have no choice but to only think of Him and His names and His mercy... but sometimes this doesn't work because i start to think about so many things. but hopefully i will improve in my concentration and the quality of my japa.

Haribol!
-darsie

Thanks Rasa Prabhu for bringing this topic about japa here. Its very important to be aware of what the mind is doing all the time and when we are aware of it than we start our struggle, trying to focus and the mind just wants to wander and think of so many different things, but at the same time its the beginning of everything, being aware and then we work on it by applying the guidelines of concentration and listening to the sound vibration. What I do myself is trying to ignore the thoughts that come and read the mantra along or look at the picture of the Deities. This helps, after praying also my mind is more able to concentrate so I become not so distracted.
We have here a very precious topic to discuss about and try to find out good ways to improve chanting.

yr servant

Aruna devi

Hare Krishna!!

"...by determination and persistence, the mind will actually surrender and naturally focus on the sound without us having to be consciously aware of it...until then it's a battle...but a battle that can be won."

"...but a battle that can be won."
"...but a battle that can be won."
"...but a battle that can be won."

You inspired me. THANK YOU.
Durga