simple thoughts

Several months ago one of my youngest clients dropped a small metal object into the power point in the car fusing it completely; so this meant that I could no longer listen to my music on the iPhone nor charge it up whilst driving.

Further highlighted when I was giving HH Mahavishnu Swami a lift and he asked to charge his phone, explaining that it was broke he looked at me but I have to contact some people; by Krishna’s mercy the numbers of the devotees was also on my phone but when we reached the destination both phones were no longer working.
I had looked briefly into the problem thinking it may simply be the fuse, checking what I believed to be the right one and was some what disappointed to find it was fine; so planed on taking the time to strip the car back and check the component when I had the time.
Well this week I did, once the section of the car that needed stripping down I looked more closely at the connections and wiring; all were in tact. Next check the current and to my surprise there was non which did not match what I was looking at; so tracing the fault.
Yes it was way back in the fuse box, I had looked at the wrong fuse and indeed it had blown; replacing the fuse I checked the current and going through the wires all was well; connecting it to the power point I again checked all was well, problem solved although I had made the job much harder than it need be and now the car fittings had to be carefully put back into place.
It made me think about our spiritual path and how well for me at least there is always some struggle, with the mind and it’s desires and also it’s ease of distraction onto other things less important. We can analyze, over analyze and look further back than the real course of the problem; generally it’s back at the basic starting point the struggle is lack of attentive japa; lack of attentive reading or poor application of simple principles.
In our struggles we look far down the line over complicating things when in reality it’s often the basic building blocks that are neglected; like the broken fuse it’s easily fixed with no great difficulty but still we look at other things, other people as the cause.
Car maintenance and thoughts of maintaining a spiritual check on things and interesting combination.

For those who are on facebook you would have noticed that I said in my next blog posting I would talk about japa and lambs, an unusual subject to which at first there appears to be no connection.

Well there is, well at least an analogy of sorts showing the importance of japa and how of we neglect for even a second then we are going to struggle to make any spiritual progress, or even take several steps back or should we say committee spiritual suicide.

It’s lambing season here in Wales and I don’t know of many people who are not moved by the sight of mother and child roaming the hills, sadly most will end up on someone’s plate; ow aren’t they cute now wheres my lamb chop for tea? Madness, but thats another topic.

For those not familiar with the amazing Welsh countryside there are many hills and although there are old walled areas many are in a state of disrepair and so no longer hold anything in, so heres were my japa, lamb analogy starts.

Whilst working I noticed two lambs bleating quite loudly, interesting I could not see the mother which was quite unusual, but from my elevated position I could see a flock of sheep the other side of the wall.

Now as all mothers will know it doesn’t matter how crowded, or how many children there are in that crowed they will almost immediately pick up on the sound of there own child especially if in distress.

So here was these two lambs bleating loudly calling out for there mother, lost and in some distress. Although the mother could not see her children she came close to the wall and called out, the children responded and came closer to the wall.

I could see that although the bleating of the lambs continued the response from the mother was however periodic but as the lambs followed the sound of the mothers voice you could see she was moving them to a gap (a piece of broken wall).

Now the lambs could ignore the instructions or have gone the opposite way but intelligence and the need for a good feed meant they followed the instructions although they never stopped crying out until they could see and touch there mother; reunited the quiet of the countryside returned and the cheerful singing of the birds could be heard.

Ok so sort of a nice story, apart from the inevitable sad non hollywood ending of the lamb being sold and killed once there is a healthy bit of meat there. But what about the japa?

Well as I watched this I was already meditating on how to become more responsible in my own japa and as I watched the lambs the thought was this is us, lost and separated from Krishna bewildered by the material body and world caught up in distress.

So our japa is like the lambs bleating calling out Krishna, Krishna; Krishna reciprocates giving us instructions and prompts a spiritual master and devotees who help and direct us. But we have a choice we can ignore or stop calling out, then what?

As the lambs never gave up chanting until they reached home being reunited with there mother, we too should never give up and no matter how imperfect our chanting is if we remain sincere we will achieve the goal of never having to take birth again being reunited with Krishna.

So there we go a connection between lambs and japa, the need to be attentive in our calling out, attentive in following instruction, attentive in our material distress to understand that the real relive comes from spiritual progress, bhakti and true love that only comes from Krishna.

Chanting a mantra or hymn softly and slowly is called japa, and chanting the same mantra loudly is called kirtana. For example, uttering the maha-mantra (Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare) very softly, only for one’s own hearing, is called japa. Chanting the same mantra loudly for being heard by all others is called kirtana. The maha-mantra can be used for japa and kirtana also. When japa is practiced it is for the personal benefit of the chanter, but when kirtana is performed it is for the benefit of all others who may hear.
In the Padma Purana there is a statement: “For any person who is chanting the holy name either softly or loudly, the paths to liberation and even heavenly happiness are at once open.”

Nectar of devotion: Japa

Over the past few months I have been pondering the importance of Japa, how easy it is to neglect or not put importance on it, but if we truly want to understand why spiritual life is difficult then we simply have to look at the quality of our Japa.

I was pondering the fact of those on the material plain that suffer from mental health problems; by some mercy they are taken into care, assessed and the right medication given for the condition.
This is all well and good, the person makes good progress and once stable is allowed out of the hospital care and back into the community.
The person however does not truly understand there condition, and so because they feel much better neglect the medication given; thus returning to the previous mental health unstable condition. But they remain unaware of this believing that others are causing them pain and distress and they are the only normal person around.
Again medical intervention is needed, and thus the cycle of mental un-wellness and mental stability continues with the person suffering social stigma and difficulties.

You see the problem is that we suffer the pain of believing that this temporary body is the one and all important thing, neglecting and forgetting that we are spirit souls.
By the mercy of the devotees, and our spiritual masters we are reminded of our true condition and given the cure, this chanting of the holy names in the form of Japa (that is that we should be constantly absorbed not just doing our 16 rounds)
But still our mind that is conditioned to enjoy and satisfy the material senses convinces us that we are actually in our correct constitutional position and that little benefit can be de-riven from the chanting of Japa.
And so we fall back into material suffering believing that we are fine and that those following a spiritual path are some how delusional and are in fact the ones that are mad.

But this is the subtlety for me that we can easily forget the importance of our japa, once we neglect or become inattentive then we immediately struggle, and this effects not only ourselves but our relationships with other devotees.

So if we are struggling the first thing we should do is question the quality of our japa; and if we are unsure then ask another devotee who can help and guide us.

For if we truly wish to remain spiritually healthy then we need to keep on taking the prescribed medicine, for just like the person who is suffering from mental health problems neglects there medication immediately returns to a suffering state; we too if we neglect out japa rapidly return to a state of material suffering. And just like the person who is mentally ill is unaware we too will be unaware.

If our japa is first class then all of our spiritual activities will be first class, by neglecting then there is struggling; or at worst a fall-down back to material suffering.

I was thinking
do we put as much effort into our japa as we do looking after the needs of the body?

As always I am writing for writing sake to put down the thoughts that are in my head, some have given me some great realizations others not but it is nice in some ways to keep a record.

The other week I helped one of my charges to put together a news letter for the educational setting he goes to (I am there to manage his medical condition); so taking the time to set out the boxes and laying out the news letter including heading and getting them to do the copying of information.

At the end much praise was given on the presentation and structure to my student, but at no stage was there an acknowledgment of the work I had taken in it, both the educational establishment and student takes the praise for the work done; but no mention of my input.

In all we do it occurred to me that some praise or reward is needed, it is difficult to keep on doing something if there is no acknowledgment it can be maintained for some time but then resentment and a lack of being appreciated arises. The other day I was working at the Manor and the devotee said how he noticed that the last few visits I have appeared a little flat, less bouncy and bubble as usual, and yes in many ways I have been struggling this as I feel hemmed into a corner.

I explained that at the moment I truly feel discouraged and some what disillusioned but that it is a mind that continues to be a battle ground; but also that as my Guru Maharaja only visits once a year again I will not be initiated and my feeling is that despite every thing I am in my mind judged as a failure and beamed unfit; this for me is made harder to take on board as the decision is made by people who have never talked to me and as I personally haven’t filled out forms every month and taken an exam; AGH!!! If they just talked to those I work with they they would have a better picture of who I am and what things I do. My feeling is that why bother promoting KC with the local council and teachers if my efforts are ignored; if I’m unfit for initiation then I’m unfit to do this and may be unfit to do the two gita classes (do we see were my mind is going here?).

As I pondered my feeling seeing so much praise being given to my charge and already feeling low in myself this thought entered my head does it matter if my part in the production of the piece of work is acknowledged or not? Everyone knew that the work could not be done at this level without the assistance given and in many ways they were relying on it; an indirect acknowledgment. But more to the point is this that there was a need to build my charge up and that it is good in many ways not to do things expecting praise and acknowledgement but because it is of benefit to others and what is more important that helping those who are searching and looking to Krishna for the answer.

Changing track onto Japa as always there is a need to keep looking at how it is going and the quality, again whilst in work I had a realization, the college I was with was asking me some questions, just as I was about to or had started to answer the question posed they went back to there computer and playing on facebook (one of the few night shifts I do it can get quiet at times), the same question was posed in different ways over the night with the same response; AGH!!! In the end I could not decide if I should continue to make some effort to answer of just ignore. Now why did this remind me of Japa? Because in some cases this is what I do, my mind is distracted or I will stop to do something else; I am calling out to Krishna whilst continuing to make material attachments my priority. Well that was my thoughts any way.

Finally updated my laptop which is a thing I hate doing can Apple please put an approximate time for me, the thing is I also hate change in so many ways. Lucky not many changes have taken place this time but I am undecided about the changes to safari as it now has a top sites page, I can put all the web pages I use a lot and view them all at once HUM a gimmick but I sort of like it. I also updated the OpenOffice from sun microsystems and again no major changes which I like. The mind again had given me so many reasons not to update after all the MacBook works fine so why do anything that may change it.

It was also nice to be contacted by one of my old work colleges from a home I managed for a while when first moving to Wales, its nice that after all these years someone thought so much of me that they took the time to search and look for me. It wasn’t the best job I’ve ever had but then thats another story.

My realization is that the mindset makes the difference.

We all know Batman, well here comes Japa Man.
This is a really funny clip from the festival of inspiration 2008, it actually has a deep message on the importance of Japa in a funny way you can watch it here

This is also linked to a lovely devotee blog under the title ISKCON Orlando life you can find it here

Anyway hope you all like it as much as me

Do we always remember and appreciate the amazing position we are in to be able to chant the holy name each day and every day?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to wake up in the morning, not see our lovely deities or hear the holy names of Krishna?

I have been pondering the state of my own Japa and the need to constantly improve the quality and time taken; even when out with clients my thoughts have been revolving around my Japa.

Krishna as always is very merciful and as a gift I was given a copy of an amazing book written and compiled by Dhanurdhara Swami on Japa Meditations Contemplations on Entering The Holy Name.

It has an amazing appendix that gives practical advice on improving Japa but then it gives amazing realizations from a whole range of devotees which inspires and shows the need to always look at improving the quality and quantity of Japa, the importance to them of Japa and the central and over riding role it plays in spiritual life and progression.

You see if we are struggling, have doubts finding faults in others then we know that in some ways this is down partly to poor Japa, but also that it is not just a matter of dong our rounds and being happy about that. But the need to continue to improve not resting on our laurels.

That we should always look at improving our Japa both in quantity and quality never reducing this along with listening to and reading about Krishna, looking at absorbing ourselves in everything we do in thoughts of Krishna. Not reducing, not dismissing the importance of each element forsake one and the others become hard.

It reminded me of this whilst HH Mahavishnu Swami stayed at my home one way we all knew he was up was simply by this each morning before Mongalarti we would hear the recordings of the class of Srila Prabhupada; the enthusiasm of Arati and then SB class.

This was also the case as I watched my own Guru Maharaja his absorption in just reading, chanting and listening; and his advice that all of Srila Prabhupada’s books should be read at least three times; in fact this the advice of all senior devotees.

The book highlighted the fact that spiritual advancement and steadiness comes from always looking at these elements of our spiritual life, that we look at always improving both quantity and quality but in a practical and realistic way from the experience of others.

I would encourage everyone to read it

How easy is it to chant the holy names?
Do we take it forgranted?
The importance of the recitation of the holy names emphasized by this most quoted verse:

harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha
[Adi 17.21]
“In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other
way.”

But I am reminded over the past few weeks how hard this can be almost relying at times to listening rather than chanting, why?
I have had a succession of coughing fits to the point were breathing and speaking are difficult, OK a short term problem a symptom of the material body; at one stage however these got so bad that panic set in Why?
An example was during Arti the coughing fit got so bad that although I could sort of continue to play the words just could not be voiced, this was of some distress especially as if I had been with other devotees then I could still hear the wonderful names of Krishna. But worse still it was not self rectifying neither could I catch my breath but even the playing soon stopped; Panic?
With tears running down my face I resorted to the only option pray “Please Krishna, HELP! let me hear your name once more”. Trying to re-concentrate the mind on the words whilst trying to sound them out, my prays were answered as a small but weak voice could be heard, relief as my breath returned.
It served to remind me never to take the chanting of the holy names forgranted and how difficult it is when things especially health are compromised to remain focused and continue to chant, it was only by Krishna’s mercy was I able to focus, and the reminded always by senior devotees on the importance of chanting.

After just arriving at one of my client’s home ready for a long night shift I got into a conversation surrounding coal. For this particular client it is the only source of heating for her and her son so the need for the correct type of coal needed for the fire is important.

The problem simply was that the coal was in it self too small this has the effect of clogging up the fire and stifling the flame or at worst going out completely.

So I found myself sifting through several buckets of coal in order to get the correct size needed, not quite what I went through three years of university training for but necessary to meet the basic needs of my client.

Now it got me thinking about Japa, it’s not that we just do our rounds but that attention is paid as to how we do them. Quick cursory Japa I must get them over is alright but long term will be of no benefit, neither that which is broken up by either thoughts or to go off to do some task or other (unless of course it’s service) a bit like the small coal it will cause problems even put out the flame of devotional life.

To take the time to make things most favourable for attentive japa is essential, making time when there will be minimal distractions in an environment conducive and close by the deities. This reminded me of the good large coal that produces the large roaring fire of devotional life needed to sustain us.

Saying that most people now have gas fires may be that’s were the clicker’s come in?

How to solve the ever speeding Japa and make sure that I continue to chant the minimum amount of rounds I have promised my Guru Maharaja has been on my mind.

Life is easier if you are surrounded by senior devotees who hopefully will pick up on and correct, but this is much harder when your away from direct association.

By Krishna’s kind mercy he lets us know one way or another if we are willing and then desiring to act.

So were does the iPhone come into it?

Well as I’ve said my japa is more like a TVG/Bullet train and somewhat slightly below the amount I have promised my Guru Maharaja.

The iPhone has a lovely stopwatch facility so here’s what I’ve been doing, using this facility, as my Japa speeds up this is noted and so more effort is taken to slow down (this means I am listening more attentively to the holy names of Krishna)

The stopwatch also allows multiple laps to be counted, so for each round done I simple press the lap button, this keeps a count of the number of rounds completed

I am thus helped by the iPhone to slow down and concentrate more whilst also keeping a check on my rounds and making sure that I do the minimum I had promised my Guru Maharaja

It appears to be working out well a fine partnership