As I was finishing my 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra today, I was thinking about 12noon. That was the time I would break my fast. Today is Nandotsav, and also the appearance day of His Divine Grace Srila AC BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder Acharya of ISKCON, and the savior of the whole world. Yesterday was Sri Janmashtami, the appearance day of Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yesterday I fasted till midnight and also chanted 32 rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Meanwhile, I have been reading the biography by HH BhaktiVikasa Swami Maharaj of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada, the gurudev of Srila AC BhaktiVedanta Swami Prabhupada. All these spiritual activities in the last 48 hours have given me a few realizations. Here they are.
(1)
I chanted 32 rounds yesterday more easily than I chant my 16 rounds every day. Earlier this year on Gour Pournima I managed to chant 64 rounds despite not being fully fit. Again, quite miraculously, I could do so more easily than the daily 16 rounds. For me, this is quite solid proof that mercy plays a most important role in execution of our spiritual practices. And that on Madhava Tithis (special days related to Madhava, Krishna) the Lord is especially merciful on the prayerful devotee. How else can I explain the ease with which I chanted so many rounds on these days? Can anyone explain this mechanistically? Just for those who would start trying to do so, let me state clearly that it was not any special mental adjustment on my part. All I did was a brief prayer to the Lord that “let me chant these many rounds today”. I say this prayer almost daily, but the effect is never as it is on these Madhava Tithis.
(2)
Fasting reveals how much we are sense controlled, or how much we are not sense controlled. Yesterday, on Janmashtami, time and again, my mind went ahead to midnight, after which I would honor Ekadashi Prasadam. But, it was more about what I would honor than just the fact that I would honor some Prasadam item. This shows how my tongue is hankering for palatable dishes. If those dishes are easily available, we don’t consider how much we hanker for them. But when we fast, these things are revealed. So, I have a long way to go in controlling my tongue.
I read in the Sri Bhakti Siddhanta Vaibhav (the biography of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada) that during his vow of chanting one billion names of the Lord, he used to only eat plain rice cooked by his own hands once a day. No spices or anything else. Here was a real-life example of what a perfect transcendentalist is – one who has controlled the urges of his senses.
(3)
I replaced the newspaper from the hands of my grandmother with the Krishna Book. After some time she was very excited about what she had just read. She had already read the Krishna Book once, but she told me, “How beautifully Vasudev is explaining to Kamsa about things… I don’t remember reading all this the first time I read this book!” I told her that this is the way with all transcendental literature, and what to speak of the crest jewel of all of them, Grantha Raj Srimad Bhagavatam. And the Krishna Book is the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, and its sweetest part. Sri Krishna thus showed special mercy on my grandmother this Janmashtami. And my Mom has started reading the Krishna Book too! Jai!
Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai!
Sri Krishna Janmashtami Ki Jai!
(1)
I chanted 32 rounds yesterday more easily than I chant my 16 rounds every day. Earlier this year on Gour Pournima I managed to chant 64 rounds despite not being fully fit. Again, quite miraculously, I could do so more easily than the daily 16 rounds. For me, this is quite solid proof that mercy plays a most important role in execution of our spiritual practices. And that on Madhava Tithis (special days related to Madhava, Krishna) the Lord is especially merciful on the prayerful devotee. How else can I explain the ease with which I chanted so many rounds on these days? Can anyone explain this mechanistically? Just for those who would start trying to do so, let me state clearly that it was not any special mental adjustment on my part. All I did was a brief prayer to the Lord that “let me chant these many rounds today”. I say this prayer almost daily, but the effect is never as it is on these Madhava Tithis.
(2)
Fasting reveals how much we are sense controlled, or how much we are not sense controlled. Yesterday, on Janmashtami, time and again, my mind went ahead to midnight, after which I would honor Ekadashi Prasadam. But, it was more about what I would honor than just the fact that I would honor some Prasadam item. This shows how my tongue is hankering for palatable dishes. If those dishes are easily available, we don’t consider how much we hanker for them. But when we fast, these things are revealed. So, I have a long way to go in controlling my tongue.
I read in the Sri Bhakti Siddhanta Vaibhav (the biography of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada) that during his vow of chanting one billion names of the Lord, he used to only eat plain rice cooked by his own hands once a day. No spices or anything else. Here was a real-life example of what a perfect transcendentalist is – one who has controlled the urges of his senses.
(3)
I replaced the newspaper from the hands of my grandmother with the Krishna Book. After some time she was very excited about what she had just read. She had already read the Krishna Book once, but she told me, “How beautifully Vasudev is explaining to Kamsa about things… I don’t remember reading all this the first time I read this book!” I told her that this is the way with all transcendental literature, and what to speak of the crest jewel of all of them, Grantha Raj Srimad Bhagavatam. And the Krishna Book is the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, and its sweetest part. Sri Krishna thus showed special mercy on my grandmother this Janmashtami. And my Mom has started reading the Krishna Book too! Jai!
Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai!
Sri Krishna Janmashtami Ki Jai!
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