Krsna Kathamrita

Yes, you can pray to Krishna - Krishna may be prayed that I am unwilling to become Krishna Conscious, so you can force me to become so. You put me under certain circumstances so that I may be forced to accept Krishna Consciousness. You can pray like that. It is Krishna's special favor and mercy that He sometimes forces a devotee to surrender fully to Him.- Letter to:  Upendra, Los Angeles, November 13, 1968

One should lead one’s life in such a way that the mind is unagitated for chanting. It’s a whole art of living. A chanter is a person who has a peaceful mind and can go deep, savoring the mahamantra during his japa session. If we’re worried or disturbed by different agitations, we’re not with Radha and Krishna. Chanting is out of this world. You have to go there and leave the concerns of the material world, at least when we chant. It is our sacred time. From Bhajan #228 by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Japa is not a ritual. It is not a mechanical, mindless robotic process. It is an offering of the heart, a pleading for mercy, a begging to be accepted by the Lord. It is a crying of the soul to be engaged eternally in the Lord’s service. The emotions these moods invoke nourish our chanting.  Krsna is moved by love, not by parrot like repetition. Feelings and desires for Radha and Krsna are meant to be communicated through Their Names.

I easily chant my prescribed number of rounds with focus and attention. When I chant, I chant. I get to chant, I want to chant, and I love to chant. I treat the maha-mantra as Radha and Krsna, fully present in sound. I receive and feel Krsna’s presence, mercy and love in His holy names. I chant in full awareness that the holy name is my greatest treasure. I chant to please Radha and Krsna, not to gain anything material. I am out of my mind and in my heart, fully present to the holy names as I chant my rounds. I fully honour my sacred relationship with the holy names during japa. I chant to be accepted by Krsna, and to repair my broken relationship with Him. I chant from my heart, feelingly praying to come closer to Krsna. I meditate on the meaning of the names as I chant. I turn off my world and turn on Krsna’s world when I chant my rounds. I chant with no other motive than to render pure devotional service. My beads are my connection with Krsna and my ticket back to Godhead. I am to...

What if people don't want to hear our message?" Pradyumna asked. "The people might not understand our message, but Krsna will be pleased," Prabhupada replied. "And that is our mission. They thought Jesus Christ's mission was stopped. They killed him. But his mission was attained. He preached three years only, but so many followers. He pleased Krsna. We must not be disappointed that no one is hearing Krsna consciousness. We will say it to the moon and stars and all directions. We will cry in the wilderness, because Krsna is everywhere. We want to get a certificate from Krsna that "This man has done something for Me.” Not popularity. If a pack of asses says you are good, what is that? We have to please Krsna's senses with purified senses." ( an excerpt from the Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita / “A visit to Boston”) 

“Experience is the best teacher – and a fool learns in no other way.” The implication of this well-known saying is twofold: Firstly, wise people learn from others, without having to undergo the experiences themselves. Secondly, experience is the euphemistic label people place on their follies and mistakes. While the saying has its validity, it neglects a third possibility: a person may not learn even after experience. That is the extent of the folly to which we are reduced by the mind. By its insidious influence, it wipes out the basis of our learning: our memory of our experiences. While outlining the eight-stage trajectory to tragedy, the Bhagavad-gita (02.62–63) explains how what begins with contemplation ends in self-destruction. Relevant for our discussion is the sixth stage, the eradication of memory (02.63: smriti-bhrama), which leads to the destruction of intelligence and the final descent to self-defeating behavior. By its insidious influence, the mind wipes out the ...

If an asteroid comes within the gravity pull of a planet, it is dragged down to that planet. Similarly, during our life-journey, the gravity pull of sense objects – their promise of pleasure – can pull us towards them, away from what we intended to do. The Bhagavad-gita (02.62) warns us that contemplation on sense objects can drag us towards self-destruction. Unlike the largely fixed gravity pull of celestial objects, the gravity pull of sense objects varies according to individual conditionings and conditions. If we are conditioned to indulging in a particular sense object, then its gravity pull on us will be much more than that on others. And if we are in a vulnerable emotional condition such as boredom or anxiety or distress, the sense object’s promise of quick relief will allure us more than at other times. Another consequential difference between the two gravity pulls is that the gravity pull of sense objects depends not just on physical proximity but also on mental prox...