Sound Bhakti

While in Seattle in the fall of 1968, Śrīla Prabhupāda introduced for the first time this song to be sung during the evening ārati ceremony. GAURA-ĀRATI by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura (1) jaya jaya gorācānder ārotik śobhā jāhnavī-taṭa-vane jaga-mana-lobhā (2) dakhiṇe nitāicānd, bāme gadādhara nikaṭe adwaita, śrīnivāsa chatra-dhara (3) bosiyāche gorācānd ratna-siṁhāsane ārati koren brahmā-ādi deva-g...

"Brink" means an extreme edge of land before a steep or vertical slope; a point at which something, typically something unwelcome, is about to happen. The verge. It reminds me of, samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām (ŚB 10.14.58) which is, you could say, paraphrasing, "Don't stay on the brink, the vip...

I was once driving with a friend of mine, who tends to get a little irritated when driving if somebody doesn't drive properly. Merging onto the freeway, he noticed that somebody didn't let him on, and I could tell that urge welled up in his chest and he started accelerating. And then I, the passenger, said the mantra, "We forgive you." As soon as I said that, it kind of broke that spell of that ru...

Following the advice of Rūpa Goswāmī and Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, we can understand that we have to be consistent in chanting to begin with. We must use our intelligence. Kṛṣṇa says, "Conquer the lower self by the intelligence." So, when we're clear that this is medicinal and we have to trust that the doctor is qualified, then we can practice chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa for consistency. And here are ju...

Bhagavad-gītā, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—we do all the books, everything, but it’s just so tidy to take care of the basics. And besides, we can see this: here we are in the Fourth Canto. If we read this 108 times, if you all cancel your tickets, and, you know, we won’t come to the end of it. We’ll still be entering deeper and deeper into this one Canto, what to speak of one chapter, o...

(1) kṛṣṇa jinakā nāma hai, gokula jinakā dhāma hai aise śrī bhagavāna ko (mere) barāmbāra praṇāma hai (2) yaśodā jinakī maiyā hai, nanda jī bāpaiyā hai aise śrī gopāla ko (mere) bārambāra praṇāma hai (3) rādhā jinakī jāyā hai, adbhuta jinakī māyā hai aise śrī ghana-śyāma ko (mere) bārambāra praṇāma hai (4) lūṭa lūṭa dadhi mākhana khāyo, gvāla-bāla sańga dhenu carāyo aise līlā-dhāma ko (mer...

Physicists have theories about the substance of the universe and describe it as wave-like. The fabric of the universe, so to speak, is woven together with threads of vibration, vibrational threads. Some have even described it as a kind of symphony, the whole universe, because it's woven together by sound, and matter is extremely fluid. It can bend, it can stretch, it can morph into something else,...

In the Bhagavad-Gītā, Kṛṣṇa describes, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati (BG 5.29). He said, "If you want śānti, what is śānti? Peace. If you want to feel peaceful, which is impossible in this world, and especially in Silicon Valley, then there are three things that you can come to understand which will allow you that peace you are looki...

It's mentioned in the Bhāgavatam. Kṛṣṇa says to Uddhava, "Sometimes sādhus live by the Gaṅgā, but then they take it for granted because it's in their backyard. And then they say, 'I'll go somewhere else to take a bath.'" So one has to study the mantra and remember how one is fortunate, and also stay in a humble state of mind. Be a beginner. Start over every day. Don't think, "I know this. I've got...

In tamas, we're helpless. If you've ever felt helpless—for instance, if you have some addiction and you can't give up, or you feel so depressed that you can't do anything—this is the modality of tamas. Above tamas comes rajas. Rajas is the modality of intense activity. That is, we are creative. In rajas however, the setback is that no matter what we get, it's not enough, because we remain in that...

This music is being imported from Vaikuṇṭha, many millions and many millions of miles away. So this is not just music of this mundane sound. Otherwise, why you are not tired, repeating it for many, many days? Any mundane sound, we repeat it, you cannot prolong it. You cannot prolong it. But we are..., we have learned this only Hare Kṛṣṇa, and you can chant this. And you also hear it. You're attrac...

We are trying to please the Supreme by the supreme music. Golokera prema-dhana hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. These sounds are not mundane sounds. These are Vaikuṇṭha sounds. Nārada muni bājaya vīṇā rādhikā-ramaṇa nāme. It is brought by Nārada Muni. It is not manufactured here. (Srila Prabhupada, Room Conversation, April 14th 1975, Hyderabad) ------------------------------------------------------------ To...

When we meditate on Kṛṣṇa, we avail ourselves to everything. As parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa, that meditation on Kṛṣṇa is not only fascinating but it is also completely satisfying. So, those who are overly attached to the material varieties for their own enjoyment can't do that- rāga .Bhaya means people become discouraged because of their experience in the material world. They have been let down one...

There's niyama-āgraha and niyama-agraha. Niyama-āgraha means to do something, but to not be aware that you're doing it actually, you're just doing it by rote. And the other one, niyama-agraha, means to avoid doing it altogether. Finding that balance is the perfection of practice. In that, I'm doing it, but I'm also aware that I'm doing it, and I'm doing it with deliberation, as that's when the cha...

Question: What we can do from our part is to imbibe more during these readings and make the most out of whatever we are investing here. My point is that if you're processing something and you're also hearing, the mind is more absorbent. Any good hearing and chanting session leaves us with more questions than answers, because then we are eager to hear the next time. Even in reading continuously in...

I was speaking with some of the devotees who noticed the same thing, just by chanting Harē Kṛṣṇa. We associate with Kṛṣṇa. We are in Kṛṣṇa's immediate proximity in a very special way, through the avatār of the holy name. And as the Bhāgavatam says, just by such proximity, we develop all of Kṛṣṇa's qualities. So the most advantageous of all practices is to stay in Kṛṣṇa's proximity. (Japa Jolt, 10...

You can add this to your portfolio. "I was there. I chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa. I got up early, I dropped what I was doing, and I sat and chanted with the devotees, gave full attention to The Holy Name." This some people don't achieve after millions and millions of lifetimes, but all of you have this conviction: 'Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti,' Vasudev is everything. You also have śraddhā, which means, "śraddhā-śa...

Education means that people have to come to some mature knowledge and awareness of what's right and wrong and what the important values in life are. It's not just about vocation, but the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam goes right to the point of the real values in life, how to attain them, and why it's important to act in a certain way. That's because there are consequences to everything that we do, and if we t...

Education means that people have to come to some mature knowledge and awareness of what's right and wrong and what the important values in life are. It's not just about vocation, but the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam goes right to the point of the real values in life, how to attain them, and why it's important to act in a certain way. That's because there are consequences to everything that we do, and if we t...

There's a story about Prabhupāda, whether it's apocryphal or not or enhanced, I'm not sure, but one devotee recounted it, I think it's in a Memories of Prabhupāda. He said that Prabhupāda was praying intensely before the Deity, and later on, his servant asked him, "Do you mind me asking what you were praying for?" Prabhupāda said, "To not fall down to material nature." Then then the devotee allege...

The sociologist Michels wrote about the "iron laws of oligarchy." Those, he said, who take up a noble cause naturally tend to protect their position at the cost of the noble cause over time. And that's why political movements that are well-intentioned, people who take office, who may be well-intentioned—although it's probably hard to find one these days—tend to then change the way they see their j...

This section of something I have been writing lately, has to do with Prabhupāda's statement about how chanting Harē Kṛṣṇa is forced meditation; I'm just interpreting that. I've included some other śāstra, which I'll just read to you briefly. In other words, it's a brief segment excerpt. At Nectar of Instruction, verse three. In his purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda tells how powerful such a prayer can be....

'Yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmany evānupaśyati sarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁ tato na vijugupsate.' This is Śrī Īśopaniṣad (Mantra 6). Anupaśyati, as Prabhupāda explains in his purport, means that you should systematically see all living beings as parts and parcels of the Lord. And 'na vijugupsate' means, if you have that vision, that systematic vision, it doesn't mean that you suddenly try to imitate the ut...

Next is an excerpt from something that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur wrote about chanting the Holy Name of the Lord. It's entitled "Don't artificially meditate on the form of the Lord." Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta: I am overjoyed to hear that your enthusiasm for chanting is increasing. As our contaminations are removed by chanting, the Lord's form, qualities, and pastimes will be revealed to us...

There is a way in which, if we become aligned with a Vaiṣṇava and we are able to please the Vaiṣṇava, then we can understand that we are pleasing Kṛṣṇa. The other way is that when we understand clearly what Kṛṣṇa's intentions and desires are, and we know we are aligned with them properly, then we can assume that we are also pleasing Kṛṣṇa. This is because guru, sādhu, and śāstra are all in alignme...