Six practices in japa that bring great results

In japa, one understanding or awareness is most important: ”I’m now chanting Krsna’s name and: He is listening to my chanting.” When you have this in place and while you keep that awareness, you can additionally invest in six practices in your japa that will bring great results in your chanting.

If you want to lose your avidya, the ignorance that covers you, your material life, and actually experience the sweetness of Krsna’s name, His form, and everything about Him, you need two things according to Rupa Gosvami. The first is something most practitioners of japa all know: you need to chant regularly, every day. The second is this mysterious word adara. It means ‘affectionate respect’.

Endeavoring to chant the Holy Name with these six principles or practices is a way to show your affectionate respect to Krsna. These six principles are mentioned in a scripture called Mantranava, which is quoted in Sanatana Gosvami’s Hari-bhakti-vilasa.

The first quality is called manah-samharanam, the concentration of the mind. When I care about communicating with someone, then I avoid inattentive listening behavior. Have you ever been in a conversation where the other person answers another phone call and while you listen you get the feeling it is something unimportant. You think, ”Couldn’t that wait? We are talking now.” And your next thought is, ”Oh I get it. For her, our conversation is not so important.” So, you make up your mind to cut it short, but when she’s finished she says, “Sorry, I’m all ears now.” You go on talking, but soon she says, ”I do have an appointment now. I didn’t want to just go and be impolite. Perhaps, you know, let’s stay in touch, if you like. Ok bye!” I think you have been in such conversations. It’s nothing of importance, nothing where the heart is in it. So, when you talk to Krsna, concentrate your mind. Bring it back, pull it in. It is very important.

The second quality is saucam, cleanliness. The Hari-bhakti-vilasa says a person who has not taken a bath is unfit for japa and Vedic sacrifices. However, for chanting Krsna’s Names this is optional. Mahaprabhu says there are no rules for chanting the holy names. But of course, if you feel your japa is not taking off, it might be that the sweat and toxins on your unwashed skin after sleep are keeping your mind dull. What is, however, important here is the principle of cleanliness and that is mostly an inner situation. You should have a pure mind, a disturbance-free mind.

The third principle is maunam, silence. This is also very important. The Hari-bhakti-vilasa says as long as one is speaking during japa, one’s japa is considered fruitless. Or course, there may be situations where you might have to interrupt your japa. However, in general, this ”Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna…What do you think about X? Krsna Krsna Hare Hare” And then the answer comes, ”Cool.” And you chant a few more mantras until: ”I’m wondering, did you see his Instagram post?” The other person goes, ”Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Rama Rama Rama, Hare Hare. … I mean he’s totally off track with this incident, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Rama Rama.” ”I thought so, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare.” And so on. I think most will agree with the sastra, this kind of japa is fruitless. If not interrupting your japa is difficult for you, you can start with not interrupting it for one round at a time.

The fourth principle is meditating on the meaning of the mantra. The word used here is bhavanam, which means ‘dwelling upon’. During your japa, you should stay with that inner feeling, that bhava, or mood, of Krsna. ”Krsna, please accept me in your service. Oh, Radha, please accept me.” You should remain in that mood. There are many other meanings of the maha-mantra, and according to the level on which you practice your japa, you will take appropriate meanings. There are very advanced meanings, and those who are advanced will find them out on their own. The main thing is you dwell on the meaning. Be there. By the way: those who lead kirtan sometimes say things like ”You are not yet chanting. Please try to focus.” This is because one can very easily hear that from the sound of the participants.

The fifth principle is avyagratvam, which means ‘no haste.’ Don’t be in a stress about finishing your rounds. The Hari-bhakti-vilasa says: Daily one should chant one’s japa in a slow, clearly pronounced manner that is neither too fast, nor too slow. One should neither chant too little of a quantity nor – interestingly – too much. If you chant a number of rounds for which you are not qualified, say 120 rounds a day, you will not be able to maintain it. I have seen devotees who went for 64 rounds during one month and afterwards they chanted almost no rounds at all anymore. Because it was too much and thus it was stressful for them to chant. Srila Prabhupada has seen us struggling with this and he has therefore given a relatively small number to be chanted by initiated devotees. And those of you who no longer chant 16 rounds, which is a significant portion of my audience, you can go back to 4 slow, conscious rounds, which you chant with affectionate respect for Krsna. Then you will see that you will like the chanting. It will not be stressful for you and you will increase it and come back to the number that was given by our Acarya. Your chanting should be sustainable and natural, and then you can chant in this ‘no-haste’ version. On the other hand, what do you think happens when Krsna hears you in a haste? ”Did you really think that satisfies Me?! What went wrong in your thinking?” Of course, it’s not all black and white. There are situations where the day is very full, and you absolutely want to keep your vow of chanting sixteen rounds, which is the understanding when we give vows. We keep them. It’s to our disadvantage if we break these types of vows, because they are important in relationship with the most important, Krsna. But what you need to understand is, your chanting should be done without haste.

And the sixth point is anirveda. I like this very much. Nirvedo means dejection, hopelessness. Anirveda is the opposite, non-dejection. For this one needs to understand: The Supreme Lord is pleased by everyone who tries to satisfy Him. You may need to reconsider your Abrahamic upbringing, that impressed upon you that God punishes those who are bad. God encourages those who try their best. He is pleased with whatever is done. So there is no reason to be dejected.
The Padma Purana even says (and Rupa Gosvami quotes this in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu) that within the heart of someone who is overwhelmed with lamentation or anger there is no possibility that Krsna will be manifest. Because when you are angry or when you are dejected, you are only with yourself, but not with God. The Lord can change you. So, practice non-dejection.

These are six ways in which you can express your affectionate respect to Krsna.

To summarize: in these six ways you can express your affectionate respect to Krsna:

1. manah-samharanam, the concentration of the mind
2. saucam, cleanliness
3. maunam, silence
4. bhavanam*, meditating on the meaning of the mantra
5. avyagratvam, without haste
6. anirveda, without being dejected

*also called mantrartha-cintanam

Form a lecture by Sacinandana Swami at Goloka-dhama, Dec. 31, 2023.

Srila Prabhupada: How to get free from external activities

Unless one is able to relish happiness from within, how can one retire from the external engagements meant for deriving superficial happiness? A liberated person enjoys happiness by factual experience. He can, therefore, sit silently at any place and enjoy the activities of life from within. Such a liberated person no longer desires external material happiness. This state is called brahma-bhuta, attaining which one is assured of going back to Godhead, back to home

From Srila Prabhupada’s purport on Bhagavad-gita 5.24