Niranjana Swami's Quote Of The Day

Topic

October 24

At initiation, we should not foolishly think that now that we have the holy name, we have somehow increased our prestige. Rather, have firm faith and execute your prescribed duties, primary among them to chant the holy name. Perform all your duties prescribed according to your position—whether you are a brahmacari, grihastha, vanaprastha, or sannyasi, without disturbance. If you perform your Krishna conscious activities with firm faith in hearing and chanting about Krishna, you will see that gradually you will lose the natural attachment connected to these duties and become more attached to Krishna.
(LFD, Vol2, Faith—The Price for the Holy Name, Pg 94, 2nd paragraph)

October 23

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in Harinama Cintamani that if we do not awaken faith, and through nama initiation we are given the holy name, we will inevitably commit offenses to the Lord’s holy name. Giving intiation to someone who does not possess faith is like giving fancy clothes to a monkey; it will simply rip them up. So, have faith in chanting the holy name and understand its value. Don’t see initiation as a way to gain prestige. Don’t look for recognition as a Vaisnava. If you seek recognition, you will soon want people to serve you. And you will think you don’t have to worry about whatever bad reputation you had in the past, because now you are in a perfect position for your own enjoyment. Such a mentality means that you want to engage the holy name in your own service. It means you have no appreciation for the real value of the holy name—that it can take you to the transcendental platform and establish you in your eternal relationship with Krishna.
(LFD, Vol2, Faith—The Price for the Holy Name, Pg 93, 2nd paragraph)

October 22

By the power of devotional service, our material anxieties gradually decrease. Why? Because gradually we learn to find our true shelter in hearing and chanting about Krishna. If we chant and hear attentively with devotion, we will easily tolerate the upheavals of the material world. For example, Kholaveca Sridhara sold banana leaf cups and plates for a living. Every day he set up his wares, then took fifty percent of his earnings to maintain himself and used the other fifty percent to worship the Ganges. At that time as now, selling banana leaf cups and plates was not a lucrative business. There are many banana trees in Bengal and Sridhara had a lot of competition. Still, he set up shop each day and sold what he could. He was not disturbed by his meager profit; he was peaceful. Actually, he was not drawing his satisfaction from selling banana leaf cups and plates but from chanting Hare Krishna. He sold his wares simply as a matter of duty, and he remained detached from the fruits of his work. Thus he had no material anxiety, even though he was poverty-stricken.
(LFD, Vol2, Faith—The Price for the Holy Name, Pg 91, 3rd paragraph)

October 21

Pundra (referring to urdhva-pundra) means to decorate the body with Vaisnava tilaka. It also means “effulgence.” When we reduce our bodily conception of life by increasing our attachment to the Supreme Lord through hearing and chanting, we become happy, our anxieties diminish, and we develop an effulgence. Those on the bodily platform experience so much anxiety, and sometimes foolish people think that the only way to free themselves from anxiety is to renounce everything. But that is not how to become free of anxiety—especially if one maintains material desires in the heart. We are supposed to have faith in the process of devotional service, which will gradually awaken renunciation in the heart. But if this faith in the devotional process has not yet been awakened, and if we simply renounce whatever troubles us in our life, it will only make our heart hard. Renunciation is something that must awaken in the heart with the dawn of devotional attachment.
(LFD, Vol2, Faith—The Price for the Holy Name, Pg 90 and Pg 91)

October 20

Tapah refers to austerities. We must voluntarily accept inconvenience or physical austerity for a higher purpose. Sometimes we think that austerities mean we have to put ourselves into a suffering condition, but Srila Prabhupada explained in a lecture in 1976 that one need not place himself in a circle of fire in the middle of the summer, or submerge himself in cold water in the middle of winter, in order to perform some austerities. Rather, our austerity is to strictly follow our spiritual master’s instructions. The results of all other austerities are then automatically achieved. The purpose of all austerity is to reduce the bodily conception of life, which is the cause of material bondage. It is extremely difficult to overcome ahankara, false ego. Because of false ego we identify ourselves with the body, its extensions, and to everything we feel we require to satisfy the body’s needs. Of course, when we satisfy the Lord by our austerities, we feel spiritually satisfied and automatically our bodily conception of life decreases.
(LFD, Vol2, Faith—The Price for the Holy Name, Pg 90, 3rd paragraph)

October 19

The acaryas explain that when Nityananda goes out to sell the holy name, first He gives a free sample of His ecstasy of love for Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sometimes people go out to the streets to hand out free samples of shampoo, laundry detergent, or whatever. The purpose of such distribution is to entice you to come back and purchase a bigger bottle at the full price. Lord Nityananda used the same method, giving out small samples of His deep compassion and His intense service attitude toward Lord Caitanya. He wanted to give everyone the holy name, and this intensity caused anyone who saw Him to become affected by His desire. Just seeing Lord Nityananda awakened faith in others’ hearts. Thus He gave both the holy name and the faith required to taste it.
(LFD, Vol2, Faith—The Price for the Holy Name, Pg 88, 3rd paragraph)

October 18

We should analyze our japa habits. Sometimes we speak to others during japa, but we would be better to speak to them after we have finished our rounds. If everyone agrees not to disturb anyone else’s japa, then everyone will be free to chant their quota without distraction. If we are motivated, we will find the means to chant without distraction. And if we want to go beyond simple listening to real meditation, we have to at least start with listening and learn to control the mind. Srila Prabhupada said that there are three important ways to fix the mind on the holy name: listen, listen, listen.
(LFD, Vol2, Chanting Purely, Pg 105, last paragraph)

October 17

It is also a good habit to be determined that we will not do anything else in the day until we have completed our japa quota. Not finishing all our rounds in a sitting should be the exception rather than the rule. Some people’s work schedules may make such a thing impossible, but we should chant as many rounds at one time as we can, and in the case of the person with the job, the rest of the rounds should be completed when he or she returns from work in the evening.
(LFD, Vol2, Chanting Purely, Pg 105, 4th paragraph)

October 16

The great endeavor to control the mind may actually contribute to fatigue while chanting, but what especially contributes to fatigue is that we have no taste. If there is no taste, chant anyway as a matter of duty and taste will eventually come. We will not be able to force taste for the holy name. Taste comes only by the Lord’s will. To the degree that we are determined to chant despite a lack of taste or that we become tired by the effort, we will gradually begin to feel progress in our chanting.

(LFD, Vol2, Chanting Purely, Pg 105, 3rd paragraph)

October 15

Actually, there are progressive steps to chanting. Before we begin chanting, we must first convince ourselves that any thoughts that arise while chanting that are not helping us become more fixed on the holy name are unwanted. Identifying them may be a challenge in itself, since our tendency is to justify them, especially when they are connected to our service. Nonetheless, we must convince ourselves that they are unwanted while we are chanting. Then we should concentrate simply on hearing the holy name. By hearing continuously very attentively, meditation on the holy name will deepen to meditation on the Lord’s form. While we may now find ourselves meditating more on our service in this world, we should know that there are more elevated levels of service that we can perform that reveal themselves to us when we learn to deeply meditate on Krishna’s name—service such as assisting the Vraja-gopis by perhaps making flower garlands, carrying messages, or some other type of personal service rendered to the Divine Couple. Such elevated meditation cannot be forced. Still, if we want to achieve it, we must begin with the first step of focusing the mind in attentive hearing.
(LFD, Vol2, Chanting Purely, Pg 104, 2nd paragraph)

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