{"id":7723,"date":"2022-12-23T08:15:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T02:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/?p=7723"},"modified":"2023-04-12T07:55:28","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T02:25:28","slug":"questions-and-answers-on-nama-tattva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/writings\/krishna-talk-articles\/srila-bhakti-gaurava-narasingha-maharaja\/questions-and-answers-on-nama-tattva\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions and Answers on N\u0101ma-Tattva"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question: How can we have an ecstatic k\u012brtana<\/em>?<\/h3>\n

Answer: <\/strong>When someone says, \u201cLet\u2019s have an ecstatic k\u012brtana<\/em>!\u201d what they should actually be saying is, \u201cLet us try<\/em><\/span> to have an ecstatic k\u012brtana<\/em>.\u201d You can\u2019t just have an ecstatic k\u012brtana<\/em>. Ecstatic k\u012brtana<\/em> may just be youthful exuberance, and I may also add that a \u2018really sweet mellow k\u012brtana\u2019<\/em> might just be your old age \u2013 it might not be the mellows of the Holy Name at all.<\/p>\n

It is said that when \u015ar\u012bla Gaura Ki\u015bora D\u0101sa B\u0101b\u0101j\u012b chanted japa,<\/em> which was sometimes on a rag tied in knots, until he got the dar\u015bana<\/em> of the Holy Name he wouldn\u2019t stop chanting. He would sometimes go on for the better part of a week non-stop, day and night, without sleep or food. Now someone may say, \u201cBut K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is non-different than His Name, so as soon as you\u2019re chanting His Name, He\u2019s there!\u201d Yes, but K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is playing hide and seek. Within the Name, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is keeping Himself a little bit in the shadows and He may give His dar\u015bana<\/em> or He may not. But there has to be a particular type of insistence, a particular type of hope from the devotee, \u201cI can\u2019t live without Your dar\u015bana<\/em>. I cannot live without Your presence.\u201d Until K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a revealed Himself, Gaura Ki\u015bora D\u0101sa B\u0101b\u0101j\u012b wouldn\u2019t leave the Name.<\/p>\n

Then how is it that someone can say, \u201cLet\u2019s have an ecstatic k\u012brtana<\/em>\u201d? What makes an ecstatic k\u012brtana<\/em>? It is not our doing \u2013 it is His doing. He chooses! He may come and be present in our k\u012brtana,<\/em> or He may keep Himself in the fog. Actually we<\/em><\/span> are in the fog! He may keep us in the fog because we don\u2019t qualify for that.<\/p>\n

Question: Do you have to be initiated to lead k\u012brtana<\/em>?<\/h3>\n

Answer: <\/strong>The answer is yes. Of course, if there\u2019s nobody around and you haven\u2019t been initiated, then you will try your best. But the process of initiation is to be accepted in the descending line of the mercy and the potency. Those who are out of that line will not have the potency to chant the Holy Name. Bhaktivinoda \u1e6ch\u0101kura says that k\u012brtana<\/em> should be led by a pure devotee. What does that mean? That means our chanting must be under the direction of pure devotees of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a that everyone acknowledges.<\/p>\n

To lead k\u012brtana<\/em>, one should be initiated, but what is that? Is it just the formality of a process? At the most basic level, it is described in Hari-bhakti-vil\u0101sa<\/em> that one who has received vi\u1e63\u1e47u-mantra<\/em> is considered a Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava. Of course, we have seen many people receive vi\u1e63\u1e47u-mantra<\/em>, or k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a-mantra<\/em> and not do very well. So what is initiation? It is not just a ritual. It is an internal process of accepting, and being accepted by K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s representative into K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s family. D\u012bk\u1e63\u0101<\/em> means admittance.<\/p>\n

Actually, you don\u2019t have to be initiated to chant the Holy Name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. Anyone can chant. Otherwise why do we tell people, \u201cChant Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u201d? But when people go away and chant Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and they\u2019re not initiated, what is that? At best, that is n\u0101m\u0101bh\u0101sa<\/em> \u2013 this means freedom from karma.<\/em> It is purifying to the intelligence and mind, the senses become elated and one may even achieve liberation in the sense of freedom from misery of all types. N\u0101m\u0101bh\u0101sa<\/em> is very glorious, but it will never produce k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a-prema.<\/em> So there the line is drawn. For k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a-prema<\/em>, you have to be given admittance by the representatives of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a into the K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a-clan. So do we have to be initiated to lead k\u012brtana<\/em>? It is in our best interest to be guided by guru and the Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas.<\/p>\n

Question: What is more important, service or chanting?<\/h3>\n

Answer: <\/strong>What does chanting mean? \u201cOh K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, please engage me in Your service.\u201d That feeling should be there. I will give an example \u2013 you are sitting in the temple chanting. Suddenly the p\u016bj\u0101r\u012b<\/em> sticks his head out of the p\u016bj\u0101r\u012b<\/em> room and says, \u201cPrabhu, can you clean the brass?\u201d And you say, \u201cNo, I\u2019m busy chanting my rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are praying, \u201cGive me some service, give me some service\u201d then service comes and we say, \u201cNo, I\u2019m busy praying for service!\u201d Of course, there is some system \u2013 you have to get your rounds chanted, so you have regulation, but don\u2019t neglect spontaneous service. It may be the answer to your prayers. Step forward!<\/p>\n

Question: It has been said that when one attains the spiritual world, the Holy Name goes to the background, and the l\u012bl\u0101<\/em> of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a comes to the foreground. But here in this world it\u2019s just the opposite. In this world, the Holy Name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is in the foreground, and the l\u012bl\u0101<\/em> of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is in the background. So why is this?<\/h3>\n

Answer: <\/strong>There are several things we have to understand. One is that Goloka is the pure world and this is the impure world. In many ways this world is impure, and this world requires purification. Therefore the Holy Name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a comes forward in this world to purify the fallen souls who take the Holy Name in the proper way and experience purification. Along with that purification will come the ability to understand. This is the stage of sambandha-j\u00f1\u0101na.<\/em> \u201cWhat is K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a? Why do we this? Why does this happen?\u201d There are so many \u2018whys.\u2019 When we advance and are purified beyond doubts, then we begin to say \u2018how\u2019 \u2013 \u201cHow can I serve? How can I be of assistance? How do I become a better devotee?\u201d The category of questions develops. This is the middle stage known as abhidheya<\/em>. Then the higher stage of devotion is called prayojana<\/em>. At the first stage of prayojana<\/em>, all questions stop. There is no necessity of any question because there are no doubts. There is no lack of knowledge. Everything is known, and one is simply concerned with loving K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n

But then after some time, a new set of \u2018whys\u2019 and \u2018hows\u2019 develop \u2013 \u201cWhy is K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a treating me like this? Why is K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a not present before me? How to please K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a?\u201d You have heard some of the things that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a does \u2013 sometimes He does not appear before His devotee. Sometimes He neglects His devotee. Sometimes He says cruel words to His devotee because He wants to extract some aspect of their love. He wants to see their tears. Sometimes parents tease their children. The child wants some candy, and the parent will hand it to him and then pull their hand back and make the child cry. They enjoy that. Similarly, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a wants to enjoy His devotees. He wants to see them cry for Him. That is his prerogative as the Supreme Lord. Thus the devotee may say at that time, \u201cWhy is K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a doing this to me?\u201d But that stage is way, way ahead of us.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t think that the Holy Name is like a bus \u2013 it just gets you to a place and then you get off. When it is said that the Holy Name retires, it\u2019s not like the bus driver gets out, the journey is over and you go on to your house. The Name is not like that. The Name is there, but in a different form. It is there in the active l\u012bl\u0101<\/em> of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. We can understand how the vehicle of the Holy Name helps us and takes us to k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a-l\u012bl\u0101<\/em>, and then manifests the l\u012bl\u0101<\/em> of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, and at the same time goes into the background. It\u2019s a very different thing. Just like in this world we say, \u201cYou\u2019re not the body.\u201d But if you go to Goloka or Vaiku\u1e47\u1e6dha, and you tell somebody, \u201cYou\u2019re not this body.\u201d They\u2019ll say, \u201cYou\u2019re wrong\u201d because there they are<\/em> the body. The Holy Name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is non-different than K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a Himself. When we come in association with the Name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a we become purified. The Holy Name is not only a purifying agent \u2013 all the l\u012bl\u0101<\/em> of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is present within the Holy Name. It is wrapped in that absolute, eternal, divine sound.<\/p>\n

Question: Some devotees have some musical background before coming to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a consciousness. What is your advice to them when they do k\u012brtana<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Keep it simple! If you want to pick up your guitar and play some music because you have some musical ability, that\u2019s fine \u2013 but don\u2019t drag your music into the Holy Name. It\u2019s not necessary. Just use some simple melody to accompany the Holy Name. For example, if you make an offering for K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a you might put a few flowers on the offering plate \u2013 but you don\u2019t bury the offering in flowers! That\u2019s not how you make an offering. So music is there to accompany the Holy Name and to helps the audience keep the tune. Most people in the world can\u2019t sing so the music helps them keep the tempo etc.That\u2019s the beauty of simple music. It\u2019s not necessary to go all over the place! Don\u2019t do that. Just sing a simple melody and keep it going strong. Don\u2019t switch the melody every four bars of the mah\u0101-mantra. <\/em> You don\u2019t have to keep changing it.<\/p>\n

Question: Why is it we sometimes hear the mah\u0101-mantra <\/em>sung in two parts.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Yes, it is often divided. First the devotee leading the k\u012brtana<\/em> will sing \u2018Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a…\u2019 and the chorus repeats, then he chants \u2018Hare R\u0101ma Hare R\u0101ma…\u2019 Iskcon never does that, and when they hear us doing it they say, \u201cWhat is this? It\u2019s some Gau\u1e0d\u012bya Matha thing! They\u2019re breaking the Holy Name! That\u2019s not how Prabhup\u0101da chanted.\u201d Wrong! There\u2019s even a tape they play in their temples, but they don\u2019t pay attention to it \u2013 Prabhup\u0101da is singing the first half of the mah\u0101<\/em>–mantra<\/em> himself and then he repeats it. Then he sings the second half of the mah\u0101-mantra<\/em> and then he repeats that. I wonder where he learned that from. He learned it in Gau\u1e0d\u012bya Ma\u1e6dha. That\u2019s our parampar\u0101<\/em>. If you don\u2019t know about Gau\u1e0d\u012bya Ma\u1e6dha then it means you don\u2019t know our parampar\u0101<\/em>. It\u2019s as simple as that.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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