Be attentive, be blessed

Today morning when I sat for japa the thoughts of starting new college program were swirling in the mind as I was relatively free after coming to Pune. Many times when people approach me & ask why are you spending time & money uselessly on others, I tell them "What will you do if you see somebody  committing suicide , wont you go & try to save that person", similarly a person trained in spiritual knowledge when sees a person not taking the human form of life seriously to perfect the life is committing spiritual suicide. And he can't allow that to happen
But it was a japa time & first I needed to purify myself then I could think of being instrument of assistance for others.

In spiritual life what makes any ordinary task as spiritual is the consciousness in which it done.
Any task which is done after taking blessings from the Lord & his devotees for his pleasure, brings the activity from mundane level to spiritual platform.
So the main key is being attentive, understanding that service is being done for the pleasure of the Lord.

In Kaliyuga the Lord incarnates as his Holy Names "Kalikale naam rupi Krishna Avatar"
So while chanting if I am not attentive to holyname & doing some other planning then very purpose of chanting & even activity we are planning to do is lost.
So I thought if I want to take the blessings of Krishna for the activity I am planning to do then I must be attentive in chanting & take blessings of the holynames.

So directing the mind in applying the conclusions of these thoughts I could chant remaining rounds as good as I could.

Combats with mind!

Chanting the holy names of the Lord is the most essential process of the Bhakti,
Srila Prabhupad said 99% of the advancement comes by chanting the holy names of the Lord.
Srila Prabhupad has given process of Daily chanting the names of the Lord in the morning.

So when I sit for chanting many times mind is distracted from the holyname's. After such deviation I try to fix my mind on the holyname while trying to take shelter of the shastras, or realizations which have come after studying them or after hearing from devotees. I find it very useful.

I thought of enlisting the Japa meditations for my own reference in future & it may be useful for others.


09th July 2012: Today when my mind was getting distracted while chanting. My meditation today was: Many times in neophyte stage the Sadhaka struggles with the fact "Does the Lord really exist?".
Although theoretically convinced, without practical realization, this thought sometimes haunts a devotee.
But Srila Prabhupada has written in his books that name, form , qualities & pastimes are orderly revealed to the devotee. means first the name of the Lord is revealed thne form then qualties & then pastimes.
So to expect to see to Krishna directly or perceive or get entrance into the eternal pasttimes of Krishna without first realizing the transcendence of Holy name is not possible atleast in Sadhaka bhakti process. Only when one chants sincerely, takes shelter of the holy name he will get realization that Absolute truth is fully contained in the holy names and it is non different from the holy name & then by the grace of the holy name every thing else will be revealed.

This really helped to get more focus on the chanting!