Hayagriva Prabhu, a young brahmacari from Montreal had attended our Holy Name Retreat in Ekachakra two years ago, and it had been a life-changing experience for him, deeply impacting his spiritual practice. Thereafter he had traveled around Canada sharing different principles of the discussed topics with devotees here and there, and he had requested me to come to Canada to offer a Holy Name Retreat. And when he heard that I was scheduled to give courses in Montreal and Toronto he immediately took up the mission of arranging for a retreat and invited the devotees from all the surrounding yatras to come together to deepen their relationship with the holy name.
| He had rented a Vietnamese Buddhist Center an hour's drive away from Ottawa, situated between Toronto and Montreal. Surrounded by nature and forests it was a perfect place to go into seclusion. Around 70 devotees from the three yatras of Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa assembled, with also some male disciples of Srila Prabhupada joining to give us their association. We had devotees there from all backgrounds: Russian, French Canadian, American Canadian, Indian - a wonderful opportunity to unite on the basis of chanting the holy name..... |  |
Devotees were very eager, and the mood was personal, sweet and deep. I divided the audience into groups, and each group prepared nice role plays illustrating various aspects of inattentiveness on the level of the heart. This was the main and foremost theme of the entire retreat: bringing the holy name to the level of the heart. As Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur had said: "Make your chanting heart-deep, not just lip-deep."
And we deeply explored the meaning of this instruction....
And we deeply explored the meaning of this instruction....
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Sometimes the question comes up what is more important - japa or kirtan? Some answer japa, and some say kirtan. Both are important in their own ways.
Interesting to understand the difference between the two practices. Japa is more internal work, establishing deeply the connection with the Lord within our own heart. It is more tapasya - infact it is hard work! We may realize how difficult it really is to mindfully turn towards the Lord and call out to Him, begging to be allowed to serve Him and His devotees. This indicates how little our relationship with Krsna is actually established. We have ignored Him for so many life times! It requires a thorough paradime shift, giving up our mood of cutting Him out of the picture. Our fear of death proves how fragile this relationship is at present. If we were firmly connected with the Lord, we would proportionally become free from our fear of leaving this body. We would joyfully meet this glorious moment to finally join Him in His abode.....
Good japa is the foundation to kirtan. It gives kirtan the purity and spiritual strength. Unless we establish our relationship with Krsna in japa, it will be very difficult to connect with Him in kirtan. Kirtan offers more distractions: the tune, the instruments, the rythm, the audience. Without solid japa kirtan will easily turn into enjoyable music, and an opportunity for us to show off in some way or another. Especially as kirtan leader we will not be able to give spiritual power to our kirtan unless it is based on following the four regulative principles and chanting good rounds. Japa is the very foundation to kirtan and gives the potency to transform the hearts of those who join it, or just hear it on harinam in the streets.
Hearing regularly Srimad Bhagavatam is the very foundation to japa. Unless we hear regularly, our japa will not reach a deeper level. Sambandha-jnana has to be deeply established in our heart in order to be able to sincerely turn towards Krsna and call out to Him. Hearing again and again will firmly establish this knowledge of our relationship with Krsna in our consciousness, and thus it will become natural to turn towards Him.
So Srimad Bhagavatam is the foundation to japa, and japa is the foundation to kirtan. Those three aspects are directly dependant on each other.
Interesting to understand the difference between the two practices. Japa is more internal work, establishing deeply the connection with the Lord within our own heart. It is more tapasya - infact it is hard work! We may realize how difficult it really is to mindfully turn towards the Lord and call out to Him, begging to be allowed to serve Him and His devotees. This indicates how little our relationship with Krsna is actually established. We have ignored Him for so many life times! It requires a thorough paradime shift, giving up our mood of cutting Him out of the picture. Our fear of death proves how fragile this relationship is at present. If we were firmly connected with the Lord, we would proportionally become free from our fear of leaving this body. We would joyfully meet this glorious moment to finally join Him in His abode.....
Good japa is the foundation to kirtan. It gives kirtan the purity and spiritual strength. Unless we establish our relationship with Krsna in japa, it will be very difficult to connect with Him in kirtan. Kirtan offers more distractions: the tune, the instruments, the rythm, the audience. Without solid japa kirtan will easily turn into enjoyable music, and an opportunity for us to show off in some way or another. Especially as kirtan leader we will not be able to give spiritual power to our kirtan unless it is based on following the four regulative principles and chanting good rounds. Japa is the very foundation to kirtan and gives the potency to transform the hearts of those who join it, or just hear it on harinam in the streets.
Hearing regularly Srimad Bhagavatam is the very foundation to japa. Unless we hear regularly, our japa will not reach a deeper level. Sambandha-jnana has to be deeply established in our heart in order to be able to sincerely turn towards Krsna and call out to Him. Hearing again and again will firmly establish this knowledge of our relationship with Krsna in our consciousness, and thus it will become natural to turn towards Him.
So Srimad Bhagavatam is the foundation to japa, and japa is the foundation to kirtan. Those three aspects are directly dependant on each other.
A relationship does not develop automatically, simply by time passing by. We have this experience also here in this material world: to bring any relationship to deeper levels requires conscious effort and endeavor, it requires the willingness to serve and sacrifice our energy for the satisfaction of the other person. And it all begins by being mindful of the
other person's presence in our life....
We spent a wonderful time together, with devotees receiving deep transformations, which strengthened their faith in the process of chanting the holy name. It was well spent time in the association of wonderful devotees.....
On the 14th of June I boarded a direct flight to Zuerich/Switzerland - returning back to Europe......
Your servant, Devaki dd
other person's presence in our life....
We spent a wonderful time together, with devotees receiving deep transformations, which strengthened their faith in the process of chanting the holy name. It was well spent time in the association of wonderful devotees.....
On the 14th of June I boarded a direct flight to Zuerich/Switzerland - returning back to Europe......
Your servant, Devaki dd
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