The holy name reveals everything

Shortly after returning from Vienna/Austria to Simhachalam/Germany at the end of September, I went on another trip to Czech Republic. We had scheduled a Holy Name Retreat over a long weekend on the farm outside of Prague. Despite the Corona infection rate increasing from day to day, it was rather well attended by around 35 devotees who are part of the farm community. Devotees from other parts of the country did not have the courage to come and attend.

As always during such retreats, the mood was deep and focused, and meditative and sweet. Devotees got together in groups and demonstrated nice role-plays - how to chant and how not to chant, in japa as well as in kirtan. These role-plays always add a good sense of humor and deepen the learning experience; and devotees can interact and make a contribution in order to put together an illustrative little play.

At the closing session, devotees shared heart-moving experiences and realizations. Some expressed how this retreat gave them fresh hope in regards to their relationship with the holy name. They were able to take home some clear tools and principles to implement. Now the real work starts for each and every participant personally - including my humble self....

We may be wondering how we will come to understand our eternal relationship with the Lord. As we know, dasya (servitude) is the foundation to all other rasa’s such as sakhya (love in friendship), vatsalya (parental love) and madhurya (conjugal love). In other words, sakhya or friendship includes servitorship in addition to the flavour of friendship. Parental love includes servitorship and friendship and adds the special flavour of parental love. And conjugal love includes the mood of servitorship, friendship, parental affection and adds the special flavour of conjugal love. In this way, dasya is the foundation to all of them.

We first will have to be firmly established in the mood of servitorship; therefore all other desires and designations of being the enjoyer and controller have to be cleansed away. Only then will Krishna reveal more regarding our eternal position in relation to Him. Understanding this fact, we can realise how we have a lot of work ahead of us, beginning with chanting while longing to serve. Only this kind of chanting will establish us firmly in dasya. There is no need to be concerned about anything else, or try to artificially jump to higher levels. The Lord will eventually reveal everything to us.
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When a devotee, who is not yet firmly established in dasya, tries to see Radha and Krishna or remember Their pastimes while chanting the holy name, there is a danger that tinges of the enjoying spirit may enter his consciousness: ‘Radha and Krishna have such a pleasant time together; I also want to be there with Them…’ This kind of chanting feeds the enjoying mentality and will not establish us in dasya; thus it should be carefully avoided.

When a devotee, who is firmly established in dasya, spontaneously remembers Radha and Krishna while chanting, their only thought will be: ‘Radharani is the most expert servant. She knows more than anybody else how to please Krishna. I wish I could learn from her how to serve…!’ And all he will think of is how to serve more and more...

These are the two main keys that help us to cultivate the right quality of feeling while chanting – turning to Krishna in helplessness while longing to serve. In this way, we can understand the chanting of the holy name to be a very deep science. It is not an external matter of simply mechanically completing our prescribed number of rounds. Rather, it is an internal process of developing a certain mood and attitude within the heart, which gradually condenses into pure love for Krishna.

I spent another ten days on the farm connecting with the devotees and returned to Simhachalam on the 10th of October. My driver took the little back roads through the forest to safely cross the border into Germany....

Your servant, Devaki dd