haribol,of late i have been feeling very low in spirit about having no physical association of devotees of the lord for 3 years now not even a telephone call. i cannot travel due the nature of my illnesses which also by their nature can cause predjudice.i used to love communal chanting and harinam when the body allowed and do know or remember being told that one needs these two activities to help ones japa , please please please anyone can advise me.hare krishna subal

TESTING

If you cannot be at sankirtan,buy a tape!
the desire you have,is what is important.
If the desire is to gain fame,wealth,power,even if you chant and live with devotees,you are not advancing in spiritual consciousness.
The lord is desirous of pure devotion,not the so called devotion, of material desire mixed with devotional activities.

thankyou shiva,that rings true deep down what you say,and i will treasure your answer.haribol subal

subal,

Although not physically restricted I find myself, by nature, "alone" often.

We are never truly alone though, as we know, as Supersoul has so kindly accompanied us.And where He is His devotees are also.

You are surrounded by well wishers.

To help remember this I make use of tapes for kirtan.Just put on a tape of Prabhupada chanting and respond as he leads.

I do the same for when chanting japa at home.Prabhupada's japa tape gets me through some rounds and helps stop my mind from wandering.

I have recently been following these forums and that helps also.Even though I can't track along with all the discussions,especially those that pertain to higher rasa and sanskrit.Still it helps to keep me in some kind of focus.

The material condition is always a bad bargain and our situations are very ackward.So it seems we must just find the best use of what we have and trust in Krsna to place us in situations that are even more favorable.

Things can work for the best.Our seeming isolation for instance may increase our desire and appreciation for the Lord's ever presence.It can cause us to dive deep into our japa and prayer.

Stick with us here and let's advance towards Him together.

Your ally and bro.,
theist