YOGA AS CHANTING OF HOLY NAMES

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Yoga as Meditation on Krsna

In India there are sacred places where yogis go to

meditate in

solitude, as prescribed in Bhagavad-gita.

Traditionally, yoga cannot be

executed in a public place, but insofar as

kirtana--mantra-yoga, or the

yoga of chanting the Hare Krsna mantra: Hare Krsna,

Hare Krsna, Krsna

Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama,

Hare Hare--is

concerned, the more people present, the better. When

Lord Caitanya

Mahaprabhu was performing kirtana in India some five

hundred years ago,

He organized in each group sixteen people to lead the

chanting, and

thousands of people chanted with them. This

participation in kirtana, in

the public chanting of the names and glories of God,

is very possible

and is actually easy in this age; but as far as the

meditational process

of yoga is concerned, that is very difficult. It is

specifically stated

in Bhagavad-gita that to perform meditational yoga one

should go to a

secluded and holy place. In other words, it is

necessary to leave home.

In this age of overpopulation it is not always

possible to find a

secluded place, but this is not necessary in

bhakti-yoga.

In the bhakti-yoga system there are nine different

processes:

hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping

the Deity in the

temple, praying, carrying out orders, serving Krsna as

a friend and

sacrificing for Him. Out of these, sravanam kirtanam,

hearing and

chanting, are considered the most important. At a

public kirtana one

person can chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna,

Hare Hare/ Hare

Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, while a group

listens, and at the

end of the mantra, the group can respond, and in this

way there is a

reciprocation of hearing and chanting. This can easily

be performed in

one's own home, with a small group of friends or with

many people in a

large public place. One may attempt to practice

meditational yoga in a

large city or in a society, but one must understand

that this is one's

own concoction and is not the method recommended in

Bhagavad-gita.

The whole process of the yoga system is to purify

oneself. And what

is this purification? Purification ensues upon the

realization of one's

actual identity. Purification is realizing that " I am

pure spirit--I am

not this matter. " Due to material contact, we are

identifying ourselves

with matter, and we are thinking, " I am this body. "

But in order to

perform real yoga one must realize his constitutional

position as being

distinct from matter. The purpose of seeking out a

secluded place and

executing the meditational process is to come to this

understanding. It

is not possible to come to this understanding if one

executes the

process improperly. In any case, this is the

consideration of Lord

Caitanya Mahaprabhu:

harer nama harer nama

harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva

nasty eva gatir anyatha

In this age of quarrel and disagreement [Kali-yuga],

there is no

 

other way of spiritual realization but this chanting

of the names. There

 

is no other way, there is no other way, there is no

other way.

It is generally thought, at least in the Western

world, that the

yoga system involves meditating on the void. But the

Vedic literatures

do not recommend meditating on any void. Rather, the

Vedas maintain that

yoga means meditation on Visnu, and this is also

maintained in Bhagavadgita.

In many yoga societies we find that people sit

cross-legged and

very straight, then close their eyes to meditate, and

so fifty percent

of them go to sleep, because when we close our eyes

and have no subject

matter for contemplation, we simply go to sleep. Of

course, this is not

recommended by Sri Krsna in Bhagavad-gita. One must

sit very straight,

and the eyes be only half-closed, gazing at the tip of

one's nose. If

one does not follow the instructions, the result will

be sleep and

nothing more. Sometimes, of course, meditation goes on

when one is

sleeping, but this is not the recommended process for

the execution of

yoga. Thus, to keep oneself awake Krsna advises that

one always keep the

tip of the nose visible. In addition, one must be

always undisturbed. If

the mind is agitated or if there is a great deal of

activity going on,

one will not be able to concentrate. In meditational

yoga one must also

be devoid of fear. There is no question of fear when

one enters

spiritual life. And one must also be brahmacari,

completely free from

sex life. Nor can there be any demands on one

meditating in this way.

When there are no demands, and one executes this

system properly, then

he can control his mind. After one has met all the

requirements for

meditation, he must transfer his whole thought to

Krsna, or Visnu. It is

not that one is to transfer his thought to vacancy.

Thus Krsna says that

one absorbed in the meditational yoga system is

" always thinking of Me. "

The yogi obviously has to go through a great deal of

difficulty to

purify the atma (mind, body and soul), but it is a

fact that this can be

done most effectively in this age simply by the

chanting of Hare Krsna,

Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare

Rama, Rama Rama,

Hare Hare. Why is this? Because this transcendental

sound vibration is

nondifferent from Krsna. When we chant His name with

devotion, then

Krsna is with us, and when Krsna is with us, then what

is the

possibility of remaining impure? Consequently, one

absorbed in Krsna

consciousness, in chanting the names of Krsna and

serving Him always,

receives the benefit of the highest form of yoga. The

advantage is that

he doesn't have to take all the trouble of the

meditational process.

That is the beauty of Krsna consciousness.