chanting not the only way

[Guest guest]

in the srimand bhagavan's translation of the Gita it is said in one of the commentaries that the only way to get Krishna Consciousness in our present age (and at this point he quotes Caitanya) you must chant that Hare-Krishna chant.

i think this is just absurd to feel that self-realization can ONLY be acquired in the present by such a method.

 

[Max_ 0]

It's just our method.

[kcp1982 0]

Hare krishna.

 

I agree that chanting isn't the only way.

 

The SB states 9 methods of devotional service, not one.

 

One method may work well for one person but not all, that's why the SB has 9 methods.

 

 

[Guest guest]

what are the 9 methods? where do i find the referances to them?

[Guest guest]

chanting is the only method in kali yuga.... all other methods work perfectly if they're combined with chanting.. otherwise it is possible to make advancement but not to definitively come back to godhead..

 

it is one of the tenth offenses to believe that something has the same effectiveness of the chanting/meditating on the Lord's name

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

The SB says there are 9 methods of devotional service.

 

In Kali Yuga, especially in the future, in about 10,000-15,000 years time or sooner. The people will become so dumb such that giving a lecture on the BG other KC material will be a waste of time as the people will be too dumb to understand. The only thing that people would be able to do is to chant, which is easy and doesn't much intelligence. That's why chanting is the prescribed method for this age. But for now, we can follow other methods, if we wish.

 

 

 

 

 

[mark 0]

Srila Prabhupada wrote in the purport Srimad Bhagavatam, book 1 chap 9 text43:

"The devotional service of the Lord consists of nine principles of service activities, and they are (1) hearing, (2) chanting, (3) remembering, (4) serving the lotus feet, (5) worshiping, (6) praying, (7) executing the orders, (8) fraternizing, and (9) fully surrendering. Any one of them or all of them are equally competent to award the desired result, but they require to be practiced persistently under the guidance of an expert devotee of the Lord. The first item, hearing, is the most important item of all, and therefore hearing of the Bhagavad-gétä and, later on, Çrémad-Bhägavatam is essential for the serious candidate."

 

I guess this means you first have to hear about the chanting and Lord Krishna before you can actually start your own chanting, but please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Hope this helps.

Hare Krishna

Mark

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

You can start the hearing method now by listening to the Bhagavad-gita at gitamrta.org

 

In English, Sanskrit, Hindi, and Arabic.

 

 

[gopalapriyadas 0]

In his address on the tenth anniversary of ISKCON in Washington D.C., on 6/7/76, Srila Prabhupada said: "Actually, to practice yoga, one has to undergo so many austerities, penances, and rules and regulations. In one or two cases these practices may be successful, but not for the general mass of people. People in this age are very unfortunate and disturbed by so many external factors; therefore it is very difficult to execute the yoga system or perform costly sacrifices. Therefore, because the other systems will not be successful in this age, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu introduced these two things, sankirtana [chanting the names of God] and Srimad-Bhagavatam."

 

harer nama harer nama

harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva

nasty eva gatir anyatha

 

"In this age of Kali, there is no other religion than glorifying the Lord by utterance of His holy name, and that is the injunction of all the revealed scriptures. There is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other way." (Brihan-naradiya Purana)

 

[vishnu 0]

what matters far more is being Good to others.

For it is written:you shall serve the JHWH (krishna) your God with all your heart and mind and soul. the second commandment, equal to that , is:Love thy neighbor like thyself. To this hangs the entire prophets and scripture.

[Nrsinghadev 0]

No, this does not matter more because just being good to others doesn't take you back to Godhead and is a natural side effect of devotional service anyway. No, it's Like Gopalapriya already quoted and any other speculation is nonsensical:

 

harer nama harer nama

harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva

nasty eva gatir anyatha

 

"In this age of Kali, there is no other religion than glorifying the Lord by utterance of His holy name, and that is the injunction of all the revealed scriptures. There is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other way." (Brihan-naradiya Purana)

 

That leaves no questions, it can't be put more simple and clear than that. Christians used to chant on their rosebeads, they should pick up the practice.

 

Haribol!

[vishnu 0]

well, i am still singing in church /images/graemlins/smile.gif

and indeed, it makes me feel real peaceful.

kneeling too. but if that peace is not translated into a good, kind hearts to others, its just like your being unkind to krishna himself.

after all, how do you know if that particular wanderer you mett is a human, or God in disguise?

[Nrsinghadev 0]

Singing in church is good, it's glorifying the Lord so it's proper. Like I said, being good to others occurs quite naturally if one correctly practices devotional service and attains love of God by chanting his holy names. Advanced devotees see the Lord's presence in everything, from the birds to the trees to the most demonic of humans. But just doing good and nothing else doesn't lead to salvation because I can do good without surrendering to God. We may know if that particular wanderer is jiva or God in disguise by observing whether he is full in all six opulences.

 

Haribol!

[vishnu 0]

i dont know what six opulences are, but i dont like the sound of it. i know that God wants people to love each other like they love him (more than their own life) and i know he deliberately cloakes himself as the least of His own.

[Guest guest]

i'm the guy who put the very first post

i still am not convinced that chanting is a prescribed method for the "dumb" in the future as one person called it nor should it be done w/out any understanding

and i definitely don't feel it is the only method of this present era

i think the key is to be concerned w/ our sowing rather than our reaping

why do you guys chant?

so you can be reborn in a higher loka? what good is that, reaping w/out understanding or for mere rewards?

i respect and honour all methods that will elevate one's consciousness towards God, for it is natural and it is blissful to carry out the will of our beloved

i feel if chanting is your method, chant w/ understanding with your entire mind and heart in unison like it is a new prayer, afresh for the Supreme of the Universe

my concern is with devotees of this manner, that spontenaity of the moment will be lost in due repetion of a chant and mere self-hynosis will occur where one is easily susceptable to follow a leader and not experience aloness which is essential for the realization of the Lord

[Guest guest]

You only need to chant:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama, Hare Hare

 

Anytime, anyplace, in your mind, out loud, however you want. It is just important that you chant. It is a direct way of connecting with Krishna.

 

In the book Chant and Be Happy, by His divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada writes "these sixteen names composed of thirty-two syllables are the only means to counteract the evil effects of Kali-yuga. In all the Vedas it is seen that to cross the ocean of nescience there is no alternative to chanting the holy name." pg 73

"The vedic scriptures predict that although the age of Kali is the most degraded of all, the chanting of the Hare Krishna Mantra will dramatically alter the present war-torn, hate-filled atmosphere of he world." pg 74

 

I don't agree with it being prescribed for the "dumb". Many devotees are among the most intelligent people in the world. It does not matter what your intelligence is, your skin color, caste, whatever. Any soul can and must chant if they want to go back to Godhead. Period.

Hare Krishna!

 

 

[Guest guest]

its the first guy again

such chants are necessary to return back to Godhead?

what bout the modern masters and mystics of our time?

for example: Ramakrishna who attained realization through pure bhakti, Krishnamurti who attained realization through Jnana, Rajnesh (Osho), Maharishi, Eckhart Tolle, Jon Peniel, Paramahansa Yogananda, etc..etc...

these are a short list of realized jeevas who have attained in the past 100 years or a bit more and not by the means of chanting

friend, please do not mistaken that the only way in the present age to attain Godhead is through ONE prescribed method.

first i suggest you experience the Lord around you, as he exists in the all, experience him with all your heart and mind b4 you make a conclusion.

if there is anything about the Hindu faith that has sustained it in India after many persecutions it would have to me its immense diversity and acceptance of the varying paths to God

i'm sure if not on this planet or if not in our past the moral of humanity have been worse yet during such times men/women have prevailed the anarchy of their self

 

there are many paths to God, each path custom for the individual with respect to their individual karma

 

the truth is not dogmatic, and by proclaiming there is only ONE path to God you become no better than the religions that squabble over their customs and oversee, you take a dogmatic approach in life and worry more and distract from customs and rituals rather than the experience and realization of what is truly important...to Love God with all your heart soul and mind

[Guest guest]

where in the BG does Krisha prescribe chanting to Arjuna?

[Guest guest]

"where in the BG does Krisha prescribe chanting to Arjuna?"

 

krsna prescribes "surrender to me..", "remember me..." and he recommends to do it following a real spiritual master belonging to the parampara coming directly from krsna, in the verse "tadd viddi pranipatena.."

 

and now the real spiritual masters recommend to remember and surrender through chanting hare krsna

 

so there's many ways to let us more close to god.. but no other way to attain the complete liberation and love for god..

 

and, most of all, it is a non sectarian path... so let us add hare krsna practice to any other previous path, religion, lifestyle we are already following.. there's no harm... that's the strenght of mahamantra

[Guest guest]

such chants are necessary to return back to Godhead?

--as i have already said going definitively back to godhead has to be done, as the bhagavad gita recommends, through following a spiritual master belonging to the parampara dinasty coming directly from sri krsna bhagavan... And now, for various reasons, such masters recommends the reciting/chanting of the lord's name as the only way. And this is not a sectarian statement, it means that all procedures, paths, religions, styles have to be respected and followed simply adding the mahamantra practice..

 

Ramakrishna who attained realization through pure bhakti, Krishnamurti who attained realization through Jnana, Rajnesh (Osho), Maharishi, Eckhart Tolle, Jon Peniel, Paramahansa Yogananda, etc..etc...

---not saying the fact that in my opinion amonge these names there's real masters but also absolute rascals, the fact is that none of them is available to give to you and to me a personal guidance as considered necessary by the bhagavad gita itself. So we have to take shelter in the true masters of gaudya vaishnava parampara' of sri chatanya mahaprabhu who recommend the chanting of lord's name, who's not different from god himself to attain the highest level of absolute

 

first i suggest you experience the Lord around you, as he exists in the all

--yes you are absolutely right.. that's necessary and, as you surely know, it cannot be done artificially or mentally but only for god's mercy.. So, as we know very well from the gita, it has to be done going deeper in the constant thinking of krsna, and the way recommended to develope this stage is to chant..

 

there are many paths to God, each path custom for the individual with respect to their individual karma

--yes... chanting hare krsna is for everyone in any path with any karma with no need to change his previous way or tastes... only adding

 

mahamantra is recommended as something to add to our life, not something to destroy it.... (as krsna proposed bhakti, devotion to arjuna as an added value to his previous life).. so there's no reason to avoid it...

 

chant hare krsna, it is free, recommended by a guru's dinasty coming directly from krsna, and you will feel the benefits.. theory means nothing... false religious tolerance means nothing

[Nrsinghadev 0]

Haribol,

 

"...Krishnamurti who attained realization through Jnana, Rajnesh (Osho), Maharishi, Eckhart Tolle, Jon Peniel, Paramahansa Yogananda, etc..etc...

these are a short list of realized jeevas who have attained in the past 100 years or a bit more and not by the means of chanting

friend, please do not mistaken that the only way in the present age to attain Godhead is through ONE prescribed method."

 

How do you know this for fact? Did they tell you that themselves? Did they receive a certificate stating they were realized souls? And if so, what kind of realization do you think they achieved, as there are different levels?

If they concocted their own theories than it becomes actually highly questionable whether they attained some form of realization at all.

 

The only way to tell is to see if they are in line with what the scriptures state, and that they never deviate from the path those scriptures and the bonafide spiritual masters prescribe. For these masters don't concoct their own theories, they have receive their knowledge through other bonafide spiritual masters who received theirs respectively and so on until you come back to God Himself as Ultimate Teacher. These masters are perfectly executing the described paths of the scriptures, they are the living examples of the path. And both the scriptures and the spiritual masters tell us this is the only means in this age.

 

So there is no mistake in stating that chanting is the only way in the Kali-yuga (the present yuga or age), as it is stated in the Brhan-Naradiya Purana: "Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam, kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha."

 

"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way. "

 

There are many diverse spritual paths for many different people with different wants, for different yugas, and chanting the names of the Lord is the medication prescribed for this age to those who want to attain liberation. Vedic Scriptures tell us of times before this age of Kali yuga and of times to come and so it is only logical that therein are described different paths to attain to God. So chanting as the only means is not a dogmatic approach, because if you simply observe these texts and listen to the spiritual master you will find it is foolishness to brush aside this advice.

"why do you guys chant?

so you can be reborn in a higher loka?"

Devotees chant the names of the Lord not for a quick exit of this material plane, but simply to glorify the Lord, and that is all they desire to do, they don't mind if they have to do it here on this material plane for as long as it lasts, as long as they can serve His Lotus Feet they are content.

 

Hare Krishna!

 

[sumedh 0]

Rajneesh (Osho) in the list only gives a good laugh.

[Guest guest]

"So there is no mistake in stating that chanting is the only way in the Kali-yuga"

 

you still haven't explained yourself, read it again for yourself, you just skip over it

please explain again why you think it is the ONLY way?

 

and to the next guy

what about osho makes you laugh?

 

[Nrsinghadev 0]

Oh, I do think I explained it already. I simply stated that the Vedic scriptures(and thus God Himself) and the bonafide spiritual masters state chanting as the only means for this age, so I don't know how much more clear of an explanation you want. Anyway, I don't think anything, it is simply stated by the Lord Himself and prescribed through His authorized channels in the form of the bonafide spiritual masters so there's no room for speculation of any kind, let alone by the recent surge of pseudo-hip-new-age-guru's who all concoct their own misguided delusional theories in order to gain some wealth or fame. Perhaps the misunderstanding lies in that you are talking about forms of realization, which has different stages. The topmost stage which brings deliverance, can thus in this age only be attained by chanting the holy names of the Lord. Hope this clears it up for you!

 

Hare Krishna!

[Guest guest]

Well said!