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Pankaja_Dasa

Christians who chant

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Hare Krishna,

 

I have some meaningful questions to ask.

 

I am of the opinion that Christians are not allowed to chant Gods name. How can this be so?

 

Also for a while I have seen that many Vaishnava's were before from a Christian background. I find this very nice and almost complete realization of God. So even though I am not inclined to worship Lord Jesus Christ I was wondering what is the best way to serve him from Vaishnava point of view. I hope I asked nice way.

 

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They have a tradion of chanting and using prayer beads. I think they are called eastern orthodox?, not sure but they used(use) chanting as a main ingredient in their sadhana. They would make beads from cloth or leather rope and chant "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me".

 

They would try to do this every waking moment. Their goal was for the prayer to become so natural that the heart would become completely immersed in chant and then the inner person was said to even be prayering irrepective of the lips.

 

A very good book to read on this is Way of the Pigrim. A small book but a real gem.

 

The Catholics also use prayer beads but I don't understand their process.

 

Jesus is pleased when you chant Hare Krsna. The name Krsna includes every other name. No need to try to make separate arrangments for every avatar. But if one has a special attraction to Christ then certainly he can worship him. Something simple like a picture of Christ and one could place flowers, fruit and inscense. As far as chanting yes you can repeat his name.

 

One thing I feel we should avoid is thinking of worshiping Jesus as separate from or an alternative to Krsna. I like very much this picture of Christ teaching the Hebrews with Krsna in a bubble looking on. The Son is never separate from the Father.

 

To try and separate him from Krsna would not be very pleasing.

 

Sometimes I will chant Jaya Jaya Yeshua, Jaya Jaya Krsna for a short time and then return to Hare Krsna mantra.

 

But this is personal. I would never chant this in a kirtana where there were people who might not understand thus causing a distraction.

 

 

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" So even though I am not inclined to worship Lord Jesus Christ I was wondering what is the best way to serve him from Vaishnava point of view"

 

if you chant hare krishna you are worshiping also jesus christ.... all devatas, avataras, masters, messiahs are simultaneously worshipped and served in the krsna nama

 

so read gospel or bible if you have a serious cultural interest, but it is not strictly necessary

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You didn't put your foot in your mouth. The Russian Orthodox church is not well known in America. I only found out last year sometime when a poster here, Leyh, suugested the book Way of a Pilgrim. It was written by a peasant in Russia whose name is now not known.

 

All Christians should be chanting God's names.

 

As to sects and denominations God only knows... and possibly Google.

 

They have formed sects on the basis of which is the seventh day of the week. Some say Saturday others say Sunday and everything else there is to disagree on.

 

I fear a similar thing happening in Gaudiya Vaisnavism, especially after it's arrival in the West. Prabhupada did not want this so we must be very careful.

 

Look for the book.

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My grandparents are 7th Day Adventists as quite a bit of my family and when I was younger I was pretty much rebelling from Christian ritualism of all sorts and that lead me to studying Prabhupada's books. The theological differences at times caused tension in my relationship with some family members but lately Krishna has done a wonderful thing and I realize that even though I don't agree with some of their theology (hell is eternal, no reincarnation etc.) I am realizing what a wonderful devotee of Lord Jesus Christ my grandmother is. She has even givin up eating meat which is rare to see out of elderly American people.

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Very wonderful and very rare for elderly people to even consider such changes. I think 7th day Adventists were real pioneers on presenting vegetarianism into both society and Christianity.

 

I have met a few, they had a store in Honolulu and I used to stop in. They were always pleasant and never pushy, we had some nice conversations on the evil of animal slaughter.

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