Japa Retreat—Level 02 Day 05 64 Rounds Encouraging Words

Giriraj Swami: Such an experienced group. I don’t know how much I could add to your experience. Srila Prabhupada said, good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment. Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu and I have spoken about sixty-four rounds, one lakh of names, and that is our mission today, our service. But I thought I would mention a little about different figures of rounds because the question has come up. You know the Gaudiya Math, we have heard different things like you must have sixty-four rounds, but then we have even heard of preachers in the Gaudiya Math giving initiation to devotees who only chant four rounds, or they may not even be chanting four rounds but when they get hari-nāma initiation they vow to follow four rounds. We wanted to clarify it so a group of us, Tamal Krishna Goswami, Bhurijana Prabhu, and I, went to visit Tripurari Swami and Nṛsiṁha Maharaja, who used to be (Unintelligible 00:02:08) Guru Swami. And what they heard from Bhakti Raksha Shridhar dev Gosvami Maharaja, was that there were actually four standards in the Gaudiya Math. If someone was very busy in service, he was to chant at least four rounds. If someone had a moderate amount of service he could chant sixteen; and if someone didn’t have much service, or to put it in other terms, his service was to chant, then he would chant sixty-four rounds at least. From Srila Prabhupada’s account when he was in grihastha ashram. . .

Devotee: Excuse me. Did you say four standards? That’s three.

Giriraj Swami: I didn’t mean to say there were four. Did I say four? No, three.

Devotee: So there was the standard for the householders (Unintelligible 00:03:33)

Giriraj Swami: Well, Prabhupada chanted sixteen.

Devotee: He was a householder

Giriraj Swami: Yes, and he said he would chant four before breakfast, four before lunch, four before dinner, and four before rest. And that way, he was he would be sure to get in his sixteen rounds. We can make similar calculations with sixty-four rounds; so many before lunch, so many before breakfast or whatever. But Prabhupada, once he fixed the minimum of sixteen, he was quite consistent about the figure of sixteen, minimum. And in one purport to the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the verse from the Prayers of the Demigods to Krishna in the Womb says that. . . well it is a prayer to the Lord who is incessantly friendly to the fallen souls. And great acharyas adopt the method of taking shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna to cross the ocean of nescience, but they are so merciful they leave the method by which they crossed, for other devotees to follow. And the Lord is so merciful that He accepts the method that the acharyas have utilized, and at the same time left behind. And in the purport, Srila Prabhupada mentions chanting sixteen rounds, following the four principles, and he says these are bonafide instructions. So that is our minimum, but today we have the special opportunity that our service today, our main service today is just to chant.

Of course, the focus of our service has been the holy name ever since we got here; hearing about the holy name, discussing about the holy name. But today our main service is to chant the holy name and come to that figure of sixty-four rounds at least. So it is a great opportunity and we are relieved of the burden of having to talk. With all due respect, having to listen to others talk, we are just relieved of that whole interaction, verbal interaction, so that we can really focus on our relationship with the holy name, our exclusive time with the holy name and get the mercy in whichever form it comes. I liked the statement the other day. One of the devotees said that he likes chanting sixty-four rounds even though he doesn’t have taste.

Devotee: That would make a good t-shirt, “I have no taste but I like to chant.”

Giriraj Swami: Sometimes it is hard but the result is wonderful. So one could like to do it even though he doesn’t have taste because the results are so wonderful. And there is no limit to our relationship with the holy name, there is no limit to the mercy we can get from the holy name, there is no limit to what we can learn from the holy name, learn about ourselves as well as Krishna and His devotees. I think of one statement that His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami made, that as you advance in Krishna consciousness it becomes more difficult but it is not harder. And how I understood the statement, I believe I have understood it rightly at least in essence, is that as we progress in Krishna consciousness, we get tests that are more and more difficult. It is just like in any subject, mathematics, as you progress in your study the tests become more difficult. But if you are doing your homework and developing your skills, passing the tests isn’t harder even though the subject of the tests is more difficult. So I think that is the case.

Devotee: It is a pleasure too, in just being able to have skills you can exercise.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. If you don’t use it, you lose it. So that always keeps us fresh and alert. Those tests; I heard, I am no expert but I have heard that in experimental schools where they don’t give tests, the students don’t learn as much because the tests actually help you to focus. Even in VIHE and MIHE, they have tests because it helps the students to focus. It is a challenge that they are encouraged to meet, which is good for them. So Krishna also gives tests. And although the tests may take various forms and shapes, I think the ultimate test is, are you going to choose Krishna or maya. And then these tests are preparation for the final exam, which is the most difficult, which is the time of death. And if we pass that test then we graduate from the material world. Of course, if we are really in Krishna consciousness, we are only externally in the material world, but if we pass the final exam of remembering Krishna at the time of death, then we go to Krishna.

So this is a really great opportunity for us to practice. Srila Prabhupada said “Practice makes perfect” even in spiritual life. This is a great opportunity for us to practice. By practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, eventually by the mercy of the Lord and the superior devotees, we will become perfect, in the sense of expert or more perfect. So I wish you all the best, pray for your blessings and look forward to another great adventure in Krishna consciousness or, I should say, in the effort to develop Krishna consciousness. Hare Krishna.

Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu: [Unintelligible 00:14:24] is called ruci, that is the word for taste actually, you have a taste. And the characteristic of ruci, the taste is for the activities of devotional service. The next stage, āsakti, also means a strong taste, like addiction. Āsakti has Krishna as its object, but ruci is the object of the activities of devotional service. And when that stage develops, when you have an opportunity for devotional activity and some opportunity for sense gratification, you just rather do the devotional activity. you don’t have to preach to yourself. So you give yourself a little class, you just rather do it. The other thing that Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says about ruci which is really interesting, and I have been thinking about it, he said when ruci arises, one can perform the activities of devotional service or perform bhajana without feeling the slightest fatigue. That is what he says, and sometimes even if we are not that advanced, when we are doing something like japa intensely enough, we can get a glimpse of this. What it seems to me to be is that, instead of taking energy to chant the holy name, you get energy from the holy name, it supplies you. It is like a mid-air refueling for an air force jet or something. So you get energy and therefore you don’t feel the slightest fatigue. There is mental fatigue, there is physical fatigue, and so I imagine somewhere the body needs rest. Maybe something like you see little children when they play, they just play. They are so into playing, they just play, and they play, and they play. Now obviously, somewhere they have to get tired but they don’t know they are tired. If you are a parent, you have to. . . or they just play and play and play and then all of a sudden crash.

So they start crying. So something like that, except what we see that happens is that, of course, like the six Gosvamis or Haridasa Thakura, but actually they simply did seem to get all kinds of energy from their devotional service and they did not did not need to eat, they did not need to rest. They could carry on practically twenty-four hours a day with a little, maybe wouldn’t even take rest at night. Like Prabhupada, sometimes he would take what he called snaps. He would have the ability to, because he slept very little at night, he rose very early to do his writing work, at 2:00 a.m. or 1:00 a.m. or something, keyhole flashed into shape. He did not take rest long at night, but what he had the ability to do was, in the middle of the day he would just sit back, close his eyes. He called it a snap, ten minutes, fifteen minutes of a little rest and then keep on going. That also takes (Unintelligible 00:18:38), just to be able to have that much control that you could turn it off. Otherwise, you need to fall asleep and your mind is agitated. But I saw it with Prabhupada, he had this ability just to turn on a dime. I remember once when he was in Philadelphia, he was explaining to me that, it was after the Ratha-yatra and he had gotten a lot of cash donations, and he called me in and explained to me that he wanted me to take this cash to the bank and do a wire transfer to a bank account in Los Angeles, that is where Prabhupada kept his dakṣiṇā money, and then it became the Mayapur, Vrindavan Trust. They wanted me to do this wire transfer and it was really, really interesting, because when Prabhupada explained to me how to do this, it was the clearest most precise directions I had ever gotten from anybody in my life. He dropped everything else and was totally into explaining this to me, and making sure I understood it. It was just extraordinary; just this focus on one thing entirely.

In the course of this, he discovered a mistake in the account book that, I guess, his secretary had made and he called him in and then fix the account book. And then he turned to another subject; that is over and then this. A lot of times you get instructions from people; they will be doing two things at once. So that was the kind of mentality, I think, that allowed Prabhupada to turn it off and turn it on again. And that seems to me to also be related to the ability at ruci to fully concentrate the mind and to actually reach that point where we get energy from chanting. It enlivens us and energizes us. And of course, if people say to me, “How do you know when you have chanted good rounds?” I have to say, “When I really don’t want to stop.” Then we know; we can’t, “Oh it is over,” it really is that you don’t want to stop. One nice thing about chanting sixty-four rounds is because of the demand on the time, it is the main thing in our day. Just to make it a little easier, we stop talking and it is the main thing. And what should be really carried over to the ordinary day where we chant sixteen rounds, is also to keep that sixteen rounds at a highest priority. I always run into difficulty when I have got so many things to do and somewhere I have got to fit my rounds in; that does not work. And if you plan to fit them in later, the later window of opportunity tends to close up.

Prabhupada’s schedule was wonderful and I think it probably worked very well in India before 1960, when you had three-hour lunches with a nap. People just didn’t work like maniacs. But now, I go downtown and I see these corporate people eating lunches standing up like horses. In twenty minutes they are out there right back at their work. One big obvious problem is getting all the sandwich particles out of your keyboard, because people don’t even stop to eat, they are so driven. And then of course, ISKCON is a multinational corporation, and many people work at multinational corporations and so the day sometimes starts at four in the morning and goes on. The stock market; some stock market is always going all the time; and people having conference calls and stuff like that, and what time is it in Tokyo and all this stuff. It is a little harder to be that way, and so if you want to have a thing where I will chant in the evening, I have tried to do that and that last four rounds before taking rest, let me forget that time, that half an hour disappears; something else happens.

So it is hard to have a regular schedule like that. If you can do it, it is fantastic but it is hard for a lot of people. So what one has to do is, first of all, really try to do as many as possible as early as possible, at least four. But then just keep it as if it is just an important thing that I have to get done. Somehow, we managed to eat, so we can manage to chant sixteen rounds if it is really important. And so that if there is an opportunity to chant two rounds, take it. You could do something else, use it fruitfully for some other activity, but take it because it just really has to have this priority. Those of us who live in temples, we have this real luxury. There is this time in the morning that is set aside for japa, hopefully, and people who live and work and don’t have that. At least for my job, you are on call twenty-four hours a day practically and so you really have to take advantage of it. When we are doing this time which is set aside, this is really a rare opportunity and so we should really try to get the most out of it.

In the beginning, I find the first thing is really concentration. Whenever I start japa, almost always, I have to begin in a mechanical way. So fix the mind; the mind wanders, bring it back. Fix the mind; the mind wanders, bring it back. And then with a little practice of that with some diligence there is a click. Somehow there is some connection there. I have the sense that now at least there is a clear nāma-ābhāsa somehow, because I can feel it. I can’t describe the feeling but what I imagine is now that the holy name is rooting its way through my subtle body like some drain cleaner or something, and cleaning out the dirty part. I don’t have to watch it do it but it is working; it is cleaning out the dirty parts. I even think it is arranging the neurons in my brain. It has to be. I am sure there is physical and physiological changes in the brain, and we want to make those permanent brain structure. Prabhupada said when you become a devotee your intelligence increases, so that has to be there. And in one sense, just by maintaining attention and staying connected with the holy name, giving it the importance it is due, things are working, things are happening. A lot of times I don’t feel the effects of a sixty-four-round day until the next day, and then I can see something has happened. So this is a treatment of our diseased condition by the medicine, like drain cleaner or some medical drug that goes into your blood veins and cleans out the buildup of cholesterol and all that stuff. So we have to take it like that.

Another way that I sometimes achieve concentration, I am praying. When I say, speak to the holy name, please engage me in your service. And of course, we have seen so many different ways you can say that, because it can be some particular service on a very high level. But maybe my service right now is in fact to chant the holy names. Please engage me in your service, please help me pay attention to You, please help me develop feelings for You. So to me, this develops a concentration where I am praying by means of the holy name, this is the instrumental case in Sanskrit, by means of the holy name. What am I praying for? Well, I am praying to the holy name, that is nāma-prabhu, as they say, I am praying to the holy name, that is the dative case. And what am I praying for? I am praying for the holy name, that is the ablative case. So that achieves a certain focus of concentration that helps me sometimes in this way of praying by means of the holy name, through the holy name, for the holy name. And we can sometimes reach this zone where we get energy and enthusiasm simply from the holy name, a big generator of all energy. The holy name is janmādya asya yataḥ, that from which everything comes. So loaded with inexhaustible supplies of everything. And there it is. We are granted tremendous access by Mahaprabhu to Parambrahman just on a philosophical level, and that access then, it is changing us. We do these few basic things and then it starts to change us and that is what we want; to undergo those changes at the hands of the holy name.