SB 2.1.11 – Offenseless Chanting of the Holy Name

Giriraj Swami: Now, I will read a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter One, “The First Step in God Realization.” Text Eleven.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 11

etan nirvidyamānānām
icchatām akuto-bhayam
yogināṁ nṛpa nirṇītaṁ
harer nāmānukīrtanam

TRANSLATION

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In the previous verse, the great necessity for attaining attachment to Mukunda has been accredited. There are different types of persons who desire to attain success in different varieties of pursuits. Generally the persons are materialists who desire to enjoy the fullest extent of material gratification. Next to them are the transcendentalists, who have attained perfect knowledge about the nature of material enjoyment and thus are aloof from such an illusory way of life. More or less, they are satisfied in themselves by self-realization. Above them are the devotees of the Lord, who neither aspire to enjoy the material world nor desire to get out of it. They are after the satisfaction of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In other words, the devotees of the Lord do not want anything on their personal account. If the Lord desires, the devotees can accept all sorts of material facilities, and if the Lord does not desire this, the devotees can leave aside all sorts of facilities, even up to the limit of salvation. Nor are they self-satisfied, because they want the satisfaction of the Lord only. In this verse, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends the transcendental chanting of the holy name of the Lord. By offenseless chanting and hearing of the holy name of the Lord, one becomes acquainted with the transcendental form of the Lord, and then with the attributes of the Lord, and then with the transcendental nature of His pastimes, etc. Here it is mentioned that one should constantly chant the holy name of the Lord after hearing it from authorities. This means that hearing from the authorities is the first essential. Hearing of the holy name gradually promotes one to the stage of hearing about His form, His attributes, His pastimes, and so on, and thus the necessity of the chanting of His glories develops successively. This process is recommended not only for the successful execution of devotional service, but also even for those who are materially attached. According to Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, this way of attaining success is an established fact, concluded not only by him but also by all other previous ācāryas. Therefore, there is no need of further evidence. The process is recommended not only for the progressive students in different departments of ideological success, but also for those who are already successful in their achievement as fruitive workers, as philosophers or as devotees of the Lord.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī instructs that chanting of the holy name of the Lord should be loudly done, and it should be performed offenselessly as well, as recommended in the Padma Purāṇa. One can deliver himself from the effects of all sins by surrendering himself unto the Lord. One can deliver himself from all offenses at the feet of the Lord by taking shelter of His holy name. But one cannot protect himself if one commits an offense at the feet of the holy name of the Lord. Such offenses are mentioned in the Padma Purāṇa as being ten in number.

The first offense is to vilify the great devotees who have preached about the glories of the Lord.

The second offense is to see the holy names of the Lord in terms of worldly distinction. The Lord is the proprietor of all the universes, and therefore He may be known in different places by different names, but that does not in any way qualify the fullness of the Lord. Any nomenclature which is meant for the Supreme Lord is as holy as the others because they are all meant for the Lord. Such holy names are as powerful as the Lord, and there is no bar for anyone in any part of the creation to chant and glorify the Lord by the particular name of the Lord as it is locally understood. They are all auspicious, and one should not distinguish such names of the Lord as material commodities.

The third offense is to neglect the orders of the authorized ācāryas or spiritual masters.

COMMENT

That is guror avajñā: to disobey the orders of the spiritual master.

PURPORT (continued)

The fourth offense is to vilify scriptures or Vedic knowledge.

The fifth offense is to define the holy name of the Lord in terms of one’s mundane calculation. The holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord Himself, and one should understand the holy name of the Lord to be nondifferent from Him.

The sixth offense is to interpret the holy name. The Lord is not imaginary, nor is His holy name. There are persons with a poor fund of knowledge who think the Lord to be an imagination of the worshiper and therefore think His holy name to be imaginary. Such a chanter of the name of the Lord cannot achieve the desired success in the matter of chanting the holy name.

The seventh offense is to commit sins intentionally on the strength of the holy name. In the scriptures it is said that one can be liberated from the effects of all sinful actions simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. One who takes advantage of this transcendental method and continues to commit sins on the expectation of neutralizing the effects of sins by chanting the holy name of the Lord is the greatest offender at the feet of the holy name. Such an offender cannot purify himself by any recommended method of purification. In other words, one may be a sinful man before chanting the holy name of the Lord, but after taking shelter in the holy name of the Lord and becoming immune, one should strictly restrain oneself from committing sinful acts with a hope that his method of chanting the holy name will give him protection.

The eighth offense is to consider the holy name of the Lord and His chanting method to be equal to some material auspicious activity. There are various kinds of good works for material benefits, but the holy name and His chanting are not mere auspicious holy services. Undoubtedly the holy name is holy service, but He should never be utilized for such purposes. Since the holy name and the Lord are of one and the same identity, one should not try to bring the holy name into the service of mankind. The idea is that the Supreme Lord is the supreme enjoyer. He is no one’s servant or order supplier. Similarly, since the holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord, one should not try to utilize the holy name for one’s personal service.

The ninth offense is to instruct those who are not interested in chanting the holy name of the Lord about the transcendental nature of the holy name. If such instruction is imparted to an unwilling audience, the act is considered to be an offense at the feet of the holy name.

The tenth offense is to become uninterested in the holy name of the Lord even after hearing of the transcendental nature of the holy name. The effect of chanting the holy name of the Lord is perceived by the chanter as liberation from the conception of false egoism. False egoism is exhibited by thinking oneself to be the enjoyer of the world and thinking everything in the world to be meant for the enjoyment of one’s self only. The whole materialistic world is moving under such false egoism of “I” and “mine,” but the factual effect of chanting the holy name is to become free from such misconceptions.

COMMENT

So, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that if one is inattentive while chanting, all the other offenses will flourish. But if one is attentive while chanting, all the other offenses will be destroyed. So, my dear devotees, during tonight’s kirtan, you should be very attentive and endeavor to hear every holy name. The mind will wander, but as Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gītā, whenever and from wherever the mind wanders, one should bring it back under the control of the self. So, when your mind wanders, bring it back to the sound of the holy name and you will experience a great transcendental encouragement.

So, I myself am looking forward to this evening of kirtan with Madhava Prabhu and his team, and I request you all to immerse yourself in the beautiful, sweet sounds of Krishna’s holy names.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Madhava Prabhu: Hare Krishna everyone, thank you for coming and blessing us with your presence this evening. We are especially blessed today by the presence of His Holiness Giriraj Maharaja, who is a very deep and serious chanter of the holy names. Without the blessings of Vaishnavas and great sadhus, we cannot endeavor to chant the holy name. Kirtan is not a performance. Kirtan depends on the blessings of these great sadhus. They connect us with the acharyas, and without the blessings of these acharyas, we cannot chant. So, our only duty for the next hour or so is like Maharaja said.

So, I will only chant three words: Hare, Krishna, and Rama. This is it. That is all we have to do for the next hour. Let us forget about our phones. The best experience that we get is when we focus the mind, when we connect with the holy names, when we are actually present and chanting this mantra. So, don’t worry about your Instagram stories. Don’t worry about keeping some memories. The real memory is when this mantra goes in the heart and changes our hearts. So, please chant very loudly. Please chant with your heart.

It is said in the spiritual world, every word is a song and every step is a dance. So, this is already the spiritual world with Sri Sri Rasabihari, Sri Gaura-Nitai, Sri Sri Sita-Rama Lakshman Hanuman. What really happens in the spiritual world is not always noise. In the spiritual world, everyone is engaged in chanting and dancing. So, for the next hour or so, we are going to try and do this. Also, very important, anyone who is playing their instruments, the kartals, everyone has to chant. I used to be a mridanga player many, many years ago with Aindar Prabhu. In the beginning, I never used to chant. I used to watch my hands play mridanga, and for one year, after the kirtan every day, Hridayananda Prabhu would call me to his room and he would lecture me for two to three hours about how I was not the best mridanga player. He said, “Your mridanga playing is zero if you don’t put a one before it. If you don’t put one before it, it has no value.” And that one is—anyone knows what is the one?

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

So, the most important thing in kirtan is the mantra. Kirtan means to worship the Lord, to glorify the Lord by chanting His names. This is why we are here today, and especially blessed by His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja.

[Kirtan]

Madhava Prabhu: Hare Krishna everyone. Thank you for coming and chanting with us but like Giriraj Maharaja said, it all starts with hearing properly and His Holiness Sacinandana Maharaja says if we listen properly then there is a good chance that we will chant properly Hare Krishna. So, we noticed that some parts of the melodies you were singing something else, I was singing something and you were singing something else. So, that means we weren’t paying attention, Don’t listen to the mind. The mind many times, it causes trouble. We listen very attentively very carefully to the mantra, to the melody and then we repeat with full attention, with full love, with full bhakti, and we keep doing that for one two-three hours and at the end the mind gets what we are supposed to do and the heart is satisfied because we have been chanting attentively. And then also our connection with the holy names the connection with Krishna Himself which is no different from the holy names becomes easier.

So, we are very grateful to Srila Prabhupada for having gone to the west, to America and spread the glories of this mantra and then we are so fortunate that these devotees from America like Giriraj Swami himself have come to the land of bhakti because many of us have forgotten our culture. So, these wonderful Vaishnavas have come and revive this culture by the grace of Srila Prabhupada. So, we should be very grateful to Srila Prabhupada but also to these very highly elevated Vaishnavas and Vaishnavis. This kirtan is not entertainment, this is our ticket back home back to Godhead. And if we miss the plane, we will have to wait for the next plane which might take many many lifetimes. Don’t take the slow train. Hare Krishna.

Please wait, Maharaja will conclude with a few words. Please listen carefully.

Giriraj Swami: So, it is stated in the shastra, nāma-cintāmaṇi kṛṣṇa, caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ, that the holy name is like a touch stone and it is Krishna Himself. pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto, it is eternal, it is complete and ‘bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ, there is no difference between the name and Krishna Himself. In the material world or the relative world, there is a difference between the name of a thing and the thing. For example, if I am hungry and I chant “mango mango mango mango,” just chanting “mango mango” will not satisfy my hunger because the word mango and the substance mango are different. But in the spiritual realm or absolute realm, the name of the thing and the thing are the same. So, when we chant, “Krishna Krishna, Hare Krishna,” Krishna is personally present, dancing on our tongues. We are more or less just beginning to chant but Rupa Gosvami said “If I had one million tongues and two million ears then I could begin to chant.”

So that is our goal, to have so much taste for the holy name that we want to have a million tongues and a two million ears so we could really chant and hear. But as Srila Prabhupada said “Practice makes perfect even in spiritual life.” So, we practice chanting and eventually we can become perfect in chanting by the grace of the holy name and the devotees. So as Srila Prabhupada said in one talk in Los Angeles, “If you have time, chant Hare Krishna. Don’t speak nonsense, don’t waste time, chant Hare Krishna.”

Thank you very much.

Hare Krishna