Trust is such an important thing in spiritual life. We grow up in a world where so many things are wrong. So many injustices, so much pain and suffering.
By the time we are even old enough to think, we have already seen and felt so much pain and hurt that "should not" have occurred.
Some childhoods are safer, and we experience less of it, some more.
Mine having been one of the "more" types, I really learned not to trust anyone or anything at all.
When you take shelter of Krishna, though, it all changes hands. Still there will be suffering in the world, that's the nature of things. Sill, you will suffer and injustices will be done.
So, you can live your life just enduring the suffering, or you can know and feel the shelter of Krishna.
Krishna is in charge of you, and your life. He is the protector of all of us. When you realize how much control and power He has, then you know that nothing happens for the wrong reason.
Not in the life of a devotee anyway.
Maybe on the material level you won't understand it. I can't even begin to understand most of the things that have happened to me since I have been a devotee.
That's where trust comes in. It doesn't matter if you understand or not. It doesn't matter if it seems right, wrong, or indifferent.
The truth is the Krishna takes special charge of His devotees, and everything that occurs is under His protection.
That doesn't mean people won't do things to hurt you, they will. What it does mean is Krishna is protecting and guiding your soul for the ultimate benefit of you. The real you. Not the body.
For me, trust is a really crucial thing. I trust that Krishna is always there, guiding and directing every single event in my life. That's the way I look at every single thing that happens.
~ If Krishna is for us, who can be against us? ~
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Just Surrender (Thoughts On Chanting Japa)
Because we are in a conditioned state of existence we have no real desire to surrender to Krishna. In the same way, we have no real desire to surrender to the Holy Name while we are chanting Japa.
We fight and struggle with chanting in our efforts to surrender to Krishna, to surrender to His Holy Name.
We fight with our mind, trying to control it. This can often lead to a dialog with the mind, rather than absorption in the sound vibration of the mantra. We notice our thoughts wandering, so we say to ourselves "stop wandering mind, think about Krishna" ..... that's a dialog with the mind.
We can get really lost in all this mental dialog, what to speak of being lost in our own thoughts without even realizing it, or making the effort to control it.
Instead of struggling so hard in these ways, it's very helpful to just surrender to Krishna. Surrender to the sound vibration of His Holy Name. Let Krishna be in control. Just absorb yourself in the sound that is Krishna.
Our disease here in the material world is that we want to be the controllers. We want to control everything and anything. We even want to control our chanting. Chanting japa is not a material activity. It's Krishna, a relationship with Krishna.
So if we approach chanting from the perspective of trying to "control it", "manage it" etc... we can sometimes get lost in our efforts, and just continue struggling to "control" different aspects of chanting.
We can instead try to stay aware that this is Krishna we are addressing, and stay aware of the power of the Holy Name, and stay aware of the sound vibration of the maha mantra.
When we chant with full concentration on the sound vibration, both on making it with our voice and mouth, and on hearing the sound we are chanting, then issues about the mind become reduced dramatically.
It's similar to the state of "mindfulness" that Buddhists talk about, where you are conscious at every second of being in that moment and that moment alone. Only, instead of being conscious of ourselves and our actions, we are conscious of Krishna, and in the immediate awareness of the sound of His names as we are chanting them.
Krishna is there in His name. Chanting the Hare Krishna mantra is a very deep meditation. Just allow Krishna to take over, surrender to Him, and focus on Him in the form of His name.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
We fight and struggle with chanting in our efforts to surrender to Krishna, to surrender to His Holy Name.
We fight with our mind, trying to control it. This can often lead to a dialog with the mind, rather than absorption in the sound vibration of the mantra. We notice our thoughts wandering, so we say to ourselves "stop wandering mind, think about Krishna" ..... that's a dialog with the mind.
We can get really lost in all this mental dialog, what to speak of being lost in our own thoughts without even realizing it, or making the effort to control it.
Instead of struggling so hard in these ways, it's very helpful to just surrender to Krishna. Surrender to the sound vibration of His Holy Name. Let Krishna be in control. Just absorb yourself in the sound that is Krishna.
Our disease here in the material world is that we want to be the controllers. We want to control everything and anything. We even want to control our chanting. Chanting japa is not a material activity. It's Krishna, a relationship with Krishna.
So if we approach chanting from the perspective of trying to "control it", "manage it" etc... we can sometimes get lost in our efforts, and just continue struggling to "control" different aspects of chanting.
We can instead try to stay aware that this is Krishna we are addressing, and stay aware of the power of the Holy Name, and stay aware of the sound vibration of the maha mantra.
When we chant with full concentration on the sound vibration, both on making it with our voice and mouth, and on hearing the sound we are chanting, then issues about the mind become reduced dramatically.
It's similar to the state of "mindfulness" that Buddhists talk about, where you are conscious at every second of being in that moment and that moment alone. Only, instead of being conscious of ourselves and our actions, we are conscious of Krishna, and in the immediate awareness of the sound of His names as we are chanting them.
Krishna is there in His name. Chanting the Hare Krishna mantra is a very deep meditation. Just allow Krishna to take over, surrender to Him, and focus on Him in the form of His name.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
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