CHAPTER EIGHT

Everyone knows that a happy life requires good health. Proper diet, adequate exercise, and sufficient rest are necessary to keep our bodies strong and fit. If we neglect these demands, our bodies become weakened and resistance wanes. Made susceptible to infection, we eventually fall ill.

More important but less well known is the inner self’s need for spiritual nourishment and attention. If we ignore our spiritual health requirements, we become overwhelmed by negative material tendencies like anxiety, hatred, loneliness, prejudice, greed, boredom, envy, and anger.

In order to counteract and prevent these subtle infections of the self, we should, as recommended in the Vedic literatures and in many other scriptures, incorporate into our lives a program of self-examination and steady inner growth based on spiritual strength and mindful thinking.

The transcendental potency necessary for developing complete psychological and spiritual fulfillment is already present within everyone. It must, however, be uncovered by a genuine spiritual process. Of all such authentic processes, India’s timeless Vedas tell us that meditation on the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is the most powerful.

The initial result of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is summarized by Śrīla Prabhupāda in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā: “We have practical experience that any person who is chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa (Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare) in course of time feels some transcendental pleasure and very quickly becomes purified of all material contamination.”

In the preliminary stages of chanting, practitioners experience a clearing of consciousness, peace of mind, and relief from unwanted drives and habits. As they develop more realization by chanting, they perceive the original, spiritual existence of the self. According to the Bhagavad-gītā, this enlightened state “is characterized by one’s ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self.”

And in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, a multivolume work describing the life and teachings of Śrī Caitanya, founder of the modern-day Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the ultimate benefit of chanting is described. “The result of chanting is that one awakens his love for Kṛṣṇa and tastes transcendental bliss. Ultimately, one attains the association of Kṛṣṇa and engages in His devotional service, as if immersing himself in a great ocean of love.”

So by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, one reaps innumerable benefits, culminating in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and love of God. We can realize the fruits of chanting by adopting the process of mantra meditation and applying it systematically. For clear understanding of the progressive effects of chanting, some of the more important benefits are discussed separately.

Initially, meditation focuses on controlling the mind, for in our normal condition we are slaves to any whimsical thoughts, desires, and appetites the mind may generate. We think of something and immediately we want to do it. But the Bhagavad-gītā tells us that the meditator must learn to control the mind: “For one who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, the mind will remain the greatest enemy.”

The materialistic mind attempts to enjoy by employing the senses to experience matter and material relationships. It is full of unlimited ideas for sense gratification, and being perpetually restless, it constantly flickers from one sense object to another. In doing so the mind vacillates between hankering for some material gain and lamenting some loss or frustration.

In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa explains, “One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?” By chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, we can control the mind instead of letting it control us.

Mantra is a Sanskrit word. Man means “mind” and tra means “to deliver.” Thus a mantra is a transcendental sound vibration with potency to liberate the mind from material conditioning.

In his commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Prabhupāda explains, “Our entanglement in material affairs has begun from material sound.” Each day we hear material sounds from radio and television, from friends and relatives, and based on what we hear, we act. But as Śrīla Prabhupāda points out, “There is sound in the spiritual world also. If we approach that sound, then our spiritual life begins.” When we control the mind by focusing it on the purely spiritual sound vibration of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the mind becomes calm. As “music has charms to soothe a savage breast,” so the spiritual sound of the mantra soothes the restless mind. The Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, being imbued with God’s own supreme energies, has the power to subdue all kinds of mental disturbance. Just as a reservoir of water is transparent when not agitated, our mental perceptions become clear and pure when the mind is no longer agitated by the waves of material desires. The mind in its pure state, like a mirror cleansed of dust, will then reflect undistorted images of reality, allowing us to go beneath the surface and perceive the essential spiritual quality of all life’s experiences.

The Vedas state that consciousness is a symptom of the soul. In its pure condition, the soul exists in the spiritual world; but when it falls down into contact with matter, the living being is covered by an illusion called false egoism. False ego bewilders the consciousness, causing us to identify with our material bodies. But we are not our material body. When we look at our hand or leg, we say, “This is my hand” or “This is my leg.” The conscious self, the “I,” is therefore the owner and observer of the body. Intellectually, this fact is easily understandable, and by the spiritual realization that results from chanting, this truth can be directly and continuously experienced.

When the living being identifies with the material body and loses awareness of his real, spiritual self, he inevitably fears death, old age, and disease. He fears loss of beauty, intelligence, and strength and experiences countless other anxieties and false emotions relating to the temporary body. But when we begin regularly chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, we soon realize ourselves to be pure and changeless spirit souls, completely distinct from the material body. Because the mantra is a completely pure spiritual sound vibration, it has the power to restore our consciousness to its original, uncontaminated condition. At this point, we cease to be controlled by jealousy, bigotry, pride, envy, and hatred. As Lord Kṛṣṇa tells us in the Bhagavad-gītā, the soul is “unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and primeval.” As our false bodily identification dissolves and we perceive our true transcendental existence, we automatically transcend all the fears and anxieties of material existence. We no longer think, “I am American,” “I am Russian,” “I am black,” “I am white.”

Attaining personal self-awareness also gives us the ability to see the spiritual nature of other living beings. When our natural, spiritual feelings are awakened, we experience the ultimate unity of all life. This is what it means to become a liberated person: by spiritual realization we become free of our animosity and envy toward other living things.

This higher vision is explained by Śrīla Prabhupāda in Transcendental Teachings of Prahlāda Mahārāja. “When a person becomes fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, he does not think, ‘Here is a man, here is an animal, here is a cat, here is a dog, here is a worm.’ He sees everyone as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. This is very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: ‘One who is actually learned in Kṛṣṇa consciousness becomes a lover of the universe.’ Unless one is situated on the Kṛṣṇa conscious platform, there is no question of universal brotherhood.”

Everyone is thirsting for true and lasting happiness. But because material pleasure is limited and temporary, it is compared to a tiny drop of moisture in the desert. It can give us no permanent relief because while material sensations and relationships may touch the body and mind, they lack the potency to satisfy the soul’s spiritual desires. The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa provides complete satisfaction because it places us in direct contact with God and His spiritual pleasure potency. God is full of all bliss, and when we enter His association, we can also experience the same transcendental happiness.

In the Vedic literature there is an interesting account of how the pleasure of chanting far exceeds any material benefit. Once a poorbrāhmaṇa priest worshiped the demigod Śiva for a material benediction. Śiva, however, advised him to approach the sage Sanātana Gosvāmī to obtain his heart’s desire. On learning that Sanātana Gosvāmī had a mystical stone capable of producing gold, the poor brāhmaṇa asked if he could have it. Sanātana consented and told the brāhmaṇa he could take the stone from its place – in his garbage pile. The brāhmaṇa left feeling great joy, for he could now get as much gold as he desired simply by touching the stone to iron. But as he walked away he thought, “If a touchstone is the best gift, why would Sanātana Gosvāmī keep it in the garbage?”

He returned to Sanātana Gosvāmī to find out. Sanātana Gosvāmī informed him, “Actually, that touchstone is not the best gift. But are you prepared to take the best benediction from me?”

“Yes,” the poor brāhmaṇa replied. “I have come to you for the best benediction.” Sanātana Gosvāmī then told him to throw the touchstone in the nearby river and return. The brāhmaṇa did so, and when he came back, the saintly Sanātana initiated him into the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the sublime method for experiencing the highest spiritual pleasure.

The law of karma means that for every material action performed, nature forces an equivalent reaction on the performer – or, as the Bible states, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Material activities can be compared to seeds. Initially they are performed, or “planted,” and over the course of time they gradually fructify, releasing their resultant reactions. Enmeshed in this web of actions and reactions we are forced to accept one material body after another to experience our karmic destiny. But freedom from karma is possible by sincere chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental names. Since God’s names are filled with transcendental energy, when the living being associates with the divine sound vibration, he is freed from the endless cycle of karma.

Just as seeds fried in a pan lose their potency to sprout, so karmic reactions are rendered impotent by the power of God’s holy names. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is like the sun. The sun is so powerful that it can purify whatever comes into contact with it. If any object enters the sun globe it immediately becomes fire. Similarly, when our consciousness contacts and becomes absorbed in the transcendental sound “Kṛṣṇa,” Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s internal energies purify us of all karmic reactions. In his commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Śrīla Prabhupāda stresses, “The holy name is so spiritually potent that simply by chanting the holy name one can be freed from the reactions to all sinful activity.”

The Vedas teach that the living entity, the soul, is eternal, but due to past activities and material desires, it perpetually accepts different material bodies. As long as we have material desires, nature, acting under God’s direction, will award us one material body after another. This is called transmigration of the soul, or reincarnation. Actually, this changing of bodies is not surprising because even in this life we go through many bodies. We start with the body of an infant, then change the infant’s body for a child’s. Gradually, the body changes into an adult body, then an old man’s or woman’s body. Similarly, when our present body dies, we get a new one to go on and enjoy and suffer the results of our karma, cycling again and again.

Liberation from this cycle of saṁsāra, as it is called, or the endless wheel of birth and death, is possible if we free our consciousness from material desires. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa we revive the soul’s natural spiritual desires as well as our awareness of our true identity. Just as it is the nature of the body to be attracted to sense gratification, so it is the nature of the soul to be attracted to God. Chanting awakens our original God consciousness and our desire to serve and associate with Him. By this simple change in consciousness we can transcend the cycle of reincarnation.

Śrīla Prabhupāda discusses this in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā. “One’s thoughts during the course of one’s life accumulate to influence one’s thoughts at the moment of death, so this life creates one’s next life.... If [in this life] one is transcendentally absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s service, then his next body will be transcendental (spiritual), not material. Therefore the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare is the best process for successfully changing one’s state of being at the end of one’s life.”

The final goal – and the highest fruit of chanting – is complete God realization and pure love of God.

As our consciousness becomes increasingly purified, our steady spiritual advancement is reflected in our character and behavior. As the sun approaches the horizon it is preceded by increasing warmth and illumination. Similarly, as realization of Kṛṣṇa’s holy name is revived in the heart, this increasing spiritual awareness manifests in all aspects of our personality. Ultimately, the eternal, loving relationship between God and the living being is revived. Before entering the material world, each soul had a unique spiritual relationship with God. This loving relationship is thousands of times greater and more intense than any love experienced in the material world. This is described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta: “Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the heart of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.”

In our eternal, constitutional position in the spiritual world we are able to associate with God directly, serving Him in a spiritual form just suitable for our mood of love and devotion. In this relationship of spiritual love, the pure devotee is absorbed in transcendental ecstasy. This state of ecstasy is described in The Nectar of Devotion. “At that time one’s heart becomes illuminated like the sun. The sun is far above the planetary systems, and there is no possibility of its being covered by any kind of cloud. Similarly, when a devotee is purified like the sun, from his heart there is a diffusion of ecstatic love more glorious than the sunshine.”