Wake Up Call

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Daily Japa Report

 

During World Holy Name Week, we created a daily Japa Report for the devotees to record their progress and to become aware of obstacles. The responses have been very wonderful and very encouraging to others who read the results. We decided to continue with the report through out the year and have an annual report before the next Holy Name week.

Please participate on a daily basis...it's very helpful to become inspired to improve our Japa. You can fill the report in here - the latest Japa statistics are available here

 

Wake Up Call

 

Hare Krsna my dear devotees, I hope your week has been blissful and you are having a good japa. I need to ask you something, have you ever had a calamity coming so your japa became more focused? As if it were your last mantra, it happens to me.

I chant better when I am afraid of something - unfortunately it's more in those times. I could be assured of that tonight - I had a dream and I will share that with you today.I normally use lifts when I go to work, I teach in different buildings everyday. So in my dream I was inside one of them, suddenly I noticed this elevator was falling and I felt that I was going to die, I was completely hopeless but not afraid....I knew that if the Lord wanted I would survive if not I would die but chanting the Holy Names so I chanted as much as I could and it was so fast.

When the elevator stopped it was a different floor but I remember it was a quiet and soft fall, like a feather....no noise....no hurt and the door opened I was able to get out of that place and leave the building safe and protected. The feeling I had was that the Lord was with me everywhere in every situation and that was the proof that I am never alone and every time I ask for help he will come to my protection to rescue me.

This doesn't mean my offenses ceased but it's a wake up call from the Lord saying I need to avoid them and try to be more serious about my japa and also that we never know when is our time to die....only Krsna knows. He is aware of our past, present and future so we depend on His mercy to live or die.

Calamities come to show us that anytime we are prone to die and our thought needs to be that we are part and parcels of the Lord and we should use this material body to engage our senses in serving the Lord....worshipping the Deities.....chanting the maha mantra....appreciating the vaisnavas and serving them.....sharing our experiences in devotional life and always, always making efforts to see Krsna face to face - to develop pure devotional service and go back home back to Godhead when the time is right.

Here is a quote from The Teachings of Queen Kunti Chapter 8 where Srila Prabhupada explains the importance of chanting:We should not think that Kṛṣṇa is living in His abode, Goloka Vá¹›ndÄvana, and that His name is different from Him. In the material world, of course, in the material conception, a name is different from the fact it represents. But in the absolute world there are no such differences. The name is as potent asKṛṣṇa is. We have a tongue, and if we use this tongue to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, we shall immediately come directly in touch with Kṛṣṇa, because the name Kṛṣṇaand the person Kṛṣṇa are not different. We may think that Kṛṣṇa is far, far away, but in fact Kṛṣṇa is within us. He is far away, but at the same time He is the nearest. But even if we think that Kṛṣṇa is far, far away, His name is present. We can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa will immediately become available. Kṛṣṇa is available in this easy way, for which there are no hard and fast rules. We can chant at any time and immediately get Kṛṣṇa. Just see the mercy of Kṛṣṇa!

May your weekend be blessed by the nectar of sincere and peaceful chanting coming from the heart.your servant,Aruna devi

-- Take advantage of this rare opportunity of this human form of life.  There are 8,400,000 different species of life through which we are rotating lifetime after lifetime. So getting a human body is not an every day affair. This most auspicious opportunity only comes after many millions of lifetimes in the lower species. Anyone who does not utilize their human life for self-realization is making the greatest mistake. When this happens it is the greatest tragedy, and unfortunately today this neglect of the human form has become the standard behavior for the entire human society. What can be done? We must first ourselves become solidly situated in Krishna consciousness and then do the highest welfare activity of spreading to everyone else all over the world.

Chant:Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare