Is it harmful to chant mahamantra...

[Guest guest]

...without initiation? I mean, most people say it's ok to chant mahamantra without offenses but as a neophyte, it's extremely hard. So if you chant with offenses, such as being absent-minded or hankering after results etc., does it hurt you? But the alternative is no chanting. So which is better?

[theist]

It is offensive and harmful NOT to chant. It's the reflection of the Name that clears us of our offensive mentality.

 

We are the fallen. If the fallen can't chant and take benefit then why do the Vaisnava's bother preaching the name to the fallen? The Vaisnava says "Chant". Who are we to say "No, I am too fallen."

 

False humility will not impress Krsna,... "Oh, I am too fallen to chant". He sees that it is just another trick to avoid loving Him.

[Guest guest]

the chanting of the Holy Name is unlimitedly benificial,

but hey, if that don't work for ya try chanting HARE POTTER HARE POTTER a few times and see which one tastes better spiritually....

[Guest guest]

there is no other way than to start chanting, but with offenses ... as that is the purpose of the chanting, to purify by the whole process... offensive chanting in the beginning if persivered will become offenseless chanting as one advances.

[Airicky]

Yes it is harmful to chant. It is harmful to our anarthas, illusions and material hankerings. But is it beneficial, transcedental medication for our eternal souls!

 

Just because someone is initiated does not mean that they are not neophytes or that they chant without offenses, are not absent minded, hankering after results etc.

 

Prabhupada says even a child can follow this process of chanting!

 

Hare Krsna!

[Guest guest]

you've all misunderstood me. I want to chant but I am afraid I might offend Krishna because I have all kinds of stupid thoughts and materialistic desires when I chant. And I've heard many people say that chanting should be done only for Shudda Bhakti and it should not be tainted by desires, anger and so on. Since I have these, does that mean I have to purify myself before chanting, or is chanting itself the purifying process? Also, on one website, it's said one should chant gauranga and the names of vaishnavas before chanting mahamantra for similar reasons.

 

That's the reason for my query, not because I want to avoid chanting. I just want to know whether one can proceed directly to mahamanta despite crappy thoughts and desires in one's head.

[theist]

You may be surprised to learn that all of us material devotees (less than pure)want to avoid chanting. We have other priorities and that is the problem.

 

The name gradually bestows a taste for chanting and then we become mixed. Sometimes appreciating chanting to some degree and sometimes preferring to forget the mantra.

 

By continuing chanting and trying to avoid offenses the name will reveal more of Himself until our taste for chanting becomes overwhelming.

 

There is no way we can purify ourself without chanting. Chanting is the process to the goal and the goal itself. There is no purification needed before starting. No formalities religious or philosophical are required or needed.

 

Srila Prabhupada instructed that it is like the genuine crying out by the child for the mother.

 

This question has come up for all of us. It is natural and it shows the have good concern. The danger is if you become preoccupied with it too much you may develop some type of despair and not chant for fear of offending the Lord when just the opposite is true. We offend Krsna by not chanting.

 

Krsna knows those thoughts in your mind are not you. Now you must know it too. And they will pass and be replaced by Krsna conscious thoughts and feeling all in due courser.

 

Just like the molecules of our bodies are changing at every moment and not us so the thoughts in the mind are passing by and not us. It is happening exernal to the self.

 

Web sites may talk of Shuddha Nama and yes that is the goal but those that have attained it are rare on earth at any one time.

 

Chant and be happy!

[theist]

 

The devotee doesn't waste his time trying to save the saved by preaching purity to the pure. He is sent to the fallen to raise us up.

[Guest guest]

"And I've heard many people say that chanting should be done only for Shudda Bhakti and it should not be tainted by desires, anger and so on"

 

they're right.. but to reach the point to really desire shudda bhakti and to chant for her, we have to chant mahamantra with our mixed desires..

 

chanting purely is achieved chanting not purely.. there's no other way..

 

while you are chanting pray krsna to send you a living spiritual master

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

Heh heh heh! That's funny!

[gHari]

The greatest danger comes in a warning from Srila Rupa Goswami found repeated in the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi 5.224 wherein one gopi advises another:<BLOCKQUOTE><CENTER><font color="RED">smerAM bhaGgI-traya-paricitAM sAci-vistIrNa-dRSTiM

vaMzI-nyastAdhara-kizalayAm ujjvalAM candrakeNa

govindAkhyAM hari-tanum itaH kezi-tIrthopakaNThe

mA prekSiSThAs tava yadi sakhe bandhu-saGge 'sti raGgaH

</center>

smerAm--smiling; bhaGgI-traya-paricitAm--bent in three places, namely the neck, waist and knees; sAci-vistIrNa-dRSTim--with a broad sideways glance; vaMzI--on the flute; nyasta--placed; adhara--lips; kizalayAm--newly blossomed; ujjvalAm--very bright; candrakeNa--by the moonshine; govinda-AkhyAm--named Lord Govinda; hari-tanum--the transcendental body of the Lord; itaH--here; kezi-tIrtha-upakaNThe--on the bank of the YamunA in the neighborhood of KezIghATa; mA--do not; prekSiSThAH--glance over; tava--your; yadi--if; sakhe--O dear friend; bandhu-saGge--to worldly friends; asti--there is; raGgaH--attachment.

</font>

"My dear friend, if you are indeed attached to your worldly friends, do not look at the smiling face of Lord Govinda as He stands on the bank of the YamunA at KezIghATa. Casting sidelong glances, He places His flute to His lips, which seem like newly blossomed twigs. His transcendental body, bending in three places, appears very bright in the moonlight."

 

PURPORT

This is a verse quoted from the Bhakti-rasAmRta-sindhu (1.2.239) in connection with practical devotional service. Generally people in their conditioned life engage in the pleasure of society, friendship and love. This so-called love is lust, not love. But people are satisfied with such a false understanding of love. VidyApati, a great and learned poet of MithilA, has said that the pleasure derived from friendship, society and family life in the material world is like a drop of water, but our hearts desire pleasure like an ocean. Thus the heart is compared to a desert of material existence that requires the water of an ocean of pleasure to satisfy its dryness. If there is a drop of water in the desert, one may indeed say that it is water, but such a minute quantity of water has no value. Similarly, in this material world no one is satisfied in the dealings of society, friendship and love. Therefore if one wants to derive real pleasure within his heart, he must seek the lotus feet of Govinda. In this verse RUpa GosvAmI indicates that if one wants to be satisfied in the pleasure of society, friendship and love, he need not seek shelter at the lotus feet of Govinda, for if one takes shelter under His lotus feet he will forget that minute quantity of so-called pleasure. One who is not satisfied with that so-called pleasure may seek the lotus feet of Govinda, who stands on the shore of the YamunA at KezItIrtha, or KezIghATa, in VRndAvana and attracts all the gopIs to His transcendental loving service.</BLOCKQUOTE>

In PadyAvalI, RAdhArANI told Her companion, "My dear friend, I was just going to the bank of the YamunA, and all of a sudden a very nice boy whose complexion is like a dark blue cloud became visible in front of My eyes. He glanced over Me in a way that I cannot describe. But since this has occurred, I am sorry that I can no longer engage My mind in the duties of My household affairs." [NoD 44]

 

Danger everywhere! But it is like polishing a tarnished silver goblet. It may take numerous passes to perfect the shine; yet each pass gets closer, the silver more beautiful and the polishing cloth less soiled. With enough buffing efforts, both the goblet and the polishing cloth will be spotless.

 

[Guest guest]

We are so happy that some one finally got that little ditty... as it was our intention to shed some humour on the foolish considerations mentioned in this thread regarding the more popular books of Harry Potter rather than a locus of control reading our dear Srila Prabhupada's books.

 

The adventures of the Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita 'AS IT IS ' produces far more satisfiying results in ones boring life of illusion ...nuff said, we remain ever felicitate in the dust of the feet of genuine Vaisnavas...

 

Chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

[perumal]

Haribol !

I see what you mean. I'm sure many devotees understand where you are coming from, but what I try to do is rejoice in the actual names. Once that becomes second nature, the number of rounds increase in turn. For me, I find it helpful to always try and engage in kirtan, especially in front of a form of the Lord. You don't have to necessarily be leading the kirtan, but just by listening to different styles of kirtan, one can easily awaken their love for chanting the mahamantra. I hope I was of some service.