Chanting Hare Krishna: How to Attain God-Realisation in Kali Yuga
- The B.L.I.S.S.
- 10 hours ago
- 7 min read
Sound vibration is the most important subject in our philosophy, and there are two qualities of sound: prakata and aprakata. Prakata is the sound manifested in the material world and aprakata is the spiritual vibration.
The materialists can only deal with sound vibrated in the material world, but if one approaches a bonafide spiritual master and follow his transcendental instructions, he will be able to receive spiritual messages directly from the spiritual world.
By approaching a qualified and authorized spiritual master, we are able to connect ourselves to the chain of disciplic succession. “But our attempt, in presenting Bhagavad-gita As It Is, is to present the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Our business is to present the will of Krishna, not that of any mundane speculator like the politician, philosopher or scientist, for they have very little knowledge of Krishna, despite all their other knowledge. When Krishna says, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg. 18.65], etc., we, unlike the so-called scholars, do not say that Krishna and His inner spirit are different. Krishna is absolute, and there is no difference between Krishna's name, Krishna's form, Krishna's qualities, Krishna's pastimes, etc. This absolute position of Krishna is difficult to understand for any person who is not a devotee of Krishna in the system of parampara (disciplic succession). Generally the so-called scholars, politicians, philosophers, and swamis, without perfect knowledge of Krishna, try to banish or kill Krishna when writing commentary on Bhagavad-Gita. Such unauthorized commentary upon Bhagavad-Gita is known as Mayavada-banhya, and Lord Chaitanya has warned us about these unauthorized men.” Preface, Bhagavad Gita As It Is.
The above quote is from the Bhagavad Gita As It is, translated by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the world renowned Vedic Scholar who is himself one of the great spiritual masters in this disciplic succession chain. We are aware of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the first link in the chain to this disciplic succession. The Bhagavad-Gita was spoken for the first time to the sun-god, and the sun-god explained it to Manu, and Manu explained it to Ikshvaku, and in this way, by this method of disciplic succession, one spiritual master after another, this yoga system has been coming down. But like everything in this temporary manifestation of the material world, things become subject to degradation and deterioration, so the knowledge has been lost. Therefore, 5000 years ago Krishna had to speak the Vedic wisdom to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra.
In the material world, if I pick up a flower in the morning, a few hours later it will start to wilt. Even if that flower was really sublime in the morning, at the end of the day, I won’t be able to do much with it. (PS: If I observe the sublime character of a freshly picked flower, I can simply imagine the greatness of God’s creation, and He Himself as the supreme artist behind each creation, a beautiful way of remembering Krishna. Smaranam is one of the 9 processes of devotional service. This process of remembering God can take place simply after someone becomes expert in hearing and chanting.) In the same way, the body of a pretty young man or woman appears very pleasing in their early teen years. But as time goes by, the body deteriorates and, like a machine, becomes less functional. Despite all the efforts we can make to keep it young and fresh, it is not possible to preserve it. Time waits for no one and the speed at which matter degrades is truly impressive.
The nature of the material world is such that nothing remains fixed forever, and everything perishes in due course, without us suspecting anything. This is why, when we approach an authentic spiritual master in perfect osmosis with the disciplic succession, we can analyze the changes in material nature before it is too late. Even if Krishna has to return to transmit Vedic knowledge, we must not make the mistake of misinterpreting the knowledge as material. Earlier we mentioned the temporary nature of everything in this material universe. But the transcendental vibration of Krishna and the Vedic scriptures can never be degraded by time or material nature; it is above everything, it is the source of all knowledge, and we can also affirm the source of everything in the end.
Vedic knowledge is totally absolute and transcendental. Here, we can create and speculate on material subject matter, but when it comes to Vedic knowledge, we cannot engage our material minds. We must first subdue our conditioning, so that we can seek absolute facts with imperfect and material senses, and thereby approach a perfect authority who can converse about transcendental subject matters. In the spiritual world, everything is absolute, meaning that words are no different from the objects they represent. For example, in the absolute, spiritual world, the word water is no different from the substance water. If I keep repeating the word “water, water, water”, I will still always be thirsty. But in the spiritual world, as soon as I even have the thought of water, it appears. That is the difference between material and spiritual sound vibration. However, let’s not make the mistake of thinking that the feeling of thirst can appear in the spiritual world. This is far from being the case; these feelings and discomforts of the body are not present. We desire nothing in the spiritual world since our nature is absolute and eternal. Simply by existing in our eternal position, we are complete and fulfilled.
The ultimate goal of all knowledge is to realise our eternal nature. We are eternal in nature like Krishna, but at the moment we are covered by layers and layers of matter. The body is one of these layers, the mind, senses, and intelligence constitute more subtle layers.... not to mention the billions of material desires we have accumulated over billions of lives through the different bodies we have borrowed. We are currently in a state of ignorance since we cannot even perceive ourselves, let alone the supreme. Even if it appears that we are achieving something in this life, if we do not know our true identity and nature, everything is a waste of time. Without realising who we are, we can only be considered fools, acting without conscience but simply guided by unconscious, illusory, and temporary desires.
So, there is a way to overcome this ignorance, a process perfectly detailed in the Vedic scriptures to revive our natural and eternal Krishna consciousness. We are eternally Krishna conscious spiritual beings, and Krishna is God, the Supreme Person. We are eternally engaged in a relationship with Him. It may seem hard to believe, but it is a fact that anyone who approaches a bonafide spiritual master and inquires from him will gradually come to understand Krishna and the eternal bond we have with Him. In the age of Kali, also called the age of strife and ignorance, people are not very good at realising the self; they are lazy, quarrelsome, and less intelligent. In short, spiritual realisation is the least of their worries, since the further we advance into the different ages, the more demonic the population becomes and the more important and emphasised the gratification of the senses becomes.
Even if we are very naughty children, Krishna always keeps an eye on us. That's why He spoke the Bhagavad-Gita to Arjuna 5,000 years ago. And because everything degrades in the material universe, the Vedic principles could not be followed by the mass of people.
Krishna therefore decided to bring forth His sublime, golden incarnation: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In reality, He is Krishna Himself. They are not different. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the supreme acharya, and acharya means one who shows by example. Krishna takes the form of His pure devotee and thus inspires us to follow in His footsteps. Mahaprabhu is infinitely merciful and fascinating because He exhibits the highest symptoms of love of God. What is most fascinating in these pastimes is that Shrila Prabhupada leaves us dreaming and hoping that we can also attain the pure ecstatic love of God. This is very encouraging in our practice of Krishna consciousness, because sometimes we may feel discouraged that we have not reached a high enough stage or that we have not purified ourselves enough, but simply by remembering Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we can regain faith and strength. After all, He is our yuga-avatara, the avatara of our age, so it is natural for us to become attached to Him. Lord Chaitanya comes to inaugurate the chanting of the Holy Names. This 16-word mantra is a transcendental vibration directly imported from the spiritual world. The Holy Names of Krishna possess absolutely all the qualities, energies, and powers of God the Supreme Person. And because He is the most loving being there is, He allows us, the most fallen souls of Kali-Yuga, to vibrate his Holy Names on our tongue.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
(Lord Krishna, thinking to Himself):
“I shall personally inaugurate the religion of the age--nama-sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the holy name. I shall make the world dance in ecstasy, realizing the four mellows of loving devotional service.” From the Sri Caitanya-Caritamrita Adi-Lila 3.19.
That the sound vibration of the Supreme Lord is identical with the Supreme Lord is a fact. This is confirmed in the Narada-pancaratra:
"When the transcendental sound vibration is practiced by a conditioned soul, the Supreme Lord is present on his tongue."
When we have the great fortune to be able to chant the mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, we must seize this opportunity to associate ourselves with God very seriously. The more sincerely and submissively we chant, the more God will reveal Himself to us and gradually remove the dust that covers our pure hearts with all the material impurities that prevent us from realising our true nature and the eternal relationship that unites us with Krishna, the supreme person.
By Her Grace Daivi Shakti Devi Dasi
