Shrila Prabhupada has taught us the ideal mood of chanting the holy names. It is a prayer to Krishna to beg Him for service.
When I was chanting today, I was reflecting, when we chant Krishna’s name, is Krishna present alone? Just as when we say Prime Minister is coming, it is imperative that an entire troupe of his minsters will come.
Bhakti rasamrita sindhu mentions,
hari-bhakti-mahaḍevyāḥ sarvā muktyādi-siddhayaḥ
bhuktayaś cādbhutās tasyāś cetikā-vad anuvratāḥ
All the siddhis headed by liberation and all astonishing material pleasures follow after the great goddess called Hari-bhakti like fearful maidservants.
When we call out Krishna, if Krishna is pleased by our chanting, will He come alone? He will come with all His associates.
And when Srimati Radharani’s name is chanted (Hare), will She be alone? No. She will be assisted by her sakhis and manjaris.
And they are not like fearful maidservants. They are a part of the internal energy. Their only goal in life is to assist Radha and Krishna.
Therefore, it is said – Everything is there in the Holy Name! The name, form, activities and pastimes of Krishna. How can Krishna enact His pastimes without His associates?
So, when we are chanting the Holy Names, Srimati’s Radharani’s and Krishna’s associates will engage us in Their service. While we are chanting the Holy Names, it is a direct prayer to Krishna. But, when we are engaging in His service, it is through the guru parampara, through the medium of His servants.
In the Isopanishad book, on the cover page photo, there is only Lord Vishnu. Vishnu devoid of internal potency!
Shrila Prabhupada mentions in SB 3.26.21,
“When Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu, is alone, without the accompaniment of His internal energy, He is Vāsudeva. When He is accompanied by His internal potency, He is called Dvārakādhīśa.”
There are some people who wish to serve the energetic without his energy. But our philosophy is to beg both Radha and Krishna to engage us. The shelter is received in the internal potency of the Lord.
In the very last verse of the Bhagavad Gita, in the last paragraph of the purport, Shrila Prabhupada writes,
“The living entity in his original position is pure spirit. He is just like an atomic particle of the Supreme Spirit. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa may be compared to the sun, and the living entities to sunshine. Because the living entities are the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa, they have a tendency to be in contact either with the material energy or with the spiritual energy. In other words, the living entity is situated between the two energies of the Lord, and because he belongs to the superior energy of the Lord, he has a particle of independence. By proper use of that independence he comes under the direct order of Kṛṣṇa. Thus he attains his normal condition in the pleasure-giving potency.”
So, when we are chanting the Holy Names, Krishna is present, Krishna’s energy Srimati Radharani is present, and the Holy Name contains within the spiritual world and all the associates of the Lord.
Bhaktivinod Thakura describes what is it chanting the Pure Names.
pūrna vikaśita hoiyā, braje more jāya loiyā,
dekhāy more swarūpa-vilās
more siddha-deha diyā, kṛṣṇa-pāśe rākhe giyā,
e dehera kore sarva-nāś
Being fully manifest, the holy name of takes me to Vraja and reveals to me His own love dalliance. He gives to me my own divine, eternal body, keeps me near Krsna and completely destroys this mortal frame of mine.
If the Holy Name gives us so much, why should we take the grace of Holy Name cheaply in our lives?
