Yesterday, while chanting the Hare Krishna Mahāmantra, I was awake, but not alive to the Holy Name. I was chanting, but somehow, the holy name wasn’t entering my ears, what to speak of my heart.
Generally, whatever we speak, we are able to hear. But why not the Hare Krishna Mahāmantra? And in fact, many a times we may even not realize that we are not attentive to the Holy Name. How unfortunate is that!
I realized that it wasn’t the Holy Name that was being blocked from outside. My mind had created a wall, or a kind of dam, stopping the nectar of the holy name from flowing in.
Recently, I had gone to South India, and I saw how in one of the rivers, one side there was a lot of water, but on the other side of the dam, it was totally dry. I could totally relate with the condition of my heart. My heart remained like a desert, totally dry, lifeless, and untouched by the transforming potency of the holy name.
Breaking the Barriers
I decided not to give in to the resistance of the mind. Instead, I simply tried to accept the holy name into my ears at least, leaving my mind aside. And slowly, I was able to hear the Holy Name to some extent.
So many times in life, we create barriers, either consciously or unconsciously. A dam of aspirations, desires, fears, plans, or services starts building up within our minds. And during chanting, these very things act as a blockade. The holy name remains hovering, but never enters inside.
We have created these barriers since lifetimes. And they have grown formidably huge in size.
Snake Holes and Desert Tongues
Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that ears which do not hear the holy name are like snake holes..
bile batorukrama-vikramān ye
na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya
jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta
na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ
One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like the holes of snakes and a tongue like the tongue of a frog. SB 2.3.20
Similarly, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī urges all of us to let the holy name flow through our desert-like tongues, which have become parched by lifetimes of mundane talking, gossip, and speculation.
In Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Ādi-līlā 2.2), he prays:
kṛṣṇotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-kalā-pāthojani-bhrājitā
sad-bhaktāvali-haṁsa-cakra-madhupa-śreṇī-vihārāspadam
karṇānandi-kala-dhvanir vahatu me jihvā-maru-prāṅgaṇe
śrī-caitanya dayā-nidhe tava lasal-līlā-sudhā-svardhunī
O my merciful Lord Caitanya, may the nectarean Ganges waters of Your transcendental activities flow on the surface of my desertlike tongue. Beautifying these waters are the lotus flowers of singing, dancing and loud chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, which are the pleasure abodes of unalloyed devotees. These devotees are compared to swans, ducks and bees. The river’s flowing produces a melodious sound that gladdens their ears.
Let the Nectar Flow
The main obstacle is not lack of ability, but the walls we have unknowingly erected within.
The mind can be silenced. The mental volume can be lowered. How? By simply trying to focus on the syllables of the holy name.
The holy name, by its very nature, is sweet.
And who would ever block something sweet from entering their mouth?
Who would block sweet music from entering their ears?
Who would block sweet realizations from entering their hearts?
Only a fool would do so.
Therefore, the walls and dams created by mundane desires and distractions must be broken by the missiles and bombs of our determination and sincerity.
Making a small hole in the bottom to let a little water flow from below won’t help. The heart is craving from lifetimes for more and more, but we have cheated it by trying to satisfy it through the petty things of this world. And therefore, it has remained like a desert. Only Krishna in the form of the Holy Name has the potency to quench our thirst.
Therefore, we must allow the holy name to not just flow on the tongue, but to enter the ears and sink deep into the heart.
Because once it enters the heart, the holy name has the potency to conquer it completely.
If the holy name doesn’t flow through our hearts, then they will remain deserts, and our consciousness will remain dry and barren.
And what a tragic situation that is !
