{"id":120,"date":"2008-08-10T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-10T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/?p=120"},"modified":"2008-08-11T08:15:42","modified_gmt":"2008-08-11T08:15:42","slug":"chapter-11-how-do-we-know-whether-were-chanting-with-or-without-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/sweet_books\/a-z-of-mahamantra\/chapter-11-how-do-we-know-whether-were-chanting-with-or-without-offense\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 11 : How do we know whether we’re chanting with or without offense?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"Let's<\/a><\/dt>\n
Let’s shatter those shackles<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

The saints and scriptures ordain that we should chant the Holy Name without committing these ten offences. The only way we can chant without offending is to obey Sriman-Mah\u00e2prabhu’s command – to be more humble than a blade of grass. However if we can really put this to practice, Sri N\u00e2m-Prabhu will certainly grace us with His bounties and we shall feel blessed. And this will happen extremely quickly.<\/p>\n

How can we obliterate N\u00e2m-apar\u00e2dh?<\/h2>\n

Padma Pur\u00e2n has stated –<\/p>\n

“We can annihilate N\u00e2m-apar\u00e2dh<\/em> by resorting to chanting alone. We should chant without resting for a single moment – then we can destroy N\u00e2m-apar\u00e2dh<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

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However if we offend a great soul, then we have to beg him to forgive us; when he is pleased, our apar\u00e2dh<\/em> is destroyed. What happens if we are unable to please him? Then we have to chant all day and night, and then it will be possible to wipe out that offense. We can burn the other offenses by repenting and chanting incessantly.<\/p>\n

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How to find out if we have apar\u00e2dh or not?<\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We may ask – “I have not committed a single offense, and I am chanting with respect; then how come Sri N\u00e2m-Prabhu is not showering His blessings on me?” The answer to this query is the same – “apar\u00e2dh”<\/em>. There is nothing to stop the grace of the Holy Name other than offense. Although knowingly we do not commit an offense – it is true. But still we cannot proclaim to be completely free of apar\u00e2dh<\/em>. We cannot guarantee that we do not have any offense collected over the past lives; also we do commit offenses unwittingly, do we not? However there is one solid way we can discern whether or not we have \u2018offenses’.<\/strong> When we chant a lot many times, we should peep into our hearts. Am I feeling joyous? Have I got tears and goose flesh? If the answer is \u2018No’, then we should accept that offenses have made our hearts rock-hard. In spite of chanting many times, when prem<\/em> does not appear in our hearts, it is a sure sign of n\u00e2m-apar\u00e2dh<\/em>. Srimad-Bh\u00e2gavatam proves this point –<\/p>\n

“tadshmas\u00e2ram hridayam vatedam yad-grihyam-\u00e2nair-harin\u00e2ma-dheyaih,<\/em><\/p>\n

na vikriyet\u00e2tha yad\u00e2 vik\u00e2ro netre jalam g\u00e2traruheshu harshah<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Srila Vishwan\u00e2th Chakravartip\u00e2d has explained this verse as follows –<\/p>\n

“When we chant repeatedly, yet our heart does not melt with devotion – it is expressed by tears, goose flesh and other symptoms of bh\u00e2v<\/em> – such a heart is hard like iron. It is a sign of n\u00e2m-apar\u00e2dh<\/em>. Also, we cannot say that if one displays tears and goose flesh, his heart has melted; for some people who have unstable emotions too express such tears and other symptoms without possessing any bh\u00e2v.<\/em> They can do this with practice as well. The reverse is also true. Some very serious devotees do not express any sign of ecstasy although their chitta<\/em> is full of bhakti<\/em>. Hence this verse (from Srimad-Bh\u00e2gavatam) actually means –<\/p>\n

\u2018Even though one displays tears and gooseflesh externally, if he does not have a heart that has melted with devotion, it means his heart is rock-hard. Although tears and goose flesh are the common symptoms of a change of heart, we should know that the real indications are the \u2018nine symptoms’ such as forbearance, spending every moment in relation with Sri Bhagav\u00e2n<\/em> etc’.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

(to be continued)<\/p>\n

1<\/sup><\/a> Please refer the section called \u2018bh\u00e2v’<\/em> in \u2018A Scientific Study of Bhakti’ for all the effects of offenseless chanting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s shatter those shackles The saints and scriptures ordain that we should chant the Holy Name without committing these ten offences. The only way we can chant without offending is to obey Sriman-Mah\u00e2prabhu’s command – to be more humble than … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[24,18,22],"class_list":["post-120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-z-of-mahamantra","tag-chaitanyamahaprabhu","tag-chanting","tag-holyname"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kunjeshwari.com\/sweetblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}