Teaching the Mind the Mantra
The goal of chanting, as I have now discovered after practicing intermittently and sometimes regularly for the past 12 years, is to teach the mind to chant and how to chant.
I was simply mechanically vibrating the sounds, sometimes listening to the sounds, but mostly thinking thoughts. But today, after many many years, I finally found my mind repeating the words after me. It was listening and repeating. Not for too long, after a few mantras it was again struggling to wander.
Even then, this is an epic discovery.
I hope I can teach my mind to be humble and to chant in that mood. Then, once it learns, it can continue to chant without my conscious intervention.
Song by Govinda Dasa Kaviraj:
Oh my mind, just worship the Lotus Feet of the Son of Nanda, which make one fearless
Having obtained this rare human birth, cross over this ocean of worldly existence through the association of saintly persons.
Both in the day and at night I remain sleepless, suffering the pains of the heat and cold, the wind and the rain. For a fraction of flickering happiness I have uselessly served wicked and miserly men.
Health and wealth, family and friends, of what use to me are all these in the end.
This life is tottering like a drop of water on a lotus petal; therefore you should always serve and worship the divine feet of Lord Hari.
It is the desire and great longing of Govinda's servant to engage himself in the nine processes of bhakti, namely hearing the glories of Lord Hari and chanting those glories, constantly remembering Him and offering prayers to Him, serving the Lord's lotus feet, serving the Supreme Lord as a servant, worshiping Him with flowers and incense, serving Him as a friend, and completely offering the Lord one's very self.
Bengali lyrics:
Bhajahu re mana, Sri Nanda Nandana, abhay charanaarvinda re
Durlabha maanava, janama satsange, trahu e bhava sindhu re
I was simply mechanically vibrating the sounds, sometimes listening to the sounds, but mostly thinking thoughts. But today, after many many years, I finally found my mind repeating the words after me. It was listening and repeating. Not for too long, after a few mantras it was again struggling to wander.
Even then, this is an epic discovery.
I hope I can teach my mind to be humble and to chant in that mood. Then, once it learns, it can continue to chant without my conscious intervention.
Song by Govinda Dasa Kaviraj:
Oh my mind, just worship the Lotus Feet of the Son of Nanda, which make one fearless
Having obtained this rare human birth, cross over this ocean of worldly existence through the association of saintly persons.
Both in the day and at night I remain sleepless, suffering the pains of the heat and cold, the wind and the rain. For a fraction of flickering happiness I have uselessly served wicked and miserly men.
Health and wealth, family and friends, of what use to me are all these in the end.
This life is tottering like a drop of water on a lotus petal; therefore you should always serve and worship the divine feet of Lord Hari.
It is the desire and great longing of Govinda's servant to engage himself in the nine processes of bhakti, namely hearing the glories of Lord Hari and chanting those glories, constantly remembering Him and offering prayers to Him, serving the Lord's lotus feet, serving the Supreme Lord as a servant, worshiping Him with flowers and incense, serving Him as a friend, and completely offering the Lord one's very self.
Bengali lyrics:
Bhajahu re mana, Sri Nanda Nandana, abhay charanaarvinda re
Durlabha maanava, janama satsange, trahu e bhava sindhu re
śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa e dina jāminī jāgi re
biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana capala sukha-laba lāgi' re
biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana capala sukha-laba lāgi' re
e dhana, yaubana, putra, parijana ithe ki āche paratīti re
kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala bhajahū hari-pada nīti re
kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala bhajahū hari-pada nīti re
śravaṇa, kīrtana, smaraṇa, vandana, pāda-sevana, dāsya re
pūjana, sakhī-jana, ātma-nivedana govinda-dāsa-abhilāṣa re
pūjana, sakhī-jana, ātma-nivedana govinda-dāsa-abhilāṣa re
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRIUaspQ1M4
posted by Lotus at 1/13/2015 06:22:00 AM
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