Simple Solutions

There was once a very wealthy man in a village, he had 19 horses and when he was dying he made his will and in the will he distributed all his property and he said, "Half of the horses should go to my son, one forth of the horses I have should go to the village priest, and one fifth of the horses I have should go to my servant" and the man died.

How will anyone divide up the horses that way??

Everyone came there scratching their heads, 19 horses, half of the horses should go to the sons, that is 9 and ½ horses, how to divide, one forth of horses, how are we going to divide the horses in that proportion. Then a very wise saint came riding on a horse, he said that "I will give the solution to your problem. You want to divide 19 horses into 1/4th,and 1/5th and ½ very simple."

The saint got off the horse and then he also put his horse with the 19 horses, that became 20 horses. Now half of 20 is how much, 10 which goes to the son, 1/4th of the 20 is 5 which goes to village priest and 1/5th of 20 is 4 which goes to the servant, 10+5+4=19, i.e. how the 19 horses of the man were divided and the saint then took back his horse and rode away.

Solutions are very simple. We have multiple problems in our life, 19 problems in our life, add God, the 20th. Add Krishna to your life, everything will be worked out smoothly. Here is the proof. Solutions to our problems comes by adding Krishna in our lives

Spiritual Stories

LESSONS FROM TEA CUP
A group of working adults got together to visit their University lecturer. The lecturer was happy to see them. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment of cups - some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plain looking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite.

The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for themselves.

When all the students had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer spoke: "If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal that you only want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all you wanted was water, not the cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups."

"Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold/maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

"If we only concentrate on the cup, we won't have time to enjoy/taste the water in it." This is our problem. We are spirit souls and parts and parcel of Krishna. We have got this human life to search for our real relationship with Supreme Lord Krishna. To remain alive we have to do something to keep the body and soul together. But if we waste our time in indulging in decorating the body and satisfy the senses then we have lost the real taste of water. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita that He is the taste of water!! Think about it - seriously. Do we need expensive cups or pure, tasty, thirst quenching water?

DEVOTIONAL SERVICE IN ADVERSITY
Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, "I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there." The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, "How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!". So he came back and told Buddha, "The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink."

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time too he found that the lake was muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same. After sometime, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back. The disciple reached the lake to find the lake absolutely clean and clear with pure water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had..

So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha. Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, "See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be. and the mud settled down on its own - and you got clear water. Your mind is also like that! When it is disturbed, just neglect it. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless."

Srila Prabhupada writes a punching statement in his purport to SB 5.11.17: "There is one easy weapon with which the mind can be conquered — neglect." If we neglect its useless demands it will calm down. If we keep encouraging it to demand more and
more, then it will eat us away.

Our real test for devotional service is not based on how we behave when things are going favourably, but on how we react in adverse situations. If we are getting angry, agitated or blaming each other then it is a sure warning sign for us from the Lord to wake up to our senses and sincerely endeavour to improve our behaviour - and take shelter of the 2 important qualities - peace and patience, which the Lord is insisting to the demigods, when they took shelter of Him in fighting with the demons in the pastime of churning the milk ocean.

In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 8.6.24, the Lord says,

yuyam tad anumodadhvam / yad icchanty asuraah suraah
na samrambhena sidhyanti / sarvaarthaah saantvayaa yathaa

"My dear demigods, with patience and peace everything can be done, but if one is agitated by anger, the goal is not achieved. Therefore, whatever the demons ask, agree to their proposal."

ADDING KRISHNA IN OUR LIVES
There was once a very wealthy man in a village, he had 19 horses and when he was dying he made his will and in the will he distributed all his property and he said, "Half of the horses should go to my son, one forth of the horses I have should go to the village priest, and one fifth of the horses I have should go to my servant" and the man died.

How will anyone divide up the horses that way??

Everyone came there scratching their heads, 19 horses, half of the horses should go to the sons, that is 9 and ½ horses, how to divide, one forth of horses, how are we going to divide the horses in that proportion. Then a very wise saint came riding on a horse, he said that "I will give the solution to your problem. You want to divide 19 horses into 1/4th,and 1/5th and ½ very simple."

The saint got off the horse and then he also put his horse with the 19 horses, that became 20 horses. Now half of 20 is how much, 10 which goes to the son, 1/4th of the 20 is 5 which goes to village priest and 1/5th of 20 is 4 which goes to the servant, 10+5+4=19, i.e. how the 19 horses of the man were divided and the saint then took back his horse and rode away.

Solutions are very simple. We have multiple problems in our life, 19 problems in our life, add God, the 20th. Add Krishna to your life, everything will be worked out smoothly. Here is the proof. Solutions to our problems comes by adding Krishna in our lives.

DON'T RUN AFTER DIAMONDS OF MATERIAL EXISTENCE
There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent because he was unhappy.

The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and committed suicide.

Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow. He thought it would look good on the mantle piece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoon the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?" The new owner said, "No, why do you ask?" The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one." The man said, no, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you. There are many more." They went and picked some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres and acres of diamonds.

There are few morals:

1. When our attitude is right, we realize that we are all walking on acres and acres of diamonds.
" Opportunity is always under our feet. We don't have to go anywhere. All we need to do is recognize it.
2. The grass on the other side always looks greener.
3. While we are dyeing the grass on the other side, there are others who are dyeing the grass on our side. They would be happy to trade places with us.
4. When people don't know how to recognize oppotunity, they complain of noise when it knocks.
5. The same opportunity never knocks twice. The next one may be better or worse, but it is never the same one
6. Have faith in Krishna's grace. Don't run after diamonds of material happiness and lose your spiritual happiness.

H.H. Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaj Pics

GURU MAHARAJ WITH ASHRAYA MEMBERS

MORE PICTURES

Lord Narasimhadev

On the 24th of March, 1984, at 12.20 a.m., thirty-five dacoits armed with weapons and bombs attacked Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir. They harassed the devotees and treated them with derision. But the greatest shock came when the dacoits decided to steal the Deities of Srila Prabhupada and Srimati Radharani. Fearlessly the devotees challenged the attackers. How could they see Srila Prabhupada and Srimati Radharani carried away? Shots were fired, a few dacoits fell, and their plans foiled.

Srila Prabhupada was rescued, but the beautiful form of Srimati Radharani would no longer grace the main altar. This incident really disturbed the minds of the devotees. Those involved in management were especially concerned to make some permanent solution. This was not the first time the devotees had faced violence and harassment in Mayapur. The co-director of Mayapur suggested that Lord Narasimhadeva be installed. When the dacoits had threatened devotees at yoga-pitha, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and his son Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had promptly installed Sri Sri Lakshmi-Narasimhadeva. There had been no further disturbances.


Other devotees in Mayapur were not so keen to follow so closely in these footsteps. The pujari must be a naisthika-brahmachari (celibate from birth), and the worship of Lord Narasimhadeva must be very strict and regulated. Who would be prepared to worship Him? Despite such hesitancy, the co-director was enthusiastic to bring Lord Narasimhadeva to Mayapur. He asked Bhaktisiddhanta Dasa and myself to draw some sketches. One day quite spontaneously he said that the Deity's legs should be bent, ready to jump, he should be looking around ferociously, his fingers should be curled, and flames should be coming from his head. I sketched a Deity in this mood. The devotees liked it, and Pankajanghri Dasa agreed to worship him. Radhapada Dasa, a wealthy devotee from Calcutta offered to sponsor the sculpting and installing of the Deity. It seemed Lord Narasimhadeva's appearance in ISKCON Mayapur would be a simple, straight-forward affair.

Radhapada Dasa promptly gave Rs.1, 30,000 and it was accepted that the Deity would be ready for installation in three months. I left for south India to get things organized. By Krishna's grace I soon found a very famous sthapati. A sthapati not only sculpts Deities; he is also expert in temple architecture and engineering. The man was very obliging until I mentioned that the Deity we wanted to carve was Ugra-Narasimha. He emphatically refused to make such a Deity. I approached many Deity sculptors, but the answer was always the same: No. I had made a number of trips between Mayapur and south India, six months had passed, but Lord Narasimhadeva had not yet manifested in Deity form. Radhapada Dasa was very anxious to see Lord Narasimhadeva installed in Mayapur. He asked me to visit the original sthapati I have seen and once again I pleaded him with our case. This time the sculptor was a little more congenial and offered to read me a chapter from the silpasastra (a Vedic scripture on sculpture and temple architecture) that deals with the different forms of deities. He read aloud some verses describing Lord Narasimhadeva. A series of verses described his flame-like mane, his searching glance, and his knees bent with one foot forward ready to jump from the pillar. When he read this I was amazed. This was exactly what we wanted. I showed him the sketch I had done.

He was impressed and offered to draw an outline based on the scriptural description which we could use as a guide for sculpting the Deity. He reminded me, though, that he would not carve the form himself. It took him a week to complete the sketch, and it was very impressive. I returned to Mayapur and showed the sketch to the temple authorities. Everyone wanted this same sthapati to carve the Deity. Once again I was sent back to south India to try to convince him. I went straight to the house of the sthapati. I was feeling very anxious. What could I do but pray to Lord Narasimhadeva to be merciful and agree to manifest himself in our temple in Sri Mayapur Dhama? I had hardly said two sentences when the man very matter-of-factly said he would carve the Deity. The story of how he came to this decision is interesting. The sthapati had approached his guru, the Sankaracharya of Kanchipuram, about our request. His guru's immediate reply was, "Don't do it. Your family will be destroyed." But then, after a moment's reflection, he asked, "Who has asked you to carve this Deity?" when he heard that it was the Hare Krishna people from Navadvipa, he became very concerned. "They want Ugra-Narasimha? Are they aware of the implications of sculpting and installing Ugra-Narasimha? Such deities were carved over 3,000 years ago by very elevated sthapatis.

There is a place on the way to Mysore where a very ferocious Ugra-Narasimha is installed. The demon Hiranyakashipu is torn open on His lap and his intestines are spilling out all over the altar. Once, the standard of worship there was very high. There was an elephant procession and festival everyday. But gradually the worship declined. Today that place is like a ghost town. The whole village is deserted. No one can live there peacefully. Is that what they want for their project?" The sthapati replied, "They are insistent. They are constantly coming to talk to me about the Deity. Apparently they have some problem with the dacoits." Handing his guru a sketch of the Deity, he said, "This is the Deity they want." His guru took the sketch and looked at it knowingly. "Ah, this is an Ugra category," he said, "but a Deity in this particular mood is called Sthanu-Narasimha. He doesn't exist on this planet. Even the demigods in the heavenly planets don't worship a form like this. Yes, this Deity belongs to the Ugra category. Ugra means ferocious, very angry. There are nine forms within this category. They are all very fierce. The one they want is Sthanu-Narasimha: stepping out of the pillar. No. Don't carve this Deity. It will not be auspicious for you. I will talk with you about this later. A few nights later the sthapati had a dream. In the dream his guru came to him and said, "For them you can carve Sthanu-Narasimha."

The next morning he received a had-delivered letter from Kanchipuram. The letter was from Sankaracharya and gave some instructions regarding temple renovations. There was a footnote at the bottom. It read, "For ISKCON you can carve Sthanu-Narasimha. The sthapati showed me the letter and said, "I have my guru's blessings. I will carve the Deity." I was overwhelmed with joy. I gave him an advance payment and asked him how much time it would take to carve the Deity. He said the Deity would be ready for installation within six months. I returned to Mayapur. After four peaceful months in the holy dhama, I decided to go to South India and purchase the heavy brass paraphernalia required for Narasimhadeva worship and then collect the Deity.

The trip was well organized and trouble-free until I visited the sthapati. I explained to him that all the paraphernalia required for the worship had been purchased and that I had come to collect the Deity. He looked at me as if I'd lost my sense and exclaimed, "What Deity? I haven't even found the suitable stone!" I couldn't believe my ears. "But you told me he would be ready in six months," I exclaimed. "I will keep my promise," he said. "Six months after I find the stone the Deity will be ready for installation." His reply was emphatic, but I just couldn't understand or accept the delay. In frustration I challenged him, "There are big slabs of stone all over South India. What's the problem?" he looked at me the way a teacher would view a slow student and said very deliberately, "I am not making a grinding mortar, I am making a Deity. The scriptures tell us that only a stone that has life can be used to make a Vishnu Deity.


When you hit seven points of the stone slab and they make the sound mentioned in the scriptures, then that stone may be suitable. But the there is a second test to indicate whether the stone is living stone. There is a bug that eats granite. If it eats from one side of the stone to the other and leaves a complete trail visible behind it, then the second test of living stone has been passed. That stone is living stone, and expression can manifest from it. Only from such a slab can I carve your Narasimhadeva. Such stone speaks poetry. All features of Deity sculpted from such stone will be fully expressive and beautiful. Please be patient. I've been searching sincerely for your six foot slab.

"Appearance of Lord Narasimhadeva; I was amazed and little anxious. The devotees in Mayapur were expecting the arrival of the Deity soon. How was I going to explain the "living stone" search to them? May be they would decide to make Narasimhadeva from marble. I decided to try to lighten the subject by discussing the Prahlada Maharaja murti with the sthapati. "Please forgive me, but I forgot to tell you last time I came that we want a Prahlada murti. We want to worship Prahlada-Narasimhadeva. What do you think?" "I don't think that will be possible," the sthapati replied matter-of-factly. I looked at him incredulously, not sure what to say. He smiled and continued, "You want everything done exactly according to scritptures. You Narasimhadeva will be four feet high. Comparatively speaking, that will make Prahlada Maharaja the size of an amoeba." "But we want Prahlada Maharaja one foot high," I interrupted. "Fine," the sthapati replied, "but that means your Narasimhadeva will have to be about 120 feet high." We began to argue back and forth about Prahlada Maharaja's form. Finally the sthapati sighed in resignation and agreed to make Prahlada Maharaja one foot tall.


At least I now had something positive to report when I returned to Mayapur. After two months I returned to South India. There had been no developments. I shuttled back and forth from Mayapur to South India every thirty or forty days. Finally our stone was found and the sthapati became a transformed man. For over a week he hardly spent any time at home. Hour after hour, day after day, he just sat staring at the slab. He had a chalk in hand but didn't draw anything. He refused to allow his laborers to do anything except remove the excess stone to make the slab rectangular. The next time I visited him, he had made a sketch on the stone. That was all. I was worried. The Mayapur managers were becoming impatient. "Are you sure this Deity will be finished in six months?" I asked in desperation. "Don't worry. The work will be done." He replied. I returned to Mayapur, only to be sent back to South India to check on some details of the Deity.

I found the sthapati carving the form himself with intense care and dedication. At that stage the stone had gone and the shape had come. The sthapati had just started on the armlets. He took two weeks to carve them. All the features were so refined and delicate. I was impressed and very happy. It took the sthapati a little over twelve months to finish the Deity. When he completed the work he didn't immediately inform me but decided to visit some friends for a few days. It was the monsoon season, there were few visitors, and he felt it safe to lock up Lord Narasimhadeva securely in his thatched shed. Two days later his neighbors ran to inform him that the thatched shed was on fire. There was heavy rain and everything was wet, but the coconut-tree roof had caught fire. He ran to the scene to find Narasimhadeva untouched but the shed burned to ashes. Immediately he phoned me, "Please come and take your Deity. He's burning everything. He's made it clear He wants to go NOW!"


Enthusiastically I traveled to south India, hired a truck, and half-filled it with sand. I arrived at the sthapati's studio thinking this final stage would be relatively simple. I had foolishly forgotten that Lord Narasimhadeva is a very heavy personality: he weighed one ton! After two or three hours we managed to lift the Deity safely from the shed onto the truck. To travel across the border safely, we also needed police permission, along with signed papers from the Central Sales Tax Department, the Archeological Director, and the Art Emporium Department in Tamil Nadu. All the officers demanded to see the Deity before signing the necessary papers. Once they took darshan of Lord Narasimhadeva, they all became very obliging and efficient. We had all the necessary papers in hand within twenty-four hours - a miracle given the usual quagmire of bureaucracy found in government offices in India. The trip back to Mayapur was also amazingly trouble-free and peaceful. Our protector was certainly with us. Usually the sthapati comes on the day of the installation ceremony, goes into the Deity room and carves the eyes of the Deity. This is called netranimilanam (opening the eyes). It was an exceptional case that our Narasimhadeva's sthapati had already carved the eyes.

He had not only carved the eyes; he had also done the prana-pratistha (installing the life force), a little puja and an arati. I am sure that is why all the papers were prepared so obligingly, and transporting the Supreme Lord was so easy. He was already present. And who could dare to say no to Lord Narasimhadeva? The installation of Lord Narasimhadeva was very simple and lasted three days; from the 28th to the 30th of July 1986. I remember feeling apprehensive that perhaps the installation was too simple. The grave warnings of the Sankaracharya of Kanchipuram had deeply impressed me. But my mind was soon appeased by an awareness of loud, dynamic kirtana, sankirtana-yajna, the only true opulence of kali yuga, was dominating the scene. I felt enlivened and satisfied. Lord Narasimhadeva, the protector of the sankirtana mission, had finally decided to manifest at Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir.

The story of how Lord Narasimhadeva came to Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir - reprinted from the Mayapur journal based on a discussion with HG Atma Tattva Prabhu.

Chant for the Change!

The transcendental vibration established by the chanting of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare is the sublime method for reviving our transcendental consciousness. As living spiritual souls, we are all originally Krishna conscious entities, but due to our association with matter from time immemorial, our consciousness is now adulterated by the material atmosphere.

The material atmosphere, in which we are now living, is called maya, or illusion. Maya means “that which is not.” And what is this illusion? The illusion is that we are all trying to be lords of material nature, while actually we are under the grip of her stringent laws. When a servant artificially tries to imitate the all-powerful master, he is said to be in illusion. We are trying to exploit the resources of material nature, but actually we are becoming more and more entangled in her complexities. Therefore, although we are engaged in a hard struggle to conquer nature, we are ever more dependent on her. This illusory struggle against material nature can be stopped at once by revival of our eternal Krishna consciousness.

The Hare Krishna mantra is the transcendental process for reviving this original, pure consciousness. By chanting this transcendental vibration, we can cleanse away all misgivings within our hearts. The basic principle of all such misgivings is the false consciousness that I am the lord of all I survey.

Krishna consciousness is not an artificial imposition on the mind. This consciousness is the original, natural energy of the living entity. When we hear this transcendental vibration, this consciousness is revived. This simplest method of meditation is recommended for this age. By practical experience also, one can perceive that by chanting this maha-mantra, or the Great Chanting for Deliverance, one can at once feel a transcendental ecstasy coming through from the spiritual stratum. In the material concept of life we are busy in the matter of sense gratification, as if we were in the lower, animal stage. When a little elevated from this status of sense gratification, one is engaged in mental speculation for the purpose of getting out of the material clutches. More elevated is one who tries to find out the supreme cause of all causes—within and without. And when one is factually on the plane of spiritual understanding, surpassing the stages of sense, mind, and intelligence, he is then on the transcendental plane. This chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra is enacted from the spiritual platform, and thus this sound vibration surpasses all lower strata of consciousness—namely sensual, mental, and intellectual. There is no need, therefore, to understand the language of the mantra, nor is there any need for mental speculation, nor any intellectual adjustment for chanting this maha-mantra. It is automatic, from the spiritual platform, and as such, anyone can take part in the chanting without any previous qualification.


THE ECSTACY OF MANTRA MEDITATION
In the beginning, there may not be the presence of all transcendental ecstasies, which are eight in number. These are: (1) being stopped as though dumb, (2) perspiration, (3) standing up of hairs on the body, (4) dislocation of voice, (5) trembling, (6) fading of the body, (7) crying in ecstasy, and (8) trance. But there is no doubt that chanting for a while takes one immediately to the spiritual platform, and one shows the first symptom of this in the urge to dance along with the chanting of the mantra. We have seen this practically. Even a child can take part in the chanting and dancing. Of course, for one who is too entangled in material life, it takes a little more time to come to the standard point, but even such a materially engrossed person is raised to the spiritual platform very quickly. When the mantra is chanted by a pure devotee in love, it has the greatest efficacy on hearers, and as such this chanting should be heard from the lips of a pure devotee, so that immediate effects can be achieved. As far as possible, chanting from the lips of non-devotees should be avoided. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects.

The word Hara is the form of addressing God’s energy, and the words Krishna and Rama are forms of addressing God Himself. Both Krishna and Rama mean “the supreme pleasure,” and Hara is the supreme pleasure energy of Krishna, changed to Hare in the vocative. The supreme pleasure energy helps us to reach the Supreme.

The material energy, called maya, is also one of God’s multi-potencies, while we, the living entities, are His marginal energy. The living entities are described as superior to material energy. When the superior energy is in contact with the inferior energy, an incompatible situation arises; but when the superior marginal energy is in contact with the superior energy, Hara, it is established in its happy, normal condition.

These three words, namely Hare, Krishna, and Rama, are the transcendental seeds of the maha-mantra. The chanting is a spiritual call for God and His energy to give protection to the conditioned soul. This chanting is exactly like the genuine cry of a child for its mother’s presence. Mother Hara helps the devotee achieve the grace of the Father, who reveals Himself to the devotee who chants this mantra sincerely.

No other means of spiritual realization is as effective in this age of quarrel and hypocrisy as the chanting of the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.


HOW TO CHANT


“Maha” means “great”

“Mantra” means “sound that frees the mind from ignorance”

You can chant the mantra anywhere and at any time, but it is best to set a specific time of the day to regularly chant. Early morning hours are ideal.

The chanting can be done in two ways: singing the mantra, called kirtana (usually done in a group), and saying or reciting the mantra to oneself, called japa (which literally means “to speak softly”). Concentrate on hearing the sound of the mantra. As you chant, pronounce the mantra clearly and distinctly, in a prayerful mood. When your mind wanders, bring it back to the transcendental sound.

It is good to chant on japa beads. This not only helps you fix your attention on the mantra, but it also helps you count the number of times you chant the mantra daily. Each strand of japa beads contains 108 small beads and one large bead, the head bead. Begin on a bead next to the head bead and gently roll it between the thumb and middle finger of your right hand as you chant the full Hare Krishna mantra. Then move to the next bead and repeat the process. In this way, chant on each of the 108 beads until you reach the head bead again. This is one round of japa. Then, without chanting on the head bead, reverse the beads and start your second round on the last bead you chanted on.

Initiated practitioners chant at least sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. But even if you can chant only one round a day, a good principle is that once you commit yourself to chanting that round, try to complete it every day. When you feel you can chant more, then increase the minimum number of rounds you chant each day-but try not to fall below that number. You can chant more than your fixed number, but do your best to maintain a set minimum each day.

The japa beads are considered sacred and it is therefore recommended to keep them in a clean place. To keep your beads clean, it’s best to carry them in a special bead bag. (available from the temple store)