24 Results of giving up chanting
The attraction of chanting the holy name is so powerful that only an animal can give it up:
[King Prthu to Lord Visnu]: My dear highly glorified Lord, if one, in the association of pure devotees, hears even once the glories of Your activities, he does not, unless he is nothing but an animal, give up the association of devotees, for no intelligent person would be so careless as to leave their association. The perfection of chanting and hearing about Your glories was accepted even by the goddess of fortune, who desired to hear of Your unlimited activities and transcendental glories.
The glorification of the Supreme Lord can be very much appreciated by the Aryan family. Although there is no bar for others, the members of the Aryan family very quickly catch the essence of spiritual life. Presently these descendants of the Aryan family are taking this Krsna consciousness movement very seriously. Others who are associating with them and hearing the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha mantra from the lips of pure devotees are also becoming captivated by the transcendental vibration. Transcendental vibrations are very much effective when chanted among Aryans, but even though one does not belong to the Aryan family, he will become a Vaisnava simply by hearing the mantra because the vibration has great influence over everyone. The impersonalist may ask why one should bother chanting the Hare Krsna maha mantra continually for so many years instead of stopping and trying for kaivalya, liberation, or merging into the existence of the Lord. In answer, Maharaja Prthu maintains that the attraction of this chanting is so great that one cannot give up the process unless he is an animal. This is the case even if one comes in contact with this transcendental vibration by chance. Prthu Maharaja is very emphatic in this connection only an animal can give up the practice of chanting Hare Krsna. Those who are not animals but actually intelligent, advanced, human, civilized men cannot give up this practice of continually chanting
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
– Srimad Bhagavatam 4.20.26
One who cannot complete his assigned number of rounds is in a diseased condition of spiritual life:
[Lord Caitanya and Haridasa thakura]: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu further inquired from Haridasa, “Can you ascertain what your disease is?” Haridasa thakura replied, “My disease is that I cannot complete my rounds.”
If one cannot complete the fixed number of rounds he is assigned, he should be considered to be in a diseased condition of spiritual life.
– Sri Caitanya caritamrta Antya lila 11.23
If we neglect the regulative principle of chanting the maha mantra, we will eventually fall down:
[Sukadeva Gosvami to King Pariksit]: Gradually Maharaja Bharata became very affectionate toward the deer. He began to raise it and maintain it by giving it grass. He was always careful to protect it from the attacks of tigers and other animals. When it itched, he petted it, and in this way he always tried to keep it in a comfortable condition. He sometimes kissed it out of love. Being attached to raising the deer, Maharaja Bharata forgot the rules and regulations for the advancement of spiritual life, and he gradually forgot to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After a few days, he forgot everything about his spiritual advancement.
From this we can understand how we have to be very cautious in executing our spiritual duties by observing the rules and regulations and regularly chanting the Hare Krsna maha mantra. If we neglect doing this, we will eventually fall down. We must rise early in the morning, bathe, attend mangala−arati, worship the Deities, chant the Hare Krsna mantra, study the Vedic literatures and follow all the rules prescribed by the acaryas and the spiritual master. If we deviate from this process, we may fall down, even though we may be very highly advanced. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (18.5):
yajna-dana-tapah-karma na tyajyam karyam eva tat
yajno danam tapas caiva pavanani manishinam
“Acts of sacrifice, charity and penance are not to be given up but should be performed. Indeed, sacrifice, charity and penance purify even the great soul.” Even if one is in the renounced order, he should never give up the regulative principles.
– Srimad Bhagavatam 5.8.8
Even if one is highly elevated in Krsna conaciousness, if he stops chanting, his devotional creeper will dry up:
Krsna is within you, and as soon as Krsna sees that you are very sincere, that you are seeking, He sends a bona fide spiritual master. This combination of Krsna and the spiritual master is the cause of one’s receiving the seed of Krsna consciousness. The seed is there. If you have a very nice seed of a rose bush, what is your duty? If you have a seed of any nice plant, it is your duty not to lock it up in the safety vault of a bank. Your duty is to sow it in the ground. Where should you sow that seed? If you have information of Krsna consciousness, you just sow it in your heart. Not in this earth, but in the earth within yourself. And after sowing a seed you have to pour a little water on it, so that water is hearing and chanting. Once the seed is sown in the heart, just pour on a little water, and it will grow.
This process should not be stopped by the thought that because one is initiated there is no need of hearing and chanting. It should go on continuously. If you stop pouring water on a plant, it will dry up; it will not produce any fruit. Similarly, even if you are highly elevated in Krsna consciousness, you cannot stop this process of hearing and chanting because maya is so strong, so powerful, that as soon as she sees, “Ah, here is an opportunity,” at once you will dry up. By the process of pouring water, that plant of Krsna consciousness grows.How does it grow? There is a limit to every plant you see; it grows and grows and grows, but there is a limit where it stops growing. But the plant of Krsna consciousness grows in such a way that it does not rest in any part of this material universe because a Krsna conscious person is not satisfied with planetary facilities in any part of this material universe. Even if you offer him Siddhaloka, where the inhabitants are so powerful and elevated that they can fly in the sky without airplanes, he will not be satisfied.
There is a planet, Siddhaloka, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam, where the inhabitants do not need airplanes or spacecraft to fly from one planet to another. Above Siddhaloka there are many other planets. I saw that the latest modern opinion is that every star is a sun, and there are different planetary systems, solar systems; but according to Vedic literature there are innumerable universes which are separate identities. The limit of this universe is the outermost sky. The modern scientist says that each and every star is a sun. But Vedic literature does not say that. Vedic literature informs us that there is only one sun in each universe, but there are innumerable universes, and thus there are innumerable suns and moons. The highest planet of this universe is called Brahmaloka. And Lord Krsna says, “Even if you approach the highest planet, you have to come back again.” Sputniks and astronauts are going very high, and here on earth people are clapping; but after just a brief time they come down again. However one may clap, he cannot do more than that. Similarly, those who are materialistic can go high up to Brahmaloka where Brahma is, but those who are Krsna conscious will reject even that. They neglect even the impersonal brahmajyoti. They don’t care for it.
The covering of this universe is far, far greater than this space which we are now in. The outside of the universe is ten times the space within, so one has to penetrate that covering, and then reach Viraja, the Causal Ocean. The Buddhist philosophical perfection is to reach that Viraja. When this material existence is completely finished, it is called viraja, according to Vedic language. But the Krsna conscious person not only penetrates the covering of this universe, but after he reaches that Causal Ocean, which is the neutral position, he continues. The plant grows so nicely from Brahmaloka to Viraja to the spiritual sky, and even when that plant reaches the spiritual sky, it is not satisfied with any Vaikuntha planet.
The highest planet in the spiritual sky is Krsnaloka. It is just like a lotus flower, where Krsna is standing. And there, when the plant finds Krsna’s lotus feet, it rests. Just as a creeper grows and grows and grows and at last attaches itself to something and then expands, when the devotional plant gets to the lotus feet of Krsna, it expands. As soon as this Krsna consciousness creeper captures Krsna’s lotus feet, it takes shelter. “There. Now I have finished my journey. Let me expand here.” To expand means to enjoy Krsna’s association. There the devotees are satisfied.
That creeper has to go on, and thus those who are already in Krsna consciousness, if they have their natural growth, relish the fruit of that creeper even in this life.
If you continue this chanting and hearing process, you will grow and grow and actually reach Krsna’s lotus feet and there relish His association.
– Krsna Consciousness: The Topmost Yoga System
If a devotee fails to chant the holy name, he will fall into the material conception of life:
We have witnessed that some of our contemporaries who are supposed to be great preachers have gradually fallen into the material conception of life because they have failed to chant the holy name of the Lord.
– The Nectar of Instruction Text 5
