Before chanting the Holy Name of Krishna, we must first chant the Pancha Tattva mantra:
sri-krishna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda
The Pancha Tattva, or five features of the Absolute Truth, came to give the Hare Krishna mahamantra to the fallen devotees of this age, so they are the general representation of Guru for us. They help us to enter into the domain of Krishna and also the plane of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
After chanting the Pancha Tattva mantra, we should count on the beads of the japa-mala and chant the mahamantra:
hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
While counting beads and chanting the Holy Name, the beads should be placed inside a cloth bag, and the index finger, which is generally considered inauspicious, should not touch the beads but should remain outside the bag. Generally, we use the thumb and middle finger to count. One should chant sixteen rounds, as recommended by Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, but if there is any emergency, he must chant at least four rounds; the mala should not be kept fasting.
In the process of counting, we begin from the bigger beads and go towards the smaller, and again return in the same line. The giant bead in the centre is called Mount Sumeru. We must not cross over that.
This Hari-nam mahamantra is found in the Upanisads, as well as in the Agni-purana and the Brahmanda-purana. In the Kali-santarana-upanisad, it is recommended as the highest mantra, and scholars have mentioned this mantra as a means of address only; no appeal should be attached to that. This Hare Krishna mahamantra is the Yuga-dharma-nam, or the process of God realisation especially meant for the present age, Kali-yuga. We find the mahamantra mentioned everywhere in the Puranas. This mantra can be chanted silently, mentally, and aloud. It has been given to us by Mahaprabhu as the general recommendation for the fallen souls. He has given it for all, whether they are qualified or unqualified. The only condition for receiving it is sraddha, faith.
It is mentioned in the Padma-purana that there are ten kinds of offences we must try to avoid in the chanting of the Hare Krishna mahamantra. There are also four kinds of Namabhas, or apathetic chanting, which will not give us entrance into the domain of mercy. Mere liberation will be effected by that kind of invocation.
These two improper kinds of chanting stem from our tendencies for exploitation and renunciation. We must chant the Name with the spirit of service and avoid the ten offences.
The first offence is to abuse the devotees who are the agents of spreading the greatness and nobility of the Supreme Lord, Krishna. If we abuse and dishonour His agents, then the Name is dissatisfied. Only the devotees of Krishna are real saints because they are after eternal life. Those persons who worship demigods for temporary gain are not considered saints. They may be neglected, for they are not devotees. Saint means Vaisnava, or devotee. All others, such as the worshippers of demigods, are not considered saints. We avoid them. A saint is one who has no ambition in his life but to have a connection of loving service with the Supreme Lord. Only those who are agents of eternal truth, absolute good, are to be considered saintly. We should not abuse such saintly persons.
The second offence concerns how we should treat the demigods, including Siva, Sakti, the sun-god, and others. They are not to be considered equal to or greater than Visnu, or Krishna. They are under Him, and they are all inferior to Him. They are given engagements by the Supreme Lord, Krishna, and they have to discharge their duties according to His order. They are never equal or superior to Krishna.
The third offence is to consider the Guru a human being. Although so many human symptoms may be found in him, still, according to our sincerity to meet Godhead, the Lord descends and represents Himself in the Guru to satisfy our hunger for the truth. We must see him as the agent of the Lord. It has been advised to us in a general way not to think of the Guru as a mortal being because if our attempt to attain the Absolute is sincere, then He will also come to us to deliver us. God is omniscient, so through a particular agent who acts as His representative, He comes here to accept us and take us up to the higher plane. We are ordered by the advice of the scriptures to see the Guru as the representative of the Absolute because none can give us Krishna but He Himself.
God’s presence should be perceived in our Gurudev. We should see that God has come to give Himself to us. Generally, we find mortal signs in the body of the spiritual master, but we must transcend that. The Ganges water may be filthy in external appearance, but still the dirty Ganges water can purify us by its touch. To our material senses, the Deity seems to be wood, stone, or earth, but that is our polluted vision. Krishna is there, and sometimes He is seen to walk and to talk with devotees of a higher order. We must not think that He is made of material stuff. When we go and stand before the Deity, we should not think that we can see Him, but that He is seeing us. He is in the subjective plane; I am His object.
He is mercifully seeing us to purify us. In this way, our vision must be adjusted. Krishna was killed by a hunter; the atheists will interpret that it was an ordinary incident, but it is not so. Sita was stolen by Ravana. This is all external, all illusory. The real truth is above, in the transcendental realm. So, we are requested by the expert transcendentalists and by the sastra to see that our Gurudev is above these mortal signs. Krishna says:
acharyam mam vijaniyan navanmanyeta karhichit
na martya-buddhyasuyeta sarva-deva-mayo guruh
«I Myself am the Acharya. Do not think that the Guru is an ordinary man. I Myself reside within the heart of Gurudev with all My parts and parcels for the benefit of the disciple.»
The fourth offence is sastra-ninda: blaspheming the sastra, the scriptures. Of course this means those scriptures which are concerned with praising the greatness and nobility of Krishna, not others. We must not abuse those scriptures that instruct us about God and His devotees and teach us the eternal good.
The fifth offence is to interpret the Holy Name of Krishna with the help of the dictionary and grammar, to find diverse meanings in the words of the Name. The sound is transcendental. The dictionary, grammar, and any other books of mundane knowledge cannot limit or qualify the Holy Name. Above the material sound of the Name is the transcendental sound within (Sabda-brahma). The Name itself is the Supreme Person incarnate by His own free will. He is inseparable from His Name and fully present in His sound form.
The Vaikuntha-sabda, transcendental sound, is different from the mundane sound that can be produced by the tongue and lips. In homeopathic medicine, all the globules are apparently the same, but the potency within is all-important. It is something like that. The ordinary sound of the Name, and the sound vibrated by a pure devotee come from different planes. The difference is in the potency within. The Holy Name descends from the spiritual world and comes to express itself by dancing on the tongue. The transcendental sound of the Holy Name is inseparably connected with the person whom it represents.
The sixth offence is to consider the glories of the Holy Name of Krishna to be a concoction.
The seventh offence is to sin on the strength of the Holy Name. The scriptures declare that one Name is sufficient to clear all the sins one can commit, so if we go on indulging, committing many sins with the idea that we will chant one Name to cleanse the sin, it will be an offence to the Name and not the Name proper. We cannot try to utilise Him for our service; He is above all this maya. The real Name will not appear there. We must not think, «I can do anything and everything, and the Name will purify me.» It is written in the scriptures that if you go on with this spirit, it will be suicidal.
The eighth offence is to think that chanting the Holy Name is another pious activity like penance, pilgrimage, giving in charity, service to the country, and so on. If we think lightly of the Holy Name in this way, then we commit an offence because the Holy Name is absolute and these other processes have only a partial, relative position. Other processes are partial — they award some success in this mundane world — but the Name can give the Lord Himself. So, no other process of purification can hold the same position as chanting the Holy Name of Krishna. It is supreme, and none can come close to it.
The ninth offence is to give the Name to those who do not deserve it, who have no faith in chanting the Name. If you press them to chant the Holy Name, a bad reaction will come to you. Also, without getting any inspiration, we should not make disciples and give Hari-nam initiation. We will commit offence against the Name if we make a business or trade with Name-giving. If we give the Name to anyone and everyone, out of greed for becoming a guru, then it will be an offence. Without sanction from above, if one runs to become a guru to get name and fame with some mundane purpose, then it is a great offence.
The tenth offence is to be too much addicted to a particular thing, or to have too much affinity towards the body and bodily wealth. When a boat is anchored, rowing will simply move the boat around the anchor. The anchor must be taken up, and then the boat can move forward. So, we must not anchor ourselves down with a particular thing. We must be open. The Name will create some transformation within the mental system, and we must be open and unprejudiced enough to go where the Name will send us. If we carefully try to avoid that transformation and stick to our present life, that is an offence against the Name: to invite Him, and then ignore Him.
We must not accept the Name as a foreign thing; He is our friend. We should be quite at home with Him. We are going to attain a very soothing and friendly connection by the realisation of the Holy Name of Krishna, which is all-good, all-beautiful, and all-charming. By chanting the Holy Name, we will attain our most desirable end of life and go back to God, back to home, and not to any foreign country.
We must take the Name in a friendly, affectionate way. The Name is the only object of our love. He is our friend, and not any anti-party. So, the Name will take us home — not to any foreign land. That is our sweet home, and He is our sweet guardian. With this spirit, we shall go on chanting the Holy Name of Krishna.
These are the ten offences to be avoided in chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra:
hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
In chanting the Holy Name, there are also four kinds of Namabhas. Namabhas means a faint connection with the Holy Name. Namabhas is neither offence nor service mood, but between the two. Its basis is renunciation, but we must also cast away this indifference and become earnest for serving the Name, who is our friend and Master. Namabhas may be classified into four categories. The first is sanketya: chanting indirectly, to indicate something else, as in the case of Ajamil.
Ajamil was a brahman’s son. Somehow, he connected with a low-class woman and entered into a degraded life as a dacoit, drinking and doing many other nasty things. After many years, the time came for his death. As he lay in a coma, suddenly he saw three messengers with a horrible appearance come and put a rope around his neck and begin to drag him away. He was horrified.
Just before this, he had seen his son Narayan playing nearby, so he sought the help of the child and called, «Narayan!» But in the course of calling his name, Ajamil thought within himself, «What can this boy Narayan do? How will he deal with these three furious figures? He is nothing.» So, by the connection of the Holy Name of Narayan, Lord Narayan came to his mind.
When in his apprehension his call for Lord Narayan was sincere, four agents from Vaikuntha descended. They were sober and mild and addressed the Yamadutas, the messengers of death saying: «Who are you? Why have you come?»
«We have come because it is the last day of Ajamil. He was a great sinner, and we have been sent by our king, Yamaraj, the Lord of death, to drag him away for punishment.»
«Don’t you know what is dharma, duty?»
«Oh yes, we know.»
«Then why are you here?»
«He committed immense sin.»
«Didn’t you hear him take the Name of Narayan?»
«Yes we have heard. What of that? His whole life he has committed so many sinful acts, and only one Name of Narayan will do away with that? It is not possible.»
«Oh, you have not been properly directed by your master. Now that Ajamil has taken the Name of Narayan, his jurisdiction has at once changed. He is no longer under the jurisdiction of your master. Has he not given such instructions to you?»
«No, no, we do not know all these things.»
«Then, go back, and ask him.»
Ajamil was released. Frightened by the posture and grandeur of the messengers of Visnu, the Yamadutas fled. Ajamil thought, «What is the instruction to be learned here?»
This is Namabhas. It is a faint connection with the Holy Name. It was neither out of faith, nor by the order of his guru, that he chanted the Name of Narayan. It was not that he purposely went to take the Name, but by accident it flashed in his mind. Still, as a result of his previous pious activity, Namabhas gave him salvation.
Ajamil at once awoke; he remembered all his past sinful activities and began to repent. He began his journey towards Hardwar without speaking a single word to family or friend. There, he chanted the Name of Narayan for a long time. At the proper time, those four Visnudutas descended with a divine chariot and took him to the conscious spiritual domain of Vaikuntha.
Parihasya is another kind of Namabhas. Parihasya means jokingly. Sometimes in sport, we may say, «Oh, you are chanting the Name of Krishna?» If one is cutting jokes, ridiculing the Hare Krishna devotees in the street, and says «Hare Krishna», that may be Namabhas if it is connected with his previous pious credits. Mukti,or liberation, may be effected by that kind of chanting but not the opportunity for divine service.
Another form of Namabhas is stobha: to use the Name with some other intention. Sometimes these words, Narayan, or Krishna may be used for some technical meaning, or for a code word. Jiva Goswami has taken advantage of this in his book of Sanskrit grammar, the Hari-namamrta-vyakarana. When one is playing the mrdanga drum, using the names Gaura-Nitai, Gaura-Nitai to represent different drumbeats, it may be Namabhas.
Hela is another kind of Namabhas: neglectfully chanting the Name. When we are rising from bed in the morning sometimes, we may negligently say, «Hare Krishna». In this way, we may cast off our indolence. Even there it may be Namabhas. It may liberate us from our present position but may not give us entrance into Vaikuntha. That is possible only through devotional service.
One Mohammedan, who was being killed by the tusk of a boar, shouted «Haram!» meaning, «This is abominable!» But because of his previous sukrti, or pious credits, it became Namabhas, and he achieved liberation by chanting the Name of Lord Rama.
Namabhas may come, and mukti, liberation, may be effected, but we cannot get the opportunity of service there. Only if our mind is surcharged with a serving attitude will it elevate us to the subtle and higher plane, otherwise not. If the tendencies for renunciation and exploitation are mixed with our chanting, it won’t yield the desired result.
The chanting must be done with a service attitude (sevonmukhe hi jihvadau). What is our aim? We want the service of the Lord: «Die to live.» We want a life of purity which is full of self-giving; we want a generous life. We want to live the life of those who want not to extract, but to give. We want a civilised life in the domain of higher civilisation, where everyone is a giving unit, an emanating unit, and not an absorbing unit. There, everyone is especially God-centred and harmonious. They are all of the nature of divinity. And divinity means dedication towards the centre of all harmony, the absolute good. So with that spirit, we are to chant the Holy Name, and every action should be done with devotion for Krishna. We should try to take the positive line of serving Visnu and Vaisnava, Krishna and His devotees, and with this sort of attitude we should chant the Holy Name of Krishna.