I'm chanting up to 2 rounds daily now, by Krishna's mercy. Today while I was chanting, I was so distracted. I couldn't concentrate at all! I even dropped my beads back into my bag once by mistake, in the middle of my round.
Then I thought I should try to picture Krishna to concentrate better. It also occurred to me how a fellow blogger, In Love With Krishna, mentioned that she tries to visualize Krishna while chanting (thank you, ILWK). So I decided to try to visualize Krishna. Oh, the sweetest image of Him formed in my mind! It was so beautiful! Krishna was surrounded by greenery. Lots of beautiful, vibrant trees and grass. His hair was long and wavy. He was wearing a blue headdress and I think even a blue dhoti, though I'm not so sure about this. I mainly remember seeing a lot of green and blue. He was holding the flute. He had the most beautiful face. He had the most loving look on His face. He was swaying, as was I. I found myself able to concentrate. I found the chanting to be so incredibly sweet. There was noise in my house as my family members were talking in the next room. In between their sentences, there were moments of silence, where I could hear the mantra clearly. Even with the noise I was still quite absorbed. It was just so sweet to see Krishna. He looked so sweet. So loving. The Hare Krishna mantra tasted so incredibly sweet at that moment. I really just cannot describe the sweetness and the love I felt in those few minutes. I didn't want it to fade. I kept chanting, and I felt like I was going into a trance, but I was still conscious. By trance, I mean it felt like I was being taken in by the love and sweetness I was feeling. I didn't want it to stop. I wanted it to be like that forever. It wasn't a 'vision' but it was like I wanted to visualize Krishna and that was the image I saw. I felt like my chanting was pleasing Krishna, like I knew He was really listening to me. When I finished chanting my second round, I was surprised. "What? It's over? Noooo, whyyyyy?!" I kept my bead bag back in its place, and all that flowed from my mouth were words of praise. I could do nothing but praise Krishna then. It reminded me of Dhruva Maharaja when he met the Lord. He had no words and all He wanted to do was praise Krishna. So Krishna gave him the ability to compose verses and Dhruva Maharaja composed the most beautiful verses in praise of Krishna. After what I experienced, I just felt inspired to worship and praise God, and thank Him for this sweet exchange. Lord, You are an ocean of mercy!
"I know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally." Siksastakam, Verse 8
Drainpiper, AMAZING!!! :) :) :)
ReplyDeleteDid you know i began chanting only after talking to you, being inspired by you? i was taken aback by the referral in your post!
i know EXACTLY what you mean by trance. It's like you can still hear, feel, etc., unlike what people associate with 'trance'. Yet, the experience of His vision, or whatever else you can call it, is spell-binding, out of this world.
Your thoughts, emotions, your post- it was so ...Krishna! i have no other word for the maddening feeling you described. :)
This happened to me once. i was in a bad state of mind, worrying if something was my fault or not. i found chanting my only respite (thanks for making me do that). And, that's when i had this beautiful vision- a clearing in a dense forest, Krishna seated on a smooth rock, playing the flute, and me at His feet-actually pressing them!
That's such a beautiful vision that you described. Imagining it makes me feel all transcendental again!
ReplyDeleteAnd you described 'trance' exactly how I felt it! I felt completely taken in but I was still perfectly conscious. It wasn't a trance in the sense that I didn't know where I was or what I was doing. I would be quite afraid of such a trance actually!
Btw, I had a dream about you last night! I dreamed that I was on holiday somewhere, and somehow I met you and you told me that the temple was right there. And I was thinking how fortunate it was that I was in the vicinity of a temple. So you took me in there, and there were lots of stairs to climb. So we climbed them and we went into the a room. There was an altar there and there were lots of people. Your sister was there as well, and she appeared to be around 12-13 years of age. You kept telling me to see the deity and I tried to get a glimpse of it. Now this was an unusual bit - instead of being a deity, it was a child who was dressed up and sitting there, in place of where the deity would be. And he was smiling and he was really pleased. I don't remember if the devotees had dressed him up like that or if he was supposed to be Krishna. I'm confused about that. But anyway, you were telling me about the Srimad Bhagavatam (I have been reading a bit of it in the last few days) and I was asking you if they had the books there and then I was trying to find the book in the book shelf.
Whoa!
ReplyDeleteThat's like, weird, and, nice, at the same time.
i think it was (is) Krishna.
And, somewhere along the line, thankfully, we HAVE pleased Him by talking about Him.
He's (am guessing) smiling at 2 improbable idiots. :))
And, that is THE most incredible part!
P.S: My sis is 9, and you must read in the SB about the Gopis' feeling towards Krishna, around when He steals their clothes. It always makes me cry, and shiver, and hope to be as pure in devotion as them.
I have heard a lot about that leela. I read it in the Krsna book by Srila Prabhupada. I ought to read it from the SB too! Sadly, there is a lot of propaganda about that leela being immoral. After all, this material world is just a perverted reflection of the spiritual world!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation! I will read it soon, once I have some free time :)
Lovely to hear you chant two rounds everyday. I first started chanting about five years ago on my first visit to an Iskcon temple. I too often get distracted while chanting - so I always sit at my prayer altar and look into Krishna's photo ( His Divine eyes) and chant. That helped me tremendously. It makes me feel He is really listening.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post, as always.
My God, this is amazing. I had a *almost* similar dream a couple of weeks ago - in fact, it was very day I started getting back to chanting. In the dream, I was at this Krishna temple and the diety was not an idol - but a "live"child - and that child was Krishna/Balagopala in all His finery - yellow silk, bluish skin, peacock feathers and flute.
ReplyDeleteAmazing!!!
Oh my goodness, you cannot be serious! That's just crazy! Some time ago also I had a dream about my altar deity transforming into a real live baby. This is the second time I am dreaming of something like this, though I had completely forgotten! Maybe Krishna's just trying to show us that He is actually very very real and His deity form is as absolute as Him?
ReplyDeletePerhaps :)
Haribol!
Looking at Krishna really helps! I do it too. It's such a wonderful feeling to know that He is really listening, isn't it? :) And the mantra itself is so sweet and powerful. All it asks for is devotional service. Such a beautiful prayer!
ReplyDelete