Chanting without offenses is also called suddha-nama, the perfect stage of chanting, where one begins to experience ecstatic bodily symptoms and receives revelations of the Name, form, quality, and pastimes of Radha and You. It is an advanced stage of spiritual life. Sometimes, for part of my japa, I may be free of the major offenses and chant the shadow of the holy names. That is on my brilliant days. But that is not enough. I need to experience nama-ruci, the taste of the nectar of harer nama. And I need to not slide back down to offensive chanting.
(_Japa Transformations_)
“From wherever the mind wanders due to
its flickering and unsteady nature, one
must certainly withdraw it and bring
it back under control of the self.”
Controlling the mind means controlling
the senses. It is really not so hard
to bring the mind back into Krishna
consciousness. Just engage your
senses in some Krishna conscious service
and your mind will be engaged in
the task. Think, “I am doing this
for Krishna” as you work at your
job and give the results to Him.
When the mind goes off, chant His holy
names and don’t let the mind govern
you. Don’t be go dasa but goswami.
After all, we are not meant
to think of pleasures for the body,
which is not real, but work to
please the self, who is
Krishna dasa.
“For one who sees Me everywhere
and sees everything in Me, I am
never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.”
This is love.
When he sees a tree, he sees
Krishna’s energy. Lord Krishna is
never out of his sight. Krishna is
the Lord of everything. The Lord says
the devotee is never lost to Him. The
devotee cannot bear to live a moment
without seeing Krishna in his heart.
Now this is very advanced, and
I cannot claim I have attained
it. But it is my strong desire to have
my eyes anointed in this way
with the pulp of love, so I
will always see Shyamasundara
in my heart.
(_Soul Eyes_)