I have to stop falling prey to sleepiness in japa. I have all sympathy, dear mind, for the fact that I do rise very early. Therefore, it is natural that after a few hours I am bound to be drowsy. But I don’t have to indulge in it. I have to find ways to stay awake. These ways may also be taken as expressions of crying out. Go into action. Splash water on your face. Take sufficient rest. Call out piteously, “O Krishna, enemy of Baka! O pure devotees of Krishna! Please help me!”
In addition to crying to my protectors, I have to first push the emergency buzzer to notify my friend, the mind. He will have to cooperate in calling my protectors. Therefore, the practice of interjected prayer – short devotional statements made during the japa like “Krishna, please help me” – is helpful. Interjected prayers can wake me up, make me conscious and vigilant against the attacks of the highway robbers of lust. Interjected prayers can penetrate the fog of drowsiness and take me down to the realm of the more subtle, deeper problems: mental inattention and laziness.
Gently, like a cowherd boy, prod the cows and calves in the right direction. Hit one on the bony haunch as you walk behind her. Walk in the dust raised from their hooves. Is my japa like that, a simple walk behind errantly uttered maha-mantras? It’s just a crude analogy. The main thing is not the waywardness of my practice, but the mantras themselves.
(_Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name_)
Reaching the quota today was
a struggle. I thought,
“I can chant so many rounds
at Gita-nagari but not
while traveling.” But
somehow I made it by 9 P.M.
(I even thought of staying
up with the lights out and
finishing when it seemed I
couldn’t do it.) I thought,
“This isn’t preaching.” But
then I thought, “Hare Krishna
mantra is ultimate. It is what
you must do at the time of
death. The most important
thing for me to achieve is
pure Krishna Consciousness.”
By the last round I really felt
that I was praying. I also
thought how the chanting,
when you are praying (not
just counting off numerical
beads and names), is
literally transcendental –
above and beyond all
other considerations –
surrender at His lotus feet.
(_Japa Reform Notebook_)