What Could Be Better than This?

No matter how hard we try to enjoy this material world we can never be fully satisfied because we are in prison. How happy can you be when you are in prison? The only real happiness you can have while you are in prison is to be in process of getting out of prison. That's why if you want actual happiness, factual happiness, you must take seriously to the self-realization path. You do not really have any other choice. Anything besides that is simply a continuation of your prison existence. And that is not a very hopeful option.

The good news is that is you are at all serious about the self-realization path, the Lord within your heart will bring you into direct contact with a bona fide spiritual master who will then enlighten you with transcendental knowledge and show you the way out of this quagmire. You will be led by the spiritual master into higher and higher dimensions of transcendental bliss for all of eternity. What could be better than this?

Answers According to the Vedic Version

Question: What is Considered Chanting?...

Is saying the Hare Krishna maha-mantra while working or performing chores also considered chanting or is it only when using the beads?

Your humble servant

Jaya

Answer: Vibrating the Holy Names on Your Lips...

In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says that we are to chant His names 24 hours a day. Whether we chant with beads or without beads it is still considered chanting. However, if we want to realize the full benefit of the holy names for completely freeing our hearts from all material desires, we must devote at least two hours daily to intensely chanting the holy names on japa beads without diverting our consciousness to anything else. In this connection Srila Prabhupada states in his Caitanya Caritamrita purport:

"Although Madhavendra Puri was not interested in eating and sleeping, his interest in chanting the maha-mantra was as acute as if he were an aspiring transcendentalist rather than a paramahamsa. This means that even in the paramahamsa stage, one cannot give up chanting. Haridasa Thakura and the Gosvamis were all engaged in chanting a fixed number of rounds; therefore chanting on beads is very important for everyone, even though one may become a paramahamsa. This chanting can be executed anywhere, either inside or outside the temple."
---from purport Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya 4.125

So whether one is a paramhamsa, a highly elevated transcendentalist or a beginner everyone is meant to take advantage of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra or any other bona fide names of God on chanting beads, japa beads.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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