Kindly Help Us Save the World.

Our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, has given us the seemingly impossible duty of making the entire world Krishna conscious. He told us, his disciples, on 17 December 1973 in Los Angeles, "Become guru and deliver the whole world." But what we can do on our own? We are a small number of souls struggling to awaken the entire human population to Krishna consciousness. On our own there is no way that we can be successful in carrying out this mission. But if you, and more and more others like you, will now step forward to dedicate your lives to this mission, there is substantial hope that we can be successful. So kindly now step forward and offer yourself as the dedicated servant of the Krishna consciousness movement. This is our humble request. Whatever talents and opulences you possess are the gifts of God. So now, kindly engage these gifts in the service of He who blessed you with them. In this way your talents and opulences will increase. You will become unlimitedly happy, and the entire world will become happy.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Spreading Krishna Bhakti in Russia
Kaliningrad--6 November 2010

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Can I Chant My Japa in a Cab?

Respected Gurudeva,

Currently I am chanting 6 rounds of Hare Krishna mahamantra japa as a regular daily routine. But I do most of them in a cab while going to office. And secondly whenever I chant at home, I always do so while walking otherwise my mind goes here and there. Of course while walking mind goes also here and there, but still my concentration is better when walking as opposed to when I am sitting.

So my question is that is the above process of chanting not good?
A devotee told me that I should try to chant as many rounds in home as compared to chanting in the cab. Secondly she also told me that it is okay that I do the chanting while walking but that it is better to sit in a proper position while chanting.

So Srila Gurudeva, I just want to confirm whether Krishna wants us to chant by following some rules, or we are free chant as I explained above.

Vinita

Answer: Better to Chant in a Solitary Quiet Place

Chanting can be done in any and all conditions 24 hours day. But our prescribed daily quota of japa mala chanting should be done with full attention because inattention is offensive when chanting the Lord's holy names. Such daily chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra on japa beads is transcendental meditation. Riding in a cab is not a suitable place for doing attentive meditation.

For attentive meditative chanting one should rise in early in the morning before sunrise, take bath, and then sit peacefully for chanting the most sacred Hare Krishna mahamantra. If one gets a little sleepy, he can stand up and chant or even pace back and forth while chanting.

Of course, under emergency of lacking time, one can fulfill his daily quota of chanting while riding in a cab, but this should clearly not be a regular daily affair. The standard procedure is to go to bed as early as possible and wake up as early as possible so that one has sufficient time for completing at least 16 rounds of Hare Krishna mahamantra japa meditation before taking his breakfast.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari