Relishing the Beautiful Bhagavatam

There's no literature like the Srimad Bhagavatam anywhere in the vast universe. It's 18,000 verses are an unlimited ocean of honey oozing out of its pages to fill the ears of the conditioned souls with the profound enlightening teachings of how to gain the intimate personal association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna in His transcendental pastimes in the Spiritual Sky. The icing on the cake is the Bhagavatam's 10th Canto which describes in detail Krishna's transcendental pastimes in Vrindavan. Srila Prabhupada instituted the Srimad Bhagavatam class as a regular daily function in the ISKCON temples all over the world. It was the first canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam that he brought with him when he first came to America in 1965. For those who follow Srila Prabhupada's instruction to study the Bhagavatam daily every morning is a fresh, exciting experience of going deeper and deeper into the sublime ocean of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Srimad Bhagavatam Lecture Melbourne, Australia 29 December 2011

Sankarshan Das Srimad Bhagavatam Lecture Melbourne

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version

Question: I Can't Stop Chanting the Name of Allah

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I thank you so much for sending me the Ultimate Self Realization Course. I am very grateful to you. I am a Sufi Muslim. In my beginning I was lazy in chanting alone or in weekly kirtan. (Sufism is similar to bhakti yoga in that we also chant the name of God.) For many, many years I was fighting in martial arts. Once an opponent kicked me on my right jaw. I was literally knocked out and was in a coma. After that I understood that I had gotten a near death experience. Making a long story short, I encountered angels or luminous beings, and their chief of higher rank said to one of the angels, "Tell him to go back on earth because his time for death has not come yet, and tell him to chant a lot the name of God." So the angel told me to go back in earthly life and advised me very earnestly to chant a lot the name of God. The angels seemed to know my life very well. So being a Sufi Muslim my main mantra is "Allah." After that I used to do with discipline mantra japa for hours until my knees are severely hurting. I still have pain in my knees now. Our way is to say loudly from the chest, "Allah Allah Allah." It is in Arabic language the greatest name of God Almighty.

I chant this name of God loudly when driving, walking, or even watching the news on the TV. As my spiritual master is no longer here on earth I will ask this question of you:

My mantra is running itself without any effort. For example, in many cases or even in board meetings at work my tongue is chanting the name of Allah loudly. And when my colleagues look at me in a strange way I feel ashamed. So I bite my tongue, but my mind is chanting it instead. It seems I am here and not here. What does this mean? And does the chanting reach the atma?

Sincerely yours,

Ali

Answer: You Are Fortunate Indeed

That you have such a taste for chanting the holy name of God means that you are a very, very fortunate being. You are feeling your presence in the material world and at the same time realizing that you are actually from a different world, the spiritual world . This is very nice.

Chanting the Holy Name of God brings you back to your original spiritual nature as the atma, an eternal spirit-soul. And this chanting connects you in loving relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Allah or Krishna, who is seated within your heart.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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