(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)

If one is committing offenses in the matter of chanting the Holy name, then one may chant for many many births, and still one will not attain the desired success of this chanting is Krishna prema!

So although the Holy name is Krishna, it is also mentioned that there are certain ways to access the name. Sometimes if we commit offenses in the matter of chanting the Holy name, we chant for so many births and still not attain Krishna prema, because Krishna withdraws from the name. Generally only a little but He is not fully available.

So chanting in this stage where we are still making offenses in the matter of chanting the names, means that Krishna is not fully manifest, then 'śuddha-nāma' the pure name is not manifest….then what is manifest is only 'nama- abhase' or the dim reflection of the name!

Srila Haridas Thakura gives a analogy which is described by Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami in The Caitanya Caritamrta….and there it is described that:

' Early in the morning, the light of the sun begins to appear in the sky, and immediately all the fears of the night; fears for thieves; fears for ghosts…all those fears are immediately eradicated! But yet, the sun globe itself has not yet appeared above the horizon! It is first the light that appears – the 'abhase' or the light emanating from the sun, but not the full sun globe! That comes a little later, and of course then gradually the sun fully rises. After sometime the sun comes to full strength.'

So in this way the Holy name is also manifesting and it is said:

'At first there is the dim light of the Holy name. As the dim light of the Holy name is manifesting, we will not have a direct experience of meeting Krishna face to face! Although we are, but yet because we don't have the purity at that stage – we cannot yet experience the Lord face to face, while we are chanting. But this 'nama- abhase' or this dim reflection of the pure Holy name (as Haridas Thakura says) can do two things:

1) It can destroy all sinful reactions from the heart!
2) It can reward us liberation from birth and death'

So these are only the side benefits of chanting or becoming purified from sinful reactions and attaining liberation from birth and death. These are only side benefits because the essence of all chanting is that one attains love of God – Krishna prema!

Why are we chanting japa? Why don't we just chant with music all the time? When we are chanting in kirtan, we are being carried by others enthusiasm, by the whole atmosphere that is created and we are just going along with that and we feel very enlivened. When we are chanting japa, we are going alone before Krsna, it's us before Krsna and we get exposed. It's like a cold shower almost, like a reality check- we see who we really are! The mind goes everywhere and there we are facing our own shortcomings much more direct. So it is of course what has been given to us by the acaryas. We see that in the Adi purana it is said that it is our time where we are directly associating with Krsna, we are alone with Krsna. So at that time we have to really leave everything behind and just say, 'okay I'm going before Krsna and I'm making my offering.'

(Kadamba Kanana Maharaja, August 2010, Sweden)

(Kadamba Kanana Maharaja, August 2010, Finland)

As a holiday job I used to work for the post office and if you worked at night they would pay almost double so then in a short time you could make a lot of money. My job was to throw bundles of mail in bags. These bags were hanging in racks- maybe 50 bags and I was just throwing bundles. So it was sort of a sport to get a bundle in the bag and I was getting better at it because the whole night I was doing it and I was getting faster and faster and I was like 'whoosh! Whoosh!' and throwing these bundles in the bag, really fast. And then some heavy guys came to me and they said, 'stop it! Stop it! We don't want this here! You're working too fast! Slow down!'

And that's really what it's like…people go to work and they sit down behind their computer and they go on the internet when the boss is not around. And then as soon as the boss comes up they quickly change the screen and they are working….and everyone is just filling his pockets with paper clips and rubber bands from the office and taking it home and pens and anything that they can get. They feel, 'it's my right, I'm working so hard here and they hardly pay me anything. The least I can do is take some paper clips and rubber bands and whatever else…' So like that, as little work as possible and take as much as possible. That is the mood of the worker and the result is that everyone is doing half work and nobody is satisfied.

But in devotional service when we actually try to do really nice quality service for Krsna then there is some sort of strange feeling called 'satisfaction!' Something that is unknown…. 'What is this? What is this strange feeling?' It's called 'satisfaction!' That gives us the taste in spiritual life. Making a sacrifice for Krsna, that is satisfying, knowing that Krsna is pleased that we did the best we could…

A golden age means that everyone will be an ecstatic devotee. No one will be just a pious devotee, no one will just be a well behaved devotee, nobody will just be a moral devotee….everyone will be an ecstatic devotee, a spontaneous devotee! It will just burst out from everyone's heart! Everywhere will be temples. And yes, there will be kirtan parties spontaneous on the street, people will walk out of the house with mrdangas and kartalas and the kirtan would begin. Someone will bring the prasadam, there's no need to organise anymore…

(Kadamba Kanana Maharaja, August 2010, Sweden)