The Glories of Chapter One of the Bhagavad Gita from the Padma Purana

Parvati said "My dear husband, You know all the transcendental truths, and by your mercy I have heard the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna. Oh Lord, now I long to hear from You the glories of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita, which was spoken by Lord Krishna, and by hearing which, one's devotion to Lord Krishna increases"

Lord Shiva replied "That person, Whose body is the color of a dark rain cloud, whose carrier is the king of birds, Garuda, and Who is lying on Ananta-Sesha, the thousand headed serpent, that Lord Vishnu, Whose glories have no limit, I am always worshipping. My dear Parvati once after Lord Vishnu had killed the demon Mura, He was resting peacefully on Ananta-Sesha, when the bestower of all good fortune of the universe, Sri Lakshmi, respectfully inquired from Him.

"Bhagavan, You are the controller and maintainer of the whole universe, but yet You are sleeping unhappily on this ocean of milk What is the reason?"

Lord Vishnu said, "My dear Lakshmi, I am not sleeping, but I am watching how wonderfully My energy is working. It is by this wonderful energy of Mine, by which I am controlling all things, and yet remain separate. And it is by remembering these divine activities of Mine, that the great devotees and yogis manage to free themselves from the wheel of birth and death, and attain that transcendental nature of Mine, which is eternal and free from all qualities."

Lakshmi said, "O, controller of all things. You are the goal of the meditation of great yogis. Nothing can go on without You. And yet You are separate. You are the cause of creation, maintenance and destruction of all the material universes. Kindly inform me about the workings of Your wonderful energies, which are so attractive, that even You are lying here, meditating upon them"

Lord Vishnu said, "My dear Lakshmi, the workings of My multi-fold energies, and how to become free from the bonds of birth and death, and attain My eternal Nature, can only be understood by one of pure intelligence, who has an inclination to render service unto Me. This transcendental knowledge is fully explained in the Srimad Bhagavad-gita"

Lakshmi inquired, "My dear Lord, if you yourself are amazed, by the workings of Your energies, and are ever trying to fathom their limit, then how is it possible that the Bhagavad-gita can describe those unlimited energies of Yours, and how to cross over them, and attain the transcendental nature?"

Lord Vishnu said, "I Myself have manifested in the Form of Bhagavad-gita. Please understand that the first five chapters are My five heads, the next ten chapters are My ten Arms, and the Sixteenth Chapter is My stomach. The last two chapters are My lotus-feet. In this way you should understand the transcendental Deity of the Bhagavad-gita. This Bhagavad-gita is the destroyer of all sins. And that intelligent man who daily recites one chapter or even one shloka, one half shloka, or at least one quarter shloka, will attain the same position as Susharma had attained."

Lakshmi inquired, "Who was Susharma? What class did he belong to? And what destination did he attain?"

Lord Vishnu said, "My dear Lakshmi, Susharma was a very wicked and a most sinful man. Although he was born in a brahmana family, his family had no Vedic knowledge. And he only took pleasure from hurting others. He never engaged in the chanting of My names, in giving charity, or receiving guests. In fact, he never performed any pious activities. For his livelihood he collected leaves, and sold them in the bazaar. He especially enjoyed drinking wine, and eating flesh. In this way he passed his life.

"One day that foolish Susharma had gone to the garden of one sage for collecting leaves, when a snake came and bit him, and he died. After his death he was cast into many hells, where he suffered for a long time. After which he attained the body of a bull. That bull was purchased by a crippled man, who engaged him in his service. For about seven or eight years he was carrying extremely heavy loads. One day that crippled man had piled a very heavy load onto the back of his bull. Very quickly he was forcing that bull along when suddenly the bull fell over and became unconscious. Many persons gathered there, to see what was happening, feeling sorry for that bull. One pious man bestowed upon that bull the results of some of his pious activities. Seeing that, other persons standing there started remembering their pious activities, and offered the results of some of those activities to that bull. In that crowd there was also one prostitute who did not know if she had ever performed any pious activities, but seeing everyone else offering their pious credits to that bull, she also offered the results of any pious activities she might have performed After that, the bull died, and was taken to the abode of Yamaraja, the God of Death.

There, Yamaraja informed him, "You are now free from the reactions of all your previous sinful deeds, due to the pious credits given to you by that prostitute." Then he took birth in a very high brahmana family. In that birth, he was able to remember his past lives. After many days, he decided to search out that prostitute, who had been the cause of freeing him from his hellish situation.

After he had found and introduced himself to that lady he inquired from her "What were the pious activities performed by you, the fruits of which freed me from my hellish situation?" The prostitute replied to him, "My dear sir, in that cage is one parrot, which recites something everyday. Hearing that recitation, my heart has become completely pure. The results of hearing that recitation I had given to you." Thereafter they both inquired from that parrot about that recitation. That parrot, remembering his previous life, started to narrate his history. "Previously, I had been a very learned brahmana. But due to my pride, I used to insult other learned persons. I was also extremely jealous. After I died, I was cast into many hells, and after a long time of suffering, I achieved this body of a parrot. Due to my past sinful activities, my mother and father died while I was a baby. One day, while I was lying on the hot sands, with no protection, some rishis saw me, and took me to their ashram, and put me in a cage. At that same place, the children of those rishis were learning the recitation of the First Chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Hearing them repeat those Shlokas, I also, started repeating those shloka along with them.

"Shortly after, one thief stole me from that place and sold me to this pious lady." Lord Vishnu continued, "By reciting the First Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, that parrot had become completely pure. And by hearing that recitation that prostitute also became completely pure. And by receiving some of the pious results of hearing that recitation, Susharma also become completely pure.

After discussing for some time the glories of the first chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Susharma returned to his home, and the three of them individually engaged in reciting the First Chapter of Srimad Bhagavad-gita, and very quickly attained the supreme destination, Vaikuntha." Anyone who recites, who hears, or studies the First Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, will very easily cross over the ocean of material miseries, and attain the service of the lotus-feet of Lord Krishna.

PS: I humbly request all the devotees to please forward moral / instructive stories they hear so that everyone can be benefited

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This is a newsletter by Mahatma Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada's disciple on our state of Japa. Plese read it, it will help you to improve your chanting.

 

" Nish , nish, ram, ram, nish, nish, ram, ram." Prabhupada once imitated how we sometimes
chant without focus, without concentration, without proper pronunciation – how we chant
when we don't feel like chanting. You know the mood behind this chanting; "I have to
chant but I'd rather be doing something else." And in our minds we are thinking, "I can't
wait to get these rounds out of the way." We all do this. And it can get pretty bad.
I know devotees who chant rounds while watching football games on TV.

Prabhupada explained that this type of chanting is more or less useless because it will not
produce the desired result, love of Krsna. To even call this chanting is a stretch. It is closer
to a ritual. But Prabhupada acknowledged the value in the ritual by saying that although
this kind of chanting is not very productive, at least those who are chanting this way are
keeping their vow to chant.

I call this kind of japa, "courtesy japa." "Courtesy japa" means that since you have taken a vow -
either to your spiritual master or yourself - to chant a certain number of rounds daily, you keep
that vow while chanting the kind of japa I described above.

Here are a few other examples (methods) of what I call "courtesy japa:"

• Chanting while talking to someone (you talk, and when they reply you chant).

• Chanting while reading (which could really work if you have two heads, one to
  read and one to chant).

• Chanting while listening to a CD or the radio (this is especially challenging while
  listening to the news or listening to rock and roll music).

• Chanting while shopping.

• Chanting while window shopping (this often happens on early morning japa walks).

• Chanting while you are dosing off (sometimes known as dive bomb japa).

• Chanting while site seeing or looking around at a million things (sometimes known
  as radar japa).

• Chanting while watching movies (Krsna Conscious movies are included in
  "courtesy japa").

• Chanting a little, talking a little, chanting a little, talking a little (sometimes known as
  jibber japa).

• Chanting while …………………… (fill in your favorites).

Note, these are all excellent ways to ruin your japa and thus put your Krsna conscious
transmission in park. You can make incredible advancement during japa. Good japa is like
flying down the highway in fourth gear. Good japa produces inspiration, realization, detachment,
increased desire to serve, attraction to study scripture, and an ability to see maya's workings more
clearly. And there are so many more gifts japa delivers. Yet we deprive ourselves of these gifts
when we chant "courtesy japa."

THE NEW MANTRA IS "DOWN WITH 'COURTESY JAPA'."

"Courtesy japa" is like shooting a gun with blank bullets. When the trigger is pulled it just sounds
like a bullet is being fired. Obviously you can't win a battle firing blanks. Similarly,
"courtesy japa" sounds like the Hare Krsna maha mantra but it is just an empty sound, a shadow
of the real thing. Certainly you can't win the battle with maya firing blank mantras.

The problem is - and this is something we have to accept philosophically as well as practically –
if you keep practicing the wrong way, you'll continue to get wrong results. What's more is that
bad chanting tends to produce more bad chanting. Let me say that in another way because this
is really important. The more you practice the wrong way of doing something, the more it
gets engrained/programmed within you and the harder it usually becomes to fix it.

THUS IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY FOLLOW THAT THE LONGER YOU CHANT THE
MORE ADVANCED YOU WILL BECOME.

Do you have a severe case of courtesy japaitis programmed into you? If so, ask yourself how you
are going to kick the habit. This is an important question to answer because good japa is one of
the pillars of spiritual life.

It's all about fighting apathy in our japa. As Lord Caitanya said, playing the part of a
conditioned soul, "I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for chanting Your Holy
Names." So we have two choices during japa. One is to go with the flow and just let
the mind wander. The other is to go against the flow and make a valiant effort to focus
on the holy name and chant in a prayerful, devotional mood. That's not so easy. It takes
effort. It goes against everything "courtesy japa" stands for. And this is not much fun
for lazy japa chanters like me. After all, concentrating is hard work.

Japa can be a creative time. Often when I chant I get all kinds of ideas. Also the many things
I have to do in the day - and even creative ways of doing them - keep popping up in my mind
(or should I say keep pooping in my mind). Don't dwell on these. If they come up, either neglect
them (those good ideas will most likely come up later) or stop chanting and write them down
so you don't have to think about them while you chant.

How will you break the habit of "courtesy japa?" Krsna is in your heart and He will help you as

much as you want to be helped. Krsna says from Me come knowledge, remembrance and

forgetfulness. So He will show you how to become a master of japa or a master of

"courtesy japa." It all depends on what you want. If you want to improve, He will

show you when to chant (hint – early in the morning), where to chant (hint – where you are

not distracted), how to chant (hint – in front of devotional pictures, tulasi, Deities, etc,

not in front of a television or a non Krsna conscious magazine).

 

So here's the exercise. Write on top of a piece of paper, How To Improve My Japa?

Below that write the subtitle, Putting an end to"courtesy japa." Then make your list.

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