(Above: Radhey Govind Chanting with Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj at Bhakti Mandir, Mangarh)
The greatest help for an aspiring devotee comes in the form of
chanting God’s names, forms, pastimes, attributes and abodes. Sing
in a loud voice the bhajans and keertans that glorify God. Numerous
saints have composed extremely sweet devotional songs that have been
set to haunting melodies. Choose the best from these songs and sing
them as you like. Some people ask whether it is not just as
effective to do a mental repetition of God’s name as it is to chant
in a loud voice. Whether you repeat God’s names in your mind or
repeat them loudly, it is one and the same thing. However, loud
chanting will enrich you in ways that silent meditation cannot.
There are four main advantages of sankeertan, i.e. loud chanting.
The first advantage of chanting is that it contains a lot of matter
within it. Devotional songs composed by saints such as Meera,
Soordas and Tulsidas describe God’s names, forms, pastimes and
glories. On the other hand, when you engage in mental repetition,
you are more or less restricted to only the name, and that too, only
one name You cannot do a mental repetition of God’s pastimes,
attributes and so on. Repeating the same name over and over again
will lead to boredom since the mind is at present not very attached
to God. You cannot experience bliss by mentally repeating only one
name of Shri Krishna, and as long as you are not feeling blissful,
your practice of devotion will not be considered effective. Loud
chanting provides the mind with much variety. If you get bored
chanting His name, you may move on to chanting His attributes. Then
you can chant His pastimes, which are unlimited. There is no
question of getting bored. If you get bored with one pastime, you
can move on to the next. When you get bored with even that, you can
think of still another. There are pastimes to suit every
relationship and depict every mood of the devotee.
The second advantage of loud chanting is that you are getting help
from music and musical instruments. You sing God’s glories, His
names and pastimes. When you do jap (mental repetition) there is no
music. You have the prayer beads, or just your mind. On the other
hand, the word sankeertan itself denotes music. Music is pleasing to
the ears. Beyond the ears is the mind that experiences happiness and
sorrow. The mind likes music. Through the medium of music, you can
engage the mind in the thoughts of Shri Krishna for a longer period
of time. If you take the help of some musical instrument to
accompany the chanting, it’s all the better for you.
The third advantage of sankeertan is that when you are mentally
repeating the name of God, there is no sound. Because of this
silence, you will be able to hear every little sound. The clock goes
tick tock-tick tock, and you will hear it. Because the mind is so
wild and impetuous, it runs to the world immediately. It leaves God
to go to the world. There are so many distractions around. A child
starts crying and you are disturbed. Someone drops something, and
the mind is again disturbed. One family member is scolding another,
and you are distracted. When you do sankeertan, you’re singing. You
are creating a sound. Moreover, you have some sort of a musical
instrument, which provides additional sound. In such a situation,
the mind concentrates on God much more easily. All the senses will
be involved in sankeertan, and therefore you will not even hear the
other sounds. As a result, the mind will stay put and will not be as
tempted to run to the world.
The fourth advantage is that many people fall asleep due to the
quiet atmosphere created by mental repetition. Sleep comes very
easily. This does not happen in sankeertan, since you are singing
with your mouth and clapping with your hands. Moreover, your ears
are listening to the music, and the mind is meditating on God. In
other words just about every sense-organ is involved in the chanting
process.
Thus, all these advantages are yours to benefit from in chanting,
which are not present in mental repetition of the name. Moreover,
thechantingprocess purifies the atmosphere, and anyone who hears the
chanting benefits from it. Loud chanting is much more beneficial for
us than silent repetition of God’s name, especially in the beginning
stages of devotional practice.
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