Ten offenses to be avoided while chanting
Song Name: The Ten Offenses to the Holy Name
Official Name: The Ten Offenses to the Holy Name
Author: Vyasadeva
Book Name: Padma Purana (Section: Brahma Khanda 25.15–18)
1) To blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name of the Lord.
2) To consider the names of demigods like Lord Shiva or Lord Brahma to be equal to or independent of the name of the Lord Vishnu.
3) To disobey the orders of the spiritual master.
4) To blaspheme the vedic scriptures or scriptures in pursuance to the vedic version.
5) To consider the glories of chanting Hare Krishna to be an imagination.
6) To give some interpretations to the holy name of the Lord.
7) To commit sinful activities on the strength of the holy name.
8) To consider the chanting of Hare Krishna as one of the auspicious ritualistic activities which are offered in the Vedas as frutive activities (Karma kanda).
9) To instruct a faithless person about the glories of the holy name
10) To not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions on this matter. It is also an offense to be inattentive while chanting.
Every devotee who claims to be Vaishnava must guard against these offenses in order to quickly achieve the desired success KRISHNA PREMA!!!
Let us offer our humble obeisances to all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord, who are just like desire tress, who can fulfill all desires and are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.
vancha-kalpatarubhyash cha
kripa-sindubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanabhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namaha
1. Blaspheming devotees (sadhu-ninda)
A sadhu is anyone who is surrendering to Krishna. One who shows gross irreverence or disrespect to those devotees who have dedicated their lives to Krishna is compared to a mad elephant (hati mata), which comes and tramples the creeper of devotion.
Examples are criticising a devotee because:
He has a lower social status.
His manners are not yet so polished.
He eats too much prasadam.
He had previously had very bad habits.
He has been weak and temporarily gave up devotional service.
A devotee should be like the honey bee that always looks for the nectar and not like the fly that always looks for stool or open sores. One associates with whatever qualities he focuses on, and thus he cultivates those qualities.
How to counter-act the offence: Humbly approach that devotee, offer obeisances, and ask forgiveness.
2. Names of demigods
This applies mainly to India, where many people worship demigods.
The demigods are subordinate to and dependent on Krishna. Whatever powers the demigods have and whatever benedictions they can offer are only possible because Krishna empowers them and gives them His sanction.
A devotee must know that the name of Krishna is absolute and non-different from Krishna Himself, whereas the names of the demigods are relative and different from them.
How to counter-act the offence: Study the scriptural statements regarding the nature of the holy name and Krishna; take shelter of the holy name and beg forgiveness
3. Orders of the spiritual master (guror avajna)
Explicit instructions must be followed.
Under certain circumstances the spiritual master may deliver advice or suggestions but leave it up to the disciple to choose what to do.
This offence includes having a material conception of the guru or envying him
How to counter-act the offence: Humbly approach the guru, offer obeisances, and ask forgiveness.
4. Blaspheming the Vedic literature (sruti-sastra-nindanam)
To disbelieve the Vedic statements.
A devotee should accept that his disbelief may be due to his own limited perception. Even if he doesn’t understand, he should still have faith in the Vedas.
How to counter-act the offence: Offer flowers to the Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita.
5. Considering the glories of the holy name imaginary (artha-vadah)
To consider these statements exaggerations just to motivate people.
To think that devotees have given artificial importance to the holy name.
How to counter-act the offence: Study the philosophy; take shelter of the holy name and beg forgiveness.
6. Giving some mundane interpretation (hari-namni kalpanam)
To think that chanting creates a chemical reaction in the brain and simply produces some euphoric effect.
Thinking that Hari means impersonal Brahman, Krishna refers to the mind, and Rama meanssatisfaction etc.
To define the holy name of the Lord in terms of one’s mundane calculation.
How to counter-act the offence: Reveal it to the devotees and beg forgiveness.
7. Committing sinful activities (namno balad yasya hi papa-buddhir)
To commit sins with the expectation of neutralising the reactions by chanting.
Prabhupada often repeated that this is the greatest offense.
After taking shelter of the holy name, one should strictly restrain himself from committing sinful acts.
Accidental sins don’t count
How to counter-act the offence: The only thing that can help is to sincerely repent.
8. Auspicious ritualistic activities (karma-kanda)
Karma-kanda: performing religious ceremonies, following austere vows, practicing renunciation, penances and austerities, fire sacrifices in order to gain material benedictions from the demigods.
To equate chanting to other spiritual activities, such as meditation, austerity, penance or sacrifice.
One should not try to utilise the holy name for one’s personal service.
Chanting the holy name is meant for attaining love of God.
How to counter-act the offence: Approach the devotees and attain sambandha-jnana from them.
9. Instructing a faithless person
To glorify the importance of the holy name, or elevated information of Krishna to persons who have no interest; who are not ready to hear, or who may as a result of hearing become more antagonistic.
Pseudo-spiritualists selling the holy name to unqualified persons.
When you make this offence, you run the risk of diminishing your own faith. What about public chanting and preaching?
You can get people to chant; by chanting they will be purified and appreciate the holy name. Srila Prabhupada encouraged everyone to chant, but he didn’t immediately tell them all the details.
How to counter-act the offence: No recommendation given for counteracting this offense. Just don’t do it.
10. Incomplete faith / material attachments
Material attachments; to be attached to the misconception of possessing something, or to accept the body as one’s self, while executing the process of spiritual cultivation.
We must have a service attitude and let go of the attachments.
We may be attached but if we are stubbornly attached, one should intend to get free of attachments. We should mark them with ‘X’ just as a woodcutter marks trees to be cut down in the future.
Having complete faith in the holy name means that you feel the holy name is all you need (to be happy, etc). Keeping material attachment means that you still need these things. How to counter-act the offence: In order to develop complete faith and give up attachments, associate with advanced devotees and chant with them. It is also an offense to not have complete faith in chanting the holy name and to retain material attachments even after understanding so many instructions on this matter.
This is like inviting someone around to visit, and then ignoring them. You are calling out to Krishna, but meanwhile you are distracted by the mind or by what is going on elsewhere.
Examples: While chanting, reading the noticeboard, having a chat, thinking in the mind about different things.
To have the full effect, the holy name must enter the ear and make an impression on the mind. The mind must be focused on the sound vibration. This is an association with Krishna. We want to associate as fully as possible.
How to counter-act the offence: Pray to the holy name that one may always chant clearly and hear attentively.
Tips to improve one’s chanting
1) Chant the Pancatattva mantra 108 times before starting to chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. With Their blessings, so many of our offenses are nullified and we can make quick progress in chanting.
2) You can dedicate mentally every round to one of the Pancatattva Deities beginning from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. After 5 rounds, you can again start over again. This helps you to remember the Pancatattva during your chanting. Also since now your rounds are grouped as three sets of 5 Pancatattva rounds,
you will feel that your rounds are very few and very easy to complete! So you can concentrate on just chanting them well.
3) Read/ chant the Sikshashtakam verses before you start chanting (Meaning and purport of the entire sloka is given below).
4) Chant loudly and clearly.
5) Chant in front of Tulasi, or in front of the Deities. See the form of the Lord while chanting.
6) Remove the weeds in the heart (like diplomacy and duplicity, envy, desire for material gain, for popularity and admiration and to becoming a very important person) by distinguishing them from real Bhakti.
7) Chant in humility.
8) Chant with respect and veneration for the holy names, the beads etc, so we naturally will develop a serving attitude.
9) Chant crying like a child, which is fully dependent on the mercy of its mother. A mother responds immediately to a certain intensity when she rushes to the scene, so take complete shelter of Krishna while chanting and Krishna will reveal Himself to you.
10) Pronounce the mantra distinctly. Neither too slow (then the mind takes over), nor too fast (then the pronunciation is indistinct).
11) Make a resolution the day before——”Next morning, I will chant with full concentration!” Go to bed early. Don’t eat late in the night and don’t go to bed on a heavy stomach, so that you can avoid sleepiness and heaviness.
12) Start very early the next morning. Chant at a place free of distraction, either with devotees or in maximum solitude. If the mind tends to wander either chant the Namashtakam prayers, (1st 2 verses) and Siksastakam prayers.
13) Control the mind. This can be done in the following ways:
Hear carefully! Be eager to hear. Eagerness is the first qualification in devotional service. Hear like Parikshit Maharaja, Arjuna and Haridas Thakura. Srila Prabhupada said: “My only qualification is that I submissively and attentively heard from my Guru Maharaja”.
Remember suffering! From our own lives, from other’s experiences, from remembering Newspaper articles, from remembering the hellish planets mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam.
14) Avoid Complacency.
By being complacent, one:
Falls into illusion
One imagines injustices and difficulties in spiritual life.
Becomes snared into material plan making
Forgets his identity as servant of Krishna
Mental activity replaces concentration of rounds.
Japa is afflicted
The illness in the advanced stage leads to Vaishnava aparadha, Guru Aparadha and leaving Kriishna consciousness
To avoid complacency, one should be ready to break bad habits like chanting negligently, sleeping late nights, eating at odd times, never reading shastras, never worrying about progress, wasting time in mundane gossip, etc.
One should become very strict in following principles, in reading shastras regularly and avoiding all mundane gossip. One should become fixed up in the ultimate goal of life- pure Krishna Consciousness.
15) Draw the mind back when it drifts away. Relieve it from the past by not delving on what happened the day before, a week before or a year before! In case some plans to do services or duties comes up in the mind, then write it down in a diary and continue chanting, so the mind will not dwell on it.
16) Meditate on the meaning of the holy names, while chanting, as it is revealed by Srila Prabhupada and the previous Acharyas. Srila Prabhupada: “Hare means, “O energy of the Lord,” and Krishna means “O Lord Krishna.” Just as there are males and females in the material world, similarly, God is the original
male (purusa), and His energy (prakriti) is the original female. So, when we chant Hare Krishna, we are saying, “O Lord Krishna, O energy of Krishna, kindly engage me in your service.” This is the meaning of the Hare Krishna mantra: “O Krishna, O energy of Krishna, I am your servant. Somehow or other, I have now fallen in this material condition. Kindly pick me up and engage me in Your service.” Ayi nanda-tanuja patitam kinkaram mam visame bhavam budhau.
17) Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati recommends that we beat our mind with shoes a hundred times early in the morning and a hundred times with a broom before we retire to bed so that it remains submissive and in control!
19) If you fall asleep while sitting down and chanting, then start walking up and down. This will help you keep awake.
20) Chant with the proper understanding and intention. Otherwise one will chant with the lips and not the heart.
Chanting can give you whatever you want.
A materialist gets his material desires fulfilled. An impersonalist can merge into the Brahma jyothi and the devotee can get to see Krishna’s form, will then be captivated by His 64 qualities and finally the eternal pastimes will be revealed to the chanter.
21) Chant with great faith to improve your relationship with your Spiritual Master.
22) Chant in the mood of separation from Krishna. Srila Prabhupada explains that it is the task of the Spiritual Master to instruct his disciples how to obtain a platform on which they can feel a deep longing for Krishna while performing devotional service. In separation one will feel union with Krishna. If the feelings of separation become very intense, then Krishna reveals Himself while chanting.
23) You can play the tapes of Srila Prabhupada’s chanting and chant along with that.
It helps to have japa marathons or chanting japa over an extended period of time like the 24 hour nonstop kirtan programs. Along with so many serious chanters, even a beginner will find it easy to concentrate on the holy names and develop a taste for chanting the holy names. We have had phenomenal successes conducting these marathons.
24) A japa workshop where an advanced devotee personally hears the chanting of each and every devotee, timing it, and correcting his pronunciation and checking out if he is missing any words in between etc, can do tremendous help in improving the chanting of devotees.