Our spiritual practices should always take a priority position. We may be attending to service -- everyday service or extraordinary service – but when attending to service, we should not become inattentive to the spiritual practices that are lifting us up. We are taking shelter of the hearing and chanting process; that is primary. That is what we are instructed to do. No matter what service is going on, that's our priority.

Adapted from a lecture by His Holiness Romapada Swami on Srimad Bhagavatam 5.8.1-11 entitled “The Pastimes of Bharata Maharaja Part 2” given during March 2011 in Vrindavan, India

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that carelessness, particularly in the matter of chanting, is a big problem. Even if all of the other offenses in chanting are successfully removed, if one cannot overcome this carelessness or inattentiveness when chanting, one will not get a taste or attachment for the Holy Name.

On the enthusiastic appeal of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, please be very, very attentive when you do your chanting. Then there will be taste for chanting. When that taste is there, one can easily go back home, back to Godhead. Chanting is the most important of all of our activities in devotion. So one should chant attentively and very carefully. If you care for the object of your devotion, then you will chant full of care, or carefully.

"It starts with hearing and chanting. If you really, really, really, REALLY want to be in Krsna-centeredness when you're in [your place of work or field of activity] you'll chant like you've never chanted before, every morning, that particular morning. Try it. 'My dear Lord Krsna, TODAY, not some time in the future, TODAY I want to be conscious of You throughout the day while [I'm performing my activities], and I've been instructed that calling with great feeling upon Your holy name... Because otherwise it's not possible.

It is going to be pretty difficult when one is about to die, because everything breaks down and there’s so much pain and heat. The mind does not function. It cannot be like completing your rounds; it has to be from the heart. So we can practice chanting from the heart, because when the body is not working, and the mind is not working, and everything is too much overwhelming, it has to come from the soul itself. Govinda!

Adapted from a lecture given by His Holiness Romapada Swami on SB 1.3.41-42, given on March 1, 2008 in Hoffman Estates

We all have some genuine feelings for Krsna, as well as some impure feelings. That mix covers the genuine feelings and, hence, chanting becomes mechanical, as opposed to chanting from the heart. We have some knowledge about who Krsna is and about our situation in this material world. Still, we don't feelingly call out because we have false shelters. Srila Prabhupada says that if we are holding onto something in the tight grip of our hands and we want something else, we have to let go off that something in our hand in order to take the other thing. So, the shelter taking process is a two-fold process: it's knowingly or consciously letting go of our attachments with mindfulness and determination, and also taking shelter in Krsna..

Although many of us heard Krsna's name before coming in contact with Krsna consciousness, we had to receive the Hare Krsna maha-mantra before we actually started chanting. In a deeper sense, receiving means more than just the syllables. Or, as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura spoke, chanting should not be lip deep, but heart deep. So let the Holy Name enter our heart; let us receive that Holy Name at the level of the heart. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta further says that chanting is not merely a matter of making sound, because we can make a machine that produces the same sound, or we can train animals or birds to chant Hare Krsna. Rather, we should call out from the heart to Lord Nityananda to please deliver the Holy Name and to let that enter our hearts.

There is a very nice story that we narrate during japa retreats about Srila Lokanatha Goswami and his disciple Narottama dasa Thakura at Kishori Kund. They would spend days at a time simply chanting all day long in this secluded, quiet place. One day, a farmer requested them for some water to drink. In the mood of serving a vrajabasi, Narottama stopped his chanting and helped the farmer by fetching some water for him. Seeing this, Lokanatha Goswami, in transcendental anger said, "You don't belong in Vraja. You are rendering personal service to Radha and Krsna, and you leave Them to go give water to a farmer. The farmer knows where the water is. You are doing a service of chanting. You are not qualified to live in Vrndavana".

Srila Sukadeva Goswami is answering Maharaja Pariksit's question about how persons can become free from the sufferings of their misdeeds and what one could do about past sins. The theology of Srimad Bhagavatam instructs us that the means is the chanting of the holy name. Srimad Bhagavatam states it, gives the example of Ajamila, describes the Visnudutas speaking about it, Yamaraja speaking about it, and now Srila Sukadeva Goswami speaking about it again. So it should be very clear. Here is Srila Sukadeva Goswami’s statement (SB 6.3.31), "My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the sankirtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe.

Is there anything that exists that we can say is ours? We can't say that the body is ours because it can be taken away. Our mind is not ours because it is not under our control. Our possessions are certainly not ours. Even the soul itself is the property of Krsna. So what can we say is ours?

What is important, of course, is the effort one makes in chanting, but receiving the holy name is also very important. It is a relationship, and we should want to deepen that relationship with Krsna and the holy name. When we make a commitment to a person, then there is both what we extend and what we receive -- the give and take. In our case, we are with Krsna and we are offering some service. So in our relationship with the holy name, the mood of service is very important. Simply chant as a service to the holy name. When we do that, what does the holy name do in turn?