Circle of Love

A pure devotee cannot forget the Supreme Lord

for a moment, and similarly the Supreme Lord

cannot forget His pure devotee for a moment.  

This is the great blessing of the Krsna conscious process

of chanting the maha-mantra--

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

                                                                                            ~ Bhagavad-gita As It Is 8.14 Purport

Attentive chanting of the maha-mantra, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, creates a circular movement of loving give-and-take between the devotee and the Lord.  This circular motion is similar to the continual circular movement of a yogi's controlled breathing. According to the description given in the Bhagavad-gita (4.29), a yogi merges his outgoing breath into his incoming breath and his incoming breath into his outgoing breath, so that there is a constant flow of air which oxygenates his body without the employment of the usual processes of inhalation and exhalation.

Similarly, we offer our chanting through our spiritual master to the Lord, and we receive the Lord Himself in the form of His holy name, Sri Nama Prabhu, through the mercy of our spiritual master. This creates a circular motion, a "circle of love."  When we chant the holy names eagerly, "like a child crying for its mother," with intense desire to hear every syllable with full attention, we are showing the Lord that we very much want to become purified by hearing and chanting His holy names.  By this give-and-take, we demonstrate that we are very eager to love Him and serve Him.

When the Lord in the form of sound agrees to dance on our tongue and fill our heart with His sweetness, we feel encouraged to chant with even greater attention and eagerness, and the taste of the holy names becomes sweeter and sweeter.  By Krsna's loving reciprocation through the agency of our merciful spiritual master, we can then begin to understand a fraction of a glimpse of Rupa Goswami's famous verse, “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krs-na’ have produced. When the holy name of Kåñëa is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.” (CC Antya 1.99)

Our chanting is our offering that goes toward the Lord through the intercession of the spiritual master, and our hearing of the holy names is dependent on Krsna's mercy coming back to us through the mediation of the spiritual master, rather like a gift in return from the Lord for our loving offering of chanting.  During our japa time, if this loving reciprocation--this "circle of love"--goes on continually without interruption we can experience an ever-increasing taste for Lord Krishna's sweet holy names.

There is another benefit to giving our full attention to the sound of Krsna's holy names.  Through attentive hearing of the holy names during our japa time, we are blessed by Sri Nama Prabhu with discrimination how to make intelligent choices throughout the day.  This is especially beneficial to a devotee who wants to be the instrument of the Lord and use every moment of the Lord's time in His service.  Krsna is the most expert and He can instruct us at every moment  "One who is sincerely engaged in the service of the Lord, He gives him intelligence, 'Now do this, do this.' Simply we have to become sincere servant; then all dictation will come from within." (Arrival talk, Mayapur, 3/23/75)    

Every morning before we start our japa, we can meditate on this circle of love.  We can pray, "Dear Gurudeva, please offer my chanting to Sri Sri Radha and Krsna with love, and please allow me to hear Their Lordships' holy names, taste the sweetness of Their holy names, and uncover my love for Them through this process of hearing and chanting."  If we can chant with devotion "like a child crying for its mother," hear attentively and desire to taste the sweetness of the holy names, we will be blessed with not only spiritual happiness but also with guidance from within.  Our lives will be full of blissful engagement in a Circle of Love, the continual flow of devotional service to Lord Sri Krsna through the merciful via medium of our spiritual master.