Chapter 1 God's Name (Cont'd)
Kirtan--The Highest Vibration
In these transcendental names You have invested
all Your
transcendental
energies.--Shikshastaka
The Soul is Vibrating
It has become very fashionable to talk of
vibrations. We say
that
a person has strange, good or bad vibrations. Vibrations also exist in
things
we do not see, such as mind, intelligence and the soul. We cannot see
the
air, but we can see the effect of air when it moves waves on the water
or
when the trees bend. We can catch radio waves which travel through the
ether.
Mind is also vibrating, but we cannot see it. Intelligence is a
vibration,
and the soul is also vibrating. Everything vibrates according to the
consciousness
behind it.
When one throws a stone into a pond, the effect of the
stone
falling
into the water causes a vibration--ripples--which expands in concentric
waves.
In this way, the stone and water interact. Similarly, the soul's
presence
in this material atmosphere creates a particular vibration. That
vibration
is manifested in material elements--earth, water, fire, air, ether,
mind,
intelligence and false ego.
This body, composed of those material elements, is the
vibration or
effect of the presence of the soul in the material body. According to
the
soul's consciousness, the body is manifested. The Bible says, "Man is
made
in the image of God." The closer one is to God, the more harmonious the
external
vibration is. A person is attractive or repulsive according to his
nearness
to or distance from God. If a person is pious, his vibration is
pleasing.
If a person is demoniac or godless, his vibration is unpleasant. Beauty
is
not in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is in God. In those who are God
conscious,
beauty is manifested accordingly.
God's Vibration
The chanting of Hare Krishna is the vibration of
the greatest
person,
God. Each individual living entity has his particular vibration. God,
being
the supreme individual, has supreme vibrations. By chanting the holy
name
of Krishna, one can come in touch with God's vibration. Kirtan
nullifies,
neutralises and overpowers all other vibrations, be they so-called good
or
bad vibrations. Through Kirtan one is situated on the highest frequency
of
transcendental vibration.
Everything within our experience is composed of sound
vibration.
The
higher the vibration, the more powerful it is. High vibrations can
disorient
or disintegrate the atoms in a glass pane, causing the glass to crack.
The
Hare Krishna vibration, the vibration of spiritual sound, destroys or
counteracts
all material vibrations, thereby liberating the eternal soul from the
encasement
of matter.
The vibration Hare Krishna has the transcendental
potency to dispel
the darkness of the material world. One cannot counteract the anxiety
of
the material world by word jugglery, speculation or any other material
activity.
Material anxiety can only be dispelled by striking up the Kirtan and
sincerely
chanting Hare Krishna.
All of us are caught up in this ever-changing
atmosphere of
vibrations.
Everyone is emanating certain vibrations, but since everyone is
essentially
separated from God, these vibrations cannot actually help anyone. Many
people
swimming in the ocean are all vibrating or struggling, but none of them
can
help one another. They are all struggling alone. This material
atmosphere
is full of living entities who are vibrating or struggling, each in
their
own way, to exist in an atmosphere which imposes death upon everyone.
This
struggle is the source of all our anxiety.
As soon as we stop vibrating "Krishna," we are
immediately
bombarded
with a multitude of mundane vibrations from within our own mind and
from
external sources. The environment is constantly vibrating, and we are
also
throwing out vibrations. The world is a pandemonium, a madhouse of
vibrations.
When we chant Hare Krishna, we are at once elevated above the frequency
of
this mundane plane, where everyone is vibrating and jamming each other
with
competition, envy, jealousy, lust and greed--the vibrations of this
material
world.
His Name is the Same
In the material world, we can understand that
behind the
vibration
of the radio there is a person. The vibration represents the person.
This
principle is only partially true in the material world, but absolutely
true
in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, the vibration, the name
of
the person and the person himself are one and the same. Therefore, when
we
chant "Krishna," we are with Krishna, and Krishna is with us.
The holy name of Krishna is not simply a sound or a
name indicating
another object, as names are in the material world. The name John
is just a designation for the person. The name John or Peter
or the words book and water are not the same as the
objects
they represent. They are just indicators. A map of America is not
America.
The map is just a piece of paper which gives some abstract,
geographical
idea of what America is. America is actually something different from
the
map.
God is absolute, and therefore anything directly
connected with
Him--such
as His holy name--is identical with Him. In the material world of
duality,
when a thirsty man calls out, "Water! Water!" it will not satisfy his
thirst,
because the name water and the substance water are completely
different.
But in the absolute world, there are no such differences. An object and
its
name are one. Therefore, simply by vibrating the holy names of
God--"Krishna!
Rama!"--one associates with God directly. In our present conditioned
existence,
we cannot easily understand this principle. Once we become purified,
this
principle is realised.
The Seed of Spiritual
Life
The modern scientist is proud of his ability to
store
information
in microcomputer chips, but with all his knowledge, he cannot create a
seed
which can produce a tree. There is so much information and potency in a
seed
that from the small seed a big tree can grow and produce fruit for
years.
Each fruit produces more seeds, and each seed is capable of producing
another
tree.
The holy name of Krishna is the seed of spiritual life.
One must
take
this seed within one's heart, nurture it and water it regularly. The
watering
process is to chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare
Hare/
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. The seed and the water with
which
to nourish the seed are the same, because the nature of the holy name
is
absolute. In the spiritual world, there is no duality. The name is both
the
end and the means, the goal and the means for attaining the goal.
Chanting
is the process whereby the seed, the holy name, fructifies, begins to
grow
and gradually bears fruit. We must be patient. In due course of time,
the
tree will manifest and bear fruit which we can transcendentally taste
and
enjoy. That fruit is love of God.
Everybody is looking for somebody to love. We want to
love
somebody,
because the nature of the soul is love, and the nature of spiritual
life
is to love God. Without love, there can be no life. When we have no
knowledge
of the transcendental person, Krishna, we mistakenly love a mundane
person,
a country, our money or our dog. When our love is misplaced, we are
frustrated.
We need to love Krishna, God. The purpose of chanting Hare Krishna is
to
develop love for Krishna. Once we have developed love for Krishna, love
for
everything else comes automatically. Without love for Krishna, there is
no
possibility of love for anything else.
Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu