Chapter 3 Performing Kirtan
(Cont'd.)
Kirtan--Destroys Karma
Glory to the Sri Krishna Sankirtan, which
cleanses the
heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire
of conditional life, of repeated birth and death.--Shikshastaka
Burn Your Sins
Chanting Hare Krishna purifies one of all sinful
activities. By
once chanting the holy name of the Lord offencelessly, one counteracts
more sins than one is able to commit in hundreds and millions of
lifetimes. The holy name of Krishna is so powerful that it eradicates
the reactions of even the greatest sins.
As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so
the holy
name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to
ashes without fail all the reactions of one's sinful activities.--Srimad-Bhagavatam
6.2.18
To illustrate the power of the holy name there
is a story in Srimad-Bhagavatam about a man named Ajamila:
Ajamila, in his youth, was raised
according to the
Vedic regulations. He was a perfectly trained brahman (Vedic priest),
free from the four sinful habits of materialistic life, which are meat
eating, intoxication, illicit sex and gambling. He was married to a
chaste and beautiful wife.
But one day, while he was out in the fields
collecting
flowers for worshipping the Lord, he happened to see a drunken shudra
(low-class man) and a prostitute engaged in sexual embrace. Ajamila
thus became bewildered and attracted. His mind became gradually more
and more attached to the prostitute. In Bhagavad-gita it
says that if
one contemplates sense object, he becomes attached to them. From
attachment comes lust, from lust comes anger, and from anger comes
greed. This is followed by bewilderment of memory and loss of
intelligence. When intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the
material pool. Although Ajamila was very strictly following the Vedic
principles and was engaged in the worship of the Supreme Lord, he
nevertheless became bewildered simply by seeing a man and woman engaged
in sexual activity. Contemplating that scene, he gradually became
attached and lusty and took this prostitute in his home as a
maidservant. Inevitably, he became so entangled that he abandoned his
family, wife and children and went off with the prostitute. Due to his
illicit connection with the prostitute, he lost all his good qualities.
He became a thief, a liar, a drunkard, even a murderer. He completely
forgot about his original training as a brahman, and his whole life was
ruined.
There are four sinful activities, and there
are four
pillars of religious activity--truthfulness, cleanliness, mercifulness
and austerity. The four sinful activities are meat eating,
intoxication, illicit sex and gambling. Sinful activities counteract or
nullify the spiritual activities or spiritual principles. Meat eating
counteracts compassion; intoxication counteracts mercifulness; illicit
sex counteracts cleanliness; and gambling counteracts truthfulness.
Engaging in sinful activities, Ajamila fell
down from his
position, and he begot many children through the womb of the
prostitute. Even towards the end of his life, around the age of eighty,
he was still begetting children. It is explained that while he was
dying, which is a very fearful time, he began to call out to his pet
child, whose name was Narayana. Narayana is another name of God or
Krishna. At that time, the Yamadutas, the messengers of death, were
coming. They were tying up the subtle body of Ajamila and preparing to
take him to the lower planets to be punished by Yamaraja, the lord of
death. At the same time, because he happened to be vibrating the holy
name of the Lord Narayana, the beautiful Vishnudutas, the messengers of
Krishna, also arrived there. They checked the activities of the
Yamadutas, refusing to allow them to take Ajamila for punishment.
The Yamadutas were bewildered. "Why are these
effulgent
and beautiful personalities checking our action? It's our duty to take
sinful men to Yamaraja for punishment; then they are awarded another
material body for the next life so that they can get the result of
their sinful activity." There was a discussion between the Yamadutas
and the Vishnudutas. The conclusion was that although Ajamila was
sinful throughout his life and gave up his religious life, his wife and
children and begot children through a prostitute, he nevertheless was
purified from all these sins because at the last moment he chanted the
holy name of Krishna, Narayana.
Although Ajamila had committed so many sinful
deeds, because
he chanted the name of Narayana, he was relieved of all sinful
activities.
In a garden, weeds are undesirable for the
healthy growth of
the main plants. Cutting the weeds at the stem is not actually
sufficient, because they will grow again. One has to take out the root,
then there is no possibility of the plant growing again. Sinful or
karmic reactions are like seeds. Some of them are lying dormant, some
of them are already fructified, and some are just sprouting. Chanting
the holy name uproots all such seeds. Sometimes chanting is compared to
flooding. If we flood the seeds of sinful reactions, then they cannot
take form or fructify. They will eventually be destroyed. Chanting Hare
Krishna is the most powerful way to counteract our sinful activities.
Offenceless Chanting
There are many religious activities that profess to
counteract
sins. One of them is called atonement. Those who are Christians
understand atonement. If I perform a sinful act, then I go to the
church and confess to the priest that I committed this act--"I stole
some money," or "I committed adultery"--or whatever the in may be. The
priest then gives some atonement--"All right, chant the rosary one
hundred times, go to mass seven days in a row and make some
contribution to the poor." Atonement is meant to neutralise the
reaction of the sinful act.
However, because atonement does not uproot the desire
for
sinful activity, it is not effective; its effect is only temporary.
Atonement is compared to the bathing of an elephant, who immediately
after finishing his bath takes a trunkful of dust and sprays it all
over his body. Such bathing is useless.
The Sankirtan movement, or the chanting of the
holy name,
has nothing to do with such atonement; rather, it destroys the desire
to engage in sinful activities. One should not commit sinful activities
on the strength of chanting, thinking, "I'll chant, and then everything
will be all right." This is an offensive attitude towards chanting. We
should aspire to chant offencelessly. Offenceless chanting means to
avoid sinful activities such as meat eating, intoxication, illicit sex
and gambling. These activities do not make us happy, but entangle us
more and more in the material world.
To stumble and fall on the path of spiritual
liberation is
not unusual. The example is given that sometimes when one steps out of
the river and puts his foot on the muddy bank in order to come out, he
may slip and fall back into the river. Still, he has to put his foot
there again in order to get out. Eventually, through this process, the
man will leave the river. Similarly, while chanting, one may fall down
or do something sinful, but one should continue chanting. In time, he
will automatically give up sinful activities, because he will develop a
higher taste.
8,400,000 Species
We should always remember that our real position is
fallen. All
of us are in this material world, because we have committed sinful
activities not only in this life, but in many previous lives, hundreds
and thousands of lifetimes. Vedic literature says:
After wandering throughout the universe
in
8,400,000 species of life, up and down again and again, if a
conditioned soul is fortunate, he comes in touch with Krishna's
representative, the guru, who gives him the bhakti-lata-bija (seed of
devotional service), the Hare Krishna mantra.--Chaitanya-charitamrita,
Madhya-lila 19.51
Taking a humble position, let us chant sincerely
and without
offence. In this consciousness, we can attain perfection.
Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu