Umapati Swami's Blog

In answer to a request, here are some of the things I do to help me concentrate on my japa (chanting on beads). I can't say they all come from Srila Prabhupada or the scriptures, but Srila Prabhupada said you can judge a thing by the result.

First of all, do not think of japa as drudgery: "Whew! It seems like I've been chanting for hours and hours, and I only have three rounds done. Will it never end?"

Well yes. It really will never end. That's what we want, isn't it? to be calling out Lord Krsna's name forever? So think of japa as eternal, and you will become peaceful and attentive.

Do not think about all the things you will have to do when at long last you finish your japa. If your mind wanders off to your work, remind yourself that thinking about work while chanting does not help either the work or the chanting. And again, remind yourself that japa never finishes.

Sometimes I find it helps to read scripture or meditate intensely on a verse before starting japa. Your mind will become clear, and you will be able to hear your chanting. When your mind does eventually wander, bring it back to the verse and then to the chanting.

Whatever your case, be of good cheer. Japa does become easier as time goes by, and eventually, you won't even think about techniques.

I once asked Srila Prabhupada about chanting and driving, as one cannot chant attentively at the wheel.

"You should always be chanting," Srila Prabhupada answered, "but you should chant sixteen good rounds every day."

I don't chant my sixteen rounds on japa walks. There are too many distractions. You know the old saying: "Japa walk means japa talk."

Nor do I like it when the rounds just zip by like lightning. At the end I realize that I have gone through sixteen rounds without hearing any of it.

It can be painful at first, trying hard to concentrate on a repetitious sound, so we may look for excuses to chant in a distracting environment, where we can go through the motions without really listening.

I prefer to chant sixteen rounds in a sheltered environment where I do not have to look out for cars and traffic lights and dogs running in front of me.

But japa really does become easy and pleasant. I promise! I promise!

© Umapati Swami
June 26, 2006

The scriptures say that in Kali-yuga, governing is the business of thieves, rogues who collect taxes and divide the money among themselves, without protecting the people.

I have read in the news today that members of the United States Congress have given themselves another pay raise, the eighth in ten years. At the same time, they have refused to raise the minimum wage, keeping millions of workers living below the poverty line.

Congress is presently dominated by Republicans, who get most of their votes from the bosses and businessmen. The minority democrats are mostly supported by the workers, but they do not have the majority needed to put through the minimum-wage increase.

But do not think that the Republicans are thieves and the Democrats are not. They are both simply interested in pleasing their constituents to get the most votes. And the Democrats, like their Republican fellows, have no qualms about enjoying the luxurious pay raises. The problem is that the different factions of society are pulling in different directions. The people do not have a unified goal, and thus there is competition between the various groups.

In the Vedic society, however, there was no labor-management conflict. True, the laborers, or sudras, were paid little in the way of money, but they were amply provided with the necessities of life, and more. They wore silk clothes and real jewels. They were sumptuously fed, and there was no unemployment.

I know what sudras want because I come from a sudra background. My father repaired machinery for a living. The most important thing in life for him was taking care of his family, and he would have been happy to work hard for a boss who would have guaranteed him lifetime security. But he never found such a boss.

I remember when my parents had not paid the water bill on time, and the man with the key came to shut off the water in the house. Fortunately, my mother convinced him to leave it on, but can you imagine a government taking away people's water because they do not have enough money?

In the Vedic society, working people did not have to worry about making ends meet, and what's more, the bosses were happy to take care of them. Nor did the bosses worry about cutting into their profits because they knew that the system kept everybody satisfied, and many of them were fabulously rich.

What was the system? How did it work?

The system was a society based on Vedic knowledge taught by brahmanas who willingly lived in poverty and had no need for profit, and the system worked by putting Krishna, the Supreme Lord, in the center of everyone's activities.

All the people, from the king to the workers, worshiped Krishna by their work, under the guidance of brahmanas well versed in the Vedic scriptures. And the brahmanas lived by begging from door to door, so they did not have to worry about losing their fat salaries if the king did not like their advice.

I'll write more about this in future postings. In the meantime, you can read about it in the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

—"They believe that to gratify the senses is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus until the end of life their anxiety is immeasurable." [Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 16.11]

© Umapati Swami
June 22, 2006

I have read in the news that some scientists are now studying the sounds made by the vervet monkeys of East Africa. It seems that these monkeys make different sounds to warn the other monkeys of different predators, like leopards, eagles, and snakes.

The scientists feel that maybe the ability of these monkeys to communicate by different sounds could offer a clue to the evolution of human speech.

But it won't.

Human speech did not evolve from monkeys any more than humans did. Human speech is eternal, beginningless. It exists in the eternal, beginningless Absolute Truth, Krishna.

"I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts." [Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 10.8]

Every soul has the eternal ability to speak, but the material energy covers this ability to a greater or lesser extent in species less than human.

A newborn human baby cannot speak, but the parents know that the ability is innate in the child and that he will speak when the body changes and develops to the proper point.

Similarly, the ability to speak is innate in every living creature and will show itself when the soul receives the appropriate body.

Speech is not a gift from the monkeys. It is a gift from Lord Krishna.

© Umapati Swami
June 13, 2006