My chanting comes down at times due to negative thoughts. What to do?

My chanting comes down at times due to negative thoughts. What to do?

COUNSELLING:

A female devotee who requested anonymity, asked like this:

“Jai shree krishna! I have a query.....i was really upset and distressed past month and started listening to Iskcon Hare krishna on my mobile fone which calmed me down and helped me alot....i startef lisytening to chanting for all day....and i started enjoying....but now from the last few days everything is ok in my life and listening to hare krishna has lower down.....however i miss last month when i used to listen to hare krishna all day long. Does that mean that we enjoy chanting and bhakti only when we are upset? It implies that we are human beings are very mean....i want to enjoy hare krishna chanting again and feel at peace again...what should i do ? Please keep me anonymous.

Also i am aware of my negative energies....i call them my demons....aggression anger and urge to bitch about people or talk negative. These are my demons and i am trying to control over them. Mostly I stay calm and at peace.....but sometimes i feel negatve and feel talking negative which is wrong and i know i should not do it. Please tell me how to control my negative thoughts.”

REPLY:

It is the fight with the maya. When we clean our house, we can see more dusts coming up. Only if more dusts come out, that means, we are cleaning well. Similarly, when you start chanting, all your negative qualities and bad things come out. So, be happy that you are facing negative thoughts and energies.

When we bring krishna into our heart, maya will say GOOD BYE from us. Where there is Krishna, there will be no place for maya. That is why, Srila pprabhupada wanted us to ALWAYS be in the thoughts about krishna. When you are in touch with Krishna, you will not get such disturbances.

Actually, as mentioned by me earlier in this column, maya is always standing near Krishna watching whether we allow any gap in krishna Consciousness. When we divert our mind towards material things atleast for one hour, maya will suddenly come forward and brings us under her control. Then, we wil be diverted towards so many bad things that wil bind us with this material world further deeply.

So, you should not allow maya to catch you. That is the point here. In your case, it sems, that you are following Krishna Consciousness , but, have some material attachments also. That is why, you are disturbed by maya frequently.

So, first trust the fact that Krishna is the Supreme Lord. If you have full trust, you will become ready to devote yourself for His service fully. Plan all your assigned activities in such a way that the benefits are dedicated to Krishna. Do all your duties as the service to Krishna. Even while doing your duties, keep thinking of Krishna. You can even chant in low voice while doing some works like washing, cleaning house, eating, travelling, etc. Thus, you can avoid the entry of maya. When you follow this for atleast one year, this will become your habit. So, after that, you will always be thinking of Krishna habitually, and hence, there wil be no disturbance from maya.

You are travelling in a bus. You find a Time Bomb under your seat that shows the time set as 11 am. Now, it is 10.58. What will you do? You will immediately alert all the passengers and make all of them jump out of the bus. All will happen within 2 minutes before the bomb explodes.

We are also in that position now. This human birth is rare one. So, we should use this birth to escape from this material clutches of maya and enter into the eternal blissful kingdom of Krishna. As you are in a position to escape from this painful material world, in this effort, you should involve totally.

With this sustained efforts, you can always remain in Krishna Consciousness.