Tips for a fallen devotee to recover as a devotee from fallen state!
A girl devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
Please help me. I was chanting earlier but now I stopped. I feel I have offended many things during that time. I have done lots of wrong things being a devotee. now 10 years over. i m not a devotee and every time cry to be away from krishna. I have married a non devotee. my my life has become full zero…I live in …….., there is no krishna temple nor association of devotees. I feel like when my death will come… I was chanting earlier every day. But still I did not come up in my life. So I have no faith or less faith in holy name and iskcon. Please help me
REPLY:
Tips for a fallen devotee to recover as a devotee from fallen state involves determination and dedication.
It is happening in many cases. Since you have chanted for some benefits, you have expected visible changes in your life. Had you chanted with faith continuously, you would have lost interest in leading a life full of expectations.
Such Good changes in us will happen only if we CHANT WITH TASTE TO PLEASE KRISHNA, not for any other reasons.
Your way of following the chanting has been MECHANICAL and weak in the past. That is why, you could not continue it.
Many devotees chant as another duty like a machine. This is not good.
UNLESS WE CHANT WITH TASTE, WE CAN NOT CONTINUE IT FOR EVER.
What is meant by TASTE in chanting?
(How to develop taste in chanting? READ HERE!)
It is like other tastes only.
If your mother prepares Halwa sweet, what will you do? You will EAGERLY wait till she finishes it and then you will taste it. You will like to take that halwa as much as possible.
If a girl loves a boy, what will she do? She will always like to hear what he speaks.
Will a mother like to go away from her new born baby? She will like to be with the baby always.
This is the nature of love, attachment and taste. When you are attached with something, you develop taste in it.
Similarly, if you have STRONG AND TRUE LOVE for Krishna, you will do anything for Him. Like a lover keeps the name of that boy always in her mind, we too will keep the names of Krishna always in our mind.
(How to love Krishna? READ HERE!)
So, we will like to chant His names all the time.
One should feel happy whenever he gets a gap of 10-20 minutes. He should feel: “Oh, there is no work for the next 20 minutes. Why can’t we chant atleast 3 rounds in this time? If not, our consciousness will become materially dominated. And, we have another opportunity to remember Krishna’s name for the next 20 minutes”
Then, his fingers will start to chant automatically and he will go away from material thoughts in that time.
Thus, we should take every minute of our life as an opportunity to remember the Lord’s names. We should feel if we waste the available time, we are wasting our human life.
You believe it or not, I tell the fact that I never sleep in the day time and I like to work as much as possible. So, when I work for two hours, I take rest for 10 minutes and I chat one or two rounds in that rest time that relaxes my mind greatly and I start to work again after 10 minutes.
So, I chant during intervals. It is also welcome, not wrong.
(RIGHT WAY OF STOPPING CHANTING IN EXCEPTIONAL SITUATIONS! READ HERE!)
When we chant one or two rounds every two hours, we will be thinking of Krishna throughout the day.
When will we have preferences towards Krishna?
Only when we consider Krishna as our CLOSEST AND IMPORTANT PERSON in life, we will develop dedication and taste in chanting. If we consider Krishna as another god who does not come in person to prove Himself, you can not develop love for Krishna.
When will we consider Him so?
You should believe in the existence of Krishna and the SUBTLE background protection given by Him in our life in every stage and our every step.
It seems that your devotion has not been strong and your faith has not been that much strong in the past. You have involved in sense gratification activities more and lost the interest in chanting. When we involve in more sense gratification, those thoughts dominate our mind and hence we will not be able to get interest in chanting. That is why, you have lost interest in chanting.
(Serving Krishna even when we struggle in (or) for life- My Experience – PART- 2! READ HERE!)
After you stopped the offenses in life, you should have asked for forgiveness to Krishna and then restarted and continued the chanting because you will get immunity from past sins.
If you are unable to spare even 30 minutes exclusively for Krishna, how can you expect progress in your devotional practices?
Without Krishna how can you exist here? You are treating Krishna less than a man I think. Because we give some care even for a human. Now a days, the people take their pet dogs to their bed room and sleep with them.
The people love even their pet dogs that much.
But, we fail to love and care our creator and protector Krishna.
There are many ways to manage chanting even while we are busy. Let me give some tips about it.
(Is Taking Onion and Garlic while Chanting with Tulasi beads permitted? READ HERE!)
You can chant while doing household work, but, you should count your daily rounds ONLY IF you do the chanting as an exclusive activity. If your mind involves in another activity also while chanting, it should not be included in rounds.
I even follow my chanting while travelling by bus. But, I try my best to ensure that I do not apply my mind in any other activity. I just sit in my seat and chant without caring what happens in the bus. My mind has no other work in the bus except chanting.
I also chant while doing morning walk for 20 minutes. Double benefit – walking as well as chanting.
But, doing household duties need part of your attention. You must chant even while doing household works, but, do not count it in your daily quota. Use that only to remain in the thoughts of Krishna even while doing household duties.
So, from now onwards, develop sufficient determination to consider Krishna as your prime relation. Your chanting will automatically become sincere.
If a devotee is unable to spare even 30 minutes daily for chanting, sorry to say this, he is a weak and casual devotee.
The Busiest Person like the Chairman of FORD CARS is also chanting daily.
Why can’t we?
These are my tips for a fallen devotee to recover. Forget about the past mistake of Stopping Chanting and Committing offenses again! Start a new life from now. Include Krishna back in your life seriously.
Don’t stop till you die. You will have subtle protection by Krishna that you can feel when you grow in your faith.
And, you can also get immunity from your past sins.
Hope you are clear with these tips for a fallen devotee to recover as a devotee from fallen state!
(Encouraging Tips for Chanting without Offenses! READ HERE!)