Should naam jap be done slowly or quickly?

Sri Hit Radha Keli Kunj, Vrindavan - An intimate conversation with Pujya Shri Hit Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj. Sadhaks ask questions about their lives and sadhana, and Maharaj Ji resolves them.

Complete Discourse

Adarsh Vajpeyi from Lucknow to Maharaj Ji - Radhe Radhe, Radhe Maharaj Ji, Maharaj Ji, you had told us that in one breath we should do as much naam jap as possible. Then in another intimate conversation you also said that however comfortably one does naam jap, that much is good. So should the sadhak do naam jap comfortably or do as much naam jap as possible?

Sadhaks are at different levels, there are different classes, different stages of bhajan practice. An initial sadhak needs to develop the practice of doing as much naam jap as possible at the beginning.

When we start doing more naam, the mind finds an opportunity and tries to escape. Radha Radha Radha Radha Radha Radha - now it has started its own work. Now we have to stop its work. We need to hold it here. So again and again, wherever the mind runs away from, we pull it back from there and attach it to the naam. So now we need to adopt a slower pace. Radha [nasal sound] Radha Radha. Now we have written Radha in front of us, our ears have heard it, from within Radha, our heart is speaking Radha. Now the mind doesn't get an opportunity to run away. In the beginning, the sadhak will become somewhat controlled by the mind. If one tries to control the mind, the naam will be lost. So first we need to practice the naam so much that it settles on the tongue. Then with that naam comes meditation and hearing of the naam. Then we pull the mind with the naam. The naam itself is both bondage and liberation. A mind absorbed in worldly concerns is the cause of bondage, and a mind absorbed in God-contemplation is the cause of liberation.

In the initial stage we don't do this action. When we advance further and reach a stage where our naam is going on for hours but the mind is not attached. The mind is thinking of the world. Now we bring it, dragging it. Wherever it goes, we drag it from there and bring it to the naam mantra, and we attach the mantra to the naam. Radha Radha Radha, hey Radha Radha Radha Radha Radha Radha. Now your own clock will keep running. Past and future thoughts come, the inner impurities and samskaras will show themselves in front. The mind will tell us: leave the naam and engage in these. But we should not listen to what it says.

Gradually we have to catch the mind and attach it. And when the mind becomes attached to God, such joy is obtained that no worldly object has such joy. Look, whatever is here is all perishable. Everything is lost in a second. When our breath stops, our body is lost, bank balance is lost, studies are lost, positions are lost, friends and enemies - everything will be lost in a second. What will go with us? We will remain, but the body will be lost. We will remain. Now if we don't have the strength of merit, the strength of bhajan, then what will we become? A pig or a dog? We don't know. There are 84 lakh species of life. So we need to think about our life after this life. This knowledge exists only in Bharat.

This is the discovery of the Brahma Rishis of this Bharat land, and it does not exist anywhere else. Outside it is just eat, drink, earn, eat, enjoy - enjoy as much as you can. That's all. After dying, there is heaven and hell, and after that nothing. Liberation, the supreme state, divine love - these belong to the Brahma Rishis of Bharat. So what are we doing for after our death? We have 60 or 70 years of life. 20 years of youth come with such storms that we don't understand anything. In childhood we are unconscious. In old age we can't do much. So when is the time?

When we should be doing this for our time after death. Think about it - half our life goes in sleep and entertainment. The other half goes in earning and eating and enjoying. When do we have time? If we are not careful, Maya will make our entire life worthless, and in the next birth we will get lower species. And in this Kaliyug, we haven't seen many years - we've seen 40 years. Because consciousness awakens after 101 years. Knowledge comes of what is good and bad, what is happening and what is not. At 13 years old, Baba Ji became [enlightened]. You remember the 40 years.

Such huge changes have happened in 40 years - only filth spreading. Only filth spreading. Newer and smaller children are becoming victims of such dirty habits that were never even imagined. New children are acquiring such dirty behaviors that had no scope anywhere. Marriage might happen at 14, 15. The move used to happen at 20. Great purity, wifely dharma, truthfulness. Now what filth - from 13 to 20 years, a child has complete knowledge of the world, and such debauchery that 10, 20 boyfriends.. They don't change. These debaucherous men with dozens of women - barely 20 years old and with dozens of girls! What is this? Truly Kaliyug. There is still some opportunity to do bhajan. In the future such an opportunity will come.. Bhajan, worship, swaha, swada. Now where are yajnas being performed? The right to perform five yajnas every day, the right to three-fold sandhya every day - where did all that go? Everything is lost. Daily scripture study, daily charity and merit according to rules.. [clears throat] ..merit through proper giving, helping others - where did all that go? Our vasanas are such that we only want their fulfillment. These tendencies are running. So there is a great opportunity to attain God in this human life. We should proceed with great caution, do service to others, don't consume meat or alcohol, don't engage in adultery with other men's wives and sisters, do naam jap - then all is good. And in this Kaliyug, more than 5000 years have passed. The duration of the yuga is 432,000 years. Great wailing will happen. We haven't even reached 32,000 yet. Not yet..

So he's crawling on his knees—let him grow a little older, then we'll see. Corruption, the entire world. Dharma is not being heard. Deaf ears will not hear dharma. The time will come when if anyone speaks about God and dharma, they will be killed. The growth of sinful conduct will happen. We have seen a big change in 40 years. Small children know everything through mobile phones. Everything. They search for everything and they know everything. Because of this, their intellect, attracted to natural maya, abandons the path of truth from the very beginning.

From the beginning, lying. From the beginning, watching immoral games. From the beginning, playing dirty games—these things are being found in small children. So if one can very carefully save one's mind and fix it on the Lord, then blessed, most blessed is that life. Otherwise, the entire life is futile. So if we can slowly entangle the mind in the naam, then we will be victorious. Otherwise, the naam is just running from the tongue. It's running in the finger-beads and the mind is running in the world. When all three become one—what is in the fingers is the same in the tongue and the same in our mind—then one attains God.

This text is taken from auto-generated captions of the video—it may contain errors in the words. Please listen to the video itself for the authentic words.

Original video: Bhajan Marg (YouTube)