Question: I love chanting. It makes me feel wonderful. When I’m chanting I am thinking about Krishna, and many times I remember some pastimes of Krishna when I chant His name. To give an example, when I chant in front of a lake at the park I usually visualize Krishna in a boat with the gopis, just like the wonderful painting of this lila. One devotee then said it was wrong, because I was deviating from the Holy Name. What about that? Isn’t the Holy name and Krishna the same? What’s wrong if I remember Krishna one way or another when I’m chanting?
Answer by Romapada Swami: *IF* attention to the holy name is not overtaken by one’s thoughts of a lila associated with Krishna, then such contemplation is favorable.
However, the mind is a binary processor. The path of hearing the name in rapt attention is our primary assignment, and should not be displaced.
Recalling Krishna’s pastimes “mental visualizations” while chanting may or may not be distractions from the primary activity: hearing the holy name.
When chanted properly, the Holy Name in turn naturally reveals the form, qualities and the pastimes of Krishna!
Conclusion: The real test is “How absorbed is your attention in the Holy Name?”
Here is a passage taken from Hari Nama Cintamani Chapter 15:
“The gradual realization of rasa in the name is compared to the blossoming of a flower. The name is compared to a flower in bud when it is spread to the general mass of people in the world. When one realizes the beautiful form of Krsna in Goloka Vrndavana through continual chanting of the name, that is compared to the partially opened flower. Continuing sadhana further, when Krsna’s sixty-four qualities become revealed in the name, that is compared to the fragrance from the half-opened flower. When one realizes the eternal pastimes of Krsna in Goloka Vrndavana, the flower is in full bloom. Then, by the great mercy of the name, the original energies of hladini (bliss) and samvit (consciousness) belonging to the spiritual world, whose prime embodiment is Radharani, unite in the form of bhakti-devi and descend upon the small jiva, who possesses only a small portion of hladini and samvit energy. From the transcendental realm, bhakti-devi reveals to the jiva the full rasa in the name, and by her mercy the jiva takes on his spiritual body and enters into the pastimes and tastes rasa.
<Then later in the chapter…>
“With faith that the name and Krsna are nondifferent, and avoiding the ten offenses, the effects of the name will be perceived. By clear chanting and remembering of the name, one will find attraction and joy in the name. Then, one will either meditate on a form of Krsna or constantly take darsana of His murti along with one’s chanting, delving deeper and deeper into the name. When one has succeeded in realizing the form of Krsna in the name, one will then meditate on Krsna’s qualities while chanting, one will meditate on a pastime of Krsna’s with the aid of a specific mantra. When all four elements become one, one will begin to perceive rasa in the name. One will perfect the rasa by meditating on the eightfold pastimes of Radha and Krsna in Vrndavana. Gaining one’s spiritual body by the mercy of the guru, one will enter into the pastimes with the associates of Radharani, and according to the directions of the sakhis, one will serve Radha and Krsna in ecstasy.
