Question: I am extremely sorry if this mentality is offensive but please correct me in case it is.
In spite of one’s best efforts, one may fall asleep while chanting. Due to tiredness or any other material inadequacies, when I see someone else especially very senior devotees feeling sleepy during group japa or otherwise, how should I reconcile my mind not to find fault or commit offense. I remember you mentioning (Viswanath Chakravarthy Thakura’s Madhurya Kadambini) that sleep/inattention is one of the obstacles that have to be overcome during progressive stage of chanting. Whereas it is said if one chants the holy name purely at least once, he is liberated. So, is it possible that devotees in very high stages of devotion (like ruci, asakti and bhava) may be facing this problem of sleep as a test from Krsna? Also, does one need to have developed taste in chanting for shuddha bhakti or taste in any of the 9 processes is sufficient?
Answer by Romapada Swami:
As you already mentioned in your question, there may be many good reasons such as tiredness due to certain circumstances in the life of the senior devotee or some health condition(s) which may have caused him to sleep late and which resulted in his falling asleep during the chanting. So we should give them the benefit of doubt.
Sometimes, we set a very high bar for other devotees and if we see them not meeting that standard a very few times, our mind tricks us to make conclusions which may not be true. We start to judge them with our minds. And when we become judgmental, we often become controlled by the mind, because the mind wants to feel superior.
It is not necessarily Krsna putting the devotee through this to test them.
Answer to the second part of the question:
Nectar of Devotion describes that even if one is not in a perfectly purified condition, contact with a pure devotee and an unflinching attraction for Krishna are preliminary qualifications that make one eligible for devotional service.
Thereafter, by engaging in the nine processes of devotional service, beginning with hearing and chanting about Krishna under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, in the association of devotees, one can gradually achieve the highest perfection in devotion.
The practices of Bhakti yoga or pure unalloyed devotional service (suddha bhakti) center on chanting Krishna’s holy names – the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra.
One can also achieve perfection by practicing any one of the nine processes of devotional service. However, one should know that all the nine process of devotional service are accompanied by the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.
For example, it is mentioned in the purport to SB 11.5.38-40:
“In verse 32 of this chapter it was stated, yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī the words saṅkīrtana-prāyaiḥ, which mean “mainly by the process of saṅkīrtana,” indicate that although other processes such as Deity worship may be performed to some extent in Kali-yuga, such processes, in order to be successful, must be favorably connected with the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. One who is performing worship of the Kṛṣṇa Deity should know that the most essential part of such Deity worship is constant chanting of the holy names of the Lord. On the other hand, one who has perfectly chanted the holy name of the Lord need not depend on other processes, as expressed in the following famous mantra:
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā
