It is difficult to chant the name of the god, to save the chanting, and to digest the chanting. Its meaning is that we get the advice to chant the name, but we can’t focus the mind to chant. We get to know about the glory of chanting the holy name of God, but chanting the name is difficult.
Chanting the Name of God
You can go on pilgrimage, study the scriptures, do charity, and concentrate on serving others, but to chant the name of God continuously for even four hours is very difficult. The goal is to be able to chant continuously throughout the day, but if you try to chant the name of the god continuously, even for four hours, your mind will trouble you a lot. If you chant Radha’s name for a while and do something else for a while, it will seem to cooperate with you, but continuously chanting for four, three, two, or even one hour is difficult. This was the answer to the first part of the saying: it is difficult to chant the lord’s name.
Saving the Chanting of the Holy Name
Now, let’s say you can chant, then comes ego, that I do twenty-one rosaries of Guru Mantra (or holy name) every day, and I do kirtan (singing praises of the lord) for an hour. We will be considered proud if we start judging others. If we start thinking that others are living a hellish life. If you arrive at this, you cannot save your chanting or spiritual practice. When we reach a point where we become humble and see that if I could chant on my own, I would have done it earlier. All this happens by the grace of Guru (spiritual master), by the grace of Shri Radha, and then your chanting or spiritual practice is saved. This answers the second part of the saying: it is difficult to save the chanting of the lord’s name.
Digesting the Chanting of the Holy Name
Now, coming to the last part of the saying, digesting the chanting of the holy name. Let’s say Someone has created a very adverse situation for you. Insulted you, condemned you, caused a lot of trouble. In your mind, if you start thinking of punishing or wishing for them to get in trouble, be sad and upset, then your chanting or spiritual practice is gone. Thus, your practice has not been digested. You vomited. The game is over. The holy name still stays with you, it will not be destroyed but its effect gets covered, it will appear again at a later time, maybe in this life or a future birth. That is why it is difficult to chant the name, it is difficult to save it, it is difficult to digest it by saving it. If someone is abusing and insulting you and you tolerate it, you decide not to react, that is the digestion of the chanting of the holy name.
Your spiritual practice has the power to punish them. We can even punish them with body, with disrespect, with intellect, with law, with penance, with our spiritual strength. But if you endure the insult, and move ahead, then you acquire the ability to attain God, then you get spirituality within you. Spirituality is a little different from how the world operates. The devotee thinks that I am being tested; God has come in this form today to test me. He prays, O’lord, please give me strength so I don’t curse or get angry with you. Help me save my chanting and spiritual practice, and walk away calmly.
A Tale on Digesting the Holy Name
There is a tale of Saint Eknath. He took a bath in the holy Ganges and came out. There was the house of some unrighteous person right above where he was standing. The person spat on him from above. Eknath had to serve his Thakur ji (deities), so he went to take a bath again. When he came back, the person spat again. He spat a hundred times like this, and Eknath went to take a bath a hundred times. When he came back again, the person was defeated. He came and bowed at his feet. He said you did not even look above at me even once. You didn’t abuse me; you didn’t even get angry. Eknath ji replied, saying Brother, you have been very kind to me. Why should I get angry? It would have taken me a hundred days to bathe a hundred times in the holy Ganges, but by your grace, I could bathe a hundred times in a day.
This is how a saint thinks. This is how spiritual practice or chanting is digested. If it were one of us, we would have been angry in just a few occurrences; that is our immaturity. The person stopped troubling saints forever. He started crying and said, I did not know how kind saints are; I will never insult any saint. If Eknath ji had reacted, then his propensity to trouble saints would have increased; he was wicked anyway. But he decided to tolerate it. And this tolerance transformed him.
Conclusion
This is the meaning of difficult to chant, difficult to save the chanting, and difficult to digest the chanting. All these three things can be achieved through Satsang (associating with devotees of the lord and discussing His glories). We get inspiration to chant and practice spirituality in the company of saints, and we get inspiration about how to save and digest it. The association of devotees of the lord teaches us to practice spirituality, save our practice, and digest it, too.
Guidance by – Pujya Shri Hit Premanand Ji Maharaj
