[Jay Bhardwaj]

Up

2

::

The Sankirtana movement which is in our scriptures. Explained as the Dharma of the Yuga of Kali. The Lord Chaitanya Mahapraphu who is known as the incarnation of Lord Krishna encouraged people to join this movement, he took this direction of scripture in a very serious way and added more and more people in it. Because he was the person who advertised this Yuga Dharma so much that he started being known as the brand ambassador of the Sankirtana movement.

The word Sankirtana is the Sanskrit word that consists of two words “San” which means together, and “Kirtan” which means repeatedly taking the name of the God.

He came for Nama Sankirtana Yagya Matre means, he came only for the spread of Naam Sankirtan. And also Narad Muni the one who always takes the name of Lord Narayana states that in the Narad puran :-

नाम संकीर्तन यज्ञ मात्रे

अश्वमेध शतसाहस्रेणापि

न तुल्यं पुण्यफलं लभ्यते

 

Only the Naam Sankirtan is more powerful than 100 Ashwamegha yagnas.

The naam japa and the sankirtana in a group takes us away from our regular consciousness and gives us transcendental bliss. The Sankirtan Movement is based on the following core principles:

The chanting of the holy names of God is the most powerful means of spiritual advancement.
-The holy names of God are non-different from God Himself.
-Chanting should be done with love and devotion.
-Chanting should be done in the company of others.
-Chanting should be done without expecting any material results.
Benefits of Chanting

Proponents of the Sankirtan Movement believe that chanting has a number of benefits,

including:

-Purifying the mind and heart
-Awakening love for God
-Increasing spiritual consciousness
-Bringing about spiritual liberation
This article consists of the explanation of Yuga Dharma, Connection with Bhakti movement and then the whole explanation of Lord Chaitanya. Concluded with references from the scriptures.

Yug Dharma
Sanatan Dharma is not based on simple practices that don’t change by the passage of time. Rishis and Saints in every yuga gave practices in order to manipulate people towards spirituality and the consciousness of god. In the Yuga of Sata, the deep meditation practices for thousands of years was the way to get liberation from this world. This is why we hear the stories of Rishis like Vashishtha, Vishwamitra, Nara and Narayana performing deep meditation practices in order to get liberation. In the Yuga of Treta, the way of getting liberation was doing Yajnas. The Yajnas like Putra Kameshthi, Ashwamegha and many more.

When the time turned to Dwapara, deity worship was the way of getting liberation. The whole process of deity worship and serving and offering god was practiced in the Yuga of Dwapara. The first 5000 years of the Yuga of Kali is considered as the transition period to the Yuga of Dwapara. This is the reason why we also see the practices of deity worship nowadays along with the Sankirtana.

Significance of Yug Dharma and Sankirtana
The Yug Dharma is the bonafide way of getting liberation and god consciousness in that particular Yuga, which it is being practiced. Yug Dharma is told to people according to the mindset and attention span of people. Like in the Yuga of Sata, the attention span of people was so good, this is why it was told to do deep meditation practices that lasted thousands of years.

And for the Yuga of Kali the Sankirtana is told because it is too easy just to chant the holy name of god and experience his presence. It takes less attention, just by saying the name of the Supreme lord we get liberation intentionally or unintentionally. Because the Supreme is so merciful.

Connection with Bhakti Movement
At the time of 12th to 15th century AD when the bhakti movement was at its peak in north India. The saints like Meera, Namdev and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spread the knowledge of the power of the name of the supreme lord. These Vaishnava saints encouraged people to start serving the supreme lord.

Lots of bhajans were written during that time including the names of God in it to help people, because by these bhajans it became easy to remember them and take the rasa of the name of the lord.

The Hindi word Bhajan is derived from the Sanskrit word “Bhajanam” which means repeatedly saying one thing. And in the bhakti movement it was the name of the lord which was taken repeatedly by the saints.

Lord Chaitanya

Lord Chaitanya who was born in 1486 preached the method of Sankirtana as the most rapid way of getting liberation. He said that not just by saying but by hearing as well we can be liberated, so this Sankirtana movement is like an all benefiting practice. Even the envious people who will listen to the holy name of the lord will also be liberated.

Taarak Brahma Mantra
He gave the Maha mantra chanted as “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.” which is also known as Hare Krishna Mahamantra and Tarak Brahma Mantra. The name Tarak Brahma mantra itself explains that the mantra which will be a Tarak (liberator) and take you towards Brahma (The Supreme).

The reason why it holds 16 elements in it is because this mantra is fulfilled with all the 16 arts that exist in this world. The Mahamantra is written in Yajurveda, Sanat Kumar Samhita and Kali Santarana Upnishad and in these scriptures it is written like where Hare Rama is at the first place followed by Hare Krishna. But to get more rasa in chanting Lord Chaitanya kept Hare Krishna at first, followed by Hare Rama.

Community
Lord Chaitanya along with his companions such as his elder brother Nityananda, Advita acharya, Srivas and Gadadhara. Who was the incarnations of Lord Balarama, Lord Vishnu, Mata Lakshmi and Narada respectively.

This whole process if done in a community can be more effective because when we do it in a community we become more and more indulge in it. The stand of Lord Chaitanya on the community Sankirtan was, when we pray to god in a group, so may our individual feeling shivers but only if the one person in the group has true feeling towards Lord so the whole group will be liberated.

External Links
-Lord Narada always chants the name of Lord Narayana, and he is considered as the greatest devotee of the Supreme.
-At the start of Ramayana Maharishi Valmiki chanted the inverted name of Lord Rama as Mara and when he came out of his meditation, he was already a Brahmarishi.
-Prahalad Maharaj and Dhruv Maharaj in their childhood chanted “Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya ” in their childhood and got the affection of liberation from the Supreme.
-Lord Chaitanya’s companion Namacharya Haridas Thakur Chanted the Tarak Brahma mantra 3,00,000 times per day and got liberation from this material world.
By the following examples we can understand that not only in the Yuga of Kali but in every Yuga the Congregational Chanting was also the procedure of getting liberation along with the Yuga Dharma at that Yuga. Like in the Yuga of Kali we also do meditation and Yajna for liberation.

Share

• This topic was modified 1 year ago by .

[Author]

Posts