But isn't chanting enough?
Tough one, huh? On one hand, we’re taught that we should chant Hare Krishna and be happy, that our life will be sublime. But if the proof of the pudding is in the tasting and we’re chanting and still our lives aren’t exactly sublime, well then, what’s the deal?
What we’re taught is true. But the maha-mantra isn’t some magic potion that suddenly makes everything right as rain. It’s a process and it’s something we do have to work at.
Nobody said that chanting was all we had to do to be Krishna conscious. If that were so, we wouldn’t do anything but chant at our temples.
I think this is why many devotees (including myself for a long while – still?) think that personal prayer is unnecessary. I was talking to a devotee friend about this. She asked, “don’t you think chanting is prayer?”
“It is, but it’s different.”
I went on: “Reciting uttamaslokas is definitely one means of prayer, but it is not personal prayer. There are times when we need to pray for things and in situations that aren’t “service.” Meaning, the mahamantra covers the prayer to serve Krishna. But what about our other problems? Should we just let them go?”
She then said, “Some people would say that just surrendering to Krishna would take care of all problems.”
I disagreed with that conclusion, “it’s not like when we surrender to Krishna suddenly *poof!* all our material problems and our inability to deal with them vanish.”
There is a Prabhupada quote about this.
In addition to giving and receiving in the execution of devotional service one has to submit to Krishna whatever distress or confidential problems he has. He should say, “Krishna, I am suffering in this way. I have fallen in this tossing ocean of material illusion. Please pick me up.” – Srila Prabhupada in Rajya Vidya
When he wrote “I am suffering in this way,” it was a cue to “fill in the blank” with personal prayer. revealing our minds and problems to Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada has said that we can and should talk with God. That Krishna wants us to talk to Him, that He likes to talk with us!
In that light, there should be no hesitation on our part. But, for me at least, there is. This has always been something I’ve wanted to do, and yet just “can’t.”
I guess that’s a big fault of mine. I know the “power of prayer” and yet, I really don’t do it. Do I secretly believe that it isn’t necessary? Do I quietly think that surrendering to Krishna (whatever that means) can’t include personal prayer?
It seems paradoxical to know that the answer to my questions about prayer would probably be answered through prayer.
