THE HOLY NAME · 43
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No taste yet — but the Name is already growing: it will speak from the heart on its own
kṛṣṇa-nāma dhare kata balaO Name, how much power do you have! — opening line of Bhaktivinoda Thakura's song
No taste yet — but the Name is already growing: it will speak from the heart on its own
kṛṣṇa-nāma dhare kata bala
O Name, how much power do you have! — opening line of Bhaktivinoda Thakura's song
Listen to Gurudev
"I heard the Holy Name from my Gurudev, it went into my heart, and as I was chanting that name that was placed into heart by Gurudev, it woke up, it began to sprout, and it rose up and it came to the tip of my tongue."
It can feel that if there is no taste, the round isn't working and you must press harder. Bhaktivinoda Thakura describes exactly this stretch of the path: at first there is no taste at all and chanting is extremely difficult — just surrender and keep going with discipline. And then, Gurudev says, the Name placed in the heart by Gurudev woke up on its own, became a sprout, and rose to the very tip of the tongue. Notice he does not say "I was chanting" — he says: something is happening to me. The sound does not travel from your tongue inward, it comes from the heart outward, and a person is left watching it.
Today on your round stop squeezing the sound out — listen for where it comes from.
Source: First Aid for Chanting the Holy Name (part 2) · 2025-05-02
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