Practicing Yoga in the Age of Quarrel 147

simplest method of meditation is recommended for this age. By practical
experience also, one can perceive that by chanting this mahd-mantra, or
the Great Chanting for Deliverance, one can at once feel a transcenden-
tal ecstasy coming through from the spiritual stratum. In the material
concept of life we are busy in the matter of sense gratification as if we
were in the lower, animal stage. A little elevated from this status of sense
gratification, one is engaged in mental speculation for the purpose of get-
ting out of the material clutches. A little elevated from this speculative
status, when one is intelligent enough, one tries to find out the supreme
cause of all causes— within and without. And when one is factually on the
plane of spiritual understanding, surpassing the stages of sense, mind,
and intelligence, he is then on the transcendental plane. This chanting of
the Hare Krsna mantra is enacted from the spiritual platform, and thus
this sound vibration surpasses all lower strata of consciousness—namely
sensual, mental, and intellectual. There is no need, therefore, to under-
stand the language of the mantra, nor is there any need for mental specu-
lation nor any intellectual adjustment for chanting this mahd-mantra. It is
automatic, from the spiritual platform, and as such, anyone can take part
in the chanting without any previous qualification. In a more advanced
stage, of course, one is not expected to commit offenses on the grounds
of spiritual understanding.

In the beginning, there may not be the presence of all transcendental
ecstasies, which are eight in number. These are: (1) being stopped as
though dumb, (2) perspiration, (3) standing up of hairs on the body,
(4) dislocation of voice, (5) trembling, (6) fading of the body, (7) crying
in ecstasy, and (8) trance. But there is no doubt that chanting for a while
takes one immediately to the spiritual platform, and one shows the first
symptom of this in the urge to dance along with the chanting of the
mantra. We have seen this practically. Even a child can take part in the
chanting and dancing. Of course, for one who is too entangled in material
life, it takes a little more time to come to the standard point, but even
such a materially engrossed man is raised to the spiritual platform very
quickly. When the mantra is chanted by a pure devotee of the Lord in
love, it has the greatest efficacy on hearers, and as such this chanting
should be heard from the lips of a pure devotee of the Lord, so that im-
mediate effects can be achieved. As far as possible, chanting from the lips
of nondevotees should be avoided. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent
has poisonous effects.

The word Hara is the form of addressing the energy of the Lord, and
the words Krsna and Rama are forms of addressing the Lord Himself.
