Applied Procrastination: Stay in The Moment And Chant | GYR | Mayapur | 2 Jan 2023

Sound Bhakti

And today, I just want to mention a principle that's very helpful in staying in the moment and continuing chanting despite the phenomena that the mind will drag us in various ways, as Kṛṣṇa mentions in the Bhagavad Gitā. So, that's a principle called applied procrastination. Procrastination—everybody knows how to procrastinate because all you do is just put things off until the next time. And the same principle can be applied in staying fixed in Japa. When the mind comes with some other idea besides chanting, like, could you name three things the mind might suggest to say, "Rather than doing this, let's go do that"? Sleep. Sleep. Now, it's a "sleep now" movement, so there could be sleep. That's definitely one of the ones that's like, "I'm tired. I want to go sleep." That can also be overcome by going to bed earlier. It is important to manage sleep in order to have good Japa. What's another one? You want to go talk prajalpa instead. Somebody's out on the balcony talking about some juicy gossip, and you don't want to miss it. What's the third one? Planning. Yeah, there might be some plans you have to make, something like that, and it could be a correspondence that you forgot. And then it comes into your mind that, "Oh, if I don't do it now, this person's going to hate me, and I can't tolerate it," so I give up chanting, and I go away. So, that's four, but there could be 1,000 that we could name possibly. So, the principle of applied procrastination was showed to us by Haridāsa Thākura, or the Nāmācharya. When a prostitute came, he didn't say never. He just said later. And the word "later" is really helpful because there's always some later. And instead of saying no, and whatever you resist persists, you just say, "Sure, no problem, but not right now. I'll just wait till later on," and just put it off so that can be really helpful. That works for many different kinds of discipline. Like if you don't want to eat too much, and the mind says to eat, you just say, "Well, you know, there's going to be another meal later. I'll make up for it next time, and I'll eat less. I'll eat half as much this time, and next time I'll eat twice as much." But later never comes. You just keep putting it off. It's the same with taxes. You're supposed to defer taxes till later, when you're in a lower tax bracket. And also, there's a saying that "justice delayed is justice denied." So, it's a tactic in the legal circles. It's like, "Okay, not right now, we'll just deal with it later," and you keep putting obstacles so it's further away. And then there's another principle that helps, which is something they teach in accounting, which is especially for accounts receivable. It's called the law of diminishing intent because the longer you wait to collect on a bill, the less people are willing to pay it because the time factor makes their will less strong. So, just delay and staying in the process of chanting. (excerpt from the talk) Other highlights : Do Your Own Japa Retreat - focusing on personal daily chanting practice Applied Procrastination in Japa - using procrastination to stay focused on chanting Just For Now - emphasizing present-moment awareness during chanting Publish or Perish in Spiritual Life - stressing daily spiritual effort Fear the Fade - addressing the importance of continual improvement in chanting ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ Join us live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanTheSpark/ Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-bhakti/id1132423868 For the latest videos, subscribe https://www.youtube.com/@FanTheSpark For the latest in SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/fan-the-spark