Imagine someone gives us two buckets – one empty and the other filled with water. Now we are asked to pour water from the filled bucket to the empty bucket and once the bucket gets filled up then again we have to pour water back into the first bucket. If suppose we are told to do this for entire day then how would we feel? And if for an entire year or for decades? We would definitely become insane. Shock therapy and psychological counseling would be required to make us forget the boring and senseless activities in which we were engaged.
Our present life is no better than that. We are doing the same monotonous work since our birth. Everyday we get up, brush our teeth, bathe, eat breakfast, don clothes, run to school, college or work place, take lunch, sip tea, munch snacks, come back to house, watch TV, eat dinner and sleep. Again the next day we do the same thing. This we have been doing for several years thinking that a day will come when everything will become perfect in my life and we will be happy. But still we are waiting for that perfect happy moment.
Our activities are summed up in Srimad Bhagavatam – punah punas carvita – carvananam (Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.30) i.e. chewing the chewed. There is no taste in chewing the same chewed chewing gum again. Similarly, we should not get too engrossed in repeating the same mundane activities again and again. Instead we should focus on something which will always give a new experience. Absorbing ourselves in chanting the holy names of the Lord like the Hare Krishna Mahamantra gives such experience. Revered Vaisnava saint Srila Rupa Goswami says, “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krish-na’ have produced. When the holy name of Krishna is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila 1.99)
So, let us try to bring newness in our life by chanting the names of Krishna and allow our heart to dance with joy.
