Prioritizing Chanting

The evening hours are generally spent in relaxation. I was waiting for the clock to strike 7 to start cooking dinner. At 7:25 a neighbor dropped in to ask something and took away my 30 minutes. Initially I planned to cook rotis and subji. It is quite late and so I decided to make upma. Before entering the kitchen I got a phone call that kept me engaged for 15 mins.

I quickly fried, cooked and spiced up upma. By the time I finished offering upma to Their Lordships Sri Radha Krishna, it was already 9:15. It took another 30 mins to cajole and make my four year old to eat.  The next few hours slipped away in serving, eating, cleaning and organizing. It was already 12 o’clock by the time my head hits the pillow.

The next morning my cell phone alarm beeped at 4 am. I rushed to switch it off to avoid waking up my little one.

‘I will sleep for another 10 mins,’ I thought and got back to my sweet lumber.

Finally when I woke up it was already 7 o’clock. The mad rush for the day had started.

So much for getting up at Brahma Muhurta(2 hrs before sunrise) and chanting 16 rounds of Hare Krishna Mahamantra!

Many times a whole day can pass without getting time to chant a single round of Hare Krishna Mahamantra.  We feel guilty and useless.  We are not able concentrate even in our material duties.
Prioritizing can help us battle this situation.

The first things do every day is to chant our rounds. Planning is required to get up in the morning and chant.

We need to sleep early to wake up early in the morning. There is no point in torturing ourselves to wake up at 4 am when we have slept at 12 am. Going to bed early means we are working in tune with nature.

Chanting is at its best at Brahma Muhurtam. The primary duty of our life is chanting. When we complete our primary duty the first thing in the morning, the secondary duties can be easily performed as though we have been gifted with an extra set of hands.