My Relationship With Krsna

Hare Krsna everyone.
Today I was listening to a very nice japa retreat from His Holiness Sacinandana Swami called Who is the Name for you... through the nectarian words coming from Maharaja, we experience a sweet intent of relationship trying to come out of our hearts towards Nama prabhu. During this lecture it was questioned - What is our relationship with Krsna.....do we usually miss His presence when He is not there?....What is our concept when we do something wrong....do we think Krsna will punish us?....Who is Krsna for me
These are things we may consider and think about and also take full responsability for our own spiritual life - when we really do it means we are ready to think about our relationship with Krsna.
So, an exercise I appreciated a lot was that Maharaja gave a sentence and everyone needed to complete it. It was the following:

The Holy Name is my_________________because_____________.

So devotees shared wonderful experiences they had with the Holy Names like; The Holy Name is....my protector - my companion - my boat - my gift of my dearest friend - my prayer- my opportunity my hope my life etc.

The reason why they said that was also amazing, lots of personal experiences they have daily with chanting and how each person depends on the Names. Sometimes we forget to think about our relationship with Krsna and also that chanting is not only a mechanical process that we do with our lips, but has also to come from the heart - has to be related to service - seva....wish to develop a relationship with the Lord through the sound vibration that carries Krsna Himself.
Krsna wants to be present in our Japa, just like the sun rises and the darkness disappear Krsna wants to reveal Himself to us, but for that we need to avoid offenses and try to establish a relationship with the Lord taking responsability to our Japa and making efforts to serve Krsna properly by chanting.

I hope these guidelines helped you to think about how you can improve chanting and be aware of the importance of heart deep Japa.

Hare Krsna

Aruna dd