# Chanting and Hearing *On the importance of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam in spiritual life* --- ### First Hearing, Then Chanting > There are nine processes of devotional service: śravanaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam. Chanting, hearing... First hearing, then chanting. Without hearing, nobody can chant. Śravanaṁ kīrtanam. And what sort of śravanaṁ kīrtanam? Viṣṇoḥ, of Viṣṇu. Not anything else. — [[spoken/1968/680816jm.mon|Janmāṣṭamī Lecture, Montreal, 1968]] --- ### Hearing Most Important > These are nine processes of devotional service, of which śravanam, hearing, is most important. Without hearing, nobody can understand the science of God. Therefore the Vedic mantras are called śruti. Śruti means it is to be heard. It is not to be experimented in the laboratory. It is simply to be heard. — [[spoken/1968/680816jm.mon|Janmāṣṭamī Lecture, Montreal, 1968]] --- ### I Chant, You Hear > By this process. Just like I chant and you hear, and you chant and I hear. Parasparam. Bodhayantaḥ parasparam. This is the factual activities of devotion in devotional society. This bodhayantaḥ parasparam: I chant, you hear, and you chant, I hear. By this process, the transcendental name, the sound incarnation of the Supreme Lord, becomes manifest. — [[spoken/1966/660909le.ny|Lecture on Mahā-mantra, New York, 1966]] --- ### Realized Simply by Chanting > By this process, the transcendental name, the sound incarnation of the Supreme Lord, becomes manifest, manifest so that we can realize God simply by chanting and hearing. Simply by chanting and hearing that will be realized. — [[spoken/1966/660909le.ny|Lecture on Mahā-mantra, New York, 1966]] --- ### Serious About Hearing > So hearing is very important. Hearing. Just like Arjuna heard from Kṛṣṇa. Because I was serious of hearing, and therefore now I am serious about kīrtanaṁ, means speaking, or preaching. So one who is serious about hearing, he can become a future nice preacher. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ. Next stage is developed. — [[spoken/1969/690510r1.col|Room Conversation, Columbus, 1969]] --- ### If One Has Actually Heard > If one has actually heard nicely, then he will speak nicely. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ smaraṇaṁ. Then consciousness will automatically develop, because when you speak or you hear, unless your mind is concentrated, your consciousness is right, you cannot rightly hear or speak. — [[spoken/1969/690510r1.col|Room Conversation, Columbus, 1969]] --- ### Kīrtana Means Glorifying > Just now it is ten o'clock. For two hours our program will continue in kīrtana. Kīrtana means sometimes chanting with music and sometimes speaking. Both of them are kīrtana. Kīrtayati iti kīrtanam. Whenever we glorify the Lord, that is called kīrtana. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam reading is also kīrtana. — [[spoken/1968/680816jm.mon|Janmāṣṭamī Lecture, Montreal, 1968]] --- ### Śukadeva Gosvāmī's Perfection > Abhavad vaiyāsakī kīrtane. Vaiyāsakī, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he achieved the highest perfection, liberation, simply by reciting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrī-viṣṇu-śravane parīkṣit. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he simply heard. — [[spoken/1968/680816jm.mon|Janmāṣṭamī Lecture, Montreal, 1968]] --- ### Submissive Hearing > Please try to understand that everything that we are learning here in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is received through the ears. And unless one does not listen submissively, one cannot hear transcendental message. — [[spoken/1968/680816jm.mon|Janmāṣṭamī Lecture, Montreal, 1968]] --- ### Simply by Following One Principle > So out of the nine... If you can execute all the nine, it is very good. But it is not possible. So even if you can execute one item, you become perfect. It is so nice. Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he simply executed the function of hearing, he got perfection. — [[spoken/1968/680816jm.mon|Janmāṣṭamī Lecture, Montreal, 1968]] --- *10 quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda on chanting and hearing* [[wiki/quotes|Back to Quotes]]