Krishna Das: Flow of Grace
Maharajji gave us that chant, in His own inimitable way, He never said, “Sing the Chalisa.” He said, “Here.” He never said, “Here. This is the Hanuman Chalisa. Learn it and then sing it to Me.” He didn’t do that. Everything just happened as if He was doing nothing.
This is the way Mahrajji was. Everything that came towards Him got something burnt away because you couldn’t come close to that fire with all your shit. Just coming towards that love burns stuff off you in the first place. And that’s Hanuman. Hanuman is that love that’s always turned towards Ram, towards God, and anything that approaches Hanuman gets into that flow of Grace towards love. But to enter that flow, you have to leave some of that luggage behind. You have to. It’s not always pleasant, and it’s not, it doesn’t always feel good, but you want the love more than you want all that luggage and so you will let go of that given the opportunity.
Well, Maharajji said that every word of the Hanuman Chalisa is Mahamantra. So, the whole thing is the Name, repetitions of the Names, which He considered to be the practice that we were qualified to do. He also said that the chanting of the HC could change fate.
We saw Him as a manifestation of Hanuman, and because of that, we experience the power and presence of Hanuman very deeply. When we sang the HC to Maharaj-Ji, it was a very powerful experience, and it opened up many doors within us and continues to do so. The deepest changes are from the inside out. Hanuman is always seeing and experiencing Ram, who is Reality. And so, aligning oneself with the presence and power of Hanuman gradually but inevitably removes the blinders over the heart.
When we asked Him, “How do we find God?” he said, “Serve people.” “How do we raise Kundalini?” He said, “Feed people.”
“Love everyone, serve everyone and Remember God.” That was basically what He told us. What He told other people, we have no idea, but that’s what he told us.
OMTimes: In one of your many interviews with your Chai ‘n’ Chat video series, you spoke to a young lady and told her how similar the energy of Lord Hanuman was to the energy of Lord Ganesha. Can you explain this a little more, as we understand that Ganesha influences the base chakra and Lord Hanuman seems to have a bigger influence over the heart chakra?
Krishna Das: They are both Beings who remove obstacles to us finding our True Self.
OMTIMES: You have the gift to bring and bridge sacred knowledge, Ageless Wisdom, to the modern world. What do you believe is the importance of the old Traditions such as Mantras, Kriyas, chants, and devotional poetry to a western world that has problems distinguishing Religious from Spiritual Traditions?
Krishna Das: Everybody in the world has the same problems. We all suffer because we don’t know our true nature. All these practices have worked for 1000s of years to remove the ignorance that blinds us to who we really are.
OMTimes: So, in the chants, the prayers, and the meditations, how important is it to have a correct pronunciation of the sacred chants? In other spiritual practices, the emphasis is on the intention. The intention is what is important. What is more important in your point of view?
Krishna Das: Intention is more important, but some effort should be made to accurately express the prayer or the chant.
OMTimes: How do your personal devotional and life experiences play when you are performing your sacred music?
Krishna Das: I don’t perform sacred music. I share my spiritual practice with the people who come. It is not a performance. I chant to save my ass every night every time. I sing I bring everything that’s happened in my life into that moment and offer it into the practice with as much intensity as I can.
OMTimes: In the pursuit of self-knowledge and self-realization, people sometimes shed layers of the ‘self.’ After your experiences and Initiations in India pursuing a spiritual path, did you ever feel the need to reinvent yourself?
Krishna Das: The Self doesn’t shed layers. The Self shed the non-self, everything that is not the ultimate truth. What remains is the true heart shining brightly, illuminating everything, and loving everything equally and serving all. As one moves along the path, one naturally lets go of limiting concepts of oneself. But one does not reinvent oneself. To ask the ego to destroy the ego is like to ask the thief to be the policeman. There will be a lot of investigation, but no arrest will ever be made! Through the power of devotion and the presence of Grace, one ultimately recognizes one’s true nature and becomes one with all beings.
OMTIMES: Do you hold a Mystical Vision for our World? What would you like to see manifested in our collective reality now?
Krishna Das: I would like all beings to be free of suffering.
OMTimes: We know you practice a lot of SEVA. Tell us a little about your Kirtan Wallah Foundation, its mission, projects, and how people can support you.
Krishna Das: We started the foundation to support small independent missions of goodness in the world. People who are doing good things but aren’t recognized by the larger charitable foundations. In our small way, we try to help those people help others. You can see the projects we support and also make a donation at kirtanwallahfoundation.org.
OMTIMES: Tell us a bit more about your next creative projects, and how people can follow you and know about your events?
Krishna Das: You can find out more about my upcoming events, podcast, musical recordings, workshops, quotes, on KrishnaDas.com or find me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
In this book and CD set, Krishna Das explores the correct pronunciation of each of the 40 transformative verses, the means of invoking Hanuman’s grace and healing, and the power chanting. Flow of Grace also includes two recorded CDs. The first disc consists of 8 different melodies of the Hanuman Chalisa with musical accompaniment and the second disc is a word-by-word, slowly spoken instructional recitation of all 40 verses by Krishna Das.
Read this article in the digital edition of OMTimes Magazine: OMTimes Magazine June B 2019 Edition with Krishna Das
