The Maha Manatra

Submitted by : Mahabhagvat Dasa

One lady approached our Sankirtan stall, without too much questioning, she took a Chant and Be Happy from a sankirtan devotee, but had questions, so she was looking around for someone to speak to. I greeted her. We spoke for some time. She told me how she was having difficulty keeping her children in school, the whole environment was so cruel and heartless and her kids were constantly getting in trouble, mainly for standing up for others, while the teacher looked away and pretended not to see what was going on "I didn't see anything!" was their refrain. The boys ran around and played hide-and-seek, leafed through books, were mesmerized by the nearby Harinama. Her comments made me think about Srila Prabhupada's dismissive "slaughterhouse education" comment, in relation to the modern education system. One of the boys, the older one was attracted to my "Distribute Books" and "7thgoswami.com" yellow bracelet. I took it off and gave it to him, he put it on immediately, beaming. The lady made sure the boy thanked me properly, though I myself had simply received that bracelet from Vaisesika Prabhu's hand a few weeks ago, so it wasn't really mine at all. She told me she was going to home-school her boys, and was nervous. She asked me some questions which I thought were somewhat on the intellectual level, and I was thinking how I could get her heart into it, then I thought, why not get her to chant the Hare Krishna Maha mantra. I asked her if she'd been introduced to the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, the great mantra before, and she said no. I explained a little bit, gave each one of them a card, and asked them to repeat after me 2 words at a time. They chanted dutifully. No sooner than the lady had finished chanting the Mahamantra, she burst out crying, tears rolled down her face. I asked her why she was crying. She said she didn't know but that she felt lighter. I begged her to chant and bade her and the two boys farewell. This is the magic of the Holy Name, Nama Prabhu. He dives right into the heart and makes Himself comfortable, kicking out all inhospitable things from the heart to make space for Himself