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Monday Morning Greetings 2022 #28 – Heart Massage

July 11th, 2022

Heart Massage[1]

May 13, 2019

I am often asked how I come up with topics to write about every week. It seems a bit mystical: I just think about the first realization that has come to mind since I began the last Greeting, and then I begin to write. I often get stuck on a paragraph, or even a sentence, and feel hopeless about how to proceed. It’s hard to envision a completed piece. I move forward, however, in the mood of service, confident that the inspiration will come, for Krishna is in everyone’s heart and from Him comes remembrance and knowledge.[2] Inevitably it does. Writing is such a faith builder, because it works every time. I start, can’t imagine how something of worth will come, but then watch the process unfold. By the time I am finished, I am generally quite surprised by the result, which seems to far exceed my abilities, almost as if I didn’t write it myself.

 

I am staying upstate this week at my place. It is my paradise: nothing to do, no one to meet; just writing and chanting. Japa meditation—all forms of meditation—are like starting a car. You don’t start in the highest gear; you have to gradually build up speed. Likewise, gaining chanting momentum takes some time—not in how quickly I am chanting, but in the intensity of focus attained. I have that time this week, and with increased focus comes realization. Well, I had one. Chanting is like a heart massage. And that is the focus of today’s Greeting.

 

A massage is something one enjoys that happens without one’s effort. The holy name is Krishna. We can’t create God, or the holy name, by our effort. It is something that fully manifests to us only by Krishna’s mercy in response to our heart or the sincerity of our chanting. And when the holy name does come, no effort is required. Chanting then happens to us. We can relax, let the vibration of the holy name massage the heart.

 

Krishna is not different from His name. We vibrate the name and have direct communion with God. The vibration of the holy name is the hands of God loosening the knots of desire in the heart. Don’t just hear the holy name; feel the holy name. Let the vibration of the holy name massage the heart.

 

The best massage is done out of love. The holy name masseur does not charge anything. He is serving His devotee out of love. The heart massage is thus Krishna’s mercy—undeserved kindness. We feel grateful. Devotion then awakens along with a strong desire to serve. And what is that service? To become purified. We accept the caress of God to make our heart a worthy offering of devotion. Heart massage is thus our most important service. Let the vibration of the holy name massage the heart.

 

Krishna giveth; Krishna taketh away. I haven’t really met my quota in the sense that I prefer Monday Morning Greetings to be a bit longer. Usually the flow continues and ends at right about the appropriate length. When I paraphrased the verse from the Bhagavad-gītā that tells us that Krishna gives remembrance and knowledge, I left out a part. From Him also comes forgetfulness. Krishna has turned off the flow of this article, so I guess it is time to end. Maybe I will just go for another massage and wait for my next realization.

 

 

[1] This week is a reprint and one of my favorite posts. I now have almost six and a half years of Monday Morning Greetings. You can expect for me to post a reprint about once a month, which will give me more time that week for my other writing projects. I notice that when I go back several years I don’t even remember what I have written, so I hope they will still read fresh with you also.

[2] Paraphrase of Bhagavad-gītā 15.15.

 

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