Internal understanding for Hari Smaran

In plain words, Hari smaran is thinking about Hari. Thinking of Hari is remembering with feeling and understanding. With what kind of understanding and feeling one should think of Hari?

1. First and foremost in remembering in understanding that Krishna resides within everyone's heart and He listens to everyone. So when you call Him or remember Krishna, He comes. Do smaran with this understanding that you are connecting with Krishna.
2. "I am the source of everything. Everything emanates from Me. Knowing this the wise worship Me with all their hearts."-BG 10.8. Suppose, you have direct telephone connection to the President of US. Will you lead a worried life in case you get into trouble? Most probably not as you can call the President and he can fix most of your problems. So, Krishna is most powerful and the Supreme. If you have faith that smaran is telephone connection to them, then you will lead a life without anxieties and worries. You will have faith that everything will be good for you all the time. So, truly believe that smaran will connect you with the most powerful and the Supreme person and connect to Him (Bhagavan) by smaran. What are you waiting for?
3. Everything belongs to Krishna. We are just His instruments or His puppets. Dedicate and offer all your activities to Krishna and in this way do smaran (BG 8.7). Work as an offering to Krishna and serve your family and society understanding that serving them is serving Krishna as they are part of Krishna. This understanding eliminates unnecessary thoughts and helps you to focus more on smaran.
4. Accept Bhagavan as your beloved person. You can choose Bhagavan as Krishna carrying flute in His hands or as Ram carrying bow and arrows or any other form. Think of the form and accept it as cause of all causes. Relate to Him as your father, mother, master, friend, guru, beloved etc. Whenever you get time, keep offering prayers to Him. Hear His glories from Puranas, Ramayan etc. Hearing His pastimes are very easy way to think of Him. When you will develop relationship with Him, your smaran will increase. You will be remembering Ram, talking with Him and feeling His presence all the time. Srimad Bhagavatam mainly focuses on smaran on Krishna's personal form by thinking about His lilas, names, form and qualities. So, spend time thinking of Krishna's beautiful form, read and hear His pastimes, remember and chant His names and each moment excercise choice of thinking of Him.
5. You are in material domain and you mind cannot anything which is not material. So, be humble and accept your inability. Currently your smaran of Krishna's lilas, names, form and qualities will be tainted by material domain. But understand that Krishna is beyond material domain. This is explained in BG 8.9 as: "One should think of Me as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is acintya rupam (has inconceivable form), who is luminous like the sun, and who is transcendental, beyond darkness."
   

Question: I have developed faith that Krishna will take care of me and therefore, I have stopped working. I just try to remember Him, chant His names, hear and read His lilas etc. Is that OK?

Question: Krishna will take care of my family and my parents. I am trying my best by thinking of Him all the time. Is it ok not to focus on taking care of old parents and our family? Isn't those activities anyway waste of time as those activities take away my time which I can use in Hari smaran?

Wait for answer in future blogs.

If you can think, you can become devotee!

Imagine this situation: Suppose you become sick, you loose eye sight, you loose ability to hear, you cannot move your hands and legs and you are bedridden all the time. Is your life doomed? No, even if you cannot walk, even if you cannot see and read and even if you cannot hear, still you can think. While lying on the bed, you have choice to either think of Ram or to be frustrated. While lying on the bed if you think of Ram all the time, then you will attain bhakti and if you cannot, then you won't. It is that simple. As long as you can think, you can be devotee. You don't need external activities to become devotee. To attain Ram, you need to think of Him as much as you can and ultimately, in the end every moment.
Each moment you have choice - to remember Ram or to not remember Ram. Sri Ram gives you that choice each moment again and again. So, by doing jap, yog, pranayam, hearing His pastimes etc, you learn to exercise your choice of remembering Him more and more. They should increase your ability to exercise your choice of remembering Him more and more. If not, then something is wrong.
Another aspect which is simultaneously true is that your ability to remember Ram each moment is independent of external circumstances. So, it is your and only your choice and no external circumstance stops you to remember Him. So, when you can remember Ram all the time, then external actions don't matter. You might be engaging in any activity and still be with Ram. So, just remember Ram and do your duties.

You should always think of Me and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt. (BG 8.7)

Just fix your mind upon Me and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt. (BG 12.8)

Is Hari smaran independent of external activities?

Hari smaran or thinking about Hari is done at level of mind. In BG 6.5 and 6.6, Krishna asks Arjuna to control his mind and perfect his life by conquering mind. In conquered mind, thoughts are always focussed on Hari and are independent of external environment or activities.

In lower stage, our mind is not in our control and Hari smaran does not happen and mind is always into material things. In next higher stage of advancement, Hari smaran happens sometimes and it needs favorable environment to happen. And in highest stage, it happens independent of external environment.

Our focus should be to control our mind and focus it on Hari instead of blaming or waiting for external circumstance to change.

Question: Do I need to perform my duties of taking care of family, going to job etc if I need to always remember Hari? When I perform these activities, my mind goes away from Hari. So, it is better for me to go and live in a peaceful place and give up these material activites and do Hari smaran.

Answer: If you desire to give up your current duties and focus more on Hari smaran, then you think that you are advanced person as you think that you are capable of doing Hari smaran all the time. But if you are advance devotee, then you can do Hari smaran even in current circumstance. Why then need to change?
It is better to continue what you are doing and try to remember Hari as much as you can. For example, if you don't like your work and think that it takes you away from Hari smaran, then what about the time when you are not doing work. Try to remember Hari rest of the time.
Our desire to give up our duties is most of time due to our aversion to action. It is not result of our advancement. We use spiritual advancement as an excuse of not doing our duties. This results in more harm than our true advancement.

Importance of Hari Smaran

Hari smaran means remembering Hari (Vishnu). It is thinking about (or focusing thoughts on) Vishnu, His lilas, His form and things related to Him. Vishnu is present everywhere and in everyone’s heart. Therefore, smaran also means to see Him as present everywhere and in every living entities heart. When devotee sees Him present in everyone’s heart as Paramatma, the devotee remembers Him all the time as he sees Him all the time.

Remembrance is performed by mind and it is done by focusing mind upon Vishnu. Basically, it is independent of external or bodily actions. For example, Krishna asks Arjuna to fight the battle of Kurusetra remembering Him. In the battle, Arjuna is supposed to kill thousands of people and many of those people are his relatives for whom he has great affection. Killing them is one of the most difficult action for Arjuna. Still, Arjuna did it remembering Krishna. When action is performed with mind focused upon Krishna, then it is perfect and it does not bind us. Whereas even good action performed without mind focused upon Krishna may give us pious credit but it is failure in absolute perspective. For example, a person may do japa on bead. His mouth and tougue may speak Vishnu’s name and his hand may move the bead. Still, if his mind is not upon Krishna and wandering here and there and thinking about material objects, then that japa is done without remembrance. Therefore, our actions seemingly good or bad may be performed with or without remembrance. Remembrance is activity of mind and is independent of action. At every moment, our mind has a choice to remember Krishna or not to remember Him. We need to learn to exercise the choice of remembering Him. When we do so, our life becomes perfect. Japa and all the activities of devotion should be done with remembrance.

Importance of Hari Smaran (remembering Hari)

Smartavyah satatam visnur
Vismartavyo na jatucit
Sarve vidhi nisedhah syur
Etayor eva kinkarah

Vishnu should always be remembered and never forgotten at any moment. All the rules (actions to be performed) and prohibitions (actions not to be performed) should be the servants of these two principles. (Padma Purana)

Comment: Remembering Vishnu is aim (goal) of all our activities. It is also means of perfection. This means that we should decide which actions to do and which actions not to do based on how much they help us to remember Vishnu. Also, remembrance is also a measure of our spiritual advancement.

Sa hanis tan mahac chidram
Sa mohah sa ca vibhramah
Yan-muhurtam ksanam vapi
Vasudevam na cintayet

If even for a moment remembrance of Vasudeva is missed, that is the greatest loss, that is the greatest illusion, and this is the greatest anamoly. (Vishnu Purana)

Comment: This verse is from the perspective of the absolute perfection. From that perspective the moments which we spend not remembering Vasudeva are waste. How about devotional activities like japa, kirtan, puja etc done without remembrance? Are they waste? From absolute perspective, they are if done without remembrance.

nāradas tu tad-arpitākhilācāratā tad-vismaraṇe parama-vyākulateti
(Narada Bhakti Sutra 19)

According to Narada Muni, bhakti is offering all actions unto the Supreme Lord and feeling extreme distress in forgetting Him.

Om apavitrah pavitro va
Sarva-vastham gatopi va
Yah smaret pundarikaksam
Sa brahyabhyantrah sucih

Either pure or impure or having passed through all the conditions of material life, one who remembers the lotus eyed Krishna becomes externally and internally pure. (Guruda Purana)

Comment: Remembrance purifies our self and our actions and also, our body.

anta-kale ca mam eva
smaran muktva kalevaram
yah prayati sa mad-bhavam
yati nasty atra samsayah

And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt. (BG 8.5)

yam yam vapi smaran bhavam
tyajaty ante kalevaram
tam tam evaiti kaunteya
sada tad-bhava-bhavitah

Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail. (BG 8.6)

tasmat sarvesu kalesu
mam anusmara yudhya ca
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir
mam evaisyasy asamsayah

Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt. (BG 8.7)

abhyasa-yoga-yuktena
cetasa nanya-gamina
paramam purusam divyam
yati parthanucintayan

He who meditates on Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Prtha, is sure to reach Me. (BG 8.8)

ananya-cetah satatam
yo mam smarati nityasah
tasyaham sulabhah partha
nitya-yuktasya yoginah

For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Prtha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service. (BG 8.14)

ananya cintayanto mam
ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

But those who always worship Me with exclusively thinking about Me - to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have. (BG 9.22)

mayy eva mana adhatsva
mayi buddhim nivesaya
nivasisyasi mayy eva
ata urdhvam na samsayah

Just fix your mind upon Me and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt. (BG 12.8)

yad-anudhyasina yuktah
karma-granthi-nibandhanam
chindanti kovidas tasya
ko na kuryat katha-ratim

With sword in hand, intelligent men cut through the binding knots of reactionary work [karma] by remembering the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, who will not pay attention to His message? (SB 1.2.15)

etavan sankhya-yogabhyam
sva-dharma-parinisthaya
janma-labhah parah pumsam
ante narayana-smratih

The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember Narayana at the end of life. (SB 2.1.6)

srnavan grnan samsmarayams ca cintayan
namani rupani ca mangalani te
kriyasu yas tvac-caranaravindayor
avista-ceta na bhavaya kalpate

Even while engaged in various activities, devotees whose minds are completely absorbed at Your lotus feet, and who constantly hear, chant, contemplate and cause others to remember Your transcendental names and forms, are always on the transcendental platform, and thus they can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (SB 10.2.37)

anyāśrayāṇāḿ tyāgo 'nanyatā
(Narada Bhakti Sutra 10)

Ananya bhakti means giving up all the shelters other than the Supreme Lord.

What is Hari Smaran!

Hari in simple words refer to Krishna, Ram, Vishnu and other forms of God or the Supreme Divine Person. Krishna also resides within our heart as Paramatma. He is also all pervading i.e. present everywhere.

Smaran means thinking or remembering. Hari smaran means thinking about Hari as the Supreme Person, as the Divine residing within our heart and as the Divine present everywhere.

BG 8.9 tells how to do Hari smaran. "One should meditate upon Krishna as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception and whose form is inconceivable. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature." - Bg 8.9

SB 1.2.14 states - "With one-pointed attention, one should constantly hear about, glorify, remember and worship the Personality of Godhead, who is the protector of the devotees."

Hari smaran also means remembering or focussing mind upon the Supreme beautiful form of Hari, His lilas (pastimes), His devotees and other things related to Him.