Burlingame, CA
While distributing books in Venice Beach, California a few weeks ago, I saw a man with these words tattooed across his neck:
A Murder of Crows.
[A murder of crows refers to a group of crows; there is also a documentary film about crows named, A Murder of Crows.]
Because the man didn’t stop to talk with me, I was left to wonder what prompted him to imprint these words so prominently (and permanently) across his neck.
Does he have an uncommon appreciation for crows? Does he value the documentary about crows so much that he was inspired to advertise it? Did he just decide one day that he liked the sound of this phrase?
I may never know.
One thing is sure, however: Such slogans and inscriptions that relate to physical phenomena pervade the material world and arise from mental concoction.
As a living being wanders throughout the material creation, he’s exposed to words, phrases, images and other stimuli that get stored in his mind.
The mind full of these bits and pieces combines them in various combinations and permutations to churn out various recycled words and phrases. However, because these sound combinations relate only to the material world, hearing them keeps one in material consciousness.
On the other hand, as Rupa Gosvami writes in his namastakam: “The Hare Krishna mantra is the supreme combination of syllables.” That is, the Hare Krishna mantra is real and eternally valuable. The grouping of letters and words in the Hare Krishna mantra is Krishna Himself and just by sincerely chanting and listening to the syllables of the mantra, one will attain perfection.
The bhakti yogis, knowing full well that the maha-mantra is substantial and the ultimate purifying sound in the universe, chant it constantly, (or at least daily). By this regular practice, they find peace and come to perceive the Lord within their hearts.
Om Tat Sat
Vaisesika Dasa
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