By Antony Brennan
Recently I reported on the Japa Room – an online Japa course presented by Navasi Devi Dasi in the USA and Rasa Rasika Dasa in Australia. This is a follow-up report.
The Japa Room takes place in cyberspace and has attracted many devotees from around the world to participate in a 10 stage online Japa course. The majority of participants have returned each week to take their place in the cyber room. As soon as you log into the online service, Rasa invites you to enter the room and the next thing you know you are in and you are listening, participating and learning.
Recently discussions in the Japa Room were on the obstacles we individually must over come to improve our practice as well as some of the strategies that we can use. We have recently discussed the use of prayer to assist our chanting and tonight we will hear about the Ten Offenses.
Many of the participants have reported an improvement in their Japa and their general devotional mood. I know that things have improved for me. The Japa Room should be of interest to those who want to seriously improve their Japa.
These quotes come from Japa Room participants:
“I find the discussions to be extremely engaging and instructive. The presentations are wonderful. The Japa room is a wonderful forum to remind us, to learn and to keep us steadfast on our spiritual mission. May Krishna bless you.”
“It was a wonderful experience being part of the Japa Room on Sunday and I’m eagerly looking forward to Sunday. Many thanks for the fantastic experience. May Krishna bless you all. Hare Krishna”
“It was a very good presentation with very clear voice, video and an internet chat function. Navasi and Rasa gave compelling answers to the questions we had, I was impressed. I felt like I was in a room with some others and we were learning how to improve our japa. I would recommend it.”
Navasi and Rasa feel the Japa Room is a very important service to the devotees around the world – “The importance of quality Japa can’t be stressed enough and it’s on this basis that we are conducting the Japa Room sessions.”
They say it takes time to write, record and put together the presentations, but the effort has been well rewarded by the positive response from the Japa Room members.
” The satisfaction is in seeing how devotees are inspired to improve their Japa – hearing about their success’s and how they overcame their obstacles in their Japa. In the latest stage of the Japa Room everyone composed a prayer to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, we both found this was satisfying and inspiring.” They said.
Rasa and Navasi said they were trying to get across to everyone the importance of improving our Japa and how that is very effective in the association of other devotees, be it virtual or otherwise.
I asked what they would say to someone who might be considering presenting a similar online service and this was the response: “Always base your presentations on the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.”
If you are interested in participating in the Japa Room instructions are available on the Japa Room web site: http://www.japaroom.com