The Brahma Muhurta Hour
Did you know, that one and a half hours before the sunrise each day, is called in the Vedas the Brahma-muhurta hour (hour of God)? It is the best time for self-realization. It has been claasified as the most prestime segment of the day for doing one's sadhana or spiritual practice, especially chanting of the holy names of the Lord - Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Srila Prabhupada, the great acarya (perect spiritual teacher) in the modern age, says, "By nature's agangement, the cock crows 1.5 hours before sunrise, announcing the beginning of the Brahma-muhurta period." Waking up early during this time can help bring higher life goals immediately into focus for the whole day. It is the most effective way to get serious about our spiritual evolution. It is understood by the yogis, that the mind is a repository of different impressions and memories. These impressions within our mind give rise to our various desires. As we all know, desire is the main driving force behind all action. After waking up early and bathing, one can immediately begin to chant sacred mantras, such as chanting the Hare Krishna maha mantra, and start the process of re-spiritualizing the mind.
Brahma-muhurta is the perfect time to meditate because the passionate flow of city life has not yet begun. Nothing is stirring at this time in the ether, and it makes our jappa meditation more potent. Once the sun rises and begins its journey overhead, our mental energy tends to shift to a more working state, and thus it then becomes harder to concentrate the mind more deeply as is necessary in our sadhana practice.
This is a good recording of Srila Prabhupada chanting jappa slowly, with some faint sounds of nature in the background, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLotulyHVPc. Try chanting along with this recording for a half hour to two hours daily during the Brahma-muhurta period, and just see the results of your transcendental meditation. If the mind is fixed up spirituallly early in the morning in this way, you may experience that it is much easier to perform your daily work and duties, and should experience an internal happiness and satisfaction, coming from the spiritual platform, that will be noticeable to both you, as well as those around you. According ot the bhakti devotional literature, this is the state of ananda or spiriual pleasure, which continues more and more, until one reaches the stage of perfection called samadhi, or perpetual absortion in the Absolute Truth.
The Bhagavad-gita explains this samadhi as follows:
"The stage of perfection is called trance, or samadhi, when one's mind is compltely restrained from material mental activities by p[ractice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind, and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himslef through transcendental senses. Establihes thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken even in the midst greatest dificulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact. (Bg.6.20-23)
So, chant and be happy!
