In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says in the 10th chapter that of all the sacrifices, Japa is the best. And we can consider why that is so. There are many different processes of devotional service that are easy to enter into. For instance, the Sunday feast, or any type of prasadam, anyone can do, or we can walk in and dance in kīrtana, even if we don't know much about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, lots of people do that, but to deliberately take time to use your own voice and your time to commune with God by saying his name over and over again is unique, and therefore it's the only vow that Prabhupāda asked us to do. There are other things he said, don't do. But this is the only one thing he said, you make a vow.

The word devotee actually means one who makes a vow,voto. Voto comes from the word 'voto', or the word vow comes from voto, devoto. And the word vrata is the origin of that, that you make a vow. So vows make the world go round. In fact, as we can see, in some countries, there's a way in which people draw up a constitution, but it's all dependent on people agreeing to do it. If everyone, if people say, "No, I'm not going to do that," then ultimately it just doesn't hold together. So the world's held together by vrata, and our lives are held together by our vrata.

"Etan nirvidyamānānām icchatām akuto-bhayam yogināṁ nṛpa nirṇītaṁ harer nāmānukīrtanam",(SB 2.1.11) this vow to do the names of Hari, Kṛṣṇa is already vetted, says Śukadeva Goswāmī. You can count on it that every single great teacher has said, this is the clear path for everybody, and it doesn't matter if you're a king or a renunciate or a school child. I don't know what a school child is, somebody who goes to school. So this is the place to make the vow that holds everything else together.

We will have other vows we have to make in our life. But the śāstras say, Kṛṣṇa says that there's no vow more important than keeping Japa. And if you think about it, it's the time, the one time when we put everything else aside, ideally, I mean, that's the point. And have private time with suhṛt. Kṛṣṇa is our best friend. He's always been with us. He always will be with us. No one else can claim that. Other people come and go. So it's time that we could show our appreciation for our best friend who always stays with us in our hearts by keeping this clear vow. And if we do this one thing properly, all other things will fall into place in the proper way.

(excerpt from the talk 00:15)

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