Three Birds

Japa help, by remembering three birds from sastra: the chakora, the chataka and the chakravakra

THE CHAKORA
Wikipedia: "The chukar sometimes symbolizes intense, an often unrequited, love. It is said to be in love with the moon and to gaze at it constantly."

"The family of Mahārāja Nanda is just like an ocean of milk, wherein Lord Kṛṣṇa has arisen like the full moon to illuminate the entire universe. The eyes of the residents of Vraja are like cakora birds that continuously drink the nectar of His bodily luster and thus live peacefully. CC Antya 19.36

The chakora bird fixes fully its gaze upon the moon, not giving attention to anything else. Similarly, japa is darshan. The holy name is Krsna. The holy name is a person. Krsna is present, so we don’t want to be absent. It's our daily date with Krishna.

Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,

When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee;

Fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight,

Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee.

Alone with Thee, amid the mystic shadows,

The solemn hush of nature newly born;

Alone with Thee in breathless adoration,

In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.

As in the dawning o’er the waveless ocean

The image of the morning star doth rest,

So in the stillness Thou beholdest only

Thine image in the waters of my breast.

--Harriet Beecher Stowe

 "A pure devotee knows that when he chants the transcendental name Krsna, Sri Krsna, is present as transcendental sound. He therefore chants with full respect and veneration." (Adi Lila 2.11)

THE CHATAKA

Prabhupada: The example is given, these cataka birds, they want water from the cloud and they will never come down to take water... Similarly, devotees will simply depend on Krsna... Example is given that sometimes the cloud, instead of giving water, gives thunderbolt. Still, they will not take water from down. That is a cataka. Although it is... Sometimes they are punished—instead of water, they are given thunderbolt—but still, they will not take any (other water). -morning walk, Honolulu, 10/10/75

Prabhupada: The bird flies in the, near the cloud in expectation of water, and they are not afraid of thunder. That is called cataka. That example is given by Rupa Gosvami. The cataka does not take water from ground. They will take water when it falls from the cloud. So in the beginning of every cloud there is thunder. So this bird, because they expecting water from the cloud, the cloud is giving him thunder, but still he does not, will not take water from ground. -morning walk, 7/6/75, Chicago

"I know no one but Krishna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord unconditionally." -Siksastaka 8

 “Only by the wonderful mercy of the Lord, who is a nectar ocean of wonderful pastimes, is the wonderful sweetness of chanting the holy name manifest. It is not manifest by one’s own efforts.” --Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrtam

The chakora above has been described in a similar way also:

"One particle of that transcendental, blissful nectar is the life and soul of the ear, which is like a chakora bird that lives in hope of tasting that nectar. Sometimes, by good fortune, the bird can taste it, but at other times he unfortunately cannot and therefore almost dies of thirst."- CC Antya 17.45

THE CHAKRAVAKRA

Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta describes the chakravakra bird calling out to its beloved during nocturnal separation. Similarly, japa is calling out to Radha and Krishna.

In the Mahäbhärata, Krishna says, "When I was away from Draupadi, she cried with the words, 'He govinda!' This call for Me has put Me in her debt, and that indebtedness is gradually increasing in My heart!" This statement by Krishna gives evidence of how one can please the Supreme Lord simply by addressing Him, "He krsna! He govinda!"-NOD17

"The chanting is a spiritual call for the Lord and His energy, to give protection to the conditioned soul. This chanting is exactly like the genuine cry of a child for its mother's presence. Mother Harä helps the devotee achieve the Lord Father's grace, and the Lord reveals Himself to the devotee who chants this mantra sincerely." - Srila Prabhupada

"The gopīs who joined Kṛṣṇa's pastimes within this material world were coming from the status of ordinary human beings. If they had been bound by fruitive action, they were fully freed from the reaction of karma by constant meditation on Kṛṣṇa. Their severe painful yearnings caused by their not being able to see Kṛṣṇa freed them from all sinful reactions, and their ecstasy of transcendental love for Kṛṣṇa in His absence was transcendental to all their reactions of material pious activities." -Krishna book 29