(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 28 September 2014, Durban, South Africa, Sunday Feast Lecture)
Srila Gaura Kisora Das Babaji did not want to sleep. Sleeping is such a waste of time. But sleep is such a thing that happens on its own, whether you want it to or not, as some drivers have found out! Sleeping does not always come when you want it. So Gaura Kisora Das Babaji, what did he do? He took an old cloth and packed it up with mud and put it on top of his head – kilos and kilos of mud on his head, tied in a cloth. In this way, somehow or other, he managed not to sleep and just chant and chant.
Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, twice a month for ekadasi, he would just chant for seventy-two hours; twenty-four hours the day before, on ekadasi itself, and the day after; non-stop chanting for seventy-two hours!
Srivasa Acharya, when having a Bhakta Program, they had their sikas tied with strings to the ceiling, in case anybody would nod off. In that way, they also chanted and chanted. Was this fanaticism? No, it was love for Krsna! It showed tatra laulyam api mūlyam ekalaṁ (CC Madhya, 8.70), it showed the root, the root for love of Krsna, with so much eagerness, eagerness to attain it. It is the most desirable thing, to attain such eagerness. Now where can you get such eagerness? Such eagerness it comes from mercy. We need mercy, somehow or other!
