Is our chanting session
a superhighway or a country lane?
Remember the time you were so absorbed in what you were doing that you forgot about the time?
Now think of your last chanting session.
Did time pass as quickly? In the first example, you were doing something you really enjoyed. In the chanting example, it was something you knew you should do, and even wanted to, but focus was simply elusive. Goodness, all those wandering thoughts! What to do?
Chanting can be like driving on a superhighway or on a country road. If it’s like the latter, we drive along enjoying the scenery, stop to visit the town we’re passing through, get a bite to eat, check out the park, and amble back to our car. Enjoyable, but it’s going to take a long time to reach our destination. Taking the superhighway, we don’t stop to see all the various sights because that would require us to get off the highway. There’s no time for that.
We need to focus on our driving, on “Amituofo,” because we want to get to our destination ASAP.