oldchakra.com

[Clicker Page] [HOME] [Printer-Friendly] [E-Mail This Link] 

I am writing this in response to Ekesuara Prabhu who asked the question, "Why chant rounds with a counter?" He asked for approval by Guru, Sadhu, and Shastra, which is the proper Vaisnava etiquette in establishing a philosophical investigation. I employed the injunction of accepting those things favorable for devotional service as my defense presentation in my habitual use of a counter, which I affectionately call a clicker. I would like to bear my testimony as to how I came to be such a rogue.

In 1974 one of my services was to be the receptionist at the front desk of the Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir in Brooklyn. In a drawer I found a small chrome counting device about the size of a large walnut. It had a metal loop on it that you inserted your index finger into, and when held in this way the small button that turned the mechanics inside was then located near the thumb. A small window displayed the numbers, which indicated how many times the thumb button was depressed. I presumed that the original intent was that the clicker was used to count the number of guests attending the Sunday feast or other festivals. And I used it for such purpose on numerous occasions.

I quickly discovered that by looping the ring on my middle finger I could click the clicker in my beadbag in a covert manner. I accepted using the clicker for assisting with my japa mala as I was finding I was chanting more. Clicking the clicker till the counter reached 1728 (16 x 108) never seemed a chore, nor would I stop once I reached 16 rounds. I found myself always chanting extra. I asked various older Godbrothers and one Godsister about my use of the clicker and half were favorable and half discouraged its use. Those who saw the enthusiasm of a new bhakta said to accept the clicker as it is helping you chant extra rounds, and those who discouraged its use said it wasn’t Vedic. None of the naysayers asked me to surrender it and return exclusively to chanting only on beads, so I continued to use the clicker.

The clicker did alter the way I thought of rounds, I looked at trying to chant 2,000 mantras every day as apposed to the 1728. On Ekadasi I would try to do 16 on my beads and 2,000 on the clicker. Janmastami, I would try for 3,000 or 4,000, and often exceed the amount I wanted to do. I felt that using the clicker was favorable for my devotional service and therefore I was going to accept its use. I still chanted with my beads in the morning and at other times, but there were times when using the clicker was helpful.

The clicker helped keep my beadbag clean in New Vrndavana after Gopijanaballava Prabhu sent me there in the winter of ’75. The clicker was with me when, as an underage juvenile, I was returned to my parents in Oklahoma. And I brought the clicker with me when I returned to the association of devotees in ’76 after I turned eighteen years old. It was in my beadbag when I accompanied my older Godbrothers on morning walks with Srila Prabhupada and was with me when I took initiation from His Divine Grace that summer.

It did occur to me on several occasions to ask Prabhupada about the clicker, but I never did ask. I used the clicker while I attend the pre-med at the university, while I went through basic training, and airborne school (I carried the clicker when I jumped and chanted japa while in the air. I could not have done that with a beadbag). In fact throughout my service in the army my clicker became a wonderful tool to help me get my rounds done. My beadbag would have not lasted very long, and I wanted no chance of losing those beads that Prabhupada had given me. In medical school I used the clicker to count japa and white blood cells on microscope investigations of blood smears.

While getting my rounds done, I was not attracting attention to myself while living behind the iron curtain (I went to medical school in Szeged Hungary). I have long since replaced that original clicker from Brooklyn. When it finally broke to the point where I could not repair it, I bought a new one. I still use my clicker. There have also been, in the past 27 years, other times when I chanted rounds with neither my japa mala nor my clicker, I used my fingers to keep count of my rounds.

Over the years I have often seen in the numerous temples I have visited, devotees using the clicker or variations of my original clicker counter. Pujaris, Matajis, even a temple president I have caught after hearing the soft click, click, click from their beadbags. To this day it seems my Godbrothers and Godsisters are still divided on the employment of this clicker. Wouldn’t it be nice if this were the greatest philosophical difference that existed in our perceptions of service? I understand that no Vaisnava would expect at a fire-sacrifice initiation to be handed a tiny chrome clicker by the Guru, I love my Japa beads, but I am grateful to the clicker in helping me get my rounds done. When I hurt my right hand it was nice to not feel guilty about counting my rounds using my left hand.

I would hope Prabhupada would not have disapproved of my use of the clicker over the years. Considering the path life has taken me on, I really needed that clicker at times. It did not replace my japa beads, just supplemented them. The sadhu who reads this account of my use of a clicker, I would hope, would understand the mood I have when I use it and accept my realizations as valid.

And for Shastra—well I know it says somewhere, "Accept those things favorable for devotional service." Is there any doubt that the clicker was not favorable for my service? I did not reject using my japa beads. It was just not always practical to have a beadbag on my hand, and I wanted to get my rounds done. If I have offended my japa mala beads in any way by using this clicker then I lay myself prostrate and beg forgiveness. If I have offended my Godbrothers or Godsisters by sharing this personal revelation, I beg forgiveness.

I pray to have your association and remain eternally your servant,

Sat-sanga Das ACBSP 76

Scott Hervey Foerster MD MPH

Oklahoma City

scott.foerster@workmail.com 

http://scott4ster.tripod.com/index.html 

"Two types of people are happy in this world: Those who are completely ignorant and those who are truly wise. All others are unhappy."

—Mahabharata 12.174.33

© CHAKRA 12 January 2002