Chanting God's holy names cleanses consciousness and awakens the soul's eternal relationship with the Divine.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Engagement Lecture — June 15, 1968, Montreal 680615LE-MONTREAL [34:50 Minutes] Prabhupāda: [chants maṅgalācaraṇa prayers] ...cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave-namaḥ [I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance.] śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam [When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?] he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te [O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.] tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgī rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye [I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa.] vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ [I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.] śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda [I offer my obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and all others in the line of devotion.] hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare [My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.] Ladies and gentlemen, this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is reviving our original consciousness. At the present moment, due to our long association with matter, the consciousness has become contaminated, just like when the rainwater falls down from the cloud, the water is uncontaminated, distilled water, pure, but as soon as the water falls down on this earth, it becomes mixed up with so many dirty things.
When the water falls, it is not salty, but when it is touched with the matter, or earth, it becomes salty, or tasty, or something like that. Similarly, originally, as spirit soul, our consciousness is uncontaminated, but due to our association with the matter at the present moment, our consciousness is contaminated. Therefore we have got so many varieties of consciousness. Disagreements between one person to another is due to this contaminated consciousness. I think some way; you think otherwise.
Therefore we do not agree. But originally, your consciousness and my consciousness were one. And what is that one? That conscious..., pure consciousness, is "God is great, and I am His eternal servant." That is pure consciousness. As soon as we want to imitate, or artificially want to become one with God, immediately the contamination begins. There is a Bengali verse in which it is stated that, kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāñchā kare pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare [Prema-vivarta] [When an individual soul forgets his eternal relationship with God and tries to lord it over the material nature or resources, that condition, that forgetful condition, is called māyā, or illusion.] The English translation is that "When an individual soul forgets his eternal relationship with God and tries to lord it over the material nature or resources, that condition, that forgetful condition, is called māyā, or illusion." So at the present moment, especially in this age, the forgetfulness of our eternal relationship with God is very strong.
And by chanting this transcendental sound, Hare Kṛṣṇa, the first installment is that our heart or the mind becomes cleansed of all dirty things. This is not a theoretical proposition, but it is a fact. If you go on chanting this mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, it is not difficult. Although it is pronounced in Sanskrit language, everyone can chant it, just like in this meeting we began to chant, and you also joined with us.
Here, all my students, they are all Americans. None of them are Indian, but still, they have learned it very nicely, and it is not difficult. And there is no expenditure. So what is this Hare Kṛṣṇa? Hare means the energy of the Lord, and Kṛṣṇa means the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So it is a prayer. There are three words only: Hare, Kṛṣṇa and Rāma. Three words. That has been arranged in sixteen words: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
So our movement is that we request you to take up these sixteen words—not sixteen words; three words: Hare, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma. But it is arranged in such a way that there are sixteen words. So anyone can take it by heart, these three words, and chant it. It is universal. And if you think that "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is the name of Hindu god," if you have got any objection, then you may not chant "Kṛṣṇa," but you must have a name for God.