Only by clearing the mirror of the heart through chanting can one transcend false identity and realize the eternal soul.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Prabhupāda: ...very glad to see you again. So this saṅkīrtana is all-glorious. That is the blessings of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam.
This is His blessing: simply by saṅkīrtana in this age. It is confirmed in the Vedic literature, in Vedānta-sūtra, śabdād anāvṛtti. Anāvṛtti, liberation. Our present position is bondage. We are bound up by the laws of nature.
We may foolishly declare independence—that is our foolishness—but actually we are bound up by the laws of nature. prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ ahaṅkāra vimudhātmā kartāham... [Bg 3.27] We are bound up by the laws of nature, but those who are fools, vimudhātmā, under false prestige, such person thinks that he is independent. No. That is not. So this is misunderstanding.
So this misunderstanding has to be cleansed. That is the aim of life. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends that if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, then the first installment of benefit is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam [Cc Antya 20.12]. Because misunderstanding means within the heart.
If the heart is clear, consciousness is clear, then there is no misunderstanding. So this consciousness has to be cleansed, and that is the first installment of the result of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅga paraṁ vrajet [SB 12.3.51]. Simply by chanting Kṛṣṇa's, kṛṣṇasya, holy name of Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma, the same thing.
Rāma and Kṛṣṇa there is no difference. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan [Bs 5.39]. So we require. The present position is misunderstanding, that "I am product of this material nature," "I am this body," "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," and so on, so on...
So many designations. But we are none of them. This is the clearing. Ceto-darpaṇa.