On chanting the Holy Names

The Holy Names are the Sound Incarnation of the Supreme Good. They come down hand to hand like picking mangoes from the top of a tree. This special formuilation of the Names, the Maha-mantra, is expecially designed by the Lord Himself, to be efficacious in vanquishing all the ills of this Kali Age, or Age of Quarrel and Iron Industry. Among these ills are illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating, and gambling or mental speculation. These are the four primary sins of the Age. It is said that all these sins dwell where there is gold. (Sin means forgetfulness of God, or Krishna). These and so many other bad quaities that come to us in this Age are destroyed by chanting the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Destroying sins and bad qualifgies is only one aspect of the power of the Names--they elevste us to the platform of great yogis and saints, and give us Krishna prema, pure love of God, the Goal of all existence. But it is written, "the mere sound of Hare Krishna is not the holy Name--the feeling with which we chant, like a child calling for its mother, evokes the true Name. Srila Prabhupada, out of humility, did not speak of this, but "Prabhupada" is also a maha-mantra--"The name of the Guru is a maha-mantra".