MY LORD, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Krishna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by chanting Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.

Sri Siksastakam Verse Two
Reflections, by Rembert Lutjeharms

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Thirty-two syllables. Sixteen words. Three names.

As simple as it may seem, the Upanisads, the philosophical sections of the Vedas of ancient India , inform us that this mantra contains the essence of all Vedic wisdom. Purification, self-realisation, God-realisation, liberation—all are contained within these three names. Merely by sincerely chanting these words the soul will transcend the bondage of matter, realise its true identity, and develop unconditional, unmotivated love of God.

Why is that? How is it that these seemingly ordinary sounds can produce such extraordinary effects? Wherein lies their potency?

The words that form the Hare Krishna mantra are names of God. Since God is unlimited, He is known by many names. Govinda, Yahweh, Madana-mohana. Allah, Krishna, Adhoksaja. All refer to the Supreme Lord. And because the Supreme Lord is entirely free from duality, there is no difference between Him and His name. The referent (God) and that which refers to Him—His name—are identical. All the characteristics and potencies of the Lord are fully present in His name. To chant the Hare Krishna mantra is, in other words, tantamount to associating with the Supreme Lord (Krishna ) Himself. Therefore, unlike many other religious practices, the chanting of God’s holy names is both the means and the end. The process and the goal coalesce. The chanting leads to the attainment of the Supreme Lord, because it is non-different from the Lord.

Moreover, no special requirements have to be met to chant the holy name. No preliminary purification is required, for God’s holy name itself is purifying. Anyone can chant, anywhere and at anytime. It is for this reason that this spiritual process of reciting God’s names is declared to be the dispensation of this age of Kali, an age characterised by quarrel, hypocrisy, laziness and constant unrest. In a time when the general populace lacks all spiritual qualifications to execute other religious practices, God makes it easy for the spirit souls, giving His divine association freely in the form of his holy name.

And yet Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu laments: “Lord, You are so full of mercy and grace, that You make Yourself so easily available to us through Your holy names. But I am as unfortunate as You are merciful, for I have no attraction for these names.”

As easy as God makes it for us in this age to attain spiritual self-realisation, we seem unable to take advantage of this opportunity. Our lack of attraction to the holy names matches the greatness of God’s compassion and grace. Why are we not drawn to the holy names?

As spiritual souls, we wander through material existence, from life form to life form, searching for a spark of lasting pleasure. We all long for happiness, but look for it in the wrong place. We search for it outside of ourselves, in material things, forgetting to look inside and examine who we really are. Our true identity is as servants of the supreme spiritual whole. We can achieve real happiness only when we recover this relationship with the Supreme.

This is exactly why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu propagated the method of chanting Krishna’s holy names. These holy names awaken knowledge of our original relationship with Krishna. They completely satisfy the self and give us the happiness for which we are always hankering.

And what about the lack of attraction? The holy name itself will produce that attraction. By chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, the soul is reinstated in its natural position and all the negative qualities that may have gathered within our hearts are washed away. Because Krishna has the power to spontaneously attract everyone—indeed the very name Krishna means ‘all-attractive’—so also His name, which is non-different from Him, is invested with the same potency.

So let us take full advantage of this great wealth given by Krishna, and chant the holy name with sincerity and devotion.