HARINAM GALLERY

Harinam-Sankirtan - chanting of the Holy Names of Lord Krsna in the streets for the benefit of all living beings and distribution of the transcendental books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the life and soul of the B.L.I.S.S.

Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the incarnation of Godhead in this age has delivered the medicine for all problems of the world by his introducing the Sankirtan movement. Sankirtan means to chant that Holy names of the Lord and to give up all other engagements.  The chanting is a process of purification.  Just like we use soap to cleanse the body, this is material, but the chanting is spiritual cleansing.  The three stages of cleansing are first to clean the mirror of the mind.  In the Bhagavad Gita it is said, "The mind is the best friend and the worst enemy, for one who has learned to control the mind it is the best of friends but for one who has failed to do so it is the worst enemy."  Due to long term association, the mind absorbed in material things has become contaminated, or dirty, the chanting process purifies the mind. 
(Letter to: Susan Beckman  --  Herts, England August 29, 1973)

The Supreme Lord within everyone's heart becomes very pleased when a person hears narrations of His activities, and He personally cleanses the dirt from the mind of the listener. Hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani vidhunoti: He washes off all dirt from the mind. Material existence is caused by dirty things within the mind. If one can cleanse his mind, he immediately comes to his original position of Krsna consciousness, and thus his life becomes successful. Therefore all the great saints in the devotional line very strongly recommend the process of hearing.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu introduced the congregational chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra to give everyone a chance to hear Krsna's holy name, for simply by hearing Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, one becomes purified (ceto-darpana-marjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]). Therefore our Krsna consciousness movement is chiefly engaged in chanting the Hare Krsna mantra all over the world.
(SB 5.18.11)

The process is that the Lord chants and He dances Himself, and people follows similarly. Just like we are painting the picture: the Lord is dancing and everyone is following. And that following can be continued even up to date. God is always there. It is not that Caitanya is not present here. He's always present, and, whenever there is sankirtana, there is this kirtana by the devotees, sincere devotees, it is said that Lord Caitanya is there, present. Tatra tisthami narada yatra gayanti mad-bhaktah. Suddha-bhakta, those who are pure devotees. Pure devotees means without any material desire. Those who are pure devotees, those who are determined to go back to Godhead, to Krsna, they are called pure devotees. They have lost all interest for any material enjoyment. They are now determined. They are called pure devotees. So this sankirtana movement creates pure devotees, who gradually loses all interest in the material enjoyment.
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.337-353 -- December 25, 1966, New York)