I like chanting the maha-mantra. I’m familiar enough with the words “Hare,” “Krishna,” and “Rama.” They please me as they pass through my mind and lips. I’ve been doing it so long it’s become a love and a deep attachment. I could never switch to another kind of prayer of another religion, or even another mantra in the Vedic religion. This is it for me. I began in 1966, and I’ll continue it until the end. Prabhupada was so expert as to cement it to my being, and the mantra itself has the potency that once you chant it, you never want to stop. I’m like Gopa-kumara, who, no matter where he went, chanted his Gopal mantra because it brought him more satisfaction than anything else, even when he was in the heavenly planets or Vaikuntha. He was always restless unless he was chanting his diksa mantra. The Hare Krishna mantra stays with you so that you chant it even in the dentist’s office or in the car after you’ve chanted your minimum prescribed rounds.
(_Japa Transformations_)
I state my satisfaction with the maha-mantra.
I know the words
very well, and they
please me as I
recite them. I
would never change
for another mantra.
Prabhupada implanted it
into my being
in 1966. The
mantra has potency
that cannot be stopped.
You go on chanting it
even after you finish your
prescribed number of rounds.