Jaya Sri Radhey! Namaste all.

More wisdom on 'Chanting the Names of the Lord':

kRte yad dhyAyato viSNuM tretAyAM yajato makhaiH
dvApare paricaryAyAM kalau tad hari kIrtanAt

(Srimad Bhagavatam 12.3.52)

Each Yuga has its own standard - high or low - of Dharma, and in
accordance with the moral fibre of the people of that Yuga, its own
prescription for attaining the Lord.

After recounting the various defects of Kali Yuga resulting in the
people failing from the virtuous path, Vyasa extols Kali Yuga as
being exceptionally fortunate in that the easiest means for attaining
the Lord have been prescribed for this Yuga.

Though, admittedly, Kali is the repository of all evil - and most of
us today are witnessing the moral quagmire into which present day
mankind has pushed itself - yet it has a supreme virtue:
a person may free himself of all attachments and attain God
Realization simply by singing the glories of the Lord and chanting
and hearing His names.

In other words, whatever a person could attain in the Krita Yuga by
meditation on Vishnu; in the Treta Yuga by performing sacrifices; in
the Dvapara Yuga by devoted service and worship - all that he may
attain in the Kali Yuga by extolling the Lord.

This is the great advantage of the Kali Yuga and makes us
exceptionally fortunate, despite the all-pervading evil around us!

kalau kalmaSa cittAnAM pApa dravyopa jIvinAM,
vidhi kriyA vihInA nAM gatir govinda kIrtanam

'In the age of Kali (Dark Age), the hearts of men and women are
polluted, their minds are impure, their lives are spent in sin and
acquiring wealth for sense-gratification, devoid of spiritual
discipline and devotional practice.

So for such unfortunate souls of Kali Yuga, the ONLY way to attaining
the ultimate goal of life is devotional singing of the Names,
Attributes, and Lilas of Govinda.'

Veda Vyasa muni started the Bhagavatam with an invocatory hymn
addressed to the Ultimate Reality, and that verse contains the
essence of the Vedanta philosophy as expounded in the Upanishads and
the Brahma Sutras.

In the valedictory verse of the Bhagavatam, Veda Vyasa Maharsi
declares that chanting of the names of the Supreme Being alone is
capable of destroying all the sins which stand in the way of God-
realization.

In these days when people want God-realization and liberation while
holding on to the world at the same time, and are reluctant to put
forth mental or physical effort to acquire Jnana or study scriptures,
the easiest way to achieve the goal is by resorting to chanting the
name of the Lord, which can be done anywhere and at all times, for
example while engaged in eating, cooking in the kitchen, walking,
traveling, or any other activity for that matter.

The logical reasoning behind this process is as follows: Every letter
of the Sanskrit alphabet is an aspect of the universal force or the
power (Sakti), in which the Lord manifests Himself in the world. The
first letter €..¥ (A) which stands for the power €
..'±Amrita-Varshini€..'², when
chanted over a long period of time, can bestow a long life. Similarly
the letter €..§ü (EE) stands for the power €..'±Eesaani€..'², which
can bestow
the ability of controlling others and, being the Maya Bija, also has
the influence of removing Maya.

The names of the Lord are all combinations of different sound forces
whose vibrations will permeate our mind and the body, and shall
purify them as well as the ambient atmosphere, and finally lead us to
the Super-conscious state of Samadhi, resulting in God-realization.

nAsti nAsti mahA bhAga! kali kAlasamaM yugaM,
smaraNAt kIrtanAt viSNoH prApyate paramaM padam

O great fortunate one! There is no age, there is no age equal to the
Kali Yuga during which the Ultimate Supreme Goal is attained simply
by the loving rememberence and devotional chanting of the Holy Names
of Lord Vishnu (Krishna)

Srimad Bhagavatam is not a mere book. It is the very Lord manifested
as the sound (word) force. The Lord is infinite and His words have
myriad interpretations - and each one of them is correct too - since
they are meant for Sadhakas with varying levels of spiritual
aptitude, capacity, etc. in the light of their Vasanas (latent
tendencies).

The very last verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam 12.13.23:

nAma saGkIrtanaM yasya sarva pApa praNAzanam
praNAmo duHkha zamanas taM namAmi hariM param

Let us all prostrate to that transcendental Lord Hari, thinking
(singing) of Whose Names destroy all sins, and surrendering to Whom
dispels all miseries and sufferings."

Jaya Sri Radhey!