Alan

Dear Devotee, The most important devotional process is to associate with your Guru. Make sure that you are hearing from a divine personality otherwise life will become very difficult. Chant the holy name under his guidence and you will see that all is well and you are making progress. If your guru dev is not on the planet then search out a quailfied siksha guru. A qualified guru by the grace of god re-establish you correctly in the line of devotion. We cannot purify ourselves we need to serve the servant of the servant of Sri Radha and Krishna. When we are in the correct frame of mind the scriptures and Nama will have a very powerful effect. Gaura Hari bol

This is a good resource-

The Gayatri mantra is mentioned by the sages and written in the scriptures and anyone can have access to it. The mantra will become potent when heard from the lips of the Guru. It then takes on a spiritual living characteristic. Simualr to an automobile, anyone can read about it in magazine and can even sit in one. It becomes potent when one gets the key and starts the engine. Hearing from the genuine guru applies to all mantras, Hari bol