We have got the power to be awakened. Sva-tejasā. That power we have got, but we have to awaken it by good association, by sādhu, sādhu-saṅga. Sādhu-saṅga is good association. Then we are awakened. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (CC Madhya 23.14-15). If we have little faith that we require awakening of spiritual consciousness, we should not sleep under the spell of this material consciousness . . . a little faith will help us. It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt (BG 2.40). Mahato bhayāt. There is great dangerous position. That we do not know because we are sleeping. If a man is sleeping and somebody is coming to kill him, he does not know that, "Somebody is coming to kill me. Immediately I will be dead." There are so many cases of murder while a man is sleeping. Similarly, in this sleeping state of ignorance, that "I am this body," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," there is greatest danger.
So somebody required. A man is sleeping, and another man is coming to kill him. A third person is required to awaken, "Mr. Such-and-such, get up, get up, get up! The man is coming to kill you." So the ear is open, although the man is sleeping, all other parts of the body, limbs of the body are inactive. So the ear is open. So therefore the Vedic mantras are called śruti. We have to hear the mantra, Vedic mantra. Just like if a man is bitten by snake, he is caused to hear the snake charmer's mantra—still there are—so that he can become awakened. And it is said in the Cāṇakya Paṇḍita śloka, mantrauṣadhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ. Mantra is powerful still. By mantra, a snake-bitten person can be brought into life. There are still some snake charmers in the villages. In our Māyāpur there is a Muhammadan, he, he can cure the snake-bitten case by mantra still.
So this mantra is required, the Vedic mantra, to hear mantra. This chanting of these verses is also hearing the Vedic mantra. So we should take chance, and the most important mantra is mahā-mantra. Mahā-mantra. We are sleeping, but this mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, if we hear somehow or other . . . therefore the greatest beneficial activity or welfare activity is to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra so that others can hear. But unfortunately, when we chant loudly, others they think, "It is nuisance." That is the difficulty. But actually it is the process of awakening: "Get up, get up, get up, get up." Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. If we hear this mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, then the mistaken ideas . . . ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12, Śikṣāṣṭaka 1): cleansing the mirror of the heart.