So our request is therefore that if you want to be situated on the superior platform of understanding the meaning of religion, then this is the only way at the present moment, in this age. Because other processes are very difficult. They cannot . . . either you follow Hindu religion or this religion, that religion, everywhere the process is so difficult that people cannot follow it, I mean, nicely. Therefore the śāstra has given the injunction:
- harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21)
In this age any religion you follow, you cannot strictly follow the rules and regulation and process. But if you chant this mahā-mantra Hare Kṛṣṇa . . . harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam. It has been thrice stressed, and at the end it is said: "Only, not any other." Why so much stress? Now, kalau, in this age Kali, the age of quarrel . . . kali means with slight provocation we will fight one another. That is Kali-yuga. So kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā.
Therefore our only request is that anyone who has got little taste for spiritual life, you chant this mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And there are many places of the śāstra it is recommended that:
- kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ
- tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ
- dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ
- kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt
- (SB 12.3.52)
In the Satya-yuga, they were all saintly person. So that time it was possible to meditate. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇum. That also Viṣṇu, meditation on Lord Viṣṇu. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ. And in the Tretā-yuga, by performing great sacrifices. That is also not possible. You cannot perform big, big sacrifices. It is very costly affair. You require so much ghee, grains and distribution of so many things. That is not possible. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato, dvāpare paricaryāyām. In Dvāpara-yuga the temple worship. Now this . . . we have got in India, especially in South India, many temples, more than two thousand, three thousand years old. So temple worship is very old, since five thousand, six thousand years. So that is also not possible. At the present moment people are so down that they cannot also worship. It requires very vigilance, observation, that they are doing nicely. Otherwise they fall down. There are so many temples in India, they are no more taken care. Therefore somebody, they are against opening temple. That's a fact. But still, it has to be done. Anyway . . . but in the Kali-yuga, kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt. What you attained in the Satya-yuga by meditation, what you achieved in the Tretā-yuga by performing big, big sacrifices, and what you attained by temple worship very nicely, you can attain the same result, kalau, in this age, hari-kīrtanāt, by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.