Although many of us heard Krsna's name before coming in contact with Krsna consciousness, we had to receive the Hare Krsna maha-mantra before we actually started chanting. In a deeper sense, receiving means more than just the syllables. Or, as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura spoke, chanting should not be lip deep, but heart deep. So let the Holy Name enter our heart; let us receive that Holy Name at the level of the heart. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta further says that chanting is not merely a matter of making sound, because we can make a machine that produces the same sound, or we can train animals or birds to chant Hare Krsna. Rather, we should call out from the heart to Lord Nityananda to please deliver the Holy Name and to let that enter our hearts.

How do we take the shelter of Krsna instead of temporary shelters that we are familiar with and attached to? The message of Srimad Bhagavatam is two things, which Srila Rupa Goswami summarizes in one word: eagerness for Krsna’s shelter and for the spiritual reality. He even takes that word eagerness and puts it in really strong term: greed. Srila Rupa Goswami recommends having strong intense eagerness for the shelter of Krsna’s association. Lord Caitanya prays, “Those two lotus feet that are the shelter of the Goddess of Fortune, may those two lotus feet be situated in our hearts”. To enter into that mood with deep feelings, we need eagerness for that experience of our eternal shelter or our relationship with Krsna.

Even if we start with enthusiasm, sincerity, and a burst of eagerness to go for the real thing, the tendency is that somewhere down the line the standard somehow starts to sag. Then, “Whoa!….I need a vacation. I surrendered a lot prabhu. I need alittle sense gratification.” The spirit of ever striving to reach Krishna is eagerness. Niviṣṭah: it is through the ear, receiving Krishna. And if we are receiving that signal, that transcendental vibration enlivens the heart. It transforms the heart. But one can hear the same message and be like stone, very hard.

 - Adapted from a lecture given by His Holiness Romapada Swami on SB 1.3.44, given on January 6, 2008 in Brooklyn

We have two main categories of service to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna: receiving and giving. Receive that gift of Krishna in the form of the holy name, in the form of these literary incarnations of Krishna. Prabhupada writes that eagerness to receive sustains our enthusiasm to reach Krishna and places us on the spiritual platform. We therefore must accept Srimad-Bhagavatam as the direct representation of Lord Krishna. One who can see Srimad-Bhagavatam can also see Lord Krishna in person. They are identical. We have our Deity form of Radha-Govinda. We have our literary form of Srimad-Bhagavatam. We have the name, the sound form of Krishna. What fortune!

The eligibility for a candidate for devotional service is one who is eager for it and for the relationship with Krsna. In the event that is taking place right now, namely Vidura inquiring from Maitreya, Maitreya acknowledges and invokes Vidura's qualification of being a pure devotee of the Lord and of having been born in the Puru dynasty. The lesson from this is how transcendental knowledge is to be imparted and received - that is through a qualified speaker and a hearer who has great eagerness.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura teaches that faith is the price one has to pay to get the holy name – to go from the mechanical [process of chanting] to the devotional or spiritual experience of chanting God's holy name and feeling the presence of God through that chanting of His holy name.

What a great acharya Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was! What a great family we are a part of! When the birth place of Lord Caitanya was a jungle, Bhaktivinoda Thakura envisioned that people from around the world would come here chanting ‘Gaura Hari’. He used all his material endowments in the service of Krsna. We should feel great indebtedness to Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Srila Prabhupada once said that Bhaktivinoda Thakura did not make everyone Krsna conscious because he wanted to leave something for us to do. Bhaktivinoda Thakura gave us principles, teachings, the holy name, opportunities, faith...and now we have a lifetime to do this service. We must be eager to receive this gift by trying to make Krsna consciousness available to others.

It is stated within the Bhagavatam that revival of one's original Krsna consciousness is not dependent on the hearing and chanting process alone, but solely and wholly upon the causeless mercy of the Lord. This is a very significant statement. Up to this point, so much information has been presented as glorification of the hearing and chanting process, however, now we are stating very boldly that this hearing and chanting process is insufficient to revive one's own Krsna consciousness. Therefore, what is that missing ingredient or factor that we are not taking into consideration?