Chanting is Deceptively Simple

Hare Krishna Vaishnavas,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.

When I was going to start my chanting today, I thought of reading a little bit of Japa Reform Notebook by H H Satsvarupa Maharaj. I came across a very deep thought provoking point that made me put in more effort in my chanting. Here is the quote.

"The chanting is deceivingly simple - just repeat some names. But the mind is rebellious because of you say these names, then all sense gratification will go away and you will become a devotee of Krishna. The mind wants us to be a devotee of our nonsense mind. So although it is deceptively simple, it is hard to actually chant. Therefore, we stress it always. It is a simple process, and if you try it in a simple way it will not be difficult. But if you go on listening to your mind, it will be very difficult."

I found the phrase "deceptively simple" very interesting. It proved a very important point to me. The transcendental seed words "Hare", "Krishna" and "Rama" that form the Mahamantra, are non-different from the Lord Himself, i.e., the Holy Name is a person (Nama-prabhu). Generally as human beings, we tend to show more importance to personal entities than impersonal entities. (Just to give a crude example, when a person driving a vehicle meets with an accident, the person is given more attention that the vehicle itself.) 

 So many days I had finished my sixteen rounds and felt good about it. But the fact that I did not hear the words 'Krishna', 'Rama' and 'Hare' , has proved that I am not considering the names of Krishna as non-different from Him. In other words, I have been having an impersonal careless attitude towards the Nama-prabhu...I think, "After all they are only some names of Krishna".  If only I pay personal attention to the holy name, I will be actually chanting.

Paying personal attention to the holy name is non-different from paying personal attention to Krishna. Because, the holy name is non-different from Krishna!

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Kalacakra Krsna das.