| God is not understood through mere words. It takes | | | | changes. The people become increasingly degraded. |
| time: lifetimes and millenniums of practice. Some may | | | | For instance, none of the above mentioned ways of |
| get discouraged but only the sincere practitioners go to | | | | worship is fit for the people of kali yuga. Lord |
| God. By sincere we mean no duplicity and no | | | | Chaitanya came to give us the holy name of Krishna, |
| crookedness, always pure hearted and | | | | the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Through this simple |
| straightforward in dealings. The scriptures of the | | | | process of chanting one can go back to Godhead. |
| Buddhists talk about good character because unless | | | | The process is simple but the practice is not that |
| one develops good qualities it is impossible for one to | | | | simple. The more one chants the holy name seriously |
| stop sinning. By being free from sins one an easily | | | | the more one gets purified. |
| progress along the spiritual path. | | | | One should chant the holy name with utmost |
| Since the dawn of creation, at the beginning of Satya | | | | seriousness and concentration. This process of |
| Yuga, there have been different types of worship to | | | | chanting cleanses the heart. Once the heart is clean, |
| attain the supreme Lord. In Satya Yuga people were | | | | love of God appears. But there are obstacles on this |
| free of vice and they were following all the directions | | | | path. Such obstacles can be offenses to the holy |
| of religion. In that particular age people were going | | | | name, to devotees and other types of offenses. |
| back to the spiritual world by doing meditation. People | | | | Offenses to the holy name get destroyed as one |
| lived for thousands of years and thus were able to | | | | improves one's chanting. But offenses to devotees are |
| perfect themselves. | | | | very dangerous. It is called the "mad elephant offense" |
| In the next age, Treta Yuga, the means for going back | | | | because a mad elephant destroys everything on its |
| was through the performance of fire sacrifices. The | | | | way. Such offenses can be nullified if one begs |
| performance of such a task required vast amounts of | | | | forgiveness from those devotees who get offended. |
| various ingredients and much wealth. Most of the | | | | The more serious the offense is the worse the effect |
| ingredients are not available now. In Dvapara Yuga the | | | | will be. So practitioners have to be very careful. |
| method was deity worship. The rules and regulations | | | | Although it is the easiest way to go back to Godhead, |
| for worship were very strict as given in Pancaratric | | | | it can also be the hardest if we don't pay attention |
| scriptures. As the age changes, the quality of life also | | | | while chanting and while dealing with others. |