Sometimes foolish people question us that "You are worshiping Kṛṣṇa. Why you do not worship Rāma?" Rāma and Kṛṣṇa, there is no difference. But anyone has got his liking. Just like Hanumān has liking to worship Lord Rāmacandra, and the gopīs had the liking to worship Kṛṣṇa. That does not make any difference. It is like... Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). Kṛṣṇa, the Lord, appears in different way. Sometimes the gopīs... The Kṛṣṇa went away from the gopīs, and the gopīs were searching out Kṛṣṇa. So in some place Kṛṣṇa was sitting in the Viṣṇu form. So the gopīs passed through that Deity, and they did not offer much respect. "Oh, He is Viṣṇu. All right, namaskāra." Because they wanted to see Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu, but every devotee has got some inclination, love Kṛṣṇa. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan (Bs. 5.39). So therefore Kṛṣṇa is all-pervading in different mūrtis. Therefore in the Vaiṣṇava-sampradāya some of them, they worship Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and some of them worship Sītā-Rāma. And some of them worship Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Some of them worship Rukmiṇī-Kṛṣṇa. There are so many devotees. But all of them are the same, Vaiṣṇava. All of them are the... But not demigods. Viṣṇu. So chanting, bhakti-yoga means to chant Viṣṇu. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). And Viṣṇu has got so many forms. So either you chant Hare Rāma or you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, it is the same. There is no difference. Sometimes they first of all place "Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare." And sometimes they place "Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa..." There is no difference. Sometimes they say, "No, it should be Hare Rāma first." Sometimes they..., "No, Hare Kṛṣṇa." But that is not very important, childish. Any, either you say Hare Rāma or Hare Kṛṣṇa, the same. So this is to be done. Tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena.
So bhakti-yoga begins with hearing, śravaṇam, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. And if you have heard from the right source and if you are convinced, then automatically you will try to perform kīrtana. Kīrtana means glorifying. If you have attained like... Or to preach. Anyone who has listened from right person, authority, about Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, about Kṛṣṇa or about Rāma, he would like to preach that. That is automatic, glorifying. That preaching is equal. That is called kīrtana. Kīrtana... Simply preaching, glorifying, or speaking about the Lord, that is also kīrtana. And performing kīrtana as we do here in the temple, with mṛdaṅga and karatāla, chanting, that is also kīrtana. Śukadeva Gosvāmī explained the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Parīkṣit Mahārāja. So... And Parīkṣit Mahārāja simply listened to him carefully. This is śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. The Parīkṣit Mahārāja is hearing, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī is performing kīrtana, describing all the glories of the Lord. That is kīrtana. So śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣit, how one devotee became liberated by performing one item only. There are nine items of devotional service:
- śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
- smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
- arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
- sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
- (SB 7.5.23)