Student: What is the function of the chanting? Because the chanting seems to serve a function, at least to me, of—which may be my own individual weakness, but nevertheless—is an experience I have been shown...
Prabhupāda: Chanting, the chanting process is just to cleanse your mind. You have got so many misunderstandings about yourself, about this world, about God, and about our interrelationship between these things. We have got so many misgivings. We are in the position of complete ignorance. This chanting will help you to cleanse your mind. Then you'll understand that this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa is not different from Kṛṣṇa.
Student: Yes. No, I, I, I...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Yes. So in the beginning we have to chant. We may be in whatever position we are; that doesn't matter. If we begin chanting then our, the first benefit will be ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam: (CC Antya 20.12) "The mind will be clear of all dirty things." Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. And then next stage will be bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. The next stage will be that the sufferings, the miseries of this material world, will subside. So we'll have to, I mean to say, make progress stage after stage. But any stage you can adopt this means, any stage. There is no necessity of preliminary qualification, that "You have to come to this stage and then chant." From any stage you can chant. Yes.