Sister Mary: When you chant, do you have to think what you're saying? How can you do other things?
Prabhupāda: Other things?
Guest (1): Well, many things require your concentration.
Prabhupāda: Well, let us first of all chant the holy name. Then we shall think of concentration.
Sister Mary: You see, two, two things... You can't...
Prabhupāda: No. Concentrate, concentration automatically. If I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and I hear, that is concentration. That is concentration. Immediately.
Sister Mary: But you can't read or talk to someone.
Prabhupāda: There is no question of reading. We are simply asking to chant. Reading will come later on. Just like a small child, he's taught... In our educational system they chant... What is that? That...? (Hindi) Pahara pahara.(?)
Indian man: Pahara. Alphabet. A.I.E.
Prabhupāda: They chant. By chanting, by hearing they learn. "A,B,C," like that. "2 plus 2 equal to 4." We did it in our childhood. One boy will chant like that. "2 plus 2 equal to 4." And we shall repeat. "2 plus 2 equal to 4." So repeating three times, I understand 2 plus 2 equal to 4.
Sister Mary: Do you find that the chant goes on in your heart?
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Revatīnandana: Do you find that the chant goes on in your heart?
Prabhupāda: Why not? Why not?
Sister Mary: It goes deeper and deeper?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything we hear, it goes to the heart. If I call you by name, it does not go to my heart? "You rascal. You stupid." You hear. Does it not go to my heart? Why I become angry unless it goes to my heart. If "rascal," "stupid," and all these bad names go to my heart, why God's name will not go to my heart? If by calling you by ill names you become angry, that means it goes to your heart. Why not good name? It goes. It enters through the ear and goes to the heart.
Sister Mary: I'm doing that, saying sometimes a little prayer...
Prabhupāda: So if you repeatedly chant, it will remain. It will always remain in your heart.
Sister Mary: Always going on.
Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no chance of escape. Chant constantly, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. It remains in the heart. Not only my heart. Others' heart, they also joke, "Hare Kṛṣṇa!" If it can remain in others' heart, why not my heart? Those who are joking me, imitating me. We... Last time, when I was going in Africa, I stopped for few minutes in Athens. Some of the younger residents chant, "Hare Kṛṣṇa!" You see? As soon as they saw us, they began to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. They could understand, "These are Hare Kṛṣṇa people." Yes. So by their dress, by their tilaka, they oblige others to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, either for imitating or for joking. So they gain. But if Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting has got any effect, even by joking like that, he'll get gain. If it is actually spiritual, by simply joking he will get gain.
Revatīnandana: In Manchester across the street from the temple there's a big park. Sometimes I would go over there to walk and chant rounds, and there's many little children in the park. They'd follow me, "Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa!" All day. Hundred times.
Prabhupāda: Everywhere. Everywhere. In Bombay, everywhere we go, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." In Montreal. They joke, they'll clap, but they'll chant. And that is wanted. I want to see that everyone is chanting. And if chanting has effect, then either he's chanting jokingly or seriously it will have the effect. Fire, if you touch either jokingly or seriously or cautiously, it will act. So our request is that you also preach this cult. Let us cooperate. The whole world is suffering for want of God consciousness. So it is the duty of all religious sects to teach this simple art of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa or any other name which you have got. That's all.
Revatīnandana: They have got this prayer, "Lord Jesus have mercy on me, a miserable sinner." And she was showing me they have a, almost like japa beads. Show him.
Sister Mary: You see, here.
Revatīnandana: They're almost like japa mālā.
Sister Mary: We do it in some, together, in the orthodox church. And we take turns doing two hundred.
Prabhupāda: That's nice.
Guest (1): And... These are for counting.
Prabhupāda: That is nice. We also do the same thing. We chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Sister Mary: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us."
Prabhupāda: Oh, what is the wording?
Sister Mary: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us."
Prabhupāda: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God..."
Revatīnandana: "Have mercy on us."
Sister Mary: It's a little prayer.
Prabhupāda: That's nice.
Sister Mary: And they also pray to the mother of God.
Prabhupāda: Sinful? "We are sinful?" You say, "sinful" something? "Forgive some sins" or something like?
Haṁsadūta: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us." That is the prayer.
Sister Mary: And you say it in your own language.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. "Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, have mercy on us." That's nice. Very good.