The Way of Chanting and Knowing Krṣṇa 27
consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.” (Bg. 18.55)
Here again the word  tattvataḥ , “in truth,” is used. One can understand the science of Krṣṇa in truth by becoming a devotee. He who is not a devotee, who does not strive for Krṣṇa consciousness, cannot understand. At the beginning of the Fourth Chapter also Krṣṇa tells Arjuna (Bg. 4.3) that He is explaining this ancient science of  yoga  to him because Arjuna is “My devotee and My friend.” For one who simply makes an academic study of  Bhagavad-gītā , the science of Krṣṇa remains a mystery.  Bhagavad-gītā  is not a book that one can just purchase from the bookstore and understand by scholarship alone. Arjuna was not a great scholar, nor a Vedāntist, nor a philosopher nor a  brāhmaṇa , nor a renunciate; he was a family and military man. But still Krṣṇa selected him to be the recipient of  Bhagavad-gītā  and the first authority in the discipline succession. Why? “Because you are My devotee.” That is the qualification to understand  Bhagavad-gītā  as it is and Krṣṇa as He is—one must become Krṣṇa conscious.
And what is this Krṣṇa consciousness? That is the process of cleansing the dust from the mirror of the mind through the chanting of Hare Krṣṇa, Hare Krṣṇa, Krṣṇa Krṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. By chanting this  man-tra  and by hearing  Bhagavad-gītā , we can gradually attain to Krṣṇa consciousness.  Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtā-nām —Krṣṇa is always present within our heart. The individual soul and the Supersoul are both sitting in the tree of the body. The individual soul ( jīva ) is