Looking at the Cultural Background
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differences between the personal and impersonal are relatively vague, but adopting this distinction for simplicity, I expressed surprise at seeing people who have grown up in a Western culture which stresses the personal take to an Indian cult which does the same. I am less surprised when people who are dissatisfied with Western monotheism take to an Indian philosophy which stresses an impersonal absolute.
Second, I never expressed nor felt disgust at the chanting of the name of Krṣṇa. I am not only not irritated at it (like some people), but I rather like it. But it is an indisputable fact that the  Bhagavad-gītā  (not to mention the  Vedas ) does not require such constant chanting. The  Gītā  deals with quite different subjects, which I treat at some length in my courses on the philosophies of India.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
J.F. Staal
Professor of Philosophy
and of South Asian Languages
January 30, 1970
J.F. Staal
Professor of Philosophy
and of South Asian Languages
University of California
Berkeley, California
My dear Professor Staal:
I thank you very much for your kind letter dated January 23, 1970. In the last paragraph of your letter you have mentioned that you are not irritated at the chanting of the Hare Krṣṇa mantra (like some people), but rather like it. This has given me much satisfaction, and I am sending herewith a copy of our magazine,  Back to Godhead , issue number 28, in which you will find how the students [at a program at Ohio State University] liked this chanting of the Hare Krṣṇa mantra, although all of them were neophytes to this cult of chanting. Actually this chanting is very pleasing to the heart and is the best means of infusing spiritual consciousness, or Krṣṇa consciousness, into the hearts of people in general.
This is the easiest process of spiritual realization and is recommended in the  Vedas . In the  Brhan-nāradīya Purāṇa  it is clearly stated that it is