Ādi-līlā, Chapter 7
67
kṛṣṇa-nāma-mahā-mantrera ei ta' svabhāva yei jape, tāra kṛṣṇe upajaye bhāva
SYNONYMS
kṛṣṇa-nāma —the holy name of Kṛṣṇa;  mahā-mantrera —of the supreme hymn;  ei ta' —this is its;  svabhāva —nature;  yei —anyone;  jape —chants;  tāra —his;  kṛṣṇe —unto Kṛṣṇa;  upajaye —develops;  bhāva —ecstasy.
TRANSLATION
“‘It is the nature of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra that anyone who chants it immediately develops his loving ecstasy for Kṛṣṇa.
PURPORT
In  Bhagavad-gītā  it is said:
aham sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvam pravartate iti matvā bhajante mām budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.” (Bg. 10.8) In this verse it is explained that one who chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa  mantra  develops  bhāva , ecstasy, which is the point at which revelation begins. It is the preliminary stage in developing one’s original love for God. A neophyte disciple begins by hearing and chanting, associating with devotees and practicing the regulative principles, and thus he vanquishes all of his unwanted bad habits. In this way he develops attachment for Kṛṣṇa and cannot forget Kṛṣṇa even for a moment.  Bhāva  is almost the successful stage of spiritual life. A sincere student aurally receives the holy name from the spiritual master, and after being initiated he follows the regulative principles given by the spiritual master. When the holy name is properly served in this way, automatically the spiritual nature of the holy name spreads; in other words, the devotee becomes qualified in offenselessly chanting the holy name. When one is completely fit to chant the holy name in this way, he is eligible to make disciples all over the world, and he actually becomes  jagad-guru . Then the entire world, under his influence, begins to chant the holy names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa  mahā-mantra . Thus all the disciples of such a spiritual master increase in attachment for Kṛṣṇa, and therefore he sometimes cries, sometimes laughs, sometimes dances and sometimes chants. These symptoms are very prominently manifest in the body of a pure devotee. Sometimes when our students of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement chant and dance, even in India people are astonished to see how these foreigners have learned to chant and dance in this ecstatic fashion. As explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, however, actually this is not due to practice, for without extra endeavor these symptoms become manifest