Introduction
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dental position, it is very difficult for a layman to actually know the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, His holy name and fame, etc. His name, fame, form and pastimes all are one and the same transcendental identity, and they are not knowable by the exercise of the material senses.
“The transcendental relationship of the pastimes of the Lord is the source of still more bliss than one can experience by realization of Brahman or by becoming one with the Supreme. Had it not been so, then those who are already situated in the transcendental bliss of Brahman would not have been attracted by the transcendental bliss of the pastimes of the Lord.”
After this, a great meeting was arranged by the devotees of the Lord in which all the  sannyāsī  were invited, including the Lord and Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī. In this meeting both the scholars (the Lord and Prakāśānanda) had a long discourse on the spiritual values of the  saṅkīrtana  movement, and a summary is given below.
The great Māyāvādī  sannyāsī  Prakāśānanda inquired from the Lord as to the reason for His preferring the  saṅkīrtana  movement to the study of the  Vedānta-sūtra . He said that it is the duty of a  sannyāsī  to read the  Vedānta-sūtra . What caused Him to indulge in  saṅkīrtana ?
After this inquiry, the Lord submitted replied: “I have taken to the  saṅkīrtana  movement instead of the study of  Vedānta  because I am a great fool.” The Lord thus represented Himself as one of the numberless fools of this age who are absolutely incapable of studying the  Vedānta  philosophy. The fools’ indulgence in the study of  Vedānta  has caused so much havoc in society. The Lord thus continued: “And because I am a great fool, My spiritual master forbade Me to play with  Vedānta  philosophy. He said that it is better that I chant the holy name of the Lord, for that would deliver Me from material bondage.
“In this age of Kali there is no other religion but the glorification of the Lord by utterance of His holy name, and that is the injunction of all the revealed scriptures. And My spiritual master has taught Me one  śloka  (from the  Bṛhan-Nāradīya Purāṇa ) which is:
harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā.
“So on the order of my spiritual master, I chant the holy name of Hari, and I am now mad after this holy name. Whenever I utter the holy name I forget Myself completely, and sometimes I laugh, cry and dance like a madman. I thought that I had actually gone mad by this process of chanting, and therefore I asked My spiritual master about it. He informed Me that this was the real effect of chanting the holy name, which