The Way of Chanting and Knowing Krsna 27

consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion,
he can enter into the kingdom of God.” (Bg. 18.55)

Here again the word tattvatah, “in truth,” is used.
One can understand the science of Krsna in truth by
becoming a devotee. He who is not a devotee, who
does not strive for Krsna consciousness, cannot un-
derstand. At the beginning of the Fourth Chapter
also Krsna 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-gita, the
science of Krsna remains a mystery. Bhagavad-gita is
not a book that one can just purchase from the book-
store and understand by scholarship alone. Arjuna
was not a great scholar, nor a Vedantist, nor a phi-
losopher nor a brahmana, nor a renunciate; he was a
family and military man. But still Krsna selected him
to be the recipient of Bhagavad-gita and the first
authority in the disciplic succession. Why? “Because
you are My devotee.” That is the qualification to
understand Bhagavad-gita as it is and Krsna as He
is—one must become Krsna conscious.

And what is this Krsna consciousness? That is the
process of cleansing the dust from the mirror of the
mind through the chanting of Hare Krsna, Hare
Krsna, Krsaa Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare
Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. By chanting this man-
tra and by hearing Bhagavad-gita, we can gradually
attain to Krsna consciousness. [svarah sarva-bhuta-
nam—Kysna is always present within our heart. The
individual soul and the Supersoul are both sitting in
the tree of the body. The individual soul (jiva) is
