na hi bhagavann aghaá¹itam idaá¹
tvad-darÅ›anÄn nṛṇÄm akhila-pÄpa-ká¹£ayaḥ
yan-nÄma saká¹›c chravaṇÄt
pukkaÅ›o 'pi vimucyate saá¹sÄrÄt
na - not; hi - indeed; bhagavan - O my Lord; aghaá¹itam - not occurred; idam - this; tvat - of You; darÅ›anÄt - by seeing; nṛṇÄm - of all human beings; akhila - all; pÄpa - of sins; ká¹£ayaḥ - annihilation; yat-nÄma - whose name; saká¹›t - only once; Å›ravaṇÄt - by hearing; pukkaÅ›aḥ - the lowest class, the caṇá¸Äla; api - also; vimucyate - is delivered; saá¹sÄrÄt - from the entanglement of material existence.
As stated in the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (9.5.16), yan-nÄma-Å›ruti-mÄtreṇa pumÄn bhavati nirmalaḥ: simply by hearing the holy name of the Lord, one is immediately purified. Therefore, in this Age of Kali, when all people are very contaminated, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is recommended as the only means of improvement.
harer nÄma harer nÄma
harer nÄmaiva kevalam
kalau nÄsty eva nÄsty eva
nÄsty eva gatir anyathÄ
“In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.†(Bá¹›han-nÄradÄ«ya PurÄṇa) ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu introduced this chanting of the holy name five hundred years ago, and now through the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, we are actually seeing that men who are considered to belong to the lowest class are being delivered from all sinful activities simply by hearing the holy name of the Lord. Saá¹sÄra, material existence, is a result of sinful actions. Everyone in this material world is condemned, yet as there are different grades of prisoners, there are different grades of men. All of them, in all statuses of life, are suffering. To stop the suffering of material existence, one must take to the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement of saá¹…kÄ«rtana or Kṛṣṇa conscious life.
Herein it is said, yan-nÄma saká¹›c chravaṇÄt: the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is so powerful that if once heard without offenses, it can purify the lowest of men (kirÄta-hūṇÄndhra-pulinda-pulkaÅ›Äḥ). Such men, who are called caṇá¸Älas, are less than śūdras, but they also can be purified simply by hearing the holy name of the Lord, not to speak of personally seeing the Lord. From our present position, the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be personally seen as the Deity in the temple. The Deity of the Lord is not different from the Supreme Lord. Because we cannot see the Supreme Lord with our present blunt eyes, the Lord has kindly consented to come before us in a form we can see. Therefore the Deity in the temple should not be considered material. By offering food to the Deity and by decorating and serving the Deity, one gets the same result that one derives from serving the Lord personally in Vaikuṇá¹ha.