In this connection there is a song sung by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura:
- enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāra lāgi’
- harināma-mahāmantra lao tumi māgi’
- bhakativinoda prabhu-caraṇe paḍiyā
- sei harināma-mantra la-ila māgiyā
The saṅkīrtana movement has been introduced by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu just to dispel the illusion of māyā, by which everyone in this material world thinks himself to be a product of matter and therefore to have many duties pertaining to the body. Actually, the living entity is not his material body: he is a spirit soul. He has a spiritual need to be eternally blissful and full of knowledge, but unfortunately he identifies himself with the body, sometimes as a human being, sometimes as an animal, sometimes a tree, sometimes an aquatic, sometimes a demigod, and so on. Thus with each change of body he develops a different type of consciousness with different types of activities and thus becomes increasingly entangled in material existence, transmigrating perpetually from one body to another. Under the spell of māyā, or illusion, he does not consider the past or future but is simply satisfied with the short life span that he has gotten for the present. To eradicate this illusion, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has brought the saṅkīrtana movement, and He requests everyone to accept and distribute it. A person who is actually a follower of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura must immediately accept the request of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu by offering respectful obeisances unto His lotus feet and thus beg from Him the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. If one is fortunate enough to beg from the Lord this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, his life is successful.