It is when one comes to know Lord Krishna and surrender to Him, that one enters real knowledge. Anyone who wishes to become a scholar and free himself from all material defilements must seek to know who Krishna is, for this is how one immediately frees oneself from the chain of material acts, righteous or ungodly. As soon as one establishes oneself at the level of devotional service, one sees his attachment to ungodly and righteous acts disappear, to be concerned only with satisfying Krishna, with pleasing Him. The path of loving and devotional service offered to Krishna frees the person who engages in it from the material consequences of all his acts.

Those whose hearts remain constantly attached to the devotional service offered to God are immediately freed from all the consequences of their sinful life. These reactions generally occur in four phases; some are ready to bear fruit, others are in seed form, others are as yet unmanifest, and the last are already in process. Now, devotional service immediately reduces to nothing all these reactions due to our faults. When devotional service dwells in a person's heart, there is no longer a place for any desire to do wrong. Sinful life results from ignorance, that is, from forgetting our natural and eternal position as a servant or handmaid of God, but as soon as a person becomes fully aware of Krishna, he realizes that she is the eternal servant or the eternal servant of Krishna, God, the Supreme Person.

Krishna, God, the Supreme Person says:

I envy, I do not favor anyone, towards all I am impartial. But whoever serves Me with devotion lives in Me. He is a friend to Me, as I am his friend.

For whoever walks on this path, no effort is in vain, no acquired benefit is ever lost, the smallest step frees us from the most dreadful fear. The man whose activities are turned towards perfection never sees evil triumph over him.

It is by listening and chanting the Holy Names of Krishna that one sets out on this path. Thus, the song

hare krishna, hare krishna, krishna krishna, hare hare
hare rama, hare rama, rama rama, hare hare

marks the beginning of the devotional service, hence this declaration of the Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Golden Avatar:

“Sing the Holy Names, sing the Holy Names, sing the Holy Names of the Lord, for in this era of Kali, age of discord and hypocrisy, there is no other way, no other way, no other way to achieve spiritual realization.”

The chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord always works in a wonderful way, and it proves particularly effective in age of Kali, the age of discord, hypocrisy, strife and sin,