During our japa, we have been given the opportunity to associate directly with the Lord! Such an experience is available to us, yet we turn our chanting into a thoughtless ritual, simply
moving our fingers on the beads for two hours a day to make sure we get them done. We think the pinnacle of success is that we have finished our rounds! Our success is not to complete our rounds but to remember Krishna. Chanting therefore has to be a conscious and deliberate practice to worship the Lord. Don’t reduce it to a ritual. We will not go back to Godhead by fulfilling obligations.
(SB 4.30.3 Belgium, May 1990)