Certainly, we want results of our efforts for the Lord's pleasure and the pleasure of the spiritual master, but we must be prepared to accept whatever difficulties that befall us, as well. Just as the service itself is coming from Him, so also are the impediments, in order to increase our dependence upon Him. The more dependent we feel ourselves, the more we can become suitable instruments for His pleasure.
Collected Letters, vol. 2
It is also very important that you read regularly from Srila Prabhupada's books. This will also help you to control your mind. Hearing from Srila Prabhupada is called “bhavausadhi”, or the right medicine for our material disease. That disease is that we still identify with these bodies and minds. Just as a patient may not like the taste of the medicine, still he takes it because he wants to be cured. So just keep on taking the medicine.
Collected Letters, vol. 2
Of course, there must also be faith in the holy name and in the order of the spiritual master. We must have faith that by both chanting the holy names and executing the instructions of the spiritual master, our lives will improve, and we will become more peaceful. That faith comes from taking the association of devotees who manifest these qualities, and by seeing how they characterize the qualities that you are wanting to develop. By serving such devotees, you will also develop their qualities.
Collected Letters, vol. 2
This is one of those questions that is perpetually asked because everyone faces this same problem. How to control the mind? It's not something that we can expect to immediately conquer over. We must learn patience and tolerance. These are two very important qualities for a devotee to develop.
Collected Letters, vol. 2
Srila Prabhupada taught us that even higher than relishing our personal relationship with Lord Krishna in spontaneous devotional service is to voluntarily preach to push other living entities forward in their relationship with Lord Krishna. That voluntary spirit to please Lord Krishna, in this most confidential way, is that actual “force” which compels the conditioned souls to take up the natural process of devotional service. When we make that our genuine desire, Krishna will want nothing more than to fulfill it.
Collected Letters, vol. 2.
One must learn the truth and the holy name’s transcendental position by hearing the revealed scriptures from the Vaisnavas. There is no other way to taste the holy name’s sweetness.
(LFD, Vol2, Chanting Purely, Pg 110, 2nd paragraph)
Devotees must be aware of the possible offenses that can be committed while chanting. Always try to chant in such a way that you overcome your material attachments, knowing that you cannot do it by our own endeavor. Devotees know they are always dependent on Krishna. And the more we progress in chanting, the more we will realize how dependent we are on the holy name. In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna describes such a dependent devotee as the highest yogi.“Of all yogés, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me—he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.” (Bg. 6.47)
(LFD, Vol2, Chanting Purely, Pg 109 and Pg 110)
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains in his commentary on Sarnagati, in his final prayer about the holy name, that the holy name will ultimately bring us back to the spiritual world. Krishna will then keep us by His side and reveal our eternal relationship with Him. When we actually have our relationship with Krishna revealed to us in the spiritual realm, we will understand the holy name’s true sweetness, because we will see everything present in the holy name— including our own relationship with Krishna.
(LFD, Vol2, Chanting Purely, Pg 109, 1st paragraph)
Although we may be chanting, why do we still feel distress? Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in his song atma-nivedana:
“All the troubles encountered in Your service shall be the cause of great happiness, for in Your devotional service joy and sorrow are equally great riches. Both destroy the misery of ignorance.” (Song 8, verse 4)
Having fully taken shelter of the Supreme Lord, even if one has to undergo some great difficulty that might appear a cause of distress, devotees will see that difficulty as a source of happiness, because they have transcended the temporary happiness and distress of this world. They have realized that real happiness in spiritual life is found in pleasing Krishna. However, the ignorant suffer from dvesa: they hate unhappiness and anything that appears to cause it. Abhinivesa, the last form of ignorance, is described by our acharyas as still instinctively clinging to the idea that the body can provide enjoyment and that death means the end of our enjoyment. Therefore all types of ignorance are meant to be destroyed at the root by chanting the holy name.
(LFD, Vol2, Chanting Purely, Pg 109, 2nd paragraph)
The Lord’s holy name is the means by which we can achieve perfection in Kali-yuga. It is up to us to take the holy name and embrace it in the core of our hearts, and to chant it with a proper attitude. Srila Rupa Gosvami tells us that the holy names are very, very sweet because they are nondifferent from Krishna. Krishna is akhilarasamata-murti, the transcendental form of unlimited rasa (relationships) with His devotees. Thus the holy name, when chanted properly, can reveal one’s eternal relationship with Krishna.
(LFD, Vol2, Chanting Purely, Pg 108, 4th paragraph)