The following is an excerpt from a lecture by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja on August 2, 2002, published in Walking with a Saint – Morning Walks and Conversations 2009

“The water is polluted, the air is polluted, the ether is polluted, everything else is polluted; and all life-forms are dying by pollution. So many poisons are floating in the water, and so many poisons are floating in the air, and therefore there is so very much anxiety.
   “Intelligent persons are thinking about how to save the world from such pollution, but a day will come when the whole ocean will be polluted with poisons, all fish will thus be poisoned, and if anyone will eat fish or any food from the sea, he will die. In the name of saving agriculture, people spray poisons everywhere to kill insects, that poison comes in the grains, and thus all the grains are polluted. You eat those grains, you become mad, you are besieged by so many diseases, and then you die.
   “If you are abusing anyone, criticizing anyone, or quarrelling with anyone, those sounds will evaporate in the air and travel throughout the universe. If you are speaking any nonsense, it will not ‘go in vain.’ It will travel throughout the entire world via the air.
   “An example may be given of a big pond. If you take a stone and throw it into a pond, some waves will be created, and they will touch all ends of the pond. This universe is like that pond, and air is everywhere in the universe. When one chants “Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare,” this will ‘evaporate’ and create so many waves of air, which will touch everywhere – up to the ends of the world – moving here and there and purifying the entire universe from all these pollutions.
   “Kṛṣṇa is so powerful. He can create the whole universe in a second, and He can destroy it, and again he can create so many worlds. He has invested all His mercy, power, and opulence in His names, and that is why they are so powerful. His holy names very quickly travel throughout the universe with the help of airwaves, and the pollution is gone at once.
   “You know that the trees, creepers, animals, and insects cannot speak. They cannot understand our language. Still, everyone – not only humans, but trees, creepers, and insects here and there in this universe – is touched by this powerful name, whether they know it or not. There is no question of whether or not they are aware; they will be touched. If knowingly or unknowingly you touch fire, it will burn you. Similarly, these names are very powerful. They will inject all and purify all, whether they are aware of what is happening or not.
   “Here the trees are very fortunate, the grass is fortunate, and the persons are fortunate – whether they are coming to our classes or not. The trees, creepers, grass and all other entities are somehow attending our classes by hearing the sound.
   “Similarly, although Muslims don’t utter the holy names Hari, Kṛṣṇa, or Rāma, the sound will somehow go and touch them, even if they are in Arabia or Iran. Even hogs, pigs, bears, and other creatures in jungles and forests, attacking persons and eating them, will also be liberated.
   “Kīrtana is so powerful that if you are meditating on anything and we are doing kīrtana, you cannot continue to meditate. If you are doing kīrtana and someone else is not doing kīrtana, he is bound to do kīrtana in the mind. If you cannot meditate, then chant “Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.” This will engage all your senses. You will forget where you are and what you are doing. If you chant louder and louder, all your senses will be controlled; there will be nothing to criticize, and nothing to remember about your bad activities or anyone else’s. Otherwise, without this kīrtana, while meditating, all kinds of bogus things will come into your head. You are not able to check this by yourself, but by kīrtana it will be checked very easily.”

The following is an excerpt from Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja’s morning walk conversation in Hilo, Hawaii, on May 8, 2009, published in Walking with a Saint – Morning Walks and Conversations 2009

Śrīpāda Mādhava Mahārāja: One more thing: When Gurudeva [Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja] was in New York in 1996, five or six people came to him and asked how he could come from poor India to preach here. They asked what he imagined he could possibly give to America.
   Gurudeva replied, “I have not come from poor India. I came from a prosperous India. It may be possible that the Prime Minister of our country will come to you to beg something; but from my birth I have never learned how to beg. I have only learned how to give; nothing else.”
   Then they asked, “What will you give to America?”
   Gurudeva said, “I will give you an example. If you throw a pebble in the water, what will be the result?”
   One of them answered, “Some ripples will come, and then subside.”
   Gurudeva said, “No, this is not true. Ripples will come, and they will become bigger and smaller, but unless the ripples touch the shore, they will not subside. In the same way, we are performing harināma-saṅkīrtana. The vibration of that holy name will travel through the air and touch each and every corner of the world. In this way, the greatest problem of the era – the sound problem – will subside.
   They asked Gurudeva, “Are you a scientist?”
   Gurudeva replied, “No. I am not a scientist.”
   Then they said, “Without being a scientist, how are you able to give such an example?”
   Gurudeva replied, “I am really not a scientist. I heard this from my Gurudeva, then I performed bhajana, and by my Gurudeva’s mercy I realized his words.”
   They said, “No, no. You must be a scientist?”
   Then Gurudeva asked, “Are you scientists?”
   They began to laugh, and one of them said, “We are scientists, and we came to get some help from you in our preaching. We travelled all over the world and recorded many sounds – machinery, animals, birds, and so on, and we played those sounds in our laboratory. While travelling in India, we saw devotees chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa for several hours without getting tired. We were surprised by this, so, we played their chanting in our laboratory. We found that their Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra caused sound pollution to subside, and all other sounds increased it.”
   Gurudeva told him, “Go and preach. You will do vast preaching, and no one will be able to check you.”
   This is the scientific proof – sound pollution.

Image/Art made possible by Pixabay.com & Krishnapath.org