The Name of God is no different than the personality of God. This is not possible for us to understand with our material minds. Because our material minds only know what we have been taught and have learned from experience etc. in the material world. So we are completely cut off from spiritual understanding with our material mind.
So in this world the name of an object and the object are different, they are not the same. The name banana and the object banana are very different. If I am hungry and I say banana, banana, banana, banana, until I go bananas, I am still hungry. I have to go get the banana and eat it. But in the spiritual absolute world it is different, it is the opposite. Everything in this world is the upside-down opposite reflection of the spiritual world. So if I can understand what this world is like, then I understand what the opposite is, I can begin to conceive of what the spiritual world is like. So the object is different from its name here, that means in the spiritual world the object and the name are the same.
So there is no shelter, if you will, in the name banana, but there is shelter in the name of the Lord. When we chant these mantras, this puts us in direct contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Do we see that, do we perceive that? In most cases no, because we are still under the restrictions of our material senses.
But as we allow the mantras to do their work, to cleanse away the illusion, then more and more we actually begin to perceive in the Names of God the Supreme Person Himself. And because the Supreme Lord is the most attractive, He is ‘Number one’ in all categories, so he is the most attractive of all, and His name is no different than Himself, gradually I become free of this material contamination, illusion, the covering over my consciousness, I become more attracted to the Holy Name.
It is automatic, because that is the most attractive, so I will be attracted more and more. Sometimes we chant for some length of time, and people might say how you can just chant so much or, how is it that you are not tired of this chanting, same mantra again and again. They cannot understand. Because it is the most attractive.
One time I was in university with a few of my friends, and we were chanting, a few people were coming around, and one guy came and sat down with us, and we chanted for probably about an hour, and he chanted the whole time, basically 2 or 3 mantras, mainly one mantra. When we finished and he got up, he said, oh thank you guys very much, that was really fun. He said, if I see you again, I will come join you next time, but I hope you learn another song by then (chuckling). Like, you know any other songs?
So the materialist, that means a person who is in this material concept of life, has his vision, his understanding, his experience of spiritual activity, and the spiritualist has his vision, understanding and experience, and they are quite different.