For me chanting became an amazing form of meditation. You could still work, still perform what were ‘mundane’ duties, but because you chanted, everything became different—spiritualized. How could three little words carry such potency? The one meaning that stayed with me was the most simple—chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra is an exchange of love between God and the reciter. I found my enthusiasm for Swamiji’s arrival growing by leaps and bounds. The realization that the connection I had made with him in New York continued to grow in San Francisco, even without his physical presence, would become immensely important to me in the coming years. This was my first experience of the difference between vapu, the power of being in his personal presence, and vani, the power of being with him through his instructions.