It's not that everyone who is steadily chanting Harē Kṛṣṇa or reading feels like doing it all the time, especially in the beginning. And for whatever reason, it could be the punishment-reward system that you had, as you mentioned. It could be subliminal. And the way to deal with that in the beginning of the practice, as I'm sure you know from many of the disciplines that you've applied in your life—education or sports or music or anything like that—is you have to turn professional.

There's a book that I like. It's mostly about writing, and it's called The War of Art, not The Art of War. The War of Art means that when you want to do something creative, like write something, you may face what the author Steven Pressfield (who, by the way, is the author of the book The Legend of Bagger Vance, which was turned into a movie about Bhagavad Gītā and stars Will Smith) says: when you go to do something worthwhile, there's this resistance in the universe—instilled Resistance with a capital 'R'—very difficult to overcome.

For instance, in writing, people often write books in their head, but when it comes time to sit down and actually do it, there's a strong resistance. Or to paint, or to learn a musical instrument. It's a lot harder in the beginning when you realize that you have to work at it. So what is his solution? He says you have to turn pro, like professionals; they show up and they just do it, whether they feel like it or not.

And that's what in the beginning of devotional service, Rūpa Goswāmī described vaidhi bhakti—it's a discipline. In the beginning, you have to use your intelligence. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad Gītā:

evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā

saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā

jahi śatruṁ mahā-bāho

kāma-rūpaṁ durāsadam (BG 3.43)

In the beginning, you have to use your intelligence to see what's good for you, like, you know, for studying for school, right? You may not feel like doing it sometimes, right? Is that a correct assumption? Yes. But you know, if I don't study, I'm going to suffer more later, because I'm going to sit down for the test and realize "Ah if I just put in a few more hours a day, I would have been ready for this." And you have to apply a similar principle in the beginning for chanting.

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