There is a song sung by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura:
enechi ausadhi maya nasibara lagi’
harinama-mahamantra lao tumi magi’
bhakativinoda prabhu-carane padiya
sei harinama-mantra la-ila magiya
The sankirtana movement has been introduced by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu just to dispel the illusion of maya, by which everyone in this material world thinks himself to be a product of matter and therefore to have many duties pertaining to the body. Actually, the living entity is not his material body: he is a spirit soul. He has a spiritual need to be eternally blissful and full of knowledge, but unfortunately he identifies himself with the body, sometimes as a human being, sometimes as an animal, sometimes a tree, sometimes an aquatic, sometimes a demigod, and so on. Thus with each change of body he develops a different type of consciousness with different types of activities and thus becomes increasingly entangled in material existence, transmigrating perpetually from one body to another. Under the spell of maya, or illusion, he does not consider the past or future but is simply satisfied with the short life span that he has gotten for the present. To eradicate this illusion, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has brought the sankirtana movement, and He requests everyone to accept and distribute it. A person who is actually a follower of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura must immediately accept the request of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu by offering respectful obeisances unto His lotus feet and thus beg from Him the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. If one is fortunate enough to beg from the Lord this Hare Krsna maha-mantra, his life is successful.
Srila Prabhupada’s purport to Cc Adi 9.36