Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Many people in our materialistic world are feeling a void in their lives-a lack of something that they can't quite put their finger on. To fill this void, many are taking up "consciousness-raising" or "meditational" techniques. Several individuals and groups have marketed various techniques to a largely innocent public, while some mention that most of their methods are "inspired by" or "adopted from" the spiritual disciplines of India. What these entrepreneurs have really done is to water down and exploit genuine spirituality.

However, one spiritual teacher has consistently refused to compromise. And from Harvard to Oxford to the Sorbonne, the world's leading scholars agree: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is delivering India's sacred devotional culture as it is.

The key to understanding this culture and elevating ourselves to clear consciousness-Krsna consciousness-is the simple, easy, yet sublime process of chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. Maha means "great," man means "mind," and tra means "release." Maha-mantra, then, means "the great chanting for releasing the mind from illusion." The maha-mantra consists of three names for God: Hare (God's pleasure energy), Krsna (God, the all-attractive Supreme Personality), and Rama (God, the reservoir of all pleasure). Srila Prabhupada explains that simply by chanting and hearing these sounds, "one can achieve all the benefits of spiritual life."

India's most respected spiritual books and teachers all bear out Srila Prabhupada's statement. For instance, six centuries ago Sridhara Swami said, "If one always chants the holy name of the Lord with great devotion in the morning and evening, one can become free from all material miseries."

If the process is so easy, can we learn it from anyone? The Padma Purana explains, "Unless one receives his mantra from a bona fide spiritual master in the authorized disciplic succession, his mantra will be without any effect." Srila Prabhupada, the foremost teacher in the Brahma-Madhva-Gauḍiya disciplic succession, freely offers the Hare Krsna maha-mantra to fill whatever void may exist in our lives.