The Mantra for Everyone

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

In India saints and ordinary people alike have long known about these holy names of God-the maha-mantra, or great chanting for deliverance. In 1965 His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a pure devotee of the Lord, brought the chanting to the West.

Hare is an address to God's energy, Krsna means "God, the all-attractive," and Rama is another of God's names, meaning "the highest pleasure." Chanting these names frees the mind from anxiety and illusion and revives our eternal loving relationship with Krsna.

Five hundred years ago Lord Caitanya (the incarnation of Krsna in the mood of a devotee) began spreading the chanting of the maha-mantra. He stressed its benefits for the people of this materialistic age and predicted that out of compassion, devotees would take the chanting to every town and village in the world. And now Srila Prabhupada's disciples-the members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness-are fulfilling that prediction.

"In this Age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Krsna. Simply by chanting the holy name, one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered" (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 17.22).

"In the Age of Kali (Quarrel and Hypocrisy) the chanting of the holy name is the best means of God-realization. There is no other alternative, no other alternative, no other alternative" (Brhan-naradiya Purana).

"Glory to the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death.... It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious" (Sri-Sri-Siksastaka).