[Updated
Nov 21, 2008]
Hare Krishna kirtans, LPs and Singles, classic kirtans from the movement's early years.The transcendental vibration established by chanting of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare is the sublime method for reviving our Krishna consciousness. As living spiritual souls we are all originally Krishna conscious entities, but due to our association with matter since time immemorial, our consciousness is now polluted by material atmosphere. In this polluted concept of life, we are all trying to exploit the resources of material nature, but actually we are becoming more and more entangled in our complexities. This illusion is called Maya, or a hard struggle for existence over the stringent laws of material nature. This illusory struggle against the material nature can at once be stopped by revival of our Krishna consciousness.
Krishna consciousness is
not an artificial imposition on the mind. This consciousness is the
original energy of the living entity. When we hear the transcendental
vibration, this consciousness is revived. And the process is
recommended by authorities for this age. By practical experience
also we can perceive that by chanting this Maha Mantra, or the Great
Chanting for Deliverance, one can at once feel transcendental ecstasy
from the spiritual stratum. When one is factually on the plane of
spiritual understanding, surpassing the stages of senses, mind and
intelligence, one is situated on the transcendental plane. This
chanting of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare
Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare is
directly enacted from the spiritual platform, surpassing all lower
states of consciousness—namely sensual, mental and intellectual. There
is no need of understanding the language of the mantra, nor is there
any need of mental speculation nor any intellectual adjustment
for chanting this Maha Mantra. It springs automatically from the
spiritual platform, and as such, anyone can take part in this
transcendental sound vibration, without any previous qualification, and
dance in ecstasy.
We have seen it
practically. Even a child can take part in the chanting, or even a dog can take
part in it. The chanting should be heard, however, from the lips of
a pure devotee of the Lord, so that immediate effect can be achieved.
As far as possible, chanting from the lips of a nondevotee should be
avoided, as much as milk touched by the lips of a serpent causes
poisonous effect.
The word Hara is a form of addressing the energy of the Lord. Both Krishna and Rama are forms of addressing directly the Lord, and they mean "the highest pleasure, eternal." Hara is the supreme pleasure potency of the Lord. This potency, when addressed as Hare,
helps us in reaching the Supreme Lord.
The material energy, called
as Maya, is also one of the multipotencies of the Lord, as much as we
are also marginal potency of the Lord. The living entities are
described as superior energy, superior to matter. When the superior
energy is in contact with inferior energy, it becomes
an incompatible situation. But when the supreme marginal potency is in
contact with the spiritual potency, Hara, it becomes the happy, normal
condition of the living entity.
The three words, namely
Hara, Krishna and Rama are transcendental seeds of the Maha Mantra, and the chanting is a spiritual call for the Lord and His internal energy, Hara, for giving protection to the conditioned soul. The chanting is exactly like a genuine cry by the child for the mother. Mother Hara helps in achieving the grace of the supreme father, Hari, or Krishna,
and the Lord reveals Himself to such a sincere devotee.
No other means, therefore, of spiritual realisation is as effective in this age as chanting the
Maha Mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna
Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.