The Hare Krsna Maha mantra, its meaning and origins fully explained.

The Hare Krsna mantra is also referred to as the great mantra of deliverance.

It is a 16-word Vaisnava mantra which is mentioned in the Kali-Santarana Upanishad and which from the 15th century, rose to importance in the Bhakti movement following the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

This mantra is composed of two Sanskrit names of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, "Krsna" and "Rama."

According to Gaudiya Vaisnava theology, one's original consciousness and goal of life is to "voluntarily" engage in pure loving service to God, who is Lord Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cause of all causes.

Since the 1960s, the Hare Krsna mantra has been made well known outside India by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and his ISKCON movement, the International Society for Krsna Consciousness known as the "Hare Krsnas" or the Hare Krsna movement.

The Hare Krsna Maha mantra-

"Hare Krsna Hare Krsna,

Krsna Krsna Hare Hare,

Hare Rama Hare Rama,

Rama Rama Hare Hare"

The Hare Krsna mantra is composed of Sanskrit names in the singular vocative case: Hare, Krsna, and Rama (in Anglicized spelling). 

It is a poetic stanza in anuṣṭubh meter (a quatrain of four lines (pāda) of eight syllables with certain syllable lengths for some of the syllables).

The actual mantra in the Upanishad is as follows:

''Hare Rāma Hare Rāma

Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa

Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare''

( Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣad)

However, when Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu promulgated the maha mantra, it was rendered with Krsna's name's first.

"Hare" can be interpreted as either the vocative form of Hari, another name of Visnu meaning "he who removes illusion".

Another interpretation is as the vocative of Harā, a name of Rādhā, Krsna's eternal consort or His energy (Krsna's sakti).

According to Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Harā refers to "the energy/sakti of Supreme Personality of Godhead" while Krsna and Rama refer to Supreme Godhead Himself, meaning "He who is All-Attractive" and "He who is the Source of All Pleasure".

In the hymn Visnu Sahasranama spoken by Bhishma in praise of Krsna after the Kurukshetra War, Krsna is also called Rama.

It is sometimes believed that "Rama" in "Hare Rama" means "Radharamana" or the beloved of Radha (another name for Kṛṣṇa).

The more common interpretation is that Rāma refers to Rama of the Ramayana, an earlier Visnu-tattva avatar (expansion) of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and cause of all causes.

Rama can also be a shortened form of Balarama, Krsna's first Visnu-tattva expansion."

The Hare Krsna mantra is repeated, either sung out loud (bhajan), congregationally (kirtan), or to oneself aloud or mentally on prayer beads made of Tulasi (japa).

Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami describes the process of chanting the Maha Mantra as follows-

Srila Prabhupada - ''Krsna 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.

This chanting of 'Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare' is directly enacted from the spiritual platform, and thus this sound vibration surpasses all lower strata of consciousness – namely sensual, mental, and intellectual.

As such anyone can take part in the chanting without any previous qualification." (From "The Happening record Album" New York City Dec 1966)

The mantra is first attested in the Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣad (Kali Santarana Upanishads), a Vaisnava Upanishad associated with the Krsna Yajurveda. 

In this Upanishad, Narada is instructed by Brahma- 

Hearken to the wisdom which all Srutis (the Vedas) keep secret and hidden, through which one may cross the Saṃsāra (mundane existence of repeated birth and death) in Kali-yuga. 

He shakes off (the evil effects of) Kali-yuga through the mere uttering of the name of Lord Narayana, who is the primeval Purusha.

Narada asks to be told this name of Narayana, and Brahma replies:

Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare; 

These sixteen names will destroy the evils of Kali-yuga.

The mantra was popularized by Caitanya Mahaprabhu born February 18th 1486 during the early part of the 16th Century A.D when he began his mission to spread this mantra publicly to "every town and village" in the world, travelling throughout India, and especially within the areas of Bengal and Odisha.

Some versions of the Kali Santarana Upanishad give the mantra with Hare Rama preceding Hare Krsna (as quoted above), and others with Hare Krsna preceding Hare Rama, as in Navadvipa version of the manuscript.

The latter format is by far the more common within the Vaisnava traditions. It is a common belief that the mantra is equally potent when spoken in either order.

Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a pure devotee of Krsna in disciplic succession, on the order of his guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, brought the teachings of Sri Caitanya from Bharat (India) in 1965 and single-handedly took the responsibility of spreading them around the Western world.

Beginning in New York City, he encircled the globe fourteen times in the final eleven years of his life, thus making 'Hare Krsna a well-known phrase in many parts of the world.

In the mid 1960s and early 1970s, the Hare Krsnas WERE part the hippie counterculture scene, in fact the Hare Krsna Movement grew out of the LSD Hippie culture of the 1960s.

Although the ideals of the hippies with their drugs, sex (love ins) and rock and roll, were very, very different than Prabhupada's teachings, who was trying to encourage them to chant Hare Krsna, eat prasadam and give up their drugs, meat eating, gambling and illicit sex.

Although Prabhupada was open to anyone becoming a member of the Hare Krsnas, they had to follow the four regulative principles, one of which is strict abstention from intoxicants, gambling, illicit sex and meat eating  (no fish, meat or eggs)

These are the four principles (or "four Commandments" as Srila Prabhupada once referred to them)

The Hare Krsna mantra appears in a number of famous songs, notably those of George Harrison. 

His first solo single "My Sweet Lord" reached the No. 1 spot on the UK, United States, Australia etc Singles Charts around the world.

Harrison put a Hare Krsna sticker on the back of the headstock of Eric Clapton's 1964 Gibson ES-335; the sticker also appears on Gibson's 2005 reproduction of the guitar.

Produced by Harrison, Radha Krsna Temple's recording "Hare Krsna, Mantra" was issued as a single on the Beatles' Apple record label in 1969.

The single was a commercial success, peaking at No. 12 in the UK, and led to the Temple devotees appearing on the popular British music chart television programme Top of the Pops.

The mantra also prominently appears in Jesus Loves You's "Bow Down Mister" (1990) and in the Pretenders' "Boots of Chinese Plastic" from their 2008 album, Break Up the Concrete. Stevie Wonder used the devotees chanting Hare Krsna in his song "Pastime Paradise."

Less well-known recordings of the Hare Krsna mantra include versions by the Fugs on their 1968 album Tenderness Junction (featuring poet Allen Ginsberg), by Nina Hagen.

In multiple songs by English psychedelic rock band Quintessence (produced by John Barham, a frequent collaborator of George Harrison)

And by Hüsker Dü on their 1984 album Zen Arcade.Kula Shaker, Boy George, and members of the Rubettes have recorded music tracks about Krsna Consciousness.

In a 2010 experimental study involving both devotees and non-devotees, singing vowels like "ah" and "eh" was found to be more joyful than singing vowels like "oh" and "uh", possibly due to a facial feedback effect.

The practice of chanting the Hare Krsna mantra is recommended in the Puranas, the Pancharatra, and throughout Vaishnava literature in general. For example-

''All the grievous sins are removed for one who worships Lord Hari, the Lord of all lords, and chants the holy name, the Maha-mantra''. (Padma Purana, 3.50.6)

When the sixteen names and thirty-two syllables of the Hare Krsna mantra are loudly vibrated, Krsna dances on one's tongue

Stava-mala-vidyabhusana-bhasya, Baladeva Vidyabhushana in Bhaktisiddhanta's Gaudiya Kanthahara 17:30

Anyone can immediately become eligible to perform Vedic sacrifices if he once utters the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or chants about Him, hears about His pastimes, offers Him obeisances or even remembers Him." (SB Canto 3 Ch 33 text 6)