Mahamantra

The Hare Krishna mantra, also referred to reverentially as the (), is a 16-word Vaishnava mantra mentioned in the Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣad. In the 15th century, it rose to importance in the Bhakti movement following the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This mantra is composed of three Sanskrit names – "Krishna", "Rama", and "Hare".

Since the 1960s, the mantra has been widely known outside India through A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and his movement, International Society for Krishna Consciousness (commonly known as the Hare Krishnas or the Hare Krishna movement).

Mantra

The Hare Krishna mantra is composed of three Sanskrit names: ''Hare'', ''Krishna'', and ''Rama''. It is a poetic stanza in meter (a quatrain of four lines () of eight syllables with certain syllable lengths for some of the syllables).

The mantra as rendered in the oldest extant written source, the Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣad, is as follows:

When followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu teach and practice the Mahamantra, it is rendered with the name Krishna first.

Pronunciation of mantra in IPA (Sanskrit):

This mantra has multiple interpretations. "Hare" can be interpreted as the vocative form of ''Hari'', another name of Vishnu meaning "he who removes illusion". Another interpretation is as the vocative of , a name of Radha,P.4: It was preserved in the confidential sampradayas, or esoteric lineages, that were guardian to these truths from the beginning. p.244:
In a more esoteric sense, the word "Hare" is a vocative form of "Harā," which refers to Mother Harā, or Sri Radha. Krishna's eternal consort or his energy (). According to A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, refers to "the energy/shakti of Supreme Personality of Godhead" while ''Krishna'' 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 chanted by Bhishma in praise of Krishna after the Kurukshetra War, Krishna is also called ''Rama''.

It is sometimes believed that "Rama" in "Hare Rama" means " Radharamana" or the beloved of Radha (another name for Krishna). The more common interpretation is that Rāma refers to Rama of the Ramayana, an earlier avatar of Krishna. "Rama can also be a shortened form of Balarama, Krishna's first expansion." The mantra is repeated, either sung out loud (bhajan), congregationally (kirtan), or to oneself aloud or mentally on prayer beads made of tulasi (japa). A. C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada describes the process of chanting the Mahamantra as follows:

History

The mantra is first attested in the (Kali Santarana Upanishads), an Upanishad, which is commented on by Raghunandan Bhattacharya in his work . In this Upanishad, Narada is instructed by Brahma (in the translation of K. N. Aiyar):

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

Some versions of the Kali Santarana Upanishad give the mantra with ''Hare Rama'' preceding ''Hare Krishna'' (as quoted above), and others with ''Hare Krishna'' preceding ''Hare Rama'', as in Navadvipa version of the manuscript. The latter format is by far the more common within the Vaishnava traditions. It is a common belief that the mantra is equally potent when spoken in either order.

Tradition believe that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu received this mantra at his initiation (''diksha''). Emic tradition claims that the mantra was popularized by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu roughly around 1500 A.D. when he began his mission to spread Harinam publicly to "every town and village" in the world, traveling throughout India, and especially within the areas of Bengal and Odisha. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada brought the teachings of Chaitanya from India and spread them around the Western world. Beginning in New York City 1965, he encircled the globe fourteen times in the final eleven years of his life, thus making 'Hare Krishna' a well-known phrase in many parts of the world.

Scriptural references

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

Popular culture

The Hare Krishna mantra appears in a number of famous songs, notably those of George Harrison. His first solo single "My Sweet Lord" topped charts around the world in 1970–71. Harrison put a Hare Krishna 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 Krishna Temple's recording "Hare Krishna Mantra" was issued as a single on the Beatles' Apple record label in 1969. The single was a commercial success, peaking at number 12 in the UK, and led to the Temple devotees appearing on the popular British music chart television programme ''Top of the Pops''.

The Broadway musical ''Hair'' has a song, "Hare Krishna", containing the mantra, along with some additional lyrics.

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 Krishna in his song "Pastime Paradise".

Less well-known recordings of the Hare Krishna 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 Krishna 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.Böttger, D. (2010) ''To say "Krishna" is to smile – emotion psychology and the neurology of mantra singing.'' In "The Varieties of Ritual Experience" (ed. Jan Weinhold & Geoffrey Samuel) in the series "Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual", Volume II: "Body, performance, agency and experience". Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz
Video summary

See also

* ''Hari Om''
* ''Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya''
* ''Om Namo Narayanaya''
* Svayam Bhagavan

Footnotes

Sources

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{{Vaishnava philosophy

Hindu denominations
Hindu mantras
Kirtan
Krishna
Meditation
Vaishnavism
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu