Purport to the Hare Krishna mantra
by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The transcendental vibration established by the chanting of Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare [Huh-ray; Krish-na; Rahm-uh] is the sublime method for reviving our transcendental consciousness. As living spiritual souls, we are all originally Krsna conscious entities, but due to our association with matter from time immemorial, our consciousness is now adulterated by the material atmosphere. The material atmosphere, in which we are now living, is called maya, or illusion. Maya means "that which is not." And what is this illusion? The illusion is that we are all trying to be lords of the material nature, while actually we are under the grip of her stringent laws. When a servant artificially tries to imitate the all-powerful master, it is called illusion. We are trying to exploit the resources of material nature, but actually we are becoming more and more entangled in her complexities. Therefore, although we are engaged in a hard struggle to conquer nature, we are ever more dependent on her. The illusory struggle against material nature can be stopped at once by revival of our eternal Krsna consciousness. Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare is the transcendental process for reviving the original, pure consciousness. By chanting this transcendental vibration, we can cleanse away all misgivings within our hearts. The basic principle of such misgivings is the false consciousness that I am the lord of all I survey. Krsna consciousness is not an artificial imposition on the mind. This consciousness is the original, natural energy of the living entity. In the beginning, there may be not the presence of all transcendental ecstasies, which are eight in numbers. They are being stopped as though dumb, perspiration, standing of all hairs on the body, dislocation of voice, trembling of the body, crying in ecstasy, trance, but there is no doubt that chanting for a while takes one immediately to the spiritual platform and one shows the
first symptoms of this in the art of dance along with the chanting of the mantra. we have seen this practically. even a child can take part in this chanting and dancing. the material energy called maya is also one of the multienergies of the Lord and we, the living entities are also energy, marginal energy of the Lord. These three words, namely Hara, Krsna and Rama are transcendental seeds of the mahamantra. the chanting is a apsitual call for the Lord. The chanting is a spiritual call for the Lord and His energy to give protection to the conditioned soul. The chanting is exactly like the genuine cry of a child for hsi mother's presence. No other means of spiritual realization is as effective in this age of quarrel and hypocrisy as the chanting the maha-mantra: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.