The Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra
by
Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj
Harey Krishna Harey Krishna
Krishna Krishna Harey Harey
Harey Rama Harey Rama
Rama Rama Harey Harey
The nomenclature of the Absolute has been put in this rhyme as Krishna. Krishna literally means That Most Beautiful Personality Who attracts all beings and gives joy. The form of Krishna is an inconceivable simultaneously personal and impersonal, self-contradictory Form. True devotees see that Form in their purified hearts under the influence of Devotional Trance. Rama is His other Name, conveying the idea of His being perpetually engaged in His transcendental revels with His excellent servitors led by His Consort called Hara (Radha).
These three Holy Words, viz..(1) Harey (Hara), (2) Krishna and (3) Rama, have been repeated over and over again addressing the Divine Couple in a systematic order which is realised by pure devotees when, by the grace of the Name, they see the Lord in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of Divine Love, the seed of which is planted in the soul through these Holy Words by the Guru (an Absolute-realised soul who is authorised to act as a Divine Intermediary).
The seed of devotion that is implanted in the soul by the mercy of the Guru and the Supreme Lord, if properly watered by the hearing and chanting of these Holy Words, sprouts forth into a tender creeper of devotion which by her progressive growth enables us to transcend the successive planes of (1) the mundane sphere of active opposition to the Absolute (2) ‘Biroja’, the sphere of universal scepticism, and (3) Brahmaloke, or the sphere of dim reflection of transcendental knowledge; till finally we come face to face to the Most Beautiful Personality of Krishna Who is identical with His Name, Form, Attributes, Activities and Entourages.
The Harey Krishna rhyme of Holy Words is the visualised symbol of the revealed Transcendental Sound originating from the Holy Lips of Krishna – the Primary Source of all Gurus, all transcendental authorities or means of obtaining Divine Knowledge.
He is the eye of eyes and the illuminator of sight and other sense organs. As the hub is the centre of the spokes of a wheel, so Krishna is the eternal core of created beings including Brahma – the creator of this world who first heard the Holy Words and realised their meaning – the drops of Truth forming the stream of the Divine Sound which flowed in disciplic order through the ears, hearts and lips of Narad (Brahma’s disciple) and Vyas (Narad’s disciple) to the present Gurus – the reservoirs of pure drinking water to quench our spiritual thirst. Shrutee (Vedas) reveals Herself through Guru – the Divine Transparent Agent – to sincere souls purified by the Transcendental Sound – the basis upon which religion is built and the root from which it grows.
These Holy Words are known as the Mahamantra (greatest rhyme of Transcendental Sound), by which the sacrifice of the chanting of the Lord’s Holy Name is to be performed.
This Mahamantra is used in this iron age as the transcendental escalator to transport us up to God. This Mahamantra takes us back to our eternal Home away from this world of tribulations where we have been caged due to having misused our free will at the outset. We are now averse to the loving service of the Lord which is the proper function of all individual souls.
The Lord eternally manifests Himself in the Form of the Name through the medium of His plenery servitors, the Gurus, for the deliverance of fallen souls, as we have no access to the Spiritual World through our empiric knowledge.