The Meaning of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra

The transcendental vibration established by the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, is the sublime method for reviving our transcendental consciousness. As living spiritual souls, we are all originally Kṛṣṇa 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 the illusion? The illusion is that we are all trying to be lords of the material nature. While actually we are under the grip of our 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 our 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 Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, 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. Kṛṣṇa 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. There are being stopped as through 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 hours 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 multi-energies of the Lord. And we, the living entities, are also energy, marginal energy of the Lord. These three words, namely Harā, Kṛṣṇa and Rāma, are the transcendental seeds of the Mahā-mantra.

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 its mother's presence. No other means of spiritual realization is as effective in this age of quarrel and hypocrisy as the Mahā-mantra. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.