Chant and be Happy… At ISKCON’s Farm Communities

None of us had ever designed a building or worked with marble or anything like that. But we chanted Hare Krishna, and gradually Krishna revealed these skills.

None of us had ever designed a building or worked with marble or anything like that. But we chanted Hare Krishna, and gradually Krishna revealed these skills.

Laguna Beach—vacationers visit this southern California haven to enjoy the sun, surf and exotic shops. But the devotees at the Radha-Krishna temple there know a much better way you can enjoy yourself.

I’ve been chanting Hare Krishna and reading authorized books about Krishna consciousness for four years, and now I’m finding a higher happiness than I’ve ever experienced before.

“You ‘re all under arrest!” We protested. “All around you there’s drug addiction, prostitution, crime, and violence, and you can’t find anything better to do than arrest us for chanting the names of God!”

New Yorkers will be the first to admit that “Fun City” is often a hard place to be happy in. But the devotees at ISKCON’s center on Manhattan’s West 55th Street know the secret. By chanting the Hare Krishna mantra they’ve opened their minds to a whole new dimension of consciousness.

I’ve been chanting Hare Krishna for over three years, and the more I chant the more I can see that this chanting is an ever-fresh experience. By absorbing my mind in the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, I feel the spiritual strength and conviction to offer this chanting process to everyone.

ISKCON Devotees chanting Hare Krishna downtown and standing before the Amsterdam center of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. 1977.

Because there is no difference between Krsna and His name, the holy name of Krsna is as pure and as perfect as Krsna Himself. The chanting of Hare Krsna will release one from his designated condition in the gross and subtle bodies.

Japa is a simple, age-old practice. You softly chant the Hare Krsna mantra (names of God) while fingering a string of 108 beads. Pause long enough on each bead to say the entire mantra once.

While spreading the maha-mantra throughout the Indian subcontinent, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu prayed, “O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name You have invested all Your transcendental energies.”

Even some of the impersonalists danced, and the faces of the people changed from grey to a nice reddish due to bright attentive joy. We got up from the stage and danced, and they got up from their seats and danced.

Glory to the sri-krsna-sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years together. Thus the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death, is extinguished.

It is hoped that the government authorities will cooperate with our sankirtana parties in enabling us to perform sankirtana on the streets. To do this it is necessary that we be able to chant the names of Krsna, dance, play the mrdanga drum.

By Allen Ginsberg Mantram (singular), mantra (plural) is a short verbal formula like Rolling Stones’ “I’m going home,” or Gertrude Stein’s “A rose is a rose is a rose,” which is repeated as a form of prayer meditation over and over until the original thin-conscious association with meaning disappears and the words become pure physical […]

The name Krsna means “the all-attractive one,” the name Rama means “the all-pleasing one,” and the name Hare is an address to the Lord’s devotional energy.

In Sanskrit, man means “mind” and tra means “freeing.” So a mantra is a combination of transcendental, spiritual sounds that frees our minds from the anxieties of life in the material world.

There are those who will say, “Ah! These Hare Krsna people are just escapists. They cannot face up to life.” And our reply is simply, “Yes, we are escapists. You stay here; we will leave!”

These sixteen words—Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—are especially meant for counteracting the ill effects of the present age of quarrel and anxiety.

On the occasion of the appearance day of Lord Caitanya, thousands of Britishers heard the joyous vibration of Hare Krsna, the glorification of God’s holy name.

The pictures on these pages show devotees in Detroit engaged in spreading the rays of the benediction moon of the holy name by chanting Hare Krsna.