One can extricate himself from the bonds of material life by hearing and chanting transcendental sounds. The common, unenlightened person is in a sleeplike state, oblivious of his real nature as a spiritual being and of his relationship to the Supreme Being.
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. So the maha-mantra means, “O all-attractive, all-pleasing Lord, O energy of the Lord, please engage me in Your service.”
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.
Transformed hippes clad in saffron robes…chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra”—so ran a recent story in the London Evening Standard.
The chanting of God’s holy names quickly polishes the mirror of the mind and reveals both Him and ourselves. “The face is the index of the mind,” Prabhupada was fond of pointing out, he would often mention the bright faces of his disciples.
I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krs-na’ have produced. When the holy name of Krsna, is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears.
Among all the practices of the Hare Krsna movement, the most prominent is the public chanting of God’s names, ecstatic dancing, and playing of musical instruments—a spontaneous street liturgy common in most major cities throughout the world.
The Vedic literature explains the power of chanting God’s name in the story of Ajamila, a great sinner who at the time of his death called out the name of God and was immediately purified of all sinful contamination.
In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.
When Lord Krsna appears in the present age His complexion is golden, He is surrounded by various associates, and His mission is to teach people how to make their lives spiritually sublime through the sankirtana-yajna, or chanting of the holy names Hare Krsna.