All of Your Problems Will Evaporate
The chanting of the Hare Krishna mahamantra is so nice that it evaporates all of your problems. The more you dive into this nectarean ocean of Krishna's names you will experience an ever deepening awakening of your transcendental identity far, far beyond this ocean of material miseries.
I understand that the chanting of Hare Krishna mahamantra is prescribed as the only way to reach the highest of all planets, Krishnaloka. I wonder how people born before Hare Krishna mantra was popularized by saints and incarnations in the last 1000 years, were expected to find their way to Krishnaloka!
True, the Hare Krishna mahamantra is mentioned in Padma Puarana, but so are several other mantras in various other Puranas and scriptures! To my limited knowledge, there never was an expressed prominence of the mahamantra above others mantras until it was preached by the gurus in the ancestry of ISKCON who helped popularize it.
Perhaps, the closest one could get to was by chanting the other known Vishnu mantras e.g. Vishnu Sahasranama \ Om Namoh Narayana \ Om Namoh Bhagvate Vasudevaya, and merely make it to the Vaikunthloks, still missing on the highest of all planets!
Q1. Why did every saint (Hindu and of course from other religions) keep missing it?
Q2. More importantly, why didn't Krishna himself explicitly prescribe it as part of Bhagavad-gita? Ironically he approves of Gayatri mantra, "Among all the mantras, I am the Gayatri"
Q3. Why it is not directly mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam, the most highly regarded scripture!
Humbly yours
Vivek
"O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Krishna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by chanting Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them."
So one can chant any name of the Lord and achieve perfection. The Hare Krishna mantra is called the Mahamantra or the Great Chanting for Deliverance because the Vedic wisdom describes it as the most powerful and effective mantra for attaining God realization in the present age of Kali. The Vedic scriptures were written before the present age of Kali. Hence, there are many different mantras, which were suitable for previous ages mentioned there. But for this present age, the Kali Yuga, the Vedic literature specifically prescribe the Hare Krishna mantra.
The impersonalist gurus generally favor other less personal mantras such as "Om". But Krishna recommends the path of personalism to be better than the path of impersonalism. The personalist gurus favor the Hare Krishna mantra as the best means in this age for spiritual perfection.
In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna instructs us to always chant His name, and then He personally appears in the Kali yuga in the form of His own devotee (Lord Caitanya) to show us by His own example the great benefit of chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
Answers by Citing the Vedic Version
Question: Is Hare Krishna Mantra the Only Way?
Please pardon my ignorance and incorrect utterings if any and kindly help clear my doubt.I understand that the chanting of Hare Krishna mahamantra is prescribed as the only way to reach the highest of all planets, Krishnaloka. I wonder how people born before Hare Krishna mantra was popularized by saints and incarnations in the last 1000 years, were expected to find their way to Krishnaloka!
True, the Hare Krishna mahamantra is mentioned in Padma Puarana, but so are several other mantras in various other Puranas and scriptures! To my limited knowledge, there never was an expressed prominence of the mahamantra above others mantras until it was preached by the gurus in the ancestry of ISKCON who helped popularize it.
Perhaps, the closest one could get to was by chanting the other known Vishnu mantras e.g. Vishnu Sahasranama \ Om Namoh Narayana \ Om Namoh Bhagvate Vasudevaya, and merely make it to the Vaikunthloks, still missing on the highest of all planets!
Q1. Why did every saint (Hindu and of course from other religions) keep missing it?
Q2. More importantly, why didn't Krishna himself explicitly prescribe it as part of Bhagavad-gita? Ironically he approves of Gayatri mantra, "Among all the mantras, I am the Gayatri"
Q3. Why it is not directly mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam, the most highly regarded scripture!
Humbly yours
Vivek
Answer: Hare Krishna, Best Mantra for Kali Yuga
As you thought might be the case, you do have some misunderstandings. Although the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, as confirmed in the Kali Santarana Upanisad, is the most powerful and effective means in this age of attaining the topmost planet known as Krishnaloka, it is by no means the only way. In this connection Lord Caitanya has prayed as follows:"O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Krishna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by chanting Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them."
So one can chant any name of the Lord and achieve perfection. The Hare Krishna mantra is called the Mahamantra or the Great Chanting for Deliverance because the Vedic wisdom describes it as the most powerful and effective mantra for attaining God realization in the present age of Kali. The Vedic scriptures were written before the present age of Kali. Hence, there are many different mantras, which were suitable for previous ages mentioned there. But for this present age, the Kali Yuga, the Vedic literature specifically prescribe the Hare Krishna mantra.
The impersonalist gurus generally favor other less personal mantras such as "Om". But Krishna recommends the path of personalism to be better than the path of impersonalism. The personalist gurus favor the Hare Krishna mantra as the best means in this age for spiritual perfection.
In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna instructs us to always chant His name, and then He personally appears in the Kali yuga in the form of His own devotee (Lord Caitanya) to show us by His own example the great benefit of chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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