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Hare Krishna Mantra
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
God is one. But when there is to be a universe, the one Godhead forms a duality for the purpose of creating the Cosmos. This is Yang and Yin, or Krishna and Rama, who are thus the true parents of each and every life form in the created Universe -- all of its galaxies and each of its transcendental levels.
Krishna is the most general (least role-defined) personality of Godhead. He is the chief personality for this reason; not that he “outranks” the other forms. Rama is the mother aspect of Godhead. The mother aspect has many colorful forms, and the maternal love that flows from them is unconditional. She never stops loving you with a love similar to but surpassing, that which you have for your own dear baby child. Hurting another -- doing actual damage -- will cost you some of Her favor for awhile; She will draw away because of the pain you have caused by damaging one who is beloved of Her. Note the similarity of the name to “mama” a universal way that the young address the mother. As Swami Prabhupada has noted, it is good to have some of that same spirit in addressing her -- with the same feeling as when a small child says “mama”. Bear in mind that all of these names and forms are of One Person -- One Individual Godhead. They are aspectual. It’s fun to use them.
All of the syllables in the mantra (originally given in the Kali Santarana Upanishad) (click the link to the left) are tantric. Hare is pronounced hah-ray, and the similarity to the cheer hurrray is not accidental. (When all the schoolkids shout 'hurray' for their team, they are joining their spirits to each other and the team. In saying 'Hare', we can be joining our spirits with the Godhead, but not in the same way. We can mean by "Hare" the relationship to Godhead as it should be, which varies. 'Hare' can be flexible, and connote the current state of one's relationship with Godhead. He/She always knows what you mean. It is good, for example, to sometimes be the way He/She most prefers it -- we are not His/Her contemporaries, but are indeed His/Her children. A good example of appropriate behavior and attitude in the presence of Krishna and Rama is found here. )
The assumption is that the sound raises ones spirits. The ‘ah’ sound is found very often in spirituality, as in the name ‘God’. Hare, besides being an address, suggests “Hari”, one of the names of Vishnu, the form of the Godhead who is imagining the universe, and hence sustaining it. According to Wikipedia, Hare can be interpreted either as the vocative of Hari or of Hara, a name of Radha, Krishna’s eternal consort, who is Herself a form of Rama.
You might subjectively inflect "Hare" to mean "The way it's supposed to be", in your relationship with God, your attitude, your degree of devotedness, etc.
The Krishna devotees of ISKCON chant sixteen rounds (a round is 108 repetitions) of the mantra daily. They counsel against inattentive devotional chanting, but in my experience, if the mind is in not such a good place and you do not have very much energy, this mantra can be clung to by one adrift in a stormy sea like a sturdy piece of driftwood. It can keep you afloat and carry you shoreward.
A long chanting session, like 108 repetitions of this mantra, is called “jappa”, and jappa is a little strenuous -- not for everyone. If you try it, and you like it -- fine. For most people, just 10 repetions is a good practice. It takes less than two minutes, and it's a good way to touch base with Godhead. In fact, this can be an excellent way to say your prayers, at night or in the morning. Christ counsels that when you pray, be not as the heathen, multiplying words. For the Godhead knows, even before you speak, what you would say, and also what is best for you, and how you would phrase it if you knew everything you should. So if you simply address him by repeating these holy names, you can be thinking subliminally about the things you would pray about, and even making supplications. Touch upon them, but do not emphasize them. He already knows. He is the knower of the known. The “Om” mantra can be used in the same way.
As with all mantra, the Caitanya, or meaning level is most key. Krishna is beautiful and blue, and can do anything. Rama is the ever-loving Mother. Both are aspects of the one Godhead.
When things are not going as well as they might, in your life, and if you like using the mantra to say your prayers, I recommend seven minutes in the morning, as soon as you get up, and seven minutes at night, just before you go to bed. Another seven minutes right around midday is that much more loving attention from Godhead.
I use the guitar for the morning and night mantra prayers, and khartals for the midday version. An mp3 of the guitar form is here. An mp3 of the khartal kind is here. Both of these mp3's can be downloaded from the download section.
If you listen to the khartal version, notice that after a repetition (hare krishna, hare krishna, krishna krishna, hare hare, hare rama, hare rama, rama rama, hare hare) there is about a 4-second interval before the next repetition. It is good to use that interval for taking a deep breath through the nostrils. This keeps more oxygen in the brain, leading to higher chanting sessions.
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