WHY CHANT HARE KRISHNA

by Jayadvaita Swami from Back to Godhead, May-June 1994

Here’s a page full of reasons. I’ll spare you the footnotes, but each reason is fully upheld by evidence from Vedic writings likeBhagavad-gita,the Upanisads, and the Puranas.

• Chanting Hare Krishna awakens love of God.
• Chanting Hare Krishna brings liberation as a side benefit along the way.
• When you chant Hare Krishna, you automatically develop knowledge and detachment.
• Chanting Hare Krishna gets you out of the endless cycle of birth and death.
• It is the most effective means of self-realization in the present Age of Quarrel. Nothing else works nearly as well.
• Chanting Hare Krishna cleanses the heart of all illusions and misunderstandings.
• By chanting Hare Krishna, you become free from all anxieties.
• Chanting Hare Krishna brings you to self-realization—and shows you how to act as a self-realized soul.
• It keeps you ever mindful of Krishna, the reservoir of pleasure.
• There are no hard and fast rules for chanting. You can chant anywhere, any time, under any circumstances.
• Krishna Himself is fully present in the transcendental sound of His name. And the more you chant, the more you realize it.
• All other Vedic mantras are included in the chanting of Hare Krishna. So just by chanting this mantra, you get the benefit of all others.
• Chanting Hare Krishna purifies not only you but every living entity around you. Whoever hears the chanting gets spiritual benefit.
• A person who chants Hare Krishna develops all good qualities.
• You can chant Hare Krishna softly for personal meditation or loudly with your family or friends. Both ways work.
• Srila Prabhupada chanted Hare Krishna, and so did great souls in the past. So why not you?
• It’s free. Chanting Hare Krishna never costs you money.
• Chanting Hare Krishna brings the highest states of ecstasy.
• There are no previous qualifications needed for chanting Hare Krishna. Young or old, anyone can chant—from any race, any religion, or any country of the world.
• Even if you don’t understand the language of the mantra, it works anyway.
• Chanting Hare Krishna brings relief from all miseries.
• Chanting Hare Krishna is easy. When the best way is also the easiest, why make life hard for yourself?
• Chanting Hare Krishna invokes spiritual peace—for you and for those around you.
• When you chant Hare Krishna, Krishna Himself becomes pleased.
• When you chant Hare Krishna, Krishna dances on your tongue.
• By chanting Hare Krishna you can return to Krishna’s world, the eternal abode of full happiness and knowledge.
• Chanting Hare Krishna frees you from the reactions of all past karma. Chanting Krishna’s name even once, purely and sincerely, can free you from the reactions of more karma than you could possibly incur.
• Chanting Hare Krishna counteracts the sinful atmosphere of Kali-yuga, the present Age of Hypocrisy and Quarrel.
• By chanting Hare Krishna you can relish at every step the full nectar that’s the real thirst of the soul.
• The more you chant Hare Krishna, the better it gets.
• If you look through all the Vedic scriptures, you’ll find nothing higher than the chanting of Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

MEDITATION

“Oh Krsna, the very fragrant river of Your loving pastimes which is a million times sweeter than nectar flows within the Srimad Bhagavatam and other puranas. But instead of drinking at that river, the calf of my mind prefers to enter a cave and drink the poison of sense gratification. Oh Krsna, oh Lord of the calves, please quickly curb the calf of my mind with the stick of Your mercy and bring it back to the river of your pastimes.” -- Rupa Goswami