The Hare Krishna Movement

I remember years ago when I was just a young new devotee, and we were asked to go out and distribute books, we were asked so many questions by people we met. One question I will never forget; “What does the mantra mean?” How to explain this to someone who has never heard of Krishna? So I replied; “O Lord please engage me in Your loving devotional service”. Even as a new devotee I knew there was more I could have said, but I left it at that.

But that basic question always stayed with me.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Another definition I discovered is;

Hare– Srimati Radharini (the divine energy of the Lord)

Krishna– The All Attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead

Rama– Name of Lord Krishna who is the reservoir of pleasure. (as in Radha-Ramana, the giver of pleasure to Srimati Radharani) The name Rama also means Lord Ramacandra, and Lord Balarama.

But for me, I like this verse I discovered in my reading;

“O Srimati Radharani, O All Attractive Reservoir of Pleasure, Lord Sri Krishna, please engage me in your loving devotional service”

…Following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is distributing the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and inducing people all over the world to chant. We are giving people an immense treasury of transcendental literature, translated into all the important languages of the world, and by the grace of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu this literature is selling profusely, and people are chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra with great delight… (Purport to Cc. Adi-lila 16.19)

I am thinking of this conversation between Hansadutta das and Srila Prabhupada;

Although Srila Prabhupada wrote many books, he one day asked me, “So why did I write all these books?”

I said, “So we can know the philosophy, learn the philosophy.”

He said, “No, the purpose of all these books is to convince you to chant the holy name of Krishna.”