Allah, Yahova or Krishna-Need Is To Chant
Chanting the Lord's name purifies our polluted consciousness, the source of all over problems.
Ladies and gentleman, this Krsna consciousness movement is meant for reviving our original consciousness. At present, owing to our long association with matter, our consciousness has become contaminated, just as rain water contaminated when it falls from a cloud. Originally the water is pure, distilled, but as soon as it falls onto the earth, it becomes mixed with many dirty things . Similarly, originally, as spiritual, our consciousness is uncontaminated, but because of our present association with matter, our consciousness is contaminated. Therefore we have so many varieties of consciousness.
Disagreemants between one person and another are due to contaminated consciousness. I think otherwise. Therefore we do not agree. But Originally, your consciousness and my consciousness were one. And what is that "one"? That pure consciousness is to think, "God is great, and I am His eternal servant." That is pure consciousness.
As soon as we want to imitate God or artificially become one with god, the conttamination beings. A Bengali verse states,
Krsna-bahirmukha hana bhoga-vanchakare
nikata-stha maya tare japatiya dhare
"When an individual soul forgets his eternal relationship with God and tries to lord it over the material nature, that forgetful condition is called maya, or illusion." So at present, especially in this age, forgetfulness of our eternal relationship with God is very strong. But by chanting the transcedental sound hare Krsna, the first result is that our heart or mind becomes cleansed of all dirty things. This is not a theoretical proposition; it is a fact.
Chanting the Hare Krsna maha mantra is not difficult. Although it is in the sanskrit language, everyone can chant it. In this meeting we begane to chant, and you jointed with us. All my students are Americans. None of them are Indians, but still they learned the mantras very nicley. That is not difficult. And there is no coast.
So what is Hare Krsna? Hare means the energy of the Lord, and Krsna means the Supreme Personality Of Godhead, So it is a prayer.There are only three words Hare, Krsna, and Rama arranged as sixteen word: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. We request you to take up these three words: Hare, Krsna and Rama. Anyone can learn the mantra by heart and chant it. It is universal.
If you think, "Oh, Krsna is the name of Hindu God" if you have any objection than you need not chant Krsna, but you must have a name for God. The Muslims call God Alla, the Jews call Him Jehovah. That does not matter. Lord Caitanya says that there are millions and billions of names of God. If you think that the name Krsna is not very suitable, you can accept any name. That does not matter. Our propasal is that you chant God's name.
Is it very difficult? It is not at all difficult. Lord Caitanya said that there are innumerable names of God according to different languages, different countries, different societies. And each of the names has a potency of God Himself. god is Absolute; therefore there is no differents between His name and He Himself. In the material world, the world of duality, there is a difference between the name water and the substance water. The name water is difference from the substance water. If you are thirsty and you chant "Water,water,water,water," your thirst will not be quenched. You required the substance watewr. That is the nature of matter. But spiritually the name Krsna or the name Allah or the name Jehovah is as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
You may ask why we specifically chant Hare Krsna. This name was chanted by Lord Caitanya, who introduced this movemen t five hundred years ago in India. We are following the foot prints of Lord Caitanya. Because He chanted Hare Krsna, we chant Hare Krsna. But Lord Caitanya recommended that anyone of God's innumerable names can be chanted.
There are no hard and fast rules for chanting. It is not that for chanting you have to prepare yourself or educate yourself or adjust yourself. No. We began to chant, and you were not prepared, but you joined us you clapped with us, you danced with us. There are no rules or regulations. You simply chant. It is very easy. While walking you can chant whatever name you like. We like Krsna. We chant always Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. While: walking on the street, while going on the bus even while: working with your hands, you can chant. There is no loss on your part, there is no expense on your part, but the gain is very great. Why don't you try it? That is our request.
– by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakativedanta Swami Prabhupada
Montreal, Canada, June 15, 1968
