Title: Madhura e Harinaam

User: Swami Gaurangapada Date: 2007-03-11 19:32:00

 

Q. by Shachinandana dasa

 

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare re

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare re

 

 

This "re" at the end of each line of the the Hare Krishna Mahamantra is not added by Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the original author of the song. It has been added by some later singer to make it adapt to his or her singing tune.

 

There have been many incidents when Shrila Prabhupada got every angry when a devotee was adding "bhaja" before chanting Hare Krishna...One should be very careful not to the change or add to or subtract anything from the Hare Krishna Mahamantra or the Nityananda and Gauranga Mantrarajas while chanting them kirtana as well as japa even though it may be convenient for singer to fit the new mantra to the music tune.

 

We do not sing the Mantras for hearing pleasing tunes neither is the Lord interested in kirtana tunes. The Lord is interested only in our devotion and devotion can be expressed to the Lord by not adding or subtracting anything to the Mantras while chanting Them in japa and kirtana.

 

That is why we ideally recommend to chant separate rounds of the Nityananda and Gauranga Mantrarajas in Their actual Mantra form of (5-sllable Haladhara Balarama Mantra) Nityananda and Gauranga (4-syllable Gaura Gopala Mantra), because someone who may be chanting Nityananda-Gauranga on one bead may think of adding Advaita or another name while chanting later on down the line and there is no end to the whimsical changes which can be imagined in the original Mantra and after a few years the original Mantra gets replaced by some imagined Mantra.

 

So we should keep the Mantras in their original form intact and never add or remove anything from Them and chant Them in that way to get the full benefit. The Hare Krishna Mahamantra is a 32-syllable and 16 word mantra as follows and this "re" is not the part of the Mantra:

 

ha-re ha-re krish-na krish-na krish-na ha-re ha-re, ha-re ra-ma ha-re ra-ma ra-ma ra-ma ha-re ha-re

 

are the 32 syllables and 16 names comprised of 2-syllables each. I hope this helps.

 

 

siksastakam verse two ,it states that the lord has millions of names and there are no hard and fast rules for chanting them , so by this ( individually ) can one chant any of the names in japa that one is attracted to?

 

         

Answer by Swami Gaurangapada:

 

One can sing and chant any primary Holy Names of the Lord assciated with His pastimes in any form or manner though some devotees like to sing them in the same poem and verse form as written by our previous Acharyas.

 

But for japa (soft chanting) on the beads, one should chant the Mantras which have been chanted as japa by our previous Acharyas, Associates and Lord Himself in the exact form they gave us.

 

In the conditioned stage, a soul cannot fully know what he is attracted to or not attracted to. In the name of attraction, the soul may change a mantra according to his whims and start chanting the new manufactured mantra on beads. This has already happened in the past and will happen again if we do not strictly follow this principle.

 

Gauranga (Gaura Gopala Mantra) was chanted as japa by Shrila Shivananda Sena and many other mahajanas and Nityananda Mantra was als chanted by many associates. The Hare Krishna Mahamantra japa was directly recommended by Lord Gauranga and all His associates. So one can chant japa on the beads of these three Mantrarajas always.

 

Shrila Prabhupada recommended to chant the Pancha Tattva Mantra before the Hare Krishna Mahamantra but not separately on beads because though Pancha Tattva Mantra contains the most powerful and merciful Names of the Lord there is no information of it being chanted as japa on beads by any previous Acharyas.

 

There other Gaura and Krishna mantras for chanting japa beginning with klim tec. but they can only be chanted when one has a particular stage of spiritual realization.

 

But Nitai Nama in form of the Nityananda Mantraraja, Gaura Nama in the form of the Gauranga Manatraraja, and Hari Nama in the form of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra can be chanted by anyone and everyone in that form on both japa beads and kirtana as demonstrated by our Acharyas.

 

It is described in the Ananta Samhita:

 

utsrjyaitan-maha-mantram, ye tvanyat kalpitam padam;

mahanameti gayanti, te shastra-guru langhanam.

 

揂bandoning this maha-mantra and the authorized Mantras for Kali Yuga, those who recite verses or poems or songs full of even the principal names of Lord Krishna (mahanama) but which have been manufactured through someone抯 imagination, certainly transgress the instructions of the scriptures and the bona-fide spiritual masters."