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Hare Krishna Mahamantra
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>From Eswar Josyula ( josyule@fim1.fim.wpafb.af.mil ) :-
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The following is written by my father, the words in parenthesis are
mine.
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Kalisantarona upanishad version (which starts with Hare Rama..) is
called Taaraka Brahma Mahamantra. The word "Rama" in its first line
refers to Rama, the son of Dasaratha. It like the other version has no
restriction on time and place. But it requires guru's initiation. This
can only give - Taarak moksham - deliverance, not prema bhakti.
(Caitanya) Mahaprabho's version is called Paaraka - (highest) Brahma
Mahamantra, it gives "prema bhakti". The first line is from Brahmanda
purana and the second line is from Agni purana. In this "Rama" means
Krishna, who "fascinates." "Hare" means Radha. This word is at the beginning
and end of each line. This symbolizes that Radha does not permit Krsna from
either side. Also, in this Mahamantra the eight pairs of words
symbolize "Ashta Kaaleena Bhakti" or leelas! Devotees doing sankirtan
eight times a day feel they are participating in rasa dance with Radha
and Krishna.
Another interesting point is Radha is yogamaya, Krishna's Hladini
shakti. As yogamaya, she first advised Vrishabhanu who was to be her
father later on, to chant this Mahamantra of (Chaitanya) Mahaprabho.
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>From Satyanarayana Dasa Brahmacari ( snd@jiva.ernet.in ) :-
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Hare Krsna.
All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga,
The Hare Krsna mahamantra which we chant is taken from Sanatkumar Samhita.
This book has been published by Sastri Maharaja. This Hare Krsna mahamantra
is also found in the Brahmanda Purana. So although the Kalisantarana
Up., has hare rama first, we follow the one given in SK Samhita. Another
point is even if you say hare rama first, it doesn't make any difference,
because after chanting it once, all other chantings you can consider hare rama
is first, etc. Just as when Valmiki was asked to chant maramara, it amounted
to chanting "rama rama". Another consideration is, and which is difficult
for non-gaudiyas to accept, but which is most important for gaudiyas, is that
the mahamantra has been personally promoted by Lord Caitanya, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the source of the Vedas, and therefore it is
bona fide.
So what if there is no living parampara of Gopal Taapani. The book
exists. The tattva vadis quote from many books such as Maha samhita,
which don't even exist, so how can we accept their conclusions to be
authentic? There are no living paramparas for most of the Puranas,
Samhitas, Upanishads, and even Vedas. Yet, they are quoted and
accepted by great acharyas. So what is the problem?
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I got this reply from SNP (sorry for the delay).
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> Tattva vaadis say that they use aprasiddha srutis only as side references.
> All their siddhaantas are first supported by srutis which have a paramparaa
> and these other aprasiddha references are just for decoration !! In fact one
> tattva vaadi said that if we like, we can disregard all the aprassidha
> references that madhva sampradaaya makes, still their philosophy will not be
> shaken !
That applies to our philosophy also.
Our main pramana is Bhagavatam, then Gita, then Upanishads, which is called
prasthantrayi, and the parampara exists for that. And for whatever the
paramparaa doesn't exist, that we also use for decoration.
Whatever explanation they give, we also have the same.
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[My comments: Bhagavatam is here taken as nyaaya prasthaana sice in gaudiya
vaishnavism, bhaagavatam is the natural commentary on vedaanta suutra. Gita is
smriti prasthaana and upanishads are the shruti prasthaana.]
-sg
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