What is Hare Krishna?

Who is Krishna? Why do people dress in robes and chant His name on the streets? What is the philosophy of these Krishna devotees? What's the meaning of their chant?

Krishna is a name of the Supreme. It means "all- attractive." Anything that might attract you has its source in the Supreme. Therefore the Supreme is also known as Rama (rhymes with "drama"). "Rama" means "the highest eternal pleasure."

All of us are pleasure-seeking creatures. So you can say that directly or indirectly we are all seeking Krishna. Chanting Hare Krishna is a way of seeking Krishna directly.

As for the word "Hare" (pronounced huh-ray), it's a call to Krishna's divine energy. Just as the sun shines forth to us through its energies like heat and light, the Supreme reveals Himself through His multitude of energies. If the Supreme is the source of everything, then whatever we see--and even what we don't see-- belongs to the energy of the Supreme.

Now we're trying to exploit that energy, but the more we try the more entangled we get and the more complex our life becomes. But when we place ourselves in harmony with Krishna and Krishna's energy, we return to our natural, pure state of consciousness. This is what we call "Krishna consciousness."

Krishna consciousness is not something imposed on the mind. On the contrary, it's already inside of each of us, waiting to come out, like fire in a match. Chanting Hare Krishna brings out that natural, pure state of mind.

The chant is called a mantra, a vibration of sound that cleanses the mind, freeing it from anxiety and illusion. And this is a mantra anyone can chant. It's for people of all religions, all nations, all colors, and both sexes. No need to pay any fees, join any group, or turn your life upside down. Whoever you are, whatever you do, you can try the chanting for yourself and experience its result.
Krishna and His energy are fully present in the sound of the mantra, so even if we don't know the language or intellectually understand how it works, by coming in touch with Krishna we'll become happy, and our life will become sublime.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Radha Krishna:- Not So Typical Love Story

 Now that I have told you two love stories, I’m going to move on to something much greater than anything you have heard of before.  Hold your elephants, this story is going to strike you straight in the heart with my love arrows! The stirring tale I will tell you is about Radha Krishna.  The proper way to say it is Radha and Krishna but they are just so darn in love with each other that both their names have combined into one; now isn’t that just crazy?!

  I’m going to open my book and start from the beginning. As you SHOULD know, Krishna is the eighth incarnation of Vishnu and is the Supreme power behind all the gods.  You would think that a god like Krishna does not have time for love- well, you’re wrong.  He had thousands of wives but his heart was Radha.
 
“Whoa, there Kamadeva! If Radha and Krishna are in love with each other, why is Krishna bringing any lady he can find and marrying her?? That is not acceptable!” one Apsarasa hastily points out.
 
Oh shush! Krishna only married them to save their lives, but that’s a different story.  Actually, even Radha was married when she fell in love with Krishna.
“This story is getting promiscuous, I like it!” another Apsarasa said jokingly.

You girls will not stop with the jokes! Radha Krishna did have a secret connection going on but I approved of it, and that is all that matters. Now back to my story, Radha and Krishna were one soul; they were soul mates.  However, just like any other love tale, there has to be some juicy conflict! When Krishna was a wee little boy, he would go by the lake, in Gokul, and start playing the flute for the grazing cows. He continued to do this everyday until he became the best flute player in all of Gokul and in the whole world! When Krishna played the flute, everyone and everything was taken into a trance that was absolutely pure and beautiful.  Even the Gopis, or the cowgirls, would stop what they were doing, find Krishna, and start dancing around him in his love.   
 “He is absolutely gorgeous when he plays the flute! I cannot keep my eyes or ears off him.  I remember because I dressed up as a Gopi and danced with him, too. I want him to be mine,” an Apsarasa said as she recollected the memories.


You silly girl! Thousands of gopis would run up to Krishna, while playing the flute, and would try to woo him.  Of course, he was the best-looking man in the world.  He had monsoon-blue skin, almond-shaped eyes, lotus-pink lips, curly black hair, a chiseled body, and a few peacock feathers in his hair to tie up the look.  Krishna was a very naughty boy.  He would flirt back with the Gopis and fulfill their desires.  However, one Gopi, Radha had captivated him.  The whole universe yearned for Krishna but he yearned for Radha.  She was more gorgeous than him, she had the purest heart, and the way she danced when he played the flute made it seem like he was back in Heaven.  You should have seen the love in their eyes for each other, just take a look here!

The problem was that Radha was married.  The worst barrier that could have risen! She tried to submerge any feelings for Krishna and love her husband but it was no use.  Eventually, she accepted her devotion to Krishna.  Thanks to me and my love potions, she knew that her love for Krishna would not burn out.  She thought about Krishna every second of her life. However, Krishna was a King and had duties to fulfill.  He never married Radha and was not able to meet her after he left Gokul and became King.   
“WHAT? They were not together? They did not get married? They never saw each other again? This is no love story! This is a tragedy!” an Apsarasa yelled.
 
You don’t understand.  Love isn’t about being married or being with someone. Love is being connected from the soul.  That’s exactly what
Radha and Krishna had.  They thought about each other every moment of their lives that they became one being in two bodies.  Because Radha’s love was so pure, she achieved God Status! Whenever you hear the flute play or see a dance, Radha and Krishna are there invisibly enjoying themselves, too.  They are in Heaven together now as one entity.  You cannot say Krishna without saying Radha, and you cannot say Radha without thinking of Krishna.  That is how strong their love is.  Any picture you see of Krishna, it is not complete without Radha.  Their love is an undying flame that will continue to burn. Just so beautiful!

Bal Leela

Strange are the ways to get Butter. One day when Yashoda was churning, suddenly Balram and Shyam (One of the many names of Shri Krishna) reached there to make Yashoda happy. Krishna held the matted hair and started pulling it towards him and at the same time Balram held the rosary and did the same. Both of them said that they were very hungry and demanded for butter and bread. Yashoda told them to have milk and sweet, which were ready in the kitchen. Shri Krishna insisted on butter and bread because he did not like milk or sweet. Still Yashoda tried to convince him and said if he consumed much butter, his hair would never grow as healthy as Balbhadra's. Then Shri Krishna expressed his regret and said he could understand why he was refused butter and bread. On hearing this statement Yashoda looked at him questioningly and asked him why? Shri Krishna then said, Balram had told him that he was not the real son of Yashoda and that was the reason. Yashoda immediately offered him butter and bread and said, that Balram was lying.

1. Wonderful dance of Mohan One day Yashoda assigned some household works to all her maidservants, and started churning herself. At that time Krishna came and informed Yashoda that he was very hungry. Yashoda, being very busy, wanted to keep him engaged in something else. Accordingly, she requested Krishna to show her a dance till she finished her work. Shri Krishna then started dancing with the rhythm of churning vessel. It was such a wonderful dance that all the dancers from the heaven took the form of cowherds' wives and came down to the earth to watch it. In Gokul all cowherds' wives started peeping from the windows. On completing the dance, Krishna requested for food to Mother Yashoda. She took him into her lap and gave him milk. Krishna, thus, always made his mother happy by one or the other way. 

2. Govind's love for cows Gopal had a distinct love for cows. Because of the virtuous actions in their previous births, all cows could manage to take birth at Gokul during the Krishna's time. Krishna loved and respected cows, as if, they were his mothers. On the other hand, cows had also great love for Krishna. There is a notable incident, which took place during that period. One day, one of the cows was continuously staring at the doors of Nandbhuvan, and waiting for Krishna to come out. That cow wanted to offer her milk to Krishna. The milk was automatically oozing from her teats. When Krishna came out and saw that cow, he immediately approached her and took a teat into his mouth and started sucking it. Yashoda saw this scene from the window and thought how lucky that cow was! She bowed to that cow from within. 

3. A Punishment with love One day all cowherds' wives collectively came to Nandababa's place and complained about Krishna's mischief like stealing butter, milk and curd, teasing their children and many more. From within, they liked these Lilas, they, however, pretended to be angry and lodged their complaints. Yashoda said to Krishna she was fed up with all these regular complaints. She also instructed him not to visit their place. When Yashoda scolded Krishna, he replied, 'I promise, I shall never go to their place. They themselves are mischievous. First they invite me to their house and if I go, they start complaining against me.' Obeying Yashoda's instructions Krishna did not go to play outside. He instead went to play in the backyard of his house. A black cobra, having opened his hood, was looking at Krishna's games and was enjoying it. On seeing the snake, Krishna went upto it and started playing with it. She immediately pulled off Krishna and started scolding him. Fearful Krishna looked at his mother and started apologizing her. The Triloknath Krishna, of whom death is also afraid, was today standing there and afraid of his mother. Divine Raas Lila.

The Gopies represented the human being. The whole atmosphere appeared musical, as it were. Shri Krishna being an Avatar, he needed nobody. Out of love for the Gopies, he danced with them assuming many forms. Out of mercy for the people, the Shri came as an Avatar It was to make people aware of almighty God.

4. Pludering Butter for Monkeys One day Krishna went to Yashoda's lap to have milk. Out of divine motherly love, the milk was automatically oozing out of her breasts. She was enjoying herself by looking at Krishna. Suddenly she realized that she had put milk on fire. She immediately rushed to kitchen leaving Krishna halfway having milk and unsatisfied. Krishna got very angry; his lips were trembling with anger. He cracked a water pot. When Yashoda returned, she saw pieces of water pot scattered around, and she immediately knew what had happened. Krishna was nowhere in sight there. On searching here and there Yashoda found him in the next room distributing butter to Monkeys. From within Yashoda thought how lucky those monkeys were to receive butter from Shri Krishna! When Krishna saw his mother coming towards him having a stick in her hand, he ran away. From a safe distance, he started urging her mother to forgive him. Had there been any demon, equipped with weapons, Krishna would have remembered his Chakra (a circular missile weapon of Krishna), but he was helpless before the divine motherly love of Yashoda. 

5. A Punishment of Bondage (Yamlaarjun) At last Gopal was caught. Yashoda told him she was fed up with his mischief. In order to teach him a lesson, she decided to tie Krishna with a stone mortar. Accordingly she brought one cord and tried to tie Krishna, but it was a bit short. She then brought one more piece of cord and joined them and again tried to tie Krishna, still cord was not long enough to tie Krishna. One by one she joined many cords together and tried to tie Krishna but all her efforts were to vain. When Shri Krishna saw his mother had started sweating, he let her tie him. On confirming Krishna was really tied up, she got engaged in her household work. As she had to do some special work at that time. Slowly, slowly he went in backyard garden along with the mortar. There, he emancipated two trees, which were waiting since ages for Krishna's incarnation. Actually they were sons of Kuber in their previous births. Because of their egoistic nature they had been cursed by Narad Rishi and got transformed into trees and had been waiting there for Krishna's arrival.  

6. Kaliya Daman A big Kali Nag was residing in the river Yamuna. Because of its presence the water of Yamuna got poisonous. When Shri Krishna came to know about it, he immediately decided to liberate the people of Vraj from the terror of this Kali Nag. One day Shri Krishna climbed a Kadamb tree and took a plunge into the river Yamuna seeing him Kali Nag got irritated. Kali Nag encircled Shri Krishna's body very firmly. Krishna's friends were frightened to see this fight. They started weeping. Mother Yashoda tried to take a plunge into the river, but cowherds' wives prevented her. It was just a divine play on the part of Shri Krishna. When He saw that everybody was very sad about him, he started to expand his body. Immediately a hissing sound of Kali Nag was heard and a fire was also seen coming out of its mouth. The fight between the Kali and Shri Krishna went on for quite some time. At last, Shri Krishna jumped over to Kali's hood and started dancing. Kali Nag had one hundred hoods. Shri Krishna had beaten him severely. At last Kali Nag got exhausted and he started bleeding profusely. Now Kali Nag remembered the Bhagvan Narayan as 'Adi Guru'. The wives of Kali Nag rushed towards Shri Krishna and offered him prayers. At last Kali Nag realized his mistake and implored to Shri Krishna - 'O! Shri! I am very wicked and angry by nature. Your Maya enamoured me. You are the root cause of my nature and this Maya. I surrender to you. Please bless me and at the same time punish me.' Then Shri Krishna sent him to Ramnak Island and made Yamuna river free from the clutches of Kali Nag.

When Indra came to know that nobody worshipped him, he got very angry with Nandababa and cowherds. Stung by this insult Indra ordered the rain-God to invade Vraj. The whole Vraj was reeling under the impact of torrential rain. Dazed at this sudden calamity the people sought Shri Krishna's help. To protect his devotees, Shri Krishna lifted the Govardhan on the tip of his little finger. For seven days, Shri Krishna held the Govardhan thus forgetting food and water. Shri Krishna's YogMaya dazzled everybody, including Indra. The rain stopped and everybody was free from anxiety.

Govardhan was in its place now. The people of Vraj thanked Shri Krishna from the bottom of their heart.

7. Cosmic Dance It was a full moon night. The Nature was at its best. Worshipped by Gopies, Shri Krishna looked very pleasing. Shri Krishna was very pleased with the Gopies. By his YogMaya, Shri Krishna manifested himself in several forms. The Divine Raas Lila was started. The God from the heaven could not resist the temptation of watching this Divine Raas Lila. The Gopies represented the human being. The whole atmosphere appeared musical, as it were. Shri Krishna being an Avatar, he needed nobody. Out of love for the Gopies, he danced with them assuming many forms. Out of mercy for the people, the Shri cameas an and Avatar. It was to make people aware of almighty God

 

Story of Lord Krishna Avtar

Mother Earth, unable to bear the burden of sins committed by evil kings and rulers, appealed to Brahma, the Creator for help. Brahma prayed to the Supreme Lord Vishnu, who assured him that he would soon be born on earth to annihilate tyrannical forces. 
One such evil force was Kamsa, the ruler of Mathura (in northern India) and his people were utterly terrified of him. On the day Kamsa's sister Devaki was married off to Vasudeva, an akashvani or voice from the sky was heard prophesying that Devaki's 8th son would be the destroyer of Kamsa. The frightened Kamsa immediately unsheathed his sword to kill his sister but Vasudeva intervened and implored Kamsa to spare his bride, and promised to hand over every new born child to him. Kamsa relented but imprisoned both Devaki and her husband Vasudeva. 
When Devaki gave birth to her first child, Kamsa came to the prison cell and slaughtered the newborn. In this way, he killed the first six sons of Devaki. Even before her 8th child was born, Devaki and Vasudeva started lamenting its fate and theirs. Then suddenly Lord Vishnu appeared before them and said he himself was coming to rescue them and the people of Mathura. He asked Vasudeva to carry him to the house of his friend, the cowherd chief Nanda in Gokula right after his birth, where Nanda's wife Yashoda had given birth to a daughter. 
He was to exchange his boy and bring Yashoda's baby daughter back to the prison. Vishnu assured them that "nothing shall bar your path". 
At midnight on ashtami, the divine baby was born in Kamsa's prison. Remembering the divine instructions, Vasudeva clasped the child to his bosom and started for Gokula, but found that his legs were in chains. He jerked his legs and was unfettered! The massive iron-barred doors unlocked and opened up. While crossing river Yamuna, Vasudeva held his baby high over his head. The rain fell in torrents and the river was in spate. But the water made way for Vasudeva and miraculously a five-mouthed snake followed him from behind and provided shelter over the baby. 
When Vasudeva reached Gokula, he found the door of Nanda's house open. He exchanged the babies and hurried back to the prison of Kamsa with the baby girl. Early in the morning, all the people at Gokula rejoiced the birth of Nanda's beautiful male child. Vasudeva came back to Mathura and as he entered, the doors of the prison closed themselves.
When Kamsa came to know about the birth, he rushed inside the prison and tried to kill the baby. But this time it skipped from his hand and reaching the sky. She was transformed into the goddess Yogamaya, who told Kamsa: "O foolish! What will you get by killing me? Your nemesis is already born somewhere else."
 In his youth Krishna killed Kamsa along with all his cruel associates, liberated his parents from prison, and reinstated Ugrasen as the King of Mathura.

Krishna is inconceivable

All the creations, material and spiritual are inside Krishna, yet He is present in His complete form within each and every atom. He is non-different from His potencies and by these potencies He creates, maintains and destroys. The effulgence of His body is the impersonal, non differentiated Brahman glorified in the Upanishads. His external potency embodies the three modes of material nature, goodness, passion and ignorance, but He is never touched by these modes. The wheel of time moves under His direction yet He is never affected by it. He lies on Ananta Sesa, His own plenary portion, in yoga-nidra (creative sleep) and creates millions of universes from the pores of His hair that last only the duration of His exhalation, yet in each of these universes He descends as His own avatar. All virtues, all vices, the Vedas, all forms of austerity, all living entities, the nine elements of the material worlds, the spiritual worlds, the cycle of karma, all enjoyment and suffering, all devotional service, everything that is to be known comes from Krishna. He is the cause of all causes.

What does Krishna do

Krishna lives in Goloka with Srimati Radharani, the embodiment of His personal pleasure potency in the company of Her expansions, the gopis. He is served with great love and affection by millions of goddess of good fortune (Lakshmi devis). Here Krishna plays His flute, tends to the Surabhi cows and enjoys the pastimes of love. Krishna is the adi-purusa, the original enjoyer. He has no other business than to enjoy with His devotees. The spiritual world, the material world, the living entities are all maintained by the expansions or the plenary portions of His expansions.

Where does Krishna live

The material world which we live in is called Devi dhama, for it is controlled by the Goddess Durga devi. Above this world is Mahesh dhama, the abode of Lord Shiva. Above the abode of Lord Shiva is Hari dhama, the abode of Lord Vishnu, also known as Vaikuntha. Above Hari dhama, is the highest of all abodes, Goloka where Krishna lives. Goloka is made of cintamani (touchstones). The trees there are kalpa-vrksas that fulfill all desires. The cows are Surabhi cows that emit oceans of milk. The water is nectar, every word is a song and every step is a dance. In Goloka there is no past, present or future and every moment is fully saturated with transcendental bliss.