[Advaita-l] What does "Hare Krishna" Mean?

[Manikantan S]

Namaskaram,

There has been a question in my mind for so long, so i
thought i could post it here, though the question may
not be directly related to this list.

There have been really great People ( should i call
them people), like Acharya,Vyasa,Valmiki and Many such
great thinkers. They have put there thoughts in their
great works, which all tell us how to lead a life.

But i always wonder , why such great epics were
composed. once while brushing thro' certain pages of
"Bhagvath Gita As It Is" by Bhakthi vedanta
swami(ISCKON), i saw that he says (or atleast my
understanding) that if a man wants to get moksha , all
he has to do is chant "Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna Krsna
Krsna Hare Hare" .There is no need for him to
understand, what ramayana,gita or MahaBharatha or any
other great book  says(this is *my* interpretation).

When Such a simple thing can give moksha to a ordinary
man, why should he study all the other works of great
people.

please note that, iam not saying that we are not
required to study other works, iam just trying to
think, if such simple words can give him moksha, why
should he go to understand all the complex works?.

I hope i have put the thought in proper form.

Actually i wanted to know what this simple Mantra mean
and who composed it and in what language is it
composed (sanskrit or hindi?)

I would like to thank profvk for his work on DPDS . i
really like the way he give the translation of
saundaryalahiri. It reminds me of my sanskrit teacher,
whose used to teach sloka's by splitting them into
words and citing Analogies.

Thanks
Manikantan S


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