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

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

Manikantan S <manikantan_pes at yahoo.com> wrote:

>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).

Obviously, one should not take it so literally. It is not as if Vyasa and 
Valmiki were wasting their time and ours by composing Ramayana and 
Mahabharata. Also, one should remember that different methods are taught for 
different levels. If I tell a seven year old student to learn only basic 
arithmetic and that calculus is unnecessary, this does not hold true 
throughout the lifetime of that person. That student has to graduate to a 
stage where he or she can understand calculus. Similarly, mantra chanting of 
any form (not just the Hare Krishna mantra) helps one regulate the mind as 
one of the preparatory stages towards moksha. Also note that what Sri 
Prabhupada means by moksha is not the same as what our older Vedantic 
tradition describes as moksha.

Vidyasankar

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