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{{Short description|Vaishnava mantra}}
{{for|the religious organization known as the Hare Krishna movement|International Society for Krishna Consciousness}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
[[File:Hare Krishna.png|thumb|Hare Krishna (Maha Mantra) in the [[Devanagari]] ({{transliteration|sa|devanāgarī}}) script.]]
[[File:Mahamantra.png|thumb|Hare Krishna (Maha Mantra) in the [[Bengali language]]]]
The '''Hare Krishna''' ([[Sanskrit|Devanagari]]: {{lang |sa | हरे कृष्ण}}) [[mantra]], also referred to reverentially as the '''{{IAST|Mahā-mantra}}''' ([[Sanskrit|Devanagari]]: {{lang |sa | महामन्त्र}}; {{lit|Great Mantra}}), is a 16-word [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava]] Hindu mantra mentioned in the [[Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣad]].{{sfn|Beck|1993|p=199}} In the 15th century, it rose to importance in the [[Bhakti movement]] following the teachings of [[Chaitanya Mahaprabhu]]. This mantra is composed of three [[Sanskrit]] names – "[[Krishna]]", "Rama", and "Hare".<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.krishna.com/info/hare-krishna-mantra| title=Hare Krishna mantra| work=Krishna| access-date=28 July 2015| archive-date=5 August 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150805150315/http://www.krishna.com/info/hare-krishna-mantra| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.iskconhk.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37&Itemid=115&lang=en| title=Chant and be happy| work=iskcon| access-date=28 July 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020135346/http://www.iskconhk.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37&Itemid=115&lang=en| archive-date=20 October 2017| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Rosen2006">{{cite book
| author = Rosen, S.
| year = 2006
| title = Essential Hinduism
| publisher = Praeger Publishers
| isbn = 0-275-99006-0
}}P.4: It was preserved in the confidential sampradayas, or esoteric lineages, that were guardian to these truths from the beginning. p.244:
In a more esoteric sense, the word "Hare" is a vocative form of "Harā," which refers to Mother Harā, or Sri Radha.</ref>

Since the 1960s, the mantra has been widely known outside India through [[A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]] and his movement, [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness]] (commonly known as the Hare Krishnas or the Hare Krishna movement).<ref>[http://www.religion-encyclopedia.com/H/hare_krishna.htm Religion Encyclopedia – Hare Krishna (ISKCON)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701152023/http://www.religion-encyclopedia.com/H/hare_krishna.htm |date=1 July 2007 }}</ref>

==Mantra==
The mantra as rendered in the oldest source, the [[Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣad|''Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad'']], is as follows:{{sfn|Beck|1993|p=199}}

{{poemquote|
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Hare Kr̥ṣṇa Hare Kr̥ṣṇa
Kr̥ṣṇa Kr̥ṣṇa Hare Hare
|source=Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad}}

==History==
{{Hinduism small}}
{{Vaishnavism}}
The mantra is first attested in the {{IAST|''[[Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad]]''}} (Kali Santarana [[Upanishads]]), an Upanishad, which is commented on by Raghunandan Bhattacharya in his work {{transliteration|sa|Harinamarthah-ratna-dipika}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Prominence of Hari-Naam in Hinduism: Benefits of Chanting "Hare Krishna" Mahamantra|date=3 June 2020|website=NewsGram|url=https://www.newsgram.com/prominence-hari-naam-hinduism-benefits-hare-krishna-mahamantra/|access-date=10 February 2021|archive-date=26 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226094150/https://www.newsgram.com/prominence-hari-naam-hinduism-benefits-hare-krishna-mahamantra/|url-status=live}}</ref> In this [[Upanishads|Upanishad]], [[Narada]] is instructed by [[Brahma]] (in the translation of K. N. Aiyar):

{{blockquote|Hearken to that which all [[Śruti|Shruti]]s (the [[Vedas]]) keep secret and hidden, through which one may cross the [[Saṃsāra]] (mundane existence) of [[Kali (demon)|Kali]]. He shakes off (the evil effects of) Kali through the mere uttering of the name of Lord [[Narayana]], who is the primeval [[Purusha]].}}

Narada asks to be told this name of [[Narayana]], and Brahma replies:

{{blockquote|Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; these sixteen names are destructive of the evil effects of Kali.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_upanishhat/kalisantarana_upan.html?lang=sa|title=Kalisantarana Upanishat|website=sanskritdocuments.org|access-date=2 December 2018|archive-date=2 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202202602/https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_upanishhat/kalisantarana_upan.html?lang=sa|url-status=live}}</ref> No better means than this is to be seen in all the Vedas.}}

Popular tradition believes that [[Chaitanya Mahaprabhu]] received this mantra at his initiation (''[[diksha]]'') in [[Gaya, India]]; however, biographies of Chaitanya state he received a ten-syllabled mantra.{{sfn|Beck|1993|p=199}}

==Popular culture==
{{further|Hare Krishna in popular culture}}
[[File:Hare Krishna Tree.jpg|thumb|upright|The Hare Krishna Tree, an [[Ulmus americana|American elm]] in [[Tompkins Square Park]], [[New York City]], under which Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada began the first recorded public chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra outside India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=10823|title=Hare Krishna Tree|access-date=27 March 2007|archive-date=2 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602190814/http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=10823|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
The Hare Krishna mantra appears in a number of famous songs, notably those of [[George Harrison]]. His first solo single "[[My Sweet Lord]]" topped charts around the world in 1970–71. Harrison put a Hare Krishna sticker on the back of the headstock of [[Eric Clapton]]'s 1964 [[Gibson ES-335]]; the sticker also appears on Gibson's 2005 reproduction of the guitar.

Produced by Harrison, [[Radha Krishna Temple]]'s recording "Hare Krishna Mantra" was issued as a single on the Beatles' [[Apple Records|Apple]] record label in 1969. The single was a commercial success, peaking at number 12 in the UK, and led to the Temple devotees appearing on the popular British [[UK Singles Chart|music chart]] television programme ''[[Top of the Pops]]''.

The [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical [[Hair (musical)|''Hair'']] has a song, "Hare Krishna", containing the mantra, along with some additional lyrics.

[[The Muppet Movie|The Muppet Movie (1979)]] has a [[running gag]] in which characters respond to people being lost by suggesting Hare Krishna. The second time this occurs [[Kermit the Frog]] acknowledges that this has become a running gag and it's used throughout the rest of the film.

The mantra also prominently appears in [[Jesus Loves You (band)|Jesus Loves You]]'s "[[Bow Down Mister]]" (1990) and in [[the Pretenders]]' "Boots of Chinese Plastic" from their 2008 album, ''[[Break Up the Concrete]]''.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} Stevie Wonder used the devotees chanting Hare Krishna in his song "Pastime Paradise".{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Less well-known recordings of the Hare Krishna mantra include versions by [[the Fugs]] on their 1968 album [[Tenderness Junction]] (featuring poet [[Allen Ginsberg]]), by [[Nina Hagen]], in multiple songs by English psychedelic rock band [[Quintessence (English band)|Quintessence]] (produced by [[John Barham]], a frequent collaborator of George Harrison), the American psychedelic rock band [[Mad River (band)|Mad River]] featured the Hare Krishna mantra on an early version of their song Wind Chimes, recorded in 1967, and by [[Hüsker Dü]] on their 1984 album ''[[Zen Arcade]]''. [[Kula Shaker]], [[Boy George]], and members of [[the Rubettes]] have recorded music tracks about Krishna Consciousness.

In a 2010 experimental study involving both devotees and non-devotees, singing vowels like "ah" and "eh" was found to be more joyful than singing vowels like "oh" and "uh", possibly due to a [[Facial feedback hypothesis|facial feedback]] effect.<ref>Böttger, D. (2010) ''To say "Krishna" is to smile – emotion psychology and the neurology of mantra singing.'' In "The Varieties of Ritual Experience" (ed. Jan Weinhold & [[Geoffrey Samuel]]) in the series "Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual", Volume II: "Body, performance, agency and experience". Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZkgFTzlX14 Video summary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202022151/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZkgFTzlX14 |date=2 February 2017 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* ''[[Hari Om]]''
* ''[[Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya]]''
* ''[[Om Namo Narayanaya]]''
* [[Svayam Bhagavan]]
{{div col end}}

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==

{{Wikiquote}}
* {{cite book|surname=Beck |given=Guy L. |title=Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cY1Xw1ZlIeQC |place=Columbia, SC |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=1993 |series=Studies in Comparative Religion |isbn=0872498557}}
*{{cite web
|url = http://www.celextel.org/108upanishads/kalisantarana.html
|title = English translation of the Kali Santarana Upanishad
|publisher = www.celextel.org
|access-date = 2008-05-06
|translator = K. Narayanasvami Aiyar
|first =
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080511193912/http://www.celextel.org/108upanishads/kalisantarana.html
|archive-date = 11 May 2008
|df = dmy-all
}}












{{Vaishnava philosophy}}

[[Category:Hindu denominations]]
[[Category:Hindu mantras]]
[[Category:Kirtan]]
[[Category:Krishna]]
[[Category:Meditation]]
[[Category:Vaishnavism]]
[[Category:Chaitanya Mahaprabhu]]

Hare Krishna mantra - Revision history

Himalayan Dream Treks at 23:22, 25 March 2026