Jai Radhe !
My Obeisances to Lord's loving Vaishnavas !
II Vanchha kalptarubhyash ch, kripasindhubhya ev ch,
Patitanam pavanebhyoh, vaishnavebhyo namo namah II
I have two questions:
1. We offer dandvat pranam from sideways to The Lord and to our Acharyas in ISKCON temples, why not from front? many people ask me about this who are other than ISKCON devotee. Please tell what to answer.
2. What is the basic difference between Vedic mantras and Hare Krishna Mahamantra? I mean the rules of chanting assosciated with both the mantras.
Namah Om Vishnu Padayah !
Jai Srila Prabhupad !
Replies
Hare Krishna,
1) We offer pranam from side so that we do not show our back to devotees.. which is a disrespect
2) Hare Krishna mahamantra is also a Vedic mantra only. There are two types of mantras 1) Mantras containing the holy names of Lord 2) mantras which have to be chanted under the guidance of a spiritual master.
there are many rules attached with 2nd type of mantras. for ex Gayatri mantra or Savitri mantra which is chanted by many people(even ring tones, door bells) has many rules attached to it like the person should chant it at a particular time, face should be in a particular direction, one should take bath before chanting, one should follow brahmcharya etc etc . Then only the sadhak will get benefit.
On the other hand Mahamantra has holy names of Krishna. Since Krishna is Absolute truth , his name is not different from Himself. There are not many rules related to Mahamantra. It can be chanted anytime by anyone. Moreover it was told by Brahma ji to Narad ji for this age. Chaitnaya mahaprabhu reversed the order of the mantra and made it more potent by His special mercy.
Jai Srila Prabhupada