The Hare Krishna Maha-mantra is the only shelter
-By Lalit Madhava Das
Sraddhadeva, or Vaivasvata Manu had begun that sacrifice for the sake of getting a son, but because the priest was diverted by the request of Manu’s wife, a daughter named Ila was born. Upon seeing the daughter, Manu was not very satisfied. Thus he spoke to his guru, Vasishtha, as follows.
भगवन् किमिदं जातं कर्म वो ब्रह्मवादिनाम्।
विपर्ययमहो कष्टं मैवं स्याद् ब्रह्मविक्रिया ।।17।।
Bhagavan kim idam jatam karma vo brahma-vadinam
Viparyayam aho kastam maivam syad brahma-vikirya
Translation ‘My lord, all of you are expert in chanting the Vedic mantras. How then has the result been opposite in the one desired? This is a matter for lamentation. There should not have been such a reversal of the results of the Vedic mantras.
Purport by Srila Prabhupada
In this age, the performance of yajna has been forbidden because no one can properly chant the Vedic mantras. If Vedic mantras are chanted properly, the desire for which a sacrifice is performed must be successful. Therefore the Hare Krishna chant is called Maha-mantra, the great, exalted mantra above all other Vedic mantras, because simply chanting the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra brings so many beneficial effects. As explained by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (Siksastaka-1):-
ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaḿ
śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaḿ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaḿ prati-padaḿ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaḿ
sarvātma-snapanaḿ paraḿ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-sańkīrtanam
“Glory to the Sri Krsna sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcedental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.”
Therefore, the best performance of yajna given to us is the sankirtana-yajna. Yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi sumedhasah(Bhag.11.5.32). Those who are intelligent take advantage of the greatest yajna in this age by chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra in congregration. When the Hare Krsna mantra is chanted by many men together, the chanting is called sankirtan, and as a result of such a yajna there will be clouds in the sky (yajna bhavanti parajanyah). In these days of drought, people can gain relief from scarcity of rain and food by the simple method of the Hare Krsna yajna. Indeed, this can relieve all of human society. At present there are droughts throughout Europe and America, and people are suffering, but if people take this Krsna Consciousness movement seriously, if they stop their sinful activities and chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, all their problems will be solved without difficulty. In other processes of yjna there are difficulties because there are no learned scholars who can chant the mantras perfectly well, nor is a possible to secure the ingredients to perform the yajna. Because human society is poverty-stricken and men are devoid of Vedic knowledge and the power to chant the Vedic mantras. The Hare Krsna maha-mantra is the only shelter. People should be intelligent enough to chant it. Yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi sumedhasah. Those whose brains are dull cannot understand this chanting nor can they take to it.
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हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे - हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे