We all are aware that in order to lead a happy life it is imperative to have good health. Proper diet, adequate exercise, and sufficient rest are necessary to keep our bodies strong and fit. If we neglect these requisites, our bodies become weak the immune system becomes highly susceptible to all kinds of infections and we eventually fall ill. However, more important, but less well known, is the inner self's need for spiritual nourishment and attention. If we ignore ourspiritual health requirements, we become overwhelmed by negative material tendencies like lust, anxiety, pride, hatred, loneliness, prejudice, greed, boredom, envy, and anger.
In order to counteract and prevent these subtle infections of the self, we should, as recommended in the authoritative Vedic literatures, incorporate into our lives a religious program of self-evaluation and steady inner growth, based on spiritual strength. The transcendental potency necessary for developing complete psychological and spiritual fulfillment is already present within everyone. It must, however, be uncovered by a genuine spiritual process.
Of all such authentic processes, India's timeless Vedas tell us that meditation on the Hare Krishna mantra or Mahamantra is the most potent and extremely powerful. Maha and Mantra are Sanskrit words. Maha means “great”. Man means "mind," and tra means "to deliver." Thus, a mantra is a transcendental sound vibration with potency to liberate the mind from material conditioning.
When the living being identifies with the material body and loses awareness of his real, spiritual self, he inevitably fears death, old age, and disease. He fears loss of beauty, intelligence, and strength and experiences countless other anxieties and false emotions relating to the temporary body. But by chanting, we realize that we are beyond the bodily conception, we are pure spirit souls, completely distinct from the material body. Because the mantra is a completely pure spiritual sound vibration, it has the power to restore our consciousness to its original, uncontaminated condition.
Everyone is in quest for true and lasting happiness. But because material pleasure is limited and temporary, it is compared to a tiny drop of moisture in the desert. It gives us no permanent relief, because material sensations and relationships lack the potency to satisfy the spiritual desires of the soul. But the chanting of Hare Krishna provides complete satisfaction because it places us in direct contact with God and His spiritual pleasure potency. God is full of all bliss, and when we enter His association, we can also experience the same transcendental happiness.
Since God's names are filled with transcendental energy, when the living being associates with the divine sound vibration, he is freed from the endless cycle of karma.
The results of chanting the Mahamantra are monumental and epic. The supreme among all, is that one awakens one's pure love for the Supreme Lord or Krishna and one tastes transcendental bliss. Ultimately, one attains the association of God and engages in His devotional service, immersing himself in the great ocean of divine love by taking shelter of and chanting His holy name - the sublime method for experiencing the highest spiritual pleasure.
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