Why are there rules for chanting some mantras like Gayatri and no rules for chanting other mantras like the Hare Krishna mantra?

Transcript

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then they will rise to the top of the mountain and then they can attain God. So, thank you very much.
The Vedic mantras, or the Vedas, are considered to be very sacred sounds and they have to be preserved precisely. And that’s why Vedic recitation is also a part. And the potency of the Vedic mantras depends on the precise recitation.
And if the recitation goes wrong, sometimes there can be analytic effects also. We see this in this experiential event. The father of Vishwadev, Kvashta, he chants the mantra wrong.
Instead of Indra Kshetra Ho, he chants Indra Kshetra Ho. And then, instead of a person who would kill Indra, a person is born who will be killed by Indra. That’s how the process is done.
So, the Vedic mantras, their power is in the sound itself, in the precise utterance of the specific sounds. Whereas, the names of the Lord, their power is not just in the precise utterance of the sounds. It is in the devotional call of the heart that is expressed through the Vedic mantras.
So, in the Purana, there is a verse where I call you to Sanskrit grammar. The personal or possessive form of Vishnu is Vishnadevi. But somebody may not pronounce it properly.
So, if somebody pronounces it wrongly, then it is that Vishnu or Vishnadevi, somebody chants something else. Still, Upanishads, Puranas, both will get the benefit because the Lord is in the name. So, actually, in the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, the essential power is not just in the utterance of the sound vibrations.
It is in the call of the heart that is expressed through the devotional intention with which we chant. And if we say devotional intention, the Lord appreciates that and the Lord reciprocates with that. That’s why, in the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, there are no rigid rules of elimination like delineation or say certain states of purification, like we have to have Vedic or for the Vedic mantra, we have to have the Brahman, Vishnu.
Because these are powers which need to be very carefully accessed. So, the Hare Krishna mantra is spiritual and it enables us to access the devotional power of the Lord and become purified. So, it’s like the Vedic mantra, in many cases, are involving something like material technology.
So, material technology is something which can be very easily misused, just as we won’t allow a small child to touch a high voltage electric panel. Similarly, the Vedic mantras are not meant to be chanted by Indian elders. They are meant to be chanted by Brahmins.
However, the goal is not to, when the parents are telling the child, don’t touch a high voltage electric panel. The point is not to deprive the child. The point is to protect the child.
And for the child’s growth, there are other things that are to be protected and to be respected. So, the Bhakti Mantra, which involves chanting of the holy names of Krishna and other names of the Lord, that is based on the Karuna of the Lord and that is accessible to everyone. So, anybody and everybody can chant the holy names of Krishna and become purified, elevated and liberated.
Now, when we say that there are no rules for chanting the holy names, that doesn’t mean that we can be intentionally negligent and we can carelessly mispronounce the words. No, when we want to express, the essence is definitely to express our devotion. But when we want to express our devotion, we will actually exercise caution and respect.
If we love somebody, when we call out that person’s name, we will actually be careful to call out that name also properly. So, as devotees also, we should pronounce the Hare Krishna name properly. But in case, because of certain conditioning or certain problems, somebody is not able to pronounce it properly.
Like for example, in the Chinese dialect, in the Chinese dialects, it is said that the sound Ra is itself not there. They will chant, they just can’t chant Hare Ram, not all Chinese, but in some areas of China. So, they chant Ram as Lam, Hare, Hare Lam, Hare Lam, Lam, Lam, Hare, Hare.
So, now we may feel this is such a laughable mistake, but that’s just the way the sound is in their language. If they are not able to chant Hare Ram, then Krishna is not going to hold that in his hand. But that would be a disqualification of chanting of the Vedic mantras.
Because the Vedic mantras are more like equations. E is equal to mc squared, that is the equation that Einstein proposed for the interchangeability, interconvertibility of matter and energy. Now, you can’t change E is equal to mc squared.
You can’t make E is equal to mc cubed or something like that. Because the power is within that particular letter combination itself. Whereas in the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, there is definitely power in the letter combination, but the power is not in the letter combination alone.
It is actually in the law. And the law manifests that power depending on how we are approaching him through those letters. So, that’s why Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada says, naam akshara bhaya hai, naama nahi hai.
If somebody is chanting inattentively, negligently, this is what you should be holding. If such a person is uttering the naama akshara, naama akshara bhaya hai, naama nahi hai. The person is uttering the letters of the name, but he is not accessing the name itself.
He is not connecting with naama. And that’s why we have these multiple levels of chanting. So, the power of the holy name is accessed by the sincerity of our devotion.
That’s why there are no rigid rules of recitation. But still, we should chant carefully because that careful chanting is an expression of our devotion. So, when we hear some things,