All Glories to the Harinam Sankirtan of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Harinam is the congregational street chanting of the holy names of Krishna or God, if anyone is interested in performing the Yuga Dharma Harinam Sankirtan in Birmingham, is cordially invited to join with us and assist in this effort to please His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Your cooperation in any way will please the Lord as this was the desire of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to spread his name in every town and village.
Lord Chaitanya stressed that the chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare is the easiest means of self-realization. Mantras were only chanted softly until Lord Chaitanya started Harinam Sankirtan, the loud public and congregational chanting of the maha-mantra accompanied by musical instruments. He also taught the devotees to gracefully dance to the chanting. Once one is caught up in the dancing and chanting he becomes completely absorbed in the sound vibrations of the mantra. The mantra then enters his consciousness, purifies his heart and awakens his dormant love for Krishna. This style of chanting Krishna’s holy names also allows others, such as passers-by, animals and plants to benefit from the auspicious effects of the mantra.
Following in Lord Chaitanya’s footsteps, devotees chant and dance in the city streets, traveling to various places of Birmingham to give a chance to the conditioned souls to hear and benefit from hearing Krishna’s holy names.
Nama Hatta (“the Marketplace of the Holy Name”). The marketplace of the Holy Name was founded in the 1500’s in West Bengal by Sri Nityananada Raya on the Island of Godruma in Navadvip. Based on the principle that the price for chanting purely the Names of God is sincere faith. With however much faith one possesses, that much benefit can be derived from the chanting. One does not need to leave their home, family or position in life. All we have to do is to chant the holy name of the Lord Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
In this kali Yuga the only process recommended for us to go back home back to Godhead is to chant the holy names of the Lord.
Devotees of ISKCON Birmingham would go out in the streets doing Harinam Sankirtan (Nagar Sankirtan) mostly in the weekends for the benefit of people of Birmingham. We request you all to take part in this activity take advantage of the benefit available to you by loudly chanting and hearing the Holy name.
This timeless sound vibration, enacted from the spiritual platform, purifies the heart of anyone who hears it, gradually enabling them to understand the transcendental nature of the Supreme Lord – the source of our very existence, and experience spiritual bliss by being directly in contact with the ‘reservoir of pleasure’, Lord Sri Krishna.
What is this Hare Krishna Maha Mantra all about?
Mantra means ‘that which delivers one from the influence of the mind’, and is the only process of meditation recommended by scriptural authority of attaining self-realisation in this age.
Previous to this degraded age of Kali-yuga, where people’s minds are always disturbed by anxieties, different methods were given for attainment of God consciousness; control of the senses and life-air to enable meditation on the Supersoul within the heart, elaborate fire-sacrifices, and opulent deity-worship in temples – in the respective ages of Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga and Dvapara-yuga. The millenniums, or ‘yugas’, run in cycles like the four seasons, gradually becoming shorter in duration and more degraded in human qualities, and as described in ‘Bhagavad-Gita’ the present age of Kali-yuga lasts for 432,000 years, of which 5,000 have already passed. As a special concession to the misguided people of this civilisation, the method of sacrifice is the ‘sankirtana-yajna’, or chanting of the holy names of the Lord.
God is unlimited and thus has innumerable names, but the Sanskrit names contained in the Maha-mantra, which is the greatest of all mantra’s for deliverance, are the principal names to address the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
‘Krishna’ means the all-attractive, and because God has all the opulence’s in full; Beauty, Fame, Strength, Wealth, Knowledge, and Renunciation, He has the ability to attract all living beings to His association.
‘Rama’ means the reservoir of all pleasure, and since every living entity by constitution is pleasure-seeking, they can only satisfy this propensity when directed towards the Supreme Lord.
‘Hare’ refers to the pleasure giving energy of the Lord, personified in His eternal consort – Srimati Radharani, only through whom can we attain the favour of Lord Krishna.
Because Krishna is absolute, His names and Himself are non-different, and Krishna’s full presence can be perceived by purely chanting the Maha-mantra. Because Krishna is the supreme pure, by His association we can cleanse away all material contamination from the heart enabling us to taste the full nectar of the holy names, and upon re-awakening our dormant love for Him, we can return to His eternal abode in the spiritual realm.
Srila Prabhupada brought harinam sankirtan to the streets of cities, towns and villages around the world. Most Saturday’s a group of enthusiastic devotees in Birmingham are going out to chant Krishna’s Holy Names and distributing spiritual books to the people of Birmingham.
Join Us
To know more about and experience the magic of Harinam Sankirtan please join us!
We have regular Harinam’s and Book Distribution in Birmingham City Centre, please contact the Harinam Sankirtan Team for the next Harinam.
Email: iskconbirmingham@gmail.com
Hare Krishna
