Hari’s name is Abhinna with Hari, that is, same as Hari himself. Vaishnav philosopher RupGoswamipad has said Harinam to be greater than Hari himself. If you ask how can anything be greater than God The Greatest, The Absolute one, we will say that the primary objective of human life is to attain God’s nearness, so, whatever helps us achieving this has to be greater. Actually, it is not our saying, it is what He has made us to know or learn – “Naamphale Krishnapade Prem Upajoy” - Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, meaning, the fruit of chanting His name is, Love for Him.
From pre-historic days of KrishnaDwaipayan Vyasdev to more recent days of SriKrishnaChaitanya, God’s name or Harinam has been placed at the most valuable platform for the devotees who believe in Bhakti (Devotion, Love) marg (path for achieving emancipation). Goswami Tulsidas says- “Kaha ou ka-han laagi nam ba-rai; Ram na sakahi naam gun gayi ” meaning, what to talk about naam’s qualities, Lord Ram Himself is unable to explore it. At a more modern time, Swami Vivekananda preached about Harinam’s immense value in saving lives from the epidemic of Plague that ravaged the city of Kolkata at that time. Books containing hundreds of pages written on Naam’s importance and its power to achieve God’s blessings are available in plenty, so I do not intend to dwell on that. I would rather talk about the various forms of naam accepted or chanted as Harinam by devotees of different sects. Each one of them is believed to be equally blissful and no comparision like greater, smaller, better etc. must be attempted(Caution).
The most common Harinam in the couplet form is:
“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare”, which is known as “Tarak-Brahma” naam. This is being chanted with several meanings within it by different sects as expounded by their mentors.
The Gaudiya Sampraday ( one of the sect of followers of SriChaitaya Mahaprabhu) has another version of Harinam:
“Bhaja Nitai Gour Radhey Shyam; Japa Hare Krishna Hare Ram”.
Once, in Jan/Feb, 1986, while I was sitting with Gurudev Mahanambrataji in our Mahanam Math, Nabadwip, he talked about another version – “Krishna Gobinda Gopal Shyam; RadhaMadhab Radhika naam” which he said is a Harinam having link, through each of the name within it, to a distinct Bhav (feeling for the Lord) or Rasa (relishable flavour) practiced by devotees of Krishna of Vrindaban. He explained this as follows.
Krishna – is the name for Shanta (the Composed, Consummated one) Bhav, the greatest example of which is bhakta Prahlad. It is bhav and not rasa since it does not attain the state or depth of devotion to be called rasa.
Gobinda - is the name for Dasya Bhav, examples are: Raktak, Patrak, Madhubrata who are the servants of Krishna in Gokul and Vrindaban.
Gopal – the name for Vatsalya rasa (Parents or parental feeling), the greatest examples are Nanda, Yashoda, Rohini etc.
Shyam – is the name for Sakhya rasa (Friend), for example Sridam, Sudam, Madhumangal the friends of Krishna.
RadhaMadhab – the name for Madhur rasa (Sweet, technically referring to the beloved one or the financee, the greatest being Radha), examples for this category are the Gopikas of Vrindaban who serve the divine couple Radha-Krishna.
Radhika naam – the name for Bhabollasa(pronounced as Bhaa-bollaa-saa) rasa (also Sweet, but technically referring to the maids of Radha only), those Gopikas who love Krishna as “the Beloved of Radha” are examples for this category. These devotees consider themselves to be “not worthy” of directly being in love with Krishna. They enjoy the Love-sports of the divine couple and put all their efforts in beautifying Radha and making Her unions with Krishna very pleasant and enjoyable. Vaisnav shastra calls them “Manjari”. They are placed above the Madhur category in many ways and the followers of Mahaprabhu have professed this to be the highest stratum of attainment by a devotee in the Bhakti marg.
This Harinam is a gift of Prabhu Jagatbandhu. He gave this mantra to Champati Thakur, who chanted this throughout his life. The devotees of Mahanam Sampraday sing this with the purpose of obtaining Prabhu’s blessings. I personally feel, so much of inner meaning and devotional implication is hard to find elsewhere and Prabhu who is nothing but Krishna in a newer form has gifted us this to rejuvenate our love for Krishna’s Vrindaban.
We, in Mahanam Sampraday chant, sing and also silently mutter one more Harinam named as the Mahanam, also gifted by Prabhu, which reads as – “Haripurush Jagatbandhu Mahauddharan; Charihasta Chandraputra Ha keetapatan; Prabhu Prabhu Prabhu Hey, Ananta Anantamoy”. To learn the full meaning of this Mahanam please --- CLICK
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