Meditation is a very important aspect of life for those who want to be happy and free from all sufferings and anxieties. Meditation means "mental contemplation", but there should be an object to be contemplated. To get rid of the daily anxieties, which occupy one’s mind, one must rise above the material level and try to gain a foothold at the transcendental, spiritual level. This can be achieved by constantly repeating the name of the Lord and communicating with Him in this  way.

 

     In different religious scriptures the Lord is said to have various names: Krishna, Jehovah, Rama, Allah, Buddha, etc. The repetition of the Lord's names has a purifying effect and raises one from material to spiritual level. For thousands of years people in India repeat the names of the Lord in the form of mantras. In Sanskrit, the word “man” means "mind", and “tra” means "liberation." Thus, the man-tra is a combination of transcendental sounds which free the mind from anxiety.

 

       There is a mantra which Vedic literature calls a maha-mantra (the highest mantra). Kali-santarana Upanishad explains: "These sixteen words -

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare - are particularly recommended to be used in Kali-yuga, the age of quarrels, anxiety and hypocrisy."

 

     Chanting  the Hare Krishna mantra will bring you a sense of spiritual freshness which will increase afterwards! You can check it yourself. Try to repeat any word for five minutes and you  will soon get tired without obtaining any  satisfaction. But the sounds of the Hare Krishna mantra are transcendental, and one wants to repeat them again and again ...