Hare Krishna

The Hare Krishna (Devanagari: हरे कृष्ण) mantra, also referred to reverentially as the Mahā-mantra (Devanagari: महामन्त्र; lit. 'Great Mantra'), is a 16 words and 32 characters Vaishnava Hindu mantra mentioned in the Kali-Santāraṇa Upaniṣad. In the 15th century, it rose to importance in the Bhakti movement following the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This mantra is composed of three Sanskrit names – "Krishna", "Rama", and "Hare". Since the 1960s, the mantra has been widely known outside India through A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and his movement, International Society for Krishna Consciousness (commonly known as the Hare Krishnas or the Hare Krishna movement).