Prabhupāda: Why do you say Kṛṣṇa panthā?
Doctor: No, mantras. I have come to mantra. Klīṁ kṛṣṇāya govindāya gopījanavallabhāya namaḥ. Is that not a very powerful Kṛṣṇa mantra?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Doctor: That is better than Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: No. Hare Kṛṣṇa is therefore called mahā-mantra.
Doctor: Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare.
Prabhupāda: Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.
Doctor: This you regard as the, higher than any other...
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Therefore it is called mahā-mantra.
Doctor: But I was told that the Sudarśana-cakra words, mahamala parakramāyā maha patanivaya bhakta jane kalpanaya,(?) that is a very powerful mantra.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything in relationship with God is powerful. But the name in this age is the most powerful. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51).
Doctor: And the word om has been praised in the Upaniṣads, but...
Prabhupāda: Om, veda, praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. Kṛṣṇa says that raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu (BG 7.8). Praṇava is oṁkāra. Sarva-vedeṣu, "That praṇava I am." That is sound representation of Kṛṣṇa.
Doctor: Then that one word as a mantra, is it not...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Doctor: ...the highest sort of word?
Prabhupāda: No. If you keep Kṛṣṇa, that "This praṇava is the sound representation of Kṛṣṇa," then it is all right. If you think it is separately powerful than Kṛṣṇa, that is nāma-aparādha.
Doctor: I understand.
Prabhupāda: Yes. If you accept it as Kṛṣṇa says, that "I am praṇava," if you do remember Kṛṣṇa by chanting oṁkāra, then it is all right.
Doctor: Otherwise, om is only given to sannyāsīs?
Prabhupāda: Not necessarily. It is not mentioned there. Anyone chanting Vedic mantra, he has to begin with oṁkāra.
Doctor: All mantras begin with om.
Prabhupāda: Yes, oṁkāra. So sarva-vedeṣu. Praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. This is beginning. Just like we take Bhāgavata, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
Doctor:
- etad akṣaraṁ brahma
- etad akṣaraṁ param
- etad akṣaraṁ jñātvā
yati ceti...(?)
Prabhupāda: The difficulty is that we consider Kṛṣṇa is different from oṁkāra.
Doctor: That is a mistake.
Prabhupāda: That is a mistake.
Doctor: But then Kṛṣṇa is not different from Brahman.
Prabhupāda: If you take this oṁkāra as Kṛṣṇa's sound representation, then it is all right.
Doctor: Then it is as good as chanting Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Doctor: But it does not give...
Prabhupāda: But because Kṛṣṇa is remembered, if you take oṁkāra as Kṛṣṇa's sound representation then Kṛṣṇa is remembered.
Doctor: But Kṛṣṇa is three letters. Om is one.
Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter.
Doctor: In the last minute when you are dying you can feel it, easily feel it.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa has many names. Kṛṣṇa has name Govinda. It is not three letters. It is more than that. Kṛṣṇa has so many thousands names. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta. So therefore Kṛṣṇa advises for the beginners, "Just try to remember Me in this way-raso 'ham apsu kaunteya (BG 7.8)—I am the taste of the water." The water you must be drinking twice, thrice, four times. So when you drink water, the taste satisfies your thirst. So if you simply remember, "This taste is Kṛṣṇa," that is Kṛṣṇa conscious.