BHUL-BHULAIYA MEIN HARE KRSNA
The younger generation who indulge in so many sinful activities and consequently head for hell may have been saved because of the recently released movie 'Bhul-bhulaiya' which featured the superhit song' Hare Krsna Hare Rama'. Those behind the production of this movie may not even know how great a service they have rendered to the Indian youth. The superhit song is on the lips of most children as well as the young. This song is also played on big speakers in all corners of the country during the festive season.
Srimad Bhagavatam states:
sanketyam parihasyam va
stobham helanam eva va
vaikutha-nama-grahanam
asesagha-haram viduh
Translation: One who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately freed from the reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants indirectly [to indicate something else], jokingly, for musical entertainment, or even neglectfully. This is accepted by all the learned scholars of the scriptures. (SB 6.2.14):
This sloka from Srimad-Bhagavatam indicates that anyone who chants the holy name of the Lord is freed from sinful reactions, 'even if he chants for musical entertainment'. A few years ago, someone made a movie named 'Hare Rama Hare Krsna' and saved many young people from going to hell. Those who take to this process of chanting the holy names of the Supreme
Lord sincerely under the guidance of devotees may even get the chance to see the Lord face to face. Srila Prabhupada said about that movie, "We are going on. He is finished. His film is finished, but we are going on."
Similarly the chanting of Hare Krsna will go on as predicted by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in every town and village for next ten thousand years, saving people from the danger of repeated birth and death. In between, people will come and make a movie and go. In the end only thing that will prevail will be the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. Our appreciation for the Indian culture also increases because somehow or other we are forced to remember or chant the Lord's name, which, being transcendental, leaves its effect and purifies our existence. We may not know if an electrical wire will give a shock or not and we may still hang our clothes on it, taking it to be a rope, but the electric wire will do its work. Similarly, it doesn't depend on whether the person believes in the Lord or His names or not, the name will show its effect.
(Radha Rasikraja Dasa)
Our Reply: We are grateful for your sentiments. However, the song you mentioned may not have the effect you desire. The scriptures do mention about the great effects of the holy name but in those cases the holy name should have been heard from the lips of a pure devotee of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada writes in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Antya-lila 1.101:
The transcendental vibration of the Lord's holy name is completely spiritual. Thus it must be received from spiritual sources and must be chanted after having been heard from a spiritual master. One who hears the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra must receive it from the spiritual master by aural reception. Srila Sanatana Gosvami has forbidden us to hear the holy name of Krsna chanted by non Vaisnavas, such as professional actors and singers, for it will have no effect. It is like milk touched by the lips of a serpent, as stated in the Padma Purana:
avaisnava-mukhodgirnam
putam hari-kathamrtam
sravanam naiva kartavyam
sarpocchistam yatha payah
"One should not hear anything about Krsna from a non Vaisnava. Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects; similarly, talks about Krsna given by a non Vaisnava are also poisonous." One must be a bona fide devotee, and then he can preach and impress devotional service upon his listeners.
I am sure that the representation of the song in the movie would be anything but holy. The solution, however, is not far away. Srila Prabhupada describes it later in the same purport:
As far as possible, therefore, the devotees in the Krsna consciousness movement gather to chant the holy name of Krsna in public so that both the chanters and the listeners may benefit.