Interview for Hare Krishna TV on May 1996
Interview with Ravindra Svarupa dasa Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Temple University,GBC,Temple President Philadelphia

Interviewer...Can you tell us about mantra meditation?

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Ravindra Svarupa...mantra means a sound vibration that can purify or liberate our life's. That is the meaning of mantra. There are some sounds that are inherently spiritual. They don't come from the material world. The sounds that are names of God, the absolute truth. Because they are spiritual those sounds are nondifferent from God himself. Here's a glass of water. When I say water ,water,water it doesn't quench my thirst because in the material world there is a difference between the sound water and the substance water. You have to drink the substance .But when it comes to God and his name are the same because one he is not dual so if I say Krishna,Krishna Krishna or Jesus, Jesus, Jesus he is there. Some of the most potent mantras are names of God...Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. This is actually an incarnation of God in the form of sound. When I was in graduate school in religious studies I had a professor who used to tell us the question was not whether God existed but rather if God was available. Because if he was available than you knew he must exist and if he wasn't available than what difference did it make? So God is always available for us in the form of sound. So when we chant the names of God and meditate on that name we associate with God who is the Supreme pure. So we are spiritual beings in the material world where we get contaminated. We have to get inoculated. Just like if there was a disease like cholera in a country we were going travel to we would be inoculated. So there are so many influences in this material world especially in this age so what inoculates us? The mantra meditaton, IT works. When one takes up the practice of mantra mediation chanting the names over and over again for some length of time we see the purifying effect. It happens. that lust greed and anger will start to decrease they will gradually disappear from the heart. People are actually controlled by these things lust greed and anger. Actually, they lead to misery. They are the cause of all our sufferings....

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From an interview for Hare Krishnna TV.Ravinra Svaupa is on a few TV shows if you would like to hear more. show 13

complete interviews raw unedited footage are available from HKTV for $15, $25 in PAL
this is only a excerpt from the complete interview