Gauranga |
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This article contains Indic text. Without rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Indic characters; or irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts. |
Gouranga (IPA: [guˈrəŋgə][1]) is a term popularized by the Hare Krishna movement as a word meaning 'be happy'. It is derived from "Gauranga" गौराङ्ग (IAST gaurāṅga), literally 'light/golden-limbed', a name of Krishna in Puranic literature, and in Gaudiya Vaishnavism in particular a name of Caitanya Mahaprabhu (considered a reincarnation of Krishna[2]).
Stickers bearing the word Gouranga or stating "Call out Gouranga and be happy!" began appearing on bridges over motorways and railways in Scotland, the North of England and Wales from the mid-nineties onwards. Stickers and fridge magnets with the phrase have also been handed out by Hare Krishna monks at music festivals throughout the UK, such as Glastonbury and Download. There is even a monk based rock group called The Gouranga Powered Band.
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In Vaishnavism
The Sanskrit term gaurāṅga is a bahuvrihi meaning "golden-limbed" or "having a white or yellowish body" (Monier-Williams), from gaura "white, shining, beautiful" and aṅga "limb".
Within Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition it is taken to refer to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's golden skin complexion, and it is said that whoever hears, reads, or speaks the name gaurāṅga is blessed with fortune and happiness due to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's extraordinary saintly nature.[3] Caitanya Mahaprabhu was born in Mayapur, West Bengal, in 1486. His activities and teachings are described in detail in the book "Teachings of Lord Caitanya" and the multi-volume Chaitanya Charitamrita.
The term predates Caitanya as an epithet of incarnations of Vishnu-Krishna, appearing in various Vaishna Puranas, for example in the Agni Purana (before 1100 CE),
- prasantātma lambakanṭhas / gaurāṅgas ca sura-vṛtaḥ
- "the supreme Self, long-necked / and golden-limbed, surrounded by sages"
Email and ICQ spam
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A spate of spam emails have also appeared, and are sometimes known simply as the Hare Krishna spam:
Subject: Gouranga Call out Gouranga be happy!!! Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga .... That which brings the highest happiness!!
In 2005, J. Wein contacted the International Society for Krishna Consciousness about the emails. There was no reply from the organization, but an unknown person responded independently as follows:
Hello Joe, I am just very enthusiastic person, who wants everybody to be happy. :)))
The spam can be blocked if desired by filtering out emails from the address NitaiGouranga@aol.com, which, while fake, is used consistently for this purpose.
The same happened on ICQ, seen on 4th of December 2005. ICQ # 209142623 with the Profile "Username: Gouranga, female, 21 years, located in Ghana" sent the following message:
Call out Gouranga Be Happy... Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga That which brings the highest happiness!
On November, 21st 2006 another spam was sent out from ICQ #252383686. Today from ICQ #242581996, - female 44 years. ICQ#: 256-775-585
Ник: Gouranga Домашний адрес: Кувейт Пол: Муж. Возраст: 66 Дата рождения: 05/03/1941
It was sent to random ICQ users and does not further answer to ICQ messages sent back. It is possible to protect oneself from this by moving this user to the ignore list or by not allowing messages from unknown users (ICQ options).
A variant spam email which replaces the word Gouranga with Neateye, (in reference to Nityananda) is also in existence, although it is not quite as prevalent. The same NitaiGouranga@aol.com address is linked to both forms of the spam.
Trivia
The word is involved in one of the many easter eggs in the first of the Grand Theft Auto video game series. The game displays the text "GOURANGA!" whenever the player runs over a complete group of Hare Krishnas, who are occasionally featured as pedestrians. "GOURANGA" is also the name the player has to enter in Grand Theft Auto 2 to enable the cheat mode. Additionally, in the online GTA IV mode, the message "Player X Gouranga'd Player Y" appears occasionally when a death occurs.
The song Twydale's Lament by Half Man Half Biscuit features the lyrics "Gouranga, Gouranga yes I'll be happy when you've been arrested for defacing the bridge".
It is probable that Bill Murray's phrase, as Carl Spackler in Caddyshack, attributed to the Dalai Lama ("he turns to me and says ... Gunga ... Gunga gaLunga") is derived from Gouranga.
See also
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Footnotes
- ^ according to urbandictionary.com (includes an MP3 file illustrating pronunciation)
- ^ see commentary by Prabhupada on Bhagavata Purana 11.5.32: Gauranga is a-krishna "not black" = gaura or hari "bright/golden", a "chromatic complement", as it were, that is also encountered in the hare krishna mantra
- ^ "O infallible and most famous person, whose name, when chanted, spreads all good fortune!" from BhaP 8.17.8. "It should be noted in this connection that the holy names of Lord Krishna and Gaurasundara are both identical with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore one should not consider one name to be more potent than the other." A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada from Chaitanya Charitamrita purport, Adi-Lila, Chapter 8, Text 31. ISBN 0-947259-06-6.
External links
- General
- "Vedic Encyclopedia" (harekrsna.cz)
- Urban Dictionary Definitions
- "Call Out Gouranga!" (citynoise.org)
- Origins of Gouranga (bbc.co.uk Hare Krishna feature)
- The Gouranga Powered Band (The Gouranga Powered Band Page with downloads under "Letöltések")
- Gouranga spam