Gouranga

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A Gouranga installation on a railway bridge in Leicester
A Gouranga installation on a railway bridge in Leicester

Gouranga (IPA: [guˈrəŋgə][1]) is a term popularized by the Hare Krishna movement as a word meaning 'be happy'. It is derived from Gauranga (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!" have been appearing on bridges over motorways and railways in Scotland, the North of England and Wales. It has also appeared on public buildings over recent years, and 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 now also a monk based rock group also, called The Gouranga Powered Band.

Contents

[edit] In Vaishnavism

Caitanya Mahaprabhu (Gouranga) Artwork © courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
Caitanya Mahaprabhu (Gouranga) Artwork © courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

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 Caitanya 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 Caitanya 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 "Sri Caitanya- caritamrta."

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"

[edit] Email and ICQ spam

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, so 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.

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.

On Sunday, February 4, 2007 the message was sent again from:

ICQ Number:  282-508-344
Nickname:   Gouranga
Address:   French Polynesia
Gender:   Female
Birth Date:   10/18/1986
Age:   20

[edit] Trivia

A 'Gouranga - be Happy' poster in York, February 2007
A 'Gouranga - be Happy' poster in York, February 2007

The word is involved in one of the many politically incorrect 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. A related easter egg in Grand Theft Auto 2 is the "ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!" message, displayed when the player runs over a group of Elvis impersonators; and "KEEP LONDON TIDY!" in both GTA: London 1961 and GTA: London 1969. "GOURANGA" is also the name the player has to enter in Grand Theft Auto 2 to enable the cheat mode.

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".

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ according to urbandictionary.com (includes an MP3 file illustrating pronunciation)
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ "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 Caitanya Caritamrita purport, Adi-Lila, Chapter 8, Text 29. ISBN 0-947259-06-6.

[edit] External links

General
Gouranga spam
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