The Hare Krishna mantra, also referred to reverentially as the Maha Mantra ("Great Mantra"), is a sixteen-word Vaishnava mantra which appears within many traditions of Hinduism and is believed by practitioners to bring about a higher state of consciousness when heard, spoken, meditated upon, or sung out loud. According to Gaudiya Vaishnava theology, this higher consciousness takes the form of pure love of God (Krishna). The mantra is contained in the texts of Hinduism known as the Upanishads, which are considered by some scholars to have roots in the Vedic past.

The mantra has been made well known outside of India by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (commonly known as 'the Hare Krishnas'). The Hare Krishna mantra is composed of Sanskrit names in the vocative case: Hare, Krishna, and Rama (in Anglicized spelling, the transliteration of the three vocatives is hare, kṛṣṇa and rāma; roughly pronounced [ˈhɐreː, ˈkr̩ʂɳɐ, ˈraːmɐ], see Sanskrit for pronunciation details): "Hare" can be interpreted as either the vocative of Hari, another name of Vishnu meaning "he who removes illusion", or as the vocative of Harā, a name of Rādhā, Krishna's eternal consort or Shakti. According to A. C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Harā refers to "the energy of God" while Krishna and Rama refer to God himself, meaning "He who is All-Attractive" and "He who is the Source of All Pleasure". Rama can refer to Ramachandra or to Krishna as Radha-Raman, another name of Krishna meaning beloved of Radha. In the hymn Vishnu Sahasranama spoken by Bhishma in praise of Krishna after the Kurukshetra War, Krishna is also called Rama.

Rama can also be a shortened form of Balarama, Krishna's first expansion.

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