The Krishna Consciousness movement has spread all over the world through the musical chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu popularised the chanting of the holy names of Krishna all over India. The maha-mantra is a transcendental sound vibration which awakens love of God in our hearts and minds.

Hare Krishna devotees are seen chanting, singing and performing music in cities and towns all over the world. As with all other activities, music is considered a sacred offering to God.

Although devotees today use many different musical styles, originally devotional music was based on Indian musical concepts of Rag and Tal. Rag is the melodic form while Tal is the rhythmic form.

Rag is derived from a Sanskrit root meaning 'to colour'. The underlying idea being that certain melodic shapes and scales produce an emotional experience and 'colour' the mind.

Tal is best described as time measure and has two main constituents; the duration of the time measure and the distribution of stress within the time measure. Tal, like Rag serves as a basis for composition and improvisation.

Devotees most often use the mrdanga (a drum), harmonium (a hand organ), and karatalas (hand cymbals). Lord Krishna is often depicted playing the flute. For more details have a look at the Devotional Instruments section.

Since ISKCON has had a worldwide following, some devotional songs have been popularised by western artists including George Harrison and more recently Kula Shaker.

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