A Gouranga installation on a railway bridge in Leicester.

Gouranga, or Gauranga, is said to originate in the Hare Krishna religious movement, whose founding father, Shri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, was also called Gaura, or Gauranga. In popular culture it is accepted generally as a word meaning simply 'be happy', although the literal Sanskrit translation is 'light/golden-limbed'. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (960x669, 117 KB) Summary A Gouranga installation, on the bridge of the Midland Main Line over the A47 in Leicester. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (960x669, 117 KB) Summary A Gouranga installation, on the bridge of the Midland Main Line over the A47 in Leicester. ... Leicester city centre, looking towards clock tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city in the English East Midlands. ... Hare Krishna Mantra in Devanagari. ... Deities of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (right) and Sri Nityananda (left) at Radha-Krishna temple in Radhadesh, Belgium Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (also transliterated Chaitanya) (1486 - 1534), was an ascetic Hindu monk and social reformer in 16th century Bengal, India (present-day West Bengal and Bangladesh). ... Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in any given society. ... Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम्) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ...

Stickers bearing the word Gouranga or stating "Call out Gouranga and be happy!" have been appearing on bridges over motorways and railways in Scotland and the North of England. It has also appeared on public buildings over recent years, and stickers and fridge magnets with the phrase have also been handed out by "monks" at music festivals throughout the UK, such as Glastonbury and Download. A log bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a gorge, valley, road, railroad track, river, body of water, or any other physical obstacle. ... Motorway mark in Europe. ... Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my [birth]right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages English (de facto) Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked... A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury Festival or Glasto, is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world, and it is one of the two biggest festivals in Europe (the other being the Roskilde Festival). ... Download festival 2005 The Download Festival is a three day rock/metal/punk festival held annually at the spiritual home of rock music in England - Donington Park, which hosted the Monsters of Rock Festivals between 1980 and 1996, and 2002s Ozzfest. ...

Background

Caitanya Mahaprabhu (Gouranga)

The literal translation from the original Sanskrit language means "Golden (Gaura) Limbed (Anga)" referring to Caitanya Mahaprabhu's golden skin complexion. Within Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition it is said that whoever hears, reads, or speaks the name "Gouranga" is blessed with "amazing fortune" and happiness due to Caitanya Mahaprabhu's extraordinary saintly nature. Image File history File links 1Gouranga1. ... Image File history File links 1Gouranga1. ... Deities of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (right) and Sri Nityananda (left) at Radha-Krishna temple in Radhadesh, Belgium Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (also transliterated Chaitanya) (1486 - 1534), was an ascetic Hindu monk and social reformer in 16th century Bengal, India (present-day West Bengal and Bangladesh). ... Gaudiya Vaishnavism, (Bengal) Vaishnavism, is a sect of Hinduism founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. ... Deities of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (right) and Sri Nityananda (left) at Radha-Krishna temple in Radhadesh, Belgium Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (also transliterated Chaitanya) (1486 - 1534), was an ascetic Hindu monk and social reformer in 16th century Bengal, India (present-day West Bengal and Bangladesh). ...

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." (See also Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.32.) Mayapur near Navadvip, West Bengal, India, 130 km north of Kolkata (Calcutta), is one of the most holy places in India, visited by over a million pilgrims annually. ... Bengal, known as Bôngo (Bengali: বঙ্গ), Bangla (বাংলা), Bôngodesh (বঙ্গদেশ), or Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) in Bangla, is a region in the northeast of South Asia. ... // Events Tízoc, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan dies of poisoning. ... The Bhagavata Purana (sometimes rendered as Bhagavatha Purana), also known as the Srimad Bhagavatam, written c. ...

Pronunciation

The Urban Dictionary has an audio file giving the correct pronunciation of the word Gouranga: [1] [ˈgurəŋgə]

The C in Caitanya is pronounced like the ch in cheese. Sometimes the secondary title Mahaprabhu is also added, meaning "Great Master".

Other Theories on the Origin of Gouranga

1) It is the name of a bridge building company in the North of England

2) The makers of Grand Theft Auto (video game) created the craze to publicize the first game in the series Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a computer and video game created by DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and published by ASC Games in 1998. ...

3) A clothing company started it as a publicity stunt

4) Recently, in a video meme World Giant, an extension of Frank Shepard Fairey's André the Giant street art campaign, claimed responsibility for Gouranga. The term meme (IPA: ) refers to any unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea or concept, which one mind transmits (verbally or by repeated action) to another mind. ... Shepard Fairey in an Elizabeth Daniels portrait Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina) is a contemporary graphic designer. ... André the Giant (May 19, 1946 – January 27, 1993) was a professional wrestler and actor, born André René Roussimoff in Molien, France. ... Example of small sized street art on a public building street art in Frankfurt Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, in the streets — though the term usually refers to art of an illicit nature (as opposed to, for instance, government or community art initiatives). ...

Email and ICQ spam

A spate of spam emails have also appeared, and are sometimes known simply as the Hare Krishna spam: View of a modern spam email, containing an advertising image. ...

 Subject: Gouranga Call out Gouranga be happy!!! Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga .... That which brings the highest happiness!! 

When the International Society for Krishna Consciousness was contacted about the emails, there was no reply from the organization, but an unknown person responded independently and described their motives: To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

 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.[2]

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" sends the message

 Call out Gouranga Be Happy... Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga That which brings the highest happiness! 

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). Remarkable is that the three exclamation marks are now replaced by three dots. The person who received this did not catch the IP-address of the ICQ-user 209142623. With the IP-address the location of the spammer could possibly be revealed.

Gouranga in Grand Theft Auto

The word is involved in one of the many politically incorrect easter eggs in part one of the video game series Grand Theft Auto. A virtual Easter egg is a hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, or computer program. ... Post-GTA2 design of the Grand Theft Auto logo Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a computer and video game series created and developed by Scottish developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), published by Rockstar Games and debuted in 1998. ...

The game displays the text "GOURANGA!" whenever the player runs over a 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. Grand Theft Auto 2 (or GTA2) is a video game released worldwide on October 22, 1999 by developers Rockstar North; initially for the PC and PlayStation, and subsequently for the Dreamcast console, and a toned-down version for Game Boy Color. ...

Notes

• Gouranga, meaning be Happy

External links

• Pronunciation in MP3
• Discussion on Gouranga
• Gouranga Spam
• Recent News Story
• Origins of Gouranga
• Gouranga Tatoo
• Vedic Encyclopedia
• Urban Dictionary Definitions