Understanding Kṛṣṇa and Christ
113
and the Holy Spirit. We believe we can know the name of God only by revelation from the Son of God. Jesus Christ revealed the name of the father, and therefore we take the name Christ as the revealed name of God.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Actually, it doesn't matter— Kṛṣṇa  or  Christ —the name is the same. The main point is to follow the injunctions of the Vedic scriptures that recommend chanting the name of God in this age. The easiest way is to chant the  mahā-mantra : Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.  Rāma  and  Kṛṣṇa  are names of God, and  Hare  is the energy of God. So when we chant the  mahā-mantra , we address God together with His energy. This energy is of two kinds, the spiritual and the material. At present we are in the clutches of the material energy. Therefore we pray to Kṛṣṇa that He may kindly deliver us from the service of the material energy and accept us into the service of the spiritual energy. That is our whole philosophy.  Hare Kṛṣṇa  means, "O energy of God, O God [Kṛṣṇa], please engage me in Your service." It is our nature to render service. Somehow or other we have come to the service of material things, but when this service is transformed into the service of the spiritual energy, then our life is perfect. To practice  bhakti-yoga  [loving service to God] means to become free from designations like "Hindu," "Muslim," "Christian," this or that, and simply to serve God. We have created Christian, Hindu, and Muhammadan religions, but when we come to a religion without designations, in which we don't think we are Hindus or Christians or Muhammadans, then we can speak of pure religion, or  bhakti .
Father Emmanuel:   Mukti  ?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  No,  bhakti . When we speak of  bhakti ,  mukti  [liberation from material miseries] is included. Without  bhakti  there is no  mukti , but if we act on the platform of  bhakti , then  mukti  is included. We learn this from the  Bhagavad-gītā  [14.26]:
māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa   bhakti-yogena sevate   sa gunān samatītyaitān   brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
"One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down under any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman."