A dog learns the Krishna greeting

And your dog can too! In the process, you’ll learn it as well. And at least your pet can learn the physical gesture accompanied with the greeting. The actual joyful exclamation of “haribol” may or may not happen.

Krishna devotees often say haribol instead of ‘hello’ or ‘bye’. This is an age-old tradition actually. Hari is a name of Krishna which means ‘a thief’ – Krishna lovingly steals the hearts of His devotees. Bol means ‘sing’. So, haribol = sing the name of Hari.

Let’s go through a few basic tricks first, demonstrated by my sister Kaisu and her dog Sara.

Stay!

Lay down!

The next thing to learn is a bit more challenging one: waving with one paw at a time.

Wave!

Now the doggie is ready for near-transcendental antics. Very clearly, loudly and happily say: Haribol! and lift your arms up in the air. This is how it’s done in blissful ecstasy:

Krishna devotees chanting and dancing in the 60's or early 70's

As you exclaim Hariboool! your dog should stand up and raise its “arms”. On top of that, if your dog replies with “Haribol!” or “Hare Krishna!” as the custom is, he would not be the first dog in the history (there was one about 500 years ago who, in the association of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu [the most recent avatar of Krishna], actually chanted the mahamantra and ascended to the spiritual world as a result).

Haribol!

You can read about Sri Chaitanya and the dog, as well as hundreds of other stories of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s life, in Sri Chaitanya-Charitamrita (available for free download on our books page). Ok everybody, talk to you later, haribol!

Photography by Minna Kulmala