Happy = Gouranga

BY: MRIGENDRA DASA

Jul 18, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (SUN) — In a forum posting at The Republic of Geektronica, readers discuss 'happy spam' by the name of "Gouranga". The poster writes, "Got this in my inbox today:

From: Neateye [nitaigouranga@aol.com]
Call out Gouranga be happy!
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga
That which brings the highest happiness…

Joe Wein explains:

"Gauranga (Gouranga) was a nickname of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a monk in India who 500 years ago founded the branch of Hinduism that during the 20th century was brought to the west by ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as the “Hare Krishna” sect).

Years ago the name Gouranga appeared on motorway bridges in the North of England and on various stickers, causing people to wonder what it was all about. It has been rumoured that the Scottish branch of ISKCON has been trying to spread the name of their spiritual ancestor through a guerilla-type campaign. We have no idea if there is any substance to these rumours. It’s equally plausible that this is just somebody’s sense of humour. Hare Krishna-related jokes in popular culture are not uncommon, such in the movie “Airplane” or the “Gouranga” references in the Playstation videogame “Grand Theft Auto”. link

The GTA angle is apparently pretty well-known; gouranga.com is a Grand Theft Auto fansite. Also, the AOL email address is fake, but used consistently enough that blocking it works.