Hari - Religious Usage

Religious Usage

• The word Hari is a particular class of gods under manu tamasa.
• The Harivamsha ("lineage of Hari") is a text in both the Puranic and Itihasa traditions.
• Vaishnavites believe that God (conceived as Vishnu) has form and is without form. Swami Tapasyananda, in his book, Bhakti Schools of Vedanta, reminds readers that Vishnu pervades everything and is not anthropomorphic. Vishnu has no particular material form but can manifest in any form, and is a center of all force, power, will, auspiciousness, goodness, beauty, grace, responsiveness, etc. As Swami Tapasyananda said, "Vishnu is the Indwelling Spirit in all beings and the whole cosmos constitute His body."
• In the Sikhism religion it is the holy symbol consisting of the three Gurmukhi letters and is used as "हरि" "ਹਰਿ". In the Sikh's holy book Granth Sahib which Sikhs revere as their 11th guru contains this word more than 8500 times.
• In the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, Hari is a name of both Krishna or Vishnu meaning "he who steals, or takes away", referring to how Krishna takes away all distress and anxieties, and lovingly robs the heart of His devotee. During religious festivals it is a common occurrence to hear people call out Haribol ! Haribol ! meaning "please call out the name Hari", the Hare Krishna mantra contains the name in the vocative.
• According to Adi Sankara's commentary on the Vishnu sahasranama, Hari means "One who destroys samsara", which is the entanglement in the cycle of birth and death, along with ignorance, its cause.
• In the Ravidasi religion it is the holy symbol consisting of the three Gurmukhi letters with the character for "i" being made into a flame. It adorns all Ravidasi temples, known as Gurdehras. In Ravidassia Dharam it is used as "हरि" "ਹਰਿ".
• It is a name of God in Hindu.