Even other names of Krishna- doesn't become mantra
Madhusudana das: The devotees had seen in second volume of Prabhupada's Bhagavatam, there was a verse and a purport. In the purport, it was written in verse form, it was names of Krishna. He Krishna Govinda Hari Murari, He Natha Narayana Vasudeva. In the purport, Prabhupada was explaining that Krishna is all of those in one. So we thought this was a mantra of some kind and they were obviously names of Krishna, so we started chanting it. We put it to music, of course, with all the various instruments, and we were singing it…it was kind of like a hootenanny. We were really having a ball chanting this new…because this was at the beginning when there were not very many mantras other than Hare Krishna. So we were singing this and having a great time.
When Prabhupada arrived, we all bowed down and paid obeisances and he got on the vyasasana and he spoke to us and said, "Oh, who has given you this mantra?" Somebody said, "Oh, we saw this in your Bhagavatam, Prabhupada." He said, "This should not be chanted." He said, "This is not bona fide." And we were just…talk about thunderstruck! We were so bewildered. He proceeded to explain. He said that "Even they are names of Krishna, unless the mantra is given by the disciplic succession it shouldn't be chanted, even though they are names of Krishna." And there's a verse like that saying that it has to come from the sampradaya. So right after that, then he said, "Oh, so you want another mantra to chant?" And everybody just spontaneously said, "Yes!" and everybody kind of cheered. So he started singing jaya sri-krishna-caitanya prabhu nityananda, sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda, and then he introduced it in kirtan.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada – Remembrances by Yadubara Dasa
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