The glories of the Holy Name:

What is actually the ‘nama’ (Name)?

Srimat Jiva Goswamipad has written in Sri Bhakti-Sandarbha –

“’Nama’ is a sound used to identify certain object.”

Shabda-Kalpa-Droom (a Sanskrit dictionary) says

“Sound is of two types –

• That which cannot be pronounced (just as a thunder or rustling of leaves)
• That which can be pronounced”

Of course, a name is something we can pronounce.

Whenever we want to talk about an object we say its name. For example a thirsty person says “Please give me water”. Immediately we think of a liquid substance that quenches thirst. In this manner every person, object, concept or idea has a name that distinguishes it from others. “Nami” is the object (e.g. the object ‘water’) to which the name belongs. ‘Nama’ is simply the word (e.g. ‘water’ in English), while ‘nami’ is the object itself. The only function the nama serves is to denote the object – it has no quality of the object whatsoever. Had it not been so, we would have quenched our thirst simply by uttering “water” – there would have been no need to actually drink water. If nama and nami would have been non-different, nama would have had all the power of nami.

Shabda-Shakti-Prakâshikâ says

– Names are of two types

• Man-made
• Eternal

The Holy Name and God are non-different:

Sri Padma Purana says –

“The Holy Name is non-different from Sri Krishna and therefore it is a wish-fulfilling gem – conscious, full of rasa, absolute, pure, eternal and independent like Him.”

The Holy Name is a wish-fulfilling gem since it can grant all our wishes. Not only this, but like Sri Krishna it is also conscious. It is factually Sri Krishna Himself!

– (Bhagavad Sandarbha, 48)

The holy name is the only way for the deliverance of souls in the age of Kali:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā

– Bṛhan-Nāradīya-Purāṇa 38.126

In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way. 

The method of chanting the Holy Name:

manaḥ saṁharaṇaṁ śaucaṁ maunaṁ mantrārtha-cintanam

avyagratvam anirvedo japa-sampatti-hetavaḥ

– HBV/BR 1.33

While chanting, one should be one-pointed and give up talking about mundane topics. With a pure heart, one should think about the meaning of the holy name, and be steadfast and patient in his chanting and remembrance of the holy name.

tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā

amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

Considering oneself to be even lower and more worthless than insignificant grass that has been trampled beneath everyone’s feet, being more tolerant than atree, being prideless and offering respect to everyone according to their respective positions, one should continually chant the holy name of Śrī Hari.

The power of the Holy Name:

nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis

tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ

etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi

durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ

Śikṣāṣṭaka 2

“O Bhagavān, Your names bestow all auspiciousness upon the jīvas. Therefore, for their benefit, You are eternally manifest as Your innumerable names, such as Rāma, Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, Mādhava, Govinda and Dāmodara. You have invested those names with all the potencies of Their respective forms. Out of Your causeless mercy, You have not even imposed any restrictions on the remembrance of Your names, as is the case with gāyātryī-mantras that must be chanted at specific times (sandhyā-vandana). In other words, the holy name of Bhagavān can be chanted and remembered at any time of the day or night. This is the arrangement You have made. O Prabhu, You have such causeless mercy upon the jīvas; nevertheless, due to my nāma-aparādha, I am so unfortunate that no attachment for Your holy name, which is so easily accessible and which bestows all good fortune, has awakened within me.”

kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ

dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt

– SB 12.3.52

Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Viṣṇu, in Tretā-yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dvāpara-yuga by serving the Lord’s lotus feet can be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

ākṛṣṭiḥ kṛta-cetasāṁ sumahatām muccāṭanaṁ cāṁhasāṁ ācaṇḍālam amūka-loka-sulabho vaśyaś ca mokṣa-śriyaḥ no dīkṣāṁ na ca dakṣināṁ na ca puraścaryāṁ manāg īkṣate mantro’yaṁ rasanā-spṛg eva phalati śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmātmaka

– Padyāvalī 29, Śrī Lakṣmīdhara

The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is an attractive feature for many saintly, liberal people. It is the annihilator of all sinful reactions and is so powerful that save for the dumb who cannot chant it, it is readily available to everyone, including the lowest type of man, the caṇḍāla. The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is the controller of the opulence of liberation, and it is identical with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Simply by touching the holy name with one’s tongue, immediate effects are produced. Chanting the holy name does not depend on initiation, pious activities, or the puraścaryā regulative principles generally observed before initiation. The holy name does not wait for all these activities. It is self-sufficient.  

The Hare Krishna-Maha-Mantra in shastra:

Lord Brahmā instructed Nārada Muni

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma, rāma rāma hare hare iti ṣoḍaśakaṁ nāmnāṁ kali-kalmaṣa-nāśanaṁ nātaḥ parataropayaḥ sarva-vedeṣu dṛśyate

– Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad 5.6

Through chanting the sixteen words of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra all of the contamination and degrading qualities of the age of Kali are destroyed. After searching through the entire Vedic literature one cannot find a sādhana for this age as sublime as this chanting.

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare raṭanti helayā vāpi te kṛtārthā na saṁśayaḥ

– Agni-Purāṇa

Hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare. Whoever chants this mantra, even

neglectfully, will attain the supreme goal of life. Of this there is no doubt.