The most well-known expression of devotion in the Hindu religious ethos is therefore the nAma-sankIrtana, recitation of (God's) names, collective or individual. The repetitive musical recitation (called bhajan) of God's names can be very rewarding in terms of an elevation of the mood and the spiritual awakening of the mind In the latter half of the 20th century the practice of these bhajans in a congregational form has increased enormously due to the influence of godmen like Sathya Sai Baba and many other Swamis who have all contributed to the phenomenon becoming almost an inter-communal, inter-religious community routine. It looks as if a great revolution is happening, at the international level, to turn the people of the world spiritually inward. In this context it is necessary to mention Shrila Prabhupada (1896-1977 C.E.) who has remarkably transformed thousands of materialistic youth of modern times into pious personalities with the loftiest of spiritual and ethical ideals. The unceasing chanting of the Hare Krishna Mantra by this ocean of devotees singly and collectively, in the Chaitanya tradition, has now made the Mantra the most popular Mantra the world over. In Sanskrit one finds that every proper name has a meaning, not always the obvious one. It is usually a meaning that is derived from the root syllables that go into the name. To chant the names of God is to be immersed in the ecstasy of identity with the glories of God as encompassed by the name we chant. The mind is always riddled with desire and hate, lust and greed, and so is as unsteady as a sailboat in an ocean and as such, needs a symbol, a prop, upon which the Lord can be superimposed for the purpose of single-minded concentration. The Lord's name serves as this symbol. Reciting God's names, repeating them in a certain rhythmic pattern, recalling God's majesty and splendour, His immanence and Transcendence, His omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence, His perfection - these are the ways in which one uses this prop of God's names for turning the mind inward. Such a prop of God's names is used in every religion. But in Hinduism it is the central cord that unmistakably vibrates throughout its vast tradition, literature and culture. The eloquence with which this literature is extolled by Sage Narada to Vyasa in a dramatic revelation about his own life must be enjoyed in the original. (bhAgavatam I – 5-11):
Only that literature is worthwhile, says Narada which is replete with the transcendental glories of the name, fame and miracles of the Infinite Supreme Lord. Only such a literature will bring about a revolution in the impious ways of our misdirected civilization. Even if that literature is imperfectly composed, goes on Narada, it will be heard, sung and accepted by honest people all over the world.:
tad-vAg-visargo janatAgha-viplavo yasmin prati-shlokam-abaddhavatyapi /
nAmAnyanantasya yaSonkitAni yat shRNvanti gAyanti gRHNanti sAdhavaH //
According to Narada, Vyasa, in his several purANas, did not emphasize this aspect sufficiently and that was why Vyasa, even after so many scriptural texts, felt dissatisfied, unfulfilled, almost desolate. It was on the prompting by Narada that Vyasa created the bhAgavatam which is out and out, a work of bhakti in which the glories of the Lord are sung throughout, exquisitely blended with metaphysical exposition.
However, despite Narada's criticism, we of the kali-yuga must be thankful to Vyasa for interpolating in the narrative part of all his purANas, innumerable stotras (poems of praise) which have served over the centuries as texts for recitations and repetitions of God's names and glories. Some of them contain as many as one thousand and eight names of the Lord. These are called sahasra-namas (sahasra = thousand, namas = names; and so these are litanies of thousand names). There is probably at least one for each divinity. The most well-known are the Vishnu Sahasra-nAma and the Shiva-sahasranAma (both occurring in the Mahabharata) and the LalitA-SahasranAma (occurring in the BrahmaNDa-purANa). Nowhere in world literature are we likely to find something that matches these long 'streamlined' poems densely packed with meaning and seemingly endless recitals of the Lord's names, glories and splendour with no sacrifice of poetic elegance or grace. The rhythmic sound effects and the elevating moods that these poems of praise (and community bhajans) can produce even in the ears of those who don’t understand the language must be heard and experienced to be believed. Each one of them describes the infinite qualities of the God or Goddess in several ways and each description is only a fragmentary rendering of the Almighty's infinite number of auspicious attributes. It does not matter which sahasra-nama we are looking at, whether of Vishnu or Shiva or Goddess Lalita, everywhere we meet with the same majesty of encyclopaedic exhaustiveness. We shall give just a sample of the depth of the meanings involved in these names.
He is Shiva because He is the auspicious among the auspicious. He is Shankara because He gives you the ultimate auspiciousness. He makes you happy. He is Vishnu because He pervades everywhere. The root syllable for Vishnu is 'to pervade'. He is Kesava because, kah means Brahma, ah means Vishnu and Isah means Shiva and so kah + ah + Isah gives the meaning: The One of whom all the three Gods of the Trinity are only subtle manifestations. He is Krishna because He attracts everybody; also because 'krs' stands for existence and 'na' stands for bliss and so Krishna stands for the union of the two. The names Narayana and Rama have already been mentioned in Section 7.
Each name of God has been interpreted as indicative of certain qualities of His, or perhaps the name itself has arisen because of that quality or attribute. For a sample we take some names from LalitA-sahasranAma. Lalita, the Mother Goddess, is dear to devotees because of their devotion, so She is bhakti-priyA. She is also bhakti-gamyA, because she is attainable through bhakti alone. She is bayApahA since She removes all fears. She is bhakti-vaSyA, since She is bound by bhakti. She is niranjanA, faultless; nirlepA, attachmentless; nirmalA, blemishless; nityA, permanent; nirAkArA, formless; nirAkulA, delusionless and therefore not reachable by those who are deluded. She is nirbhavA, one without birth and death, and for this very reason, She is bhava-nASinI, one who destroys the disease of birth and death. To understand the profound significance of many of these epithets of the Almighty, one has to get acquainted with the deeper parts of Hinduism, namely the wisdom taught by the Upanishads. She is antar-mukha-samArAdhyA, one who is to be worshipped by turning inward. She is bahir-mukha-sudurlabhA, unattainable, if you search for Her outside. She is devoid of name and form, so nAma-rUpa-vivarjitA. She is pleased by the recitation of Her names, so nAma-pArAyaNa-prItA. She is the One Person to be known by all the vedas, therefore veda-vedyA. She is the original source of the vedas, therefore veda-jananI. She is the one who is pointed out by the word 'that' in all the scriptures, so She is tat-pada-lakshyArthA. She is the original Energy that first sprouted from the formless Brahman, therefore, Adi-Shakti. She is immeasurable, either by the senses or the mind, therefore, ameyA. Finally, She is avyAja-karuNA-mUrti , the personification of (boundless motherly) Grace, without any reason whatsoever. VyAja also means ‘gain’ or ‘interest’. She does not expect any gain in return!
For those who are not in a positition to read or recite a stotra, Hindu tradition has provided innumerable bhajans, devotional songs with a refrain, set to captivating tunes, particularly suitable for being sung in a chorus by a congregation. In these bhajans, a variety of God's several names are repetitively strung together in a melody and rhythm that are so delightfully musical that one is carried into ecstasy even by simply listening to them. This tradition of musical devotion came into prominence all over India mainly after the revival of the Bhakti movement in the 15th and 16th centuries. That the name of God itself constitutes a mantra is the grand principle of the nAma-smarana (remembering of God's names) and nAma-sankirtana (musical singing of God's names) This has been most dramatically confirmed by the modern International Krishna Consciousness Movement by the meteoric popularity generated by them for the hare krishna' mantra :
hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare /
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare //
The ecstasy with which the Krishna Consciousness devotees dance and jump at the musical chanting of this mantra, accompanied by cymbals, singly and collectively, for hours together, is a sight to be seen to be believed. God is harih, because the root word har means to destroy; He destroys samsAra (the cycle of births and deaths) as well as sins of man. He carries away (harati) the sins of even evil-minded people. He attracts everything by His charm, therefore He is Krishna. He is Krishna, also because the root Kr indicates Existence and the syllable na indicates Bliss. By His very existence He gives bliss, therefore Krishna. From this meaning several traditions about the word Krishna have arisen. Whatever ritualistic purifications are prescribed in the form of penances and sacrifices, they are all superseded by the very remembrance of Krishna the Lord -- says an age-old verse. Says another such verse: The only medicine to cure the one bitten sharply by the serpent of samsAra is the great mantra glorifying the Lord Vishnu, namely 'Krishna'. The sanctity of the hare krishna mantra goes back to one of the Upanishads, known as kali-santarana-Upanishad.
One might have wondered how these devotees could even dance in ecstasy singing this bhajan. In fact they maintain that the worship of the Lord with song and dance must be done by the devotees as a daily duty. The modern Krishna Consciousness movement has made this tradition come alive on an international scale. The schools of various Godmen, particularly the Sai movement which has roots in all the countries now across the world, have also popularised this bhajan tradition to such an extent and so innovatively that it is no more a congregation professing just one religion and has thus become the greatest integrating phenomenon of all humanity who believe in the existence of a Divinity Which is immanent, transcendent and perfect.
QUESTION: When the vedas prescribe costly, elaborate and difficult sacrifices and rituals for man's salvation, how can mere praise of the Lord, which costs no money, substitute for them?
The very ease with which one can practise this singing of God's names is a factor in its favour. It is highly recommended by every Hindu scripture for many reasons. It is the only mode open to all, irrespective of caste, creed, sex, status of enlightenment, state of mind or any other distinction. It does no harm to others. It is not conditioned by time; any time is good enough. It is not conditioned by place; there is no rule which says, you have to do kirtana here and not there. There is no ritualistic requiremment. Since the recalling of the names of God is of the purest of the pure (pavitrANAm pavitram) whether one is personally impure or pure, whatever may be one's physical or mental state, one who seeks punDarIkAksha (the lotus-eyed Lord) with his heart becomes pure both externally and internally:
apavitraH pavitro vA sarvA-vasthAm gato'pi vA /
yas-smaret-punDarIkAksham sa bAhyAbhyantaraH SuciH //
Sins of action, sins of the mind and sins of the tongue - are all eradicated, without doubt, by just the remembrance of the name SrI-rAma. :
mAnasaM vAcikaM pApam karmaNA samupArjitaM /
SrIrAma-smaraNenaiva vyapohati na samSayaH //
These two verses are invariably recalled at the beginning of every Hindu religious rite.
Question: How can mere words and repetition of words have so much power?
Yes, mere words and repetitions of words do have great power. First, let us consider a simple explanation. Those who rely totally on the limited laws of science and reason may argue that words are, after all, just sound and cannot be expected to cleanse or correct the mind of man. But a word is not just a sound. Kalidasa, in the very first shloka of his Raghuvamsam, very expressively brings out the identity between vAk (word uttered) and artha (its meaning, significance) by comparing it to the intertwining between the male and female forms in the ardha-nArISvara representation of Shiva. When we say ‘table’ the four-legged piece of furniture instantaneously appears as mental picture. You cannot think of one without the other. People are sitting quietly in, say, a meeting. Somebody calls, ‘Snake!’ Will the calm continue? Just the word ‘snake’ magically destroys it. One might be sitting before a plateful of delicacies, but if somebody nearby speaks of something dirty or disgusting, one is repelled by the food. The mere sound of words creates so strong a reaction.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba tells an unforgettable story that illustrates this. A certain officer was inspecting the work of a teacher in a school. The officer who had a hearty contempt for ‘mere talk’ asked the teacher, “How can you ever hope to transform the nature of these children by the words you utter? Show them by deeds: act, don’t speak!” The teacher protested and argued that words do have a profound effect on the mind. The argument continued for some time and the teacher was desperately looking for some way of carrying home his point. At last he resolved on a plan. He said to one of his pupils: ‘Look here, catch hold of this officer by the neck and push him out of the room.’ Hearing this, the inspector flew into a rage and started berating the teacher. The teacher said, ‘Sir, I only made some sounds shaped into a few words. No one pushed you or hit you or even touched you. It was all mere sound. But see how it has enraged you. It was all mere sound. Words, sir, do help in modifying character and shaping nature. They have vast power.’ And Sathya Sai Baba continues to explain:
“When words referring to worldly situations have such an electric transforming effect on the mind of man, certainly words conveying spiritual and elevated meaning will help in cleansing and correcting the mind of man . When we filter the air with harshness, we become harsh in nature, when we fill the atmosphere with hatred, we too have perforce to breathe that air and we are hated in return. When we saturate the air with sounds full of reverence, humilty, love, courage, self-confidence and tolerance, we benefit from those qualities ourselves. The heart is the film and the mind is the lens. Turn the lens toward the world and a worldly picture will fall on the heart. Turn it towards God and it will transmit pictures of the Divine”.
There is another explanation, an esoteric one, for the efficacy of nAma-sankIrtana. It is a natural outpouring of sentiments from the heart and leads to a communion between God and Man. During nAma-sankIrtanas a charmed circle of sound is produced and a strange sense of the greatness of God and the essential unity of man creeps into the soul. With the successive awakening of each of the six yogic chakras in the human body, there are corresponding changes in one’s body, emotions, mind and degree of consciousness. The progressive expansion of consciousness yields an increase of knowledge about oneself and a deepening awareness of the self-luminant Resident of the body, namely, the Atman.
The Kundalini shakti, which sleeps as it were at the MulAdhAra chakra can be made by yoga practices to wake up, evolve and travel upwards through the sushumnA nADi. While it does so it is imperceptible to the senses. But every day it expresses itself, in every one of us, in all our activities. Particularly the expression of it in the form of the human voice is known as the manifestation of nAda-brahman, the Sound Absolute. Thus in the perfection of the human voice the primeval energy comes to prominence through the words, sentences, and mantras we utter. We do not realise, in our ignorance, that it is the Absolute Supreme that is expressing itself through our voice and that the satisfaction we derive in saying whatever we say is only an iota of that Infinite Bliss which is in us. If only we could recite the names of God unendingly, it would take us towards an identity with the nAda brahman at every step. A bhajan of the several names of the Infinite Being (like the Hare Krishna mantra) creates the necessary vibrations, starting from the MulAdhAra-chakra. An unceasing nAma-sankIrtan cleanses the crust of vAsanAs that has accumulated over several births, and thus paves the way for the stored-up Kundalini energy to get tuned to the frequency of the Infinite Energy in the Cosmos.
The recitation of the names should come from the heart, not just from the lips or the tongue. It must be a spontaneous manifestation of inner conviction and ecstasy. Such intense yearning for God purifies oneself as well as those around. Life is full of sorrow, beset with fear and despair. The only way one strengthens oneself to meet hard times is to contact the source of all strength and bliss, namely the Infinite God. This is the way to overcome the evil in us, lay low the ‘pashu’ (beast) in us and instal the ‘pashu-pati’ (Lord of all beings) in our hearts. In reciting the names, however, one should not be guilty of offences to the Name. Such offences will more than offset the benefits of nAma-smaraNa. One should not insult or speak ill of others, since every one is divine. No distinction should be made between different names or forms of God, though one may have some tastes in the matter –which, mostly is because of one’s background of evolution, not only in this birth, but in all previous births. The Divine Name should be looked upon as supreme truth and not as mere eulogy.
It is true that the repetition of God’s names will absolve one of all sins, but on that account one should not use the name as a cloak for the commission of sins. The cultivation of the five basic virtues, namely, Purity, Self-Control, Detachment, Truth and Non-violence, should not be neglected. One should not behave in a way which is devoid of love; one should not be governed by the conceits of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’. The fundamental principle of nAma-smaraNa and nAma-sankIrtana is shraddhA (faith and conviction). Love of, and exclusive devotion to, the Lord, is necessary. When one does such a nAma-smaraNa it becomes a yajna in itself. The Lord Himself says in the Gita: ‘Of all yajnas I am the japa-yajna’. The theme of nAma-smaraNa or a bhajan or a japa should be that the one Supreme Almighty, who is spoken of by different names, is the subtlest of things ever experienced, though hard to analyse or apprehend by ordinary commonsense and, therefore, every name of His should take us to Him, if we realise the intrinsic value thereof.
The names of God have been given great sanctity by the Vedas themselves in which we find the basic mantras such as Om namaH ShivAya and Om namo nArAyaNAya. Om itself (-- to emphasize the three components in the vocalisation of the word OM, the English spelling AUM is very often used -) is a mystic word most important for the religious and spiritual pursuit of a Hindu. It is spoken of as the primeval word that stands for the entire universe permeated by Brahman and therefore it is Brahman itself. The three sounds that go to make up Om constitute symbolically the entire universe of words. For A is the sound with which the human mouth is oipened to speakany word and U is the sound which allows the tongue all positions from the palate to the lips and M is the vocal movement one makes to close the lips. Every sound which man can produce is between the extremes of A and M and so, together with the intermediate stage of U, it represents everything words can represent.
In fact a whole Upanishad though a very small one, namely MANDUkyopanishad devotes itself entirely to the explanation of the word OM. It explains the symbolism underlying the repeated insistence of all the Upanishads that the word OM is the supreme Alambana (prop) to reach Brahman, it is the one thing which is talked about by all the Vedas and it is for this alone that sages do pen ance and undergo countless austerities. It represents both the Brahman with attributes and the Brahman without attributes. It is a reminder of the true state of our being. Hence it is that OM is repeated at the beginning and conclusion of everything. Ithe JIva which leaves the body in the midst of conscious OM recitation is said to merge in Brahman itself that is, attain moksha. Hence it is that all mantras begin with OM. Meditation on the word OM is recommended as a direct path to Self-realization.
QUESTION: Is not all this too much of an abstraction and haven’t we strayed too far from our discussion of bhakti and nAma-smaraNa?
Yes. Om is certainly an abstract symbol and for that very reason it is not usually the first attraction for a not-very-evolved person. For such a one, the names Rama, Shiva, Narayana, Krishna etc. are more full of imagery, because each of these names has a massive body of mythology woven round it. Popular opinion therefore tends to prefer recitation of these names of God. It is in this spirit as we have noted already, that the many stotras and sahasranamas have been composed. The extracts from these ‘catalogues’ of names of God are not meant to overwhelm the reader; they are given only to show that the stotras are not just directories or name lists compiled for the benefit of expectant mothers though they are often used for this purpose by parents. Each name has a profound significance in terms of the entire gamut of Hindu religion and philosophy. To recite these names is to be immersed in the wealth of their meanings and this is the surest and smoothest way to concentrate on God and delight in ecstatic states of experience in his remembrance.
There are thousands and thousands of names in the various sahasranAmas. But there is one name of God which has been termed tAraka-nAma, that is, the name which helpa one transcend the plurality of the universe. This name is Rama, as we have seen in Section 7. Certainly the name is that of the famous son of Dasaratha, King of ayodhya; but the greatness of that name is not just because the son of Dasaratha did what he did. The word ‘Rama’ has several esoteric meanings and when sage Vasishta hit upon it for the first son of Dasaratha, it was already a tAraka-mantra, as Valmiki’s story of redemption from his previous life of a robber will confirm. The word has two syllables rA and ma. The syllable rA erases all impurities of the mind whereas the syllablme ma insulates the mind from any further impurities. Brahman itself is indicated by the word Rama, says the Padma-PurANa; because it shows that yogis revel in the permanent bliss of the cidAtman, the Atman that is nothing but Consciousness.
The derivation of words from their root syllables is, in the Sanskrit language a very instructive exercise and Hindu religious literature is replete with such derivations for almost every word that it uses. Each of the names, Rama, Shiva, Narayana (in fact, each one of the names in the sahasranama lists) has been assigned several derivations from their root syllables. Sometimes one uses them also as code words indicated by the numerical values associated with them by the kaTapayA sankhyA notation systematically used by ancient Hindu mathematics, astronomy and astrology. According to this notation Rama would correspond to the number 52 and therefore would stand for the entire substratum of all that is in the universe, because the universe consists only fifty ‘fundamental principles’ (tattvas). Instead of getting into these technicalities, let it suffice to say that the names of God are not just words; each is immersed iun a plethora of symb olism, imagery and content packed into it by tradition, language, scholarship and the scriptures. The name Rama in addition has a special significance in that while there are rules and regulations specifying the time and place for chanting several other names and mantras, no such injunctions apply to the uttering of this single divine name. RamakarnAmRta says:
That single name which alone is equivalent to the thousand names of God, that Name which is equivalent to all the Vedas, that Name which in a sentence spells such terror unto the Rakshasa women as to cause them miscarriage (total destruction to the seeds of evil) that Name which is the ever-readydonor of moksha equally to the lowly and the highest born – that Name is th delightful name of Rama of the Raghuclan, that Name is the nectarian Rama nAma.
Bhakti yoga requires that the uttering of the Lord’s name must become second nature to a devotee. We must learn to invoke God’s name ‘more often than we breathe’ always and everywhere! The pre-eminent Rama-bhakta Saint Tyagaraja, in his composition’Shri Raghuvara’ in the Deva-gandhari raga prays for nothing more than that his tongue should be given to continuous repetition of the Lord’s name:
mA rAma rasanamuna ni nAmamu mari balkanu dayA cheyumu.
In the same way the Tamil Saint Appar prays to the Lord that if he forgets the Lord, his tongue should go on repeating the name of Shiva:
naRRavA unnai nAn maRakkinum sollu nA namasshivAyave
Nama-japa or Nama-sankIrtana is only a means to an end – the end being to obtain God’s Grace. Without His Grace nothing can be achieved. But this does not mean that God is a capricious monster sitting in the heavens above and dispensing His Grace at His whim and fancy. No. He is in the heart of our hearts. He is the innermost self of each one of us. Therefore He knows us more than we know ourselves. We cannot hide even a fragment of our thought from Him. He knows whether or not we are sincere. He knows who is paying lip service to bhakti and who has bhakti truly in his heart. And Grace depends on this.
The completion of the topic of Nama-smarana has to be done with the story of Ajamila (pronounced ajAmiLa) that occurs in the sixth skanda of Srimad Bhagavatam. Ajamila was once a very noble brahmin, performing his duties and prescribed rituals most sincerely and was also a good husband, good son and good father. Once when he was in the forest to gather the fuel-wood for his rituals, he fell for a woman, heart and soul. Actually the woman was one of very low morals. From that time onwards he lived with her, abandoned his family and his own parents. He got ten children by her, made a living and supported this large family by blackmailing rich people, by cheating, fraud and gambling. He was particularly fond of the youngest child, Narayana, by name. The attachment to the child was so pronounced that whether he was eating, drinking, relaxing or working, he would always want Narayana to be by his side and partake of his food or participate in his enjoyment. When finally the call from Yama, the God of Death came, it came suddenly and in his agony he called his child to his side and cried: O Narayana, come to me and be with me. The messengers of Yama who almost got him in their noose suddenly found from within his heart four well-clad beautiful angel-like figures preventing the messengers of Yama from discharging their duty. An intense conversation ensued between the messengers of Yama on the one side and the messengers of Narayana - because that is what they were - on the other side. The latter declared: This Ajamila, though he has forgotten his real divine nature, has pronounced the four-syllabled name of God Narayana at the time of death and by that very action has done the prAyascitta (repentance act) for all his sins. A thief of gold, a drinker of wine, a betrayer of a friend, a killer of a brahmin, one who commits adultery with the wife of his Guru, a killer of a woman or of a king, or of a cow or of his father -- all these worst sinners have been declared to be absolved by the recitation of God's name because by that very act he becomes God's protege and deserves to be under His care. Not all the penitence-rituals of the scriptures can wash a man's sins off as much as the name Narayana can. The repentance acts only purify past sins; they do not guarantee the non-commission of future sins or the non-repetition of the same acts for which the atonement-ritual was done. But taking God's name on the tongue will eradicate the vAsanAs that are the causes of sinful acts and so the future actions and his entire character will change. There are rituals and rituals (for atonement and purification) of different degrees -- easy ones for elementary sins and difficult ones for deeper sins. But as far as taking the Lord's name is concerned it is only one. The one name of God absolves and purifies sins of all kinds, small or large. Even when he has uttered the name without really intending to call the Supreme Lord, it purifies him just as wood is burnt by fire, irrespective of the intent.
After all this explanation by the messengers of Vishnu the messengers of Yama felt overpowered and they went back to their overlord. In the meantime Ajamila came back to his senses and remembered all the conversation that went on in the presence of his subtle body between the messengers. He was about to say something, when the messengers of Vishnu also disappeared. It was quite a while before he could take stock of the situation. Here he was. alive and kicking, by the mercy of God Narayana, whose name he had just taken on the point of death, not in remembrance of the Lord but in passionate affection of his child. If this single act of the utterance of a four-syllable word Narayana can make such a difference to life after death, what larger worlds of fullness and majesty he may not conquer by really leading a noble life of Dharma in the memory of the Lord? -- so thought Ajamila. And that very moment he renounced everything to which he was attached, went to Benares and engaged himself in austerities and meditation and in due time reached the abode of the Lord.
In the meantime, the messengers of Yama went back to him and asked him whether there were other overlords in the universe who could contest with him and prevent his own orders being carried out. They thought that nothing in the universe could come between the orders of Yama and their execution. Lord Yama replies: There is a Master of this Universe, who is the one that runs as an unseen thread through all this visible universe, who operatesthe Creation, Protection and Dissolution functions in the entire universe, whose orders not only I but the entire host of demi-gods like Indra, Varuna and others obey, who lives in the hearts of all living beings, without whose prompting nothing in this universe, moving or unmoving, can exist, and who is the Director of everything that happens. That is the Lord Narayana., the Transcendental Absolute. It is his emissaries that take care of Dharma throughout the Universe. The greatest Dharma in the whole world is the recitation of His name. Even a one-time uttering of the name of God removes the person from my noose. It does not matter whether he takes the name intentionally or not. People are more interested in elaborate prAyaScitta rituals and not in this simple cure for all ills, namely the recitation of names of God:
prAyaScittAny-aSeshAni tapaH karma AtmakAni vai /
yAni teshAm-aSeshANAM shrI kRshNAnusmaraNaM paraM //
Therefore, my messengers, be warned that hereafter you should not go near any one who has taken the name of the Lord, particularly at the time of your calling on them!
The Lord Himself emphatically says in the Gita (B.G VIII – 5, 6 & 7):
He that has thought of Me alone, leaving his body comes forth to Me and enters into my Being. Doubt this not. But at the hour of Death, while laying off the body if one thinks of something else, he goes to what he looked for, because he has been in that mood all along. Therefore, Oh Arjuna, at all times, think of of Me and fight (‘mAm anusmara yudhya ca’! Thou too, when your heart and mind are fixed on Me, shall surely come to Me.
This then, is Krishna’s own verdict. Ajamila’s case is a rare case brought in to show the efficacy of the Lord’s name uttered even without intent. But the Lord Himself has said it in clear terms. The words ‘sadA tad-bhAva-bhAvitaH’ (= he has been in that mood all along) have two things to say. One is that though theoretically it may be enough to utter the word at the last moment, in practice it will not be possible for you to think of the name at that moment if you have not been always in that mood. The second is that, the Lord Himself advises you to think of Him always – ‘at all times’ is the word. This constant awareness of the Lord is the essence of the teaching of all of the religion of Hinduism. And note that the Lord adds ‘yudhya ca’, meaning, ‘also go and fight’. This was said to Arjuna. So he said, go and fight. To us, general laymen the orders are: Constantly think of Me, but keep on doing your duties. Some schools of thought may emphasize only the ‘think’ (anusmara) part – like the Bhakti schools –and some others may emphasize only the ‘yudhya’ (go and fight, do your duty) part – like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and his school – but it is important to do both, as is evident from the ‘ca’ (=and) that the Lord has put in.
The word ‘anusmara’ has an important connotation. It means ‘think (of Me) incessantly, without interruption’. A Tamil poet, Paramjothi Munivar of the 17th century, in his work called TiruvilaiyADar-purANam uses a characteristic expression for the equivalent of this: ‘ninaiyAmal ninaindu’, says he, meaning, ‘remembering without remembering’! How is this possible? How does one remember without remembering? The explanation comes from a modern writer of the 20th century: Ki VA Jagannathan. He says: If one forgets, he has to remember. If one does not forget the name of God ever, then there is no necessity to recall. Therefore he says it is really ‘remembering without recalling’. This is the meaning of the word ‘anusmara’ of the Lord. One does not forget and so one remmebers it continuously!
It will be quite fitting to close these two sections on Naama-smarana with the following verse in the Tevaram of the Tamil Saint Appar:
That day on which one does not speak or think of Him Who is the One that is rare to get, who is in the minds of the noble sould, whoisthe heart of the Vedas, who is atomic, the Unknown Core of Beings, the nectar and milk of salvation, the enlightening spirit, the Ruler of the Gods, the Lord Vishnu, the four-faced BrahmA, the Fire, the Wind, th Water, the Earth – of the One who is the source of all these, the One Who represents the subtle Space Element – of that Lord Nataraja of Chidambaram, that day shall be a day lost in one’s life.