What's in a Name

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

"What's in a Name?"

 

The current craze among people is for "Nameology". This has acquired the

proportions of a "science" and its practitioners are minting money. Even

eminently rational people appear to be impressed by its tenets and the thing is

fast assuming the veneer of wisdom. For those who haven't heard of the term,

Nameology refers to the science of names, their properties, their power to

influence people's lives, etc. Though no University of repute is yet awarding

degrees in the subject, yet its practitioners appear to have conferred

impressive-sounding titles upon themselves. Their advice has resulted in

people's names undergoing rather funny transformations, with "R. Gopalan"

becoming "R.G. Pal" and so on.

 

Even before the advent of these Nameologists, an undesirable trend had

become noticeable in naming the new-born. Where previously people used to search

for suitable sobriquets in the Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam or the

LakshmISahasranamam, they shifted their research to dictionaries and

encyclopeadeas. And since each parent wanted to be individualistic and unique in

naming his or her offspring, there was a profusion of "TanUjA"s, "KavyA"s,

"NetrA"s and so on, while boy babies ended up with fancy names like "Dhanush",

"PeeyUsh", etc. I would say that these parents were somewhat short of

foresight, from a purely aesthetic angle, for, a name should sit well on a

person as well as it does in infancy and youth, as in old age. It would sound

indeed incongruous to call a person "Dhanush Tatha" or " ShObha Patti". In my

banking career, I have come across people with names like "Russia", making me

wonder at the innovativeness of parents, which often results in their offspring

being greeted with derision everytime their name is called out. In their anxiety

to be "different", parents often bestow upon their offspring names like

"TanUjA", (which really means one who was born out of a body), "Neha", "Sangita"

etc., which are pretty prosaic, with little significance. And there are those

with a smattering of classical Sanskrit, who come up with perhaps grammatically

correct but unappealing names like "advE", leaving you with a feeling of

something missing from the appellation. Worse still, many exhibit their devotion

to political leaders by naming their children after these figures with feet of

clay. Some take perverse pleasure in giving their infants the names of dreaded

asurAs-it was hence no surprise to me to come across recently a book by one

Mr.Ravanan- I looked carefully to see whether the work was dedicated to Mr

Marichan or Mr. Indrajit, but obviously the author felt one unconventionality to

be enough.

 

Not only are fancy names becoming the order of the day, but even grown-up

people, who had already been named well, have begun changing their appellations,

as they would clothes. Abbreviation has become the name of the game, with

"Sundararajan" cosnsidering himself to be having too long a handle and

shortening himself to "S.Rajan", Srinivasan becoming S.Vasan, Krishnaswamy

changing into "K.Swamy", "Narayanan" shedding excess baggage to become

"Narayan", and so on. In the process, the beautiful and profound purports

behind most of these names are mutilated and mangled beyond recognition.

 

All this makes us wonder as to the purpose for which a name is chosen. The most

obvious objective is to confer a distinctive tag to the baby, to distinguish it

from others: but then, considering the fact that most of the names are

repetitive (there must be any number of Satakopans in our Sampradaya, as there

are Ramanujans, Krishnans and Ramans), there must indeed be a more profound

purpose to this naming business, than mere identification. Some names are

universally popular and in a crowd, if the name "Venkatesan" is called out,

there would be a forest of hands going up. And among women, there is a veritable

proliferation of "LakshmI", "PadmA", "IndirA" etc.

 

When we analyse the naming pattern that was prevalent before the advent of these

fancy monickers, we find that babies were mostly named after the Lord. It would

be either a Rama, a Krishna, an Aravamuda, a Srinivasa, a Parthasarathy, an

Oppili and so on, not to mention the Ranganathas and the Varadas. And as far as

female infants were concerned, they were called Lakshmi (and its variants like

Vijayalakshmi and Rajalakshmi), Vedavalli, Alarmelu (this had become slightly

unfashionable, for some unknown reason, quite some time back), Padma, Pankajam,

Ranganayaki etc. It was thus axiomatic to name children after Emperuman and

Piratti. And no one could complain of lack of choice in this regard, because the

Lord has a thousand names and more, as does His Consort, affording a wide

variety of titles to choose from, according to the parents' taste and

inclination. From an aesthetic angle too, all these divine names were

sweet-sounding, none of them being tongue-twisters, with most of them sporting

the added advantage of brevity.

 

Beyond merely conferring an identity, the Lord's names have an extremely

significant role to perform, which is highlighted by Sri Periazhwar, in the

first Tirumozhi of the fourth decad ("nAgam karayudai kooraikku"). Azhwar says

that the mother who names her child after the Lord would never even peep into

Hell ("Naranan annai narakam pugAL"). She would never contract any sin,

necessitating a sojourn in narakam, and even if she did, the stigma would be

washed away by merely calling to her infant by name. Before extolling the

virtues of bestowing children with the Lord's holy names, the Azhwar points out

the folly of naming our offspring after human beings (however venerable they

are) and inanimate objects.

 

"What is the point of naming your child after a perishable mortal, born in our

same clan of human beings and subject to decay and death, when you have the

option of choosing from among the innumerable tirunAmams of the incomparable

Lord, capable of conferring upon you coveted immortality?" enquires Azhwar-

"MAnida sAdiyil tOndrittOr mAnida sAdiyayi

MAnida sAdiyin pEr ittAl marumaikku illai

VAnudai Madhava! Govinda! Endru azhaitthkkAl

NAnidai Naranan tam annai narakam pugAL"

 

If you name your child after a human being in ancticipation of deriving from him

or her material benefits like riches, bounty or favours, you may or may not

attain these coveted baubles, for human beings are fickle-minded and whimsical

and may or may not be gratified by lending their names to others' infants.

However, the Lord's names are immensely powerful, as would be attested by

Droupati, Gajendra, Dhruva and others, and would definitely confer upon the

bearers untold benefits including immortality ("immayum sAdittu....Veedum

tarum", as Sri Nammazhwar says). The divine name thus emancipates not only its

bearer, but also the parents and others who have the good fortune to call out

the names time and again.

 

The story of ajAmiLa attests to the aforesaid averment of Sri Vishnuchitta.

Though born a Brahmin with all virtues and adherence to shAstraic dicta, ajAmiLa

fell into bad ways, left his family and was living with a woman of dubious

morals, ignoring his children born of his legally-wedded wife and lavishing all

affection on the child born out of wedlock, whom he had providentially named

"Narayanan". When this fallen Brahmin was on his death bed, he was overwhelmed

at the thought of separation from his beloved boy and called to him with all

love and affection, when his lifebreath ebbed out of his body. When YamakinkarAs

came to take away his soul for undergoing just punishment for all his sins of

omission and commission, they found themselves confronted by messengers from

VishnulOkam, claiming custody of the departed soul for blissful sojourn in the

land of the immortals, solely by virtue of ajAmiLa having uttered the Narayana

nAmam. In vain did the minions of Yama remonstrate with the angels from

VishnulOka that it was not the Paramapurusha Narayana that ajAmiLa had called to

, but his own infantile son, born out of wedlock. A name is a name, said the

VishnudootAs, laying down for posterity that the utterance of the Lord's names,

whether in right earnest with due devotion, or casually and derisively or even

without any reference to the Lord ("SAnkEtyam pArihAsyam cha stobham hElanam Eva

vA"), would definitely confer only the best on the utterer. The bottomline was

that despite his innumerable offences, ajAmiLa escaped the fires of hell, simply

because he had named his son after the Lord and called to him while on his death

bed. It is with this in mind that Sri Periazhwar adopts the refrain, "Naranan

tan annai narakam pugAL".

 

There are some interesting sidelights on names.

 

According to the Purusha Sukta, it was the Lord who first gave names to all His

creation, sentient and non-sentient, calling each created being by its given

name-"nAmAni kritvA abhivadan yadAstE".

 

And there is the fascinating episode of VasishttA's arch rival VisvAmitra,

loathe to calling the Prince of Ayodhya by the name "Rama:" given by Kula guru

VasishttA, thinking long and deep during their travel to DandakA vanam,

searching for a suitable sobriquet for the young prince, seeking to replace the

one He was already answering to. However hard he racked his brains, the sage was

unable to come up with a better tirunAmam, and finally ended up calling the Lord

by the name given to him by Maharshi Vasishtta-"Rama! iti madhurAm vANeem

VisvAmitrO abhyabhAshata".

 

A significant point made in the aforesaid Periazhwar Tirumozhi is that parents

who give their offspring the names of the Lord are spared the rigours of Hell.

When Azhwar says "MAnida sAdiyin pEr ittAl marumaikku illai", he seems to hint

that naming our children after the Lord and calling them often, can by itself

bestow emancipation on us. The important question arises here as to the efficacy

of the Lord's tirunamas-by themselves, can they lead us to the gates of

Paramapadam? Are they an independent strategy by themselves, capable of

liberating us from our mundane shackles, as extolled in the phalashruti portion

of the Sahasranamam- "SankIrtya Narayana sabda mAtram vimukta du:khA: sukhinO

bhavantu" and in numerous other pramANams?

 

If the hallowed names of Vishnu are by themselves capable of liberating us from

Samsara and affording us eternal bliss in Paramapadam, what about the various

upAyAs prescribed by Shastras as essential for achieving emancipation? Why

should we adopt the infinitely hard strategies of Bhakti or the thirty-odd

Brahma vidyAs prescribed by the various Upanishads? Why should we even attempt

Prapatti, which, though held out to be an easy strategy, is indeed difficult for

us who are unable to inculcate the MahAvisvAsam or unshakeable faith it calls

for in the Lord and His capabilities? When such an easy path, that of merely

reciting the Lord's names, is available, forming a virtual short cut to

Paramapadam, why strike out for the other thorny trails which lead to journey's

end only after strenuous and arduous travel and considerable detour?

 

Acharyas tell us that while Emperuman's tirunamam is indeed extraordinarily

powerful and is definitely capable of bestowing on us the ultimate fruit, viz, a

blissful existence in Paradise, it does so through an appropriate upAya of our

choice. Thus nAma sankeertanam leads us to Moksham not directly, but through the

alleyway of an upAya like Bhakti or Prapatti. For, the Lord has made it clear

that He would not admit anyone to Paramapadam, unless they perform Prapatti-

"PrapannAt anyEshAm na disati MukundO nija padam".

The constant recitation of the Lord's names and the resultant exultant

experience leads us to the company of similarly blessed souls, bringing us

together with BhAgavatAs. This, in turn, leads us to an Acharya, who, in his

infinite mercy, enlightens us as to the nature of the Lord, of ourselves, the

need for us to strive for liberation from this mundane morass, the strategy to

be adopted therefor and what impediments lie across the way of the Pilgrim's

Progress. With a mind made blemishless by such sermons, we pray to the Acharya

for upAya anushttAnam, which request the Preceptor fulfils with alacrity,

surrendering our souls at the lotus feet of the Divya Dampati, thereby ensuring

for us a berth in Sri Vaikuntam, at the end of this human birth.

 

We thus find that the Lord's holy names do lead us to liberty, but through the

adoption of an appropriate option like Bhakti or Prapatti. And all this, says

Sri Periazhwar, can be done by merely naming our progeny after the Lord, for

this affords us infinite opportunities to chant the Lord's names on the pretext

of calling our children. And whether or not we recite His tirunAmams with

devotion, He gives us the benefit of doubt (as He did to ajAmiLa) and leads us

on to Himself in due course. Just as a fire scorches us, whether or not we know

its property of burning, the BhagavannAma too affords us all that is auspicious,

whether we utter it with due devotion or with disinterest or even disdain.

 

The next time you come across parents of a new-born, please persuade them to

eschew the temptation to be "fashionable" in naming their child. Keshavan or

Narayanan might be old-fashioned, but they are tried, tested and found good. And

better even than the Lord's names are those of Azhwars and Acharyas, for they

portray infinite bhakti, unmatched devotion and boundless humility, all of which

are hallmarks of excellent human beings. There are definitely better prospects

of a Ramanujan or Venkatanathan or Padma attaining enlightenment, than a

"Nitin", "Rahul" or "Shrishti".

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, satakopan.