THE SUPREME GREATNESS OF DIVINE NAME

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THE SUPREME GREATNESS DIVINE NAME:

 

Baba said, "If you say "Sai, Sai", I shall take you over the seven

seas. Believe in these words, and you will be certainly benefited" in

Sri Sai Satcharitra Chapter XIII.

 

 

The world is passing through a terrible crisis these days. The

aggravation of material greed, as a reaction, set ablaze the fire of

universal want and unrest in the form of a conflagration. Through the

dominant influence of the present material civilization, and the

ideal of enjoyment fostered by it, even the spiritual world has been

affected by an internal demoralization. The heart trembles at the

sight of the moral degradation passing current today in the name of

religion. The number of people possessing faith in God, and devoted

to their duty for the good of humanity, is rapidly dwindling. Nations

and states are organizing themselves for their mutual destruction;

each of them is engaged in the hateful attempt of clogging the wheel

of progress of its rival and thus bringing down and crushing the

latter. The satanic elements in man, of which hypocrisy is the

foundation, are developing at an exceptionally rapid rate. Gross

attachment to things of the world and desire for their enjoyments

have clouded man's power of discrimination and bid fair to bring him

down from his natural moral level. Lured by the glitter of modern

civilization, which is the mother of evils like hypocrisy,

immorality, false pride, malice revengefulness etc., humanity is

proceeding to commit a spiritual suicide. The votaries of religion

are engaged in the false attempt to enhance the worldly prestige of

their respective faiths by blotting the existence or undermining the

position of rival faiths and beliefs and by idle attempts to confine

within narrow limits the pedestal of God, who is all-pervading, the

dearest objective of all, the root and heart of things.

 

There is no limit to the fraud and hypocrisy that are being practised

in the name of religion. The world is engaged in fighting over

externals forgetting God, the Divine Name and the essence of

religion, which is also divine. That is why there is no growth of

religious spirit observable anywhere and people find happiness

constantly eluding their grasp. They fondly believe that God is

confined only to the temple or ark built by them.

 

In this chaotic state of society there is need for some general non-

sectarian rules the observance of which may help all people,

irrespective of race or religion, to grow in spiritual life. The

seven points mentioned below are being placed before the reader for

his/her consideration. Believers in God can adopt them in their daily

life and conduct without any difficulty. If they do so, it may be

asserted with confidence that their highest good in spiritual life

will be assured.

 

SEVEN POINTS:

 

1. God's Name should be constantly remembered, repeated, mentally or

orally and chanted through music at regular intervals.

2. No sinful act should be attempted under the protection of the

Divine Name. Those who commit sin under the shelter of God's Name are

guilty of the highest form of sin.

3. (a) There should be no desire to gain any worldly object in

exchange for repetition of the Divine Name.

(b) The spiritual force of the Divine Name should not be applied even

for destruction of sin.

4. Regarding the Divine Name as the dearest object of life, it should

be resorted to for its own sake.

5. Hypocrisy should not be practised. Hypocrisy displeases God. The

hypocrite comes to grief without fail.

6. The teachings of Gita should be adopted in order to develop

devotion to God and devotion to right conduct and duty.

7. Other religions or faiths should never be criticized or attacked

with a view bringing them down in public estimation. Seekers of bliss

will find participation in such controversy highly injurious to their

spiritual life.

 

We shall now proceed in deal with these seven points one by one –

 

1. Believers in God, to whatever religion they may belong, believe

also in the Name of God. It is through this name that people are

reminded of the transcendent Form of God. His supernatural qualities,

glory and grace. Just as the darkness of the world is dispelled

immediately the sun appears on the horizon, in the same manner all

evil, all sin attached to the heart of man is destroyed as soon as

the Divine Name is remembered and uttered. People may call God by any

Name with which they are familiar and to which they are used. It

makes no difference.

 

2. But, while taking the Name, people generally commit great blunders

in certain respects. Through their excessive attachment to objects of

enjoyment as well as their ignorance, they are persuaded to believe

that inasmuch as their sins are invariably destroyed through

repetition of the Divine Name, there can be no objection to

committing sin whenever it becomes necessary. Misguided by this line

of thought, far from giving up sin, they begin to stain their heart

by new acts of sin under the shelter, and with the support of the

Divine Name. A litigious person takes a devotee, sincerely devoted to

the Name, to the Law Court to appear as a witness and says, "Look

here, friend, when you are examined by the Court, please depose on

the lines I indicate to you". The witness imagined he would be

required only to tell the truth; but now he discovered that litigant

desire him to corroborate a falsehood; he rebels and refuses to bear

false witness. the litigant, then, argue with him – "Why should you

have any objection to this? Don't you know that the Divine Name

washes away all sin? You are a devotee, you chant the Name daily, how

can this slight deviation from truth harm you? The spiritual power of

a single utterance of God's Name is so great that man cannot commit

sin enough to match it. This is the practice I follow whenever there

is occasion to do so." The witness replies, "Friend, this is

impossible for me; if you follow this practice, this is your look

out." The purport of this illustration is that those who commit sin

placing their reliance on the power of the Divine Name, or of prayer

to God, to destroy sin are guilty of a serious spiritual crime. They

make the Divine Name a help and support to the practice of their

wicked acts and in exchange for the Name they seek to procure sin. If

damnation does not overtake people of this type, who else is there on

the earth worth being damned?

 

3. (a) People whose heart craves only for things of the world commit

another great blunder. In exchange for the practice of the Divine

Name, they seek from God riches and property, children, family-

happiness, worldly prestige, self-aggrandizement and satisfaction of

other desires of that nature. They do so because they do not know the

true value of the Divine Name. It is not sheer foolishness to waste

the power of the Name for securing the frail, transitory and

insignificant objects of worldly enjoyment, when it has the capacity

to give one undisputed authority over the entire kingdom of the

divine king of kings? The objects of worldly enjoyment come and

disappear, they never permanently stick to anyone. All enjoyment,

again, is mixed with suffering. It is, therefore, neither a real gain

nor a real loss when such an object of enjoyment is secured or lost.

 

(b) Those who repeat the Name in the hope that their sins will be

eradicated thereby cannot also be said to be possessed of much

wisdom. For sins may be destroyed even by working out their effects

through suffering. The Name which delights the Paramatma, the dearest

object of our soul, which, again, is the symbol of His grace on us –

is it not error to apply that sacred object to the work of mere

eradication of sin? Those who do so, do not really know the worth and

value of the sacred Name. When the sun rises, is it any more

necessary to approach it with prayer to remove darkness? On its

appearance on the horizon, no place is left on the earth where

darkness can linger.

 

4. The Name of God should be repeated as an indication of our

unconditional Love for God. Whether we realize God or fail to realize

Him, let us not forget the Name in any case. The happiness of a lover

when he meets the beloved is not as great as when he is engaged in

his remembrance without break. If on realization of God there is

likelihood of a break in the remembrance, the true devotee will

desire that realization may wait, but that the remembrance may grow

more and more, and that there may be no break in it. This is God-Love

in its pursuit form.

 

5. There should be no element of show in the repetition of the Name.

There has been an excessive growth of display of spirituality or

hypocrisy in the present-day world. It has become difficult to detect

from what worldly motive even renowned preachers of religion speak

when discoursing on a subject. All must attempt to save themselves

from this evil of hypocrisy. To display a virtue, which one does not

possess, for acquirement of prestige and social position, or for the

attainment of a worldly object, is hypocrisy. Through the vain

attempt to practise a fraud on God, the hypocrite in reality cheats

himself. God Who sees through everything can never be bluffed; but

the cheat who attempts to serve his own end by deceiving the world

suffers great fall. Sin becomes an integral part of his nature. He

loses all aversion for sin. How can such person ever attain the

highest truth of religion known by the Name of God-Realization? Man

should therefore, do his best to save himself from this terrible evil.

 

 

6. Even when the above points of view have been properly appreciated

man will require the guidance either of a universally recognized

scripture for an understanding of the mystery of God and for

determining his own conduct and duty, or of some excellent unfailing

spiritual discipline the adoption and practice of which will

automatically lead him to his spiritual goal. From the Hindu

standpoint four books may be mentioned which will pre-eminently serve

the purpose of guides in the spiritual path. these are – (1) the

Upanishads, (2) the Srimad Bhagavad gita, (3) the Bhagavata and (4)

the Ramacharitamanasa of Goswami Tulasidasa (By the Upanishads the

ten principal ones, viz., the Isa, Kena etc., are to be understood).

The spiritual value of these books is so great that they can help all

men to reach the true and final spiritual goal. The Upanishads and

Gita have received the appreciation of the entire intellectual world.

Great thinkers of the West have acknowledged their teachings to be

worthy of being universally adopted. If one does not find it possible

to study all these four books, he may fall back on the Gita alone,

the smallest of them, which contains all the instructions one may

require for his spiritual growth. The Gita has been translated into

all the principal languages of the world; its teachings are of

universal application. One who has no other book to study, can make

this single book, the Gita, his guide in spiritual life. The

teachings of the Gita, may be summarized as follows:-

 

(a) Knowing that all that exists belongs to God, do your duty for

God's sake maintaining your equilibrium both in success and failure,

renouncing attachment to the fruit of your action, and taking your

duty to be a command from God; and meditate constantly on the

transcendent Form of God, of which His Name, His attributes and His

glory are integral parts, completely surrendering your mind, body and

speech to Him, or -

 

(b) Knowing that the world being as unsubstantial as water in mirage

or as a dream, the Gunas born of Maya play on the stage of Maya

(Delusion), and thus shedding all authorship or sense of "I" in

regard to action of the mind, the sense and the body, establish

complete identity with the Paramatma, the all-pervading Form of

Existence, knowledge and Bliss. In this state there should be no

sense of reality of any other substance apart from the one,

indivisible Paramatma.

 

This is action without attachment and the Yoga of Knowledge as taught

by the Gita. This is the Universal Religion. All people irrespective

of race, nationality or social status possess in the right to

practise this religion.

 

7. Therefore, without casting reflection on the religious beliefs of

another and renouncing evil impulses like jealousy, enmity and

vindictiveness, a person should move in the world constantly

contributing to the happiness of those he may come in contact with in

his everyday life. Those who attempt to prove their own faith to be

perfect and that of others to be imperfect, do not know the real

truth about Paramatma. (God). If I take a stand in opposition to a

faith, try disparagingly to expose its weak points, I must be

prepared for the same treatment in respect of my own faith. Thus

indirectly I expose my own faith to dignity and insult. By that

action I really limit the jurisdiction of my God and of my faith, and

detract both from their all pervading and universal character. The

Divine element is present in every religion in one form or other;

therefore a reflection cast on a faith is as good as an affront to

God Himself.

 

Therefore, a person who does not enter into any undesirable and

bitter controversy over religious faith and beliefs, who regulates

his daily life according to the teachings of the Gita, who repeats

the Divine Name without any show or hypocrisy, who does not use this

Name as an incentive to commission of sin, or for attaining objects

of worldly enjoyment, or even for eradication of sin, frees himself

in no time from evil propensities like lust, anger, mendacity,

duplicity and the like, and becomes endowed with Sattvika virtues

like Truthfulness and Ahimsa (harmlessness), His mind soon overcomes

the attraction for the gross enjoyments of the world and engages

himself in meditation on God, and through such meditation he is

blessed with a realization and direct vision of the form of God he

has been worshipping secretly in his heart. The Divine Name is

endowed with such unique supernatural power that its remembrance,

utterance or even hearing drives away sin. Those who constantly

repeat the Name, chant it to others, or sing It in chorus do good not

only to themselves but to many other souls. Therefore, it is the

common duty of us all to take refuge under the sacred Name, and

engaging ourselves in the constant remembrance, Japa (mental or oral

repetition) and chanting of Divine Name, persuade others through love

to join us in this noble work.

 

(Courtesy: Wavelets of Bliss & The Divine Message, by Hanumanprasad

Poddar)

Shri Vasuki Mahal Shirdi Saibaba Trust, Coimbatore, India