power of holy name

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TRANSLATION

 

My dear King, a devotee who has taken shelter of the dust from the lotus

feet of the Lord can transcend the influence of the six material whips --

namely hunger, thirst, lamentation, illusion, old age and death -- and he

can conquer the mind and five senses. However, this is not very wonderful

for a pure devotee of the Lord because even a person beyond the

jurisdiction of the four castes -- in other words, an untouchable -- is

immediately relieved of bondage to material existence if he utters the holy

name of the Lord even once.

 

PURPORT

 

Sukadeva Gosvami was speaking to Maharaja Parikshit about the activities of

King Priyavrata, and since the King might have had doubts about these

wonderful, uncommon activities, Sukadeva Gosvami reassured him. "My dear

King," he said, "don't be doubtful about the wonderful activities of

Priyavrata. For a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, everything

is possible because the Lord is also known as Urukrama." Urukrama is a name

for Lord Vamanadeva, who performed the wonderful act of occupying the three

worlds with three footsteps. Lord Vamanadeva requested three paces of land

from Maharaja Bali, and when Maharaja Bali agreed to grant them, the Lord

immediately covered the entire world with two footsteps, and for His third

step He placed His foot upon Bali Maharaja's head. Sri Jayadeva Gosvami

says:

 

chalayasi vikramane balim adbhuta-vamana

 

pada-nakha-nira-janita-jana-pavana

 

kesava dhrita-vamana-rupa jaya jagadisa hare

 

"All glories to Lord Kesava, who assumed the form of a dwarf. O Lord of the

universe, who takes away everything inauspicious for the devotees! O

wonderful Vamanadeva! You tricked the great demon Bali Maharaja by Your

steps. The water that touched the nails of Your lotus feet when You pierced

through the covering of the universe purifies all living entities in the

form of the River Ganges."

 

Since the Supreme Lord is all-powerful, He can do things that seem

wonderful for a common man. Similarly, a devotee who has taken shelter at

the lotus feet of the Lord can also do wonderful things unimaginable to a

common man, by the grace of the dust of those lotus feet. Caitanya

Mahaprabhu therefore teaches us to take shelter of the Lord's lotus feet:

 

ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram

 

patitam mam vishame bhavambudhau

 

kripaya tava pada-pankaja-

 

sthita-dhuli-sadrisam vicintaya

 

"O son of Nanda Maharaja, I am Your eternal servant, yet somehow or other I

have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this

ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet." Lord

Caitanya teaches us to come in touch with the dust of the Lord's lotus

feet, for then there will undoubtedly be all success.

 

Because of the material body, every living entity in material existence is

always disturbed by sad-guna, six whips -- hunger, thirst, lamentation,

illusion, invalidity and death. Furthermore, another sad-guna are the mind

and five sense organs. Not to speak of a sanctified devotee, even a

candala, an outcaste, who is untouchable, is immediately freed from

material bondage if he utters the holy name of the Lord even once.

Sometimes caste brahmanas argue that unless one changes his body he cannot

be accepted as a brahmana, for since the present body is obtained as a

result of past actions, one who has in the past acted as a brahmana takes

birth in a brahmana family. Therefore, they contend, without such a

brahminical body, one cannot be accepted as a brahmana. Herein it is said,

however, that even vidura-vigata, a candala -- a fifth-class untouchable --

is freed if he utters the holy name even once. Being freed means that he

immediately changes his body. Sanatana Gosvami confirms this:

 

yatha kancanatam yati

 

kamsyam rasa-vidhanatah

 

tatha diksha-vidhanena

 

dvijatvam jayate nrinam

 

When a person, even though a candala, is initiated by a pure devotee into

chanting the holy name of the Lord, his body changes as he follows the

instructions of the spiritual master. Although one cannot see how his body

has changed, we must accept, on the grounds of the authoritative statements

of the sastras, that he changes his body. This is to be understood without

arguments. This verse clearly says, sa jahati bandham: "He gives up his

material bondage." The body is a symbolic representation of material

bondage according to one's karma. Although sometimes we cannot see the

gross body changing, chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord immediately

changes the subtle body, and because the subtle body changes, the living

entity is immediately freed from material bondage. After all, changes of

the gross body are conducted by the subtle body. After the destruction of

the gross body, the subtle body takes the living entity from his present

gross body to another. In the subtle body, the mind is predominant, and

therefore if one's mind is always absorbed in remembering the activities or

the lotus feet of the Lord, he is to be understood to have already changed

his present body and become purified. Therefore it is irrefutable that a

candala, or any fallen or lowborn person, can become a brahmana simply by

the method of bona fide initiation.