Thank God for the Holy Names!

[Guest guest]

For anyone who may have been discouraged by recent comments of mine or others

which may have implied that someone must be fully surrendered to a pure

devotee before they can make any progress I wanted to contribute a couple of

inspiring verses from Srimad Bhagavatama (if anyone is still interested in

READING Srila Prabhupada's books):

 

"Ajamila has already atoned for all his sinful reactions. Indeed, he has

atoned not only for sins performed in one life but for those performed in

millions of lives, for in a helpless condition he chanted the Holy Name of

Narayana. Even though he did not chant purely, he chanted without offense, and

therefore he is now pure and eligible for liberation"

 

"Simply by chanting one holy name of Hari, a sinful man can counteract the

reactions to more sins than he is able to commit."

 

"If one chants the holy name of the Lord, even in a helpless condition or

without desiring to do so, all the reactions of his sinful life depart, just

as when a lion rors, all the small animals flee in fear."

 

"By once chanting the holy name of the Lord, which consists of the two

syllables ha-ri, one guarantees his path to liberation."

SB6.2.7

 

"The tapasya of chanting and glorifying the name, fame, and attributes of the

Lord is a very easy purifying process by which everyone can be happy.

Therefore everyone who desires the ultimate cleansing of his heart must adopt

this process." SB6.2.12

 

"One who chants the Holy Name of the Lord is immediately freed from the

reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants indirectly (to indicate

something else), jokingly, for musical entertainment, or even neglectfully.

This is accepted by all the learned scholars of the scriptures." SB6.2.14

 

"This chanting of Hare Krsna is directly enacted from the spiritual platform,

and thus this sound vibration surpasses all lower strata of consciousness -

namely sensual, mental and intellectual. There is no need, therefore, to

understand the language of the mantra, nor is there any need for mental

specualtion or any intellectual adjustment for chanting this maha-mantra. It

springs automatically from the spiritual platform, and as such, anyone can

take part in the chanting without any previous qualification, and dance in

ecstasy. We have seen this practically. Even a child can take part in the

chanting, or even a dog can take part in it." ACBSP