POWER OF THE NAME OF THE LORD-11

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SAI RAMs,

In his Naamaamruta Rasayana, Sadguru Bodhendra offers the following six reasons for showing that utterance of Divine Name is superior to other disciplines taught in the scriptures:-

1. Repetition of the Name is open to all irrespective of caste, stage in life(Ashrama ) such as unmarried, married etc. ,sex etc. etc. and it involves no injury to any living being.

2. It does not call for any ancilliary aids.

3.In producing its result, it does not require intervention of a third person.

4. Its practise is not conditioned by time-factor;Nama-japa can be performed at anytime.

5.There are no restrictions in regard to place and

6.There are no ritualistic regulations for practising the repetition of the Divine Name.

Notwithstanding the fact that there are no extraneous restrictions in regard to practice of nama-sadhana, the sadhaka is required to ensure that he or she is not guilty of certain offences, which are offences against the Name itself(nama-aparaadha). As many as ten are listed. The more importantout of those ten are given below:-

1.Insulting those who are good, and speaking ill of others, are contrary to the practice of nama-japa.

2.The devotee should not make any discrimination betweenSiva and Vishnu, in respect of either their attributes or their names.

3.Disrespect shown to their Gurus.

4.Disrespect and derision of Vedas and other sacred literature.

5.Divine name being used as a cloak for committing sins.

6.Neglect of virtues and values enunciated in scriptures.

7.Abscence of love and compassion while dealing with anybody etc. etc.

 

To quote from the Bhashya on Vishnusahasranama, Adi Sankaracharya , " The reason for its(namasiddhanta) greatness is that it does not involve causing injury to other beings, does not depend on other persons, sacrificial material etc. and is not conditioned by place, time etc." Among the texts cited by Sri Sankara, is one from Mahabhrata, which says,"Of all dharmas, japa,indeed is said to be the supreme Dharma;with non-violence towards all beings, japa-yagna proceeds." The declaration of Bhagavan in the Gita in verse 25 of chapter 10,"Yagnaanaam Japa yagnosmi"----Among the sacrifices, I am Namayagana(Namasmaranam) has also been quoted. Ananadagiri, another commentator on Gita says that japa-yagna is superior to all other sacrifices, because it is free from violence etc.

(to be continued)

G.Balasubramanian