The Holy Name is Everything

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The Holy Name is Everything

(A lecture by Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja)

 

ataeva nama matra vaishnavera dharma

name prasphuöita haya rupa, guna, karma

 

Chanting the holy name is the prime religious activity of a vaishnava. From the holy name gradually blossom the Lord’s form, qualities and pastimes.

 

krishna-nama cintamani anadi cinmaya

yei krishna, sei nama—eka-tattva haya

 

Lord Krishna’s name is like an eternal and transcendental touchstone. Krishna and His name are identical; They are one and the same absolute truth.

 

namera smarana ara nama-sankirtana

ei matra dharma jiva karibe palana

 

This is the only dharma in Kali-yuga: chanting the holy name and thinking of the holy name. Only this. This is the one dharma the jivas in Kali-yuga should perform. In all the Vedas it has been said, harinama-sara, the holy name is the essence.

 

hare nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

 

In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way. Paibe parama priti ananda apara — by chanting this Holy name of Krishna:

 

hare krishna hare krishna, krishna krishna hare hare

hare rama hare rama, rama rama hare hare

 

you’ll get extreme pleasure, supreme pleasure.

 

veda punah bale, “yata mukti mahajana

paravyome sada kare nama-sankirtana

 

Again the Vedas say that all the liberated mahajanas, always chant Hare Krishna in the spiritual sky. Yei krishna, sei nama — eka-tattva haya — there is no difference between the name of Krishna and Krishna Himself — ‘bhinnatvan nama-naminoh.

 

Cintamani means desire. Whatever you desire the name will give you. Krishna-nama cintamani anadi cinmaya — the holy name is spiritual, transcendental, and without beginning or end — anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam.

 

There is no difference between the name of Krishna and Krishna Himself, and especially in Kali yuga Krishna has incarnated Himself in the form of his holy name. No other incarnation is there in Kali-yuga. He is nama-avatara.

 

kali-kale nama-rupe krishna-avatara

nama haite haya sarva-jagat-nistara

 

In this Age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Krishna. Simply by chanting the holy name one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered.

 

nama vinu kali-kale nahi ara dharma

sarva-mantra-sara nama, ei shastra-marma

 

In this Age of Kali there is no religious principle other than the chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all Vedic hymns. This is the purport of all scriptures.

 

A vaishnava chants only one name. He has only one dharma, which is hari-nama. If you chant the holy name without offense — in other words, the pure name — then the all-beautiful form of Krishna, the transcendental pastimes of Krishna, and the attributes of Krishna — everything will be manifested to you. Name prasphutita haya rupa, guna, karma. The name is everything! The name is everything!·