Message from the Gospel – 22. God and His Name Are Identical

Sri Ramakrishna emphasizes the power of God’s name and talks about the importance of repeating it thus:

MASTER: "All the sins of the body flyaway if one chants the name of God and sings His glories.  The birds of sin dwell in the tree of the body.  Singing the name of God is like clapping your hands.  As, at a clap of the hands, the birds in the tree flyaway, so do our sins disappear at the chanting of God's name and glories.”

"Again, you find that the water of a reservoir dug in a meadow is evaporated by the heat of the sun.  Likewise, the water of the reservoir of sin is dried up by the singing of the name and glories of God."

"Worldly people will never listen to you if you ask them to renounce everything and devote themselves whole-heartedly to God.  Therefore Chaitanya and Nitai, after some deliberation, made an arrangement to attract the worldly.  They would say to such persons, 'Come, repeat the name of Hari, and you shall have a delicious soup of magur fish and the embrace of a young woman.' Many people, attracted by the fish and the woman, would chant the name of God.  After tasting a little of the nectar of God's hallowed name, they would soon realize that the 'fish soup' really meant the tears they shed for love of God, while the 'young woman' signified the earth.  The embrace of the woman meant rolling on the ground in the rapture of divine love.”

"Nitai would employ any means to make people repeat Hari's name.  Chaitanya said: 'The name of God has very great sanctity.  It may not produce an immediate result, but one day it must bear fruit.  It is like a seed that has been left on the cornice of a building.  After many days, the house crumbles, and the seed falls on the earth, germinates, and at last bears fruit.'”

Radha said to her friends: "I have loved to see Krishna from my childhood.  My finger-nails are worn off from counting the days on them till I shall see Him.  Once He gave me a garland.  Look, it has withered, but I have not yet thrown it away.  Alas! Where has the Moon of Krishna risen now? Has that Moon gone away from my firmament, afraid of the Rahu of my pique? Alas! Shall I ever see Krishna again? O my beloved Krishna, I have never been able to look at You to my heart's complete satisfaction.  I have only one pair of eyes; they blink and so hinder my vision.  And further, on account of streams of tears I could not see enough of my Beloved.  The peacock feather on the crown of His head shines like arrested lightning.  The peacocks, seeing Krishna's dark-cloud complexion, would dance in joy, spreading their tails.  O friends, I shall not be able to keep my life-breath.  After my death, place my body on a branch of the dark tamala tree and inscribe on my body Krishna's sweet name."

The Master said: "God and His name are identical; that is the reason Radha said that.  There is no difference between Rama and His holy name."

“One gradually acquires love of God through the practice of chanting God's name and glories.  (To M.) One should not be ashamed of chanting God's holy name.  As the saying  goes, 'One does not succeed so long as one has these three: shame, hatred, and fear.'”

"You must practise it every day.  The other day, at the circus, I saw a horse running at top speed, with an Englishwoman standing on one foot on its back.  How much she must have practised to acquire that skill!”

"These, then, are the two means: practice and passionate attachment to God, that is to say, restlessness of the soul to see Him."

(To the devotees) "One cannot be spiritual as long as one has shame, hatred, or fear.  Great will be the joy today.  But those fools who will not sing or dance, mad with God's name, will never attain God.  How can one feel any shame or fear when the names of God are sung? Now sing, all of you."

A Vaishnava goswami was seated in the room.  The Master said to him: "Well, what do you say? What is the way?"

GOSWAMI: "Sir, the chanting of God's name is enough.  The scriptures emphasize the sanctity of God's name for the Kaliyuga."

MASTER: "Yes, there is no doubt about the sanctity of God's name.  But can a mere name achieve anything, without the yearning love of the devotee behind it? One should feel great restlessness of soul for the vision of God.  Suppose a man repeats the name of God mechanically, while his mind is absorbed in 'woman and gold'.  Can he achieve anything? Mere muttering of magic words doesn't cure one of the pain of a spider or scorpion sting.  One must also apply the smoke of burning cow-dung."

GOSWAMI: "But what about Ajamila then? He was a great sinner; there was no sin he had not indulged in.  But he uttered the name of Narayana on his death-bed, calling his son, who also had that name.  And thus he was liberated."

MASTER: "Perhaps Ajamila had done many spiritual things in his past births.  It is also said that he once practised austerity; besides, those were the last moments of his life.  What is the use of giving an elephant a bath? It will cover itself with dirt and dust again and become its former self.  But if someone removes the dust from its body and gives it a bath just before it enters the stable, then the elephant remains clean.” 

"Suppose a man becomes pure by chanting the holy name of God, but immediately afterwards commits many sins.  He has no strength of mind.  He doesn't take a vow not to repeat his sins.  A bath in the Ganges undoubtedly absolves one of all sins; but what does that avail? They say that the sins perch on the trees along the bank of the Ganges.  No sooner does the man come back from the holy waters than the old sins jump on his shoulders from the trees.  (All laugh.) The same old sins take possession of him again.  He is hardly out of the water before they fall upon him.”

"Therefore I say, chant the name of God, and with it pray to Him that you may have love for Him.  Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day. Weep at least once to see God.”