Power of a Name - Har Hare

The power of the Name of God has been extoled in many scriptures. Here is an extract from Sukhmani Sahib (a holy script of Sikhs, composed by Guru Arjan Dev ji, their fifth Guru):

Chanting, intense meditation, spiritual wisdom and all meditations;

six schools of philosophy and sermons on the scriptures;

practice of Yoga and righteous conduct;

renunciation of everything and wandering around in the

wilderness;

performance of all sorts of works;

donations to charities and offerings of jewels to fire;

cutting the body apart and making the pieces into ceremonial fire offerings;

keeping fasts and making vows of all sorts

- none of these are equal to the contemplation of the Name of the Lord.

If one chants the Name of the Lord, even once, one obtains salvation. There is nothing equal to the Name of the Lord.

The Glorious Praise of the Name of the Lord is the highest; the Name has saved so many of the worst sinners.

Chanting the Name of the Lord, sorrow is dispelled, chant it with intuitive ease. If you wish to erase your sorrows, sing the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, within your heart.

To the poor, God’s Name is wealth.

To the homeless, God’s Name is home.

To the dishonored, You, O God, are honor.

To all, You are the Giver of gifts.

Of all religions, the best religion is to chant the Name of the Lord and maintain pure conduct.

Of all efforts, the best effort is to chant the Name of the Lord in the heart, forever.

Of all speech, the most ambrosial speech is to hear the Lord's Praise and chant it with the tongue.

Of all places, the most sublime place, is that heart in which the Name of the Lord abides.

Message from the Gospel - 37. Ego is Useless

People pride over every possible thing: "I belong to a high caste." "I am beautiful." "I am having fair skin." "I am rich." "I am highly educated." "I am working in a great organization as so and so and earning such and such..." It will be an endless list. I have seen people priding over their talents which will be some silly thing or the other and say, "I can do this. I can do that." 

Sri Ramakrishna says: "Let me ask you one thing. Are vanity and egotism the result of knowledge or of ignorance? Egotism is of the nature of tamas; it is begotten by ignorance. On account of the barrier of ego one does not see God. 'All troubles come to an end when the ego dies.' It is futile to be egotistic. Neither body nor wealth will last. Once a drunkard was looking at the image of Durga. At the sight of Her decorations, he said, 'Well, Mother! However You may fix Yourself up, after two or three days they will drag You out and throw You into the Ganges.' (All laugh.) So I say to you all, you may be a judge or anybody else, but it is all for two days only. Therefore you should give up vanity and pride."

Sri Ramakrishna says further "Egotism, sleep, gluttony (habitual eating to excess), lust, anger, and the like, are the traits of' people with tamas. What begets egotism? Knowledge or ignorance? It is only the humble man who attains Knowledge. In a low place rain-water collects. It runs down from a mound."

"A man achieves neither Knowledge nor liberation as long as he has egotism. He comes back again and again to the world. The calf bellows, 'Hamba! Hamba!', that is, 'I! I!' That is why it suffers such agony. The butcher slaughters it and the shoe-maker makes shoes from its hide. Besides, its hide is used for the drum, which is beaten mercilessly. Still no end to its misery! At long last a carding machine is made from its entrails. While carding the cotton the machine makes the sound 'Tuhu! Tuhu!', that is, 'Thou! Thou!' Then the poor calf is released from all suffering. It no longer says, 'Hamba! Hamba!' but repeats, 'Tuhu! Tuhu!' The calf says, as it were, 'O God, Thou art the Doer and I am nothing. Thou art the Operator and I am the machine. Thou art everything.'"

"There is no teacher except Satchidananda. There is no refuge except Him. He alone is the Ferryman to take one across the ocean of the world. If God, through His grace, ever reveals Himself to His devotee and makes him understand, then he will know; but not otherwise."

"God is our Inner Controller. Pray to Him with a pure and guileless heart. He will explain everything to you. Give up egotism and take refuge in Him. You will realize everything."

I heard in a discourse on the Gospel that  even egotistic thoughts such as "I have never told a lie." "I am very honest." "I have never taken bribe." will not allow us to move towards God. May the God remove all types of ego from our mind and help us get closer to Him.