19860420 Śrī Nāmāṣṭaka Explained

The following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Maharāja on April 20^th, 1986 in Śrī Vṛndāvana-dhāma, India. The class was given during the Vyāsa-pūjā  and is an explanation of the Śrī Nāmāṣṭaka by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his composition Stavāvalī.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavaṁ śrī-caitanya-īśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda paramahaṁsa parivrājakācārya aṣṭottara-śata-śrī-śrīmad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!

nāma-śreṣṭhaṁ manum api śacī-putram atra svarūpaṁ
rūpaṁ tasyāgrajam uru-purīṁ māthurīṁ goṣṭha-vāṭīm
rādhā-kuṇḍaṁ girivaram aho rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ
prāpto yasya prathita-kṛpayā śrī-guruṁ taṁ nato  ismi

Jayapatākā Swami: (Begins with prema-dhvani prayers)

Devotee: jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda paramahaṁsa parivrājakācārya aṣṭottara-śata-śrī-śrīmad jayapatākā svāmī śrīla ācāryapāda kī jaya!

Jayapatākā Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Will speak some English first and then some Bengali. Yesterday we read . . . Bhānu Mahārāja read Śrīla Prabhupāda is offering to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. In that offering Śrīla Prabhupāda explained how Kṛṣṇa is the spiritual master of everyone but He is working through the unlimited variety of forms through His devotees who are acting as spiritual master. Therefore, we observe Vyāsa-pūjā ceremony on the occasion of the appearance day of the spiritual master. Although we observe it on the appearance day of the spiritual master technically speaking, we are observing Vyāsa-pūjā, not birthday or āvirbhāva tithi or the like. Vyāsa-pūjā means we worship the entire disciplic succession, the guru-paramparā. Because guru means that he first has to be a disciple. Nobody is a guru until they are a disciple. So, that means every guru has a spiritual master and there is a chain, any bona fide guru. Therefore, when we worship the spiritual master, we worship the entire disciplic succession that means we ultimately worship the original giver of Vedic knowledge – Vyāsadeva by whose mercy everyone in this age gets the opportunity of understanding the purpose of life.

It is a fact, someone mentioned, I think one of my godbrothers, Śatadhanya Mahārāja, or someone – that Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me many instructions at different times to do . . . at different times to do different things. Just like one gets sentenced to prison with concurrent sentences, we have to serve them all. So, these are blessings but they all need to be fulfilled. Just as he said to distribute ten thousand big books and one hundred thousand small books every month. Told me to expand the preaching unlimitedly. He told me to develop the Kingdom of God that he had given – Śrī Māyāpur dhāma. He also told me that I should travel, that I had to take the curse of Nārada Muni, the curse that he had. Actually, even if I want to stop there is always so many demands to go somewhere to preach that it is practically impossible for me to refuse. So, somehow or another travelling to try to help different projects and programs in different parts of India and the world seems to be my work.

In this way Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me many instructions but singularly I am overwhelmed to think how I am going to be able to even achieve any one of them, what to speak of all of them and these are only a fraction of what he asked me to do. So, therefore I am unlimitedly grateful, one of the things Prabhupāda told me to do was he told me to help certain godbrothers and godsisters which I try to encourage them and I believe that – a way to achieve some of Prabhupāda’s instructions is by delegating authority which is another thing Prabhupāda said to do is, “Do not do everything yourself, delegate it.”

So, I like to see other people take up their individual initiative and try to encourage them to take up more responsibility. So, I am very grateful that in spite of my very difficult nature, people tell me it is difficult, there is so many godbrothers who have still not abandoned me and they are still helping me, working together with me, allowing me to help them in their service to Śrīla Prabhupāda, so that we can work together for fulfilling Prabhupāda’s different desires. I take it anything that Prabhupāda expressed is actually the desire of Kṛṣṇa manifested through Prabhupāda, whether Prabhupāda tells it to me or to someone else it is of the same absolute nature – that is anyone of Prabhupāda’s followers whether children or grandchildren to try to fulfil Prabhupāda’s desires.

I remember how Prabhupāda used to say that he considered his disciples to be sent by Bhaktisiddhānta, so, certainly in regard to my disciples I can see that they are sent by Śrīla Prabhupāda and I see that even the spiritual nephews and nieces what to speak of godbrothers and godsisters, they are all coming from Śrīla Prabhupāda allowing us to show the world a real spiritual united nations. Unity with one with the father and many children is easy. Unity in a plural family, in a joint spiritual family, where you have many . . . you have a father but many child-bearing fathers and child-bearing mothers and many aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and cousins and so on and it will become more complex as time goes on. To have unity in diversity in the pluralistic type of spiritual family is much more of an evidence to the world that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is truly universal and holds a solution for the world. Hare Kṛṣṇa! I will speak a little in Bengali.

Anything that is happening is purely by the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda. I feel so helpless when I have to do some important work that I am forced to depend upon the mercy of Prabhupāda, I do not see any other way of doing something. Other godbrothers are much more intelligent and capable. So, therefore they got some qualities to do something but I do not find myself having any quality at all only and this makes me to have to depend fully on Śrīla Prabhupāda and somehow by his mercy things get done. It may be seen that I achieved something, that I have some quality but actually, things are just being carried out by his mercy.

I know this for a fact that on some occasions Māyā tricked me and made me think I am the doer and that somehow with my expertise I am going to get something done and I remember one time; my inner sense was telling me I have to go early to the airport. Usually, I am late and make it to last minute call to the airport but this time I did not heed the warning, I said, “It is alright, Kṛṣṇa is going to cover me”, and felt proud of that maybe. So, then I got to the airport, got through immigration and then I got right to the gate and I saw the plane was driving off. I missed the flight. Then I had a few hours to meditate how I should be more humble and not take Kṛṣṇa’s mercy for granted.

So, I learnt not to expect, even though we may depend on Kṛṣṇa’s mercy He may not give His mercy or if He does not want to, then He may not because He is not obliged to. Especially if I were to take that Kṛṣṇa has to give me His mercy, then Kṛṣṇa has more reason not to give it to make us more humble. So, these kinds of experiences – I came to understand that actually the only thing that makes things happen successfully is I see by the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda and due to lack of consciousness of guru and Kṛṣṇa then we find ourselves in difficulty. Sometimes devotees have some problems, and ask “How can we improve our devotional service?” then we tell them to depend on Kṛṣṇa.

Usually, I am just telling, I am not successful although Prabhupāda gave me the name ‘Jayapatākā’, the name is supposed to mean ‘Victory Flag’ but I do feel in many ways I am not as successful as Prabhupāda had desired. Whenever there is any kind of success, I can see that it is to whatever extent we depend on Prabhupāda and previous ācāryas’ mercy. On this Vyāsa-pūjā everybody is speaking very nicely, very eloquently showing their own greatness in worshipping and their dependence on the whole guru-paramparā. Glorification which was given to me by name actually is all directed towards Śrīla Prabhupāda because without his mercy there is no possibility of finding any good qualities. Even though I cannot find out, you can still find some because they say, ‘’beauty is in the eyes of the beholder’, but if you are seeing anything worthy of emulating then that is simply a reflection of the mercy Śrīla Prabhupāda is giving to me and all of his disciples and all of the granddisciples and anyone who follows his teachings. So, we should dedicate ourselves to spreading Prabhupāda’s teachings and so the entire world comes together in glorifying him. Hare Kṛṣṇa! [Śrīla Ācāryapāda kī jaya!]

—kīrtana break—

Jayapatākā Swami: The Vedas describe that if one offends a Vaiṣṇava that offence is so serious that even if you to pray to God, to Kṛṣṇa, He will not forgive you for that. We have to go to the Vaiṣṇava and ask for forgiveness. Similarly, if one offends the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is dearest to Kṛṣṇa. It is Kṛṣṇa is most merciful form rather and as such there is no other form of Kṛṣṇa more merciful than the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. So, you have to go to the holy name and pray to be forgiven for your offence. Śrīla Abhayacaraṇāravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda has recommended that if one prays a prayer like this – Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmāṣṭakam –  the glory of the holy name, that this helps one or get rid of one’s offenses to the holy name and allows one to chant in a more pure way. So, this is a very important verse. It is a meditation on the glories of the name of Kṛṣṇa. It is only for those persons who are not envious. Anyone who is envious of Kṛṣṇa’s name then they should not listen because we do not want to commit the offense of telling the glories of the holy name to the unfaithful. These are very beautiful verses, there are only eight of them, aṣṭakam. So, we will read through that and give a brief explanation.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmāṣṭakam 1

nikhila-śruti-mauli-ratna-mālā-
dyuti-nīrājita-pāda-pańkajānta
ayi mukta-kulair upāsyamānaṁ
paritas tvāṁ  hari-nāma saṁ śrayāmi

Translation: “O, my dear Harināma! The holy name of Kṛṣṇa, You are identical with Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental form according to all of the Upaniṣads. The Upaniṣads personified the effulgence emanating from Your lotus feet. In other words, my dear holyname, all of the personified Vedas taking shelter at Your lotus feet, sing Your transcendental glories with chosen verses and yogīs, ṛṣis and all kinds of liberated souls appropriately worship Your lotus feet. Therefore, I completely surrender myself unto Your lotus feet.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, that the perspective, the invocation of this first verse given by Rūpa Gosvāmī, he is praying to the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. That Kṛṣṇa’s form is non-different from the holy name. That the effulgence of the Brahman is coming from the lotus feet of the holy name. And all the great ṛṣis, munis and liberated souls, they worship the holy name. Therefore, he is surrendering to the holy name. Meditating on the holy name is given, this direct prominence that actually the holy name is Kṛṣṇa, that the holy name is cetanaś cetanānām, (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13) it is fully conscious, therefore we can address the holy name, we can pray to the holy name, we can have relationship with the holy name. And the liberated souls they are always associating with this Harināma. So, we have to adjust our perspective to avoid thinking that the holy name is some type of just static vibration, or that the holy name is some external material sound. But the holy name is the transcendental Absolute Truth known as śabda-brahman. It is complete in all opulences, in all powers – nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis” [Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam 2] – all the potencies of Kṛṣṇa are present in any of His forms, whether in His visible or pastime, līlā form or whether in His śabda-brahman form. So, we are praying tonight to this form as the holy name to understand Kṛṣṇa in His merciful form as the holy name and we are surrendering to the holy name to take the shelter of the Lord’s holy name in this Age of Kali.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmāṣṭakam 2

jaya nāmadheya muni-vṛnda-geya he
jana-rañjanāya param akṣarākṛte
tvam anādarād api manāg udīritaṁ
nikhilogra-tāpa-paṭalīṁ  vilumpasi

Translation: “O, my dear Kṛṣṇa-nāma! The holy name of Kṛṣṇa, You are eternally glorified by the realized souls. Just to attract the consciousness of conditioned souls throughout the material universes, out of Your causeless mercy, You manifest in an audible form of transcendental sound vibration. Your mercy is so great that when someone chants Your name accidentally or in neglect even for one time, You destroy inconceivable quantities of their accumulated sinful reactions for many births together. My dear holy name of Kṛṣṇa – All glories unto You!”

Jayapatākā Swami: muni-vṛnda-geya, the holy name is glorified by the realized souls. Why is the holy name coming down? This paramākṣara-kṛte, why is the holy name coming down—So, the human being can be reawakened. So, the Lord comes, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa descends to awaken this dormant consciousness and explains that the name is so merciful that if someone chants the name of Kṛṣṇa accidentally or neglectfully—say that somebody, some maybe even a non-Hindu police constable, he happens to know our friend Kṛṣṇa Swami and he says, “Kṛṣṇa Swami, how are you today?,” or something. He has no intention of singing the names of Kṛṣṇa as a religious meditational function. But just by calling His name accidentally, he is also saying Kṛṣṇa’s name, the name is the same. So, by doing that it destroys inconceivable quantities of their sinful reactions. Even when the Muslims they say harām, by saying harām they are saying Rāma. That means that so many sinful reactions are being cleansed away. This is one of the types of chanting, accidental chanting. There is a hotel chain in America, Rāmada Inn. Yes. So, by that way they are chanting Rāma, Rāmada. This accidental and neglectful chanting, that also takes away from many births these types of accumulated karmas. So, therefore he is glorifying the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, who can conceive of the great mercy of Kṛṣṇa? There is an example . . . no there is no example, let us go to verse three. (laughter) Jaya Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma kī jaya! (Aside: They are going there, to see there? The Deity does not, have it? Okay.]

Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmāṣṭakam 3

yad-ābhāso 'py udyan kavalita-bhava-dhvānta-vibhavo
dṛśaṁ  tattvāndhānām api diśati bhakti-praṇayinīm
janas tasyodāttaṁ  jagati bhagavan-nāma-taraṇe
kṛtī te nirvaktuṁ  ka iha mahimānaṁ  prabhavati

[Aside: Jaya Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma kī jaya! Jaya Gaura-Nitāi kī jaya! Translation. Each verse is written in a different meter, so I am not so much expert . . .]

Translation: “O, my dear holy name of Kṛṣṇa, You are more brilliant than the sun. You are so merciful that if someone utters You out of fear or merely as nāmābhāsa, imperfect chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, imperfect stage prior to offenseless chanting. Even then Your mercy is so great that You destroy their material ignorance and binding attachments to condition of life and gradually bless such conditioned souls devoid of spiritual knowledge with transcendental knowledge of devotional service to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. O, my dear holy name, who in this universe can officially glorify Your transcendental qualities even among the great realized souls. All glories unto You!”

Jayapatākā Swami: This is the next stage of chanting. If one chants out of fear or as a type of imperfect chanting, then that can destroy material ignorance and give one liberation. Now this example is there of Ajāmila. Ajāmila named his son after the name of Kṛṣṇa – Nārāyaṇa. When he was dying he called his son. By calling his son he was calling out Kṛṣṇa or Nārāyaṇa. So, in this way at that last minute he was repeating the name – nārāyaṇa antaḥ-smṛtiḥ. So, by this chanting the name was not a perfect chanting because he was actually calling his son but he was chanting the name and at that moment he started to remember the Lord. So, because of that chanting he could achieve liberation, he was delivered. In this way the material ignorance can be destroyed, binding attachments to conditional life can be destroyed and devotional service can be given even by this type of imperfect chanting or chanting out of fear. This way who can imagine how merciful the holy name is? If a person is chanting accidentally out of fear or inattentively or imperfectly they are getting such an opportunity, such a blessing, what to speak if a person chants giving concentration, giving devotion without any neglect or any distraction, then what is the result?

Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmāṣṭakam 4

yad-brahma-sākṣāt-kṛti-niṣṭhayāpi
vināśam āyāti vinā na bhogaiḥ
apaiti nāma sphuraṇena tat te
prārabdha-karmeti virauti vedah

Translation: “By unbroken and concentrated meditation upon the impersonal Brahman one is unable to destroy the primordial, pious and karmic reactions which lie beyond the immediate renunciation of the material enjoyment that come from time immemorial. However, my dear holyname, by vibrating You on the tip of the tongue, in other words by merely pronouncing You these primordial karmic reactions are destroyed.”

Jayapatākā Swami: This is a very esoteric subject. This is post-graduate subject matter. We have already gone through grade school, high school, now this is going into post-graduate. This is university, this is very advanced. Most people do not know there are two types of karma. There is prārabdha-karma and then there is normal karma. Normal karma, that we get run over by a bus or we get a lottery ticket winning or whatever that is normal karma reaction, this is up to one hundred births. Beyond that it normally does not affect. But when the material world is annihilated, when Brahmā takes his rest and then we are brought back into a new body, the new creation comes and we come out again, there is a type of prārabdha-karma or very subtle karma which is binding us to the ahaṅkāra. And then again when the creation is made that let us take up again where we left off.

So, that is a very fine type of karma which is not erased even by meditating and realizing the impersonal Brahman. Because from the Brahman one can fall back down again into this material world, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino ’rjuna” [Bg. 8.16] The other verses are there, even after realizing Brahman one can fall down again, so then again one takes up in the material world some activity. Although Brahman is outside the material world if one does not know how to do spiritual activity, again one can fall down into material activity. So, this type of prārabdha or primordial karma is not erased, is not destroyed even by attaining the sāyujya-mukti of merging into the Brahman but by chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa this karma is wiped away. There are many evidences given in the Vedas regarding the glories of the holy name.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmāṣṭakam 5

aghadamana-yaśodānandanau nandasūno
kamalanayana-gopīcandra-vṛndāvanendrāḥ
praṇatakaruṇa-kṛṣṇāv ity aneka-svarūpe
tvayi mama ratir uccair vardhatāṁ  nāmadheya

Translation: “O Aghadamana, The killer of Aghāsura! O my dear Yaśodānandana, the beloved son of Mother Yaśodā! O my dear son of Mahārāja Nanda, Nanda-sūno! O My Dear lotus-eyed, Kamala-nayana! O My Dear beloved of the gopīs, Gopīcandra! O My Dear Lord of Vṛndāvana, Vṛndāvanendra! My Dear worshipable merciful Lord! My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa! O my beloved holy name, in these and Your other countless forms You manifest Your transcendental vibration in this world to deliver the conditioned souls from the bondage of the repetition of birth and death in material life. Out of Your causeless and inconceivable mercy. My dear holyname, may spontaneous attachment for chanting You increase unlimitedly by Your causeless mercy upon me.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, you see, Kṛṣṇa, we had His association five thousand years ago. In Tretā-yuga we had Rāmacandra present, in Satya-yuga there were other avatāras who were present. But when They are not present, when Their pastimes are aprakaṭa or unmanifested then how can we get Their association? But by chanting Their names which is non-different, then immediately we are getting this association with the same transcendental form of the Lord. So, in this way the residents of Vṛndāvana, they were having a daily festival when Kṛṣṇa went to Dvārakā, the residents of Vṛndāvana were constantly chanting Kṛṣṇa is name, when He was present, they were chanting His name. All great devotees they also chant the name of the Lord; this will be revealed later. So, what is the significance of that? It is that this transcendental vibration when it comes in this world it delivers the conditioned souls from the bondage of birth and death and by chanting the desire to chant more which is the spiritual desire that brings us like a magnet to the higher spiritual reality, that desire increases more and more.

In other words, if somebody wants to get attraction for chanting and they say “How can I learn to like to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa?” then someone says, “You can do this or that”, No! You have to chant! By chanting you will learn, you will automatically increase your attraction for chanting. That is the nature of the chanting, that the chanting purifies us. If we are chanting imperfectly, if we are chanting offensively then we should go on chanting the name to get rid of that offense, to get rid of that defect. There is no more effective method of achieving spiritual attraction, of achieving spiritual knowledge and bliss than this process of chanting.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmāṣṭakam 6

vācyaṁ  vācakam ity udeti bhavato nāma svarūpa-dvayaṁ
pūrvasmāt param eva hanta karuṇaṁ  tatrāpi jānīmahe
yas tasmin vihitāparādha-nivahaḥ prāṇī samantād bhaved
āsyenedam upāsya so 'pi hi sadānandāmbudhau majjati

Translation: “My dear holy name! You exist in two transcendental forms or svarūpas, namely, one form is Your personal form of bliss as the Supreme Living Person, the object of glorification in transcendental sound. And two, another form is Your form as the holy name such as Kṛṣṇa, Govinda and other transcendental names which indicate or describe Your transcendental pastime forms of bliss. You are one and the same, ever existent in these two transcendental forms. Of the two I consider that Your audible form as the holy name such as Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, etc. is more merciful than Your visible personal form as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is because if someone is engaged in worshipping Your Deity forms and subsequently becomes implicated in offenses and then takes shelter of Your transcendental form as Your holy name, chanting Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, etc. while worshipping You, My Dear holy name, You out of Your causeless mercy purify that person of all kinds of offenses and he is able to relish the nectar of the unlimited ocean of transcendental bliss.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Even Śukrācārya, he told at the end after Bali Mahārāja’s deliverance, he said by chanting the holy name any defect and any error in any yajña, he said that chidraṁ becomes niśchidraṁ and that chidraṁ or error becomes niśchidraṁ it becomes corrected. Such is the power of the name. When we do Deity worship it is considered ārādhana-yajña, arcana-yajña, whether we do homa-yajña or any form of spiritual activity, if the holy name is going on side by side that is guaranteed to make everything alright, corrected. So, therefore the holy name is considered to be the most merciful than other forms of the Lord’s presence whether as fire or as Deity.

So, in this way even when Draupadī was being embarrassed, when her clothes were being ripped off by Duḥśāsana, Kṛṣṇa was not present in His visible form, one could not see Him at that moment. But she cried out “He Kṛṣṇa! He Keśava! He Govinda!” She started crying on the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa hearing His name chanted with such devotion and helplessness with complete dedication, immediately He was present and the holy name provided unlimited sāṛī to save her from her disgrace. In this way there are countless examples how the holy name delivers the fallen souls, delivers the devotees. So, here Rūpa Gosvāmī states he considers that the chanting of the holy name is the most merciful aspect of the Lord. Therefore, he is glorifying the holy name with his complete devotion and attention.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmāṣṭakam 7

sūditāśrita-janārti-rāśaye
ramya-cid-ghana-sukha-svarūpiṇe
nāma gokula-mahotsavāya te
kṛṣṇa pūrṇa-vapuṣe namo namah

Translation: “O my dear holy name! O beloved, identical form of Kṛṣṇa in sound, the devotees who take shelter of Your lotus feet to constantly chanting You are even saved from destruction due to offences against the holy name or nāma-aparādha out of Your causeless mercy. You are manifest as the Supreme Personal Form of concentrated, transcendental ecstasy. Here it is described, cid-gana-sukha, You are personally the form of transcendental happiness and a daily festival for the residents of Gokula Vṛndāvana dhāma – gokula-mahotsavāya te; You are the full form of transcendental glory and eternal bliss through which You manifest nectarean loving exchanges with Your devotees. Therefore, my dear holy name of Kṛṣṇa I offer again and again my respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here two important glories of the holy name are given, one I mentioned briefly before that by chanting the holy name one can be forgiven of the offences to the holy name. The other is that the name is actually the full form of transcendental ecstasy or bliss. Another verse explains this,

nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto ’bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ
[Padma Purāṇa]

the rasa-vigraha, the Āḻvārs of the Śrī-sampradāya, great devotees of Kṛṣṇa in Tamil Nadu or Purandara or Madhva or other devotees, great ācāryas, there was one other, Kanakadāsa, they are chanting, even Śaṅkarācārya is chanting “bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate.” You chant Govinda, Govinda. But these other devotees they are simply chanting the name of the Lord. So, by doing that they were experiencing unlimited happiness. And for the residents of Vṛndāvana it was a festival. So, in these names they were experiencing the presence of Kṛṣṇa, the rasa of Kṛṣṇa – the loving exchanges with Kṛṣṇa, by chanting the holy name. So, in this way the holy name is manifesting loving exchanges with the devotees.

In fact, Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He would hear the holy names chanted, He would be transferred to the spiritual world and there He would experience all these pastimes which the names were manifesting in sound. So, again and again, he is offering his obeisances to the holy name. You can imagine how fortunate all of you are that this name is available for you to chant. This says the residents of Vṛndāvana. You can also be chanting in the same mood –  the holy name and thus getting the same transcendental benefits, realization and shelter.

Although some may think that the chanting of the holy name is for the sentimentalist, it is actually a great science, it is said that the chanting of the holy name is a very esoteric subject matter. Because if we explain this to people who do not have any faith in the name of Kṛṣṇa and no knowledge of the Vedas in this esoteric aspect they may challenge and say something offensive and, in this way, their own spiritual life will be hampered. If they offend the holy name, who can they turn to get shelter? So, therefore generally the glories of the holy name are revealed amongst the devotees, amongst those who have developed a certain degree of advancement in spiritual life. Now the last verse is very short.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmāṣṭakam 8

nārada-vīṇojjīvana
sudhormi-niryāsa-mādhurī-pūra
tvaṁ  kṛṣṇa-nāma kāmaṁ
sphura me rasane rasena sadā

Translation: “O my dear holy name of Kṛṣṇa! You are the life and soul of the vīṇā of Devarṣi Nārada Muni. You are the eternal tidal wave of full transcendental nectar. I humbly fall at Your lotus feet and beg for Your causeless mercy to make me always fixed in Your service so that You may dance tirelessly on my tongue. In other words, kindly bless me that I may always be engaged in chanting You without cessation.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here Devarṣi Nārada Muni who is a great liberated soul, the life and soul of his vīṇā is this chanting of the holy name. He is travelling throughout the universe as a type of transcendental spaceman. He does not require any liquid nitrogen or oxygen or anything, neither does his vīṇā explode like the Challenger killing all the inhabitants. He is going simply by the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. He is chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa and he is being propelled everywhere by his own spiritual potency.

So, Nārada Muni is constantly chanting the holy name and other great liberated souls like Dasyu Ratnākara, by chanting the name of Rāma he became Vālmīki. There are so many examples. Prahlāda was always chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa, therefore by the power of the name of Kṛṣṇa his father Hiraṇyakaśipu asked him “Where did you get your power? How is it that . . . I can defeat anyone but I cannot defeat you.” And Prahlāda said “I am getting my power from the same place where you get your power. Everybody is getting their power from the same place. There is the Supreme powerhouse, the supreme source of all power, the Lord. The difference is that I know where I am getting my power from, but you are not accepting . . . you think that you are getting your power from some other source.” So, the thing is by chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa, actually we cannot give enough attention. That is why in previous yugas this chanting was not allowed to be chanted by except for by very orthodox brāhmaṇas because the name being identical with Kṛṣṇa if you chant the name and commit some offence, then for fear of that people would not chant. That is why this was a very restricted process and some idea came that if we chant the name then there will be some offence so they stop to chant except when bathing in the Gaṅgā or some sacred river, Kāverī, Narmadā or like that.

The actual science is that by repeatedly chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s name is more merciful than other names of Viṣṇu. It is said that one thousand names of Viṣṇu if you chant that is equal to one name of Rāma. And if you chant three thousand times the name of Viṣṇu that is equal to one name of Kṛṣṇa. Even then all these things were not guessed when chanting Kṛṣṇa’s name. On top of that Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s blessing is if you chant His name first and then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa then by His mercy one can more easily avoid offences to the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and get the full effect of offenseless chanting. So, great souls like Nārada Muni and all the liberated souls, their life and soul is chanting the holy name. It is not actually that it is a cheap thing. It is actually an invaluable thing. It is a priceless gift. But unfortunately people do not because it is so priceless that if you were to put a value on it, it would be out of the reach of anyone to buy. So, it has to be given free because it is priceless.

Free means, the price we have is to chant it. So, this is a great opportunity which everyone has to take this name and if someone tries to perfect their chanting and chant more attentively, to keep on chanting and avoid offences to the name then by the mercy of the holy name in a very short time one can achieve all perfection which would normally take yugas to achieve. Once there was an argument between Haridāsa Ṭhākura and one brāhmaṇa in Bengal. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was against the head priest of one landlord, his name was Balarāma Ācārya. And the landlord’s name was Hiraṇya Majumadāra and his brother was Govinda Majumadāra. So, then they asked Haridāsa Ṭhākura, who was born in a Muslim family but he was appointed as a Nāmācārya by Lord Caitanya because he was chanting three hundred thousand times the name of Kṛṣṇa every day and his pastimes are unlimited. He was . . . his life story is just something inconceivable.

So, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was asked by some other person, they were having a regular dharma-sabhā in the evening and all the brāhmaṇas and paṇḍitas and respectable citizens were there in the court of this landlord. He was a very wealthy landlord. He was giving tax at that time one million two hundred thousand gold coins to the emperor. You can understand now one million two hundred thousand gold coins what it is worth now and what it was worth then. This was the tax he paid, what to say of what he kept.

So, at that time the paṇḍita asked “Tell us about the glories of the name, you are always chanting the name. By chanting the name you can get Svarga, you can get all good karmas, everything.” But someone said “By chanting you even get mokṣa.” Then Haridāsa Ṭhākura interrupted and said that, “These are all by-products of chanting the holy name, you get these things easy by chanting, there is no need to count. Because by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, you can actually capture Kṛṣṇa in your heart!” (audio abruptly stops)