Nama-tattva continued:

 

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswati Ṭhakura

শ্রী গৌड़िয-কন্ঠহার

Gaudiya Kanṭhahāra:

The Jeweled Necklace of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas

17th Jewel

NĀMA-TATTVA

The Ontology of the Holy Name

Being a compendium of quotations from revealed scriptures

concerning the truths about the cult of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu

Compiled under the authority and direction of

His Divine Grace

Bhaktisiddhānta Sāraswāti Goswāmī

Prabhupada

Translated and edited, with original Sanskrit and Bengali and Roman transliteration by

B. V. Mahāyogi, Michael Dolan

१७.६
एकम् एव सच्-चिद्-आनन्द-रसादि-रूपं तत्त्वं द्विधा-विर्भूतम्
17.6

ekam eva sac-cid-ānanda-rasādi-rūpaṁ tattvaṁ dvidhā-virbhūtam

The Supreme Absolute Truth is one reality whose form is eternal, fully cognizant, and ecstatic. That Absolute reality who is the origin of all rasa appears in two forms, as Kṛṣṇa Himself and as the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. These two forms are nondifferent manifestations of the same eternal reality Kṛṣṇa.

(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Pūrva-Vibhāga 2.233, Jīva Gosvāmī's Durgamasaṛgamanī commentary)

The Vedas Sing the Glories of the Holy Name

१७.७
ओं आस्य जानन्तो नाम चिद्-विविक्तन् महन्ते विष्णो सुमतिं भजामहे ओं तत् सत्

17.7

oṁ āsya jānanto nāma cid-viviktan mahante viṣṇo sumatiṁ bhajāmahe oṁ tat sat

The oṁ tat sat mantra means, "O Lord Visnu, Your name is conscious (cit) and therefore self-effulgent (mahas) and so even one with partial knowledge of the eternal nature of Your name, and incomplete understanding of the glory of proper chanting, can attain knowledge of You merely by repeating the syllables, because You, who are known by Om, are self- existent (sat)." Thus it is seen that the name liberates a person from fear and envy even if alluded to.

 (Bhagavata-Sandarbha 47)

१७.७.१
हे विष्णो ते तव नाम चित् चित्-स्वरुपम् अत एव महः स्व-प्रकाश-रुपं
तस्मात् अस्य नाम्न आ ईषदपि जानन्तः स तु सम्यक्
उच्चार-महात्मयादि पुरुस्कारेण.
तथापि विवक्तन् ब्रवाणाः केवलं तद्- अक्षराभ्यासमात्रं कुर्वाणाः सुमतिं
तद्-विशयां विद्यां भजामहे प्राप्नुयः.
यतस्  देव प्रणवव्यञ्जितं वस्त् स सिद्धिमिति अतएव भयद्वेषदौ श्री  मूर्ते स्फुर्तेरिर् इव साङ्ख्येत्या दावपस्य मुक्तिदत्वं श्रुयते

17.7.1

he viṣṇo te tava nāma cit cit-svarupam ata eva mahaḥ sva-prakāśa-rupaṁ

tasmāt asya nāmna ā īṣadapi jānantaḥ sa tu samyak

uccāra-mahātmayādi puruskāreṇa.

 tathāpi vivaktan bravāṇāḥ kevalaṁ tad- akṣarābhyāsamātraṁ kurvāṇāḥ sumatiṁ 

tad-viśayāṁ vidyāṁ bhajāmahe prāpnuyaḥ.

yatas  deva praṇavavyañjitaṁ vastu sa siddhimiti ataeva bhayadveṣadau śrī  mūrte sphurterir iva sāṅkhyetyā dāvapasya muktidatvaṁ śruyate

O Viṣṇu! Your holy name is of the nature of divine consciousness it is transcendental reality par-excellence. It is a manifestation of Your own divine form, even if someone utters the holy name without knowing the names complete glories.

To utter the name without being fully aware of its glories means nāmābhāsa, or sounding the syllables of the holy name which are only the outer reflection.

And yet, even in such a positon we shall attain divine knowledge of the Lord, by such worship. Because this line contains the word oṁ it indicates that

the use of the word "sat" means svata-siddhaū.

Therefore the divine form manifests upon one's having uttered the name even when there is nāmābhāsa because of sāṅkhyetyā and so forth), and thus one attains liberation from the

postion of fear and envy.

 (Bhagavata Sandarbha 4 Jīva Goswāmī)

The Glories of the Holy Name in the Smṛti-śāstras-

१७.८

वेदे रामायणे चैव पुराणे भारते तथा आदावन्ते च मध्ये च हरिः सर्वत्रः गीयते

17.8

vede rāmāyaṇe caiva purāṇe bhārate tathā ādāvante ca madhye ca hariḥ sarvatraḥ gīyate 

Throughout the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Purāṇas, and the Mahābhārata, from

beginning to end, only the glories of the Supreme  Lord Hari are sung. (Harivaṁśa)

The Holy Name Grants All Perfection in Kali- yuga-

१७.९

कलेर् दोष-निधे राजन्न् अस्ति ह्य् एको महान्  गुणः
कीर्तनाद् एव कृष्णस्य मुक्त-सङ्गः परं व्रजेत्
17.9

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann asti hy eko mahān  guṇaḥ 
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet

My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good

quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one

can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental

kingdom.

(Bhāg. 12.3.51)

१७.१०

कृते यद् ध्यायतो विष्णुं त्रेतायां यजतो मखैः
द्वापरे परिचर्यायां कलौ तद् धरि-कीर्तनात्

17.10

kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ

dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt 

What was attained in Satya-yuga through meditation, in Tretā-yuga through

sacrifice, and in Dvāpara-yuga through Deity worship is realized in Kali-yuga

through hari-kīrtana. (Bhāg. 12.3.52)

१७.११
ध्यायन् कृते यजन् यज्ञैस्- त्रेतायां द्वापरे ऽर्चयन्
यदाप्नोति तदाप्नोति कलौ सङ्कीर्त्य केशवम्
17.11

dhyāyan kṛte yajan yajñais- tretāyāṁ dvāpare 'rcayan

yadāpnoti tadāpnoti kalau saṅkīrtya keśavam 

Whatever results was attained in Satya-yuga by meditation, in Treta-yuga by

yajña, and in Dvāpara-yuga by arcaṛa, can only be attained in the Kali-yuga by

hari-nāma-kīrtana, chanting the glories of Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Keñava.

(Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, 42nd Adhyāya)

১৭.১২
কলি-কালে নাম-রূপে কৃষ্ণ-অৱতার নাম হৈতে হয সর্ৱ-জগত্-নিস্তার
নাম ৱিনু কলি-কালে নাহি আর ধর্ম সর্ৱ-মন্ত্র-সার নাম, এই শাস্ত্র-মর্ম

17.12

kali-kāle nāma-rūpe kṛṣṇa-avatāra nāma haite haya sarva-jagat-nistāra 
nāma vinu kali-kāle nāhi āra dharma sarva-mantra-sāra nāma, ei śāstra-marma

In the age of Kali, Kṛṣṇa advents Himself in the form of the holy name. By the

holy name, the entire universe is delivered. There is no other dharma in the age

of Kali. The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is the essence of all mantras and the purport of

all revealed scriptures. (Cc. Ādi 17.22 and 7.74) Śrīdhara Svāmī on Glories of the Holy Name

१७.१३
अंहः संहर दखिलं सकृदुदयादेव सकल-लोकस्य
तरणिरिव तिमिर-जलधिम् जयति जगन्- मङ्गलं हरेर् नाम
17.13

aṁhaḥ saṁhara dakhilaṁ sakṛdudayādeva sakala-lokasya

taraṇiriva timira-jaladhim jayati jagan- maṅgalaṁ harer nāma

Let the all-auspicious glories of the holy name, which benedicts the entire

universe, be victorious. Just as when the sun rises, it dispels the ocean of

darkness, in the same way, when the holy name has only slightly risen within

one's heart, all one's sins are completely destroyed. (Padyāvalī 16, Śrīdhara Svāmī)

१७.१४
ज्ञानमस्ति तुलितं च तुलायं प्रेम नैव तुलितं तु तुलायां
सिद्धिर् एव तुलितात्र तुलायां कृष्ण-नाम तुलितं न तुलायां
17.14

jñānamasti tulitaṁ ca tulāyaṁ prema naiva tulitaṁ tu tulāyāṁ

siddhir eva tulitātra tulāyāṁ kṛṣṇa-nāma tulitaṁ na tulāyāṁ

Knowledge and yogic perfection can be compared to one another, but prema and

kṛṣṇa-nāma have no comparison to anything within this world. They cannot be

weighed on the scales of mundane consideration. (Padyāvalī 15, Śrīdhara

Svāmī)

Rūpa Gosvāmī on the Glories of the Name

१७.१५
आकृष्टिः कृत-चेतसां सुमहताम्-मुच्चाटनं चांहसां
आचण्डालममूकलोक-सुलभो वश्यश् च मोक्षश्रियः
नो दीक्षां न च दक्षिनां न च पुरश्चर्यां मनागीक्षते
मन्त्रोऽयं रसना स्पृग् एव फलति श्री कृष्ण नामात्मकः

17.15

ākṛṣṭiḥ kṛta-cetasāṁ sumahatām-muccāṭanaṁ cāṁhasāṁ

ācaṇḍālamamūkaloka-sulabho vaśyaś ca mokṣaśriyaḥ

no dīkṣāṁ na ca dakṣināṁ na ca puraścaryāṁ manāgīkṣate

mantro'yaṁ rasanā spṛg eva phalati śrī kṛṣṇa nāmātmakaḥ

The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is an attractive feature for many saintly, liberal people.

It is the annihilator of all sinful reactions and is so powerful that save for the

dumb who cannot chant it, it is readily, available to everyone, including the

lowest type of man, the caṇḍāla.

The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is controller of the opulence of liberation, and it is identical with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Simply by touching the holy name with one's tongue, immediate effects are produced.

Chanting the holy name does not depend on initiation, pious activities, or the puraścaryā regulative principles generally observed before initiation.

The holy name does not wait for all these activities. It is self-sufficient.

(Padyāvalī 29, Rūpa Gosvāmī)

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna; Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama; Rama Rama, Hare Hare 

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्णा हरे हरे

हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे

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