The Hindu : Glory of the Divine name

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 20, 2003

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Glory of the Divine name

CHENNAI DEC. 20 . The Divine name has been glorified as even greater than God in the devotional tradition because a person develops a taste for chanting it only as a result of gaining spiritual merit over several lives. It is for this reason that devotion to God expressed through singing His names and His glory is said to be an end in itself as there is nothing more to be gained. Initially a spiritual aspirant takes recourse to this devotional exercise as a means to realise God but when his devotion matures there will come a stage when this will cease to be a practice and become an all-consuming fervour. Such is the potency and glory of the Divine name that even sages and men of wisdom have expressed their preference for it.

Saint Jnaneswara is a case in point. Author of the famous exposition on the Bhagavad Gita, the Jnaneshwari, he was steeped in Vedantic wisdom but his predilection for devotion to Panduranga is legion. He composed 28 Abhangs on the glory of the Divine name, the Haripath, which is classed along with the prolific compositions of Bhodendra in the "Nama Siddhanta" tradition. In one of these Abhangs, he attests that even the merit done in a lifetime is not enough to impel an individual to utter God's name once. This should come as a revelation to beginners on the spiritual path certified as it was by a stalwart of the Bhakti tradition.

In his musical discourse, Sri Jayakrishna Dikshitar said Uddhava also had pointed out that devotion to God was not easy to attain. The Bhagavata Purana relates that Lord Krishna sent him as a messenger to the cowherd maidens who were suffering from pangs of separation from Him after He left for Mathura.

Uddhava was a dear friend and great devotee of the Lord but even he was moved to witness their devotion for he told them, "Devotion to Sri Krishna is sought to be attained through charitable gifts, fasting, austerities, pouring oblations into the sacred fire, muttering prayers, study of the Vedas, self-control and various other virtuous practices. It is a matter for congratulation that the ideal of supreme devotion to the Lord of excellent renown, has been attained by you, which is difficult even for sages." These are not meant to be deterrents but related in the spiritual tradition to highlight that devotion is not just a means to realise God but also the goal to be realised. For a beginner on the spiritual path chanting of the Divine name is the easiest means to liberation.

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