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There's more to a name
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Modifying names according to numerology is a fast-growing trend. PRASSANA SRINIVASAN talks to some people who've tried it
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Suriya, actor
RAAMANATHEN IS busy writing his name for the twenty-fifth time, while his wife is getting breakfast ready. No. Not a punishment or an imposition. His numerologist has asked him to do so every morning. "Just ten more times," he smiles before he gulps down his food and dashes off to work. As a liaison officer in a city-based private firm, he believes that modifying his name will bring him good luck.
The appetite for the auspicious seems to have extended beyond seeking the right time and date for a good start. Modifying names according to numerology is a fast-growing trend. Even television channels are cashing in on the craze.
"If misfortune chases you or peace evades you, a suitable addition or deletion of letters in your name can bring peace and harmony," says the 72-year-old astro-numerologist `Nambungal' Narayanan. According to him, in numerology, a specific number represents each letter and each number, in turn, symbolically denotes the nine planets. Naming a person in consonance with his or her date of birth will ensure success, he says. For Narayanan, his entry into the field of astrology and numerology began rather dramatically. "It was a head injury that awakened my Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) when I was 24 and I have been practising astrology since then," he claims. Predicting through enforced telepathy and thought transfer, he says numerology is a science that can be learnt and perfected only through practice.
However, history has it that the values for letters were first found on the walls of the pyramids and in ancient Greek and Hebrew writings. And the most accurate numerology has been deciphered and propagated to the world by Cheiro.
Reemma Sen, actor
"Whatever be its history, so long as it does some good, I am fine with it," says Lakshme (numerologically changed). A qualified software engineer, she was teaching at the SSI before she got her present job. "A numerologist suggested that I modify my name and write it 40 times a day for 40 days. I would like to believe that it has been working right for me," she says. "I got into a job relevant to my qualification after changing my name," she adds.
Minaatchi Sundar, journalist-turned-astro-numerologist suggests that a person's name can only be modified and cannot be changed entirely. "An astrologer doesn't have the right to change a person's name, he can only suggest modifications in the spelling," he says.
However, a numerologist can modify an already changed name. For actor Suriya, adding an `i' to his name seems to have done him good. "It was director Mani Ratnam who changed my name from Saravanan to Suriya for my first film `Naerukku Naer.' He changed my name because there was already a Saravanan in the film industry". However, Suriya says, he doesn't particularly believe in this name modification suggested by his parents. "It is all in the mind. Even wearing lucky stones is only an added boost to confidence. It is like a coach taking his team of well-trained cricketers to the stadium a day before the real match so that they are more confident on the match day. Similarly, our time might already be working right for us but when we wear such lucky stones, we think everything is going to work right and have a more positive approach towards life.
But what's in a name? "Everything," shoots back Narayanan. "Numbers have specific characters and vibrations. So a small modification can do wonders," he claims.
Most people who visit astrologers seem to be well-educated and know what they want in life, but when they find that a modification will bring about a positive change in life they prefer to take the `better-safe-than-sorry' route and alter their names. "If not in the gazette, some use it in day-to-day life," says another city-based astro-numerologist Parthasarathy.
Mani Nataraajan added an `a' according to his date of birth, two years ago. He found the entire process of giving it to the gazette and publishing it in the newspaper cumbersome. "I use it only on my letter head and while signing forms. But I think that it has brought me some luck," he says.
Sahayaam, a retired government employee, believes, modifying his name helped him survive a heart attack. "Although I haven't changed it legally, I still believe that it helped me survive."
Numerology is a sensitive science — one has to believe in it to gain from it, says Parthasarathy. "Whenever I ask my clients to modify their name, I make sure that they believe the change will do them good. But it is entirely up to them to follow it or not," he says.
`Nambungal' Narayanan
"Belief in numerology is important," says actress Reemma Sen. Having added that extra `m' recently, she says, she is somehow drawn to believe that it brings good luck. "The name change has been recent and I am still getting used to signing my name with the extra `m'. I have been wearing an emerald ring on my little finger for a long time; now I have come to believe that certain good things has happened to me because of the ring. I don't want to remove it under any circumstance," she adds.
It was her mother who advised her to change her name, she says, adding, "At the end of the day everything is for our good."
"While some people don't have to make any change, some might have to modify their partner's name or even the name of their organisation," says Minaatchi Sundar.
It is not just people who modify their names, some companies too believe that adding an `a' or removing that `o' will bring good luck. According to Narayanan, apart from politicians, VIPs and celebrities, corporate houses too have consulted him for name modification. "After all, you want to get the best out of life, so why not try this and have a more positive approach to life," he smiles.
The unlucky ones
IN NUMEROLOGY, 8 and 13 are among the few numbers that are said to have a negative connotation. The fear over 8 is due to its association with Saturn and 13's due to its inauspiciousness (remember Padhimunam number veedu).
Triskaidekaphobia or the fear of number 13 has gone to the extent that some hotels omit that number while numbering their rooms. They either number it 12A or just 14 after 12.
But as for 8, there are a lot of positive things associated with it too. The Buddha's 8-fold path to peace makes it a celebrated number in some traditions.
According to `Nambungal' Narayanan, there is nothing to fear about 8 if it is in sync with one's date of birth.
For instance, our late Chief Minister Kamaraj, had everything that added up to 8. His car's registration number: MSS 800. The numbers corresponding to the letters in his name added up to 8, he resided in house no. 17, his mother's name was Sivakami, once again 8.
Some celebrities born on the eighth: Elvis Presley, Kofi Annan, Betty Ford, Enrique Iglesias, Dustin Hoffman and Asha Bhonsle.
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