Foreword
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, has appeared in this age of Kali-yuga, descending in the form of His devotee, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to deliver the message of salvation for all souls. When SarvabhaumaBhattacarya asked the Lord which item was most important, Sri CaitanyaMahaprabhu immediately answered that the most important item is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord - hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsnahare hare, hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare. He then quoted the following verse from the Brhan-naradiya Purana (38.126) to confirm His statement.
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harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha
"In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realisation than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.”
When Sri Guru, sad-guru, who is a representative of the Supreme Lord, appears out of mercy before a fortunate soul and gives him initiation, he speaks on the ten offences to be avoided while chanting. Why does he speak on those ten offences? Because as long as the disciple commitsnama-aparadha, progress on the path of devotional service is slow, it is obstructed and the desired goal, krsna-prema, cannot be achieved. Therefore the bona fide guru very gravely warns the disciple against committing nama-aparadha.
In the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami slates:
hena krsna-nama yadi laya bahu-bara
tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe asrudhara
tabe jani, aparadha tahate pracura
krsna-nama-bija tahe na kare ankura
"If one chants the exalted holy name of the Lord again and again, and yet his love for the Supreme Lord does not develop and tears do not appear in his eyes, it is evident that, the seed of the holy name of Krsna does not sprout because of his offences in chanting."
In the fourth canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, in his purport Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada states:
"One can get rid of all these material pains only when he takes shelter of the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra. This is also explained by Narottamadasa Thakura: golokera prema-dhana, hari- nama-sankirtana, rati najanmila kene taya. Narottama dasa Thakura regretted that he did not pursue his attraction for the transcendental vibration of the Hare Krsnamantra. The conclusion is that all persons in this material world are suffering from material pains, and if one wants to get rid of them, he must associate with saintly persons, pure devotees of the Lord, and chant themaha-mantra, hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare, hare rama harerama rama rama hare hare. That is the only auspicious way for materialistic persons."
Srila jagadananda Pandita, an intimate and prominent associate of SriCaitanya Mahaprabhu, has written the following lines in his book Sri Prema-Vivarta:
sadhu-sange krsna-nama'-ei-matra cai
samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai
"The only desirable goal is to chant hari-nama in the association of pure and saintly devotees. This is the best and only way to conquer nescience."
The holy name of the Lord is invested with all potencies; however, SrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada stressed the importance of receiving the holy name from a pure devotee of the Lord: ... One must take shelter at the lotus feet of a spiritual guide who has realised and does see the form (svarupa) of the Name. The mere letters forming the Name,namaksara, may be had at any place and from anybody, but the profound and unknown truth behind these letters can only be exposed by the grace of a true guru, a pure devotee [suddha-bhakta] of Krsna. Only such a guru'sgrace can protect one from the ten offences, and carry one across from the early twilight of Nama, namabhasa, to the pure light of the Name ... "
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura describes the following. in his Harinama-cintamani, "If one gets to the point of sraddha-namabhasa, quickly theanarthas will go and the pure name will be revealed. Chanting the pure name, suddha-nama, one will certainly get prema very quickly. It may be concluded, therefore, that namabhasa itself cannot give Krsna prema; but by progressing from this stage to the stage of suddha-nama, by means of following rules of sadhana as laid down by the guru, one can get love of God."
"Thus, provided one does not commit nama-aparadha, namabhasa is praiseworthy. It is considered unlimited times better than karma or jinanabecause a person with such namabhasa will eventually get faith, and that seed of faith will then develop into attraction and taste for Krsna, which will lead to the stage of suddha-nama and then prema."
"Following in the footsteps of liberated souls who are able to vibrate real transcendental sound can lead one to the highest stage of devotion."
Therefore, one must associate with pure sadhus and chant the holy p.ame in their association in order to cross beyond the stages of nama-aparadhaand namabhasa and reach the stage of pure chanting, suddha-nama,chanting without offence. The Lord's representative, Sri Guru, gives Krsna in the form of His holy name, hari-nama-diksa to the neophyte devotee.
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami repeatedly said, "The perfection of this rarely obtained human birth is to see Krsna, to have Krsna, to get Krsna, and to understand Krsna. In Kali-yuga the process is very easy: simply by chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, without offence - that means the pure name, you can get that perfection. Otherwise, in other yugas, it is very, very difficult to achieve perfection."
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami would also regularly say, "If your chanting is without offence, then you are chanting the pure name, suddha-nama,which is non-different from Krsna. The pure name is prema-maya, full ofprema. If you chant the name purely - that is with prema, you will getKrsna. The heart of one who chants suddha- nama is filled with the mellow of prema-rasa, and the eyes of such a devotee are anointed with the salve of love."
hare krsna hare krsna
krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare
