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All glories to the chanting of the holy name
!!!
East-West Dialogues between Rev. Hart and Satyaraja das Adhikari
From the book Krishna Consciousness and Christianity.
Submitted by Manoj
Rev. Hart: When we call on God - and we should learn how to do this at every moment, even in the midst of our day-to-day work - we should be conscious of Him, and then our prayer will have deeper effects, deeper meaning. This, I know, is the basic idea of Krishna consciousness. In the Christian tradition, too, we are told to pray ceaselessly. This is a biblical
command (I Thess. 5.17). We are also warned, however, to be on guard against "vain" repetition. And I know that Krishna devotees are also on guard. Your scriptures instruct you to chant "attentively" and in Krishna
consciousness
Satyaraja Dasa: This is the essential process for God realization in this age: "Chant the holy name! Chant the holy name! Chant the holy same! In the age of Kali there is no other path for spiritual realization. There is no other way! No other way! No other way!"
Rev. Hart: In a sense, this could also be considered the heart of the Christian process as well. For instance, in the Latin Mass, before the Gospel is read, there is a prayer spoken by the priest: dominus sit in, corde meo et in labiis meis, which means, "May the Lord be in my heart and on my lips." What better way is there to have God on ones lips than by chanting the holy name? Therefore, the Psalms tell us that from "the rising of the sun to its setting" the Lord's name is to be praised. And Paul echoes this idea by telling us that "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10.13)
Satyaraja Das- Yes. This is Krishna consciousness.
Rev. Hart: But to be conscious of Him. This is an interesting concept. He is the Creator, the Maintainer. He is our most immediate experience. Yet still He is elusive. To be conscious of Him sounds a lot easier than it is. At first, it is actually impossible to be truly conscious of Him, for, our conditioning has us in a state of spiritual amnesia, so to speak. We do not even know who He is. We have forgotten our original Father. I have had a difficult time explaining this to my seminary students.
Satyaraja Das: Naturally this would be difficult. In the biblical tradition there is not a great deal of information about the kingdom of God. What does it look like? Where is it? What does God look like? Does He manifest in various forms? One form? No form? How do you meditate or call on God if your concept is nebulous? If your information about Him is vague, how can you expect to develop an intimate relationship with Him?
Analogically, this "amnesia" business is actually quite accurate. We have forgotten our eternal relationship with God. And just like ordinary or conventional amnesia, it is best cured by taking the patient to his original surroundings. This will jar his memory. But in order to take him to his original surroundings, you must first know where those surroundings are. You must know his family, friends, and entourage. Then, by exposing him to these things, he gradually becomes cured. And he remembers his real life.
Similarly, in Krishna consciousness, all the details of the Kingdom of God are revealed. It's actually quite amazing. All of God's intimate associates in His kingdom - those who have never fallen away .. we- learn of their existence and whereabouts. Also, it is taught in the Bible that God is all-pervading. But only in the Vedic literature is it taught exactly how this comes to be. How He expands into His quadruple forms, and then into the three Vishnu (purusha) avatars, entering into every atom. All the details are there. It's more than the mind can accommodate. It jars the memory, piercing through our materialistic conditioning. We are cured.
Even the sound of the chant - the Hare Krishna mahamantra - it is imported from the spiritual world. When we give submissive aural reception to this chanting, it is like hearing someone scream while we are sleeping. It wakes us up. At first it may cause some uncomfortable sensation-but then it is like waking up to a new day. It is refreshing and invigorating. We are sorry we spent so much time under the covers.
Given these details, it becomes almost easy to meditate on God as one chants, or prays, to Him. In addition, one becomes quickly cured of one's spiritual amnesia...
Rev. Hart: I am also amazed at the details which abound in the Vedic texts. We are also aware of God the Creator, Maintainer, and Well-Wisher of all living beings, and we know Him as the Son, who died for our sins...
Satyaraja Dasa: But if you listen to your own descriptions of God, you will see that they are primarily egocentric. That is to say that they center around you and the rest of your kind. He is the Creator and Maintainer - of Whom? You. Jesus died for whose sins? His own? Of course not. He died for your sins - mine and yours.
But what about God in His own right? What about Him? Does the biblical tradition hold any information about His self- existent nature?
Rev. Hart: Christian philosophers would say that such knowledge is beyond the grasp of man. God's self-existent nature is unlimited, and as such, it cannot be grasped by limited beings.
Satyaraja Dasa: I say that this is just a rationalization because the information in question is not found in the Bible. Consider this: If God is unlimited, as you say, then He has the power of making Himself known - in full - to a limited being. And if you deny Him the power to do so, then you are limiting Him.
Rev. Hart: So, logically, we can know God's self-existent nature-hmmmm .... But it must be by His prerogative. He must take the initiative ... it can't be any other way...
Satyaraja Dasa: Yes, of course. By His own prerogative, He takes the initiative and reveals Himself to us. This is revelation.
Rev. Hart- I can accept that.
Satyaraja Dasa: Of course. And He does so when we please Him .... So by sincerely chanting His name and spreading the message to others...
Rev. Hart- Yes, I see ... But it is still an abstraction...
Satyaraja Dasa: That's alright. He will remain an abstraction until you learn to chant His primary names under the direction of a qualified spiritual master.
Rev. Hart: Primary names?
Satyaraja Dasa: The subject is explained very clearly by Bhaktivinode Thakur, a great Krishna conscious saint in the later nineteenth century. In his book, the Hari Nama Chintamani, he explains that there are primary and secondary names for God. While he admits that the foremost thing is sincerity and attentiveness, he also asserts that one should chant God's primary names.
Now which names are primary and which are secondary ? How is it judged? This is very interesting. Bhaktivinode Thakur describes as secondary those names of God that are ordinary, abstract, or representational, the kind to which we are commonly accustomed in this world. These names describe God only as He relates to us. They are external and mainly less intimate. Creator, Maintainer - as you have described. These are distant and
abstract. And largely impersonal. They have little to do with Gods self-existent nature.
His more intimate and primary names, however, deal directly with His self-existent nature. They describe who He is in relationship to His eternal associates in the kingdom of God. They are not necessarily connected to His interaction with the material world.
Rev. Hart: Can you give some examples?
Satyaraja Dasa: Yes, but if you are not familiar with the details of Gods internal nature, as revealed in the Vedic literature, they will naturally sound alien to you. For instance, names such as Yashomati-nandana, Nandakishor, Damodara - these describe Krishna in relation to His eternal, confidential associates, in His original kingdom. They have virtually nothing to do with our world of relativity. These types of names are primary, and they are very confidential and dear to Krishna. Such names are also dear to pure devotees, who know Krishna well.
The secondary names are more like descriptions of God from our perspective. And, remember, our perspective is divorced from reality. We have spiritual amnesia. But the primary names are like descriptions from His inner circle. For instance, I refer to you as "the priest," the seminary students would probably know to whom I am referring. But if I called you by your given name - this is more intimate - and there would be no mistake.
Now, to extend it further, if I were to call you by a pet name - say a name that only your parents and good friends know about - this is even more intimate. Such a name is analogous to the names of God revealed in the Vedic literature, such as "Krishna" or "Govinda". These names are more intimate and thus accelerate the process of curing spiritual amnesia. What's more, these names very easily situate one in love of God.
Rev. Hart: I think I have it now. The name "God", for instance, is certainly a secondary name. We call Him "God" because He is good to us. The word is of Germanic origin and means "the Good One." It's a description of how He interrelates with us.
What about "Awoon"? This was the Aramaic name Jesus used for God. It means "Our Universal Father". Is this …
Satyaraja Dasa: Again, it is simply how He relates to us in the material world. Jesus sought to show his followers that we are all of common origin. We all come from the same universal Father. This rasa, or relationship, however, is non-existent in the spiritual realm.
Rev. Hart: God is not the Father in the Kingdom of God?
Satyaraja Dasa: He is always our source. So in that sense .... But the child is always out to take something from the father. "Please give us our daily bread..."
"What can my father do for me?" the child always asks. "He must take care of me." This mentality is natural for a young child, but when one matures, he wants to do something in return. Similarly, when one is spiritually mature and goes to the kingdom of God, he does not hanker after this rudimentary relationship. Rather, he wants to render service, not take it. Actually, Jesus merely used this "Father" concept as a catalyst for us to remember our dependence on the Lord, especially in our neophyte state.
But the kingdom of God is the land of dedication and love. We are not out to extract anything from Him. We are there merely to render devotional service.
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