Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Jan.18

Chant Nama with Unflinching Faith

To chant nama with implicit faith means doing it because one's guru or some such highly regarded person has advised it. If chanted with this faith, there are no misgivings. Such faith, however, is a matter of extremely good fortune, and is rarely to be found. Misgivings in regard to nama may be of various types, such as, whether nama-smarana done without concentration is of any use, what (yogic) posture it should be done in, where to settle the sight, whether nama; smarana should be preceded by ablution, and so on. We may comprehensively state all these in a single doubt: does my chanting of the nama at all reach the divinity? Actually, God and His nama being identical with each other, nothing can come between the two. If a person hears his name uttered even from behind, he instantly looks back. If this happens with man, should we not expect it with God, who is omniscient?
As a matter of fact, that a person utters God's name is only because of His grace; that is, it is He who utters it; how, then, can we doubt whether the nama reaches Him or not? Imagine that two persons sit down to dinner, one eating heartily, while the other, with a mind preoccupied with some thought, eats but absent-mindedly. Which of them will remain hungry at the end of the dinner? Neither, because both of them have had their fill. Likewise, how can the nama, remembered in any way, go to waste?
Suppose you write to an unacquainted person and ask him to see you; he calls on you and says, 'I am the person you have called'; we believe him. Now the lord has Himself said, "I, the Supreme Lord, am ever present where my name is chanted." Why do we disbelieve it? Why do we not take His nama and see Him therein? This is faith.
Our father's name is put following our name as we are born to him. We should do the same in the case of God. We should live in His nama, with the firm belief that he is the doer of everything, our protector and saviour, and there is none else that we can call our own in this world. One who so makes God his all-in-all, is raised by Him even higher than Himself. Chant nama with the unshakable faith that alone will lead you to God.


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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Jan.18

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Jan.18

Sri Ram decorated in a different way

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Jan.17

Nama and the Other Sadhanas

The order in which the nine forms of devotion are described in Dasabodha is the natural order. The first of them is shravana or listening. A newborn begins to learn by audition. It speaks what and as it hears. The dumb must of necessity be deaf; they are unable to speak because they are unable to hear. A child speaks its native language because it hears it spoken by its parents and neighbours. So the first kind of devotion is listening to devotional hymns and books and discourses.
The second stage of devotion is Kirtana or speaking, and includes singing of hymns, etc. The third stage is nama-smarana, the action of chanting nama. When this becomes a habit we need undertake no effort for the remaining forms of worship, because their effect is included in it. Imagine that a person wanting to meet another living nine miles away, starts for that place; when he has walked three miles he sees the very person he had set out to meet; it is then unnecessary for him to walk further. Similarly, if one has developed a genuine liking for nama-smarana, one need not attempt the rest of the forms of worship, for they are all duly covered in nama-smarana, and the purpose is served.
Rest assured that the remembrance of God includes everything. It is like the very life, whereas all other sadhnnas such as generous acts, pilgrimages, repeated perusals of religious and devotional books, etc., are like the limbs. Limbs without life are futile. So consider nama-smarana as vital to you; for the rest, you can lead normal worldly life happily. Fail not in doing your duty, but remember the Supreme Soul always; utter the nama of Rama.
A devotee should allow only as much encumbrance or conditioning (upadhi) as is necessary, so it does not encroach on the unbroken awareness of God. Nama-smarana should be limited to what you can do with convenience and pleasure. It should not be overdone, for then it will cease to be pleasurable. The object should be to create love for nama; therefore it should be chanted with fondness, and not as a means to achieve something else; only then it will bring love. To have love for nama is a very high state of spiritual development, and is not easily attained. For this one must chant nama correctly, constantly, with perseverance. The Person who says ‘I do not understand anything except nama‘ has understood everything.
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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Jan.17

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Jan.17