Srila Hari Das Thakur Said....

[Center for Bhakti Studies]

Srila Hari Das Thakur said...
From CC Antya 3.49-63

One day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu met Haridasa Thakura as usual, and in the course of discussion He inquired as follows. "My dear Thakura Haridasa, in this Age of Kali most people are bereft of Vedic culture, and therefore they are called yavanas. They are concerned only with killing cows and brahminical culture. In this way they all engage in sinful acts. How will these yavanas be delivered? To My great unhappiness, I do not see any way." Haridasa Thakura replied, "My dear Lord, do not be in anxiety. Do not be unhappy to see the condition of the yavanas in material existence. Because the yavanas are accustomed to saying 'ha rama, ha rama' ('O Lord Ramacandra'), they will very easily be delivered by this namabhasa. A devotee in advanced ecstatic love exclaims, 'O my Lord Ramacandra! O my Lord Ramacandra!' But the yavanas also chant, 'ha rama, harama!' Just see their good fortune!" Namacarya Haridasa Thakura, the authority on the chanting of the holy name, said, "The chanting of the Lord's holy name to indicate something other than the Lord is an instance of namabhasa. Even when the holy name is chanted in this way, its transcendental power is not destroyed. Even a mleccha who is being killed by the tusk of a boar and who cries in distress again and again, 'ha rama, ha rama' attains liberation. What then to speak of those who chant the holy name with veneration and faith? Ajamila was a great sinner during his life, but at the time of death he accidentally called for his youngest son, whose name was Narayana, and the attendants of Lord Vishnu came to relieve him from the bonds of Yamaraja, the superintendent of death. The word 'rama' consists of the two syllables 'ra' and 'ma.' These are unseparated and are decorated with the loving word 'ha,' meaning 'O.' The letters of the holy name have so much spiritual potency that they act even when uttered improperly. If a devotee once utters the holy name of the Lord, or if it penetrates his mind or enters his ear, which is the channel of aural reception, that holy name will certainly deliver him from material bondage, whether vibrated properly or improperly, with correct or incorrect grammar, or properly joined or vibrated in separate parts. O brahmana, the potency of the holy name is therefore certainly great. However, if one uses the vibration of the holy name for the benefit of the material body, for material wealth and followers, or under the influence of greed or atheism - in other words, if one utters the name with offenses - such chanting will not produce the desired result very soon. Therefore one should diligently avoid offenses in chanting the holy name of the Lord." Namacarya Haridasa Thakura continued, "If one offenselessly utters the holy name even imperfectly, one can be freed from all the results of sinful life."'O reservoir of all good qualities, just worship Sri Krishna, the purifier of all purifiers, the most exalted of the personalities worshiped by choice poetry. Worship Him with a faithful, unflinching mind, without duplicity and in a highly elevated manner. Thus worship the Lord, whose name is like the sun, for just as a slight appearance of the sun dissipates the darkness of night, so a slight appearance of the holy name of Krishna can drive away all the darkness of ignorance that arises in the heart due to greatly sinful activities performed in previous lives. Even a faint light from the holy name of the Lord can eradicate all the reactions of sinful life."