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THERE IS NO FEAR FOR THE ONE WHO CAN UTTER NAAM
By Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath


SEEKER: Just as it is mad on part of a cripple to attempt to scale the mountains, is it also not mad of us, who are immersed in the temptations of this ‘Samsara’, to desire having God’s face -to-face ‘Darshan’?

MASTER: No, why should you think it to be a mad venture? He is called the purifier of the sinner and the fallen and the protector of the lowly. Therefore, the sinner has got a big claim on him. It is well-known that by His ‘Kripa’ even a cripple can cross the mountain and a dumb can speak fluently.
SEEKER: But there is deception at the root itself — I have no ‘Bhakti’. I chant ‘Naam’ to show off and to earn a Name so that other may call me a ‘Sadhu’ and respect me. This desire is playing within me all the time.

MASTER: Let it be so; what is the harm?

- With pride or with great ‘Bhakti’, with desire or without any desire, in any way if Ram Naam is sung, the entire sin is destroyed. Just as a heap of cotton is destroyed whether thrown intentionally or unintentionally into fire, in the same way all sins are destroyed in the fire of ‘Naam’.
SEEKER: Does the man, whose sin is destroyed, realise that this has happened? Can others also understand it?

MASTER: Yes, of course; everyone can see the change.

SEEKER: How can this be proved?

MASTER: As soon as his sin is destroyed, his nature will be full of ‘Satwa Guna’. He will devote much of his time in ‘Japa’, ‘Puja’, ‘Path’ and the study of good religious books. His face and his eyes will also bear the stamp of sinlessness. I shall tell you a story which happened sometime ago. There was a man, Kshatriya by caste, in the district of Hoogly. He came into possession of his maternal uncle's property. Being a young man with much wealth he started indulging in drinks and prostitutes. He forgot his caste and his relations, he forsook all ‘Dharma’ and pious deeds, he lost consciousness of his honour and position in society and he spent his days only in vice. He indulged only in sensual pleasure. Then suddenly one day the wheel turned. Like darkness disappearing at sunrise, his craving for drink and sex disappeared. Then he started putting on ‘Tilak’, wore ‘Tulsimala’ on his neck, carried a bag of ‘Hari Naam’ in his hand, and began doing ‘Japa’. Twenty four hours he was repeating,

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

‘Akhand Naam Kirtan’ was performed in his house. He served guests and ‘Sadhus’ coming to his house lavishly. He spent the last days of his life in this way and then, with ‘Naam’ on his lips, passed away. This is not a fiction. Many people who knew him are still living.

SEEKER: I have heard of the power of ‘Naam’ from the ‘Sadhus’ and have also read of it in the ‘Bhakta-mala’ and other books. I have heard and read that ‘Naam’ can perform the impossible, ‘Naam’ can revive the dead, ‘Naam’ can make a stone-bull eat grass, and that ‘Naam’ can cure even leprosy. I have also read that ‘Naam’ even saves a man given poison or mounted on the spear or thrown under the elephant’s feet. Though I have read ‘Naam’ being praised in this way in many books, I have myself never experienced anyhing extraordinary by doing ‘Naam’.

MASTER: You hear me; I tell you another story. There was a Brahmin who suffered terribly from the pangs of poverty. When he failed in all attempts to earn money, he decided to end his life. At that time he came across a ‘Siddha-Saint’. When told by the Brahmin of his sorrow, the Saint said that he would remove his sorrow and asked him to come the next day. When the Brahmin arrived the next day, the saint tied a small packet in one corner of the Brahmin’s ‘Chadar’ (wrapper) and told him — ‘With this ‘chadar’ on your shoulder, you will be able to travel in the sky according to your wish, you will enjoy unobstructed movement in land and water and by this your poverty will be removed; but you must not open the packet on any account’. Having gained this ‘Siddhi’ so unexpectedly, the Brahmin did ‘Pranam’ to saint and returned to his home in a happy mood.

When the people saw that the Brahmin could walk about in the sky, they realised that he was a great saint and many people took shelter with him. His poverty disappeared and he became affluent. Years passed and thousands of people felt themselves fortunate in being his disciples.

Gradually the desire grew in the Brahmin’s mind to find out what was inside the packet. One day he could not resist the temptation and he opened the packet. He found that on a piece of ‘Bhurja’ leaf was written with red colour one single word — ‘Rama’. He was intrigued to find that he could walk about on the water, land and sky by carrying this piece of Bhurja leaf with ‘Rama’ written on it. He then discarded the old piece of ‘Bhurja’ leaf, took a nice new piece wrote on it ‘Rama’ in big letters and, making it into a packet, tied it to his ‘Chadar’. But when he tried to cross the river, he sank and he found that he had lost his power of walking on the surface. People did not again see him walking on the river or the sky. There was a suppressed expression of doubt about his ability to do so.

In desperation the Brahmin went back to the Saint and questioned him why he was not able to go up any more. The Saint asked him if he had opened the packet. The Brahmin admitted that he had done so and also informed the Saint that he had seen ‘Rama’ written on a piece of ‘Bhurja’ leaf which he had thrown away and had replaced it with a new piece of ‘Bhurja’ leaf with ‘Rama’ nicely written on it. He complained that yet he could not rise above the ground.

The Saint told him: ‘I had forbidden you to open the packet; but by disobeying my instruction and opening the packet you have invited ill-luck. In that piece of ‘Bhurja’ leave it was not a single word ‘Rama’ that was written. That ‘Ram Naam’ in which I had gained ‘Siddhi’ after my life-long ‘Sadhana’ used to lift you above the ground. The ‘Naam’ written by you has not got that power. You can go now and suffer from the effects of your evil luck’. The Brahmin returned and was a very sad man.

SEEKER: Then the result becomes different according to the receptacle?

MASTER: It is so. If you keep an oil lamp inside a glass dome, it will lighten up all sides. But if you keep the same lamp in an earthen pot, no one will know even the existence of the lamp.

SEEKER: Then at the root of such extraordinary powers lies the power of the ‘Sadhaka’?

MASTER: No, it is not the power of the ‘Sadhaka’ but the power of ‘Naam’. If he can hold on to ‘Naam’, all faults of the body of the ‘Sadhaka’ get destroyed. As soon as the faults disappear, psychic power appears. The ‘Sadhaka’ becomes ‘Siddha’ due to ‘Naam’ and not due to his own power. Do not ponder too much; if you try to hold on to ‘Naam’ for sometime i.e. if you chant ‘Naam’ always, sitting or standing, eating or lying down, if you repeat ‘Naam’ with every breath, ‘Nada’ is bound to appear in your heart. The harp of your heart will start playing by itself; no one will be able to stop that music – 'Naam' will play within you by itself. Mother in the form of ‘Nada’ will become one with Siva removing the singer’s doubts forever. To sing ‘Naam’ constantly in any way, at any place and in any condition is the easy and smooth way of gaining ‘Param Shanti’ (Eternal Peace).

Rama, Rama, Rama