Oh Sounaka, I repeat again and again that a person who takes refuge with the Naam of Narayana can never fall in evil ways. Say — Narayana, Narayana, Narayana.

They who always sing the names of Narayana, Jagannatha, Vasudeva and Janardana are respected everywhere and receive homage from all.

Q. You mean to say that if a person simply chants the names of Narayana, Vasudeva, etc., he is worshipped everywhere?

A. Yes, if a person does japa of Narayana, Narayana, all his sins are destroyed. The lotus in his heart blooms; God comes and resides there, shedding radiance all round. That person becomes the abode of God, like a temple and so people worship him like God.

Q. How would other people know that God is residing constantly in his heart?

A. Such a person radiates ananda from his face and body; in whichever village or town he happens to reside, ananda dances about in those places also; anyone who sees him from a distance or comes near him also gains ananda so he concludes that the anandamaya God has made this person’s heart his constant abode.

Q. Please tell me what is Brahmananda which is called Brahmanandam Paramasukhadam?

A. If a person is a Brahmin, well versed in the shastras, is possessed of good health and strong constitution and is the lord of the whole world, full of all kinds of riches, then he gets the best form of happiness that a human being can get. If that happiness is multiplied a hundred times, then it amounts to the happiness of the Manusha-Gandharvas i.e. those who have risen to Gandharvahood by worshipping or work of a virtuous person without any desire. If the happiness of the Gandharvas is multiplied a hundred times then it amounts to the happiness of the Deva Gandharvas (those who are Gandharvas by birth) or a virtuous man whose desires have been destroyed. If the Deva-Gandharva’s happiness is multiplied a hundred times, then it amounts to the happiness of the pitras (ancestors) or that of a desireless, virtuous person. If the happiness of the pitras is multiplied a hundred times, then it amounts to the happiness of those who have become gods by doing good work according to the smritis or that of a virtuous person bereft of all desires. If this happiness is multiplied a hundred times, then it amounts to the happiness of a person who has reached godhood through the performance of vaidika work or that of a person who has given up all desires. If this happiness is multiplied hundred times, it amounts to the happiness of a God or that of a good man without any desires. If the happiness of God is increased a hundred times, it amounts to the happiness of Brahaspati or of a person who has shed all desires. If this happiness is increased a hundred times, it amounts to the happiness of Prajapati Brahma or that of a desireless person. If the happiness of Prajapati Brahma is increased a hundred times, it amounts to the happiness of Om Prajapati. If Om Prajapati’s happiness is increased a hundred times, it amounts to the happiness of a Brahma or a desireless person. The ananda of Brahma and that of his worshipper is the best form of ananda in the universe and is 100000000000000000000 times the best ananda that a human being can get.

Q. You have come to the end of numbers, one, ten, hundred, thousand, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousand, million, tens of million, hundreds of million, billion, tens of billion, hundreds of billion, trillion — what happens after that?

A. To give a number of 21 digits is not to measure the quantity of ananda; it has been done to explain that the ananda of Brahma is limitless. Brihad Aranyaka has said after this —i.e. in the end this param ananda is that Brahm-Loka.

Q. Can a person ever gain this Ananda?

A. Certainly, those who sing the Naam of Sri Bhagwan are capable of gaining this Ananda.

Q. I sing Naam. But I have never tasted even a particle of this Ananda.

A. If a person with great bodily heat enters the Ganga for a bath, as soon as his feet touch the water, he gains Ganga. Then as he gradually advances further into the water, his heat leaves him and his body becomes cool. When he reaches to a depth up to his neck, his body comes absolutely cool. When he immerses himself in the water, he cannot describe how he feels because it is non-describable. In the same way a bhakta gets a measure of ananda proportionate to the distance he has advanced towards God — there is no doubt about it. If you desire to gain ananda then you should advance and sing Naam. That ananda will play about on your body in form of shivers and romancha (hairs standing on ends). When the romancha ends in breathlessness, the bhakta can no longer describe his physical and mental state. Ultimately, when his inside is full of ananda, a flood of tears comes to his eyes. Just as water poured in a vessel, which is already full, flows down, similarly when the vessel of the body is full of ananda, any further ananda that accrues to him comes out in the form of tears. He cannot describe what kind of emotion passes through his heart at that time.

Q. Is it possible to attain the Param-Ananda only through Naam?

A. Is there any doubt about it? Ananda is within your grasp. Sri Bhagwan is made of ananda. Naturally a person will get ananda in the same measure as he sings Naam.

Q. Please bless me so that I may chant Naam regularly.

A. Even this desire of yours will give you param ananda.

What words fail to describe and come back defeated, that is the real Ananda. By realising this, the learned liberate themselves.

Q. Are there other symptoms of bhakti?

A. There are many.

Q. Please tell me some.

A. The following signs of a bhakta were described by Sri Krishna and later narrated by the latter to Narada:

Please know that those who think steadfastly of me, those who devote their whole lives to me, those who are always eager to hear about my fame and those who do Pranam to all people, including the Chandalas, are all my bhaktas.

A. Aum alone plays in this body as Prana, Apaana, Samaana, Vyaana and Udaana. The vibration of the prana is nothing else than the vibration of the mind. Prana constantly announces its existence as the ingoing and outcoming breath. Even when in the body, mind, intellect and senses all go to sleep. Prana holds the body together in the form of breath. Prana is never tired, it goes on working steadily. Even when life goes from the father’s body into the mother’s womb, prana is its only companion. This prana is the source of everything. It makes the body through the various stages of development in the mother’s womb from the first day to the ninth month when prana gives jyana to this body in the womb. In the ninth month, memory of previous lives comes to this body.

Q. The body in the womb remembers its past lives! What does it do then?

A. It remembers all the good and the evil deeds that it had done and says to itself, “I have gone through thousands of uteruses, I have eaten many types of food, I have sucked the breasts of women of various castes and nations, I have been born and have died and have been born again and again and for all the good or evil deeds that I have done for the sake of my relations and friends, I am now suffering alone for the misdeeds. All the persons, who benefitted by my deeds have gone away, but Oh, I am immersed in this samsara which is an ocean of sorrow; I do not see any remedy.

If I escape from this womb, I shall take shelter with Maheswara who gives the fruits which destroy evil and which give Mukti. If I can escape from this womb, I shall take shelter with Narayana, who is the destroyer of all evils and who gives Moksha. If I can escape from this womb, I shall practice Yoga which destroys the result of bad deeds and leads to liberation. If I ever escape from this womb, I shall meditate on that Brahma which is without beginning or end. In this way, all make promises when we are still in our mother’s wombs.

Q. What happens then?

A. At last when the body comes at the outlet of the womb and is born after much trouble, it is immediately touched by Vaishnava influence and forgets all its previous lives and deaths and good or bad deeds.

Then one should do japa with every breath —
Narayana, Narayana, Narayana