The Mother Divine
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LIGHT IN DARKNESS (ANDHARE ALO)
By Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath
(Translated by S. Chakrabarti)

Just chant the name
I am innocent of faith and reverence.
That does not matter. Go on chanting: it never goes in vain.
I am not convinced. How can the name chanted without faith and reverence be of any use?
Says the Lord,

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Sradhaya helaya nama ratanti mama jantavah.”
Which means – Those who chant my name no matter whether with cynical contempt or with devout faith are sure to have their names engraved in the core of My heart.
I take it that the lord says so but I don’t see how it stands to reason.

Pray why?

One says, Hari Hari drily and disdainfully and yet one’s name is engraved in God’s heart! If it is objected to as a piece of patent forgery in God’s Name, pray what may be said in reply?

The efficacy or potency of even material objects has nothing to do with faith and reverence.
Pray how?

If you touch fire, apply bichuti to any part of the body, rub alkushi on the skin, pour nitric acid on the hand or swallow poison with cynical contempt, will it affect you?

Of course, it will.

If so, why should the chanting of the Name go in vain? After all, it is God's Name and He is the Supreme Lord of infinite crores of universe. His Name too is naturally charged with infinite potency.

I understand, but can't believe. How can irreverent, chanting be of any avail?

Well, a liquid goes down, does it not?
That's common sense.

Please then keep the sweet liquid of God's Name on the tongue. Is not God of sweetness all compact?
Assuming I do, what may I expect to happen?

Why, the sweet liquid will flow down from tongue to throat, from throat to heart, from heart to navel, from navel to the act of the genital whence at once into the mouth of the sleeping she-serpent made entirely of light. She will wake up instantly and drive upward along the fine way comparable to the thin thread or fiber of a lotus stalk: Oh, what a magnificent efflorescence of transcendent light!
Pray what will it lead to! The fort will be sieged:

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-He whose entire karma has been written off,   in whom Sakti has been awakened, that yogi automatically and effortlessly attains the state of yoga.

What far cry it is from Irreverent chanting of the Name to Yoga! What nonsense you speak!
Jai Jai Sitaram! Chanting of the Name is itself Yoga par excellence. Sing 'Ram Ram' aloud: that is kirttan Yoga; silent repetition of the Name is Mantra Yoga; as you chant the Name, Vayu gets frozen and light blazes forth, which Is Hata Yoga; when the flute sings within and Vindu trips and leaps and sports, you have Laya Yoga; when finally the crazed female snake, singing all manner of songs, comes to be merged with the crazed beloved and is totally mute at last, there is Raja Yoga. Tell me if there is any 'Golo Yoga’, I mean confusion here.

This of course is understandable. I hear it all but 'Mano Yoga' or concentration is hard to attain.   This is my impression.

Jai Jai Sitaram! You can do without concentration. Chant the Name anyhow by way of a gesture, a joke, as mere jargon or in a spirit of contempt and you will obtain Sakti. This at least is the verdict of the Shastras. And it cannot go wrong. Let me again emphasize that the 'virtue’ latent in material objects works automatically, without regard to such subjective factors as reverence or scorn.

Your words sound so sweet indeed. How they hearten me! I am a wretched sinner, devoid of faith and devotion, basely attached to material life. Yet you say I shall reach the goal safe if only I care to chant the Name anyhow! Oh, what a message of hope!  How very reassuring!

Yes, you shall reach the goal, you shall, you shall - without fail. Jal Sitaram! If you chant the Name constantly, your mind will rush on and join: it will set its tune to the same music and chant on and on.

What else will happen?

Then, well, what happens, if something, say a piece of iron, is cast into fire?

It virtually becomes fire.

Quite. Jai Jai Sitaram!  Then—then—what else? It is dear Radha's state that you come to:

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-Which means:
Brooding constantly on Madhava, the fair maid became Madhava. Drawn to her own charms, she came naturally to forget her actual self. Madhava, strange is your love! Her limbs ached with the pang of separation from her own self. Her life was at stake. In ecstasy she cast sad and wistful glances at her friend. Her eyes glistened with tears. She went on repeating Radha Radha but her words were half-articulate.
Jai Jai Sitaram.