The significance of God's names in Hinduism

Unlike Christianity and Islam, Hinduism encourages worshiping God with name and form. Though God is one, he is amenable for worship in numerous names and forms in Hinduism. God's form and name -- both are holy to Hindus.

Hinduism thus has placed a great emphasis on the name of the God; The names of Divine Avatars (God in human form) too are no other than God's names. Thus Rama, Krishna, Narasimha, Ramakrishna, Ramana et al are divine names for the respective believers. Thus, from a true Hindu point of view, "Jesus" and "Mohammed" (who are treated as Avatars by Saints like Sri Ramakrishna) are also God's names and those who have faith in them and chant them should get purity and elevation.

"God and his holy name are one and the same" declares Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. A hard core gnyani like Ramana Maharishi too corroborates such a statement. Uttering or repeating (doing japa) of any of God's innumerable names  is one of the recommended paths of sadhana (religious practice) for aspirants in the Path of bhakthi (devotion to God). Any name of God, added with a seed syllable like "Om" at the front and a "Namaha" at the end, when sanctified by divine sages and passed on to others by him or his qualified disciples, becomes a holy Mantra and the mantra carries a subtle power to purify the one who chants it; It gradually elevates the person to a higher spiritual level.

Here are some popular Hindu mantras that carry God's holy names:

Om Namo Narayana

Om Nama Shivaya

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Saravanabava

Ram Krishna Hari

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

Om Ramaya Namaha

Sri Ram Jayaram jaya jaya Ram

Om Namo bhagavate Ramakrishnaya

Developing a taste for Gods' name develops love on God; Great religious masters do not prescribe any need for personal purity to chant God's name. Mata Amritanandamayi says God's name can be repeated even while sitting in the toilet. Repetition of God's name added with music -- the Nama sankirtan has benefits added multifold. There are several Hindu saints and seers who emphasize Nama sankirtan as the be all and end all of devotion to God.

In Hinduism, a very widespread practice followed is to name people predominantly in God's name. Even though naming children with short, sweet and novel-sounding names is getting widely prevalent now a days, in south, a grand mother or an elder in the family will ensure that at the timing of naming ceremony, the child is named with at least one of God's name- preferably a name associated with the family deity.

By calling out your child as Rama or Krishna, Sita, Parvati and so on, you have the opportunity to utter God's name unknowingly, numerous times in a day. The belief is that whether you call out a God's name knowingly or unknowingly, you accrue some benefit. According to Hindu mythology, the demon King Hiranya, father of Prahlad, kept uttering and thinking of Narayana with utter contempt but he gained Moksha (liberation) by getting killed in the hands of Lord Narayana who took the avatar of Narasimha.

Vaishanvas (worshipers of Lord Vishnu) never get tired of quoting the story of Ajamila, a hopeless sinner who at his death-bed called out his son Narayana and breathed his last. By virtue of uttering Narayana's name, he was absolved of his sins and he attained a higher birth. It is quite common to see elderly people uttering "Narayana", "Govinda" etc while sitting down of standing up or while engaging in any form of physical exertion.

Hinduism does not restrict even naming of inanimate things with the name of God. In olden days in Tamil Nadu (South India)children of poor and middle class families used to play with "marapachchi", a wooden doll very crudely shaped in human form. Children used to name them with their favourite Gods, dress them with pieces of cloth, treat them as their Gods and play festivals as done in the temples. Thus Hinduism revolved around inculcating Bhakthi and a taste for God's name right from childhood.

Chanting God's name and Mantra Diksha

One can take any name of God that is appealing to him and start chanting it. One can also take up any of the above listed mantras and start doing japa at one's own convenience. Based on his devotion, sincerity and concentration, one definitely acquires spiritual benefits on account of the practice.

But, better still is the practice of getting formally initiated to chanting God's name from a qualified and empowered spiritual Guru. If the Guru happens to be an Avatara purusha, a jivan mukta (one who attained liberty while being alive) or a Satguru (a guru who has attained spiritual enlightenment) the benefits are multifold. Getting God's name formally from a Guru is known as Mantra Diksha (initiation).

Mata Amritanandamayi says that when a Satguru gives Mantra Diksha, he is transferring a portion of his prana (vital force) along with the Mantra to the disciple. This way, a very potent seed is sown in the heart of the disciple and this vital force helps the disciple to accrue the benefits of chanting the mantra faster and stronger.

While there is no secrecy associated with God's name, it is not the case when a formal Mantra Diksha is given. A satguru knows which Mantra is suitable for the taste, temperament and spiritual inclination of the disciple. What is best suited to "A" need not work well for "B". Hence, it is normally the practice in Hinduism that a disciple should not reveal his mantra to any third person. Matras formally obtained through diksha are to be chanted silently. The Guru may also recommend certain pre-requisites for chanting the mantra (like recommended time for chanting, minimum number of chantings to be made in a day, external purity guidelines before chanting mantra etc).

Getting God's vision

It is said that when a person takes to God's name in all sincerity, pumps in his heart and soul with total devotion and chants his God's name untiringly is blessed with the vision of his personal God at the appropriate time. Countless Hindu saints cutting across the numerous sects and sub-sects of Hinduism have had vision of their respective personal Gods.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a very distinguished and unconventional Hindu saint is a sterling example of this phenomenon. His personal God is Kali, the Universal Divine Mother and he had had numerous glorious visions of her. He assiduously followed numerous other sects of Hinduism and practiced spirituality in all paths he came across. He had had divine vision of Rama, Krishna, Radha, Sita, Gouranga and many such divine forms. He practiced Christianity and Islam for a while and had the vision of Jesus Christ and prophet Mohammed too. Negating the form aspect of God, he practiced non-dualistic path of realizing God as Brahman or Atman, the beginning-less and endless entity, the one without second, the one transcending all name and form. He was immersed in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, a meditative state where he had absolved all "I" consciousness and remained blissfully dissolved in the ocean of Brahman.

While acknowledging the importance of God's name and form at one end, Hinduism at its other extreme end, has the boldness to accept by way of personal verification, that any God form had in vision is at the best a product of mind of the individual who had the vision, though such a mind is the purest of all. Hindu gnyanis (knowers of the ultimate reality) like Ramana Maharishi declare by personal experience that the seer, the seeing and the seen are nothing but one single entity, and knowing THAT is the ultimate truth to be grasped in spirituality.

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Related Reading: How to Name Hindu Babies, How to understand Hindu Gods