Re: Nityananda Gauranga Naam and important aspects of Naam Tattva

Dear Bhakta Matus and other Vaisnavas,

        Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obeisances!

        In the Hari nama chintamani, Srila Haridasa Thakura has very elaborately described the stages of nama-aparadha (chanting with offences), namabhasa (resemblance of the pure name) and Suddha nama (the pure holy name).  While going through that book I understood a few small conclusions and would like to verify them from your authority.

         1) The mantrarajas start from namabhasa stage.  Unless there is some grave Vaisnava aparadha, the mantrarajas are always "minimum namabhasa" which means that chanting the mantrarajas does not go down to considering other 9 aparadhas. This also fully explains why the names of Nityananda Gauranga give their result without considering for aparadhas and is also capable of getting rid of the offensive mentality. Namabhasa according to Haridasa Thakura, is the first stage beyond offenses and it is capable of destroying unlimited sins and eventually the offensive mentality too. As a matter of fact, namabhasa is fully capable of fulfilling all material desires and can even give liberation (mukti).

         2) However Namabhasa itself is not pure suddha nama, therefore a person chanting inattentively or committing all sins and other aparadhas while chanting will not get the same benefit as those who chant favourably with humilty and honesty, although what is got by namabhasa is still tremendous. As Hadai prabhu said, the more favourable the attitude to chanting, the purer and purer the chanting becomes and the better the result.   Namabhasa means a small semblance of the real pure naama, so naamabhasa cannot give Love of Godhead. Even those who become liberated, if they don't cultivate bhakti, sooner or later they fall back to the material world.

         3) Common FAQs are asked by many freshmen that if Nitaai Gaura Naam don't consider offences, then why don't everyone attain instant success in getting love of Godhead?  Or why is it that some people do slip at times and keep falling back to the offensive stage? (before getting back on track of course....) despite chanting Nityananda Gauranga? Or why despite chanting Nityananda Gauranga, I am still committing offenses and Hare Krishna chanting is still not successful  etc....

               The answer is Nityananda Gauranga naam is never in the offensive stage, but since the chanting itself is namabhasa (a small semblance of the holy name) and not fully pure, it doesn't take one to the stage of love of Godhead either --- so our chanting isn't sufficiently perfect yet and so the slip ups happen. Its like being out of debt, but not having anything in the bank balance (You're still poor!). A penniless person can't stay out of debt forever can he? Merely getting out of offensive stage is not enough to guarantee that one won't stumble again. The Hare Krishna maha mantra will certainly work, but every time we fall back it again becomes less effective until our Hare Krishna chanting comes back to the naamabhasa stage and beyond.

       Only when a person is permanently situated in love of Godhead, there will be no more falldowns. Liberation is also not perfect and one can still fall down from there. But to attain that level of perfection requires the pure suddha naama and so our attitude has to be fully favourable to chanting.

              Hope this clarifies your question. That was a very good question. Maybe we can put a more simple article in Basics of Nitai Gaura naama to help those who are new. I have tried to answer as best as I could despite my mediocre understanding. So my answers are also due for some verification.  So I humbly pray that senior Vaisnavas show some mercy on me. Please add to it or point out where I am wrong.


Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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