Section 47 C
And the distinct nature of His name is that while being imperceptible by the speech and mind it is self manifest.
This is said in the Vasudevadhyätma, "Because His qualities are unknown to people, He is said to have no name (anämä)." The Brahmä Puräëa states:
The Lord is said to be nameless (anämä), because the transcendental nature of His name is unknown. He is said to be formless (arüpa), because His form is not made of material elements.
Therefore, as the verse previously cited (V.P.5.2.19), "That Lord Viñëu...", was understood, the following verses of the Viñëu Puräëa (5.18. 53-54) should be understood in the same way:
O Lord, You are the Supreme Absolute Truth, eternal, immutable, unborn, and the divisions of name, class, and so on do not exist in You. But in the absence of such classifications, Your complete Personality cannot be ascertained and thus You are worshipped by such names as Kåñëa, Acyuta, Ananta, and Viñëu.
These statements from the Viñëu Puräëa are not contradictory. The word "division" (kalpanä) is futile in the meaning understood in a cursory look. The intent of the speaker is made clear by the statement, name, class and so on do not exist in You. And moreover, words like Brahman and Aja (unborn) are accepted as names; which establish the object to be transcendental. In the statements such as, "There is a red, white, and black goat..." it is seen that He has a class characterized with birthlessness And the statement that the Lord has no divisions of name and so on, contradicts the claim that He has names like Kåñëa , Aja, and so forth,. And if it is kalpanä (lit. imaginary) how can he be worshipable? And how can names like Kåñëa be said eternal? Therefore in accordance with the meaning of the verse cited earlier ("Lord Viñëu whose..." VP 5.2.19) this is the meaning, In the Lord there are no material classifications of names, like Kåñëa; designations, like demigods, humans, warriors, and activities related to these, but all these are manifestation of His eternal potency of His essential nature, as indicated in the following verse (S.B.10.37.22):
Let us approach You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for shelter. You are full of perfectly pure spiritual awareness and are always situated in Your original identity. Since Your will is never thwarted, you have already achieved all possible desireable things, and by the power of Your spiritual energy, You remain eternally aloof from the flow of the qualities of illusion.
The practical knowledge of all the perceptible objects does not occur without the classification of their names and so on. For this reason, the Lord, who is self-existent, is worshipped by the sages and Vedas by use of popular names such as Kåñëa. These self-existent names constitute the Vedas, transgress all material names and corresponding objects, and are imperceptible by any means of acquiring knowledge. Thus the Lord is not glorified by manufactured names. Only transcendental names with the above characteristics manifest the Lord's glory. Or the verb iòyase can also mean that through these names the Lord manifests His glory. Only those names that immediately remind one of the Lord, are popular in the scriptures, and manifest their potency even if chanted incidentally are to be considered self-existent. All others as imaginary. This should be understood.
Or an alternative explanation, "O Lord, Your unqualified feature, in which there are no divisions of categories and names is called Param Brahman. The reason for the absence of such divisions that in Brahman there are no pastimes (avikari). Vikäri means who acts in special way. Brahman does not manifest the form and thus he is addressed as O unborn (aja). On what basis can He then be classified and given a name? This is the import.
Without the divisions of name and category there is no possibility of understanding anything about any object whatsoever. So what to speak of you who has such a Brahman svarüpa as described above? The imaginary names and categories cannot convey the natural characteristics of any object. Therefore, although names like Kåñëa even if remembered incidently they are capable of granting all human goals, just like You can. You are worshipped only by such names that establish some specific quality in You and are glorified by the eternally existing Vedas, Puräëas, and so on. But You are not worshiped by the complete imaginary names that attempt to describe Your unqualified feature. These four names beginning with Kåñëa, (Acyuta, Ananta, and Viñëu) are indicative of all other names. The other names also like Näräyaëa even if chanted incidently are also seen to have the same influence. "According to the rule, the great sage Upavarsa says, "A letter is a word", and according to the (B.S.2.4.16) "A letter is eternal". It is proven that the holy name, which is the essence of the Vedas, and consists of letters, is eternal in each of its letters.
Similarly in the section of the Gopälatäpané Upaniñad (Pürva 30) while describing the 18 syllable mantra consisting of names, Lord Brahmä says, "While manifesting the future universe in those letters." This mantra is self-existent, because it is distinct from the universe by being the cause of the universe which consist of elements such as sound and hwich will come into existence later on. And because the name is non-different from the form of the Lord, it is different from the universe. About this the Vedas state, "Om. O Lord Viñëu by chanting Your name, which is conscious and glorious, we regain our intelligence. This name is eternal" (RK 1.56.3). This mantra means, "O Lord Viñëu, Your name is conscious (cit) or has conscious nature and therefore self-effulgent (Mahas) in nature. So even though we with partial knowledge of the eternal nature of Your name, not having the complete understanding of the glory of proper chanting, can attain knowledge of You merely by repeating the syllables. Therefore the object expressed by Om which is YOu is self-existent (sat)." Thus it is seen that the name liberates a person, even if alluded to, just as the form of the Lord flashes in the mind out of fear or envy of Him.
This is stated in Brahmä Puräëa, "Even if one's mind is disturbed or angry, yet always chants Lord Hari's name. Certainly he will became free form bondage and attain liberation as did Çiçupäla, the king of Cedi."
If one even once encounters the holy name, his material existence is destroyed just as by attaining the Lord. This is stated in the Skanda Puräëa, (Viñëu khaëòa 5.15.52) "One who has chanted the two syllables 'Hari' even once, he tightens his belt to walk toward liberation."
The Vedas also, while referring to the Om, state, "Om is the nearest name of the Lord. It is called Tära, because even while chanting it, it takes one across the fear of material bondage." In this way there are innumerable glories of the name.
Purport
After establishing that the birth and activities of the Lord are transcendental and distinct from those experienced by mortal beings, Çréla Jéva Gosvämé proves that Kåñëa's names are also spiritual. The Lord is called anämä (lit. nameless), because He does not have material names. In this material world a child is given a name at birth and naturally belongs to a caste, class, tribe, sect, or race. These bodily designations are material and temporary. They last only as long as the body and even sometimes one's name, class or nationality can change while the body remains. As proven earlier, however, the Lord's birth is transcendental and eternal so it naturally follows that His name is also eternal. His names are found in the Vedic mantras, which are eternal. His form is eternal and logic concludes, nityaà gataà nityaà--(Tarkasaàgraha 3.6), "the attributes of an eternal object are also eternal". Thus the Lord's name and other attributes are eternal manifestations of His internal potency.
There is no one who can give a name to Kåñëa because He existed prior to everyone. As a matter of fact, He gave names to all the objects He created (Manusmåti 1.21):
"Knowledge of the names of various objects and the respective duties of various people was obtained by Lord Brahmä from the words of the Vedas and thus he propagated the division of names and duties." Lord Kåñëa is known as Vedäntakåda (Bg.15.15) and He speaks the Veda sto Brahmä (S.B.11.14.3)
The names and grades given to people are not part of their essential nature. They can be modified or replaced by new ones without causing any change in the nature of the person. They only serve to assist in empirical dealings. A fool can be named Paëòita-çiromaëi (crest jewel among Learned ones) and a blind man, Padma-locana (Lotus-eyed one), but this will not have any effect on their nature. There is no factual relation between a person's names and the attributes of the person. Such is not the case with the Lord's names, however, as Kåñëa is non-different from His names, and therefore all His potency also exists in His names. This is confirmed by Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu (Çikñäñöaka 2):
"O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Kåñëa and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these name. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by Your Holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them."
This fact can be realized by chanting Lord's name without offense.
Lord Kåñëa's names convey the quality He possesses such as in ghana-çyäma , one who is blackish like a new cloud, or they convey His pastimes such as giridhäré--one who lifted Govardhan HIll. Because He has all good qualities and he eternally performs pastimes there is no need for Him to have imaginary names which would not match with His character. Prevoiusly in Vedic culture it wa a practice that after the birth of a child learned brähmaëas will be invited to make a horscope of the child and then He will be given names according to His future activities. For example one can allude to thte naming ceremonies of Parékñita Mahäräja and Lord Kåñëa in the Çrémad Bhägavatam. This is the reason that names in the Vedic literature match so precisely with the character of the people described in them. The precision so great that non-believers change the stories as fable and reason that names were so aptly chosen by the author.
According to Vedic authorities, even letters have transcendental potency. Jaimini states in his Mimäàsä Sütra (1.1.18), nityastu syät darçanasya parärthatvät. "Words are certainly eternal and their pronunciation convey meanings to others."
Bhagavän Upasvarña, a great mimäàsaka, says that every letter is a word and thus letters are eternal. For this reason letters are called akñara (imperishable) in Sanskrit. Moreover, if words are considered eternal, then their constituents must also be eternal. Again, logic teaches it is not possible to have an eternal object with temporal components, because, käraëäbhavat karyäbhävaù (Vaisesika Sütra 1.1.13). "What is not in the cause cannot be in the effect." According to Lord Kåñëa, words are a manifestation of Brahman (S.B. 11.12.17):
"My dear Uddhava, the Supreme Lord gives life to every living being and is situated within the heart along with the life air and primal sound vibration. The Lord can be perceived in His subtle form within the heart by one's mind, since the Lord controls the mind of everyone, even great demigods like Lord Çiva. The Supreme Lord also assumes a gross form as the various sounds of the Vedas, composed of short and long vowels and consonants of different intonations."
This is also the opinion of Tantrikas and Grammarians like Päëini.
An objection may be raised here. It is our common experience that words are spoken with the help of vocal chords, the tongue, palate, lips and so on and are lost immediately. So how can words be accepted as eternal? The answer is that the tongue and mouth do not create words, they only pronounce them and convey them to others. Words are eternally existing and the action of speech only makes them audible. Just like light only makes the objects in a dark room visible; it does not create them.
The holy name of the Lord is certainly eternal being non-different from Him, self-existent and conscious in nature. Çréla Jéva Gosvämé cites the Vedas and Puräëas to establish the conscious nature of the name. Çabda is the only pramäëa which can be used to determine knowledge of reality beyond material nature. Çré Çuka has clearly explained the glories of the holy name in Çrémad Bhägavatam, especially in the history of Ajämila. The holy name can liberate a person even if chanted incidentally. Vastu çakti nahi buddhimapekñyate--the energy of an object does not depend on the knowledge of its user. Fire will burn whether one touches it knowingly or incidently. Similarly, the name of the Lord burns sins to ashes whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, with faith or without faith (S.B. 6.2.18,19):
"As fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one's sinful activities."
"If a person unaware of the effective potency of a certain medicine takes that medicine or is forced to take it, it will act even without his knowledge because its potency does not depend on the patient's understanding. Similarly, even though one does not know the value of chanting the holy name of the Lord, if one chants knowingly or unknowingly, the chanting will be effective."