Caitanya Caritamrta – Madhya Lila – 17.133 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 22 September 2025
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
jaya sri-krishna-chaitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Reading from Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya Lila Chapter 17 Verse 133.
CC Madhya 17.133
নাম চিন্তামণিঃ কৃষ্ণশ্চৈতন্যরসবিগ্রহঃ ।
পূর্ণঃ শুদ্ধো নিত্যমুক্তোঽভিন্নত্বান্নামনামিনোঃ ॥ ১৩৩ ॥
nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś
caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto
’bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ
Synonyms
nāmaḥ — the holy name; cintāmaṇiḥ — transcendentally blissful giver of all spiritual benedictions; kṛṣṇaḥ — not different from Kṛṣṇa; caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ — the form of all transcendental mellows; pūrṇaḥ — complete; śuddhaḥ — pure, without material contamination; nitya — eternal; muktaḥ — liberated; abhinnatvāt — due to not being different; nāma — of the holy name; nāminoḥ — and of the person who has the name.
Translation
“ ‘The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṇa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṇa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṇa Himself. Since Kṛṣṇa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṇa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical.’
Purport
This is a quotation from the Padma Purāṇa.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, this section is showing the non-difference of Krishna from his name, form, qualities and activities. So, why do we make this statement? This is to distinguish Krishna from a material form. In the material world, the atma has a body which is different from the atma. Each body has a particular name which is material, different from the atma. The body does activities, they are also different from the atma. The atma is completely different from the name, form, qualities and activities of a material body.
So, the Lord also has a spiritual form. He has qualities and He has activities. But different from the material world. Their name, form, qualities and activities are non-different from Krishna Himself. So, if we chant the name of Krishna, people will say that is a material sound. The answer is, no, it is a spiritual sound. And the spiritual sound is non-different from Krishna himself. So, in this way, we distinguish everything about the Supreme Lord from anything in the material world.
Many people will deny that God has a name, form, qualities and activities, because they are thinking of material name, form, qualities and activities. How can the Supreme Lord have these same material qualities, form, activities, etc.? So, therefore we say, spiritual form, qualities, activities and name. Of course, the Lord also has one aspect of Himself without name, form, qualities and activities, that is Brahman. And if people prefer God in that form, then they can worship Brahman and enter Brahman. But as Bhagavatam says, the Lord has three forms: Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. So, in Bhagavan, we have complete manifestation of name, form, qualities and activities which are spiritual. And they are all non-different from Krishna.
So, if you meditate and realize the form of Krishna, you realize Krishna Himself. Similarly, with the pastimes, the qualities and the name. So, you can remember and meditate upon the name, form, qualities or activities of the Lord and you can realize Krishna. However, the easiest approach to Krishna is through the name. It is the simplest, but though it is the simplest, it does not mean it is incomplete. It gives full realization of Krishna. So, if we chant the name of Krishna, we realize His form, qualities and activities. So, the name, form, qualities and activities are aspects of Krishna in the spiritual world.
So, who is that Krishna? So, many people can describe Krishna, He has a particular form. But, we know that form is not complete, we also have to have a description of qualities. Moreover, if we have a description of how Krishna acts, we have a more complete description. So, by chanting the name, we can realize all of that. So, of course, as I said, Krishna is absolute, so you can meditate on His qualities, His form or His activities and realize Krishna also. But, chanting the name is the easiest process and also it gives complete realization.
So, this verse talks about Krishna and it is saying that Krishna is cintamani and the name is cintamani. So, in the word for word, it says transcendentally blissful, giver of spiritual benedictions, that’s the definition of cintamani. Of course, Krishna not only can give spiritual benedictions, he can give material benedictions. Whatever the Devatas give, you can also get by worshipping Krishna. And, if you want liberation, Krishna can give liberation also. In other words, Krishna can give anything in the material world, anything in the spiritual world.
So, the name is the same, you can chant the name and you can get Svargaloka or Brahmaloka. You can chant the name of Krishna and you can get liberation. And you can chant the name of Krishna and get Prema. So, just as Krishna gives all benedictions, name can give all benedictions. We see that other processes such as Karma, Jnana and Yoga are limited, they don’t give everything. Karma Yoga only gives material results. And Jnana and Yoga can only give liberation. So, they are all limited, Krishna is unlimited, name is unlimited.
So, the next line, ‘caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ’, vigrahaḥ’of course means form. So, Krishna is rasa-vigrahaḥ, the form of rasa. And, this is modified by the word ‘caitanya’, which means spiritual rasa. So, why do we have to describe Krishna as the form of all spiritual rasa? So, this is actually a description of the ultimate goal of the Jiva. The goal of the Jiva is Prema. But Prema is expressed through rasa. So, Krishna is the complete manifestation of all rasas.
In the first verse of Nectar of Devotion, it is described in the same way that Krishna is the very form of all rasas. It says that Krishna is ‘Akila Rasamrta Murty’, Murty and Vigraha are the same. So, this means that Krishna displays all the primary rasas and all the secondary rasas completely. Other forms of God like Rama or Narsimha or Varaha, they also display spiritual rasa but not as complete. So, we see in the spiritual world that Krishna has relationships in all rasas. Whereas the other forms of the Lord do not. So, Krishna is the manifestation of all rasas in their complete form and the name also reveals all of those rasas.
Of course, to experience rasa, not only must Krishna be realized, but the devotee himself has to manifest the spiritual form. Rasa requires two people, Krishna and a devotee. And, just as Krishna manifests form, qualities and activities, the Jiva in the spiritual world also manifests form, qualities and activities. The relationship between Krishna and that Jiva produces the rasa. So, by chanting the name of the Lord, you can realize your rasa in the spiritual world. This means, you can also realize your swarup, your spiritual form.
So, the next line says that Krishna is ‘pūrṇaḥ’. Of course, all forms of Bhagavan are one, so they are all complete. Of course, even Paramatma and Brahman are part of Bhagavan. But, according to amount of manifestation, Bhagavan is superior to Brahman and Paramatma. But, even among the forms of Bhagavan, Krishna is distinguished by calling Him ‘Svayam Bhagavan’. So, in other words, Krishna is put in the highest position for completely manifesting all rasas. So, in that sense, He is ‘pūrṇaḥ’. Of course, it is also described in the Nectar of Devotion that Krishna in Dwarka is Purna, in Mathura, He is Purna-tara, more perfect, and in Vrindavan, He is Purna-tama, most perfect. So, though Krishna manifests all the rasas completely, He does so in Vrindavan in the most complete way. So that form of Krishna in Vrindavan is called Purna- tama. So, by chanting the name Krishna, we can realize that Purna- tama form of Krishna.
The next word here is ‘śuddhaḥ’, which means pure. This means that Krishna always is pure, He is not made out of material gunas or influenced by material gunas. Though He has form, qualities and activities, these are suddha, they are not material. And thus, we cannot ascribe any fault to Supreme Lord. The name also is suddha, it is not material. It may look material because name is the sound and sound is material vibration that goes in our ear, but no, it is spiritual, in the spiritual world, name is there, there is spiritual sound, that’s got nothing to do with material bodies and material elements. So in other words, the origin of the name of Krishna is in the spiritual world. Though Krishna is in the spiritual world with His form, qualities and activities, sometimes He manifests in the material world. But even though He manifests in the material world, He is not contaminated.
He is ‘Nitya-mukta’. So, He has a form, He has qualities and activities in the material world, they may look material, but they are not. Though entering into the material world, the Lord is never affected by anything in the material world. So, the name also is from the spiritual world like His form, qualities and activities, the name also enters into the material world. It may look like material sound, but it is not. It is never contaminated by anything material.
So, the nature of the name is that it is more merciful than Krishna. Krishna only appears sometimes in the material world. But His name is always here. So, it is an easy way to directly contact the Supreme Lord. So, when we chant the name, we should never consider it part of the material world. However, when we chant, we are influenced by our material mind, material gunas, etc. So, when Krishna appears, many people who are materialists see Krishna and they will not appreciate Him. So, when people chant the name of Krishna in the material world, they may not realize the nature of the name. But even though they don’t realize the nature of the name, if they do not commit offense, they still get great effect.
So, Ajamila chanted the name Narayana without offense, but with no devotion or anything, and he got all his karmas removed. He was chanting, but he was not pure. And he didn’t even have faith. But still, the name had great effect. Even if one is an offender, the name has some effect. So we have the case of Sishupala. He was much worse than Ajamila. He actually hated Krishna for three births. And so he was a great aparadhi. But, he was always chanting the name of Krishna in hatred. Even that purified him. Of course, it took time. Ajamila simply chanted the name Narayana once, when he named his child, all of his karmas were gone. Sishupala chanted Krishna’s name in hatred for his whole lifetime. But, by the end of his, not his complete life, by the time he was at the Rajasuya sacrifice, then all of his contamination was gone. And when the Sudarshana chakra touched him and cut off his head, he went to the spiritual world. So, in any case, the name has power in the material world, even if the people are not pure.
But, we get greater effect if we chant with no offenses. We get better effect if we chant with devotion. And we get best effect if we chant with pure devotion. So, as we get into pure devotion, we have the least obstruction, so the name can manifest itself in the best possible way. If we have impure bhakti and we chant the name, then it can manifest something, but not completely. And if we chant like Ajamila with no offense, but not with any faith at all, we can get up to liberation.
So, just as Krishna can give any benediction, but he gives according to qualification of the individuals, so the name also gives all benedictions, but according to the qualification of the individuals. So, the name of Krishna, of course is special. There are many forms of the Lord, but of course, Krishna is the highest form. And also, many names of Krishna like Gopala, Govinda, etc… But, Krishna is considered to be the highest name of all. So, that name is highest because it most powerfully can reveal that form of Krishna in the spiritual world, full of rasa. The name of Krishna is non-different from Krishna. And thus, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has presented Nama Sankirtana of Krishna’s name as the ultimate process for everyone.
Hare Krsna!
Q&A
1) Question is not audible
Just as the Diksha Mantra presents the relationship with Krishna, so the name also presents the relationship with Krishna. But, we also have to have a little bit of knowledge. So, we chant Krishna, but Ajamila chants Narayana, he means his son, so he is not relating directly to the Lord.
So, when we are conscious of the relationship, of course, then the name becomes more powerful. And thus, we say, along with the name, we need knowledge. And when we have the knowledge, then we chant purely.
When we don’t have the knowledge, then it is Nama Abhasa. So, we can chant Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, and what is our desire, we may want to merge into Krishna. So, the Sambandha is completely different. And Krishna will give it. You want liberation, He will give it to you.
So, as Prabhupada explains, when we chant Hare Krishna, we are calling out to Radha, please engage me in Krishna’s service. So, there is no oneness at all. I am serving Krishna. So, that’s the Sambandha. So, the Abhidheya means Sadhana is the chanting the name. But, the Sadhana is also the Sadhya, it is also the Prayojana. We chant the name to which we realize Krishna, but Krishna and His name are not different. But again, just to chant purely, then we need knowledge. So, we have to avoid the Aparadhas.
We have to understand what is pure Bhakti. And then we can get to Prema. And of course, we do have to have knowledge of what the goal is. The goal is not material enjoyment nor liberation. So, all things are in the name, but of course, we do have to have a little knowledge to understand it properly to attain that final goal.
2) Maharaj you explained that how faithlessness is not such a big problem compared to aparadh so it also may happen that as people become devotees they come from being influenced with the modes with their own anarthas and so when they enter in to the devotional realm with their anarthas they deal with devotees, and it is largely because of their anarthas that they may deal with them in an offensive way. But would such offenses be considered serious? I mean, because they are in the process of purification.
We have strengths or intensities. So, the worst Aparadha or the strongest Aparadha is to commit the Aparadhas with hostility towards the Lord and the devotees and Bhakti. So, that means demons [Laughs].
Then we have other people who are kind of neutral. They don’t know why they may commit Aparadhas because of that. So, that’s not so bad.
And then we have devotees. And if the devotees don’t have knowledge, again, there is some effect, but not as bad as demons. But if we have knowledge, by that we can prevent the aparadhs. Of course accidentally as we are imperfect, we may commit aparadh but it is not so serious. Of course any aparadh even not committed intentionally has some offense but not so serious as the intentional one.
3) Hare Krishna Maharaj, so in Ajamil’s case, he was always calling Narayana, his son only. During that time also, he chanted Narayana what is the difference Maharaj, he was calling Narayana other time and this time?
He chanted Narayana’s name, because he named his son Narayana. So, he was not chanting Narayana’s name out of devotion to Narayana. So, it was, we can say, unintentional chanting. But no offense. So, all of his karmas got immediately destroyed because of that.
Devotee: So, if he chanted offenselessly, why he at that time only didn’t go to Vaikuntha?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: No devotion. No offense, but no devotion.
4) Hare Krishna Maharaj, Krishna’s name gives everything, it gives protection also, but why for protection we are worshipping Narashimadev?
Well, we don’t have to utter Narashimadev’s name. In fact, in most temples in Vrindavan, they don’t worship Narasimha’s name. Even in Gaudiya Mata, they don’t worship much.
It’s something that particularly ISKCON has practiced. [Laughs].
5) Maharaj, it is stated that the name is vigraha, a form, you were explaining. So when we chant the holy name, this murthy or form is revealed in bhava stage or prema stage?
So, the form is first revealed in bhava stage. And then gradually qualities and lilas manifest. And of course, along with that, some aspects of rasa must manifest. But in bhava stage, the rasa manifestation is not so intense. The full manifestation of rasa takes place in prema stage.
6) It is difficult to understand that how name and form both are one, this we are not able to realize it. But in perfected stage, both become one and we realize it correct?
So, the name is perfect, so it is always non-different from the Lord. But because of our material contamination, we do not realize the non-difference. So, for the devotee in the spiritual world, he chants the name, it’s non-different from Krishna, there’s no problem at all.
So, by chanting the name in sadhana, in the material world, gradually we destroy all of the obstacles. So, when they are almost all destroyed, then you realize Krishna in bhava, and when they are all destroyed completely, then it’s prema.
7) Maharaj in Ajamila case, he is a simple Jiva. But in other three incarnations, came as Ravana, Kumbhakarna, like that, they are from Vaikuntha itself. So, the ordinary Jiva, ajamila, previous birth, what is that? Are we able to know that? Is there any explanation about the previous births of Ajamila?
This is not mentioned in Bhagavatam, not mentioned by our acharyas. I think there are some puranas that give Ajamila’s previous birth or whatever. As for the demons like Hiranyakashipu etc., their three births as demons Jaya and Vijay so that’s a special case in our particular day of Brahma, but that’s also a special case. So, every day of Brahma, devotees are not falling out of Vaikuntha and getting cursed to be demons. [Laughs]
8) Hare Krishna Maharaj, so, by chanting the holy names, karmas get nullified. So, how does it actually happen? It really fastens up the karma, the reactions which we face, or the effect gets minimized, or how does it actually happen?
So, as nectar devotion describes, through the process of bhakti, and of course the name, all the kleshas or sufferings are destroyed. So, the suffering consists of, of course, karmas, desires, and ignorance. So, the destruction of all of these appears gradually. And it will manifest in sadhana bhakti and a little bit in bhava bhakti. In prema bhakti, of course, there is nothing there, no obstacle.
So, the destruction of ignorance and karmas, etc., will go quicker, if one has not committed any aparadhs in previous life or this life. And if one has committed aparadhs, then process will be slower in sadhana bhakti.
But the destruction is caused by the increase of bhakti. The more bhakti we have, the less anartha we have. So, the process of destroying all the obstacles and anarthas is the process of bhakti itself.
9) Hare Krishna Maharaj, when one is merge into the Brahma Jyothi, will they come to earth planet Maharaj?
So, I think Vishwanath describes that, if we realize Brahman in the material world and we become Jivan mukta, we can fall from that position. If we attain that realization and we give up our body with that realization and enter into the Brahman, we don’t fall from that position. If we attain that realization and we give up our body with that realization and enter into the Brahman, we don’t fall from that position.
10) Prahlad Maharaj could see Bhagavan everywhere. Was it happening continuously with him as long as he was with his material body? Did Prahlad see Bhagavan all the time in his material body? Prahlad always saw Bhagavan directly.
Of course Prahlad is described as good example for Smaranam, always remembering the Lord. After Narasimhadeva appeared, then Prahlad got the benediction of being with the Lord in Sutala Loka. And there Vamana resides. But of course, Prahlad and Bali Maharaj complained that yes, the Lord is the door keeper here, but he is not always there. But of course, so therefore he doesn’t have constant association.
11) If a person who chant the holy name is a mayavadi, what would be the effect of such a chanting? Will he be freed from ignorance?
Well, Mayavadi believes that Krishna and his name are different. He considers Krishna to have a material form. So therefore, they chant constantly, but it is full of aparadh. So they don’t get much effect from that.
12) Maharaj, can you please tell me, how a trying devotee can be completely undisturbed with tantric practices? How do we refrain the unfettered by all these continuous loving Gods?
So Tantra or any other obstacle in the material world is opposed and destroyed by the process of Bhakti itself. So we know that Bhakti and of course chanting the name are the most effective process for eliminating any obstacle in the material world. Name is non-different from Krishna. So this can counteract.
13) Since Ajamila was pious Brahmana, before committing sinful activities, was that the reason he named his son Narayana, which gave him a second chance by calling his name?
It’s not really mentioned, but he obviously didn’t have any devotion. So he wasn’t a devotee at all. So he didn’t name his son Narayana out of devotion to Narayana at that point. The point is that, it doesn’t have to be Ajamila being a Brahmana previously. He could have been a Sudra previously. He could have been a Malecha previously. Somehow someone told him to name his son Narayana, so he named it and he would have got the same effect.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham Ki Jai !! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!