Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya Lila 17.133 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 23 September 2026
jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-vihārī
gopījana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī
yaśodā-nandana vraja-jana-rañjana
yamunā-tīra-vana-cārī
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Jaya Prabhupāda Jaya Prabhupāda
Prabhupāda Jaya Prabhupāda
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Reading from Sri 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 is a nice verse glorifying the name of Krishna. So the name is one aspect of Krishna but besides His name, He has His form, His qualities, His activities. And they’re inseparable from Krishna. We often say that Krishna and His form are non-different. This is quite different from the material world where the bodies are material and the atma is different. Similarly, the name of a person can always change. So in other words, names, forms, qualities, activities are related to people but they are all very changeable. In the spiritual world, Krishna, as I said, is inseparable from His name, form, qualities and activities.
If Krishna didn’t have any activities in the spiritual world, then how would we appreciate Him? One cannot have activities unless we have a form of Krishna. And similarly, in the spiritual world, the name is very, very important. The name also is non-different and inseparable from the Lord. All of these arise from the sandhini shakti of Krishna. In other words, due to this sandhini shakti, the name, form, qualities, activities, the dhama, everything is manifest. So in that sense, they are different from the Lord because they arise from His shakti. At the same time, we also say they are non-different from Krishna because the shakti is also non-different from Krishna.
So therefore, in this last line, it says that the name and the person designated by the name, that is Krishna, are abhinna, not different. So, by uttering the name of Krishna, we invoke Krishna Himself. So, it is said that within the name we have the form, qualities and activities of Krishna. So, by simply uttering the name of Krishna, we can realize His form, qualities and activities. So, this is a very easy way in which we can realize the Lord.
Of course, all the forms of bhakti, hearing, chanting, remembering, deity worship, etc. are bhakti, so they are also part of the swarupa shakti of Krishna. However, the name of Krishna is very special. It is very, very powerful. So, we see examples of persons like Ajamila. He simply accidentally chant the name Narayana and all of their sinful activities get destroyed instantaneously.
So, this means that there is minimum of conditions necessary for the name to have its effect. Of course, you can hear or remember the Lord, but both of these are a little bit difficult and people don’t pay attention to it. So, you don’t get such effect. And if you want to worship the deity of the Lord, there are some qualifications. You have to have purity, you have to know certain mantras, etc. But none of this applies to uttering the name.
So, even if uttered without faith or accidentally, it has a great effect. And for that reason, the name of the Lord is the main process in Kali Yuga for spiritual advancement. Of course, in every Yuga cycle, there is a process which is also bhakti and it also takes you to the spiritual world.But then there are different processes. And why is that? Because people gradually lose their good qualities and develop bad qualities.
So, in Kali Yuga, people in general start out with three quarters bad qualities and one quarter good qualities. So, this makes it very difficult to practice spiritual life. So, therefore, the easiest process is given for Kali Yuga. So, though chanting the name is the easiest process meant for the most fallen people, that does not mean that it gives less result. It gives more result.
So, meditation was the process for people in Satya Yuga, who were very qualified. But that is difficult for people in Kali Yuga. But we should not think that chanting the name of the Lord gives less result than meditation. It gives the same result, realization of the Lord. So, whatever you can achieve through meditation, homa or deity worship, you can attain simply by chanting the name of the Lord. However, the process of chanting the name also is easier and quicker.
So, it is said that you can do a hundred horse sacrifices, which takes a lot of time and a lot of effort. The result of that is you can get rid of your sinful reactions. But if you just chant the name of the Lord once, you surpass all of that. So, much quicker effect and easier. And thus anyone who does not take to the process of chanting the name of the Lord in Kali Yuga is considered a fool.
So, in his verse it mentions Cintamani. So, this refers to a stone, which gives whatever you want. Just like a desire tree. So, of course, Krishna gives everything, because He is the ultimate giver. The name is non-different from Krishna, so it also gives everything. So, what does everything mean? So, it can give anything in the material world.
What’s the highest thing in the material world? Maybe Brahma Loka. There you can live for millions of years [Laughs]. No sickness, no old age. But the name can also give beyond that, liberation outside the material world. But the name also gives something superior to that. What is that? Spiritual world. So, in the spiritual world it gives Prema. Of course, there are different types of Prema. So, ultimately it can give Madhurya Rasa and even Mahabhava.
So, in other words, it says Krishna gives everything, the name gives everything in the material world and in the spiritual world. So, though there are many advantages in the spiritual world, the ultimate benefit of the spiritual world is that the devotee experiences the highest bliss. But the bliss arises from Rasa.
So, Krishna is called the very form of Rasa. And the name also is Rasa Vigraha. That means that all of the Rasas, that means the twelve Rasas that manifest in the spiritual world can manifest through the name of the Lord. And through that then one experiences bliss. There is Rasa in the material world. Of course, the material Rasa is faulty and temporary. But this Rasa is Caitanya Rasa, full spiritual Rasa. So, by chanting the name of the Lord, we develop an ideal relationship of love with Krishna and through that we experience bliss.
So, Krishna is called Swayam Bhagavan. Which means He is the ultimate form of Bhagavan. There is only one Bhagavan, but He has many forms. So, they are all complete, they are all perfect because it is one entity. Nevertheless, each form obviously has a different form and He does slightly different activities and manifests slightly different qualities. So, when we compare all of them, we see that the form of Krishna manifests the most qualities. So, then we call Him the perfect form.
And of course, the four extra qualities that He manifests are qualities of sweetness. Sweetness of His form, sweetness of His flute, sweetness of His pastimes, sweetness of His devotees. So, this produces the purnam or completeness of Krishna. And the name Krishna, by chanting that name of Krishna, we can realize all of that completeness.
So, though that form of Krishna is very rare to realize, by chanting the name of Krishna, it is not rare. So, in realizing that completeness of Krishna, we realize His special qualities, special pastimes, special form.
Here it says that the name is Suddha or pure. Of course, the Supreme Lord is pure, so name is non-different, so it’s also pure. This means it’s free from any fault. Everything in the material world is subject to some fault. Nothing is perfect. The Supreme Lord is defined in the Vishnu Purana as having all good qualities and no bad qualities. And that we cannot find in the material world at all. Ultimately, everything is temporary.
And here it is described that the name is Nityamukta, eternally liberated. The Supreme Lord, by nature, is not a jiva, so He is never conditioned. So, the Lord appears in the material world, and it may look like He is an ordinary person, but no, He is not. He is untouched by anything in the material world. So, the name being arising from the Sandhini Shakti of the Lord also is eternally perfect and liberated. And though the name appears in the material world, and may look like material sound, it is not.
The name of the Lord is non-different from the Lord, so it looks like material sound, but it is actually spiritual sound. So that spiritual sound remains intact in the material world. And thus, though Ajamila simply uttered the name Narayana to indicate his son, that sound was actually ever liberated, spiritual sound, it wasn’t material. Even it came from the mouth of Ajamila. So, that power of being ever liberated influenced him so that all of his karmas were instantly destroyed. So, in this way, the name is very, very special. It is the easiest way in which we can approach the Supreme Lord.
We have other processes like karma, jnana and astanga yoga. They all have some benefit for the human being. But whatever benefit they can give is covered by the holy name. So, what does karma yoga and varnashrama give? It gives purification up to sattva guna. Name can easily do that. It can go beyond that and destroy all your karmas completely.
The goal of jnana yoga and astanga yoga is liberation, destruction of karma. And the name easily destroys all the karma as it did in the case of Ajamila. So, of course, the devotee chants the name, he does not want material sattva guna or liberation. But these are automatically achieved as by-products. And though others want these things, the devotee does not even want them.
So, the devotee only wants prema and chanting the name gives prema. And within that prema, there are so many varieties and the name can reveal all those varieties also. So, in this way, the name gives everything. And that’s why it is said the name is independent. So, we don’t rely on karma yoga, jnana yoga, astanga yoga. We chant the name.
What about bhakti yoga? Is the name dependent on bhakti yoga? Of course, it’s part of bhakti yoga, but even independent of other processes, as in the case of Ajamila, it gave result [Laughs]. So, Ajamila simply uttered the name of the Lord accidentally. He had no faith. So, he didn’t do sravana, didn’t do smaranam, didn’t do archana, didn’t do sadhu sanga, none of that [Laughs]. And didn’t even have faith and still had effect. Of course, the effect was it destroyed his karmas. It did not give him prema.
So, in order to get prema, then the devotee, though he chants the name, also performs other types of bhakti. So, along with the chanting of the holy name, Nama Sankirtana, then we have sadhu sanga and sravanam. And that sadhu sanga and the sravanam gives the devotee proper guidance and knowledge, so he can chant purely. It’s only by chanting purely that we get prema.
So, therefore, we do Nama Sankirtana, but we also have sravanam, so we read Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita. And we take the teachings through devotees. So, this is a very powerful combination to produce prema.
Hare Krishna!
Q & A :
1.) Maharaj you were saying in the middle of the class that, you know, that name gives everything, cintamani. Name gives everything, cintamani. But here at the end you were saying that, with the name still you have to go through Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam to get the sambandha and all that. So, that means there is a condition for that, to chant the holy name.
So, there is no condition to get liberation. To get prema, we have to chant purely. So, in that sense, yes, there is dependence upon sravanam. In other words, we can never reject scripture. So, though the name is quite flexible, etc., we do have to avoid aparadhas and anarthas, etc., so we need some knowledge. But this knowledge of course is also in relation to chanting the name.
2.) Although this name is a part of bhakti, and to perform the bhakti, it’s said adau sraddha, means sraddha is the first qualification. But for chanting sraddha is not necessary, and still it has effect. But being a part of the bhakti, which is name, but the sraddha is not necessary. So, although the name is a part of bhakti, it is not outside of the bhakti. So, that means what? That for the name is going out of the bhakti to give the result.
So, we see that not just the name, but even other angas of bhakti also have some effect, even if there is no faith. So, there is an example given of one brahmana who was quite ignorant and [Laughs] materialistic [Laughs]. He was also very poor. So, he just go out in the forest and grab a few vegetables and roots and stuff, take it home and eat it. And then one time he was collecting things, and then he saw some tulasi. He said, oh, I can’t eat this, but maybe I’ll give it to somebody or something, and so he pulled out the tulasi. But actually, at that moment was his death, and the Yamadutas were waiting for him [Laughs].
So, there was a snake in all those plants that he had gathered up, and it was going to bite him. But as soon as he grabbed the tulasi, the snake could not bite him [Laughs]. And Sudarshan Chakra came and was guarding him. So, then the Yamadutas were waiting, but they were waiting at a distance because they were scared of the Sudarshan Chakra, but they followed him, and they were waiting and waiting and waiting to see if he would drop the tulasi.
So, as long as he held the tulasi, Sudarshan Chakra was there, and the Yamadutas couldn’t touch him [Laughs]. He didn’t even know he has [Not clear]. So, that’s an example of accidental contact with tulasi or whatever, then you get such good effects. So, even with other types of bhakti also, they can act independently with no faith.
3.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj for example, if I have, I have done so many aparadhas in the past Maharaj. That means whatever I chant it is Nama aparadha only. So until that aparadha vanishes I’m doing Nama aparadha. In this condition, how can I go from Nama aparadha to Suddha Nama or Namabhasa?
Well, we commit Nama Aparadha. So, an Aparadha, for instance, we offend a devotee or we disobey Guru, but that doesn’t mean that we are continually, after that point, offending Guru and the Holy Name. We did it once maybe. So, the only remedy for Nama Aparadha is chanting the Holy Name. Now, because we have committed Aparadha, our chanting also is not so enthusiastic. Nevertheless, it has some effect. So, by the continual chanting, then gradually the effect of the Aparadha lessens and our taste for bhakti increases.
4.) Maharaj, we also hear like Suddha Nama will be given, it cannot be chanted on our own endeavor.
So Suddha Nama means that we are free of ignorance concerning the name, Krishna, material energy, jiva etc. So that type of ignorance is removed by knowledge. So we get knowledge from somebody. It doesn’t manifest like that, we get it from somebody [Laughs].
5.) Maharaj you have mentioned Nama can give Prema and Mahabhava also. But we see Mahabhava is only experienced by Radharani.
So for Jivas and the material world doing Sadhana, yes they cannot get to that stage. But it’s not only Radha that can experience Mahabhava, there are other Gopis as well who can experience that. And even some cowherd boys can experience that [Laughs]. But the highest aspects of Mahabhava, that is experienced only by Radha.
6.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, if the name of the Lord is full in itself, so then why do we have primary and secondary names? And why is it that one name is more potent than the other name?
So usually the names are indicating certain forms of the Lord. As some of the forms manifest more qualities, some less qualities. So if you chant the name Rama and realize Rama, you can realize all Rama’s qualities. But that is slightly less than Krishna’s qualities. But if you chant the name Rama to mean Krishna, the one who gives enjoyment to Radha, you can realize Krishna. So not only the name is important, but also your intention of who you are worshipping.
7.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. So Maharaj, we were hearing during the class repeatedly that how by chanting we will realize the Guna, Lila and other aspects of the Supreme Lord. So Maharaj, how do I know that I am realizing? Like what is the meaning of that realization? Because we have been chanting for many, many years. How would I know that I am realizing Maharaj?
Well, it is an experience. Something like if you eat Rasagulla, you know it is Rasagulla. So when you experience the Lord in any form, it is transcendental, it is full of Ananda, etc. We can say that the counter symptom would be complete disinterest in the material world. And in this way we can distinguish it from some material experience where you don’t become detached from the material world [Laughs].
8.) Maharaj we heard about the story of tulasi and how that person, that brahmana was holding tulasi and he was saved. So we see the potency of accidentally performing bhakti. And on the other hand we see that the devotees who are intentionally performing bhakti and they face so many adversities in life. So is it better to perform accidental bhakti than intentional bhakti?
Well, it is difficult to perform accidental bhakti on purpose [Laughs]. Then you perform bhakti in order to get a certain thing like get rid of your material suffering or whatever. And then it approaches an aparadha where we say chanting the holy name, you know, taking advantage of the holy name to commit sinful activities. So we have to be very careful with something like that. And the ultimate result is also different. By that accidental bhakti you can get rid of your karmas and whatever. But to get prema then you have to do sadhana bhakti and pure bhakti.
9.) Maharaj can you please compare and tell about Kripa Siddhi and Krishna’s direct mercy?
Kripa Siddhi could be Krishna’s mercy or a great devotee’s mercy by which without sadhana you can attain bhava or prema. Yeah, that’s accidental [Laughs].
10.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj, we saw that nama will give prema. But at the same time in the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu we see that Rupa Goswami says that just by the mechanical movement of the senses one cannot get prema. But at the beginning as a sadhaka we just move our senses and do bhakti. So how do we understand that we will get prema?
So if we have knowledge then we will do more than simply move our senses. So if we are just moving our senses with very little knowledge of anything about Krishna and not thinking of Krishna then this is we can say very low kanishtha bhakti. So the definition of bhakti given in Nectar of Devotion, the first definition is anyābhilāṣitā-śūnya and kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ, which is cultivating favorable relationship with Krishna. So that has to be there for the second definition of sadhana bhakti, which means to engage the senses. They have to go together. You can’t just do the second without the first [Laughs].
11.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Maharaj you were explaining that how different things manifest in the spiritual world from the sandhini shakti of the Lord. So Caitanya Caritamrta explains that even the father and mother of the Lord are manifested by sandhini shakti. But we also see that they are actually individuals who, I mean they are specific personalities.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Like the form of Krishna, the form of mother, father, associates also manifest through sandhini shakti.
Devotee: So which means that they are spiritual individuals, but their form is composed of sandhini shakti.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. Just like the dhama also is produced by the sandhini shakti, the trees are produced by the sandhini shakti.
12.) Maharaj, this Caitanya rasa vigraha, so the devotees in the spiritual world, they experience rasa with the Lord. Do they experience rasa with each other also? Because their life revolves around their experience with the Lord.
So obviously there are millions and millions of devotees in the spiritual world. They must relate with each other somehow [Laughs]. But as described in Nectar of Devotion, the main rasa, when we are talking about rasa is between Krishna and the devotee. However we see in the pastimes, there is obviously relationships between the different devotees also [Laughs]. But even those relationships are all in relationship with Krishna [Laughs].
13.) Maharaj in Sri Isopanishad, the name of the Lord is not revealed, but the invocation mantra talks several times about purna. So the definition that you gave, so we can see that actually that verse and the rest of the Isopanishad is actually talking about in the ultimate sense Krishna only. Because the word purna, meaning, becomes purna when it refers to Krishna in that sense I was asking.
So the word purna we could refer also to any form of the Lord, they are all perfect in the sense of saccidananda and no defects etc. And a form of the Lord like Garbhodaksha Vishnu produces all the avatars and He remains perfect. He doesn’t deplete Himself by manifesting others. So all of the forms can be called purna and even Krishna in Dwaraka is called purna and His form in Mathura is purnatara and His form in Vrindavan is purnatama [Laughs]. So degrees of purna also [Laughs].
14.) What is the result of chanting holy name of the Lord without sambandha and with aparadha? Does it give the actual spiritual result without sambandha and with aparadha?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So if we have aparadha obviously we don’t have pure chanting. If we don’t have pure chanting we cannot get prema.
Devotee: Does it give any spiritual result like mukti?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So if one, depends on the aparadha of course but if one even chants accidentally also having some aparadha somehow one gets some effect but very slow. And the devotee who is practicing sadhana in some previous lifetime he may have committed aparadha but by chanting the holy name he gets rid of that aparadha.
Devotee: But Maharaj materialistic people sometimes they also chant but they don’t have any sambandha jnana and they commit so many aparadha also. But they can get some benefit like you know.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well as I said they can but it’s slow.
15.) Why do some people hate Krishna and have aversion to Him and devotees? How can we help them?
Well of course the reason for this is ignorance. And in ignorance then you can manifest anger, greed, lust, envy etc. And how do we help such people? If they hate the Lord it is very difficult because we can’t preach to the faithless. If they have lots of anarthas, they don’t hate the Lord then it is possible to preach to them. But for the faithless who have no interest in the Lord the only way is through accidental bhakti. So we can expose them to the holy name, prasadam etc.
16.) Maharaj, if a person, a sadhaka, if a sadhana siddha is getting liberated from this material world and attaining spiritual world and he gets the body in the spiritual world, is that also by sandhini shakti Maharaj?
Yeah.
Devotees: Sri Caitanya Caritamrta ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!