Kevalastakam Verse 2 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 19 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-Caitanya
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 Kevlastakam Verse 2.
ābrahmā-stamba-paryantam
sarvam māyā-mayam jagat
satyam satyam punaḥ satyam
harer nāmaiva kevalam
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
Ok, so, the meaning of this verse is ‘sarvam māyā-mayam jagat’ which means the whole universe made of maya. This means the material world. And then the first line, ‘ābrahmā-stamba-paryantam’, this means from Brahma down to the trees and the immovable living entities. So, in other words, all the living entities within the material world. And what is this whole world made up of all the living entities. ’harer nāmaiva kevalam’, it is only the name of the Supreme Lord. And ‘satyam satyam punaḥ satyam’, means this is true, this is true, this is true. In other words, this is a glorification of the chanting of the name.
Sometimes we will say, the Supreme Lord is the whole world. And of course, even the Vedas say this ‘sarvaṃ khalvidaṃ brahma’. So, instead of the Lord being everything, non-different from the material world, the holy name which is non-different from the Lord is also the material world. So, both are true. However, the name of the Lord is the easiest approach to the Lord. And this is what Lord Caitanya is teaching. Non-difference means that whatever is in Krishna, will be realized by chanting the name. And for all the living entities in the material world, if they want to develop spiritually, then they should hear or chant the name. Of course, it is the human beings that get the most benefit. So, particularly for the human beings, the best sadhana is chanting the name.
And here it says ‘kevalam’, only the name, nothing else. So, in other words, the chanting of the name is the highest method for purification and spiritualization. And not only that, it also leads by itself to the highest objective, Prema. In other words, we do not have to start out with something else and then do chanting of the name. We start with the name, it purifies us, we chant purely, and we get Prema. So, to say that no, in order to chant, first we have to do other things, first we have to come to sattva guna, first we have to become purified, then we can chant, that could be someone’s objection, but it says no. Of course, Lord Caitanya quotes from the Brihad Naradiya Purana, and he says the same thing, there he says, nothing else, nothing else, nothing else. And Prabhupada explains, we don’t depend on karma yoga and Varanashrama, we don’t depend on jnana yoga, we don’t depend on ashtanga yoga. So, chanting the name does not depend in the beginning, in the middle, or at the end on anything else. And thus, in Caitanya Charitamrita, it is also mentioned that even chanting the name does not depend on diksha. It doesn’t depend on the mantras we use for deity worship. So therefore, to say that you have to take diksha in order to get Prema is false.
Our main principle is ‘harer nāmaiva kevalam’. Of course, then the question will be, why then we do these other things at all? Why do we have diksha? Why do we have chanting of the name? Why do we worship the deities? Why do people in Lord Caitanya’s time follow Varanashrama and also chant? So, it is something like the conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita. And what does Krishna say? Give up all dharmas. And He says, not just give them up, give them up completely, ‘parityajya’. So, then we would assume, okay, we don’t do anything, we just surrender to Krishna, that’s all.
However, we see that devotees, even Arjuna is also following Varanashrama. So, does this mean that he is not following Krishna’s instructions? No, we cannot say that. So, therefore, these instructions are given and they are very emphatic to emphasize, one, that bhakti is the highest process and chanting the holy name is the highest process. And by practicing bhakti, by chanting the holy name in itself, we can start anywhere, at any position and we can get highest goal, Prema. But it does not forbid us from doing karma yoga, jnana yoga or ashtanga yoga, if it does not obstruct the bhakti.
If as a result of introducing karma yoga and Varanashrama, we get attached to material goals, then this is an obstruction. If we are mixing angas of jnana, such as vairagya, study of Vedanta, and we develop attraction for liberation, then it becomes obstruction. Or if we do pranayama and asanas and we get attracted to liberation or siddhis, then this is also obstruction. Or if we spend more time on our Varanashrama, more time on our jnana or yoga than we do on our bhakti, this is also obstruction. Or if we think that if I don’t do this, if I don’t practice my Varanashrama, if I don’t do my jnana, if I don’t do my ashtanga yoga, then I cannot do bhakti properly, this is also obstruction. And the reason is that with this last instance that we depend on these other processes, it means we do not believe that bhakti and chanting the name are completely independent of any other process. So, we can practice all these different things and even other things as long as they do not obstruct the bhakti.
In other words, they can act as useful assistance. But at no point do they become the predominant method. And they are useful as long as they help us concentrate on the main sadhana. So how would they be useful? So of course, in ashtanga yoga, asanas and pranayama are useful for maintaining the body’s health and for concentrating the mind.
So for people that have problem in concentrating, etc., they can take shelter of this along with chanting the holy name. But then at a certain point, then they should only do the holy name because this would be the best way of controlling the mind and senses, and then they give up the other process. One can use jnana and study Upanishads and brahma sutras. And in this way, by following scripture, we become convinced that we are not the body. And this will help us become detached from material desires.
And karma yoga, what is the goal of karma yoga? Essentially it is artha, dharma, kama, it is a way in which the human being can maintain his material body and live comfortably in this world. So, unless we are renounced, then we will try to develop family, house, etc.. And then to do that, we need an occupation. In other words, we need a varna. So the Varanashrama system provides us with a very suitable set of rules for occupations. And along with that, it supplies ashramas. So by following those rules of varna and ashrama, we can support our material body and at the same time gradually become detached. So, most devotees performing bhakti and chanting the holy name, they will be householders. So the Varanashrama system helps those devotees maintain their material body and their families.
Krishna says, ‘sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja’, He doesn’t mention about how you live and support your body. So this is very good for persons like Jadabharata or Rishabhadeva or Sukadeva Goswami. They don’t care about their body, they don’t care about anything and they don’t have any family. But such persons are very very rare. So therefore, even though they are doing devotional service, everyone should do devotional service in any varna, any ashrama and even beyond the varnas and ashramas, still they need some method of supporting their material body. So rather than invent our own rules for how to conduct ourselves as a householder, then we follow the rules of Varanashrama as much as they are not contrary to bhakti. But as we advance in bhakti and of course as we get older, then we should gradually renounce all these things. And then we can simply chant the holy name. So in other words, a person may practice Varanashrama dharma and jnana or yoga to some extent, but he should also be ready to give them up also at a certain point.
So, in bhakti, the main process for us is chanting the name. And this is most applicable to everybody. So here it says, not only the human beings, all the way down to the trees. So how is the holy name applicable to trees and animals? Of course, any living entity, tree or animal or human being, even if they cannot chant the name, they can hear the name. And it is only the human being that can chant the name. Except parrots. So anyway, but then they criticize the parrot, the parrot chants, but actually he doesn’t know what he’s chanting, so it’s not much use. But anyway, still, there’s some effect. So some human beings are in the same position, they may chant the holy name to imitate somebody else, that’s all like a parrot. Ajamila utters the name because he means his son, he doesn’t mean Vishnu, and he gets great effect from that. So even the plants and animals get great benefits simply by hearing the name. So what to speak of human beings, they hear the name, plus they chant the name. And if they chant it even inattentively, nama-abhas, in nama-abhas, then still they get effect.
So in other words, there’s no qualification at all for chanting the name. Which we cannot say about other processes like deity worship, etc., they require high qualification. And even jnana and yoga require a qualification of sattva guna. So only a brahmana is qualified to study Vedanta. So kshatriyas, vaisyas and sudras cannot study Vedanta. So of course, Varanashrama system has vaisyas, sudras, and kshatriyas and brahmanas, but they are practicing this dharma, Varanashrama system, but other people are excluded from the system, they are called the outcasts. So Varanashrama also limits the amount of people.
And if you’re not a sudra, you’re somewhere else in the world, different qualification, you’re not part of that system. But bhakti, of course, is all-inclusive, whether you’re in the Varanashrama system or outside the Varanashrama system, you can do bhakti. And even the mlecchas, other persons, chandala, dog-eater, swapaccha, they can do bhakti, and they can even worship the deity, if they take diksha.
So, bhakti is very flexible, but the name of the Lord is even more flexible and liberal. So not only all human beings, including the outcasts or whatever, but even the animals and the plants get the benefit of the name. And therefore, this is considered to be the topmost method for everybody, particularly in Kali yuga.
Hare Krsna!
Q&A
1) Hare Krishna Maharaj we come under Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya when yuga dharma is chanting the holy name why it is not applied in Madhva Sampradaya apparently Madhva Sampradaya also doesn’t have any parampara guru disciple they don’t give Diksha so in what way we come under Madhva Sampradaya?
So the first way this is traced back to Madhva Sampradaya, is through Kavikarna Pura, where he traces through Lakshmipati to Madhavendra Puri and Ishvara Puri like that. And then Lakshmipati he connects with the Madhva Sampradaya. Later on, Baladev vidya Bhushan, which is several hundred years later, he also traces the same line.
Some persons, they will object that this is maybe a little bit artificial. Because obviously we don’t have the same philosophy. Madhvacharya has Dvaita philosophy, we have Achintya-bedabeda philosophy so it’s different, it’s a different philosophy. And certainly our method is also different. The Madhvas of course are also Vaishnavas worshipping Vishnu, but we’re worshipping Krishna. And of course we’re emphasizing Kirtan, where they don’t emphasize it so much. It’s there, but it’s not emphasized as the main method.
So in answer to that of course we can say we’re not exactly Madhva Sampradaya, we’re a branch of it. So we don’t contradict anything that the Madhva says, his statements, but slight details are a little different. So we don’t just say we’re the Brahma Sampradaya or the Brahma Madhva Sampradaya, we also add the idea of Gaudiya there. And that distinguishes it from the other Madhvas who don’t call themselves Gaudiyas.
2) Maharaj we know that bhakti is independent, but you are saying for maintanance if one gets help from other person like karma, yoga or jnana we can accept it so accepting help from other processes is it because of lack of faith on bhakti?
It’s because we have a material body [Laughs].
Of course, many devotees are practicing Bhakti and chanting the holy name, and they’re not doing any Varnashrama as well. So in that way it doesn’t depend upon a Varnashrama to get your perfection.
It may be useful. Just as to maintain the material body you have to eat. But you cannot just eat anything. So in Ayurveda we have ways of eating. So if you’re vata you eat one thing, if you’re Pita you eat another thing. In this way there’s little rules for you to follow to maintain the health of your body. So the Varnashrama system doesn’t go into all those details for everyone, but it gives general rules about what to eat, what not to eat, how to conduct yourself, etc.
It gives rules for cleanliness. So these rules are useful for even a devotee because then he can maintain health. But even if he didn’t know the rules or whatever, somehow or other, by trial and error he can figure out what’s good for the body, what’s not good for the body, and do that also. Of course, all societies in the world from ancient times, they had the rules of cleanliness, etc. But the Varnashramic rules are a little more advanced. So therefore recommended to follow for people following grihastha life.
3) I have two questions. Maharaj, you mentioned about chanting. Chanting is only enough to attain Prema. Rupa Goswami mentions in nectar of devotion, first two angas, Guru padashraya and Krishna adhikshadisikshanam. What is the importance of that?
The name is independent, because we see that, for instance, Ajamila didn’t have a guru and he got rid of all of his karmas. So even accidentally you chant without a guru, any spiritual intention even, you can get some nice effect. And even chanting with namabhas, intentionally, you can at least get up to liberation.
However, if you want to get Prema, you have to chant Sudhanaam or do pure bhakti. So that does require some knowledge. And thus we have Sampradaya and the Goswamis and Lord Chaitanya gave instructions and wrote books, etc. So with that knowledge, along with chanting the holy name, we get Prema. And so we can say yes, chanting the holy name to get Prema will have dependency on knowledge of bhakti scriptures. However, the bhakti scriptures themselves are also glorification of the name. So, in other words, we say another form of holy name, like Bhagavatam is another transformation of the holy name because it’s glorifying the name as the ultimate process.
But in any case, we have to chant and to chant purely, we do need some knowledge. So that knowledge is revealed through a guru. And thus we trace a Sampradaya, a Siksa Sampradaya, where we have a gurus teaching other persons.
4) Maharaj, before Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, this Achintya beda-abeda Tattva was not existing?
Yes, before Lord Chaitanya talked about Achintya beda-abeda, we had Vishishta Advaita and Dvaita. These are both Vaishnava philosophies. But the way of explaining the Lord’s relationship with the material world differs slightly. So, Nimbarka of course has a very similar philosophy, Dvaita-advaita. He appeared slightly before Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So the difference is, of course they are both difference and non-difference, but Lord Chaitanya is Achintya so the factor which allows difference and non-difference to exist in the Lord is inconceivability. So Lord Chaitanya’s philosophy was a way of reconciling the statements in scripture which talk about non-difference. And it reconciles them with the scriptures that speak of difference, because Shastra speaks both things.
So, with Madhvacharya’s philosophy, all the statements of non-difference are not literal. So we can say in one sense, he is using Lakshana and saying, ok, non-difference does not really mean non-difference, actually Dvaita is the only reality. Of course, complete non-difference is Shankara’s philosophy. And then we have Ramanuja, who came before Madhvacharya, but after Shankara, so it is qualified Dvaita. Ramanujacharya, after Shankaracharya, came before Madhvacharya, it is called qualified advaita.But still, he will take the advaita statements, the non-difference statements, and ultimately he rejects them.
So in Lord Chaitanya’s philosophy, we see the non-difference statements, we see the difference statements, but we don’t reject either, because the Lord is both one, without anything else, and he is also different from everything else. How it happens, the statements can both exist because of Achintya Shakti of the Lord. So it is a way of not rejecting the advaita statements, which generally Ramanuja or Madhva will do, and it doesn’t reject the difference statements, which Shankaracharya must do.its a kind of both.
5) Maharaj, Rudra sampardhaya was found by Vishnu swami and his philosophy was shuddha advaita and that comes under Vaishnava philosophy, how to reconcile this?
I don’t think we have any works available of Vishnu Swami, the only remnants of that Sampradaya are through Vallabhacharya. And though it says pure advaita, he is worshipping Krishna as Supreme. So therefore his actual meaning of advaita is not the same as Shankar’s philosophy. He is more or less saying that the Lord is advaita, because everything is included in the Lord, etc., whatever, but it’s not complete non-difference. So he says this is the pure conception of advaita.
6) Hare Krishna Maharaj, what is the difference and effect of chanting Lord’s name before initiation and after initiation with spiritual master?
This difference will depends upon the individual devotee. In one place Prabhupad states that real initiation is to take the process of Krishna Consciousness seriously, to chant seriously. And the initiation is the formality. So in other words, if you simply vow to practice Krishna consciously properly, and of course you are getting knowledge from somewhere, then that is enough to get you to Krishna.
But then he also says, well the ceremony also has some use. So useful, in the sense that, just like in school, you can just study and study and study for 12 years, but generally divide it up and put in class 1, class 2, class 5, class 10, whatever. And when you pass 1, you know you’ve advanced, you have a little bit of a measure of your advancement in knowledge.
So there we’re going to that ceremony helps fix you at one certain level. But of course in the material world we also know that you can say I have a graduate so and so thing, but who knows how you got the degree [Laughs]. So simply because you’re initiated does not mean you’re better than someone who’s not initiated.
So as per Chaitanya Caritamrta, Prabhupada there, translating from Krishnadas Kaviraj, says that holy name is independent of diksha. But there, when he uses the word diksha, he is talking about getting the mantra at second initiation. So in other words, Harinam does not depend on deity worship or on getting those deity mantras.
But as pointed out, to chant purely, to get prema, we do need some knowledge. So at least we need Shiksha guru. So in that way, we do have gurus and whatever, and initiation or whatever, and it’s not so much for the mantra and deity worship, even that what we call first initiation is more or less a type of shiksha.
So it’s a ceremony to formalize our shiksha. But as Prabhupada also pointed out, whether you have the ceremony or not may not be so important, because if you accept the teachings from a devotee without a ceremony also, that’s also just as good.
7) Hare Krishna, by eating food, one’s hunger gets satisfied. Similarly, by chanting the holy name, one can understand that Hare Krishna and holy name are non-different. Is there any other chanting to understand that only holy name is different from Krishna?
So any type of bhakti can lead to prema and give bliss. But the easiest way in bhakti is through chanting the name. So it is easiest, available for everyone and it’s the quickest. But nevertheless, all types of bhakti are useful and they give prema and we never reject any process of bhakti.
8) Hare Krishna Maharaj, what is the result of plants and animals hearing the holy name? Will they get a human body immediately to practice bhakti?
So, as I said, any living entity gets benefit from hearing the name. Of course, even by the presence of devotee, everything around him gets benefit. But the name is the most powerful influence.
However, because they have less intelligence and plants particularly, they are just exposed to it, whatever, then obviously the effect is much less. But in any case, it’s a step towards prema. That doesn’t mean that the grass, by hearing the name, then goes to the spiritual world immediately. But they start on the path and after being grass and animals, become human being and still they have the influence that can get them into the process of bhakti to attain prema.
9) Is taking diksha necessary to do daily deity worship in home?
Well, if we want to follow pancharatric standards, you would need the mantra. So, if one is doing in the home without the mantras, then it’s not pancharatric [Laughs]. Of course, then we say it’s not really following scripture.
So, that is why Lord Chaitanya recommends chant the holy name, because you don’t need any rules for that. And by chanting the holy name as the main aspect of purification, then you would become qualified to worship the deity even without the mantra. And by chanting the holy name as the main aspect of purification, then you would become qualified to worship the deity even without the mantra.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham Ki Jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!