Srimad Bhagavatam – 3.33.7 | Madhura Mahotsava 2025 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj @ ISKCON Chennai on 12 Jan 2025.
ŚB 3.33.7
अहो बत श्वपचोऽतो गरीयान्
यज्जिह्वाग्रे वर्तते नाम तुभ्यम् ।
तेपुस्तपस्ते जुहुवु: सस्नुरार्या
ब्रह्मानूचुर्नाम गृणन्ति ये ते ॥ ७ ॥
aho bata śva-paco ’to garīyān
yaj-jihvāgre vartate nāma tubhyam
tepus tapas te juhuvuḥ sasnur āryā
brahmānūcur nāma gṛṇanti ye te
Translation
Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the Āryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas and fulfilled everything required.
Purport
As it is stated in the previous verse, a person who has once offenselessly chanted the holy name of God becomes immediately eligible to perform Vedic sacrifices. One should not be astonished by this statement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One should not disbelieve or think, “How by chanting the holy name of the Lord can one become a holy man to be compared to the most elevated brāhmaṇa?” To eradicate such doubts in the minds of unbelievers, this verse affirms that the stage of chanting the holy name of the Lord is not sudden, but that the chanters have already performed all kinds of Vedic rituals and sacrifices. It is not very astounding, for no one in this life can chant the holy name of the Lord unless he has passed all lower stages, such as performing the Vedic ritualistic sacrifices, studying the Vedas and practicing good behavior like that of the Āryans. All this must first have been done. Just as a student in a law class is to be understood to have already graduated from general education, anyone who is engaged in the chanting of the holy name of the Lord — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare — must have already passed all lower stages. It is said that those who simply chant the holy name with the tip of the tongue are glorious. One does not even have to chant the holy name and understand the whole procedure, namely the offensive stage, offenseless stage and pure stage; if the holy name is sounded on the tip of the tongue, that is also sufficient. It is said herein that nāma, a singular number, one name, Kṛṣṇa or Rāma, is sufficient. It is not that one has to chant all the holy names of the Lord. The holy names of the Lord are innumerable, and one does not have to chant all the names to prove that he has already undergone all the processes of Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. If one chants once only, it is to be understood that he has already passed all the examinations, not to speak of those who are chanting always, twenty-four hours a day. It is specifically said here, tubhyam: “unto You only.” One must chant God’s name, not, as the Māyāvādī philosophers say, any name, such as a demigod’s name or the names of God’s energies. Only the holy name of the Supreme Lord will be effective. Anyone who compares the holy name of the Supreme Lord to the names of the demigods is called pāṣaṇḍī, or an offender.
The holy name has to be chanted to please the Supreme Lord, and not for any sense gratification or professional purpose. If this pure mentality is there, then even though a person is born of a low family, such as a dog-eater’s, he is so glorious that not only has he purified himself, but he is quite competent to deliver others. He is competent to speak on the importance of the transcendental name, just as Ṭhākura Haridāsa did. He was apparently born in a family of Muhammadans, but because he was chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord offenselessly, Lord Caitanya empowered him to become the authority, or ācārya, of spreading the name. It did not matter that he was born in a family which was not following the Vedic rules and regulations. Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Advaita Prabhu accepted him as an authority because he was offenselessly chanting the name of the Lord. Authorities like Advaita Prabhu and Lord Caitanya immediately accepted that he had already performed all kinds of austerities, studied the Vedas and performed all sacrifices. That is automatically understood. There is a hereditary class of brāhmaṇas called the smārta-brāhmaṇas, however, who are of the opinion that even if such persons who are chanting the holy name of the Lord are accepted as purified, they still have to perform the Vedic rites or await their next birth in a family of brāhmaṇas so that they can perform the Vedic rituals. But actually that is not the case. Such a man does not need to wait for the next birth to become purified. He is at once purified. It is understood that he has already performed all sorts of rites. It is the so-called brāhmaṇas who actually have to undergo different kinds of austerities before reaching that point of purification. There are many other Vedic performances which are not described here. All such Vedic rituals have been already performed by the chanters of the holy name.
The word juhuvuḥ means that the chanters of the holy name have already performed all kinds of sacrifices. Sasnuḥ means that they have already traveled to all the holy places of pilgrimage and taken part in purificatory activities at those places. They are called āryāḥ because they have already finished all these requirements, and therefore they must be among the Āryans or those who have qualified themselves to become Āryans. Āryan refers to those who are civilized, whose manners are regulated according to the Vedic rituals. Any devotee who is chanting the holy name of the Lord is the best kind of Āryan. Unless one studies the Vedas, one cannot become an Āryan, but it is automatically understood that the chanters have already studied all the Vedic literature. The specific word used here is anūcuḥ, which means that because they have already completed all those recommended acts, they have become qualified to be spiritual masters.
The very word gṛṇanti, which is used in this verse, means to be already established in the perfectional stage of ritualistic performances. If one is seated on the bench of a high court and is giving judgment on cases, it means that he has already passed all legal exams and is better than those who are engaged in the study of law or those expecting to study law in the future. In a similar way, persons who are chanting the holy name are transcendental to those who are factually performing the Vedic rituals and those who expect to be qualified (or, in other words, those who are born in families of brāhmaṇas but have not yet undergone the reformatory processes and who therefore expect to study the Vedic rituals and perform the sacrifices in the future).
There are many Vedic statements in different places saying that anyone who chants the holy name of the Lord becomes immediately freed from conditional life and that anyone who hears the holy name of the Lord, even though born of a family of dog-eaters, also becomes liberated from the clutches of material entanglement.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this verse is quite famous showing the great power of chanting the name. Of course as mentioned in the purport the Vedas are non-different from the Lord very powerful so they can purify. The Vedas give many processes for purification and this verse mentions a few, one is performing austerities. Another is performing sacrifices. Another is bathing in the holy rivers.
So these activities are well known in the Vedas and the Puranas and Mahabharata etc. If we look in the Bhagavatam however these activities are not considered very important [Laughs]. And here it mentions study of the Vedas. Krishna says at 11th canto, I don’t care much for people who study the Vedas. So the Vedas and the processes in the Vedas are praised at the same time they get rejected. The reason they get praised is they are authorized and effective processes of purification.
So what does purification mean? It means that one gets rid of one’s sinful activities and karmas and gradually elevates oneself through the gunas up to sattva. And sattva guna is praised more than Rajo guna or Tamo guna. The Lord as Vishnu he is directly in charge of sattva guna. The brahmanas are in sattva guna and the brahmanas are very dear to the Lord. So to that extent the Vedas are praised because they raise one from the lower gunas to sattva. But these processes do not lead beyond that and therefore they get criticized.
Just to get to the stage of Mukti through Jnana that requires something else. You cannot just bathe and study the Vedas and do tapasya. And thus the Upanishads, they also reject the Karma Kanda section of the Vedas with the sacrifices etc. Similarly Brahma Sutras reject all these Karma Kanda sacrifices. So even if one wants liberation one has to reject these processes.
However the Vedas do mention the process of liberation through Jnana Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga. If one is a brahmana one can study the Vedas, one can study the Brahma Sutras, one can practice Jnana Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga. Through that one can attain liberation or moksha. So why should we criticize the Vedas because they’re also giving not only sattva guna also giving liberation.
But as Lord Caitanya has pointed out that is not the final goal. We have artha, dharma, kama, moksha but we also have a fifth goal which is Krishna Prema, that’s not mentioned. So scriptures like Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita therefore condemn all these other artha, dharma, kama, moksha, the Vedas, bathing, austerities etc. because they do not even, Prema is there, not even liberation. Of course if we look closely in the Vedas and Upanishads and in Brahma Sutras we will see ultimately that this is what happens.
Higher than all the other processes is Bhakti Yoga. The goal is Prema. But as Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita this is a little bit rare. People don’t understand. Those who are not qualified will not understand this. And as Krishna says it is guhya, secret. [Laughs] Of course it’s not really secret because it’s in the Vedic literature. It’s in Bhagavatam but very few people understand it.
So the process of Bhakti is considered to be the ultimate process mentioned in the Vedic literatures. But as verses like this point out chanting the name of the Lord is the highest process in Bhakti Yoga. So of course other processes of Bhakti can do the same thing. But it will be a little bit slower. And not all people will be qualified. For instance if we do deity worship yes we can surpass all these sacrifices and bathing etc as well. But to worship the deity you have to take diksha. And can everybody take diksha? No. You have to take a test. You have to do this, you have to do this. So many conditions are there [Laughs]. So not everybody can just walk in the temple and do deity worship.
So this chanting of the holy name is open to everyone. And thus here it mentions the svapacha. Literally it means a person who cooks the dog [Laughs]. Dog cooker [Laughs]. Of course I guess he cooks and then he eats it, so dog eater. So the dog eater is considered to be very fallen. Of course in the Vedic system generally the Brahmanas don’t eat meat. But there’s different types of meat and one of the lowest is the dog. So these people are not even considered to be part of the varnashrama system. So to take birth in such a family is considered to be very unfortunate. One is in very low tamo guna. And this is caused by karma, lots of sinful activity. One gets born in varnashrama system. One has done punyas. One has bathed in the rivers. One has done austerities etc.
So the dog eater, the svapacha or the mleccha or the chandala or whatever who are not in the varnashrama system they are considered to have very very little punya and lots of sin. But this statement here says that if that person chants one name of the Lord, he is better than everybody else, better than the brahmana [Laughs]. In fact he doesn’t even have to chant the whole name. It’s simply on the tip of his tongue [Laughs]. Almost he’s chanting it. [Laughs] And then he’s in a very high position because of that. And thus they surpass everyone who does austerities, does sacrifices, bathes in the rivers, studies the vedas.
What this means is that by just partially chanting the name of the Lord once, a person has destroyed all of his bad karma. By all the bad karma he became dog eater. But by chanting half the name of the Lord once, he’s no longer a dog eater. So this verse illustrates the fact that through chanting the name of the Lord, then the prarabdha karma, the karma to be experienced in this lifetime disappears.
The normal conception of people who are learned and studied the vedas is that you cannot destroy your prarabdha karma. If you are born as a dog eater, no matter what you do in this lifetime, the prarabdha karma of being a dog eater can never be destroyed in this lifetime, you have to wait for the next lifetime. Or if you are born as a Sudra or Vaishya, then you have to remain Sudra or Vaishya in this lifetime even if you do all your punyas, next lifetime you can advance.
Of course we do know that the processes of Jnana and Yoga destroy karma. If the karma is not destroyed, you cannot get liberation. However the Jnana yogis say that yes, Jnana Yoga destroys karma, but it will not destroy your prarabdha karma of this life. So how to destroy the prarabdha karma? You simply have to live, suffer, enjoy all your karmas of this lifetime. When you die, then your prarabdha karmas are finished.[Smiles]
However, the process of Bhakti is such that Bhakti also destroys the prarabdha karmas of this life. And thats one who chants the holy name, if he is a dog eater, he is no longer a dog eater. Prarabdha karma is gone.
However, this principle was never followed. So we see, at the time of Lord Caitanya , even if you chant the holy name, if you are born in a Sudra family, you are still a Sudra. You can’t say you are something else, You are still a Sudra, no matter how much you chant [Laughs]. So though these verses are there in Bhagavatam and other Puranas etc., still people didn’t pay too much attention to them.
But we see with Lord Caitanya, then he began to follow this principle. So Haridas Thakur was not born in the Varna-ashram system. Born in a Muslim family, so they are Mlecchas or whatever you want to call them outside but chanted the holy name, therefore he is no longer a Mleccha [Laughs]. So Lord Caitanya , born in a Brahmin family, he also became a Sannyasi. Technically he should not go near Haridas Thakur. He should not associate at all with him. However, Lord Caitanya spoke to him [Laughs], embraced him [Laughs]. So in other words, Lord Caitanya was actually enacting what is said in the Srimad Bhagavatam. So therefore this verse illustrates the great power of the name.
All processes of Bhakti will destroy your karmas, including your prarabdha karmas. But the quickest and easiest way is to chant the name of the Lord. So of course even after Lord Caitanya, nobody really changed their position. The Brahmanas remained as Brahmanas, Kshatriyas as Kshatriyas even they were followers of Lord Caitanya .
Then Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati did a very revolutionary thing. So taking verses like this, then he said, okay you are chanting the name, you are bona fide Vaishnava, you have taken Diksha and got the Krishna mantra therefore you are superior to the Brahmana. So I will give you the Brahmana thread, I will give you the Brahma Gayatri. You are better than a Brahmana.
So before that time nobody dared to do that [Laughs]. But nevertheless, the principle is here in the Bhagavatam itself. So of course, we call it Brahmana initiation etc., becoming a Brahmana. But the goal is not to become a Brahmana. By becoming a Vaishnava we attain the status of “Brahmanatha”. And what is “Brahmanatha”? Ultimately to know Brahman.
And what is Brahman? Krishna [Laughs] ! In other words the real Brahmana is the person who knows Krishna [Laughs]. So we become Brahmanas, our goal is not to do the rituals of the Brahmana or do sacrifices or bathe in the holy rivers like a Brahmana. That’s not our goal. It is merely a ceremony to show that we are actually Vaishnavas.
Hare Krishna.
Q & A
1) Maharaj, the matter is complicated. I cannot understand properly. So if someone is chanting Hare Krishna, like Haridas Thakur, so he’s chanting, even purely chanting, but still can he do direct Puja or Brahmanical activities if he’s not initiated Brahmin?
So traditional society says, “no”. The priest in the Jagannath temple said no, you can’t even enter the temple [Laughs]. So that conception continued up until the time of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati even. But the Vaishnavas, if they were initiated, they were not Brahmanas, but they took Diksha, they chanted the holy name, they were allowed to worship deities.
But at that time, even then, people were saying the Brahmanas, you – low caste Vaishnavas, worshipping the deity, you are not Brahmanas. How is this? So his answer was, if you are a duly initiated Vaishnava, you have Krishna mantra, you are entitled to worship the deity, no matter what’s your birth. But they said no, you should be a Brahmana, which means born in a Brahman family, then you can worship deities. So there he said, actually if you are initiated, have Diksha etc, you are superior to a Brahmana that this verse states. So when he gave Diksha, then he gave the Brahmana thread and mantra. So ok, better than Brahmana. [Laughs] Allowed to worship the deity. See, he is a real Brahmana, he is a real Brahmana
However, even without getting the Brahmana thread and the Brahma Gayatri, if one has the Diksha mantra of Krishna, one is entitled to worship the deity that is Pancharatrika Vidhi. But of course, what Srila Bhakti Siddhartha Saraswati did was a very bold move, in spite of society, he did this [Laughs].
However, this verse is even stronger. It says, nothing to do with Diksha even. Half chanting the name of the Lord once, you are superior to the Brahmana. So therefore, he is superior to the Brahmana, he should be doing puja, just by chanting half the name of the Lord once! That’s what it says here [Laughs].
But we do have so theoretically correct but we do have Pancharatrika Vidhi and we also follow that. So we also follow the Pancharatrika Vidhi. At least you should have Diksha to worship the deity. But theoretically, chanting the holy name, even half the name once, you are actually superior to a Brahmana. So spiritually speaking, you are superior.
Devotee: Regarding this, I read in Jiva Gosvami’s commentary, he was saying that although one is qualified completely, he doesn’t do it.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: He doesn’t do it.
Devotee: Because due to his Prarabdha Karma, his body doesn’t allow to chant many things. Jiva Goswami restricted.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So he says next birth. Of course, that’s because you have to learn the mantras, etc.
Devotee: His body doesn’t allow him to pronounce many things.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Sridhar Swami says these verses mean that he is given the respect that is due to a Brahmana. Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti says not only he is respected, he has a right to do but he doesn’t because he is not interested [Laughs]. He rather chant the holy name.
2) In the Purport Srila Prabhupada says those who chant holy names, they have completed already (tepus tapas te juhuvuḥ) everything they have completed. So in ISKCON, many devotees come to Krishna Consciousness after committing so many sinful activities. They come to Krishna Consciousness and they started chanting the holy name. And Normally those who are doing these things they are free from the sinful activities. But before coming to Krishna Consciousness, they have already committed so many sinful activities. So how to understand this? Two things. One is before coming to Krishna Consciousness, they have already committed so many sinful activities.
Ultimately the qualification for taking to bhakti is not punya of any sort in this life or past life. But if one has got the mercy of devotees in past life, one will develop faith. So he is entitled to do Bhakti, chant the name etc. And by doing so immediately, he has done everything [Laughs], he has done all that stuff [Laughs].
3) Hare Krishna Maharaj, So here it says the power of holy name, that even if one chants at the tip of the tongue, He is more qualified or better than a brahmana. But at times, if such a person continues with his traits which he has acquired in that body or in that family, which means he continues to perform sinful activities, then how do we look at him? Because then at that time to offer him that kind of respect becomes little difficult if we have material vision.
Of course we see in the case of Ajamila who chanted the name of Narayana, not meaning the Lord at all and immediately all of his karmas were gone. But nobody understood this. He didn’t understand this and he continued to be sinful the rest of his life [Laughs].
And even those sinful activities didn’t create any effect and they also got effect destroyed. So it was like a poisonous snake with no fangs biting [Laughs]. Nothing happened, committing all sinful activities nothing happened [Laughs]. And even the Yamadutas were surprised. So therefore we don’t always see the effect of chanting the name superficially. They are just like the same person but internally something else may be happening.
Of course in relation to these verses, half chanting the name, once one name only , and other verses like that also, I believe it is – Srila Bhakti Siddhanta says, Srila Bhakti Vinoda may be, that it should be pure chanting. Not Nama Abhasa or accidental or not Aparadha.
So also it said, in relation to Ajamila – Nama abhasa, because he was accidentally chanting, but repetitively, but no aparadha and therefore immediately all his karmas disappeared. So Namabasa with Aparadhas, very slow. Namabasa with no Aparadhas, quick destruction of karmas and pure chanting, even quicker results. [Laughs] But in any case, it may not show externally.
4) Hare Krishna Maharaj, having faith on verses like this, a sadhaka he/she chants throughout the life but does not attain bhava or prema. So we assume that the karmas are destroyed but the Bhava or Prema level is not attained. So what would be the next life based upon?
So, of course for the devotee, destruction of karmas is not such a big thing because even Ajamila got all of his karmas destroyed. [Laughs] So that’s a secondary effect of chanting. So the main effect of chanting is that Bhakti develops into Prema. So even if your karmas are all destroyed, that doesn’t mean your Prema has developed [Laughs]. So Ajamila had his karmas destroyed, didn’t get Prema.
So in that case, if one’s karmas are all destroyed and if one’s Bhakti is just developing, if one takes another body, it is not due to karma, it’s the Lord’s arrangement.
5) Hare Krishna. Pranams Maharaj. Out of 1000 names of Vishnu – Madhava, Kesava, Madhusudana, only Krishna, the nama is considered as Krishna. What is the speciality of that? That is the big doubt of normally South Indians.
So the Lord has so many names, thousands and thousands of names. Those names which describe his features as Bhagavan, doing pastimes in the spiritual world, are superior to names indicating how he relates to the material world. And if the name indicates Vishnu, you can attain Vishnu. If it indicates Rama, you can go to Rama. But the whole point of Bhagavatam is that of all the forms of the Lord, the form of Krishna is very special. So by realizing Krishna, we get extra bliss. So if we chant Krishna’s names, we get that extra bliss. Krishna also has many names – Govinda, Gopal, Kaliya Mardana, etc. [Laughs] But the most powerful of those names is Krishna.
6) Can we chant Suddha nama in lower stages or only in higher stages, like Bhava or Prema ?
Actually Suddha nama and Suddha bhakti are more or less the same thing. So in Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Gosvami indicates that we should start our sadhana with Suddha bhakti. In other words, “anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ-jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam” Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.1.11) . That’s how we start our Bhakti. That’s how we start chanting the name.
Hare Krishna !!
Devotees: Granatharaj Srimad Bhagavatam Ki.. Jai !! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !! HDG AC Bhakti Vedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad Ki.. Jai !!