From the Back of the Book

Most of the world's major religions celebrate the Holy Names of God. Christians have commentaries like St. Bernard's Jewish mystics made the Divine Names the focus of meditation. Muslims have the Most Excellent Names. Holy, Merciful, Compassionate. Truth, the One-such names appear in all religions, emphasizing that however we worship, the Lord is one and the same.

In India, one of the most popular of these litanies is the Thousand Names of Vishnu. Vishnu is God the Preserver, the sustainer of life, worshipped by millions in his incarnations as Rama and Krishna.

"Om I worship Lord Vishnu, who has become the universe and pervades all. Lord of past, present and future. He is being and the essence of all beings: he is the pure and supreme Self in all. His face is everywhere…..

In a thousand ways, the Thousand Names a single message: the Lord is everything, everywhere. His names evoke the qualities that elevate our lives: forgiveness, beauty, tenderness, compassion, love.

Eknath Easwaran comments on a fraction of the Thousand Names and what each one means in a daily living. This is a book for daily inspiration, full of personal reminders of what it means to see God in the faces and events of everyday life.

About the Author

Eknath Easwaran is respected around the world as one of the great spiritual teachers. He was Professor of English Literature at the University of Nagpur, India and an established writer, when he came to the United States on the Fulbright exchange program in 1959. As Founder and Director of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation and the Nilgiri Press, he taught the classics of world mysticism and the practice of meditation from 1960 till his death in 1999.

Most of the world's major religions have a tradition celebrating the Holy Names of God. Muslims have the Most Excellent Names; Christians have litanies and commentaries like that of Saint Bernard. Jewish tradition preserves several lists of the Divine Names, which Jewish mystics have made the focus of meditation. The Holy, the Merciful, the Compassionate; Truth; the One: these are names which appear in each religion, emphasizing that however we call him-or, as in some parts of my native India, her-the Lord is always the same.

In Hinduism, one of the most popular of these litanies is Sri Vishnu Sahasra-nama Stotrum, the "Thousand Names of Vishnu." Since no concept can ever describe the Infinite, Hindus believe that the Lord has many forms-Shiva, Ganesha, the Divine Mother, and so on- shaped, so to say, by the inner needs of those who worship him. The Thousand Names praises God as Vishnu, the preserver and sustainer of life, worshipped all over India in his incarnations as Krishna and Rama.

I must have heard the Thousand Names recited a thousand times while I was growing up. My grand- mother, my spiritual teacher, would place a lighted oil lamp in front of the image of Sri Krishna. Then an uncle who was a Sanskrit scholar would chant the names of the Lord one by one, with the sacred word Om before each name and the word namah after it. "Om Vishnave namah!" It means "I bow to Lord Vishnu," "I worship Lord Vishnu," much like the Christian or Jewish "Blessed art thou, O Lord." With each name my uncle would take a fresh lotus petal, touch it to his heart, and offer it at 'the feet of the Lord. This is japam, repetition of the mantram or Holy Name, as it has been practiced throughout India for centuries.

I was not a very devotional boy, and I have to confess that rituals meant little to me. But after an hour of this kind of recitation at dawn with my family, the Thousand Names used to echo in my mind for the rest of the day. Even without reflection, the meaning went in. The Lord is everything, everywhere; he dwells in every heart:

Om! I worship Lord Vishnu,
Who has become the universe and pervades all.
Lord of past, present, and future,
He has made and supports all that is.
He is being and the essence of all beings;
He is the pure and supreme Self in all.

He is all, and the beginning of all things.
He is existence, its cause and its support,
He is the origin and the power.
He is the Lord.

He is the One from which creation flows.
His heads are a multitude, yet he is the Self in all.
His eyes and feet cannot be numbered.
Many and mighty are his forms.

His soul is revealed in light; as fire he burns.
He is the rays of the moon and the light of the sun,
His forms are many, but he is hidden.
He has hundreds of forms, hundreds of faces;
His face is everywhere …..

Even for a child, then, the Thousand Names were a constant reminder that there is a spark, of divinity in everyone. It prompted us to be a little more considerate, a little more kind, a little more selfless with those around us-which, I suppose, is just the-effect these rituals are supposed to achieve. Filling your mind with the thought of God is not primarily an esthetic experience. It has a very practical purpose; for what we think of constantly, we see wherever we look.

Later, as an adult, I discovered that ritual is not necessary to achieve this goal. The most effective form of japam, in fact, is the silent repetition of the Holy Name or mantram in the mind: Jesus, Jesus, or Rama, Rama, or Allah, Allah, or whatever formula has been sanctified by tradition. This form of prayer has been taught in every major religion, and in my experience it is second only to meditation as a tool for transforming consciousness.

In the following pages, I have chosen a fraction of the Thousand Names and added a practical commentary on what each name means in daily living. These comments are based on the eightfold program for spiritual growth which I have followed in my own life and have taught in this country for more than twenty-five years. Meditation is the heart of this program, as it is of my life; so I refer to it constantly in the pages that follow. What I mean by "meditation," and how I differentiate it from the repetition of a mantram, are explained in the brief summary of my program at the end of this book.

The "Thousand Names of Vishnu" comes from the Mahabharata, an ancient epic poem which is a vast treasury of Hindu legend and literature-including the best known and most universal of the Hindu scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita. In this epic setting, the Thousand Names is given to the philosopher-prince Yudhishthira by a great sage named Bhishma. The prince asks his teacher a question that must find an echo in every heart: "How can I find joy that will always be with me, satisfying my deepest desires?" Bhishma's reply is to reveal the Thousand Names, with the assurance that if they can be repeated in the deepest reaches I of consciousness, this continuous "prayer of the heart" will fill the mind with joy•

Each of these names carries significance. Some refer to the power and beauty of the Lord; others recall some incident in the vast mythology of Vishnu, whose compassion sustains the world. As Vishnu, "he who is everywhere," God has entered into all creatures as their innermost consciousness. He upholds the cosmos from with- in, as its ruling principle, and establishes and embodies dharma, the indivisible unity of life.

In Indian mysticism, which has a genius for clothing the Infinite in human form, Vishnu embodies the source of beauty and order in creation. His body is the dark blue of limitless space, and the galaxies hang from his neck like innumerable strands of jewels. His four arms show that he holds sway over the four quarters of the world. His are the qualities that draw forth love: forgiveness, beauty, and a tender compassion for all creatures.

Vishnu's image is found in temples, shrines, and homes all over India. Usually he is represented as a handsome man of divine radiance who holds in four hands the symbols of power and beauty. A necklace of precious gems adorns his neck. When he travels he is carried by the cosmic eagle, Garuda, or rides a chariot drawn by four spirited horses. In rest he reclines upon the serpent called Infinity, floating in the cosmic waters in perfect peace, dreaming the dream of the world. Though benevolent, he is noted for a mischievous sense of fun. He is universally kind, always approachable, understanding, and serene. The imagery surrounding Vishnu is of light and peace.

Vishnu is also God the protector, who rescues humanity in time of need and supports and strengthens us from within when other resources fail. He is infinite, but from time to time throughout history his love for his creation is so great that he allows himself to be born as a human being to show the world a way out of evil and suffering. Rama and Krishna are the best loved of these divine in- carnations. Krishna, in fact, is so completely identified with Vishnu that the two can be regarded as one and the same-as I do occasionally in the pages that follow.

The name Krishna is said to come from the root krish, meaning to attract. Krishna is God with a human face, and his enchanting smile attracts all things. He is usually portrayed as a youth, in the years when he was a cowherd boy in the idyllic village of Vrindavan. A peacock feather shimmers with beauty in his long hair, which flows around his face like the blue-black rain clouds that blot out the tropical sky during the monsoon. With his body gracefully bent and his arms holding a flute to his lips, he plays an irresistible song. He wears yellow silk, and a garland of wildflowers swings from his neck; on his chest dances a sacred jewel.

This is how Krishna is painted by his devotees as an incarnation of Vishnu. The imagery is specific, but the beauty and compelling attraction of this Lord of Love is universal. Krishna is the spark of divinity in every heart, constantly calling us to return to him. As long as we are alienated from the Lord within, we will be restless and unfulfilled; for this divine spark is our deepest nature, the innermost core of our being. The Lord of Love, present in every human heart, is our real Self.

Swami Ramdas, a very appealing saint of South India whom my wife and I had the privilege of meeting many years ago, used to say that the name of the Lord is God. This is a dramatic way of emphasizing that when you realize the full significance of the Holy Name, you have realized the unity of life. All your desires will have merged in the love of God, whose presence you see in everyone around you. In this sense the Holy Name is a key that can gradually unlock the prison of separateness which confines and isolates every human heart. It can lead us to the discovery of our true personality, eternal, immutable, infinite, and pure.

In Indian mysticism the Lord is said to be sat yam, shivam, sundaram: the source of all truth, all goodness, and all beauty. When we open ourselves to this source of glory within, a part of it pours into our life. But in order to do this, we have to get ourselves out of the way. We have to learn to defy and eventually to extinguish all the passions by which we make ourselves separate from others: anger, greed, lust, self-will.

This is a tremendous challenge, but repetition of the Holy Name is an infinitely powerful ally. As the mind fills with the thought of God, the heart becomes pure; for as Bhishma says in the Mahabharata, the very name of the Lord is a purifying, transforming influence. Anger gradually turns into compassion, greed into generosity, lust into love.

All this Bhishma explains to Prince Yudhishthira, so that he can hear each Holy Name with full understanding of its significance. Then, having prepared Yudhishthira to receive them, Bhishma says, "Now, O prince, I shall recite the Thousand Names. Listen carefully, and they will remove fear and evil from your life."