by Nimai Pandit das –

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Suddha-nama Bhajan is a collection of lectures on chanting the holy name delivered by His Divine Grace Srila Gour Govinda Swami. It was first printed in 1997. While residing in Bhubaneswar and listening to Guru Maharaja speaking on different occasions on the topic of chanting the Maha-mantra, the idea came to my mind to collate these lectures and print them in book form. I discussed this with Guru Maharaja to get his opinion on this and he said, “…do it…”.

The book Suddha-nama Bhajan describes the different stages of chanting the holy name from nama-aparadha  to namabhasa to suddha-nama. The offensive stage to the clearing stage and finally the pure name. The original blurb in the book was:

In Suddha-nama Bhajan His Divine Grace Srila Acarya Thakura Gour Govinda Swami gives us a guide to chanting the pure name. His Divine Grace explains the three stages of chanting. The three stages being, nama-aparadha, nama-abhasa, and suddha-nama. The first chapter describes the nama-aparadhas (the ten offences), the second chapter describes the attributes of namabhasa (the intermediate stage of chanting) and the final chapters describe the glories of Mahaprabhu’s mission, to distribute suddha-nama, the glories of the pure name or “prema-nama-sankirtana.” Dui hetu avatari’ lana bhakta-gana – apane asvade prema-nama-sankirtana, “Thus with two intentions the Lord appeared with His devotees and tasted the nectar of prema with the congregational chanting of the holy name.” Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 4.39 Punah ati-utkantha, dainya ha-ila udgama, krsna-thani mage prema-nama-sankirtana, “Natural humility and eagerness then awoke in Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He prayed to Krsna to be able to chant the maha-mantra in ecstatic love.” Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Antya-lila 20.35 —[typography font=”Candal” size=”14″ size_format=”px”] From the book’s original blurb[/typography]

In both of these verses Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami uses the phrase prema-nama-sankirtana, not hari-nama. Mahaprabhu was giving prema, prema-nama-sankirtana! His Divine Grace Srila Acarya Thakura would always say, “…chant good rounds, chant the pure name, get Krsna, get Krsna in this very life…” The disciples of Gurudeva were very appreciative, and it all started from there by His Divine Grace’s mercy.

14 x 21 cm; 151 pages, softcover | More books →

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