This morning at Raghava Pandita's house Srila Gurudeva spoke about the potency of harinama.

"By chanting the names of God, even neglectfully, a person will very easily become free from sin. There may be so many deer in the forest, but as soon as they see a lion they will flee. So Krsna's name is like a lion, and sins are like elephants and deer. They will all be destroyed. Don't think that these words of the Vedas are exaggeration. Sometimes a writer may say: 'the horse was galloping so fast that its feet were not touching the ground.' He has written like this for effect, but it is not literally true. But these words of the Vedas about the power of harinama are not like this, they are completely true. Only mayavadis who think that we are all God, brahma and who therefore have no faith in the power of Krsna and His name cannot chant. Their sins will remain. But if any maha papi (great sinner), who has murdered his wife, father, mother and guru starts to chant regularly and continuously then his heart will become pure. He will be so powerful that if another sinner touches him, then all their sins will be destroyed.

"While sleeping, the mind cannot be controlled. While dreaming, it may think of any nonsense. But if by good fortune a man dies hearing Krsna's name while dreaming, then all karma-bandhana, the chain of the fruits of all karmas will be washed away forever.

"Kali is so powerful. By his influence we become overwhelmed with worldly desires, attachments, anger and lust, and, forgetting everything, we cannot chant. While leaving his body in such a state, a person cries out: 'I'm dying!' but is unable to chant the names of Krsna. Practically we've seen this. There was one saintly lady whose husband was dying in Siliguri so she called us to come. About forty of us went there. In his life this man had been very sinful. At the time of the partition of India and Pakistan, some Muslim terrorists were murdering Hindus, cutting their bodies to pieces, loading the body parts onto trains, and sending them to India. Because of these atrocities, this man developed a deep hatred towards Muslims, and he started to do the same thing. He would murder many Muslims, cut their bodies up and send the body parts into Pakistan for revenge. While we were there I tried so much to get him to chant the Hare Krsna mantra but he could not do it. Even once 'Krsna', or 'Rama' or 'Radhe' he could not utter. But he was screaming so much else: 'I am burning! I am dying!'

"Sankaracarya said: 'Bhaja govindam bhaja govindam bhaja govindam mudha-mate' but was he giving the pure name? No. He was teaching that Krsna has no shape. According to his explanations, for the sake of ordinary persons, nirakara-brahma manifests in forms like Durga, Kali, Ganesa or Krsna. Sankaracarya recommended chanting the name of Govinda so that his disciples would be able to purify themselves and become realized. Chanting 'brahma brahma' will take many lifetimes. But by this pratibimba-abhasa harinama they would be able to achieve liberation even in one birth, and to merge with brahman. But this chanting is offensive. If Harinama is received from a vaisnava then it will give the highest fruit, Vraja prema."

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