Are the scriptural descriptions about the glories of the holy name exaggerations?

From: Devdatt

It is explained in the scriptures that by Chanting Lord’s names one gets rid of so many sins that he will be unable to commit those many sins. and there are others which glorify the potency of the holy name. These sometimes appear to be like exaggerations. Because I heard one explaination that these results do not appear to us because we commit offences. Then if that is true the these glorifications should have asterik marks as there are exciting advertisements of the products but with asterik marks. If such is the power of the holy name then why some poeple leave Bhakti after chanting holy names or they fall into depression even when they chant the holy name regularty?(Please clear this doubt which my dirty mind is harassing me off)

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

Question from Devdutt 2 It is explained in the scripture that by chanting the Lord's name, one gets rid of so many sins that he will be unable to commit those many sins. And there are other verses which glorify the potency of the holy name. These sometimes appear to be like exaggerations.

Because I heard one explanation that these results do not appear to us because we commit offenses. And if that is true, then these glorifications should have asterisk marks. These are exciting advertisements of the products, but with asterisk marks.

If such is the power of the holy name, then why some people leave bhakti after chanting holy names? Or they fall into depression even when they chant the holy names? Answer The scriptural promises about the glories of the holy names are not exaggerations. They are distinctive possibilities that need certain conditions to be actualized. Bhakti is a matter of the heart.

And in a matter of the heart, if we bring the calculation of the head, then we miss the essential point. Krishna and the devotees who have been the instruments for Krishna to reveal the glories of the holy name in the scriptures, are actually expressing their love for us when they are talking about these promises. At the same time, Krishna says, when somebody approaches me with love, how a person approaches me, that is how I reciprocate.

So if we approach Krishna with a calculating head, saying that Krishna, by chanting one holy name, I can become free from so many sins. I have chanted one holy name, now free me. So if we approach Krishna with a calculating head, the whole purpose and essence of the path of bhakti is lost.

Because even if Krishna freed us from the sins, and even if Krishna freed us from the sinful mentality also, both of which Krishna can do through the holy name, still we would be stuck with our calculative business-like head, which would block the flow of love in our hearts for Krishna. So therefore, the scriptural promises are at one level demonstrations of how extraordinarily Krishna can bestow his mercy. As in the case of Sayajyaman, who was saved from getting the reactions for his grievous sinful activity, just because of chanting of one holy name.

So these are demonstrations of how merciful Krishna can be. But at the same time, Krishna's mercy is not subject to any mathematical calculation or condition. Krishna is a person with a heart, and he is looking at our heart and our heart's affection for love.

So this is not exactly like material advertisement, where conditions apply. Because in material advertisements, the ultimate motive is not to benefit the customer, but to exploit the customer. Whereas in Krishna's case, when the scriptures are talking about the glories of Krishna's holy names, the purpose is not to exploit us.

The purpose is to elevate us. The purpose is to benefit us. The purpose is to inspire us to chant the holy names.

At the end of the Ajamil pastime in the sixth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Shukadeva Goswami and Pariksit Maharaj, and Hrishal Prabhupada, both in the translation and purport over there, explain the right attitude in which a devotee looks at such extraordinary displays of Krishna's mercy. So it is said that if Ajamil, by chanting one holy name, incidentally or unconsciously, without actually thinking about the Lord, Narayan, but thinking only of his son, if by that Ajamil could be saved from so many sinful reactions and could get so many blessings, then how much more blessings can we get by consciously thinking of Krishna, while regularly chanting not one holy name, but sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Regularly chant the holy names.

So the ultimate purification happens by our diligent practice of the process of devotional service. And Krishna can give extraordinary mercy at different times to different people. And these are certainly possibilities.

They are not exaggerations. And they are surely not meant to exploit us. At the same time, they are not something that we can demand Krishna.

This is what you have to do. Because this is what the scriptures say. Whenever we are looking at the scriptures, it is Krishna who is speaking as a person.

And a person has a heart. The heart is expressing his love. And when Krishna expresses his love through such extraordinary promises, rather than sticking to the mathematics of the promise in a business-like, heartless way, we need to look at the emotion of love that is underlying this promise.

What Krishna is telling us is that, just turn towards me and whatever difficulties are there, I will relieve you from them. So if these promises can inspire within us an attitude of faith and devotion towards Krishna, and with that faith and devotion we chant the holy names, we will naturally become purified. So, when we talk about the exaggeration, that means something is not a reality, but something is just overrated and overspoken about, although the actual reality is not so much.

Now the actual reality is that the holy name can free us from all sinful reactions. But the important point is that, how are we approaching it? These are distinct possibilities which we need to actualize by cultivating the right motivation of the heart. And in fact, even if we look at the Bhagavatam itself, when Parikshit Maharaj is sitting down to hear the Bhagavatam for seven days, without eating or drinking or sleeping, he doesn't take the shortcut and say, Oh, if one name Narayan can do so much, then why do I have to do so much austerity and fast for seven days? He actually continues and says, Please, I want to hear more on the glories of the Lord.

So if you look at the overall context of the scriptures, the extraordinary promises and the extraordinary benefits, the extraordinary promises that are made and the extraordinary benefits that are given. So the promises are made, the holy name can free us from all sins that we can commit, and benefits are given in the case of Ajaman. So these extraordinary promises and extraordinary benefits, the success of them is not that we greedy money mongers just grab those benefits and go on with our materialistic life.

No, it is that ultimately if we become free from sin, if the holy name awakens our love for Krishna, what are we going to do after that? We are going to engage in devotional service. So the extraordinary promises and the extraordinary benefits need to reinforce our faith, conviction and attraction to the ordinary or the standard process of devotional service. The process of devotional service is not ordinary but the standard process in the sense that we chant the 16 rounds and hear the scriptures and develop our attraction for Krishna.

So overall, the principle underlying this glorification is the attraction of the heart for the purpose of flooding our heart and our life with love. So that is the transformation that we should aim for rather than looking at the mathematics of a particular promise.