Harer Namashtakam 1 Persevering till we get taste
madhuram madhurebhyo ‘pi
mangalebhyo ‘pi mangalam
pavanam pavanebhyo ‘pi
harer namaiva kevalam
More sweet than all other sweet things; more auspicious than all other auspicious things; the greatest purifier of all purifying things—The holy name of Shri Hari alone is everything.
Transcript
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Harer Namastyakam, Verse 1 Madhuram Madhure Bhupi, Mangalai Bhupi Mangalam, Pavanam Pavane Bhupi, Harer Naameva Kevalam.
Madhuram Madhure Bhupi. Among all the sweet things that are there in the world, this is the sweetest. Mangalai Bhupi Mangalam.
Among all the things that bring auspiciousness, that herald a bright and beautiful future for us, this is the most auspicious. Pavanam Pavane Bhupi. Among all the things that purify us, of all the contaminations that we have acquired somehow from the past, this is the most purifying.
Harer Naameva Kevalam. The holy name alone is the means for this. So, this verse uses several superlatives to make our dull mind understand the extraordinary glory of the holy name.
Madhuram Madhure Bhupi. It is the sweetest among all sweet objects. Although we may not feel the sweetness of the holy name right now, by hearing about how the great saints, who have purified their hearts and developed devotion for Krishna, are actually relishing the holy name, we can get the inspiration and the motivation to perceive here, through the phases of tastelessness, when we are struggling to chant, and are finding our mind wandering, and are finding ourselves feeling that the experience of chanting is quite tasteless.
Pratap Goswami in the Bhakti Samamrit Sindhu explains that a jaundiced person cannot taste sugarcane juice as sweet, but if he keeps drinking sugarcane juice, according to Ayurvedic therapy, then his disease will be cured, and he will be able to start tasting the sweetness gradually. So, Paggata Moolahantri says that, from the root, the avidya, the misdirection of our love, towards matter instead of towards Krishna, which is the cause of our material existence, will be cured if we keep chanting the holy name as a medicine. So, the holy name at the sadhaka stage is a medicine, and at the siddha stage, it is just nectar, it is just pure sweetness.
And Rupa Goswami also tells us, how much he is relishing the holy name. नो जाने जनिता कियेद भी अम्रितई क्रिष्णेति वर्णद्वई I do not know how much sweetness is there in these two words. क्रिष्ण, two syllables.
So much nectar, I do not know. When I chant the holy names, I feel as if I should have hundreds of mouths to relish the holy name with my tongue, and I should have millions of ears, by which I can relish the holy name with my ears, as the sound enters through. So, generally people like to enjoy by eating food with their tongue, but I do not know if any glutton, person who eats a lot has ever thought that I want thousands of mouths to eat this food.
But, even if somebody has thought like that, Rupa Goswami is giving us an inkling of what is the joy in the chanting of the holy names, by which, even though we presently may find the experience of the chanting tasteless, we can persevere knowing that in the future, we will attain this taste. Even material life, often a person has to go through tough periods, where there is apparently no reward, so that one can get a glorious reward in the future. If a person wants to be a sports star, if a person wants to be an Olympic gold medalist, in say marathon or sprint, a person has to do so much exercise, and even if the person enjoys running, there are so many other exercises the person has to do, and he has to push himself to the limit of his stamina, and the limit of his tolerance, and, generally, the exercise that is essential for ultimately becoming a champion, is not at all pleasurable.
But still, the person keeps himself motivated by thinking, how one day I will become the champion. So, of course, that is a mundane and egoistic motive, but the principle applies, that one day I will attain the taste. Now, we want the taste not so that we can enjoy, we want the taste so that we can give Krishna enjoyment, and through that we can enjoy.
So, when we say a taste for the holy name, it primarily means the taste to give Krishna pleasure, and thereby give pleasure to ourselves. So, Mangal-ebhyopi-mangalam indicates this bright future, and Pavanam-pavanam-ebhyopi indicates that whatever is the past, no matter how dark it is, all of the impurities can be purged away by the chanting of the holy name. So, in this way, the darkness of the past is eradicated by the holy name, and the brightness of the future is further increased by the holy name.
And in this way, the holy name is our shelter.