Mukunda Mala Stotra 32 – 5: The holy name enables us to relish the ultimate purpose of existence in this very life

bhakta atyanta hita aushadham: It [the holy name] is the medicine that bestows the ultimate blessing on the devotees

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Ukunmala Sutra, verse 32, part 5 Bhaktatyanta Hitaushyadam So Kulshikar Maharaj is describing here how the holy name has many extraordinary medicinal properties and here he describes that this holy name will bring the ultimate benefit for the devotee.
Hita is benefit, Atyanta is the greatest ultimate, Bhakta. So the holy name will bring the ultimate benefit for the devotee. What is that ultimate benefit? That ultimate benefit is love for Krishna and Krishna himself.
So the holy name when we serve him by regular attentive prayerful chanting introduces us to Krishna. In fact the holy name is the first introduction of the Kanisha soul to Krishna. We may hear about Krishna theoretically through our culture or through reading some books but we get experiential introduction to Krishna.
How loving, how relishable, how sweet Krishna is through his holy name. And then as we keep chanting the holy name to the extent we are surrendering to that extent of our surrender Krishna reveals himself to us through the holy name. And the more he reveals himself the more we cannot but fall in love with him.
And the more we fall in love with him the more that becomes the ultimate attainment, the supreme perfection of our life. So the holy name can initially offer some peace of mind, the holy name can offer freedom from lust, anger, greed and other similar unorthos. And these are important, invaluable benefits of the holy name at our level of sadhana.
But they are, from the ultimate point of view, only fringe benefits. The ultimate benefit of the holy name is that it will do the ultimate good to us. The ultimate good is to develop love for Krishna.
It is atyanta hitha. That you have a peaceful mind or a healthy body or even controlled senses and freedom from arathas that will only bring us to the mode of goodness. And we may get elevated to the higher planets.
Even if a person gets liberated from material existence there is also still the danger of going to Brahmajyoti. So all these, whether a better lifestyle in this world, elevation to the heavenly planets or liberation in the impersonal effulgence of the Lord, none of these are considered to be the atyanta hitha. The ultimate benefit is return back to the spiritual world, to be reinstated in our loving service with Krishna.
So when we chant the holy names, actually we are inviting Krishna into our heart. In fact, the holy name is itself Krishna. And as we keep chanting, we start realizing this non-difference of the holy name with Krishna.
And then as we realize the non-difference more and more, the more the act of chanting itself becomes a treasured activity for us. And the more we treasure that activity, the more we invest our consciousness and emotions in it, and the more Krishna reciprocates by revealing his beauty, his sweetness, his all attractiveness through his holy name. So in this way, the holy name reveals progressively all the six opulences of Krishna.
And the more he reveals his opulences, the more our attraction to him increases. And that attraction takes us beyond the realm of misery, even in this world. At the end of our life, if we are pure enough, we will go back to the spiritual world, to be forever beyond the range of misery.
But even in this world, if we remember Krishna, the joy of loving remembrance of Krishna is so great that it counteracts all the miseries of material existence and situates us in peacefulness and joyfulness, even in this world. That is the ultimate gift of the holy name to help us transcend in this world and ultimately beyond this world in love of Krishna. Shri Harinam Prabhu Ki Jai.