Why does Prabhupada say that God has no names?

From Ravikant Jagtap

Krishna no name, but by His qualities we give Him names. If a man is very beautiful, we call him “beautiful.” If a man is very intelligent, we call him “wise.’ So the name is given according to the quality. Because God is all-attractive, the name Krishna can be applied only to Him. Krishna means “all-attractive.” It includes everything

And in lectures he says gods original name is Krishna how to understand this contradiction? What do we actually mean when we say lords name is eternal?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
creation thank you Hare Krishna when Srila Prabhupada says that it’s a question from Ravikant in perfect he is also he has his names are eternal so Prabhupada says yes God has no names but by his qualities we give him names if a man is very beautiful we call him beautiful if a man is very intelligent we call him wise so the name is given according to the quality because God is all attractive the name Krishna can be applied only to him Krishna means all attractive it includes everything and in lectures he says original name is Krishna how to understand this contradiction what do we actually mean when we say the lord’s name is eternal answer this is analysis based on the modality the mode the type of conception of the absolute truth that is being done there are primarily two ways of conceiving the absolute truth one is by negation and the other is by affirmation negation means we focus on what all the lord is not and affirmation is we focus on what the lord is now both are valid approaches in the negational approach we focus on the lord is not anything material so that is the naiti naiti method that is used by the jnanis and by that they reject everything material and then eventually they try to conceive the spiritual so from the negational perspective the lord does not have anything material so when Prabhupada says that the lord does not have any names that means that he does not have any material names so we see the scriptures do describe that the lord has many names in fact one of the names of the lord is Sarvanama all names belong to him and then we have Vishnu sahasranama we have Krishna sahasranama we have Balram sahasranama so all this indicates that he does have many many names so thousands of names are there for almost each incarnation of the lord so how are there thousands of names like this its because at a spiritual level he has unlimited qualities and those spiritual qualities are actually the basis of his spiritual names so when Prabhupada says on the basis of his qualities we give him names that giving is not a time specific act just like we say that when Krishna desired to taste the love of Radharani at that time Krishna became Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taking on the mood of Radharani now is it that there was a particular time when Krishna did not exist no in the transcendental realm when is used when this kind of when is used for describing the manifestation of a particular form of the lord then that is not in a time denotational sense it is in a philosophical causality sense philosophical causality means to explain what is the cause of a particular thing in terms of reasoning so same way over here it is not that at a particular time some devotee gave the lord a particular name especially his primary name the Krishna Ram no these names are eternal and they are based on his qualities all attractiveness leads to the name of Krishna his joyfulness Ramati Ramayati Ram joyfulness his own joyfulness and his capacity to give joy to others that leads to the name of Rama so like that these names are eternal and when we say that they are given at a particular time that is simply for us to understand how these names come about see we say the soul is also eternal but then we say that the soul is coming from the absolute truth coming from Krishna so how is that actually the soul is eternal but in terms of ontological dependence ontological means nature of existence in terms of ontological dependence the soul depends on the absolute truth and in that sense the soul comes from the lord so same way it is not that at a particular time the names are given by someone they are always there because the lord attributes at a spiritual level are always there so based on those spiritual attributes the lord eternally has certain names so Krishna Rama Rama names like that but beyond that if we are simply going from the material perspective say is the lord beautiful no beauty is a material attribute so lord does not have a material attribute so he doesn’t have beauty also. So that way we can say no material names apply to him and in that sense the statement has to be understood. We have to see it in a proper philosophical context.
So immediately after the statement what Shrila Prabhupada is saying is, no, but the Lord has all spiritual attributes and then he describes the spiritual attributes and describes the names based on those attributes. So to summarize, actually when we go from the medicinal methodology then the Lord has no names. But when we go to the affirmational methodology toward understanding the Lord, then the Lord has all names and in fact, yes the forms and qualities of this world are temporary, but they seem to have substance because they are sparks of the Supreme Lord.
So as bhaktas, jnanis, we may sometimes, in the jnan mark usually the negational method is used, but in the bhakti mark we primarily use the affirmational method and that’s why we understand that the Lord has unlimited names and his names based on his, like his qualities, are eternal. Thank you. Hare Krishna.
So when we say Krishna, one regarding the last point, why is Krishna the original name? Actually just as just as Krishna is the original form of the absolute truth, we say Krishnastu Bhagavan svayam, based on the famous Bhagavad Gita, so just as all incarnations come from Krishna, similarly all manifest, all names come from Krishna or rather the Krishna is the original name. Just as the original manifestation has the original name and then from that original manifestation other manifestations come, so from that original name other names emerge. So again this original is in a conceptual understanding sense, it’s not in a time denotational sense.
So the original name correlates with the original form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thank you. Hare Krishna.
Hare