Jyotirmayī: He would like to know if to instruct young Christians to chant the name of Kṛṣṇa will be helping them attain the highest perfection or if it is changing their religion.
Prabhupāda: No. We are recommending "Chant the holy name of God." So if you have got the holy name of God, you can chant that.
Jyotirmayī: (French)
Man: (French)
Jyotirmayī: He said that in Christianity God has no name.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Jyotirmayī: God has no name in Christianity, but the son of God has a name. And before they use for a long time, and everywhere they were saying the name of Jesus Christ.
Prabhupāda: But they say that in Christianity there is a name of God. They say. No?
Jyotirmayī: (French)
Prabhupāda: But you said that His name be glorified.
Devotee: They say "Hallowed be Thy name."
Priest: But the name is not said.
Devotee: Yes.
Priest: Never said.
Devotee: Jesus said that "All I have taught you is not the total sum of the knowledge of God," he says, "but there is more to be told."
Prabhupāda: That's all right. So if you have no name, then why don't you take this name, "Kṛṣṇa"?
Jyotirmayī: (French)
Prabhupāda: What is the objection?
Man: (French)
Prabhupāda: Caitanya Mahāprabhu says... Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis.
- nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis
- tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
- etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi
- durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ
Bahudhā: God has many names. If you are missing, so you can take one of the name. Kṛṣṇa is one of the names, so what is the objection? And Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "In this name, all the potencies of God is there." Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śakti tatrārpitā. That name is as powerful as God Himself. There is no difference between the name and God, because He is absolute. Here in the material world there is the difference between name and the person or the thing. If I am thirsty, if I simply chant "water, water, water," that will not appease my thirstiness. But the spiritual world, absolute, the name and the person is the same. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ (CC Madhya 17.133). Under the circumstances, if you are missing some name, so take this name. Why it should not be taken?
Jyotirmayī: (French)
Priest: Yeah, but you can take "Rāma," you can take "Paraśurāma," you can take (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, any name, any name.
Priest: Kṛṣṇa has no special...
Prabhupāda: No. Special there is. In this way, it is recommended in the śāstra, recommended in the śāstra: harer nāma. Harer means of God. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). So this is the... We have to chant the name of God. This is the prescription. This is Vaiṣṇava.
Priest: Does it matter...
Prabhupāda: Now, there are thousands and thousands of names, that we also admitted. At least we have got sahasra-nāma, viṣṇu sahasra. But in another place it is said, other Upaniṣad, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma... This name is recommended. Just like Agni Purāṇa and Kalisantaraṇa Upaniṣad, in this Vedic literature, this...
Priest: Yeah, but each Upaniṣad will recommend its own specific Deity, you know. Rāma, as you say, Hare Rāma. Or Śiva.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Rāma is all right. Rāma we chant. Hare Rāma we chant. Hare Kṛṣṇa and Hare Rāma. Rāma also we chant.
Priest: Or Śiva. I mean, you see, in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad.
Devotee: (Sanskrit)
Priest: I mean, what devotees? You have got bhakti also in the Śaivite , all the others.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The argument, if you say that it is not special, then you will say that you can chant any name.
Priest: Yes.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: We say that God's name is special, whatever name it is. Not that we eliminate God, saying He's not special. He is special. Whether you call Him by this authorized name or that authorized name, His name is special because it's nondifferent from Him. So not that we should just overlook the name of God because we're overlooking God. We do that, so we have to...
Prabhupāda: Harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21). Harer nāma means God's name.
Priest: You see, for instance, in Christianity for a long time there was a bhakti, and this bhakti was devoted to the name of Jesus. So for a very long time you had that Jesus bhakti. And in your country, in America today, like you have got the Hare Kṛṣṇa, you have got also the Jesus devotees. Now, this is also present in many places. And the name does not matter. There is no name who has got the... Because then you find again what...
Prabhupāda: No. If Jesus is the name of God, then you can chant. If Jesus is the name of God. But Jesus, Lord Jesus Christ, says that he is son of God. Of course, there is no difference between son and the father. That is another thing. But still, if I want the father, how by calling the name of son I can get the father? That is also another thing.
Priest: Yeah, but I mean, this is another point.
Prabhupāda: But if you have got the father's name, why should you call Him by the son's name?
Priest: Yeah, but this is another discussion (indistinct). What we mean by father and son, you know, we don't mean it...
Prabhupāda: That everyone's father and son is the same. If father says something and the son says... Just like in a big family, if the son orders something, it is as good as the father's order. That is our experience. But still, if you want to call the father, you will not get the father's response by calling the name of the son.
Priest: Jesus told us, "If you see me, you see the Father, because the Father cannot be seen." It was a common name. Yoshua was a common Jewish name.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Now, one thing is that if we are interested in chanting the name of God, if it is available, then why should I chant the name of the son?
Priest: No, it is not that question. The question is...
Devotee: Excuse me for interrupting, but one thing was that you suggested that the name of Kṛṣṇa is a very common name...
Priest: Yeah.
Devotee: ...in the sense that many people may be called Kṛṣṇa. But the Supreme God is also called Kṛṣṇa. So if you chant His name, you derive the benefit even if you're not thinking of Him as the Supreme.
Priest: Yeah, but for the Christian the same. Jesus is a very common name.
Devotee: That's all right. We're saying chant. Our spiritual master is teaching "You chant the name of God." That's the important thing.
Prabhupāda: If you think that Jesus Christ's name is also, you can chant, we have no objection. We say that you chant the holy name of God, whatever you have got. That's all right.
Priest: And for a Muslim you mean to chant Allah.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Priest: Name Kṛṣṇa, Allah, Jesus, (indistinct), what is the...
Prabhupāda: Allah is not name. That is... It is not the name. It is just like the idea of God.
Priest: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: Allah means God, īśvara.
Priest: Allah means also (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: But that is not the name. That is... Just like the President and Mr. Nixon. The President may be another person. Not only Nixon, but another person also may be. So President is the general understanding of the post. But still, one who occupies the post, he has got a name.
Priest: Do you know the Sufi?
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Priest: Do you know the Sufis are Muslims (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: No.
Priest: They are the great mystics of Islam, and they always address God as Allah. As we say...
Prabhupāda: Allah means God.
Priest: Yes. It is the name of God for them. "Allah the all-knowing is great." Anybody who knows Islam knows that.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, if one chants Allah or Jesus Christ, we have no objection. We don't say that you stop it. We say that you chant the holy name of God. If that name is of God, you chant.
Yogeśvara: Yesterday, Srila Prabhupāda, you gave the story, I think you said it was from the Padma Purāṇa, about a Muslim who was attacked by a wild boar.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Yogeśvara: He was attacked by a wild boar, and the boars for the Muslims are untouchable. So he was saying haram, haram, which means untouchable. And he was killed by that boar, but it was taken by higher authority that he was chanting "ha rāma," which means "where is Lord Rāma," so he derived liberation. Even unconsciously he was chanting and derived liberation.
Prabhupāda: Although he did not mean Rāma, he condemned the boar as haram, condemned. But the...
Priest: Same story is said in the bhakti tradition of Maharastra of the hunter.
Prabhupāda: Yes, may be the same story.
Priest: Untouchable hunter who was chased by a boar and went to a tree, and then... It is a common story.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, we are recommending "Chant the holy name of God." (end)