The significance of the soul's name

The significance of the soul's name

A spiritual name means rebirth, rebirth of the seeker’s consciousness. When the Master, out of his infinite Love and unconditional Concern, gives a seeker a spiritual name, it is like a true initiation of an inner existence of the seeker. The very quality that the seeker’s name embodies, his soul tries to bring to the fore. When the seeker gets a spiritual name, he will feel the necessity of bringing his soul’s predominant qualities to the fore, and thus make the fastest progress toward realising the highest Supreme.

Everyone has all the divine qualities, but one quality is often pre-eminent. One divine quality is usually more manifest in a certain person than other divine qualities, and his soul has a way of manifesting the highest Truth through that particular quality. One soul will manifest through light, another through beauty, a third through power, a fourth through compassion, a fifth through peace, a sixth through joy. Each name that I offer has a spiritual significance, and each aspirant has the capacity to realise and manifest the Highest through the particular quality which his name reveals and embodies. It becomes infinitely easier for the aspirant to realise and manifest the Highest on earth if he knows that particular quality. When the disciple has a spiritual name and he meditates on his name, at that time his divine qualities come to the fore most powerfully and make him feel what he is here for and why he has come into the world. That is why I give these names.

To get a spiritual name is really important. At that time you consciously know the meaning, the significance, of your soul’s predominant qualities. When you know what your soul’s main qualities are, then it is infinitely easier for you to bring them to the fore. If you do not specifically know what you are trying to bring to the fore, then it is more difficult. But the moment you know what you are expected to do, then there is not only every possibility but every assurance that you will do it.

Value your spiritual name. Claim your spiritual name. It is part and parcel of your aspiration. I have told you many times that you do not have to invoke the Supreme, you do not have to chant Aum. If you can soulfully chant your spiritual name, you will be able to realise God. Just because you do not have that kind of faith in your own name, I tell you to chant the Supreme’s Name. But if you have implicit faith in the spiritual name that you have been given, in that name you will see divinity looming large. You may say it sounds absurd, but I know the inseparable oneness that your souls have with God. Your father is called Mr. So-and-So in the office; at home he is “Dad”; while his friends call him by some other name. But he is the same person. Similarly, the soul and the Inner Pilot are totally one and the same.

Forgive me, but when your parents gave you names, to be very frank with you, they were not in the highest plane of consciousness. Your parents heard some name that they liked, or the children had to get the father’s name or the mother’s name or a relative’s name. But the names that your parents and grandparents had came only from the human experience. Is there any parent who meditated for hours and hours to get a name for his child? No, not even one!

The name that your parents have given you is also your name, but by repeating “Bill” or “Tom,” I doubt very much that you will be able to realise God. Here in the West I have come across names like “Buffy” and so forth. Do you get any inspiration from the name “Buffy?” Western names do not have the mantric quality of Sanskrit words. If you go on repeating your American name, nothing divine will happen from that. But if you get a spiritual name which embodies peace, light and bliss in abundant measure, then naturally that will bring forward all your good qualities. By soulfully repeating your soul’s name and meditating on your soul’s name with utmost aspiration, you are bound to be illumined. Even if you repeat your spiritual name just ten times soulfully, a new and fruitful consciousness will dawn in you. The divine qualities of your own soul will come to the fore, and you will be energised by your soul’s divine power.

I have an immediate free access to each seeker’s soul, and when I give him a spiritual name which embodies his soul’s qualities, immediately these qualities come forward. A spiritual name immediately changes the seeker’s inner outlook. But when I give a spiritual name to someone, it is not I who am doing it. I entirely depend on the command from within. I am a perfect slave to the inner Authority. When the inner Authority tells me, “Give this name to that particular person,” I just do it.

Once you have received your spiritual name, you have to be conscious of your name. How? By crying inwardly, sincerely and constantly. If you are not fully conscious, then it is impossible for you to realise the significance of your name. Previously you had one name, and now you have another. But there is no difference unless you consciously remember the meaning of that new name. You have to give importance to your soul’s name; otherwise, it does not help you. If you give importance to the form, then one day you will be able to give full importance to the essence. Your soul’s name and your soul are like the temple and the shrine. If the temple is not properly honoured and attended, then the shrine will fall into disrepair.

From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol.II-4, No. 5, 27 May 1977, Vishma Press, 1977
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