From Nåma-Avatåra to Nåma-Saµkîrtana: Gau∂îya Perspectives on the Name: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

The Gau∂îya Vaiß∫ava tradition, an important Krisna bhakti tradition in­spired by Caitanya (1486–1533 CE) in the sixteenth century in Bengal, developed a multileveled ontology of the name that builds upon and reimagines in significant ways the rich traditions of reflection on the nature of language, mantras, and divine names developed in Vedic, philosophical, yogic, theistic, and tan­tric traditions. In his landmark essay on the theology of the name in the Gau∂îya tradition, Norvin Hein remarks:
In the line of those Vaiß∫avas who use the Bhågavata Purå∫a, there is a special understanding that the instrument through which the Divine Presence is mediated is the sung Name itself. The chanting of the names of God is a hu­man activity, admittedly; but it is an occasion for a superhuman activity—the descent of God into the presence of His devotees. The voicing of a divine name brings realization of God’s presence because a name of God is not just a sound, referring to a reality that is something other than itself. In
the common fund of Hindu thought, a metaphysical status and function pertains to a thing's name. A name, in comparison with a thing’s phenomenal aspect, is . . . a subtler level of its reality and an approach to the essence of the thing named. . . . [F]or bhaktas like the Caitanyites . . . a true name of God is a genuine modality of God’s being or is God himself. That is why, in the reciting of sacred names, the mysterious Presence is often felt: God is there.