Cultivate a taste for God's name

Nama Article 19th March 2009

 

Source: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

 

Cultivate a taste for God's name

 

DEVOTEE: "How can I take delight in God's name?"

 

SRI RAMAKRISHNA : "Pray to God with a yearning heart that you may take delight in His name. He will certainly fulfill your heart's desire."

 

The Master sang:

 

What a delirious fever is this that I suffer from!

O Mother, Thy grace is my only cure.

False pride is the fever that racks my wasted form;

"I" and "mine" are my cry. Oh, what a wicked delusion!

My quenchless thirst for wealth and friends is never-ceasing;

How, then, shall I sustain my life?

Talk about things unreal, this is my wretched delirium,

And I indulge in it always, O Giver of all good fortune!

My eyes in seeming sleep are closed, my stomach is filled

With the vile worms of cruelty.

Alas! I wander about absorbed in unmeaning deeds;

Even for Thy holy name I have no taste, O Mother!

I doubt that I shall ever be cured of this malady.

 

Then the Master said: " 'Even for Thy holy name I have no taste.' A typhoid patient has very little chance of recovery if he loses all taste for food; but his life need not be despaired of if he enjoys food even a little.

 

That is why one should cultivate a taste for God's name.

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare