भक्तिर्हि स्वरूपशक्तेः लीला नित्यस्य देवस्य।
अनन्तकल्याणगुणसागरस्य परात्मनः॥

Bhaktir hi svarūpa-śakteḥ līlā nityasya devasya,
ananta-kalyāṇa-guṇa-sāgarasya parātmanah. – Sabda-mitra dasa

("Bhakti (loving devotion) is the lila (playfulness) of the svarupa-shakti (the internal potency) of the Primeval Lord, who is ananta-kalyāṇa-guṇa-sāgaraḥ (an Infinite Ocean of auspicious qualities").

Preface

Although I have no qualification to serve the feet of my spiritual gurus... because it is the tradition in our lineage, on one's birthday (appearance day), to make use of one's time reciting the glories of the spiritual master... it is therefore my intention to make some effort to discuss a tiny drop of the infinite ocean of the glories of the unlimited names of the Supreme Personality, the primeval Lord. Begging the mercy and tolerance of the Vaisnavas that I may one day come properly in the line of devotional service and abandon forever all material endeavors for fleeting enjoyments in these mortal worlds.

Invocation

I bow first at the lotus feet of my most worshipable spiritual master, Nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Paramahaṁsa Aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja, who descended into this world because of his causeless mercy, in order to reveal the eternal truths of the śāstra and to guide the surrendered souls beyond the impenetrable veil of nescience.

I also offer my humble obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda, who spread the chanting of the holy name throughout the world, to Śrīmatī Tulasī-devī, the mother of devotion, and to all Vaiṣṇavas and Vaiṣṇavīs, who are oceans of mercy. By their blessings alone, one can enter the nectarean ocean of the Lord’s infinite names.

The Vedic Foundations of Divine Epithets

The practice of glorifying the Supreme Lord through innumerable names begins in the Vedas themselves. In the Ṛgveda, Viṣṇu is praised as the one who strides across the worlds, establishing the cosmic order: viṣṇor nu kaṁ vīryāṇi pravocaṁ yaḥ pārthivāni vimamerajāṁsi — “I shall now proclaim the heroic deeds of Viṣṇu, who has measured out the earthly realms and the heavens.”¹ This hymn presents Him as the pervader, whose very name (Viṣṇu, from the root viś, “to pervade”) expresses His absolute sovereignty.

As Vedic thought deepened into the Upaniṣads, new epithets arose to describe His transcendental status. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad describes Brahman as satyaṁ jñānam anantaṁ brahma — “the Absolute is truth, knowledge, and infinity.”² The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad explicitly names Him as parama īśvaraḥ — “the Supreme Lord”³ — and further as ekaḥ devaḥ sarvabhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ, “the one God hidden in all beings.”⁴ These names establish the theological foundation: the Lord is simultaneously immanent, pervading all creatures, and transcendent, beyond all limitation.

Moreover, the Upaniṣadic usage of terms like Parabrahman (the Supreme Brahman) and Paramātman (the Supreme Self) became permanent fixtures in later Vaiṣṇava theology. When the Vedānta-sūtras open with athāto brahma jijñāsā — “now, therefore, inquire into Brahman” — the ācāryas identify this Brahman not as an abstract principle but as the Supreme Person possessed of infinite names and qualities. Rāmānuja, for example, defines Him as the repository of ananta-kalyāṇa-guṇas, “an infinite multitude of auspicious attributes.”⁵

Thus, even at the Vedic and Upaniṣadic stage, the foundation is laid for an ever-expanding ocean of divine epithets. Each name — whether Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Parameśvara, or Paramātman — expresses a different aspect of His absolute status, and yet all point toward the same inexhaustible reality.

Notes

¹ Ṛgveda 1.154.1, in Ralph T. H. Griffith, trans., The Hymns of the Ṛgveda (Benares: E. J. Lazarus, 1896), vol. 1, p. 582.

² Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.1.1, in S. Radhakrishnan, trans., The Principal Upaniṣads (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1953), p. 545.

³ Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.7, in Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upaniṣads, p. 938.

⁴ Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.11, ibid., p. 939.

⁵ Rāmānuja, Śrī Bhāṣya on Brahma-sūtra 1.1.2, cited in S. S. Raghavachar, The Vedānta of Rāmānuja (Mysore: Kavyalaya Publishers, 1961), p. 54.

The Purāṇic Expansions

If the Vedas and Upaniṣads provide the foundation of divine epithets, it is in the Purāṇas that these names blossom into an elaborate garden of praise. The Purāṇas, sometimes called the “fifth Veda,” were composed to make the truths of the Veda accessible to all classes of society through stories, genealogies, and hymns. In them, the Lord’s countless names are woven into narratives of creation, preservation, and divine līlā, making the act of remembering (smaraṇa) inseparable from the act of naming.

Among these, the Viṣṇu Purāṇa declares unambiguously: viṣṇor nāmāni satataṁ śṛṇvataḥ kīrtayataś ca yaḥ / ananta-janma-saṁsāraṁ tarati nātra saṁśayaḥ — “He who constantly hears and chants the names of Viṣṇu certainly crosses the endless cycle of births and deaths; of this there is no doubt.”¹ Here the theology of the Name (nāma-tattva) begins to emerge: the Name is not merely a designation, but a spiritual force capable of delivering the soul.

Perhaps the most systematic Purāṇic enumeration of divine names is the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, the “Thousand Names of Viṣṇu,” preserved in the Mahābhārata’s Anuśāsana Parva. Each name—Anantaḥ (“Infinite”), Govindaḥ (“Protector of the cows and senses”), Parameśvaraḥ (“Supreme Controller”), Puruṣottamaḥ (“The Supreme Person”)—is a theological condensation, expressing in a single word a whole spectrum of scriptural truth.² Vaiṣṇava commentators such as Śaṅkara, Parāśara Bhaṭṭa, and Madhva each wrote full commentaries on these names, demonstrating their central role in Vedāntic thought.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa goes even further, not only enumerating names but explaining their potency: nāmnāṁ akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktiḥ — “In these names of the Lord, He has invested all His potencies, and they are many and various.”³ Here, the Name and the Lord are ontologically identical; chanting is a direct encounter with divinity. This doctrine prepared the way for later Vaiṣṇava movements, particularly the Gauḍīya tradition, where nāma-saṅkīrtana became the heart of worship.

Beyond Viṣṇu, the Purāṇas also preserve sahasranāmas of Śiva, Devī, and other deities, showing that this impulse to glorify through infinite naming pervades all Hindu sampradāyas. Yet, in Vaiṣṇava theology, these sahasranāmas are not simply ornamentation—they reveal the infinite depth of the Supreme Being, who is both accessible through sound and inexhaustible beyond it.

Notes

¹ Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.8.72, in H. H. Wilson, trans., The Vishnu Purana (London: Trübner, 1864), p. 709.

² Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva 149, in K. M. Ganguli, trans., The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Calcutta: Bharata Press, 1883–1896), vol. 13, p. 901.

³ Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.3.28, in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972–77), vol. 1, p. 225.

The Ācāryas and Systematic Theology

As the Purāṇas laid before the world an ocean of divine names, it fell to the great ācāryas of Vedānta to explain their philosophical significance. These teachers—Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Madhva, and later Śrī Caitanya—did not treat the names as poetic embellishments alone. They interpreted them as precise indicators of the Absolute, each name unlocking a different facet of the Supreme Reality.

Śaṅkarācārya (8th century) approached the divine names through the lens of Advaita Vedānta. In his commentary on the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, he often interprets names of Viṣṇu as attributes of the undifferentiated Brahman, sometimes metaphorical, sometimes functional. For instance, the name Govinda is explained as “He who is known through the Vedas” rather than merely as the protector of cows.¹ For Śaṅkara, the names ultimately point beyond themselves to the nirguṇa Brahman, though their recitation still purifies the devotee’s heart.

Rāmānujācārya (11th century), by contrast, insisted that the names are not symbolic but ontological. God is not without qualities, he argued, but rather is ananta-kalyāṇa-guṇākaratva—the inexhaustible reservoir of infinite auspicious qualities.² Each name of Viṣṇu reflects a real attribute of the Supreme Person, Nārāyaṇa. Thus, for Rāmānuja, the sahasranāmas are precise revelations of God’s eternal nature, and chanting them is direct contact with Him.

Madhvācārya (13th century) similarly defended the personal reality of the Lord. In his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā, he insists that each divine name affirms the absolute distinction (bheda) between the Lord and the jīva.³ To chant the name is to acknowledge God’s supremacy and the soul’s dependence.

Finally, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (16th century) radicalized the theology of the Name itself. In His famous Śikṣāṣṭakam, He proclaimed: nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktiḥ tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ — “In Your holy names You have manifested all Your energies, and there are no restrictions for chanting them.”⁴ For Caitanya, the name is not different from Kṛṣṇa Himself (abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ). To chant “Kṛṣṇa” is to be with Kṛṣṇa. The theology of the Holy Name here reaches its most intimate form: nāma, rūpa, guṇa, and līlā—name, form, qualities, and pastimes—are inseparably united.

Thus the ācāryas across sampradāyas—from Advaita to Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaita, and Gauḍīya—have all recognized in the divine names the gateway to the Absolute. Whether as metaphors, as real attributes, or as identical with the Lord Himself, the names function as living theology: a way to encounter God not only through philosophy but through sound.

Notes

¹ Śaṅkara, Viṣṇu-sahasranāma Bhāṣya, in Swami Tapasyananda, trans., Sri Vishnu Sahasranama with Bhāṣya of Śaṅkarācārya (Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1979), p. 47.

² Rāmānuja, Śrī Bhāṣya on Brahma-sūtra 1.1.2, in S. S. Raghavachar, The Vedānta of Rāmānuja (Mysore: Kavyalaya Publishers, 1961), p. 54.

³ Madhva, Bhagavad-gītā Tātparya-nirṇaya, in B. N. K. Sharma, The Philosophy of Madhvācārya (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1981), p. 311.

⁴ Śikṣāṣṭakam 2, in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Teachings of Lord Caitanya (Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1974), p. 3.

Poets, Saints, and the Living Stream of Nāma

If the ācāryas established the philosophical foundations of the divine names, the saints and poets gave them life in song. Their hymns, bhajans, and poetry turned theology into rasa—living devotional flavor—so that the Lord’s countless names became the breath and heartbeat of entire communities of devotees.

In the South, the Āḻvārs of Tamil Nadu (6th–9th centuries) composed the Nālāyira Divya Prabandham, a “four-thousand-verse Veda in Tamil,” overflowing with names and titles of Nārāyaṇa. They did not merely repeat the sahasranāmas, but crafted intimate invocations like Kanna, Govinda, Mādhava, saturating them with personal devotion.¹ Their songs illustrate how each name could be colored with a different mood (bhāva)—sometimes awe, sometimes longing, sometimes playful reproach.

In North India, Jayadeva’s Gīta-govinda (12th century) became a landmark in Vaiṣṇava literature. Its refrains call upon “Kṛṣṇa, the enchanter of the gopīs,” by names that simultaneously evoke theological truth and poetic sweetness: Madhusūdana (slayer of the demon Madhu), Muralī-manohara (he who enchants with the flute).² Jayadeva’s work inspired centuries of poets and temple singers, weaving the Lord’s names into the fabric of daily worship.

Later, saints like Mīrābāī and Sūrdās poured their hearts into bhajans where the name of Kṛṣṇa was the very axis of devotion. Mīrā cried, “Govinda, Giridhārī, Gopāla,” invoking Him as protector and lover in the same breath.³ For Sūrdās, the repetition of names like Nanda-lāla (child of Nanda) or Muralīdhara became the vehicle of ecstatic remembrance.

In the Bhakti movement more broadly, poets such as Tulsīdās (Rāmāyaṇa tradition) and Tukārām (Maharashtra’s Varkarī tradition) likewise exalted the power of the Lord’s names. Tulsīdās wrote: rāma nāma manīṣā ratna, “The name of Rāma is a jewel of wisdom,”⁴ while Tukārām sang: vitthala vitthala, chanting ceaselessly the name of his Lord.⁵

In all of these traditions, the pattern is clear: the names of the Lord are not ornamental; they are the very substance of poetry and the very essence of song. For the saints and poets, nāma was both theology and lifeblood. Their verses demonstrate the principle later articulated by Śrī Caitanya—that the name is non-different from the Lord. To sing Govinda is to be with Govinda; to cry Rāma is to touch the eternal Rāma.

Notes

¹ Nālāyira Divya Prabandham, cited in Vasudha Narayanan, The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994), p. 37.

² Jayadeva, Gīta-govinda, trans. Barbara Stoler Miller, Love Song of the Dark Lord (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977), p. 23.

³ John Stratton Hawley, Three Bhakti Voices: Mīrābāī, Sūrdās, and Kabīr in Their Time and Ours (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 51.

⁴ Tulsīdās, Rāmcaritmānas, trans. F. S. Growse, The Ramayan of Tulsidas (Allahabad: Nawal Kishore Press, 1891), p. 112.

⁵ Tukārām, Abhangas, trans. Dilip Chitre, Says Tuka (New Delhi: Penguin, 1991), p. 64.

The Names as Theology in Practice

Theology becomes living practice when the divine names are chanted, sung, and remembered. For the Vaiṣṇava traditions, nāma is not merely a theological category but the central mode of sādhanā. The Purāṇic injunctions to hear and chant the Lord’s names find their full flowering in liturgical and devotional life, where nāma is revered as both the means and the goal.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu established nāma-saṅkīrtana—the congregational chanting of the holy names—as the yuga-dharma for the age of Kali. In His Śikṣāṣṭakam He proclaims: nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktiḥ tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ—“In Your holy names You have invested all Your potencies, and You have made them accessible at all times without restriction.”¹ This teaching affirms that every name is a vessel of divine power, unrestricted by circumstance, caste, or qualification.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa corroborates this universality: kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet—“Simply by chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa one becomes liberated and attains the supreme goal.”² Here nāma is not a secondary aid but a complete path to liberation.

At the same time, the tradition recognizes the sanctity of the Name by warning against nāma-aparādha, the ten offenses to the holy name. Works such as the Padma Purāṇa enumerate these offenses, including blaspheming devotees, equating the Lord’s names with mundane sounds, and maintaining sinful habits while chanting.³ This caution underscores the theology that the Name is non-different from the Lord: to disrespect the Name is to disrespect the Lord Himself.

Within liturgical practice, nāma is inseparable from daily worship. The japa of mantras such as the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra (Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare / Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare) has been described as the essence of bhakti-yoga. The mahā-mantra is unique in that it consists only of the Lord’s names, without petition or qualification. Śrī Caitanya taught that this alone is sufficient, for nāma reveals rūpa (form), guṇa (qualities), and līlā (pastimes) of the Lord to the surrendered chanter.

Other Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas also make nāma the core of sādhanā. The Rāmānandīs chant the holy name of Rāma; the Vallabha tradition exalts Kṛṣṇa’s names in puṣṭi-bhakti; the Varkarī devotees of Maharashtra walk in pilgrimage chanting Vitthala, Vitthala. In each case, the name functions not only as devotion’s expression but as its transformative power.

Thus, in practice, nāma becomes theology: to chant is to enter into a direct relationship with the Lord. To glorify Him by endless names is to taste something of His infinitude. As Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote in his Nāma-āṣṭaka: govinda-nāma mṛta-kīrtanaṁ me, “May the nectar of chanting the name Govinda ever delight my heart.”⁴

Notes

¹ Śikṣāṣṭakam 2, in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Teachings of Lord Caitanya (Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1974), p. 3.

² Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.3.51, in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972–77), vol. 12, p. 317.

³ Padma Purāṇa, cited in Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Hari-nāma-cintāmaṇi (Calcutta: 1893), p. 12.

⁴ Rūpa Gosvāmī, Nāma-āṣṭaka 1, in O. B. L. Kapoor, The Saints of Vraja (Vrindavan: Rasbiharilal & Sons, 1993), p. 241.

Infinite Names and the Inexpressibility of the Divine

At the heart of the theology of nāma lies a paradox. The Lord is declared in the Upaniṣads to be avyākhyeya—inexpressible—and anirdeśya—beyond designation.¹ If He is beyond words and thought, how then can names like Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, or Nārāyaṇa truly apply to Him? To name the Unnameable seems at first a contradiction.

The resolution offered by the Vaiṣṇava traditions is that divine names are not human constructs imposed on the Absolute. Rather, they are self-revealed expressions of His mercy. As the Bhāgavata Purāṇa explains: nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktiḥ—“In His many names, the Lord has invested all His own potencies.”² Names are not arbitrary sounds but the Lord’s own extension, endowed with His śakti. In other words, He graciously makes Himself present through the vehicle of nāma.

This leads to the celebrated doctrine that nāma and nāmī (the Named) are non-different. Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-sandarbha insists: “The holy name is Kṛṣṇa Himself, complete in all respects, not a mere symbol.”³ Thus the chanter does not merely remember the Lord when pronouncing His names; he directly encounters Him.

Yet the paradox remains fruitful: although the Lord has infinite names, still no set of names can exhaust Him. The Viṣṇu-sahasranāma gives one thousand, the Bhāgavata countless more, and yet Kṛṣṇa Himself in the Mahābhārata says: na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṁ na maharṣayaḥ—“Neither the hosts of gods nor the great sages know My origin.”⁴ Infinite names hint at the infinite, but the Infinite ever surpasses them.

It is this very inexhaustibility that nourishes bhakti-rasa. Every new name—whether uttered in scripture, in the spontaneous songs of saints, or in the hushed whisper of a devotee—opens another window into the boundless personality of the Lord. And because He is infinite, this stream never ceases. As Śrī Caitanya declared, chanting a single name of Kṛṣṇa produces endless waves of bliss, each name opening onto another dimension of sweetness.⁵

Thus the doctrine of divine names holds both truths at once: the Lord is beyond speech, yet He speaks Himself into the world through His names. The names are infinite, yet even infinity is insufficient to capture Him. To chant is to enter this paradox not as a puzzle but as a play (līlā) of grace.

Notes

¹ Kena Upaniṣad 1.4–5, in S. Radhakrishnan, trans., The Principal Upaniṣads (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1953), p. 447.

² Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.3.28, in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972–77), vol. 1, p. 225.

³ Jīva Gosvāmī, Bhakti-sandarbha 256, trans. Satyanarayana Dasa, Bhakti Sandarbha of Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī (Vrindavan: Jiva Institute, 2013), p. 502.

⁴ Bhagavad-gītā 10.2, in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is (Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972), p. 387.

⁵ Śikṣāṣṭakam 5, in Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam with Commentary (Calcutta: 1895), p. 24.

Conclusion

From the earliest Vedic hymns to the songs of saints in every age, the tradition of naming the Supreme Lord flows like an unbroken river. The Ṛgveda spoke of Viṣṇu’s vast strides, the Upaniṣads of the Paramātman, the Purāṇas of Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa by thousands of names. The great ācāryas gave these names their philosophical foundations: for Śaṅkara, they hint at the ineffable Brahman; for Rāmānuja and Madhva, they reveal the real and infinite qualities of the Supreme Person; for Śrī Caitanya, the Name is the Lord Himself, bestowing liberation and love.

The saints and poets made these truths singable, weaving the Lord’s names into hymns, bhajans, and epics so that even the illiterate could taste His presence. The Āḻvārs, Jayadeva, Mīrābāī, Sūrdās, Tulsīdās, Tukārām—all found in nāma the breath of devotion. And in practice, nāma became theology: nāma-saṅkīrtana as the lifeblood of Vaiṣṇava worship, nāma as grace, nāma as the path and the goal.

Yet the paradox remains: the Lord is beyond all words, and yet He makes Himself present through words—through names. The infinite ocean of auspicious qualities (ananta-kalyāṇa-guṇa-sāgaraḥ) cannot be contained in any number of epithets, but each name opens a door into His sweetness. Thus the practice of chanting is not to exhaust the infinite, but to enter into His līlā, the play of grace by which the Lord allows Himself to be known.

In this way, the names are not merely descriptive—they are transformative. To chant them is to participate in the eternal pastime of the svarūpa-śakti, to taste the nectar of devotion, and to be drawn ever deeper into the mystery of the Supreme. As the Bhāgavata assures us, kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet—“Simply by chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa one becomes liberated and attains the supreme goal.”¹

Thus the tradition continues. From Veda to Purāṇa, from ācārya to bhajan-kār, from the mahā-mantra on the lips of Śrī Caitanya to the chanting heard in every village and city today, the ocean of divine names has no shore. It is the Lord’s mercy, His play, His gift—and the eternal refuge of all souls.

Notes

¹ Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.3.51, in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1972–77), vol. 12, p. 317.

om tat sat