The Power of His Name

As Baba lovers we are blessed to have His merciful instruction of involving Him in anything we do. We can turn our day to day life into sadhana with Meher Baba. It is through this very act that we get closer to Him and are led by His voice within us. But what do we do when the cacophonous screeching of our minds prevents us from hearing Him? What do we do when we stumble, again and again as seekers at our own inabilities at remembrance? In my own life I have found when I am so distraught, all I can do is take His name. Taking Baba’s name is the simplest and one of the most powerful tools in the box of remembrance.

Meher Baba said that there is more power in His name than even His self, which is why Baba Himself repeated His own name. In His early life, Baba had asked his disciples to take the name of God, according to their personal religions, and later on He said, “Take my name.” One of Baba’s Mandali, Kaikobad, took His name 100,000 times a day in silence and was rewarded with divine visions.

All world religions and many spiritual traditions give supreme importance to the Lord’s name. In this advent, Meher Baba bestows on His name the spiritual significance and power He has made manifest through His presence. Some spiritual and religious faiths require special initiations in order to take on God’s name as a Mantra, to be repeated for a set number of hours at certain times of day. In the Hindu tradition it is believed that God’s name is the divine potion that His lovers can eternally draw from. “Ram’s name is yours for the looting, loot all you can, before time and body pass away,” wrote Kabir.

The question arises, should one take His name internally or say it out loud. Baba has explained, “In the presence of any wild animal or other creature (such as a snake) you should loudly cry out my name so loud that the sound of my name falls on the creature’s ears which will make it as meek as a lamb! But before inanimate objects, during any serious mishap or accident– such as a car crash or train wreck– you will be saved by remembering me with full faith from the bottom of your heart.”

In a talk in Mandali Hall, Meherwan Jessawala reminded us that in the beginning His name might be mechanically said, but eventually it will become a habit. Like a mosquito net, it protects us from the thoughts of our lower self. It purifies our hearts and souls, it lightens the burden of our sanskaras and it moves us closer to Him. Through this purity, the happenings around us will be less likely to affect us as we strive to be in the world but not of it. Meherwan also recounts that in the months before dropping His body, Baba placed a lot of importance on taking His name. “Time will come when the world situation will become so stifling that the only remaining recourse will be Baba’s name,” says Meherwan.

May His name be a prayer, a praise, a sigh, an urge, a song, an utterance of hope and despair. Always accessible and ever continuing to nurture us like a rushing spring tide, or a hidden oasis within any external circumstance. Freeing the mind of worry and connecting our hearts directly with the source.