Sutra number 27 "Tasya Vachakah Pranavah"

translation he is represented through the sound vibration OM. Any entity when

it needs to be communicated needs to have a designation or a name. Without a

designation or a name how do you communicate? So God needs a name and that

name for God in the Vedas amongst other names is OM.

this OM is also called Pranav. It represents the formless aspect of God

without any attributes, without any designations, without any forms - is

all-pervading formless aspect is represented by the OM. This OM is

particularly significant because it is a cosmic sound, this whole universe is

pervaded by OM. So

in the Vedas the OM comes in the beginning of mantras as the beaj as the

seed. "Chanting Vedic mantra" the OM comes

there. So OM is uncontroversial, anybody, everybody can accept this OM

There are many Yogi's who are drawn to the formless aspect of God, they enjoy

meditating upon OM but what is important is the name of God, whichever

name you wish to take do remember his name. The Bible says in the beginning was

the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Vedas say when God

created this world before he created the physical entities earth water fire air

sky he created the sound OM and from that sound game sky and then everything

else unfolded so there's a parallel between these different scriptures and

there all of them emphasize the name of God. So what is the advantage of the name of

the of God? Our mind it fluctuates in its thoughts

we don't keep the mind focused in one place, so in a minute you're thinking

this and then thinking that and then thinking a third thing and so on it goes

so if we can develop this habit of taking God's name the mind gets yoked to

it. So that in order to bring the mind under control the chanting of his name

becomes very advantageous. This chanting of the name can be done in different

ways. One is Upanchu. Upanchu is where your lips are closed or or slightly open

and you are chanting but nobody can hear you.. you're chanting nobody can hear you

one is Maanasic you're just chanting in the mind Radhe Shyam Radhe Shyam

and one is Vachak when you are actually speaking it out.

Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Ram and one is kirtan where you're singing it loudly with the playing of

musical instruments. So all these are different ways of taking the name of God

and devotees of the Lord they take advantage of all of these. Kripaluji

Maharaj he says, "Shwasa jab khicho to 'Ra' kahu man he manatee pyare, shwasa jab chodu

to kahu 'Dhe' dhyan bhi karu pyare, dhyan bhi karu pyare"

says when you breathe in, in your mind chant 'Ra" and when you breathe out in your mind chant 'Dhe' so

with every breath you will remember Radharani Radhey Radhey alternatively you

can chant Radhe Krishna or Sita Ram or Namah Shivaya in other words use your

breath to remember God. The Saints have reminded us "shwaas shwaas sumiran kuro yaha

upaya bado neek" Saint Kabir ji says, this is a beautiful strategy to remember God with

every breath

so while remembering we must also create those sentiments and for that the Saints

inform us that remember there is no difference between God and his name. That

distinction is there in the world the word water and the entity water they are

separate. If you are thirsty mere repetition of water water water will not

quench your thirst but in the spiritual realm

God is non-different from his name. God's names, forms, virtues, pastimes, abodes

associates. Naam, Rupa, Leela, Guna, Dham, Sant they are all one so because they are all

one God is sitting inside his name

there is no difference. If you can have faith then when you take the name the

sentiments will naturally be there that he is manifesting in the form of his

name when I am chanting it and with that kind of sentiment when we take the name

Lord Shankar, Shivji says.."quoting Lord Shankar"

"quoting Lord Shankar" he says Oh Parvati when I hear someone

say 'Ra' I feel thrilled that he's going to say 'Ma' he intends to say 'Rama' he may say

'Van' afterwards round one but I get thrilled merely hearing 'Ra' this is Lord

Shiv's sentiments towards the name because he

sees the name is not different from the Lord. So even in the world the name does

have an effect if you were to chant cancer, cancer, cancer, cancer 10,000 times

it would change your mood, if you were to chant hate, hate, hate, hate 50,000 times

you would get depressed and if you were to chant love, love, love 100,000 times

your personality will change. So now what is the power of chanting God's name

Maharishi Patanjali talks about this in the next sutra.