“The name of Rama is even stronger than Rama Himself”

When you study the name Rama, you see that it’s a very powerful name. All the Divine names are very powerful, but the name of Rama is very special. It is said that just by the mere chanting of the name of Rama, if one, at the end of life chants this Divine name, one gets liberated from the cycle of birth and death. That’s why this name is called Taraka Mantra, which is a mantra that can liberate someone. That’s why you see in Hindu tradition, when somebody dies, they always chant the name of Ram: Sri Ram, Sri Ram, Sri Ram. The word Rama in itself is the fullness of two Divine names: that is, Ra, which is taken from Om Namo Narayanaya and Ma, which comes from Om Namah Shivaya. So, the combination of Om Namo Narayanaya and Om Namah Shivaya is the name Rama. So, this mantra is not that easy to chant actually, even if you just say “Ok, we will chant it like this: Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama”, it will not be easy at the end of life, if you have not learned to practice the chanting. Because you see, at the time of death,

very often, you are so attached to the world, you are so attached to things or to people, that to free yourself, even if you are well aware that you would not have to take another birth, it’s difficult, because of the power that is generated at this time. If you don’t use the Divine names, the last image that is in your mind will affect your next incarnation. That’s why, you see, through attachment to other human beings, very often, when somebody is dying, the attachment is so strong in the mind – they have the image of their children, or people that they like so much - that the next life, when they come, they come again as a human being, but to finish certain karmic things with that family. Some people very often ask if you can incarnate as an animal. Well, in some possibilities yes, you can, because, you see, you are the master; the soul which is inside of you is God, and He can create an aspect. Let’s say somebody is attached to a dog, which is better than attaching to human beings actually, (People: laughing) because they are more loyal, more faithful. But, it creates a problem. You see, if you are attached to an animal at the end of life, when you die, what will be the image in your mind? You will think of the animal, how much you will miss the animal, how much you will miss this dog. Imagine, at that moment, when your soul already creates your next life, what will it be? It can’t be a human being. You degrade yourself to an animal state. You degrade yourself to a lower sphere. That doesn’t mean that whatever you have worked on as a human being has disappeared. It is still there, but it becomes dormant.The same thing when an animal looks at a human being, they say, “Wow! How lucky is this human being!” But human beings when they look at animals they say, “How lucky are the animals!” But this is when Divine names come in, where the names can liberate one self. Without the power of the Divine names, without the infusion of the sacred names inside of you, you are always empty; it is always only the Divine names that fill you and give energy to you. It doesn’t matter if you believe or you don’t believe in the Divine name actually, it’s the name of God that is giving you this energy. So the name of Rama, like I said, is a Taraka Mantra, which helps one, even if somebody has attachments to the world outside, it helps to dissolve this attachment. But you have to chant it regularly. So that’s why it’s said, “The name of Rama is even stronger than Rama Himself”.