Whats in a name

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

We are all familiar with the pet names that either we have or we give to our children. Many of us are also proud of the pet names to the extent that we donot mind forgetting the original name too.

Let us look at a small story from Bhaagavatham.

Once there used to be an extremely pious brahmin by the name Ajaameeludu. He was a great son and a husband as well. He used to perform his duties extremely well including veda pathanam etc. Most importantly he had great control over his indriyas (sense organs). One day he went to the forest to fetch wood for the homam (a pooja done with offerings given to various devathas through Agni-god of fire). While he was collecting the wood, he overheard some sounds being made by a couple behind some bushes. He wanted to know what was happening and when he saw the couple in a compromising posture, he withdrew himself and returned home. Somehow for the next few days he was not able to forget that woman.

One day he left his entire family and went to that woman. This woman was a prostitute and she insisted that this brahmin quits everything if he wanted to stay with her. They got married and became parents of multiple children. Ajaameeludu quit his pious life completely and became a thief, gambler etc to feed his family. He used to love his youngest son a lot. His name was Naaraayana. His sons name used to linger on his tongue most of the time. On his death bed too, he used to call his son every now and then. His last word before his death was Naaraayana. Once he died, yama dootas came and were preparing to take him to narakam (hell). Just then Vishnu paarshvadulu (representatives of vishnu from vaikuntam) came and stopped the yama dootas and said that they are granting some more life to this person because of the utterance of the word Naarayana just before his death. Local police cannot override FBI right.

Ajaameludu got up from his bed alive and he was a spectator to this entire incident.

He realised his mistake, went to Vaaranaasi, caught hold of a guru, confided in him and became pious again and led the rest of his life happily and achieved salvation.

I have observed many people pushing aside certain concepts by citing reasons such as “mere stories”, “not bothered about salvation”, “Not logical” etc.

Assuming that there is faith in God, let us look at some of the advantages of calling someone by their original name, which is named after a God.

·         Abusing someone using a Gods name is difficult. Just imagine a statement, “Hey Siva __________” Fill up the underline with any bad word and you will it very difficult to make that statement.

·         Voluntarily or involuntarily, we will be remembering the God, once in a while atleast, when we use the name frequently for calling our children, friends, colleagues etc.

·         It becomes difficult for someone to do wrong things or be impolite or rude or inhuman when someone has Gods name dancing on the tongue most of the time. Just remember a person that you know who keeps saying “Ram Ram” or “Om Namah Sivaaya” or “Govinda Govinda” frequently. Just recollect that person’s behavior. More often than not, you will find such a person quite humble and nice to talk to.

So it’s better to call people by their names (not elders of course) than their pet names. Especially little children and once we educate them on the significance of their name and what kind of behavior is expected out of a person with that name, I am sure we are well on our way for shaping a better future for the children.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.