The Master answers ...
Question:
According to the scriptures, to attain liberation in this Kali Yuga, we should chant the name of the Lord. Can we indeed be liberated just by taking the name of the Lord?
The Master
Dearest friend, you can already see around you that billions of people are taking the name of the Lord everyday and yet the situation is going from bad to worse! The person who said so might be right to the extent that it was good for him. That depends on a few factors. Taking the name of God is for those on the path of devotion or bhakti and they are very few, almost inexistent. Belonging to a religion, going to the temple, mosque or church, singing bhajans and so on do not make one a devotee.
The devotee who attained God only by chanting His name must have gone through intense devotion and lived according to the laws of nature in his previous births. In other words, he was almost ready, therefore chanting the Lord's name out of intense devotion liberated him. But today, many people in this world go on chanting mechanically and yet are becoming more stupid!
Furthermore, to burn the unconsciousness of the mind, which dates back to our animal lives and is subtler than the subtlest, is no easy task. The intensity of such a chanting should be like that of a Meerabai, a Tulsidas, a Surdas or the sufis who chant out of great devotion, otherwise much austerity, meditation and sacrifice and the blessings of the guru are needed.
