# The Names of God The Supreme Lord has unlimited names, each of which is God. Because He is absolute, His name, form, and qualities are nondifferent from Him. Among all names, "Kṛṣṇa" is the principal name, meaning "all-attractive." --- ## The Lord Has Innumerable Names ![[cc/antya/20/16|My Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many names, such as Kṛṣṇa and Govinda, by which You expand Yourself]] —Cc. [[cc/antya/20/16|Antya 20.16]] --- **God has unlimited names, each of which is God:** Father Emmanuel: But our understanding of the name of God is limited. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes, we are limited, but God is unlimited. And because He is unlimited, or absolute, **He has unlimited names, each of which is God.** We can understand His names as much as our spiritual understanding is developed. —*The Science of Self-Realization* --- **The different names indicate different functions:** There are different names for the Supreme Lord, and these names have different purposes and meanings. For instance, He is known as Paramātmā the Supersoul, Brahman the Supreme Absolute, Sṛṣṭikartā the creator, Nārāyaṇa the transcendental Lord, Rukmiṇīramaṇa the husband of Rukmiṇī, Gopīnātha the enjoyer of the gopīs, and Kṛṣṇa. **In this way the Lord has different names, and these names indicate different functions.** —*Teachings of Lord Caitanya* --- ![[cc/antya/20/17|Because people vary in their desires, You have distributed various holy names by Your mercy]] —Cc. [[cc/antya/20/17|Antya 20.17]] --- **God has innumerable names, according to His dealings with innumerable devotees:** Since God is unlimited, His names also must be unlimited. Therefore we cannot settle on one name. For instance, Kṛṣṇa is sometimes called Yaśodā-nandana, the son of Mother Yaśodā; or Devakī-nandana, the son of Devakī; or Vasudeva-nandana, the son of Vasudeva; or Nanda-nandana, the son of Nanda. Sometimes He is called Pārtha-sārathi, indicating that He acted as the charioteer of Arjuna. **God has many dealings with His many devotees, and according to those dealings, He is called certain names.** Since He has innumerable devotees, and innumerable relations with them, He also has innumerable names. —*The Science of Self-Realization* --- ## "Kṛṣṇa" Is the Principal Name of God **"Kṛṣṇa" is the principal name of the Supreme Lord:** In his prayer, the author of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam first proposes that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the primeval Lord and that if any transcendental nomenclature for the Absolute Personality of Godhead is to be accepted, it should be the name Kṛṣṇa, the all-attractive. **In Padma Purāṇa it is also stated that of the innumerable names of the Lord, the name of Kṛṣṇa is the principal one.** —*Teachings of Lord Caitanya* --- **The name "Kṛṣṇa" is the name of the highest order:** In the Vedic literature the supreme person is properly claimed to be Kṛṣṇa. **The name "Kṛṣṇa," indicating the Supreme Lord, is the only truly intelligible name of the highest order.** He is the controller of both material and anti-material energies, and the very word "Kṛṣṇa" signifies that He is the supreme controller. —*Easy Journey to Other Planets* --- **Because His opulences attract everyone, "Kṛṣṇa" is the principal name of God:** God has many names according to His activities, but **because He possesses so many opulences and because with these opulences He attracts everyone, He is called Kṛṣṇa.** The Vedic literature asserts that God has many names, but "Kṛṣṇa" is the principal name. —*The Science of Self-Realization* --- **Of all the holy names, the name "Kṛṣṇa" is the most powerful:** It is stated in the Vedic literature that by chanting the different names of Lord Viṣṇu a thousand times, one may be bestowed with the same benefits as by thrice chanting the holy name of Lord Rāma. **And by chanting the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa only once, one receives the same benefit.** In other words, of all the holy names of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, including Viṣṇu and Rāma, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is the most powerful. —*Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead* --- ## The Meaning of the Name "Kṛṣṇa" **The name Kṛṣṇa means "all-attractive":** The name Kṛṣṇa means "all-attractive." **God attracts everyone; that is the definition of "God."** We have seen many pictures of Kṛṣṇa, and we see that He attracts the cows, calves, birds, beasts, trees, plants, and even the water in Vṛndāvana. He is attractive to the cowherd boys, to the gopīs, to Nanda Mahārāja, to the Pāṇḍavas, and to all human society. Therefore if any particular name can be given to God, that name is "Kṛṣṇa." —*The Science of Self-Realization* --- **Etymology of the word "kṛṣṇa":** > "'The word "kṛṣ" is the attractive feature of the Lord's existence, and "ṇa" means spiritual pleasure. When the verb "kṛṣ" is added to the affix "ṇa" it becomes Kṛṣṇa, which indicates the Absolute Truth.'" —*Mahābhārata* (Udyoga-parva, 71.4), cited in Cc. [[cc/madhya/9/30|Madhya 9.30]] --- If we analyze the *nirukti*, or semantic derivation, of the word "Kṛṣṇa," we find that **ṇa signifies that He stops the repetition of birth and death**, and kṛṣ means *sattārtha*, or "existence." (Kṛṣṇa is the whole of existence.) Also, **kṛṣ means "attraction," and ṇa means ānanda, or "bliss."** —*Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam* [[sb/10/8/15|10.8.15]] --- **The name "Kṛṣṇa" can be applied only to God:** Śrīla Prabhupāda: God has no name, but by His qualities we give Him names. If a man is very beautiful, we call him "beautiful." If a man is very intelligent, we call him "wise." So the name is given according to the quality. **Because God is all-attractive, the name Kṛṣṇa can be applied only to Him. Kṛṣṇa means "all-attractive." It includes everything.** —*Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers* --- ## The Meaning of the Name "Rāma" **"Rāma" means spiritual enjoyment:** Those who are actually yogīs truly enjoy, but how do they enjoy? *Ramante yogino 'nante*—their enjoyment is unlimited. That unlimited enjoyment is real happiness, and such happiness is spiritual, not material. **This is the real meaning of Rāma, as in the chant Hare Rāma. Rāma means enjoyment through spiritual life.** Spiritual life is all pleasure, and Kṛṣṇa is all pleasure. —*The Perfection of Yoga* --- ![[sb/10/2/13#purport|Jayadeva Gosvāmī also speaks of three Rāmas: Paraśurāma, Raghupati Rāma and Balarāma. All of them are Rāmas]] —SB [[sb/10/2/13|10.2.13]] Purport --- **"Hare Rāma" refers both to Śrī Balarāma and Lord Rāmacandra:** We may mention an incident that took place between two of our sannyāsīs while we were preaching the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in Hyderabad. One of them stated that "Hare Rāma" refers to Śrī Balarāma, and the other protested that "Hare Rāma" means Lord Rāma. Ultimately the controversy came to me, and I gave the decision that if someone says that "Rāma" in "Hare Rāma" is Lord Rāmacandra and someone else says that the "Rāma" in "Hare Rāma" is Śrī Balarāma, **both are correct because there is no difference between Śrī Balarāma and Lord Rāma.... Those who are aware of the viṣṇu-tattva do not fight over all these details.** —*Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā* [[cc/adi/5/132|5.132]] --- **The word "Rāma" refers both to Lord Balarāma and Lord Nityānanda:** In the mahā-mantra Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, the word Rāma refers to Balarāma. Since Nityānanda is an expansion of Balarāma, Rāma also refers to Lord Nityānanda. **Thus Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma addresses not only Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma but Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda as well.** —*Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta* Ādi-līlā Introduction --- ## The Meaning of the Name "Hare" **"Hare" is the vocative form of "Harā," the supreme pleasure energy of the Lord:** The word Harā is the form of addressing the energy of the Lord, and the words Kṛṣṇa and Rāma are forms of addressing the Lord Himself. Both Kṛṣṇa and Rāma mean "the supreme pleasure," and **Harā is the supreme pleasure energy of the Lord, changed to Hare in the vocative. The supreme pleasure energy of the Lord helps us to reach the Lord.** —*The Science of Self-Realization* --- **Harā is Kṛṣṇa's internal potency, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī or Lakṣmī:** When we are chanting the mahā-mantra, we are actually addressing God and His energy, Harā. **Harā is Kṛṣṇa's internal potency, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.** Thus the Vaiṣṇavas worship Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa and Sītā-Rāma. In the beginning of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra we first address the internal energy of Kṛṣṇa, Hare. Thus we say, "O Rādhārāṇī! O Hare! O energy of the Lord!" —*Teachings of Lord Kapila, the Son of Devahūti* --- ![[sb/4/9/6#purport|Spiritual enlightenment is possible by the mercy of the spiritual energy of the Lord. The chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is first addressed to the spiritual energy of the Lord, Hare]] —SB [[sb/4/9/6|4.9.6]] Purport --- ![[sb/10/2/11#purport|A Vaiṣṇava prays to the energy of the Lord for the opportunity to serve the Lord along with His spiritual energy]] —SB [[sb/10/2/11|10.2.11-12]] Purport --- ## The Relative Potency of the Names **The holy name "Rāma" is equal to one thousand holy names of Viṣṇu:** > "'Lord Śiva addressed his wife Durgā: I chant the holy name of Rāma, Rāma, Rāma and thus enjoy this beautiful sound. **This holy name of Rāmacandra is equal to one thousand names of Lord Viṣṇu.**'" —*Bṛhad-viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma-stotra* 72.335, cited in Cc. [[cc/madhya/9/32|Madhya 9.32]] --- **The holy name "Kṛṣṇa" is three times as powerful as "Rāma":** > "'The pious results derived from chanting the thousand holy names of Viṣṇu three times can be attained by only one repetition of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.'" This verse from the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa is found in the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (1.354), by Rūpa Gosvāmī. **For every three times one chants the holy name of Rāma, one can attain the same results simply by chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa once.** —*Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā* [[cc/madhya/9/33|9.33]] --- ![[sb/1/19/6#purport|It is said in the scriptures that one thousand names of Viṣṇu are equal to one name of Rāma, and three names of Lord Rāma are equal to one name of Kṛṣṇa]] —SB [[sb/1/19/6|1.19.6]] Purport --- **[← Back to Śrī Nāmāmṛta](wiki/compile/sri-namamrita)**