Is Chanting Just a Religious Ritual? || Acharya Prashant (2019)

Acharya Prashant

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00:00If the Lord's name is taken to be in the same dimension as the various worldly names that

00:09we know of, then the Lord's name just gets added to the repository of the million names

00:17we already have. It turns into something very ordinary, something very useless, rather something

00:25rather harmful. Now you are asking, how to ensure that the chanting of the Lord's name

00:37doesn't turn into another ritual? I have already answered that. A ritual is something that you

00:46add to your daily routine, don't you? A ritual is something affirmative. It is something

00:55additional. It is something incremental. It is something over and above what you are already

01:01doing. Whereas chanting the Lord's name is an act in negation. It is an act in subtraction.

01:16It is an exercise in realization, negation, deletion. So you are having a coffee table discussion

01:27with the client. And a thousand names he is dropping to impress you. And there are names

01:40of various things. There are names of currencies. There are names of figures. There are names

01:45of progress. There are names of various kinds of temptations and fears. And in this instance,

01:53you say, it's the Lord's name that's important. You are out of the spell. You have just managed

02:09to beat the trap. Are you getting it? How can it be a ritual? A ritual is something definite,

02:26positive, well-defined. Building something can be a ritual.

02:33Taking the Lord's name is an exercise in destruction. How can that be a ritual? Because when you build

02:43something, you already have a blueprint. When you build something, it comes from an idea.

02:51When you build something, you already know in advance what you are going to build and therefore

02:55it can turn into a ritual. The Lord's name is when you cut down, bring down and demolish what

03:11you have built. How can it be ritualistic? To perform a ritual, you must know what the ritual

03:17is, right? And the ritual says, do this, do this, do this, do this. That's not how the method of

03:27remembrance of the name works. It works differently. It says, in your daily routine, whenever any name

03:37starts to dominate you, put it away, cut it down. That's how this method works you. This is a

03:47non-method. This is something that just keeps your tendency to be impressed and dominated

03:59in check. It cannot turn into a ritual. Try turning it into a ritual. What will you do?

04:07The Lord's name is like a sword. You cannot just exercise it.

04:17You cannot just dance with the sword. You cannot just rip through the air.

04:29There has to be something that appears definitive and on that definitive thing, the sword has to

04:39be applied. Do you get this? The sword by itself means nothing. The sword by itself is just an

04:47instrument of negation. No is what the sword stands for. No. This is not real. It must be cut down.

04:55That's what the sword stands for.

05:01That's how this method works. Anything becomes too much on you, wield the sword.

05:09Hack that thing down.

05:10In this world, everything has a name.

05:17The method works on everything in the world. Because if anything is to dominate you, it would

05:24dominate you through a name. You would be able to say, this is dominating me. X is dominating me. Y is

05:31dominating me. There is nothing in the world that is not a name.

05:34There is nothing in the world that is not a name. And there is nothing in the world that is not hollow.

05:43Therefore, no name, with all its hollowness, should be allowed to overpower you.

05:48Had chanting of the Lord's name been another affirmative activity, another definite activity,

06:02there was a danger, some probability that it could have turned into a ritual.

06:07But it is not an exercise in affirmation at all. It is an exercise in negation of Maya.

06:14Therefore, it cannot be a ritual. It is to be exercised only when Maya strikes.

06:21Okay, tell me, can using a fire extinguisher be a ritual?

06:32It cannot be a ritual because the fire extinguisher is used only when there is fire.

06:37Otherwise, the fire extinguisher just happily sits and hangs on the wall. Does it not?

06:52For years, it is possible that the fire extinguisher is not needed to be used.

06:57It is used only when there is a need. Therefore, it cannot be a ritual.

07:00Are you getting this?

07:13Having fire in your kitchen can be a ritual.

07:17There is the stove in the kitchen.

07:21And routinely there is fire.

07:25The flame is needed to cook food.

07:27That can be a ritual.

07:32But can the fire alarm be a ritual?

07:36No, the fire alarm works only when the fire has gone out of hand.

07:41It has become problematic.

07:43It has started going beyond its limits.

07:48The name of the Lord is like the fire extinguisher or the fire alarm.

07:52It works only when there is a problem.

07:55If there is no problem, it is not needed.

07:58But as far as we are concerned, there is always a problem.

08:01So, the name of the Lord is always needed.

08:04Therefore, those who gave this method, they also told you

08:08that once you are one with the truth,

08:13then the name is no more needed.

08:17You are the name.

08:19You are one with the one who is being named.

08:23Therefore, what will you do with the name now?

08:28Go to the Upanishads and they tell you,

08:31once you are liberated,

08:33please drop us.

08:35Please do not read us anymore.

08:37Because we are useful only when there is a need.

08:43Otherwise, there is no need to take recourse to us.

08:51The name of the Lord just hacks down the unnecessary.

08:55It does not build or create anything by itself.

08:58Therefore, it cannot be a ritual.

08:59Eating food can be a ritual.

09:05Taking a medicine cannot be a ritual.

09:06The name of the Lord is like a medicine.

09:08It is needed only as long as there is a disease.

09:13If there is a disease,

09:15the medicine will work.

09:16Otherwise, the medicine is quite unnecessary.

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