DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0155
Vaishnavism. Caitanya Sect. 143
that account even more feared and honoured than the very
god of whom he is the representative and embodiment.
Another marked feature of the system is the extraordinary
value attached to the repetition of Krishna's names, especially
of his name Hari. The mere mechanical process of con-
stantly repeating this name Hari—though the mind be per-
fectly vacant or fixed on some other object—secures admission
to Vishnu's heaven. Nothing else is needed. All religious
ceremonies are comparatively useless. Hari-das is said to
have retired to a secluded place in a wood for the purpose of
repeating the word Hari 300,000 times daily. Even a blas-
phemous repetition of Krishna's name is believed by his
followers to be quite sufficient to secure final beatitude.
Indeed the Pandits of the Maratha country affirm that there
is a form of devotion called Virodha-bhakti, which consists in
a man's cursing the deity with the sole object of achieving the
supreme bliss of being utterly annihilated by him, and so
reabsorbed into the god's essence.
It is related of a certain wicked godless man that he had
a son named Narayana (one of the principal names of
Vishnu). On his death-bed, and just before breathing his
last, the father called out his son's name without the most
remote intention of invoking the god. The effect was that
Yama's messengers, who stood ready to convey the repro-
bate's soul to a place of punishment, were obliged to make
way for the emissaries of Vishnu, who carried the spirit off in
triumph to the god's paradise.
The repetition of particular Vedic texts is by some regarded
as equally efficacious. A story is told of a certain converted
Hindu who took occasion to recount his experiences before
becoming a Christian. It appears that he had been troubled
with a constant longing for a vision of Vishnu, and in his
distress consulted a Brahman, who informed him that to
obtain the desired vision he would have to repeat a particular
text (Mantra) 800,000 times. This he accomplished by dint
that account even more feared and honoured than the very
god of whom he is the representative and embodiment.
Another marked feature of the system is the extraordinary
value attached to the repetition of Krishna's names, especially
of his name Hari. The mere mechanical process of con-
stantly repeating this name Hari—though the mind be per-
fectly vacant or fixed on some other object—secures admission
to Vishnu's heaven. Nothing else is needed. All religious
ceremonies are comparatively useless. Hari-das is said to
have retired to a secluded place in a wood for the purpose of
repeating the word Hari 300,000 times daily. Even a blas-
phemous repetition of Krishna's name is believed by his
followers to be quite sufficient to secure final beatitude.
Indeed the Pandits of the Maratha country affirm that there
is a form of devotion called Virodha-bhakti, which consists in
a man's cursing the deity with the sole object of achieving the
supreme bliss of being utterly annihilated by him, and so
reabsorbed into the god's essence.
It is related of a certain wicked godless man that he had
a son named Narayana (one of the principal names of
Vishnu). On his death-bed, and just before breathing his
last, the father called out his son's name without the most
remote intention of invoking the god. The effect was that
Yama's messengers, who stood ready to convey the repro-
bate's soul to a place of punishment, were obliged to make
way for the emissaries of Vishnu, who carried the spirit off in
triumph to the god's paradise.
The repetition of particular Vedic texts is by some regarded
as equally efficacious. A story is told of a certain converted
Hindu who took occasion to recount his experiences before
becoming a Christian. It appears that he had been troubled
with a constant longing for a vision of Vishnu, and in his
distress consulted a Brahman, who informed him that to
obtain the desired vision he would have to repeat a particular
text (Mantra) 800,000 times. This he accomplished by dint