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© 2005 Sanatan Sanstha

Clarification of Doubts

In Spirituality, no matter how much theoretical information one has access to, one's spiritual practice will not be smooth unless needling doubts are clarified. If you should have any questions related to spirituality, please email us at Weekly.

Chanting more than one Name of God

Question: “Why do we have to chant* additional chants of Lord Datta and Lord Ganesh when we have Jesus Who is The Lord and has all the power?”

- A Seeker.

Dear Seeker,

    In order to progress spiritually, one needs to imbibe in himself the Principle worshipped in the religion of his birth. Hence, one chants the Name of the form of God according to one’s religion. This is akin to one taking a multivitamin tablet, which gives us all the balanced nourishment for our growth. However, if one is deficient in Vitamin C, he would have to take Vitamin C supplements to replenish the deficiency. Chanting Lord Datta’s Name, that is, chanting ‘Om Shri Gurudev Datta’, helps in a similar way, since Lord Datta is the Principle that protects us from distressing energies and problems caused by ancestors’ souls. The Lord Ganesh principle, that is, chanting ‘Om Gan Ganapataye Namaha’, gives the extra dose of vital energy (pranshakti) that helps in enduring the effects of distressing energies that one could comes across daily, knowingly or unknowingly. Thus, although we need one principle (Jesus, in your case) for our main spiritual progress, the above two principles augment one’s spiritual practice by reducing obstacles.

*If one is not currently doing any spiritual practice, or to complement one's current spiritual practice, one can begin with the simple, but powerful spiritual practice of chanting or constantly remembering God's Name according to one's religion. Chanting also acts as a useful complement to any spiritual path one may be already following. It is a practice recommended for the current times by Holy texts and Saints of all religions.

• Seekers in the initial stages of spiritual practice (less than one year) can repeat The Name of the Lord as per their religion (refer to Issue 3 Clarification of Doubts section for details).

• Seekers who have been doing regular spiritual practice for over a year or so can determine the appropriate chant for them from the experiment given in Issue 124, Message to Seekers section.