What's in a Name?
What’s in a name? Have you ever wondered? I have, as I have come across people who don’t really like their name, others who have willfully changed their names, and of course those who have had to change their last name after marriage. The whole idea seems to have been started by mankind as a means of material identification, but as a spiritual being first, we can contemplate on this in the following way. Every attachment that I keep here will bring me back to this material world therefore I rather not attach myself to these material names.
In the old days there was the class and caste system which was followed strictly in India. This system is mentioned in the Bhagavad-Gita and is therefore a system developed by the Lord (though exploited by mankind). It is called varnashrama. Varna means social divisions and ashram means stages of life.
BG 4.13
cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ
guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ
tasya kartāram api māṁ
viddhy akartāram avyayam
According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the nondoer, being unchangeable. Source
The ashram or four stages of life are:
Brahmachari (student life)
Grhasta (householder)
Vanaprastha (retired life)
Sanyasa (renunciation)
The four varnas sprout from the three gunas (qualities of all things in nature) of life. The three gunas or qualities are:
Sattva (goodness)
Rajas (passion)
Tamas (ignorance/inertia)
Sattva and Tamas being completely opposite do not mix so we have total four Sattva, Rajas, Rajas-Tamas, and Tamas
The four varnas associated with the 4 mixed qualities respectively are:
Brahmana (saints or priests)
Kshtriya (governance and war)
Vaishya (merchants and farmers)
Shudra (labor workers)
The last names were further divided and designated based on the occupations that people kept. Women being homemakers followed their father’s name or husband’s name after marriage. There are some very good reasons for following such a system. For example, marriage between relatives was prohibited as that produced children with abnormalities, so if one knew the class or caste of the person they were marrying, identified by their last name, then this mistake could be avoided. If things had evolved in such a way that there were inter-caste marriages, no name changes, or people kept whatever names they liked, there would have been chaos in society. Thus it seems last names told a person about their social class and occupation at times. Nowadays varna seems to be disappearing and occupations are all mixed up.
For brahmana to take sannyas is shastric and was also the tradition. That was the varnashrama system, but now things have changed. Now anyone can take sannyasa, including women. Everything is fine. Everyone has equal rights, because India, the source of sannyasa ashram, is a democratic country. One has to clearly understand that varnasrama was based on the psycho-physical makeup of a human being in order to structure the society for peaceful functioning, so that people could advance materially as well as spiritually. Source
Several years ago I came across a system of astrology that is revealed by one’s thumb print. It’s called Nadi Shastri and is available only to those destined to find it. This system was given to mankind by the sages of India, the rishis and munis. Brighu muni and Agastya muni are well known among many others who could foresee the future and wrote this information down on leaves. Some of these were lost over the generations but some have been preserved. Without getting into the details, I wanted to point out that just by a thumb print they can confirm one’s identity by revealing the person’s first name (birth name), father and mother’s names, sibling’s first names, and spouses name where applicable. So these sages could foresee that you and me would have a particular first name. That our parents would choose a particular first name. That to me is mind boggling. My realization from this is that the first name has some karmic significance and that it’s in some way linked to this life or the past or to the activities we may conduct in this life. Nevertheless it’s still a material name.
Coming to the spiritual aspect, when we take to a spiritual path and are initiated by a spiritual master, he gives us a spiritual name. That normally has a ‘Das’ or a ‘ Dasi” at the end of it. Meaning ‘I am a servant of God’. That is our true identification. We actually must give away our attachment to the material first and last names and focus on truly feeling and adopting our spiritual name. Feeling that ‘I am a servant of Lord Krishna’. This will be difficult as our false ego is strong and we identify so naturally with our material name on a daily basis. But one must start using the spiritual name immediately as we are running out of time. Slashing the ego is not an easy process but using your spiritual name is a start.
Truly speaking, a Vaishnava is a shudra, because his or her life is dedicated to do service for the pleasure of guru, the Vaishnavas, and Krishna. That is why the word dasa or dasi is added after the name of a male and female devotee, respectively. According to Manu Smriti a brahmana has the surname “Sharma,” a ksatriya “Varma,” a vaishya “Gupta” and a shudra “Dasa”. But at present, to call someone a shudra is considered abusive. In a way, Mahatma Gandhi was right when he renamed the shudras as Harijana (lit., a person belonging to Krishna). However, now in India the word Harijana is also understood to be derogatory. What is considered at present as the lowest in society is really the highest, spiritually. The qualification to be a devotee, the highest evolution of a human being, is to be a servant. Source
Another name is given to us as we further advance in our spiritual life by the grace of our spiritual master. This is the final destination. This name identifies us as the maidservant of Srimati Radharani, a manjari. That name is the goal of the soul. One needs to eventually eliminate all other names and meditate only on that name, that form, and that service to Srimati Radharani. All else is futile. Because as I said before, every attachment that I keep here will bring me back to this material world therefore I rather not attach myself to these material names.
Reach the goal of the soul!!