A Western name...

[Viraja]

Vannakkam: Nice names. I think Hindu names are all so beautiful, even the ones that are hard to pronounce. (I find Vietnamese tougher personally) Obviously one has to be a bit careful if they happen to have a corresponding vulgar or obscene term in English. On a side note, my son Sadasivan, who just goes by Sada, figures he got more job interviews in his search, as he's a computer engineer. The guys who interviewed him were sort of shocked when this white kid showed up, as they were thinking, "these Indian guys know their tech stuff,' which, of course is a stereotype on it's own. But hey he has a good job.

Aum Namasivaya

Ha ha.. The stereotypes... when there are so many techie schools out here in the West that many people aspire to earn their degrees from... (like MIT, Cornell). My son just got into a good school (not an IVY school though) and we hope that gives him a boost with his career..

[NayaSurya]

I am really loving this conversation!

I am a "mah layna" Layna/laynee for short and my first daughter, who is 22 is Sarah.
My last lilgirl is an Arya.

It's funny, i knew what her name was to sound like..i knew it...and felt it to my core.

Only later did it align with reading...and connect to things once i must have known.

What is in a name? Is it us? i agree Yajvan, very much...i think it comes from having a difficult name given to me at birth...an odd name no one could pronounce, read, or understand...and having so many folks never get it right, over time...i just came to accept anything folks would say as correct. A very humbling experience to be sure.


Our Temple family knows me as mahalaya, or layna, and i am just over the moon to have such a thing to even write today.

I love what you said about being humble...it is why i have decided to not change anything...just let it rest as it is...as He designed it. i am so full of gratitude...just call me...whatever. <3

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namast�

What is in a name? Is it us?

A name offers sound and form... vibration (spanda) worthy of enlivening.

So, there are many that wish for a hindu name. This is fine. But it does not imply a name of a devatā should be applied in every case.

I am of the school that suggests sound-forms should uplift whenever possible. If one takes the time to look, every sound in saṃskṛtam represents some form of energy (śakti). This is the study of mātṛkā (little mother) & mālinī ( the one that wears a mālā or garland) alphabet of 50 ( really phonemes) found in the trika school.

The difference between mātṛkā and mālinī is in the arrangement. It is said that mālinī holds (mal = to hold , possess) within itself the entire universe. That is, the śakti found in these vibrations are the same found in creation…
So, one can compose a name via this knowledge - it can be sā + rā + ḥ as I mention in post one, or it can take on the name of sa + ra +svatī . The beauty is the rules found in both these sounds are the same in mālinī or mātṛkā and are positive and noble.

Yet some differ and think one form is better then the other... for me ( and me only ) I see this as myopic. Knowledge and its application is not restricted to the boundaries of bhārata varṣam. It seems it should be applied and applauded world wide... this brings dignity to the knowledge of sanātana dharma .

iti śivaṁ

[NayaSurya]

lol funny you would mention Malini, this is what i was called by most of the folks here my entire life.

It is a custom to take a name and add an i to the end... so sis becomes Sissy, Trina become Trinie...Jim to Jimmy.

My mother created our names from a dirty floor of a two room shack. She cut us from Paper bags and drew our bodies, faces and hair. Then she named us all three...we filled her very abusive childhood with much joy...and then years later, we Three were born...just as she had manifested.

My mother knew i wished to change my name to something else...but she was battling and ultimately dying from cancer for 12 years. She only had one request...to wait to change my name until she died. I made the bargain, however...not realizing the wisdom in her deal.

She knew i would be much more hesitant and unwilling to throw this gift of life, and her priviledge to name me, away once she had passed.


She was a very clever Mother.

[charitra]

a Saraswati becomes sarah and a Krishna becomes Chris here in America.

Hathavidi!!

[Sudas Paijavana]

Namaste,

Wait a second, I thought Lord Shri Krishna in GitA says that a person's name is nothing but just an identifier, it's merely a thing, nothing to get too worked up over, nothing to take pride in, nothing to over think, that it has nothing to do with one's soul - which is higher than one's mind ---> and that in turn is higher than one's five senses ......... ? In other words, a name is nothing important and is not even worthy of remembering ....... surely Lord Shri Krishna can't be wrong about this .......

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namast�

I thought Lord Shri Krishna in GitA says that a person's name is nothing but just an identifier, it's merely a thing, nothing to get too worked up over, nothing to take pride in, nothing to over think, that it has nothing to do with one's soul

Please feel free to offer the śloka from the bhāgavad gītā so the HDF reader can take a look at how kṛṣṇa-jī points this out.

iti śivaṁ

[Sudas Paijavana]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namast�


Please feel free to offer the śloka from the bhāgavad gītā so the HDF reader can take a look at how kṛṣṇa-jī points this out.

iti śivaṁ

Namaste,

Sure thing, but there are a few lines that speak what I stated, sometimes indirectly as well:

"A man is called one whose insight is firm when he forsakes all the desirable objects that come to his mind, PArtha, and is sufficient unto himself. Not distressed in adversities, without craving for pleasures, innocent of passion, fear and anger, he is called a sage whose insight is firm. Firm stands the insight of him who has no preference for anything." 24[2].55

"When a man thinks about sense objects, an interest in them develops. From this interest grows desire, from desire anger; from anger rises delusion, from delusion loss of memory, from loss of memory the death of the spirit, and from the death of the spirit one perishes." 24[2].63 & 64 ???

"The man of yoga, knowing the truth, knows that while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing, speaking, eliminating, grasping, opening and closing his eyes, he does in fact do nothing, as he realizes that it is only the senses operating on their objects." 27[5].8 & 9

"When thought ceases, curbed by the practice of yoga, when he himself looks upon himself and is contented with himself, when he knows a total bliss beyond sensual pleasure, which can be grasped by the spirit alone, and when he knows it and, once fixed upon it, does not truly stray from it, when he has acquired it and can think of no greater acquisition, when firm on it he cannot be swayed even by profound grief - then he knows..." 28[6].20

Concentrating upon one's name would be staying within the realm of the senses and it would do no good for attaining oneness with Brahman, according to Lord Shri Krishna ... I know there is a verse in the GItA that directly mentions nAma being nothing but an identity - something unimportant .... And, I know you know there is such a verse, Yajvan - I'll look for it later, but the above suffice perfectly....

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namast�

"A man is called one whose insight is firm when he forsakes all the desirable objects that come to his mind, PArtha, and is sufficient unto himself. Not distressed in adversities, without craving for pleasures, innocent of passion, fear and anger, he is called a sage whose insight is firm. Firm stands the insight of him who has no preference for anything." 24[2].55

"When a man thinks about sense objects, an interest in them develops. From this interest grows desire, from desire anger; from anger rises delusion, from delusion loss of memory, from loss of memory the death of the spirit, and from the death of the spirit one perishes." 24[2].63 & 64 ???

"The man of yoga, knowing the truth, knows that while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing, speaking, eliminating, grasping, opening and closing his eyes, he does in fact do nothing, as he realizes that it is only the senses operating on their objects." 27[5].8 & 9

"When thought ceases, curbed by the practice of yoga, when he himself looks upon himself and is contented with himself, when he knows a total bliss beyond sensual pleasure, which can be grasped by the spirit alone, and when he knows it and, once fixed upon it, does not truly stray from it, when he has acquired it and can think of no greater acquisition, when firm on it he cannot be swayed even by profound grief - then he knows..." 28[6].20

Concentrating upon one's name would be staying within the realm of the senses and it would do no good for attaining oneness with Brahman, according to Lord Shri Krishna ... I know there is a verse in the GItA that directly mentions nAma being nothing but an identity - something unimportant .... And, I know you know there is such a verse, Yajvan - I'll look for it later, but the above suffice perfectly....

Thank you for offering the quotes. Yet I read the same śloka-s I see kṛṣṇa-jī defining a realized being - one who has gone beyond the 3 guna-s. IMHO I do not see how it applies to one's name and the sound and form that is brought on by a name. This same sound and form is the basis of the our saṃhita-s.


iti śivaṁ

[Jeffery D. Long]

Two more very nice Hindu girls' names that I have encountered also correspond to western names: Rita and Anita.