Text 33] The Harnsa-guhya Prayers 233

has no material name. Simply by chanting the name of Narayana to call
his son, Ajamila attained salvation. This means that Narayana is not an
ordinary mundane name; it is nonmaterial. The word andma, therefore,
indicates that the names of the Supreme Lord do not belong to this ma-
terial world. The vibration of the Hare Krsna mahd-mantra is not a ma-
terial sound, and similarly the form of the Lord and His appearance and
activities are all nonmaterial. To show His causeless mercy to the devo-
tees, as well as to the nondevotees, Krsna, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, appears in this material world with names, forms and pastimes,
all of which are transcendental. Unintelligent men who cannot under-
stand this think that these names, forms and pastimes are material, and
therefore they deny that He has a name or a form.

Considered with scrutiny, the conclusion of nondevotees, who say that
God has no name, and that of devotees, who know that His name is not
material, are practically the same. The Supreme Personality of Godhead
has no material name, form, birth, appearance or disappearance, but
nevertheless, He takes His birth (janma). As stated in Bhagavad-gita
(4.6):

ajo *pi sann avyayatma
bhiitanam isvaro ‘pi san

prakrtim svam adhisthaya
sambhavamy atma-mayaya

Although the Lord is unborn (aja) and His body never undergoes ma-
terial changes, He nevertheless appears as an incarnation, maintaining
Himself always in the transcendental stage (suwddha-sattva). Thus He ex-
hibits His transcendental forms, names and activities. That is His special
mercy toward His devotees. Others may continue merely arguing about
whether the Absolute Truth has form or not, but when a devotee, by the
grace of the Lord, sees the Lord personally, he becomes spiritually
ecstatic.

Unintelligent persons say that the Lord does nothing. Actually He has
nothing to do, but nevertheless He has to do everything, because without
His sanction no one can do anything. The unintelligent, however, cannot
see how He is working and how the entire material nature is working
under His direction. His different potencies work perfectly.
