257 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
257 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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THE NAME OF GOD
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Praising or chanting the name of God is a special form of prayer. In
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many religions, the excellence of chanting the name(s) of God lies in the
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mystic syllables which invoke God's purity and sovereign power. The var-
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ious mantras in Hinduism and Buddhism, such as OM, Hari Krishna,
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Namu-myo-ho-renge-kyo or Om Mane Padme Hum, and the Roman Catholic prac-
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tice of chanting the Rosary, all focus the mind on Ultimate Reality and
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call forth its mystical elevating influence. In Christianity, prayers are
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offered in the name of Jesus Christ, who promises to do whatever is asked
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in faith.
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On the other hand, in the Jewish tradition the explicit name of God is
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too holy to be uttered by the human tongue. In particular, the
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Tetragrammaton YHWH, which is translated "the Lord" in modern Bibles, is
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never to be spoken. To show respect, God is often referred to paraphras-
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tically by such terms as the Lord, Heaven, the King, the Almighty, the
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Name, and G-d. Thus, to praise and bless the name of God, as in the psalm
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quoted here, means to extol God's greatness and mighty works without men-
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tioning his sacred name.
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Of special mention are traditions of the many names of God which
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enumerate his many attributes. The Qur'an contains the Ninety-nine Most
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Beautiful Names of Allah, and in an excerpt from the Mahabharata we give a
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few of Vishnu's Thousand Names. To recite these names is to give a magni-
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ficent description of the height, depth, and breadth of divinity.
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Verily nothing is more purifying than the holy name of God.
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Hinduism. Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1
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- - - - - - - - -
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Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1: In Vaishnavite Hinduism, the names of God are
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Krishna, Rama, Hari, Narayana, and other titles of Vishnu.
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- - - - - - - - -
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Wonderful is the teacher, Sri Krishna;
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Wonderful are his deeds.
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Even the utterance of his holy name
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Sanctifies him who speaks and him who hears.
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Hinduism. Srimad Bhagavatam 10
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Contemplate solely the Name of God--
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Fruitless are all other rituals.
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Suhi, M.1, p. 728
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Contemplate the Name yourself; inspire it to others;
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By attending to it, discoursing of it, living by it,
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obtain liberation.
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The true essence, eternal is the Lord's Name:
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By spontaneous devotion, says Nanak, chant the Lord's praise.
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Gauri Sukhmani 19, M.5, p. 289
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All Buddhas in the universe througout past, present, and future invari-
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ably attain Buddhahood with the seed of the five characters of
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"Namu-my-o-h-o-renge-ky-o."
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Buddhism. Nichiren
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If there be anyone who commits evil deeds... let him utter the name
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"Buddha Amitayus" serenely and with voice uninterrupted; let him be cont-
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inually thinking of Buddha until he has completed ten times the thought,
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repeating, "Namu Amida Butsu." On the strength of uttering Buddha's name
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he will, during every repetition, expiate the sins.
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Buddhism. Meditation on Buddha Amitayus 3.30
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Suhi, M.1: In Sikhism God is formless; worship of idols, which in Hinduism
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is the practice of puja, is not permitted. Nam, the Name of God, image-
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less sound, is the only substantial form of God that can be apprehended by
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humans; it signifies the presence of Divine Reality. Hence the Name is
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the medium of communication between God and man. The supreme name of God
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is Ek Oankar, and repeating or contemplating this or any of God's other
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names or titles is the chief form of prayer and devotion. The word Nam
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also signifies this devotion. Cf. Var Majh, M.1, p. 728; Asa Chhant, M.5,
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p.839. Nichiren: Nichiren (b.1222), the great Buddhist reformer in Japan,
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set up these five words as the Daimoku; the words mean Homage to the Lotus
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Sutra. The Lotus Sutra, which is seen as the epitome of the truth, may
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only be received through faith (see Lotus Sutra 3, p. 757). Hence to
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chant its praises is to align oneself with the teaching of the sutra and
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so receive its benefits. Chanting the Daimoku is the prevalent practice
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in the various religious organizations which descend from Nichiren and
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revere the Lotus Sutra, such as Nichiren-shu, Soka Gakkai, and
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Rissho-kosei-kai. Meditation on Buddha Amitayus 3.30: Pure Land Buddhists
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in Japan keep the mind fixed on Ultimate Reality by constantly chanting
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'Namu-Amida-Butsu,' All Hail to Amitabha Buddha. Cf. Myokonin, p. 778.
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Hail Mary, full of grace! Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is
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the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
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Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our
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death.
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Christianity. The Rosary
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The goal which all the Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and
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which men desire when they lead a life of continence, I will tell you
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briefly: it is OM.
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This syllable OM is indeed Brahman. This syllable is the Highest. Who-
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soever knows this syllable obtains all that he desires.
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Hinduism. Katha Upanishad 1.2.15-16
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OM! This syllable is this whole world. Its further explanation is: the
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past, the present, the future--everything is just the word OM. And what-
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ever else that transcends threefold time--that, too, is just the word OM.
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For truly everything here is Brahman; this Self (Atman) is Brahman. This
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same Self has four fourths: the waking state, outwardly cognitive... the
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dreaming state, inwardly cognitive... the deep sleep state, unified, a
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cognition-mass...and the state of being one with the Self, the cessation
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of phenomena, tranquil....
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This is the Self with regard to the word OM, with regard to its elements.
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The elements are the fourths, the elements: the letter A, the letter U,
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the letter M.
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The waking state, the common-to-all-men, is the letter A... the sleeping
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state, the Brilliant, is the letter U... the deep-sleep state, the Cog-
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nitional, is the letter M... The fourth is without an element, with which
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there can be no dealing, the cessation of phenomena, benign, without a
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second. This AUM is the Self indeed.
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Hinduism. Mandukya Upanishad
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The Rosary: For Roman Catholics, frequent repetition of this chant is a
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devotion and a penance that expiates sin. Mary is 'Mother of God' in that
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she is the mother of Jesus, yet she is by no means God herself, but a hu-
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man being, 'blessed among women.' As first among the saints in heaven,
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she serves God alongside the angels as a mediator of divine grace (see
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Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah 81, p. 371n.). The first half
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of the Rosary is a quotation of Luke 1.42. Katha Upanishad 1.2.15-16: A
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number of passages in the Upanishads praise the mystic syllable OM, which
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is chanted at the beginning of all sacred discourse. See the Mandukya
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Upanishad (below), Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.6, p. 839; Bhagavad Gita 8.13,
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p. 344; also Taittiriya Upanishad 1.8 and Prasna Upanishad 5.1-7.
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Mandukya Upanishad: Although, in fact, OM is not pronounced 'AUM,' in
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Sanskrit the vowel O is a dipthong contracted from AU. Hence the
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Upanishad can analyze OM as three letters A-U-M. These are invested with
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mystical significance. The last non-element is the end of the sound,
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Mind's arising dependent
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On a sense and an object
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Are said to be man;
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Tra means protection.
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Protection by means of all the vajras,
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Of the pledges and vows explained,
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Free from the ways of the world,
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Is called "the practice of mantra."
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Buddhism. Guhyasamaja Tantra 18.69c-71b
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Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glori-
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fied in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.
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Christianity. John 14.13-14
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God's messenger is reported as saying, "The words dearest to God are four:
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Glory be to God, Praise be to God, there is no god but God, and God is
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most great."
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Islam. Hadith of Muslim
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I will extol thee, my God and my King,
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and bless thy name for ever and ever.
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Every day I will bless thee,
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and praise thy name for ever and ever.
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Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
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and his greatness is unsearchable.
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Judaism and Christianity. Psalm 145.1-3
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unutterable, fading away, merging with silence. Uttering the mystic syll-
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able OM corresponds with the movement of the soul from the external senses
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through successively deeper levels of being towards ultimate merging with
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the Unattributed. See Katha Upanishad 3.13, p. 840. John 14.13-14:
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Christians pray in the name of Jesus Christ, calling upon him who assures
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the efficacy of their prayers; cf. Colossians 3.17, p. 777. Latter-day
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Saints do likewise; see 3 Nephi 18.19-21, p. 827. Hadith of Muslim: These
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words are spoken in the five obligatory daily prayers, called salat and in
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phrases which the Muslim continually repeats throughout the day. Each
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repetition (rakat) of the salat begins with the words, "God is most great,"
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and ends with the words "Glory be to my Lord, the Most High." It includes
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a recitation of the opening sura of the Qur'an, p. 53, which includes the
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words, "Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds." The Shahadah, or declara-
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tion of faith, reads "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His
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Prophet." Psalm 145.1-3: This is the beginning of an acrostic psalm, for
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which each verse begins with the next letter in order of the Hebrew alpha-
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bet. In Jewish tradition, God is too holy to be spoken of directly by his
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proper name, the Tetragrammaton. Hence, to praise the name of God means
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to praise God's attributes and mighty works.
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He is God, there is no god but He.
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He is the knower of the Unseen and the Visible;
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He is the All-merciful, the All-compassionate.
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He is God, there is no God but He.
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He is the King, the All-holy, the All-peaceable,
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The All-faithful, the All-preserver,
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The All-mighty, the All-compeller, the All-sublime.
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Glory be to God, above that they associate!
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He is God, the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper.
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To Him belong the Names Most Beautiful.
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All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifies Him;
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He is the All-mighty, the All-wise.
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Islam. Qur'an 59.22-24
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The Thousand Names of the great Lord which are based on his qualities, and
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which the sages have sung, I shall proclaim for the weal of the world,
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"He who is in the form of the Universe and is All-pervasive, who is of
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the form of Sacrifice, who is the Lord of the past, future, and pres-
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ent, the Creator of all living beings, their Sustainer and their
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Existence, their Indweller and Well-wisher; the Pure and Supreme
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Being, the highest Goal of the liberated, the imperishable Spirit
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that is the Onlooker and the eternal Knower of the body; who is the
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Path and the Leader among those who know the path, himself Matter,
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Spirit, and God, the Supreme Being who took the form of the Man-lion,
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who has rays of light as hair, and possesses the Goddess of Fortune;
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the All, the Destroyer, the Beneficent, the Steadfast, the Prime
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Source of beings, the Inexhaustible Repository, who manifests himself
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as he pleases, the Benefactor, the Protector, One whose birth is uni-
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que, the Capable, the Master; the Self-born, the Giver of happiness,
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the Solar Deity, the Lotus-eyed, the Speaker of the sublime sound
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named Veda... the King, the Destroyer of sins; he who holds the Conch,
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the Sword, the Discus, the Bow, and the Mace, the Discus-armed, the
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Unperturbed, he who can use anything as a weapon for striking."
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Thus these Thousand from among the divine Names of the Great Kesava,
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fit to be sung, have been fully told. He who listens to this or recites
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it daily shall encounter nothing untoward here or in the hereafter.
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Hinduism. Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva 254
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Qur'an 59.22-24: Islamic tradition lists Allah's Ninety-nine Most Beautiful
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Names, each one drawn from the Qur'an. Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva 254:
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Reciting this list of God's Thousand Names, which are actually God's
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attributes, is a major form of Hindu devotion.
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