Page 1 - January 2025

Om Ajäya Namaù

SWAMI TEJOMAYANANDA

O m ajäya namaù: Salutations to the unborn!

Pujya Gurudev’s 108 names, like the other nämävalis, include
some names indicating the formless and attribute-less Reality
or Brahman, some indicating the Lord with attributes, called Éçvara
in Vedanta, and some indicating a particular manifestation with
form and specific qualities.
The first name, ‘ajaù’ meaning ‘Unborn’, indicates Brahman –
the beginning-less supreme Truth. And that which is unborn is
also immutable and indestructible.
Essentially, every jéva is ‘ajaù’; so why don’t we worship
everyone with this name? That is because greatness is not just
in being but in knowing oneself to be beyond birth (and death).
In the Bala Kanḍa of Shri Ramacharitmanas, Shri Tulasidas says,
byäpaku eku brahma abinäsé sata cetana ghana änanda räsé,
asa prabhu hådayað achata abikäré sakala jéva jaga déna dukhäré. 1

The all-pervading blissful Brahman resides in the heart of all
beings, yet all beings are found to be suffering and sorrowful.

Then what is the use? Only when one realizes one’s real nature
to be Bliss Absolute will there be any benefit of being that – Bliss!
So, there is ‘being’, and then ‘knowing’. And along with that,
there has to be ‘abidance’ in the Self. Then it is great. In Shrimad
Bhagavatam’s second canto, we find the story of Rishi Kardama and
Devahuti, who had the Lord Himself manifesting as their son – Kapila
Muni. At His advent, Rishi Kardama sang hymns praising the Lord
and sought permission to meditate in the forest. The Lord Himself

1 22, 3-4

Tapovan Prasad 20 January 2025