Souls and Souls' Names

SOULS AND SOULS' NAMES

In gratitude for the opportunity to share some thoughts, I would like to say some things that are very important to me. These are things that have impressed me about Guru Sri Chinmoy--things that relate to the soul.

When I first met Sri Chinmoy I found it remarkable that he bowed to his students and bowed to so many people. Here I was, meeting a wonderful avatar, and he was bowing to me. Why? I do not feel that I deserve that, but here is what I have learned. Sri Chinmoy once commented in a talk or informally that when he sees us, he sees a golden glowing soul. His writings on the soul are luminous, and he describes the soul as the personal representative of God within us. It is something that guides us and attempts to carry out the work of the Supreme Lord in and through us. The soul is the only reason that we are here. When the soul departs, it is over. The soul goes to another world and rests to wait for the next cycle. OK, then, you can see how someone who is seeing that glory of a soul will be moved to bow to it. He is not bowing to the silly thoughts, the ego that dances, no. He is bowing to that golden glowing soul. You have it. I have it. Consider this. If you invited a personal representative of The Supreme over to your house for lunch, you can imagine yourself showing some real respect. Wouldn't you?

Lately I have been paying more attention to the meaning of souls' names. I like to call or greet my friends on their birthday, and now I commonly ask what their soul's name means, if they have such a name. This soul's name is not just any old name, like Joe the Dip. This name embodies the reason that you have come to earth in this incarnation; it tells you what to do. When I hear the soul's name of one of my friends, I am truly moved, because I see vast capacity and a high resolve by this very beautiful soul.

I received my Soul's name on November 6, 1977, at Jamaica High School Track. After Guru played tennis in the courts at the southeast corner of the field, he called me over and offered me the name in a very meditative session at 8:40 a.m., lasting 7 minutes. Here is what he said (excerpts).

"With my heart's soulful love and my life's blessingful gratitude I offer you your soul's name. It is a most significant name bringing to the fore all your divine qualities. Not only will it bring your divine qualities to the fore, but it will manifest the divine qualities for the Supreme…here, there and elsewhere.

"Nayak is the one who leads, guides, illumines and fulfils the seeker divine, a liberator divine, a transformer divine and a fulfiller divine. Nayak is the one who leads, marshals ignorance-force, leads and illumines the human force and fulfils God the infinite Compassion, liberates man...."

I am quoting this here without bragging or promoting myself, but just to show what lofty things my soul came to do. If you know me, you know that I am just a speck of what is promised here, sincerely, but the value of this lies in knowing that I have a mission and that my beautiful soul wants to do something most magnificent. The short form of my name is "leader", and in other comments that Guru has made he also made it clear that he wants me to lead from behind.

I have seen Guru bow to so many people, and sometimes the unkind person in me says "Why is he bowing to that person? There is nothing worthy there." But Guru sees the soul and he loves and respects that soul. Alas, I do not see that soul. But I do have a growing respect for the human race--that I can say. My growing awareness of the soul and its mission has reminded me countless times that whomever I am talking to contains a spark of the Supreme and a soul that has a purpose. Oh Boy! I like that.

Guru once commented during a talk about the soul, in Hawaii, that I, Nayak, believe in the soul. It was a very helpful comment, because, while I was startled for a moment (Huh? Do I believe in the soul? Really?), I realized that I do, indeed, believe in the soul. Guru took an inner feeling of mine and various notions floating in my life, all pointing to a purpose, a meaning, a direction, a vastness, a love (and so on) and he put it all into that word: the soul. Yes, I do believe in the soul. Plus, I was privy to a couple of comments that Guru made at different times about how you can feel the soul. He told me directly once that you can feel the soul like an ant crawling up the back of your chest, the context making it clear that the little ant was crawling inside the back of your chest. A little, nice scratchy feeling. He made a crawling motion with his fingers to illustrate it. Another time I heard him talking with someone else, and he made the same statement--the ant crawling up the inside of your chest in back--I liked that. I do feel that ant crawling from time to time. I can't force it or demand it; the soul just decides to visit my awareness from time to time in that way. Once I feel it, I can meditate on it, and I like that very much. I have great respect for Nayak, which does not mean that I respect my personality, my career, my ego, my jokes, it just means that I have great respect for the soul that dwells within me. I (whatever "I" means) find it a great honor to have this affiliation.

So, bottom line, you have a soul, you have a mission, and you can discover it. You do not need to have a soul's name to find that mission, you just need to meditate, pray and dive deep within. It is there. That is why it is worth respecting all beings, human and otherwise. They all have souls, as does everything large and small in Creation. That is worth bowing to. If you want to read more about the soul, please the books by Sri Chinmoy explicitly about the soul. Very informative and inspiring. You feel like you are getting on the cosmic sleigh ride when you read those. Perhaps someone can supply the titles.

Let's close with a joke. I noted above that when the soul leaves, you're dead. Well, I saw a cute "Sylvia" cartoon strip. It shows a TV news commentator announcing (my remembered re-wording): "scientists today reported that we are consuming so many preservatives in food that you may find your body living longer than you do."

Best wishes,

Nayak