What is in a Name?

Kishore (March 2003)

Have you asked yourself a question: What is in a name?

Our name is the sweetest sound we will ever hear. However busy we may be our name when called out always attracts our attention instantly. 

Name of a person is always chosen very carefully. Parents pick one of their favorite names. Name make a big difference in every person's life. If you are aware of computer terms name is the 'Key'. Our memory stores information based on this key called name. Name sets the context properly. Based on the name mentioned, our brain searches our brain for relevant matches and brings up the first name from to our memory to forefront. Once a name is found we get all things associated with the person. 

Often in our conversations we will loose context if we don't hear the name and end up confused. 

Think of a friend's name whose name is unique and what happens? All memories related to that person will come up in your mind even if it is after a long time. 

Think of a friend's name with which you have more than one friend and what happens? Your mind will most probably pick up the person you were most recently associated. Sometimes mind can get confused and then you pose a question which? That is the reason people tend to associate a unique name. For example in our college we had lot of friends with same name 'Srinivas' and we had to give each person a different name to make it easy for us. 

In Indian culture you might see names are often associated with a God's Name. I have often wondered why this practice came up and following is the reason I heard and I think is right. 

There is a belief in India culture that when a person utters name of God at the time of death, he will attain liberation. And repetition of God's name is supposed to make one gain benefit. But being immersed in materialistic world we often forget God. To remind ourselves of God in our daily life, the practice of setting names to family members has started. 

It is true that if one utters name of God at the time of death "with devotion" one will attain liberty and not just by uttering it. To be able to really utter God's name with devotion when our life is coming to an end is not possible unless we spend our life devoted to God. 

In Indian religion name assumes lot of importance. 108 names for God or 1000 names of God are uttered as a matter of prayer. All the names are very meaningful. Purpose of those names was to enable us to understand nature of God by repeating those names. As we repeat those names we should reflect on the names. 

Summary

I have shared my reflections on this topic. I wanted to do this for a long time. Lot of times when I hear different names and sometimes unique names, my mind was going back to this topic. Have you ever wondered? Did you have similar thoughts? Let me know. 

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