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Takes god’s Name and Absolve your self

By Devakottai S Srinivasan

In the fifth Skanda of the Bhagavat Purana, Hiranyakashipu asks his son Prahalad, "What is the best thing you have learnt?" Prahalad replies: Srawnam Kirtanam Vishnum smamnam pada sevanam archanam vandanam dasyam. sakyam atma samarpanam iti Navalakshana. — Prahalad describes nine ways to attain salvation: 
1. Listening to God's name and storiesabout Him. 
2. SingingGod's praise and reciting His name 
3. Always thinking about God 
4. Archana or offering flowers to god  
5. To o service at God’s feet  
6. To namaskar or paying obeisance to God  
7. To do service at God 
8. To be friendly with God  
9. To surrender everything at God’s feet one’s self 

It is not impossible to do what Prahalad spells out as we have examples of people like Parikshit, Sukha, Brahm, Maharishi, Prahalad, Godess Mahalaksmi, Hanuman, Arjun and Mahabali who had followed these norms Rukmini while sending a message to Krishna inviting him to accept her follows the path shown by Prahalad and starts her message with sravanam and ends with atma samarpanam

Other means to salvation as described in the Narada Bhaktiyoga, Karma Yoga and other texts in our epics and purnas are difficult to follow more so in today's fast-paced way of life. The easiest among these is the Nama Sangirthanam or singing God's praise, to recite God's   name as and when possible to attain salvation.

The Dhanur Month is observed in South India as a month for worshipping God  and  bhajans  are recited in the mornings throughout  the  month  As the month precedes Uttarayana, it is considered to be "early morning" for Dev Log. Andal, one of the  12 alwars, has rendered several poems in praise of  God to be recited during the Dhanur month as a means of salvation

The tradition of naming children after the name of the God was followed so that when a persons calls out his children he is reciting some of the Sahasrama of god Ajamila, the son of a rishi, was following all the practices prescribed for a rishi. One day, as he was travelling through a dense forest, he met a hunter's daughter who was very Pretty They fell in love and Ajamila spent his entire life with her

He forget his duty and practices totally and did all that a rishi was not expected to do he was very attached to his  last son whom he named  “Narayana”. When he was about to die he could see Yama’s messengers and out of  sheer fear loudly called out his last son “Narayana” and died immediately thereafter. Before Yama’s messengers could take him, Lord Vishnu’s messengers came and took him to Vaikuntha, the abode of Lord Vishnu.

This story might have inspired Prialwar, one of the 12 alwars of the south, to render 4,000 exquisite hymns praising the Lord. In one hymn he says “Narayana annai Naragam Pugal” that the mother of Narayana will never go to hell.

Nama Sangirthana is the easiest way to attain salvation. We should continue the practice of naming our children after god so that when we call out to our children, we recite at least some of the Sahasranama of the Lord, which washes away our sins and leads us to salvation.

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