Call God Names
Reflections on Divine Names in Hindu and Biblical Traditions
Keywords:
Divine Names, Theologia, Yahweh, Jesus Prayer, Dionysius the Areopagite, Śabda-Brahman, Om, Namajapa, Mantra, Bhagavata Purāṇa, Ajāmila, Advaita Vedānta, Viśvanātha Cakravartin, Upaniṣadbrahmayogin, Sankirtana, Caitanya, Braj, Krishna, Vedic Tradition, Hinduism, Christianity, Soteriology, Sacred SoundAbstract
In this essay, Klaus K. Klostermaier explores the theological, linguistic, and devotional significance of divine names in both Hindu and Biblical traditions. Reframing theologia in its ancient sense—not as speculative discourse but as the sacred act of invoking the divine—Klostermaier underscores how names were traditionally seen as manifesting the essence of God. He critiques the modern Western tendency to reduce names to functional labels, contrasting it with traditional cultures where naming retained ontological and ritual power.
The essay delves into the Biblical reverence for the name of Yahweh, revealed to Moses as a unique divine self-disclosure, and the extension of this sacred naming into Christian traditions through the Jesus Prayer. Drawing a parallel with namajapa in Hinduism, Klostermaier highlights Dionysius the Areopagite’s work The Divine Names, which articulates a mystical theology where divine names serve as vehicles of unitive spiritual ascent.
Turning to Indian traditions, Klostermaier traces the evolution of name theology from the Vedic axiom ekaṃ sat viprā bahudhā vadanti (“Truth is one, the wise call it by many names”) through the Upanishadic conception of Śabda-Brahman manifesting as Om. He details sectarian adaptations in theistic Vedānta, wherein divine names—particularly those of Kṛṣṇa and Rāma—are considered śruti-revealed and salvific. The Bhagavata Purāṇa's narrative of Ajāmila exemplifies how the mere utterance of a divine name can redeem even the morally fallen, transcending caste and ritual qualification. In Advaita Vedānta, by contrast, the name becomes an upāya (means) to realize identity with Brahman.
The essay also presents a comparative survey of “sins against the Name” as outlined by Upaniṣadbrahmayogin and Viśvanātha Cakravartin, reflecting both nondual and devotional perspectives. Klostermaier concludes by examining the intimate and playful invocation of Kṛṣṇa’s names in the Braj tradition and the culmination of name theology in Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s saṅkīrtana, celebrated for its spiritually cleansing, bliss-giving, and egalitarian character.
