NECTAR OF THE HOLY NAME

This is a translation of Manindranath Guha's classic Bengali book on the beliefs and practices centering around the "holy names" (the names of Krishna and of his consort Radha) of the Caitanya Vaisnava tradition (a form of modern Hinduism). Guha's book is a good introduction to an area of theological reflection in Caitanya Vaisnavism called the "theology of the holy name." In summary the theology of the holy name teaches that the names of the deities, Krishna and Radha, are not different from the deities themselves and thus the names possess a special transformative power for those who speak, whisper, or even merely think of them. Those who repeat those names whether loudly or softly are believed to be purified by the divine presence they present and are also infused by that presence with divine love for the deities named. Now for the first time Guha's book is available in English with an introduction, footnotes, glossary, and bibliography by the translator, Neal Delmonico (PhD, South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, 1990).