नाम वै ऋग्वेदः यजुर्वेदः सामवेदः आथर्वणः चतुर्थः इतिहासपुराणः पञ्चमः वेदानाम् वेदः पित्र्यः राशिः दैवः निधिः वाकोवाक्यम् एकायनम् देवविद्या ब्रह्मविद्या भूतविद्या क्षत्रविद्या नक्षत्रविद्या सर्पदेवजनविद्या नाम एव एतत् नाम उपास्स्व इति
nāma vai ṛgvedaḥ yajurvedaḥ sāmavedaḥ ātharvaṇaḥ caturthaḥ itihāsapurāṇaḥ pañcamaḥ vedānām vedaḥ pitryaḥ rāśiḥ daivaḥ nidhiḥ vākovākyam ekāyanam devavidyā brahmavidyā bhūtavidyā kṣatravidyā nakṣatravidyā sarpadevajanavidyā nāma eva etat nāma upāssva iti
Name is the Ṛg-veda, the Yajur-veda, the Sāma-veda, the Ātharvaṇa as the fourth, the itihāsas and purāṇas as the fifth Veda; the science of the Vedas, the rites of the fathers, calculation, divination, the science of treasures, dialectic, politics, the science of the gods, the science of the Word, the science of spirits, the science of arms, astrology, the science of serpents and of the celestial singers — all this is name. Venerate name.
112bb9fcefd4 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:42:49 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The teacher repeats Nārada's whole list word for word — and sets one stamp upon it: nāma, name. Every science is a set of ordered names; even the Vedas, as texts, are sounded names of reality and not reality itself. A diagnosis without humiliation: name is the first rung of being, and of it he says "venerate" (upāssva), not "throw it away".
In this exercise lies the whole wisdom of the ladder Sanatkumāra is beginning: not one rung will be declared false; each will be honoured — and surpassed. The way up goes not by denying the lower but by recognising its limit. And for a bhakti ear there is a hidden depth here: a ladder that begins with "name" as its humblest rung will end in the Boundless — yet the mature tradition knows the converse miracle too: a name, when it is the Name of the Lord, is itself boundless and carries the whole road within it. The first rung and the summit meet in the holy name.