How does a Swami get his name.

Many people have asked me how I received my name.

Before I answer this question, I need to explain a fundamental truth in Hindu spirituality.

According to the scriptures, and yoga, we are made up of many kosyas. These kosyas, or layers to put it in context, can be positioned into the three bodies that a living being is made up of.

The three bodies are:

1) The Karya Sharira, or the Physical Body

2) The Sukshma Sharira, or the Subtle Body

3) The Karna Sharira or the Causal Body

The external physical body has one kosya, the Annamaya kosya. This is the layer of nutrition. This is the only part of the living being that is corruptible at death. It constitutes the whole physical body that goes into the earth when a person dies.

The Subtle body has three layers. They are the:

The Pranayama Kosya, or the layer of breath

The Manomaya Kosya, or the layer of mind

The Vijnyanamaya Kosya, or the layer of intelligence.

The Causal Body has one kosya, the Anandamaya kosya, or the layer of bliss

Another way of understanding this is to observe the living being as having three bodies:

The physical body, The mind body and The causal body. When the causal body merges with the mind body, intelligence is created and when these in turn merge with the physical body, the breath is created.

When a person, based on his karmic past, decides to pursue the spiritual path, he is initiated into the path by a spiritual master. This is what is normally called the Brahmachari Deeksha. As the years go by and the aspirant achieves a certain level of mastery on the path, a master will appear and guide him on the path with the second initiation. This is sometimes done in a non-physical plane of existence..

When the aspirant becomes centered in his Sadhana, he starts experiencing the blissful nature. this will happen for a while until it becomes second nature to the seeker. At this point, he is considered to be a Swami. Most Swami's have their names ending with Ananda, to signify that they are able to attain this blissful nature within them. The prefix to their name is normally connected to the means that was used to get there. Hence my name given to me by my master, was Swami Kripananda. It is the lowest of them all. It means Grace and Bliss. My state was achieved through grace, it is a gift and I am ever so grateful.

The word Kripa in Sanskrit means grace.

Swami Kripananda.

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