PNS/ NEW TEHRI
Following the hoary Hindu tradition of uttering or writing down the names of God in His innumerable forms as part of spiritual practice that leads to spiritual salvation, a 94-year-old Mantha Subbalakshmi has been writing down the name of Lord Rama while staying in an ashram at Vijayamilan Math. She says her only passion in life is to write down the name of Lord Rama and she had written down the Lord’s names thousands of times since her childhood. “I think the number will cross one crore soon and yet this will continue till my last breath. I follow the path of devotion and I have inherited it from my family which was deeply religious,” she said.
She was born in a scholarly family in Odisha. While growing up in a spiritually inclined family, she was first inspired to write down the name of Rama with devotion during a spiritual camp in Andhra Pradesh when she was a child. “My husband Sarveshwar Shastri would chant the name of the Lord till his death. Even at the age of 94, my grandmother continued the practice of writing down the name of Lord Rama. Though chanting and writing the names of the Lord are important parts of the path of devotion, my experiences say that writing down the name of God is superior to uttering His name. Name writing deepens concentration and quickens the pace of spiritual process culminating in the emancipation from worldly desires. When desires end true devotion begins,” she said.
