Curing Fear By Chanting God’s Name

Introduction

Perhaps I was not yet in my teens when I was filled with a very dark fear. This fear, far from soon disappearing, only became more entrenched as time went by. Some events in my life succeeded in further solidifying it. At this time, I was just too scared to share my condition with anyone, including my parents. And so, I kept my fear to myself even as it continued to mount.

Things remained so for many years, with me nursing my hidden fear by myself. It was only by God’s grace that I not only somehow managed to retain a sense of sanity but also did fairly well academically.

But a fear that is resisted or bottled up will likely sooner or later become unmanageable and so distressing that one is forced to go beyond one’s own self for help. One day, things became so bad that I decided to visit a hospital and seek the help of a psychiatrist. This was at a time when it was not at all common for people where I then lived to consult a psychiatrist. It was possibly a widely-held belief that this was something that only people who were mentally unstable did. There was then a great stigma attached to receiving psychiatric treatment. It was likely considered a sign of madness or pathetic inability and personal failure.

The psychiatrist I consulted listened to what I said, though I cannot recall what all I shared with him, this being many decades ago. Then, he came to the conclusion that mine was a case of what was labelled as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Accordingly, he recommended a daily dose of a certain medicine for me to take.

It seems likely to me that according to the school of psychiatry that this doctor subscribed to, the condition that I was afflicted with was a result of some sort of chemical imbalance in my brain. Because of this, it was believed, I was a victim of the repeated fearful thoughts that were causing me such distress. By taking the medicine that he prescribed, which contained certain chemicals, it was likely believed that the supposed chemical imbalance in my brain would be rectified, partly or wholly, and so I would be relieved, in part or in full, from my repeated fear-driven obsessive thoughts.

I did as the doctor recommended, taking the medicine that he suggested. I cannot remember clearly now, but maybe I continued with the medicine for several years. Afterwards, I decided on my own to stop the medicine, when I was possibly somewhat less troubled by the distressing thoughts generated by my basic fear that had started many years earlier. But then, once again, the same fear and the related obsessive distressing thoughts threatened to so overwhelm me that, several years later, I was again driven to a hospital (this time, another one, in another city), where again, if I remember correctly, I was diagnosed as supposedly having OCD and was told to take  the same medicine as before. Again, I did as the psychiatrist recommended, and again, after some time, discontinued taking the medicine on my own. Then, after a lapse of some years, the same fear became so distressing that for a third time I sought psychiatric help in a hospital, when I was yet again asked to take the same medicine as before. And so, for yet another time, I went back to taking this medicine, in the hope that I would be cured. And, yet again, I stopped the medicine on my own, after which I have not gone back to it.

Despite all the efforts I made, including trying to counter my distressing thoughts, seeking to explain to myself that my fundamental fear was baseless, taking the medicine that the psychiatrists I had consulted recommended and seeking religious help, my basic fear just did not go away. Nor did the repeated distressing thoughts that stemmed from this fear, which the psychiatrists I visited seemed to believe were simply the result of a chemical condition that was labelled in their school of psychiatry as OCD.

A Different Understanding

One day, I was travelling in a bus when I saw a board that referred to a spiritual centre located somewhere nearby. Now, this was many years ago, and so I can’t recall everything clearly, but maybe the board indicated that this centre represented a universal spirituality and welcomed people of all creeds and backgrounds. This sort of universality, beyond all manmade boundaries, is something that resonates deeply with me. The memory of the board and the centre about which it spoke stuck in my mind. Maybe when I returned home I read up on the Internet about the centre and gained a deeper appreciation of its universality and other aspects of the philosophy on which it had been founded and for which it stood. Perhaps it was not very long after this that I decided to visit the centre myself. Maybe I thought that there I would at last receive an effective cure for my fear.

Chanting Any of God’s Names

The centre turned out to truly be a place for universal spirituality, not just in theory but in practice, too. Its underlying philosophy was based on the understanding that the Divine is all there is, and that it is the Divine that has assumed the form of all the apparently numerous beings and things in the Universe: truly, a most universal vision!

Over the past many years, I have been back to the centre several times since my first visit, sometimes with a significant gap.

A major, if not the central-most, spiritual practice that is taught at the centre is constant repetition of the Divine Name, the Name of God. God, the Supreme Intelligence behind the universe, is called by different names in different languages and religious and spiritual traditions. Although one can say that in one sense, God has no Name, being beyond all names that humans give to Him, one can also say that the Infinite One has an infinite number of Names. This being so, one can remember God by any Name that best resonates with oneself.

The Founding-Master of the centre (who established the centre almost a century ago) had a simple spiritual practice that he would recommend: to chant God’s Name. Depending on a person’s religious and cultural background and personal preferences, one can chant the particular Name of God that one most cherishes.

Chanting the Name, silently or in whispers or aloud, is perhaps the easiest way to remain in extended awareness of God’s presence. One can chant His Name anytime of the day or night, in any place and while in any posture, including standing, sitting, lying down or walking. One can use beads while chanting (I find this helpful as it keeps the body also engaged in the process, which helps me be more focussed), though this is not necessary. The Name can also be sung like a song. 

Some Benefits of Chanting God’s Name

Chanting of God’s Name is highly recommended as a means to be in the constant remembrance of God. Being in constant remembrance of God is itself a fundamental purpose of human life. And so, one can say that constantly chanting God’s Name is a powerful means for fulfilling the purpose of our life.

Chanting the Divine Name keeps our mind focussed on God, for God and His Name(s) are one and the same. The more our mind is focused on God, the less it turns to other subjects. The more our mind is occupied with God by repeating His Name, the less chance it will have to dwell on fears, real or imaginary. Chanting one or other Name of God is a powerful panacea to fear and fear-induced obsessive thoughts. To me, it is a most effective antidote to the condition that in a certain school of psychiatry labels as OCD. Chanting the Name of God works to retain one’s mind in the present and in the presence of God and away from obsessing about the past or the future. Truly, it is a most efficacious, while at the same time enjoyable and easy, method to keep the mind in a state of calm.

A Spiritual Cure for Spiritual Beings

Some schools of psychiatry, based on atheistic and materialist philosophies, seem to see human beings as just their physical body, and so, as mere matter. Even the mind is seen as an extension of the physical body, as just chemicals. And so, issues afflicting the mind are regarded as having a material and bodily, including a chemical, cause. By changing the chemical composition of a person’s material or physical body through the ingestion of medicines that contain different chemicals, it is believed the functioning or habitual thought-patterns of the person’s brain can be modified and ‘cured’. This is likely the understanding behind the diagnosis that my condition received from the psychiatrists whom I consulted and the cure that they recommended.

But I have come to see my condition very differently. My issue has always been a spiritual one, I now know. It is in the realm of the spiritual that my fear is to be located. And so, too, its cure or solution. We are not the physical body that we inhabit for the temporary period that we have been placed on Earth for. Rather, we are spiritual beings that have taken on the form of a physical body for the sake of our earthly sojourn. This being the case, an effective solution to any malaise we may face, including of body and mind, must recognize who or what we really are—spirit beings. In other words, our malaise requires a spiritual solution and not merely a physical one, such as the chemical-based medicine that the psychiatrists I had consulted recommended.

And what, in my understanding, is this spiritual cure? It is being in direct communication with The Spirit, the Almighty Lord of the Universe. This includes regularly listening to God and speaking to Him, including seeking His help and guidance. Being aware of His closeness and presence through repeating one or other of His innumerable Names is also a part of the cure. Serving Him by serving His creations or manifestations, humans as well as others, is yet another.

I have to admit here that I have not always been regular in chanting the Name, though every now and then I go back to it. I do know, however, from my own experience, that chanting the Name has been for me a most effective way to be in a state of calm and inner joy. For me, it is truly the medicine for the ailment I was afflicted with.

A Universal Spiritual Practice

Chanting of the Name is truly a universal spiritual practice: One can chant any of the many names of the Divine, in any language and from any religious or spiritual tradition. One can even make up a Name for the Divine oneself, a name with which one feels particularly attuned and finds especially appealing.

One can chant the Name whenever and wherever one wants to. Once one begins the practice, chanting the Name can soon become effortless, spontaneously arising from within, so much so that some people are possibly almost always engaged in chanting the Name without any effort. One can chant the Name wherever one is—while washing the dishes, having a bath or eating one’s dinner, while travelling on a bus, while on a street or in office, while strolling in a park, while sitting by oneself or in a crowd…Any time is a very good time to chant the Name! (Of course, there will be times during the day when one needs to focus on certain tasks at hand, so that at such times one may not be able to chant.)

I pray to God that He keeps me engaged in chanting His Name as often as possible.

If you are troubled by fears, or even if you are not, try out the practice of chanting the Divine Name and see for yourself what a great difference it makes to your life. This is not a question of some religious belief or dogma. Rather, it is a question of experiencing something personally and thus being able to verify it for oneself. Take some time out today—even if just a minute—and chant whatever Name of God that most appeals to you and see what you experience within!