Chapter 3: The Glories of Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura

If a child touches fire, the fire will burn him, and if an elderly man touches fire, it will burn him also. Haridāsa Ṭhākura says that a great devotee of the Lord exclaims, "hā rāma, hā rāma," but although yavanas do not know the transcendental meaning of "hā rāma, hā rāma," they say those words in the course of their ordinary life. For the yavanas the words "hā rāma" mean "abominable," whereas the devotee exclaims the words "hā rāma" in ecstatic love. Nevertheless, because the words "hā rāma" are the spiritual summum bonum, the fact is the same, whether they are uttered by yavanas or by great devotees, just as fire is the same both for a child and for an elderly man. In other words, the holy name of the Lord, "hā rāma," always acts, even when the holy names are chanted without reference to the Supreme Lord. Yavanas utter the holy name in a different attitude than devotees, but the holy name "hā rāma" is so powerful spiritually that it acts anywhere, whether one knows it or not. This is explained as follows.