Vishnu Sahasranama: The Thousand Names That Hold the Universe Together

A thousand names for the force that sustains everything. The Vishnu Sahasranama is not a prayer you understand with your mind - it is a vibration you receive with your whole body.

A thousand names for the force that sustains everything. The Vishnu Sahasranama is not a prayer you understand with your mind - it is a vibration you receive with your whole body.

It is one of the most ancient and powerful chanting practices in the Hindu tradition, and its effects are not theoretical. They are felt.

I first heard the Vishnu Sahasranama chanted by a Brahmin priest in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges, at 4:30 in the morning. The river was black and still. The temple was lit by oil lamps.

And this old man, with a voice like weathered wood, began to chant a thousand names of God in a continuous stream that lasted nearly forty minutes. By the end, I was weeping.