12 Divine Names of Lord Krishna

All credit to @bhargavasarma on twitter. With his kind permission reposting his twitter feed for benefit of a larger audience who don’t have a twitter account.

Udupi Krishna 12 days Alankara Pictures. All credit Udupi Krishna Twitter account.

Hari, Kesava, Padmanabha, Vamana, Vedagarbha, Madhusudana, Vasudeva, Varaha, Pundarikaksha, Janardhana, Krushna, Sridhara are twelve Divine names (#Dwadasanaama) of Sri #Krushna Paramaatma spelled out by Sri Krishna Himself to #Arjuna (an extract from #MahaBharata Aranya Parva).

Merits of chanting these divine names with sincere devotion regularly/constantly 3 times a day especially during SandhyaKaala, on the days of Pournami, Amaavaasya, Dwaadasi, Lord Sri Krishna is assuring that, one will get the merits of 

#ChandraAyana Vratha (1000 times) ; 

#KanyaDaana phala (100 times); and 

#AswamedhaYaga phala (1000 times); 

collectively these divine names are grouped into Sri Krushna Dwaadasanaama Stothra.

Inspite of Supreme God’s assurance, we flout in adhering to the liberal saadhana maarga being shown by ParamaAtma; we adopt malpractices following anya saadhana maarga instead and miserably fail in our goals; Different means of liberation have been spelled out applicable to each Yuga viz. 

> meditation (penance) in Krutha-Yuga; 

> Yajna in Tretha-Yuga, 

> Archana (worship) in Dwapara-Yuga; 

whereas, in Kali-Yuga only NaAma Smarana (repetition/chanting of God’s name) has been prescribed since in Kali Yuga people will not have the required spiritual strength & capability to perform & carry out rigorous saAdhana;  kaler dosha-nidhe rajann asti hy eko maha gunah

kirtanad eva #krishnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet (Srimad Bhagavatam 12.3.51)

Although #Kaliyuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age; by simply & profusely chanting the names of Lord Sri #Krishna, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom. 

“Kaliyugadali #Hari namava nenedare kulakotigalu uddharisuvavu”…  (Sri Purandara Dasaru)

Once again, the 12 divine names of Lord Krishna are:

Hari, Kesava, Padmanabha, Vamana, Vedagarbha, Madhusudana, Vasudeva, Varaha, Pundarikaksha, Janardhana, Krushna, Sridhara.

Lord Krishna Bless Us ALL.