The 108th Name Of God
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     Once upon a Yogi time there was a very young sage. And this young sage was known to know the 108th Name of God, the great Name of God.

     At the same time, there was an ancient old man thinking himself wise in the ways of wisdom and in the ways of the Lord. This old man searched his whole life for truth, looking for the magic mantra to accomplish everything.

     In his search, one day this old man found the young sage who knew the 108th Name of God and said to him, “I hear that you know the 108th Name of God. Please do me the favor of giving it to me. For it is said that by knowing this Name, I can perform any miracle, I can alter the course of life, I can even alter my own destiny. Is that not so?”

“Yes, old ancient man, it is true. This you can do,” said the young sage.

The old man said, “Do you know the name? Do you have it?”

“Yes, I do know the name.”
“Then give it to me. You should give it to me!”

     And the young sage said, “I cannot. Only my Teacher, my Master, can give you this name. Though I know the Name, I cannot give it to you, for I am not yet having the spiritual vibrancy and strength of the Adhikari, the capacity to transfer the 108th Name of God to you. Besides, I have a vow of mauna, a vow of silence, and cannot speak the Name. But I will tell you how it can be had. It must be earned. If you will pass a test, the 108th Name of God can be given to you.”

     The old man answered, “All my life I have heard, ‘This test, that test, this test.’ I’m tired of tests and people testing me.”

      The young sage replied, “We all may be tired of tests, old man, but according to tradition, you must pass a test to show your capacity. And if you pass the test, the 108th Name of God will be given to you — and then you can perform your miracles, you can change the course of life, you can even change your own karma.”

      With this, the old man was a little more interested, a little more excited, and he said, “What is it I must do? What is the test?”

      “Well, you must go to the gate of the city early tomorrow morning, and you must remain there until late nightfall. Return to me at that time, and describe to me what you witnessed. Then I will tell you whether or not you have passed the test, and can receive the 108th Name of God. But remember, remain alert, remain aware for the entire day.”

     The next morning, the old man woke up and eagerly went to the city gate and did what he was told to do. Late that night, he came back to the young sage and gave a summary of what happened during the day.

     He said, “Well, as you instructed me, I positioned myself at the city’s gate in a condition of total alertness, extreme alertness.”

     The young sage said, “Well, old man, what happened? Did anything significant happen during the day?”

     And the old man said, “Well, an incident which most impressed me during the day concerned an old woodsman who wanted to enter the city’s gate. He had a huge load of kindling wood on his back, and the gatekeeper insisted that the old woodsman pay a tax on the value of the kindling.

     The old woodsman responded, ‘But I have no money to pay the tax. I am penniless.’
‘Then you cannot enter the city,’ said the gatekeeper.

‘But then I’ll starve.’

‘So you must starve!’

     With that, the woodsman said, ‘Ah, I have a solution! Let me step into the city, just one step in, enter at the gate, right in your presence, and I will sell a few pieces of wood, give you the tax money, and then I will move on.’

‘No! No money, no enter the city.’

     And with this, the gatekeeper starting beating the old woodsman, and the woodsman was driven away from the city gate with heavy, cruel blows. All the wood fell off his back, and the gatekeeper took the wood for himself.”

     The young sage then said to the old man: “Old man, what were your feelings when you saw all this happening? What did you do? What did you think?”

     And the old man answered, “Oh, seeing this, I desired even more strongly to know the great Name of God. If I had known it, the case for that innocent, unfortunate woodsman certainly would have been different. I could have changed destiny. If only I had known the 108th Name of God!”

     With this, the young sage looked at the old man and said, “Well, it seems to me that you have failed the test.”

“But why?”

     “Because you were so concerned with a thought or a word that you placed it above human suffering, and therefore you are truly unworthy of the 108th Name of God.”
The young sage continued: “Old man, did you have any money in your pocket?”

“Yes, I had a few pennies in my pocket."

     “Why then didn't you give them to the old woodsman so that he could give them to the gatekeeper? You had copper coins in your pocket and could have helped him pay the wood tax.”

     “Oh, I couldn’t do that. You told me to remain in absolute alertness. Had I given him money, I would have lost my awareness of what I should be looking for. I was in absolute alertness, wanting the 108th Name of God, that I might change destiny.”

     “The destiny, old ancient man, was in your pocket, called money. It is in your heart, called love. It is in your consciousness, called knowledge. If you will but reach out, give — of your heart, of your mind, of your pocket — you will find that you no longer need the 108th Name of God. For in giving, you will ‘get’ the 108th Name of God. It is called Compassion. It is called Service. It is called Wisdom.”

     The young sage continued: “Old man, man of this world and child of light, I myself learned the 108th Name of God from a man who knows it, my Master, my Guru, after he tested me in my spiritual alertness to see whether my life was ruled by a dogmatic thought or whether I was a servant of mankind.

     After he subjected me to the test, then and only then, when I passed that test, did he give me the 108th Name of God. Old man, the 108th name of God is the service to all mankind. And, my Master, you see, was none other than the woodsman that you saw today at the gate.

     You valued a thought, a word, more than you valued a man, and thus you are unworthy to know the 108th Name of God.”