[Advaita-l] How to get an hindu name?

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004, María Dickson wrote:

> Dear members
>
> I see that almost every member of this list have hindu
> names. I don‘t know if you all are from hindu families
> but my question is simply: How could an occidental
> woman, without any drop of hindu blood in her veins
> but full of hinduism in her heart, get an hindu name?
> I don‘t know why, but I feel myself in a wrong place
> with a wrong name.

A person who practices Advaitic sadhana should become a sthitaprajna --
one of steady mind.  Such a person never feels they are in the wrong place
for all places, and names and forms are equal to them.  But if you feel
changing your name would strengthen your sense of self then go ahead.  You
might find the following website helpful:
http://www.hindunet.org/baby_names/newpage113.htm

The shastras recommend that female names have an odd number of syllables,
be the name of a Goddess or a river, and end in a long vowel.  These are
not hard and fast rules as we can find many popular names that don't
conform.  In Gujarat it is the custom for names to begin with certain
letters based on the janma rashi or moon sign.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/