Sri Nama Prabhu of whom we must always take shelter !

[Paramananda das]

pranams to the vaisnavas
All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga
all glories to Srila Prabhupada

Krsna says in Bhagavad Gita He is the chanting of His own Holy names ,Nama Astakam was given by Srila Rupa Goswami and is for our daily remembrance and benefit :
(1)
nikhila-sruti-mauli-ratna-mala-
dyuti-nirajita-pada-pankajanta
ayi mukta-kulair upasyamanam
paritas tvam hari-nama samsrayami

(2)
jaya namadheya muni-vrnda-geya he
jana-ranjanaya param aksarakrte
tvam anadarad api manag udiritam
nikhilogra-tapa-patalim vilumpasi

(3)
yad-abhaso 'py udyan kavalita-bhava-dhvanta-vibhavo
drsam tattvandhanam api disati bhakti-pranayinim
janas tasyodattam jagati bhagavan-nama-tarane
krti te nirvaktum ka iha mahimanam prabhavati

(4)
yad-brahma-saksat-krti-nisthayapi
vinasam ayati vina na bhogaih
apaiti nama sphuranena tat te
prarabdha-karmeti virauti vedah

(5)
aghadamana-yasodanandanau nandasuno
kamalanayana-gopicandra-vrndavanendrah
pranatakaruna-krsnav ity aneka-svarupe
tvayi mama ratir uccair vardhatam namadheya

(6)
vacyam vacakam ity udeti bhavato nama svarupa-dvayam
purvasmat param eva hanta karunam tatrapi janimahe
yas tasmin vihitaparadha-nivahah prani samantad bhaved
asyenedam upasya so 'pi hi sadanandambudhau majjati

(7)
suditasrita-janarti-rasaye
ramya-cid-ghana-sukha-svarupine
nama gokula-mahotsavaya te
krsna purna-vapuse namo namah

(8)
narada-vinojjivana
sudhormi-niryasa-madhuri-pura
tvam krsna-nama kamam
sphura me rasane rasena sada

(1) O Hari-nama! The tips of the toes of Your lotus feet are constantly being worshiped by the glowing radiance emanating from the string of gems known as the Upanisads, the crown jewels of all the Vedas. You are eternally adored by liberated souls, such as Narada and Sukadeva. O Hari-nama! I take complete shelter of You.

(2) O Hari-nama, O name sung by the sages, O transcendental syllables that bring bliss to the people, even if You are spoken only once, and even if You are spoken disrespectfully, You at once remove the many harsh sufferings of everyone.

(3) O sun of the Holy Name, even the dim light of Your early dawn 'namabhasa' devours the power of the darkness of the material world and gives those who are blind to the truth the insight to follow the path of pure devotion to Krishna. What learned person in this world can possibly fully describe Your transcendental glories?

(4) O Holy Name, the Vedas declare that although meditation on impersonal Brahman cannot bring freedom from past karma, Your appearance [on the tongue of your chanter] at once makes all karma disappear.

(5) O Holy Name, I pray that my love for You in Your many forms—such as Aghadamana (Crusher of Aghasura), Yasodanandana (Son of Yasoda), Nandasunu (Son of Nanda),Kamalanayana (Lotus-eyed), Gopicandra (Moon of the gopis), Vrndavanendra (King of Vrndavana), Pranatakaruna (Merciful to the surrendered souls), and Krishna—may greatly increase.

(6) O Holy Name, You are manifested in two forms: 1. the Supreme Person described by the Holy Name, and 2. the sound vibration of the Holy Name. We know that the second form is even more merciful than the first, because although a person may commit many offenses to Your first form, he will still plunge into an ocean of bliss by serving Your second with His voice.

(7) O perfect and complete Holy Name of Lord Krishna, You are the embodiment of delightful and intense spiritual bliss, You destroy the many sufferings of those who take shelter of You, and You are a festival of happiness for Gokula. I bow before You again and again.

(8) O Krishna-nama! O inspiration of Narada's vina! You are full of sweetness, which is like an ocean full of waves of nectar. If You wish, please appear constantly on my tongue, along with transcendental affection for the Lord.

Nāma Prabhu – my Lord, the Holy Name
by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

prabhupad9
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was quite indifferent to the observance or non-observance of caste distinction as understood by people in general. It appeared outwardly, in the eyes of non-devotees, that He accepted instead the popularly practiced social customs in order to keep the non-devoted people, who are already self-deceived, all the more spiritually blinded. For otherwise wantonness would prevail in the society, kept inert with the ideas of social practices relating to worldly attachments, and further nuisances would be rampant in the world, along with the disturbance caused in the understanding of such attached people.
But He never allowed any caste-prejudice among His devotees. He never accepted food from non-devotee brāhmaṇas. On the other hand, He accepted it from the hands of Vaiṣṇava brāhmaṇas who chanted a lākha (one hundred thousand) hari-nāmas (names of God) daily. He would accept food cooked by Sanodiās in whom He found devotion to God, although they were culturally so untouchable that a brāhmaṇa could not even drink water offered by them. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu considered them as touchable as pure brāhmaṇas.
Again, He snatched away and ate rice mahāprasāda from Śrīla Dāsa Gosvāmī (Raghunātha). He propagated the teaching that to judge a Vaiṣṇava according to the caste of his birth, and to consider mahāprasāda mere rice and curry that can be contaminated by a lower caste – is a severe spiritual offence. He propagated this teaching by making jagat-guru Śrī Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, who is not different from His own self, take food cooked by His devotees born of any caste.
The present day system of caste distinction is prevalent among the Smārta social orders, whose conceptions are rendered inert under principles of worldly attachment. That worldly caste mindedness and the social wantonness introduced by the Brāhma-samāja, are both the product of malevolence, or a spirit of spitefulness. The Smārtas as described above and the so-called brāhmaṇas both cherish antagonism against one another under the spirit of mutual spite and relation.
But the Vaiṣṇavas are free from any malicious spirit. All their activities are directed toward service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and do not lead to their respective worldly enjoyments like the activities of the aforesaid mutually hostile groups of society. According to Vaiṣṇava consideration, activities that have no relation to serving Śrī Kṛṣṇa are extremely contemptible, though they may be highly praiseworthy in the opinion of ordinary, worldly-minded people.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu directs us to practice devotion to Hari as part of a system of daiva-varṇāśrama (divine social order) that is based on devotion. In the present age, the practice of religion has come under the sway of the vitiated society. Śrī Caitanyadeva has commanded that society should ever remain under the control of the religion of pure devotion. It is then that the society will have its true value as being favourable to the practice of serving God; otherwise it will be the contra-divine society worthy of asuras, or people with demonic characteristics.
We have received the teachings that Śrī Gaurasundara has given to this world via the mantra we were given while we sat at the lotus feet of śrī gurudeva. What śrī gurudpāda-padma has given us is not an ordinary mantra; it is the mahā-mantra. Mantra absolves us from the function of the mind. But mahā-mantra is the name of God. That Name wields so much power that we cannot expect similar results from any other thing. That name is vaikuṇṭha-nāma.
Although it is apparently similar to sounds in various languages around the world, which are born out of the three modes of nature (triguṇas) and which possess limitations (kuṇṭhā), the Name has its own speciality. Even the slightest glow (abhāsa) of that vaikuṇṭha-nāma burns away all sins; it should be chanted continuously as it does so. By uttering vaikuṇṭha-nāma, man is already present in Vaikuṇṭha, in the highest type of piety, and he becomes eager for the attainment of paramārtha (the highest blessedness). Māyika, or kuṇṭha, name (which has limitations) has no such effect.
Our luck is so bad that we are unable to develop attachment to the All-Powerful vaikuṇṭha-nāma; we engage in other talks instead. The words we use from worldly languages to accomplish all sorts of worldly things, to fulfil all of our other desires and to interact with other cultures, may serve us and come under the control of our sense-activities. Those words may be engaged in the fulfilment of our desires, but vaikuṇṭha-nāma is entirely different.
Gaurasundara has said, for our good, in the verse beginning ‘tṛṇādapi sunīca...’ (Śikṣāśtaka 3), that the real meaning of the Vedic mantra ‘ahaṁ brahmāsmi’ is “that which the jīva becomes after attaining the final stage [of perfection].” Other sounds carry us away in the current of ambition and evil desires, but vaikuṇṭha-nāma sets us running along the path of serving Kṛṣṇa, and spreads His full influence and complete, benevolent dominion over us. I bow down to Nāma Prabhu, and I fall first of all at the feet of śri gurupāda-padma, who gives Nāma Prabhu away, and who is therefore the most bountifully munificent donor.
Adapted from The Gaudiya Volume 5, Number 2 & 3
by the Rays of The Harmonist team

This is from Prema Vilasa chapter 17 :

prabhura achaye sankhya tina laksha nama;
eka laksha bhaktagane kaila kripa dana.

"Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu standard was to chant 3,00,000 names everyday. But He very mercifully awarded His devotees the process of chanting a minimum of 1,00,000 names of Krishna daily.
!
shri rupa kaila laksha granthera varnana;
tathapiha karila laksha nama grahana.

"Shrila Rupa Goswami has explained and quoted from over 100,000 different scriptures. Even though he was such a great scholar and devotee he himself chanted 100,000 Holy Names daily.

dasa gosvamira ache laksha pramana;
ei mata sarva bhakta kare harinama.

"Shrila Raghunatha dasa Goswami also rigidly followed the instructions of Lord Gauranga by chanting 100,000 names daily. In this way all the devotees chanted the Holy Names of the Lord daily without exception.

gauranga shrimukhe rupe kahila vaishnave;
laksha nama sankhya kari avasya karibe.

"Lord Gauranga gave the following instructions to all the Vaishnavas Himself and also through Shrila Rupa Goswami: Please compulsorily chant 100,000 names of Krishna daily