As a preaching wing of ISKCON, the Namahatta dept. preaches all over the world to deliver the conditioned souls (those who are suffering like anything from the threefold miseries of maya), through Nityananda Prabhu (who is the incarnation of Lord Balarama) under the instruction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. “Nama” means the holy name of Krishna which is the one and only medium for conditioned souls to get free from repeated birth and death and “Hatta” means the market place for buying and selling.
Thus the Nama Hatta means where the devotees are selling the Holy name and people are buying the name giving the value of “sraddha” means natural instinct of the heart for a particular work, for Bhaktivinod Thakura, who is the first propagator of Namahatta mentioned that:
‘borosukherkhaborgai, surabhi-kunjetenamer hat khule’che / khodanitai’ means, I am singing news of the greatest happiness! At the place known as SurabhiKunja in Sri Navadvipa, the Marketplace of the Holy Name has now been opened and Lord Nityananda Himself is the Proprietor.‘boromojarkathatay, sraddha-mulye suddha-namaseihatetebikay’
Such wonderful things are going on in that blissful marketplace! Sri Nityananda Prabhu is selling the pure Holy Name wholesale, merely for the price of one’s faith.
jata bhakta-brndabasi’, adhikaridekhe’ namabecchedarokasi’
Seeing the assembly of devotees eagerly waiting to purchase the Name, Lord Nityananda first examines each of them to test their qualification; then He sells them the Name by bargaining for His price accordingly.
‘jadinamakinbe, bhai, amarsangecalo, mahajanerkache jai’
O my dear friends! If you really want to buy this pure Holy Name, then just come along with me, for I am now going to meet with this NityanandaMahajana
tumikinbe krsna-nama, dasturiloiboami, purnaha’bekama’
Thus, you (costumer, who wants to be free from the repeated birth and death) will finally be able to acquire the pure Holy Name. I (preacher of the holy name) will also take my due commission, (mercy of the Lord) and in this way all three (the last one is Nityanandamahajana instructed by Lord to give the mercy through holy name “yuga dharma” to the conditioned souls) of us will fulfill our desires.
Following the footsteps of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura, ISKCON Bhubaneswar, Odisha is conducting Namahatta department since the year of 1992, under the guidance of our most revered spiritual master Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj till date. Now our department is preaching all over Odisha – a bus with seven devotees travel around conducting programmes like village programme (Harinama Sankirtan and Pandal Programs), Bhagavata Saptaha, house programme, padayatra, Namahatta Mela once in a year thereby making devotees. Also we are conducting spiritual tours for developing the spiritual quality and attachment towards the Holy name, Holy dhama and sadhu sanga, which is the only way to enhance real knowledge of the people.
For connecting to Namahatta activities one may contact, HG Shyamananda Das – +91 6371004009