Ujjwala, a Not so Common New Zealand Name

A spiritual name is a name offered by a spiritual teacher (in my case Sri Chinmoy) to a student, and it embodies the qualities that one can focus on to help their meditation and speed up their spiritual progress. Whilst the soul (termed also the Atman, higher self, holy spirit etc.) embodies all divine qualities some are more eminent. Receiving a spiritual name is like having a window opened up into the somewhat mysterious higher self and making clear the qualities to develop that will help the seeker make the fastest progress. In my case through beauty and self-giving

The literal meaning of my name is Bright, and the spiritual meaning is:

“Bright, beautiful and self-giving,
heart of aspiration and life of dedication”

Received in New York on May 9th 2007.

Since receiving my name a few people have asked what my family think about it and they are great about it. I will admit that I was a little nervous about telling my parents at first, in case they thought I was rejecting the name they gave me – which isn’t the case. But they were so great about it. They congratulated me and bought me Ice Cream Charlies on the way back from the airport. The next day even they called up my house and I had just woken up and answered the phone with my old name. Dad laughed hard and corrected me.