The Only Real Thing in All the World(s)

Reflections on Bhaktivinoda Thakur, the Bhagavad-gītā, and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

In one of his morning songs, Bhaktivinoda Thakur writes:

“There is nothing else in the 14 worlds except the holy name.”

It’s a bold claim. In all the vast layers of reality—earthly, heavenly, and beyond—he says there’s only one real thing: the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.

That means no object, no position, no experience—not even your carefully constructed identity—is truly real in the same way the holy name is.

This idea is echoed in the Bhagavad-gītā:

“That which is unreal has no endurance, and that which is real never ceases to be.”

(Bhagavad-gītā 2.16)

In other words, what’s temporary can’t be truly real. Real things don’t end. If it has a beginning and an expiration date, it’s not the full truth. It may feel real, it may look real—but it will disappear.

Even more strongly, the opening verse of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says:

“This material world appears factual, but in fact it is unreal—like seeing water in fire or land on water.”

(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.1)

Think about that. Water shimmering over fire. A mirage of land dancing on a hot road. That’s how this world appears—solid, important, urgent—but it’s not what it seems.

So when Bhaktivinoda Thakur says the holy name is the only thing of substance, he means it. The name of God is not just a sound—it’s eternal reality itself, descending into this illusory world to wake us up.

Everything else will pass. But the name stays.

And the more we give our heart to it, the more we begin to experience what is truly real.

A recent piece of a devotee with a grey sikha crying tears of love as he sprays the holy name