The holy Vishnu Sahasranamam

There was this time in my life, around late 2001, when I felt severely depressed, and even seriously thought about ending it all, thinking that life was
worthless and there's nothing worth to live for. Outwardly I guess I behaved ok but inwardly a huge churning was going on. I just gave up my job, and used to go to places in and around Bangalore, aimlessly, but in fact trying to get peace somewhere, some way. It went on for a full 3-4 months or so, as I could not
even find anyone else who would understand what exactly I was going thru then. Ultimately I am not sure whether it was cowardice that helped me from taking that final decision to end it all. It could very well have been the practice of mentally chanting the holy Vishnu Sahasranamam. I started the practice just for the heck of it. For about a month I continued to chant it irregularly, especially on weekends or while travelling. Like many other stotras, I had learnt
this from my father, even at a very young age, and for many years in my childhood we had this practice of chanting it at home every other evening, my two sisters and father sitting beside me, we all huddled together before the pictures of the God(desses). Thus Vishnu Sahasranama(VSN) was like a companion to me from a very young and impressionable age. However, as we grew up, slowly we discontinued the practice, although on special festival days we continued to sit together and chant the stotram. Hence I never really forgot it in my entire life. Well it so happened that after a few days of casual, mental repetition of the holy VSN, slowly, quite unconsciously, the huge clouds of pain and depression hounding my mind started drifting away. Against my own will which persistently told me to give up, I chose to try for other jobs, and albeit reluctantly, I found myself answering questions during interviews and as a result I landed up 2 jobs in Bangalore itself, very quickly. However the real change in my life came when I chose to attend an interview with a much smaller organization in
my native place, Trivandrum. I was all along not really interested in the outcome of any of these interviews. It's so difficult to explain the feeling in
words - and as it happened, I never negotiated the salary either. I was just fine with going along with the tide, wherever it led me. But really, looking back,
it was such a HUGE turn around in my life. And I have to thank the holy VSN for that !!!!

Even much later, whenever I found myself in a depressed mood caused by various external events, as and when I resorted to the holy VSN, it seemed to not only uplift my spirits, but also to turn around the situation as well, for the better. I could never explain it to myself why it should be so, what mysterious power lies therein. But there it is, the life of this insignificant human being is a perfect example for the transformation that can be meted out by this stotram.

Here's an excerpt from Swami Krishnananda's writings on VSN "At the age of about 16 or 17 I learned the whole of the Bhagavadgita by heart, and also the holy Vishnu Sahasranama that caught my attention and my affection. I loved my mother, who was an illiterate lady, so much that I told her it would be good to recite every day Sri Visnu Sahasranama Stotram. It is a surprise to me again that she, by sheer oral hearing, mastered the Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram. Wherever I went I used to propagate the Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram, and even those who had scant respect for religious life were caught by the fire of my insistence that it is good to recite the Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram. People around me, wherever I went, were turned by my insistence on the study and recitation of this
Stotra by everyone."