Bhakti Vinod Thakur told them that the priest must have only repeated the syllables of the Name, the Nama-aksara. What he was producing was only a mayik sound, a physical, lip-deep sound. It did not have the spiritual essence; the life of the Name was absent when he was chanting. It was Namaparadha, offensive chanting. Bhakti Vinod asked them, «What was his character?» They said, «He was not a good man. He committed many sinful acts. That we know. But we can’t deny the fact that he used to chant the Name of the Lord almost always. How could he become a ghost?»
Bhakti Vinod Thakur explained that the physical sound of the Name is not the Name proper. The priest had been committing offences to the Holy Name (Namaparadha), and as a result became a ghost. They asked, «Then how can he be released from that wretched condition?» Bhakti Vinod said, «If he meets a bona fide sadhu who has a genuine connection with Krishna, and he hears the real Name, or the proper explanation of Bhagavad-gita or Srimad Bhagavatam from his lips, then he may be released from his ghostly condition. It is mentioned in the scriptures that this is the only way to become free from the entanglement of material nature.» After this discussion, Bhakti Vinod Thakur and Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati left Kulina Gram.
From that day on, all the troubles caused by the ghost at the temple in Kulina Gram ceased. The villagers were astonished. One of them said, «That priest who had become a ghost must have been released from his ghostly condition after hearing the Holy Name chanted by Bhakti Vinod Thakur. When the trouble began, Bhakti Vinod loudly chanted the Name, and gradually, by hearing the Holy Name of Krishna from his holy lips, that suppressed soul has been liberated from his condition as a ghost.»
After that, many people journeyed to see Bhakti Vinod Thakur. They would tell him, «We are confident that you are a great Vaisnava — after hearing the Holy Name of Krishna from your lips, a ghost has been released.» This story was published in the newspapers, and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Prabhupad used to recount this story of his own experience with Bhakti Vinod Thakur.
The point is that simply the external sound of the Name is not the real Name. The most important thing is the spiritual realisation backing the Name — that is the real Name. Otherwise, a tape recorder can pronounce that Holy Name of Krishna. Even a parrot can pronounce the Name — but the physical sound is not the thing itself. In the background there must be spiritual truth, which is conscious. That super-knowledge is beyond the knowledge of this mundane plane.