Why ninety nine names?

Sufis have beautiful names for God; in all they have ninety-nine names for God. One wonders why not one hundred? It looks so incomplete. For a certain, subtle reason, the hundredth name has been kept silent. That is the true name of God which cannot be uttered. The tao that can be uttered is not the true tao and the God that can be spoken of is not the true God, because the word ’God’ falsifies the reality of God.

So the hundredth name is the true name – what Hindus call ’satnam’, the true name – but it can’t be uttered. It will lose its beauty if it is uttered. It remains unuttered, at the deepest core of the heart. But ninetynine names can be uttered just as a help to reach the hundredth. The hundredth name is almost a nothingness – what buddhas have called ’nirvana’, nothingness. So we can call these the ninety-nine names of nothingness.

This method has been used by all the religions of the world. These names of God are not just names – they contain much more. Each name is a methodology... very potential. Rightly understood it can transform your life.
- Osho