Vishnu Sahasranamam
(Meanings:
based upon the commentary of Shankaracharya)
Meanings:
Courtesy:
http://www.mypurohith.com
Sanskrit
script
courtesy: Shri. N. Krishnamachari: http://home.attbi.com/~chinnamma/
Vishnu
Sahasranama means the “Thousand Names of Vishnu.” This
narrative is based upon the commentary of Shankaracharya. Acharya sankara
reached the feet of his Guru, Sri Govindapaachaarya, and on the bank of
Narmada, the Nambootiri-boy from kaaladi got initiated into the secrets of the
Mahaavaakyas. At the end of his short but intense study, sankara, the inspired
missionary, wanting to fulfill his glorious work, craved from the blessings of
his teacher. Govindapa Acharya tested sankara by ordering him to write an
exhaustive commentary (Bhaashya) upon the Vishnu Sahasranaama. He accomplished
his great task and the very first work of the Upanishadic commentator, sankara,
the greatst Hindu missionary of the 7 th century, thus came to see
the light of the day.
Govindaacharya,
satisfied with the proficiency of the student blessed him and set him on the
road of service and action. Earning the grace of the teacher and the blessings
of the Lord Vishnu, Sri sankara inaugurated an incomparable revival movement of
the decadent culture of the 7th century Hinduism. We shall here
follow closely Sankara’s commentary and also draw our material from the Puranic
literature that has an endless store of appeal to the hearts of all devotees.
The Vishnu
Sahasranaama was composed by Sri Veda Vyaasa, the author of the
Puraanas, and we meet this great chant in his classical work, the Mahaabaarata,
Prince Yudhisthira, the eldest of the pandavas, at the end of the war
approached Bheeshma Pitaamaha, when the mighty grandsire of the Kuru family was
lying on the bed of arrows, unconquered and in conquerable, awaiting the scared
hour of his departure to the feet of the lord. Yudhishthira, the righteous,
asked six questions, Bheeshma, the constant devotee of Krishna, the gigantic
Man of Action, calmly answered them all. This is how we find the “Thousand
Names of Lord Vishnu” introduced in the immortal classic of the Hindus, the
Mahaabaarata.
For
the eradication of all obstructions, I meditate ("dhyayeth")
on Vishnu, who is wearing ("dharam") a white
("shukla") cloth ("ambara"),
who is of the color ("varnam") of the moon
("sashi"), who has four ("chatur")
arms ("bhujam"), and who has a placid expression
("prasanna") on His face ("vadanam").
Shree Vaisham păyana uvacha:
Shruthvă
dharmăna séshéna păvananicha sarvashaha
Yudhishtara
shanthanavam punarévăbya bashatha
Vaisampayana,
the narrator to Dhritrastra says: Yudhishthira, as a righteous man ("dharamana")
of spiritual inclination, with the mortal integrity ("paavanaani")
of a careful mortal, asks ("bhaashatha") Bhishma
("shaantanavam") quite an interesting set of
questions which are typical queries which the heart of seekers will always ask.
Yudhishtira uvacha
Kimékam
daivatham loke kim vápyekam parăyanam
Sthuvantha kam kamarchanda
prapnuyur mănavă shubam
Who
("kim") is the greatest ("ekam")
Lord ("daivatam") in the world ("loke")?
Who
is the one ("ekam") refuge ("paraayanam")
for all?
By
glorifying ("sthuvantah") whom ("kam")
can man ("manavah") reach the Auspiciousness
("shubam") (peace and prosperity)?
By
worshipping ("archantah") whom can a man reach auspiciousness
(peace and prosperity)?
Ko dharma sarva dharmănam
bhavatha paramo mathaha
Kim japan muchyathé janthur
janma samsăra bandhanăth
What
("ko") is, in thy opinion, the Greatest Dharma?
By
("kim") doing japa of what can “creatures” (jantu)
go beyond ("mutchyate") the bonds ("bandhanaath")
of samsara?
Shree Bheeshmă Uvacha
Jagath
prabhum deva devam antham purushothamam
Sthuvan
năma sahasréna purusha saththo thithaha
The supreme ("uttamam")
Purusha, who is ever up and working for the welfare of all, the Lord ("prabhum")
of the world ("jagat") the endless ("anantam")
– Sri Maha Vishnu.
Thameva chăr chayanth nithyam bhakthya purusha mavyayam
Dhayăyan
sthuvan namasyamsha yajamănas thamevacha 10
By meditating upon ("sthuvan
naama"), by ("cha") worshipping
("archayan") and by prostrating at the same
Purusha, man can reach true Auspiciousness.
Anădhinidhanam vishnum sarva lokamahesvaram
Lokădhyaksham
sthuvan nithyam sarva dhukkă thigo bhavéth
The greatest Dharma is the
one Vishnu, who has neither a beginning (Aadi) nor an end
(Nidhanam), the supreme Lord ("maheshwaram")
of the world. All creatures can go beyond the bonds of samsar, “and he goes
beyond all sorrows” who daily ("nityam") chants
("stuvan") the sahasranaamas and within
glorifies “the knower of the world” (Lokaadhyaksha).
Brahmanyam sarva dharmangyam lokănăm keerthivardhanam
Lokanătham
mahath bhootham sarva bhootha bhavothbhavam
Esha mé sarvadharmănăm dharmodhi kathamo mathaha
Yath
bhakthyă pundari kăksham sthavai rar-chén nara ssatha
Paramam yo mahath teja paramam yo mahath thapaha
Paramam
yo mahath brahma paramam ya parăyanam
He who is the great ("mahat")
effulgence ("tejah"); He who is the Great
controller ("tapah"); He who is the Supreme
All-Pervading Truth; ("brahma") he who is the
Highest (Param) Goal (Ayanam)-the
Lord Vishnu.
Pavithrăm pavithram yo mangalănăncha mangalam
Daivatham
dévathănăncha bhoothănăm yovyaya pithă 15
He who is ("yo")
the very sanctity ("pavitram") that sanctifies
all sacred things ("pavitraanaam"); he who is
most auspicious ("mangalam"); he who is the god
("devataa") of gods ("daivatam");
he who is the eternal ("avyayah") father ("pitaa")
of all creatures ("bhootaanaam") is the one god
– VISHNU.
Yatha sarvăni bhoothăni bhavanthyădhi yugăgamé
Yasmimscha
pralayam yănthi punaréva yugakshayé
Thasya loka pradhănasya jagan-nădhasya bhoopathé
Vishnor
nama sahasrm mé srunu păpa bhayăpaham
Yăni nămăni gounăni vikyăthăni mahăthmanaha
Rushibhi
parigeerthăni thăni vakshăyămi bhoothayé
Rushirnămnăm sahasrasya védhavyăso mahămunihi
Chchando-nushtup
thadha dhévo bhaghavăn dhévagee-suthaha
Amruthăm soothbhavo bheejam shakthir dhévaki nandhanaha
Thrisămă
hrudhayam thasya shănthyarthé viniyujyathe 20
Vishnum jishnum mahăvishnum prabhavishum mahéswaram
Anaika
roopa dhaithyăntham namămi purushoth-thamam
----------------------------------------------------------Meanings
of the Dialogue------------------------------------------------
Yudhistirau Uvaachaa:
(Question 1.) Kim ekam
daivatam loke?
Who
("kim") is the greatest ("ekam")
Lord ("daivatam") in the world ("loke")?
(Answer 1.)
Pavitraanaam pavitram yo
Mangalaanaam cha mangalam
Daivatam devataanam cha
He
who is ("yo") the very sanctity ("pavitram")
that sanctifies all sacred things ("pavitraanaam");
he who is most auspicious ("mangalam"); he who
is the god ("devataa") of gods ("daivatam");
he who is the eternal ("avyayah") father ("pitaa")
of all creatures ("bhootaanaam") is the one god
– VISHNU.
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(Question
2. ) Kim vaapyekam paraayanam?
Who is the one ("ekam") refuge
("paraayanam") for all?
(Answer 2.)
Paramam yo mahat-tejah
Paramam yo mahat-tapah
Paramam yo mahat-brahma Paramam yah paraayanam.
He
who is the great ("mahat") effulgence ("tejah");
He who is the Great controller ("tapah"); He who
is the Supreme All-Pervading Truth; ("brahma")
he who is the Highest (Param) Goal (Ayanam)-the
Lord Vishnu.
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(Question
3.) Stuvantam kam praapnuyuh (
By
glorifying ("sthuvantah") whom ("kam")
can man ("manavah") reach the Auspiciousness
("shubam") (peace and prosperity)?
Answer
3.
Jagat-prabhum deva-devam
Stuvan naama-sahasrena
The
supreme ("uttamam") Purusha, who is ever up and
dong for the welfare of all, the Lord ("prabhum")
of the world ("jagat") the endless ("anantam")
– Sri Maha Vishnu.
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Question 4. (Kam archantah)
praapnuyuh Maanavaah subham?
By worshipping ("archantah") whom
can a man reach auspiciousness
(peace and prosperity)?
Answer 4. Tameva
cha archayan nityam
Stuvan naama-sahasrena
By
meditating upon ("sthuvan naama"), by ("cha")
worshipping ("archayan") and by prostrating at
the same Purusha, man can reach true Auspiciousness.
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Question 5. Ko
dharmah sarva-dharmaanaam
What ("ko")
is, in thy opinion, the Greatest Dharma?
Question 6. Kim
japan muchyate jantuh
By
("kim") doing japa of what can “creatures” (jantu)
go beyond ("mutchyate") the bonds ("bandhanaath")
of samsara?
Answers 5&6.
Anaadi-nidhanam vishnum
Lokaadhyaksham stuvan nityam
Both
questions are answered here: - the greatest Dharma is the one Vishnu, who has
neither a beginning (Aadi) nor an end (Nidhanam),
the supreme Lord ("maheshwaram") of the world.
All creatures can go beyond the bonds of samsar, “and he goes beyond all
sorrows” who daily ("nityam") chants ("stuvan")
the sahasranaamas and within glorifies “the knower of the world” (Lokaadhyaksha).
The
supreme is described as that from which the whole world of names and forms had
risen in the beginning of the creation, that in which the world continues to
exit, that into which alone the world can merge back during the ‘Dissolution’
(Pralaya); this supreme is VISHNU.
After thus answering all questions, “His thousand
Name”, said Bheeshma, “I shall now advise you. Please listen to them with all
attention”. This is how the Sacred Hymn, called as “The thousand names of Lord
Vishnu”, is introduced in the Mahaabhaarata.
------------------------------------------------------END:
Meanings of the Dialogue------------------------------------------------
Extra
Comments: The Supreme cannot be defined and since He is the very substratum of
all qualities, He cannot be denominated by any name, or indicated by any term,
or defined in any language, or ever expressed, even vaguely, in any literary
form. He is beyond both the “Known” and the “Unknown”. He is the very
illumining Principle of Consciousness that illuminates all experiences.
And yet He has many manifestations and, therefore,
He can have infinite names in terms of His manifestations. Definitions should
directly describe the thing defined, and here we have a thousand indirect
definitions with which the Real, the Infinite is being indicated in terms of
the unreal and the finite. These “Thousand names of the Lord” have been
coined and given out by the Rishis. They were collected and strung together
into a joyous Hymn to Vishnu, a garland of devotion and reverence, by the
poet-seer Vyaasa.
Since each of them is thus an indicative
definition of the unknown in terms of the known, each term here is believed to
rocket-us up into the realms of the divine experience, only when we have lifted
our minds towards it through contemplation. Thus
the Vishnu Sahasranaama is employed not only by the devotees, in the sweet
attitude of ‘sporting with the Lord’, but these are also employed by the
contemplative students of philosophy, as gliders to roam in the realms of
inspired Higher Consciousness.
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More commentary: In the Kali-Santarana Upanishad, which is one of the minor Upanishads,
we find the great devotee Naarada approaching Brahmaaji to enquire what is the
way out for man to evolve in these hard days of extrovertedness, which is quite
natural and unavoidable in the Iron-age (Kaliyuga).”Repetition of the names of
Naaraayana is sufficient enough”, was the reply given.
It is to be carefully noted here that in the
sixth question the enquiry was how can ‘creatures’ realise the Highest. Jantu
means ‘that which is born’ (Janana-dharman). So all living creatures are fit
for this easy path. ‘Creatures’ could even include the animal kingdom as it is
described in the Puraanas in their own poetic language. In the Trikutaachala
lake, the elephant that was caught by the crocodile is described as having been
saved by the Lord (Gajendra Moksha). The story of Jadabharata is yet another
example.
Sankara in his commentary describes here Japa
as comprehensive of all the three types. (A) That which can be heard by others;
(B) That which is heard by ourselves; (C) That which is mental.
Vishnu Sahasranaama can be employed in
performing Japa of all these three kinds.
In the following “Thousand Names”, we meet
with, though rarely, some repetitions. Exactly 90 names have been repeated in
this Great Hymn; and of them, 74 are repeated twice, 14 are repeated thrice,
and again 2 of them are found to have been repeated four times. Sometimes, the
terms are repeated as such Vishnu- Vishnu, Siva-Siva etc. and sometimes
different words with the same meaning are also employed (Sreepati- Maadhava;
Pushkaraaksha- Kamalaaksha). These need not be considered as a defect, since
this Hymn is a chant of His Glory .In a chant of glory (stuti) repetitions are
acceptable-it is but a style of the emotional heart to repeat its declarations
of love.
There are exactly 1,031 single “Names” of the
Lord in the 1000-Name-Chant (Sahasranaama). The extra 31 Names are to be
considered each as an adjective qualifying (Viseshana) the immediately
following noun. When one makes Archanaa to the Lord the correct dative case is
to be used. There are 20 double-names in the first 500 Names and 11
double-names in the second half of the chant. There is one indeclinable
(Avyaya) word used, and it (896th) should be used in the dative for Archanaa as
Sanaat Namah; so too the 929th Name in the chant, being a plural noun, should
be used in Archanaa as Sadbhyo Namah.
It will also be found, as we study the
significances of these Divine names, that Vyaasa has employed sometimes
masculine gender, on other occasions feminine gender and some other times even
neuter gender. Wherever it is masculine. , it
denotes Vishnu, the Lord of Lakshmi. and when it is feminine it is indicative
of His Might. Glory or power (devataa) that is manifest everywhere, and when
the term is in neuter gender, it means Pure Brahman, the infinite Reality.
This Archanaa is generally performed by devotees
daily; if this is not convenient they perform this worship at least on their
own birth-days, on eclipse days and on the day on which the Sun moves from one
zodiac to another (the Samkraanti-day). This performance has been prescribed by
the Sastra for warding off troubles arising from the position of planets, anger
of the rulers, incurable diseases and ruthless enemies. The highest effect is
for purifying the mind and thus gaining more and more inner-poise for the
Saadhaka in meditation.
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INSTALLATION OF THE
LORD
All ritualisms start in Hinduism with a
beautiful function-the installation of the Lord in the devotee’s own physical
form. This is technically called as Anga-Nyaasa and Kara-Nyaasa. The
“Installation in the Limbs”, and the “Installation in the Palm”. This is a
method by which the seeker with wilful thoughts and deliberate physical signs
sanctifies himself to be a Divine Temple and installs various sacred deities in
himself.
This helps the student to realise that though
he is worshipping the Lord as a Goal (or an Ideal) other than himself (bheda
or anya), in fact, he is to seek his identity with no traces of
differentiation (Abheda or Ananya), between himself and
the Lord. The final realization is a perfect identity indicated in the
Mahaavaakya. “I am Brahman”. (Aham Brahmaasmi).
Neither in the Northern texts nor in the
original Mahaabhaarata do we find this ‘subjective installation ceremony’ (Anga-Nyaasa)
prescribed. However, pundits of ritualism in the South employ the Anga-Nyaasa;
and it being such a beautiful act, so very helpful to the seekers, we give here
below the most popular one practised widely in the South.
This “Installation Ceremony” declares to the
devotees that the enchanting form of Vishnu is to be ultimately realised as One
Infinite Reality without names or forms-in which the recognition of even the
distinction of the meditator-meditated- meditation is to cease. Beside this deep significance, even though it be only for the time
being, the student is also given a sense of purity and sanctity in himself.
Just as a devotee feels highly inspired in the divine atmosphere of a sacred
temple, so too, after the Anga-Nyaasa, however shattered we might have been,
before we entered the Pooja-room, we can artificially work ourselves up into a
divine mood of peace and purity.
The body itself is rendered as the temple of
the Lord, wherein the various limbs become the altars upon which, with a heart
of love and faith, the devotee invokes and installs various deities. In this
process, in order to bring the full blast of the sacred suggestions to him, the
repetition of each of these mantras is emphasised by a corresponding physical
sign. The idea is only, as we have already explained, to establish the
correct mood for devoted contemplation.
A.
asya Vishnu-sahasranaama-stotrasya veda-vyaasa Rishih
For this sacred chant, the “Thousand Names of
Lord Vishnu”, Sri Veda Vyaasa is the divine Rishi.
Great mantras of deep spiritual significance
and sublime Vedic dignity are not mere poetic compositions by mortal fallible
intellects. When a. mastermind through meditation transcends the lower levels
of his personality and soars into the higher mental altitudes, through his
contemplation, there he ‘receives’ certain ‘revelations’ that are faithfully
repeated by them to the world. Such ‘heard’ statements (Srutam)
alone have the power to stand against the onslaught of the intellect, the
ravages of time, the forces of criticism etc.
Such statements when contemplated upon by
lesser seekers, they too, in the spiritual cadence of these mantras, get
unconsciously uplifted into realms unknown, and there they come to live a world
of experiences unfrequented by the ordinary multitudes. The ‘author of the
mantra’ is thus termed in our Vedas as the ‘Seer’ (Mantra- Drashtaa).
Such Rishis themselves admit that they did not manufacture, compose or create
the mantra, but they had a revelation or vision (Darsanam)
of the mantra.
The Mantra- Drashtaa, the Rishi, is the guru of
the seeker, who is seeking his path with the help of that particular mantra. The
Rishi of a mantra is installed at the roof of the head and the
seeker, in his seat of Vishnu-Sahasranaama-chanting,
Symbolism: ...
chants this mantra in his mind, and, with his right-hand thumb,
middle-finger and ring-finger touches the top of his head.
B. Anushtup Chandah
The metre ("chandah")
in which the revealed mantra comes to the teacher is also mentioned because it
orders the discipline that should be followed while chanting the mantra. Anushtup
is the name of the particular metre in which this thousand-name- chant on
Vishnu is sung. The chant is to come out through the mouth, and therefore, the ‘altar
of the metre’ can be only the mouth.
Symbolism: The
fingers that were touching the roof of the head now come down to touch
the lips, when the mantra ‘B’ is repeated in the mind by the
seeker.
C. Sri Vishvaroopo Mahaavishnur-Devataa
Lord Vishnu of the form of the entire universe
of variegated names and forms (Vishva-roopah) is the deity
of the mantra. Vishnu is the theme of the chant. The Lord of Vaikuntha is the
altar at which the devotee is preparing to offer himself in humble dedication
and utter surrender.
Symbolism: Since
Lord Vishnu is, to the devotee, the Lord of his heart, the very centre of his
personality, while chanting mentally the mantra 'C' the student, installs the
Lord in his heart, bringing the fingers from the lips down to touch
his bosom.
D.
Devakee-nandanah srashteti Saktih
Every deity is a manifestation of the mighty
Omnipotency of the Supreme. The creator and sustainer (Srashtaa)
of Dharma, the son of Devaki (Devakeenandana), is the manifested
power ("shaktih") of the Almighty.
Symbolism: This
creative power of righteous-ness and peace is installed at the navel (naabhi)
point, and, therefore, the fingers come down from the heart
region to the navel.
E. Sankha-bhrit
nandakee chakree iti
Keelakam
The mighty Creative Power invoked and
established on the navel region cannot be as such conceived by the mind.
Therefore, to ‘nail’ it down (Keelakam) and establish it
in our comprehension, this mantra conceives ("udbavah") the
Power as the Lord, who bears the Conch ("shanka"),
the Sword, named Nandaka, and the Discus ("chakra").
This is only to show how the total cosmic Power, expressed in terms of our
present understanding as creation, sustenance, and destruction, is but a
manifestation of the Lord. The conch (Sankha) represents the ‘call’
of the Reality, the Lord’s own declarations stated in the scriptures. Nandaka,
the sword that punishes to bring joy (Nandana) into the community and
the destruction, without which evolution is impossible, is represented
by the concept of the Discus (Chakra).
Here it is also to be noted that the blowing
or the conch represents speech; wielding the sword
represents action and the discus that takes off from Him
at His will, represents his thoughts. Thus
this great Power installed at the navel expresses itself in the world through
speech, action and thought.
Symbolism: To
conceive fully this form is to hold firmly the Lord’s own feet, and, therefore,
when this mantra is mentally chanted, the fingers move away from the navel, and
with both hands the seeker touches his own feet.
Here it is to be carefully noted how:
the Guru is kept at the roof of the
head,
the Veda (metre) in the mouth,
the
Lord in the heart,
the
Power in the navel and, thereby, the seeker
himself becomes so sacred that he prostrates unto himself by holding his own
feet.
F.
Saarnga-dhanvaa-gadaa-dhara iti Astram
Whenever there is a large wealth in a box it
becomes a treasure and it is locked and safely protected; when this divine
installation has taken place, and therefore, the body has become the Temple of
the Almighty, and therefore, it has become a scared treasure house to be
protected. But the seeker himself has no power to protect, and so, he invokes
the very weapon (Astra) of Vishnu, the protector of the world, to
stand by for the defence of the sanctified bosom. Saarga
is the name of the Bow (Dhanus) of Vishnu and the Mace (Gadaa)
is another of his weapons. These two form the artillery of defence; which are
manned by the Lord himself.
Symbolism: At
this moment when this mantra is mentally chanted, it is significant that the
student lifts the palm away from the feet, and with the stretched out index and
middle fingers of the right palm snaps them on the open left palm.
G.
Rathaangapaanir-akshobhya
iti Netram
Lord Vishnu as Lord Krishna played the part of the charioteer
and gained the name “Rein-handed” (Ratha-anga-paani). A
charioteer has to guide every step of every horse in order that the chariot be
safe, and the travel be pleasant. Of the sense organs, the eyes ("netram")
are the most powerful and once they are well guided, all others also follow
their heels. When Lord Vishnu, the charioteer, Himself is installed in
the eyes ("netram"), the individual is safe ("rakshobya")
in his spiritual pilgrimage.
Symbolism: Therefore, invoking
the Divine Driver, with reins in his hand (Rathaangapaani), He is installed in
the pair of eyes, and at the moment of mentally chanting this, both the eyes
are touched by the tip of the fingers.
H.
Trisaamaa saamagah saameti Kavacham
He (Tri-Saamaa) who is glorified by all the three
("tri") types, of Saama songs (Deva-Vrata-Prokta),
He who is the very theme that is glorified by the Saama songs (Saamagah),
He whose glory itself is the manifested Sama Veda (Saama), He is none other
than the Supreme This great Lord is installed a, an armour ("kavacham")
to wear for self-protection.
Symbolism: While chanting this in the mind the seeker first touches with the tip
of his finger, of each arm, the same shoulders, and afterwards crosses the arm,
in front of him making fingers of each palm touch the other shoulder-as if he
is actually wrapping himself and wearing the divine armour.
I.
Anandam brahmeti Yonih
The Supreme ("para") Brahman, the
Infinite Bliss ("anandam") is ("eti")
the very womb (Yonih) from which the universe has emerged
out. The procreated world of endless variety has only one Eternal Father, and
this source is immaculate Bliss. When this is chanted the seeker installs
the Bliss Infinite at the very place of procreation in himself. It
is a spot in this great divine temple of the body, wherein is the one source,
from which the world has emerged out, manifesting itself as the power of
procreation (Taittireeya).
J. Visvaroopa
iti Dhyaanam
The entire band of experience gained through the instruments of the
body, mind and intellect in terms of perceptions, emotions and thoughts
together is indicated by the term Visva. He, who has
manifested to be the total world of experiences (Visva), must therefore be
Visvaroopah. The cosmic form of the Lord (Visvaroopa)
is the total universe. Thus to meditate (Dhyaanam) upon
Him as the whole universe, is a method of installing Him in our
intellect.
Symbolism: At this moment the
student locks his fingers and sits in meditation.
K.
Ritam sundarasnah kaala iti Dikbandhah
Truth (Ritam), the lord,
and his weapon, the discus, called Sudarsana, and his
annihilating power, Time (Kaala)-these three are the
mighty forces that guard this scared temple of life in the
seeker at the outer frontier of his world of influence (Dik-Bandhah).
To be truthful and ever to seek the great Reality (Ritam), to discriminate and see
the play of the Lord in all situations (Su-Darsanam), and to control the very
instrument of the time (Kaala), which is intellect in the seeker,
is to guard the frontiers of one’s spiritual world, against the hoards of
inimical forces.
Symbolism: At
this moment the student snaps his middle finger with the help of his thumb and
runs his palm around his head.
L.
Sree-mahaa-vishnu-preetyarthe jape Viniyogah
Having thus installed through sankalpa
the Lord in himself and having come under the protecting wings of the mighty
lord, here is the declaration how he is going to employ himself in
it. He is going to engage himself (Viniyoga) in japa (jape)
of the “Thousand Names of Lord” ("sahasra-naama").
Now the question is: with what motive should be undertake this chanting? The
answer is in the very statement that it is only for the grace
(Preetyarthe) of Sree Maha Vishnu.
Symbolism:
After chanting this declaration in the mind, the saadhaka, takes a spoon of
water (Teertham) in his right palm and pours it on the floor in front of him.
A true seeker is not desire-ridden for material
satisfaction, and, therefore, he can have only one intention-the grace of lord,
which will manifest in him as contemplative power.
These twelve ‘slogans’ are
chanted for invoking and installing these refreshing and spiritually benign
ideas on the limbs of the devotee himself. At this juncture this makes him
inspired sufficiently for higher meditation upon the truth as indicated and
directed by the thousand terms in Sahasranaama.
This beautiful subjective ritual is known as
‘Installation on the limbs’ (Anga-nyaasa). Not only that the
student temporarily discovers a new surge of inspiration, but even beginners
feel highly relieved, at least temporarily, from the load
of his senses of ‘sins’. When this is properly performed with a right attitude
and devotion, the student gains identification (saaroopya)
with the Lord of his heart, at the outer levels of his personality.
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THE
MEDITATION STANZA
saantaakaaram
bhujaga-sayanam
padmanaabham
suresam
“We meditate ("vande")
upon the master ("naatham") of the universe
("sarva-lokaika"), lord Vishnu, who is ever
peaceful ("shaanta-aakaaram"), who
lies on the great serpent-bed ("bhujaga-shayanam"),
from whose navel ("nabhi") springs the lotus
("padma") of the creative power, who is the
controller ("eesham") of the gods ("sura").
visvaadhaaram
gagana-sadrisam
megha-varnam
subha-angam
... whose form ("aakaaram")
is the entire universe ("vishwa"), and who is
the foundation ("aadhaaram") for the universe.
who is all pervading ("sadrusham") as the
sky("gagana"), of the hue ("varnam")
of the cloud ("megha"), of fascinating beauty
("shuba-angam"),
Laksmikantam Kamalanayanam
Yogibhir-dhyaana-gamyam
... the lord ("kaantam")
of Laksmi, the lotus ("kamala") eyed ("nayanam"),
he who dwells in the hearts ("bhir") of the
yogis and who can be approached ("gamyam") and
perceived through meditation ("dhyaana"),
vande vishnum
bhava-bhaya-haram
sarva-lokaika-naatham.
We pray to ("vande")
to Lord Vishnu, he who is the destroyer ("haram")
of the fear ("bhaya") of samsara ("bhava") and the Lord
of all ("sarva") the worlds ("loka").
This is the meditation upon the form of the
lord, visualising Him thus in His, all-Comprehensive nature, and meditating
upon Him, the seeker starts the vishnu-sahasranaama chanting.
(Approximate meanings:
Whose body is of the dark
("shyamam") like the clouds ("megha").
He lives ("vaasam")
in the pure ocean of milk ("peeta-kousheya").
He has Lakshmi
("sri") in his chest ("vatsangam"). )
["shanka" = conch,
"chakram" = discus; "kireeta" = crown; "kundalam"
= ear-rings,
"peeta" = yellow, "vastram"
= clothes; "saraseeruha-ekshanam" = lotus-like eyes;
"sahaara" = wide; "vakshasthala"
= chest; "kaustubha" = gem stone;
"namaami" = i pray;
"sirasaa" = bow down with my head; "chatur-bhujam" = to the
four-handed one;
"chandra-aananam" = moon-faced;
"baahum" = hands ]
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Stanza
1
Om
visvam vishnur- vashatkaaro
bhoota-krit
bhoota-bhith
bhaavo
(1) Visvam - He
whose manifestation is the whole universe of forms: the Viraat-Purusha.
The cause is always present in the effects and as such That Form from which the
whole universe has emerged out can only be its own manifestation. The
whole cosmos of gross forms is His own expression, and therefore,
He is called as Viraatpurusha. ‘Sa eva Sarva- Bhootaatmaa Visvaroopo
Yato-Avyayah’. The Sanskrit term Visvam comes from the root Vis, to
enter: Thus it means He who has created and entered into
the entire universe, as the All-Pervading Reality. It can also mean, That into
which the entire universe has entered to remain therein
established. In the Upanishads also we have assertions of similar ideas. It is
only when intellectually, we view the Lord that we come to recognise Him as the
‘cause’ for the universe. When viewed through
contemplation, since the effect is nothing other than the cause, there can be
no world other than Him. In fact, there is nothing other than the Supreme. In
the Mandukya Upanishad we read ‘Omkaara Evedam Sarvam’. In Geeta ‘OM ltyekaaksharam
Brahma’.
(2) Vishnuh -The
term Vishnu is dissolved as Veveshti Vyaapnoti iti Vishnuh-That which
pervades everywhere is Vishnu. That which has the nature of
pervasiveness is Vishnu. He is the one who pervades all and nothing ever
pervades Him. ‘Eesaavaasyam Idam Sarvam’-All this is
indwelt, pervaded by the Lord. This very same idea is described in the typical
style of the Puranas, in the incarnation of the Lord as Vaamana, the short-boy
(Vamana), who, with His three feet, measured the entire universe. Because of
this act, the Lord got the name Vishnu, says Mahaabhaarata. Vishnu Purana (3-1)
says: The root Vis means ‘to enter’. The entire world of things and beings is
pervaded by Him and the Upanishad emphatically insists in its mantra ‘whatever
that is there is the world of change’. Hence it means that He is not
limited by space (Desa), time (Kaala) or substance (Vastu).
(3) Vashatkaarah - ln
the ritualistic portion of the Vedas we find many mantras ending with
‘vashat’ and they are used in pouring devoted and dedicated
oblations. Thus the term Vashatkaara means: He who is
invoked, and for propitiating whom, the oblations are poured in
Vedic ritualism, using mantras ending with vashat.
Also Vashatkaara can mean yajna in its
association and thus the term in its suggestion can signify ‘He who is
of the form of the Yajna’. In the Upanishads also we find this
meaning endorsed when the Upanishad mantra says: “Yajno vai Vishnuh” -
Yajna itself is Vishnu.
(4) Bhoota-bhavya-bhavat-prabhuh - He who is the Lord (Prabhu)
of the Past (Bhooita), the Future (Bhavya)
and the Present (Bhavat). Time is the concept of the
intellect; it expresses itself in the interval between experiences.
Experiences are registered as thoughts and thoughts are ever changing. This very
change is known and experienced by us. The knower of the change must be
something other than the change. Thus, He who is the Illuminator of all
changes, meaning the Consciousness (Aatman) is the Lord Vishnu. He is the One
who is not conditioned by time.
(5) Bhoota-krit -The
Creator (Krit) of all creatures (Bhoota).
This word can be dissolved in two ways:
(a) One who creates the creatures (Bhootaani
Karoti iti Bhoota- Krit) or
(b) One who annihilates
all creatures (Bhootaani Krindati iti Bhoota-krit).
In both these cases, Brahman, the Supreme is
the One Reality that seems to function as the Creator, Sustainer or
Destroyer, when He functions through different gunas in the Total-Mind.
Functioning through a preponderance in Rajoguna, He
becomes the ‘Creator’; through Sattvaguna the ‘Sustainer’,
and through Tamoguna, He Himself expresses as the
‘Destroyer’.
Extra comments: Subjectively, the Atman
functioning through my own mind and intellect is I, the individuality. My
personality entirely depends upon the quality and texture of my own thoughts. I
myself become according to the moods of my mind the creator, sustainer and
annihilator of my world of experiences. He who manifests and functions, in
these three aspects, is the Supreme Vishnu.
(6)
Bhoota-bhrit -One who nurtures ("brith")
and nourishes all beings (living creatures: "bhoota")
in all their attitudes is this Great Reality and, therefore, He is called as
the Bhoota Bhrit. In Geeta there is an elaborate description of this idea in
the l5th Chapter where the Lord points out how, He, as the light in the sun,
fertility in the earth, growth in the plants, nourishment in food, heat in
fire, -becomes Himself the ‘eater’, and, therefore, how He Himself presides
over all the functions of the body and mind, and apparently nurtures and
nourishes the creatures, who are in fact nothing other than Himself.
(7) Bhaavah -One
who ‘becomes’ (Bhavati iti Bhaavah) Himself into
the movable and the Immovable beings and things in the
world. He is the Pure Existence in all the sentient organisms and the
insentient objects in the universe. Hence He is indicated by the term Bhaavah.
(8) Bhootaatmaa -He
is the Aatman (soul) of all the beings ("bhoota"):
The very ‘Be’ in the living beings. Just as the same universal space manifests
in all rooms as the room-space, so the Infinite Life manifesting through any
given vehicle is called the Aatman of the vehicle. It is well known that
space everywhere is one and the same; so too, the One Reality sports as though
different Aatmans. This One Universal Soul is called in Vedanta the
Supreme Brahman (Para-Brahman) .In Bhaagavata, the Lord is addressed as
“You are the One Self in all living creatures ever illumining all their
experiences.’’ In Kathopanishad: “The One enchanting Truth that revels in every
form manifesting in plurality”.
(9) Bhoota-bhaavanah -One who creates and multiplies the creatures;
meaning the One, who is the cause for the birth and who is responsible
for the growth of all living creatures.
Stanza
2
pootaatmaa
paramaatmaa
cha
avyayah
purushah saakshee
10) Poota-atmaa -One
with an extremely Pure (Pootam) Essence; One who is not
affected the least by the impurities of Maayaa. The Self is beyond all
vaasanaas and, therefore, He cannot be affected by anyone of the
manifestations of Maayaa such as thoughts of the intellect, emotions of the
mind or the perceptions of the body. Immaculate is ever the Self, and so He is
termed as the Pure Self (Poota-Aatmaa).
(11) Parama-atmaa -The
Supreme, meaning that which transcends all limitations and imperfections
of matter: in short, the Transcendental Reality. The Spirit is other
than matter, and that in its presence, the vestures of matter, borrowing their
dynamism from Him, play their parts rhythmically at all times. This has
been the assertion found chorusly repeated in all the Upanishads and in the
entire Vedantic literature. Sankara in Aatma Bodha points out that the Self
is other than the three bodies and that He functions in the microcosm as a
king in the nation. It was also said therein that matter borrows its energy
from the Spirit and continues its activity “as the world from the Sun”.
Kathopanishad and the Geeta guide us from the
outer levels of our personality, stage by stage, into the inner-most sanctum,
and there, the teachers declare, is He the Infinite, transcending all, reigning
in His own glory. “In short, that which remains other than the cause and
effect-Maayaa and matter-is He, the Parama Aatman. In Vishnu Purana this
Supreme is glorified as Maha Vishnu (Paramaatmaa)”-Vishnu Purana 6.4.10...
(12) Muktaanaam paramaa gatih -He who is the final Goal ("parama gathi"),
that is reached by all the liberated souls ("mukta").
The limitations and bondages lived through by man are in fact the destiny of
the matter vestures. Through delusion of non-understanding, we identify with
them and come to suffer the consequent sense of imperfections. To liberate
ourselves from the thraldom of matter is to realize the Self. Hence the Truth
is defined as the Supreme Goal of the emancipated.
This ‘Goal’ to be attained is called as ‘Gati’
in Sanskrit, “The Supreme Goal” (Paramaa Gatih) would
necessarily be then that Goal, having reached which, there is no
return:
“There where having gone, men never return,
That sacred place is My seat”-Geeta Ch. 15. St. 6. In Geeta. (Ch. 8. St. 6)
even
more explicitly the same idea has been asserted by Sri Krishna when He says:
“O Son of Kunti, having reached Me, there
shall be no more any re-birth”.
Again, He defines the final Goal as “That
having reached no return again” – Geeta Ch. 15, st.4.
(13) Avyaah –“Vyaya”
means destruction; destruction cannot be without change;
therefore, that which is “without destruction” (Avyayah) is the changeless.
The Indestructible, and therefore, changeless, can never have any
modifications (Parinaama). For, modification is but the
death of a previous condition and the birth of a new condition. The Eternal
and the Immutable (Avyayah) is the Supreme Sat-chit- aananda, and
every other thing and being come under the hammer or change. The medium in
which all these changes are sustained is Brahman, the Immutable. The
Upanishads glorify Him as “Ajaro Amaro Avyayah”-without old age, death or
change.
(14) Purushah -One
who dwells in the Fort-city (Puri sete iti Purushah).
Herein metaphorically the Rishis conceive our body as a fortress with
nine gate-ways-“Nava Dvaarc Pure Dehee”-(Geeta Ch. 5, St. 13) -and
declare the One who rules within it, like a king, is the Self.
This term can also be dissolved in two more
different ways giving more and more suggestions to the nature of the Self.
Thus, Purusha can mean “That which was before all creatures” -Puraa
Aaseet iti Purushah or it can be
“One who completes and fulfils the Existence
everywhere”, meaning, without whom Existence is impossible (Poorayati iti
Purushah).
This Aatman remains in the bodies of living
creatures as their individuality (Jeeva) and in all the activities, physical,
mental and intellectual, Aatman is not in fact involved but He is therein
only an observer of all that is happening. This will become clear in the
following discussion.
(15) Saakshee -Witness.
In every day life he is a witness who without any mental reservation or
personal interest observes and watches what is happening in a given field
of experience. “Saakshaad Drashtari Saakshee syaad-Amarakosa. “The ‘Knower’
in every bosom is the same Supreme Self”, says Lord Krishna (Geeta Ch. 13,
St. 3). Though thus Consciousness illumines everything, It is only a Witness,
as It knows no change. Just as the sun illumines every thing in the
world and yet the Sun is not affected by the condition of the things it is
illumining, so too Vishnu, the Supreme, illumines all, without Itself
undergoing any change.
According to Paanini Sutras the word Saakshee
is derived from “Sa +akshi”, meaning “direct perceiver”.
(16) Kshetrajnah -One
who knows the body and all the experiences from within the body, is
the Knower-of-the- field, Kshetrajnah. As Brahmapurana would put
it: Bodies are ‘fields’ and the Atman illumines them all without an
effort, and therefore, is called Knower-of-the-field, Kshetrajnah”.
(17) Aksharah -lndestructible:
things which are finite are necessarily conditioned by time and space; the
Infinite is unconditioned, and so It is Aksharah. Since It is
Indestructible, It cannot come under the methods of universal destruction
arising from nature or through the wilful actions of man. “It cannot be
cleaved by instruments of destruction, nor can fire burn It, nor water drench
It, nor air dry It”-(Geeta Ch. 2, St. 23). It is also indicated that the
Supreme Brahman is the Akshara-“Aksharam Brahma Paramam” -(Geeta Ch. 8,
St. 3).
Please note that in the stanza there is the extra
word ‘only’ (Eva) used, indicating that Kshetrajnah is the
Aksharah; there is no difference between them both: the
“Knower-of-the-field” and the “field”.
Stanza
3
yogoh
yoga-vidaam netaa
naarasimha-
vapuh
(18) Yogah -The
one who is to be known or realized through yoga. By
withdrawing the sense organs from their objects of preoccupation, when the mind
of the seeker becomes quietened, he is lifted to a higher
plane-of-consciousness, wherein he attains “yoga”, meaning wherein
he realizes the Reality. At such moments of equanimity and mental quiet “yoga”
is gained: Samatvam yoga uchyate- (Geeta Ch. 2, St. 48).
Since He is experienced through Yoga He is
known as Yogah.
(19) Yoga-vidaam netaa –One who guides ("neta")
all the activities of all men ‘who knows yoga’ (Yogaviti) .To
all men of realization, He who is the Ideal, is the Supreme Lord. Just as our
activities are today ordered by our selfishness and individuality, the
Ideal that commands and orders all activities in the bosom of a Man of
Realization is his God-Consciousness. This realm of experience is
Mahaa Vishnu. In the Geeta also we find the same idea expressed, in the
language of emotion, when the Lord says: “Those who contemplate upon Me with
total dedication, their daily welfare and spiritual progress I shall bear”.
(20) Pradhaana-purusha-eesvarah -Lord of both Pradhaana and Parusha.
The term Pradhaana means ‘maayaa’-the
total cause for the entire universe of forms.
The term Purusha indicates the
individuality in each one of us-the Jeeva.
Lord Eesvara means the Master (Eeshte iti Eesvarah).
The Lord of Maayaa and Jeeva means the one
who makes both these possible to exist and function. The One Infinite
Reality which Itself manifests as Maayaa, Jeeva and Eesvara is the Essence in
Vishnu.
(21) Naarasimha-vapuh -One whose form ("vapuh") is half human
("nara") and half lion ("simha").This
is the famous fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu which He took in order to
destroy the atheistic tyrant Hiranyakasipu and bless his devotee, Prahlaada.
(22) Sreemaan -One
who is always with ("maan") Sree. Mother Sree is
Mother Lakshmi. In the Puranic terminology Lakshmi stands for all powers,
all faculties. The total manifested power potential in the Omnipotent
is Lakshmi. These powers are ever in Him and therefore, He is the Sreemaan.
(23) Keshavah -He who
has beautiful and graceful (Va) locks of hair (Kesa) is familiar as in Lord
Krishna’s form. Or, it can also mean, one who destroyed
("vah") the demon Kesin who was sent to destroy the
child-Krishna by his uncle Kamsa This interpretation is endorsed by the Vishnu
Purana, 5.16.23.
(24) Purushottamah -The
constitution of the individuality, Jeeva, when analysed, we find that it
is made up of both the perishable-matter and the Imperishable-Spirit.
The Spirit expressing through matter is the individuality, Jeeva. Reflected moon is
the moon of the heavens dancing on the surface of water. Just as the moon is
something different from its reflections and the water surfaces, so too the
Self is, in its transcendental nature, something different from both matter,
the perishable, and Spirit, the Imperishable, ever playing in matter. This
Transcendental Truth is indicated by the term the Supreme Purusha
(Purusha-uttama).
Stanza
4
sarvas-sharvas-sivah
sthaanur
sambhavo
bhaavano bhartaa
(25) Sarvah -He
who is the all. He being the One cause from which have sprung forth
all things and beings. He himself is the all. In Mahabharata Udyoga Parva
(70-12) we read: “As He is the origin and end of all, whether existent or
otherwise, and as He, at all times, cognises all, He is called “Sarva”. All waves rise from the same
ocean and, therefore, the ocean is the very essence in all waves.
(26) Sharvah - The Auspicious One: meaning,
the One who gives auspiciousness to those who hear of Him,
to those who have a vision of Him, and to those who meditate
upon Him.
(27) Sivah -The One who is Eternally Pure. In Him can never
be any contamination of the imperfection of Rajas and Tamas. ‘Non-apprehension
of Reality’ is Tamas and ‘misapprehensions of Reality’ constitute the Rajas.
In the Reality Itself there can be neither of them ‘He is Brahman; He is
Siva’, so the Upanishad declares of the Absolute Oneness, which is Vishnu.
(28) Sthaanuh: -Generally this term Sthaanuh is used for
the permanent pillars that mark the frontiers of a country. They
are permanent, immovable, fixed. The Truth, that remains thus firm
and motionless, without movement, permanently established in Its own Realm
of Purity, is called by the term Sthaanuh-the Pillar. “Eternal,
All-Pervading, the Pillar, Motionless (is) this Ancient One,” so says Geeta
Ch. 2, 24.
(29) Bhootaadih - The very cause ("aadi") for
the five great elements: Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth.
(30) Avyayah Nidhih -The Imperishable treasure.
The term Nidhi means ‘that in which precious things are stored
away or preserved secretly’: (Nidheeyate Asmin iti Nidhih). Therefore, He
who is the substratum-container-for the entire universe is the Nidhi.
During the dissolution (sleep) the One into Whom all things go to lie merged
therein temporarily, till the next projection or creation (waking), as this
Immutable Treasure Chest-the Vishnu. Here ‘unchangeable’ (Avyaya)
is qualifying ‘Nidhi’.
(31) Sambhavah -One who takes up by his own free will
various incarnations for the glory of the world is Sambhavah. In
fact, He alone is the source of all that is created. In Harivamsa we read the
assertion: “I am the Narayana, the Source from which all creatures and things
spring forth”. To uphold Dharma I
shall manifest again and again, declares the Lord in His Geeta:
(32) Bhaavanah -To do Bhaavana is to give: One who gives
everything to His devotees is Bhaavanah. The Lord is One who gives
both joy and sorrow to each one according to his deserts. In the case of
humanity it is He again who destroys the evil and blesses the good.
(33) Bhartaa -The One who ‘Governs’ the entire living
world. Governing includes protecting the world from all harms
and serving it positively with progress and joy. One who does these to all
creatures at all times is Vishnu-the great Bhartaa.
(34) Prabhavah - The One who is the very womb
of all the Five Great Elements. It is That from which even the very
concepts of time and space have sprung from.
(35) Prabhuh -The Almighty Lord. He who is the All-Powerful. He
who has the supreme freedom to do (Kartum), not
to do (Akartum), or to do quite differently
from what He had already done (Anyathaa Kartum) is
considered as the Prabhuh.
(36) Eesvarah -One who has the ability to do anything
without the help of other beings or things is called Eesvara.
Stanza
5
svayambhooh
sambhur aadityah pushkaraaksho mahaasvanah
anaadi-nidhano dhaataa vidhaataa dhaaturuttamah.
(37) Svayambhooh -The
one who manifests Himself
from Himself is considered as self-made.
Everything born or produced must have a cause. The Supreme is the cause from
which all effects arise, and Itself has no cause. This un- caused
Cause-of-all, this Ultimate Cause, with reference to which every thing else
is considered as ‘effects’ is in itself the Absolute Cause. This idea is
indicated by the term Self-made (Svayambhooh).
(38) Shambhuh -He who
brings Auspiciousness- both inner goodness and outer prosperity to
His devotees. Sambhuh is one of the famous names of Lord Siva. By using this
term in invoking Vishnu, by its suggestion, it declares that Vishnu and Siva
are not two Divine Entities, but they are both manifestations of the One
Essential Reality.
(39) Aadityah-The Truth
(Purusha) that glows with a golden splendour in the solar system is
called Aadityah. There are twelve Aadityas and of them One is called
Vishnu.
Krishna Himself declares, ‘I am Vishnu among
the Aadityas’ -Aadityaanaam Aham Vishnuh- (Geeta Ch. 10, St. 21).
The word Aaditya can mean ‘Son of Aditi’-signifying
the one who was born as the son of Aditi in His Vaamana incarnation.
The term Aadityah can also mean in Sanskrit ‘One who is like the sun’.
The Sun is the one who illumines all, and every living creature draws its
nurture and nourishment directly or indirectly always from the sun alone.
In the same way Brahman is the one Sun in the universe of living creatures
illumining all experiences of all creatures.
(40) Pushkaraakshah -One who has eyes ("akshah") like
the lotus ("pushkara"). Joy and Peace in the bosom of
an individual are expressed in the world outside at no other point so vividly
as in the eyes. The One, whose inner peace and joy, beaming out
through His eyes, bring into the devoted hearts all the aesthetic beauty and
romantic thrills of seeing a lotus dancing in the breeze, In short, the term
indicates the Lord who with His beautiful looks, magically lifts all the
sorrows in the devotee’s heart and fills it with Peace, Joy and Perfection.
(41) Mahaasvanah- One who possesses thundering
("mahaa") voice of compulsion: "Svana" means ‘sound’.
One whose ‘call’ is thundered in all hearts, familiarly known as the ‘compelling
whisper’ of the Higher.
Or, Svanam can also mean ‘breath’; and so, the term
can mean, ‘He whose great breath is the very Vedas’. “Thus, O Maitreyee,
this has been breathed forth from this great Being what we have as Rigveda.
Yajurveda” -Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad (4.4.10). In the Spiritual literature of
India we often read Vedas described as His breath; He breathed out the Vedas (Nih-svasitam).
(42) Anaadi-nidhanah –One who has neither ("an") birth
(Aadi) nor death (Nidhanum). Thus One who is changeless is
Anaadi-Nidhanam; for, any change should include the death of an old condition
and the birth of newer condition. To the Immortal and the Immutable, change
is impossible.
(43) Dhaataa- One who is the Substratum for the world of names
and forms. And who supports all fields of experiences in all. He who is the
screen for the cinema of empirical experiences’ (Visvam).
(44) Vidhaataa -The One who is the Dispenser of all
‘fruits-of-actions’. In the Karma-kaanda portion of the Vedas,
Eesvara is described as the Dispenser of fruit (Karma- phala-daataa Eesvarah).
He is the Lord who is behind this universe of scientific truths and rhythm. He
is the One who has not only ordered the laws of the nature, but he is the one
afraid of whom, the phenomena dare not disobey his laws anywhere at any time.
The light of the sun, the heart is the fire, the sweetness in the sugar, the
pains in the sin and the joy s in goodness, are all their ‘nature’ and none
dare ever disobey these laws. The one who is thus the unquestionable
law behind the entire universe of laws is Vidhaata.
(45) Dhaatur-uttamah –the fundamentals ("dhaatu") that
form the reinforcement on any existent thing are called Dhaatu. In
science of life, as explored by the Rishis, all corporal forms have risen form
and exist as composed of some definite ‘elemental factor’ called the
Dhaatus. Of the end less varieties of Dhaatus available in
existence, the subtlest Dhaatu, without which no existence, is ever
possible, is the chit Dhaatu, and this is the Dhaatu-ruttamah.
Though
very rarely, we do find some commentators splitting this word into two as
Dhaatu and uttama. But in the majority of the cases we find it taken to form
one term and explained as ‘the subtlest of the Dhaatus’.
Stanza 6
aprameyo hrisheekesah
padmanaabho-a- maraprabhuh
visvakarmaa manustvashtaa sthavishthah sthaviro dhruvah.
(46) Aprameyah –
He, who cannot be defined and explained in terms of any logical term of
reference with other things should necessarily be inexpressible. A thing
that can be directly perceived (Pratyaksha) can be
desired, certain other things, which we may not directly perceive, but can be infer
(anumaama) them from data available. And there are yet
things which can be brought home to the listener by describing them in terms
of similar other objects (Upamaa). Since the infinite has
no ‘Properties’. It cannot be perceived, nor can It be “understood through
inference.” Nor even explained in terms of similar or dissimilar things.” Hence
the supreme Reality, Vishnu, is called as Aprameyah. We can experience him
only by ending all sense of separativeness and becoming one with Him.
(47)
Hrisheekesah
–In the Puranic literature the meaning of the term is ‘close-cropped’
or ‘One who has coiled up his locks of hair’ (Hrissheeka+Eesa).
The
term ‘Hrisheeka’ is an absolute one now, and it means the “sense
organs”. The Aatman, the self as Consciousness is the one who
gives light to all sense organs and, therefore, it is the lord of all sense
organs. This lord is Vishnu.
The obsolete
word Hrisheeka also means the ‘rays’ or that which gives the joy’. Thus the
term Hrisheekas can mean “the Lord of the rays”: the sun and moon. This
way interpreted, commentators point out that the term Hrisheekesah means He who
has Himself becomes the Sun and the Moon.
In
His manifestation as the Sun and the Moon, the Lord Himself whips the world
to wakeful activities and sends the world to sleep and rest. Thus
Hrisheekesa in its deeper significance, is, to all contemplative hearts, the
Lord, who becomes Himself the world, exhausts Himself in His activities, and
ultimately packs His toys and goes to rest at the time of dissolution.
(48)
Padmanaabhah
– One from whose navel ("nabhi") springs the Lotus
("padma"), which is the seat of the four-faced Creator, Brahmaaji.
Lotus
in Hinduism represents Truth or any of Its manifested powers.
The creative faculties in man flow from the navel area (center:
naabhi), and manifests as the ‘four-faced’ inner equipment (Antahkarana)
constituted of the mind, intellect, Chit and ego.
In
the Yoga-sastras, we find a lot of details regarding this concept. According to
them every “idea” springs from Him (Paraa), and then at
the navel area, each of them comes to be ‘perceived’ (Pasyantee).
Thereafter
they play in the bosom as thoughts (Madhayamaa), and at last
they are expressed (Vaikharee) in the outer fields-of –activity.
In
this discussion-upon the evolutionary stages through which every “idea”
becomes an “action” – we gather a clearer insight into the meaning
of the symbolism of “the Creator seated on the lotus”, which
springs forth from the navel of the Lord, the Supreme Vishnu.
(49) Amaraprabhuh -The
Lord ("prabhu") of the Immortals ("a-mara"),
the Devas. The Denizens of the Heavens, including all the office bearers
therein (Dikpaalakas etc.) along with Indra, are called ‘Devas’, and
they enjoy in their heavenly state a relative immortality.
The devas live and continue functioning till
the great dissolution-the Sleep of the Creator. Compared with the short span of
the existence of man on this globe, the aeons through which the Devas live can
be considered as end- less or immortal.
One who serves them with His might, giving
protection and security to all creatures, is called, therefore, Amaraprabhuh.
(50) Visvakarmaa -The
very creator-of the world-of-objects, of all equipments-of-experiences,
and of all experiences in all bosom-is called the Visva-Karmaa.
Herein the Infinite Lord is but a Witness of all that is happening and though
the experienced world is sustained in Him, He is not involved in the
imperfections or mortality, that are happening all around at all times in
the Visvam. “They are in Me, I am not in them”-Geeta.
(51) Manuh -The
term means One who has the ability to reflect upon the Higher
(Mananaseelah Manuh). Manu also means mantra and so, as
applied to the Lord, it can mean as the One who has manifested Himself
in the form of the Vedic mantras.
(52) Tvashtaa -One
who makes gross things of huge dimensions into minutest particles.
At the time of the world’s dissolution, the entire gross-world folds back
into its subtler elements until at last pure objectless space alone comes to
remain.
(53) Sthavishthah -lt is the superlative
degree of gross (sthoola) and thus ‘the Supremely gross’ is the subtlest
Reality. The contradiction that it contains is itself its
vigour and beauty. The Infinite as the subtlest is All-Pervading in Its own
nature. It is this Maha- Vishnu who has Himself become the entire universe
of gross things and beings. Just as all waves are the ocean, the total world of
gross things is itself the form of Vishnu.
In His cosmic form, Narayana had manifested to
Arjuna in he Geeta. There the words of Arjuna’s chant will clearly bring home
to us that the entire gross world is ever His own Divine form.
(54) Sthaviro Dhruvah -The Ancient (Sthavirah) and the Motionless
or firm (Dhruvah). He is called the ‘Ancient’ because the very
first ‘unit of time’ itself had risen from Him. He was the progenitor of
the very concept of Time in us. Therefore, ‘Time’ cannot condition Him.
Thus He becomes the most Ancient. He is the ‘Firm Truth’; nothing that
happens in the phenomenal world can affect Him at any time.
Stanza
7
agraahyah
saasvatah krishno lohitaakshah pratardanah
prabhootah trikakub-dhaama pavitram mangalam param.
(55) Agraahyah -That which cannot ("a")
be perceived ("graahyah") through the play of the sense organs;
in short, that which is not an ‘object’ of perception, but which is the very
‘subject’-who is the Perceiver in all that is perceived.
The ‘subject’ can never become the ‘object’,
and hence Truth is something that the sense organs cannot apprehend, as
they do any other sense-objects. He is the one ‘subject’ ever-perceiving all
objects, through all sense-organs of all living creatures, everywhere, at all
times.
The Lord is the ‘subject’, not only in
the sense organs, but He is the “feeler” in the mind and the “thinker” in the
intellect.
And thus the sense organs cannot perceive
It, nor the mind feel It, nor the intellect apprehend It; says the
Upanishad, “That from which words retire unapproached along with the mind” is
the Supreme. Hence He is Agraahya-Imperceptible and Incomprehensible.
Kenopanishad is very clear and emphatic: “That
which the eyes cannot perceive, but because of which eyes are perceiving,
understand That to be Brahman (Maha Vishnu) and not that which you here
worship.”
(56) Saasvatah
-That which remains at all times the same is the Permanent,
That which is permanent, should remain Changeless in all the three periods of
time. In short, He is unconditioned by time. The Supreme Consciousness Itself
is the very Illumminator of Time, and the Illuminator can never be
affected by what It illumines. This changeless reality is Vishnu.
(57) Krishnah -The
word Krishna means in Sanskrit ‘the dark’. The Truth
that is intellectually appreciated, but spiritually not apprehended, is
considered as ‘veiled behind some darkness’.
The root Krish means Existence
(Sattaa) and na means Bliss (Aananda). So says
Vyasa in Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva 70, 5. Therefore Krishna (Krish+na)
means Existence- Bliss (Sattaa-Aananda). Thus, the very name
divine, ‘Krishna’, represents the Supreme Paramaatman.
Or, because of His dark-blue complexion He
is called as Krishna. Mahabharata Santi Parva 343 says, “As My colour is
dark-blue, I am called Krishna, O Arjuna.”
In Mahabharata, we find Krishna explaining
Himself to Arjuna ‘when the earth becomes shelled in by its hard crux I
shall turn myself into an iron plough-share and shall plough the earth.
Apart from the above meaning Krishna
also means the Enchanter of all His devotees (Aakarshana). Truth
is One which irresistibly attracts everybody towards Itself.
Commentators have interpreted this significance in a more attractive context.
They conclude that Krishna means One who sweeps away the sins in the
heart of those who meditate upon Him.
Truth has got a magnetism to attract to
Itself all the ego and ego-centric passions of the individual. In this
sense viewed, we need not consider Krishna as a deity of the farmyard in the
agricultural estates. The Lord ploughs the hard stupidities in us and prepares
the heart-field, weeding out all the poisonous growths of sin, and
cultivates therein-pure Bliss which is of the nature of Reality.
(58) Lohitaakshah -Red-eyed.
Very often we find descriptions in the Puranas, where the Lord is explained as
having eyes like the red-lotus (Hibiscus). Generally the ruddy eyes
represent anger and the incarnations are taken for the
purpose of destroying the evil and so His anger is towards the
evil-minded materialists who live ignoring the higher values of life.
(59) Pra-tarda-nah -
The root Tarda means “destruction” and with the prefix
Pro the root (Pra-tarda) means “supreme destruction”. One who does
this total destruction (Pratardanah) is the Lord in the form of Rudra at
the time of the great dissolution (Pralaya).
(60) Prabhootah -The
term means ‘born full’ or ‘ever-full’. He is ever-full and
perfect in His Essential Nature, as the Transcendental Reality, or even
when He manifests in the form of His various incarnations. Especially in His
chief and glorious incarnation as Lord Krishna, He proved Himself to be ever
full with His Omnipotency and Omnisciency.
(61) Tri-kakub-dhaama -One who is the very foundation or support (Dhaama) of the
three ("tri") quarters (Kakubh). We find this is
generally commented upon and described as “all quarters, in the three realms
above, below and middle.” Viewing this from the platform of Vedanta, He
must be considered by us as the three Planes-of -Consciousness-the waking (Jaagrat),
the dream (Svapna) and the deep-sleep (Sushupti) conditions.
The fourth Plane-of-Consciousness (Tureeya) is the
Substratum for all the other three planes.
(62) Pavitram –One who
gives purity to the heart. To the seekers who are meditating upon
Him, He gives inner purity, and hence He is known as Pavitram.
Or, the term Pavi means; the weapon
vajra (thunderbolt). One who saves ("tram")
his devotees from the thunderbolt of lndra is Pavitram. This can also be
interpreted as the "giridhara" episode where the lord saves his
devotees from Indra's wrath.
The thunderbolt is described as an instrument
made out of the bone of sage Dadheechi. Indra is the Lord of the
lndriyas. In Vedanta Indra signifies the mind.
Mind’s cross purposes, confusions, intellectual compromises and the
consequent self- cancellation of our mental powers (Sankalpa-Vikalpa) can be
the great thunderbolt of the mind with which Indra (mind) can destroy in no
time all the acquired tapas of the saadhaka. Deep devotion, ardent
meditation and firm faith in the Lord Vishnu save the saadhaka from all such
mental storms and, therefore, the Lord acquires the significant name
Pavitram
(63) Param Mangalam -Mangalam is that which not only removes the dark pains of
evil, but brings the bright joys of merit. Param Mangalam is Supreme
Mangalam, and It can be none other than He, by whose mere remembrance all
inauspiciousness gets lifted up and all Auspiciousness comes to flood our
hearts The Upanishad declares. “May That Brahman-who removes all
inauspiciousness in man and gives man all auspiciousness, by a mere
remembrance of Him -give us all auspiciousness.
Stanza 8
eesaanah
praanadah praano jyeshthah sreshthah prajaapatih
hiranya-garbho bhoo-garbho maodharo madhu-soodanah.
(64) Eesaanah –“The
Controller of all the five Great Elements”. When this term is used,
Eesvara becomes the Administrator of His own Law in the phenomenal world of
plurality. The executive function of His Infinite Will, when manifested through
Him, the Lord. Eesvara, is said to function as Eesaanah. Or, the term can also
mean One who is the Supreme Eesvara-the Paramesvara.
(65) Praanadah -One
who gives (Dadaati) the Praanas to
all. The term Praanas used in philosophy indicated “all manifestations of Life
in a living body”. The Source of Life from which all dynamic activities
in the living organisms of the world flow out, meaning, That from which all
activities emerge out is Praanadah.
Taittireeya Upanishad (2- 7) exclaims: “Who
could then live. who could breath” if He be not every- where.”
(66) Praanah
-That which sustains is Praana and that which has got
Praana functioning in it is called a Praanee. Since the Lord is
termed as this very same Praana, it means by its suggestion that He is One
who ever lives. The Immortal and the Eternal is
Praanah.
The term can also mean that which gives
Life-impulse even to the air; the capacity to sustain life in the
atmosphere flows from Him alone.
In the Kenopanishad we read the Supreme
‘Defined’ as the “Praana of Praanas” (Praanasya Praanah).
(67) Jyeshthah
-Older than all. The Infinite is That which was even before the very concept of
space (Aakaasa) came into existence. The term is the superlative degree of the
Aged. In short, the import of this term is the same as the more familiar term
used in our sastras, the Ancient (Sanaatanah).
(68) Sreshthah -The
most Glorious One: Here again it is the superlative degree of glorious, Sreyah.
(69) Prajaapatih -The
Lord (Pati) of all living creatures (Prajaah) .The term Prajas means
‘Children’. Therefore Prajaapati means the Great Father, to whom all beings in
the living kingdom are His own children, In this sense, the term connotes One,
who, as the Creator, creates all creatures.
(70) Hiranyagarbhah -One
who dwells in the womb (garbha) of the world (Hiranya). The Upanishad declares:
“All these are in-dwelt by the Lord.” The “Golden Universe” is an idiom in
Sanskrit where ‘gold’ means “objects of fulfilment and joy”. One who dwells in
them all is Hiranyagarbhah. The term can also mean as He who, having become
first the Creator, has come to he considered as the womb of all objects.
(71) Bhoogarbhah -One
who is the very womb of the world (Bhooh) The One from whom the world has
emerged out. In the Cosmic Form of the Lord, this world occupies an
insignificant though sacred portion, just as the foetus in the womb, constantly
and lovingly nurtured and nourished by the very Essence in the mother. Or,
Bhooh = the earth: the divine consort of Hari: Garbha = Protector.
(72) Maadhavah -The
Lord of Maayaa, Spouse of Mahaalakshmee. Or, the term can signify the One who
is ultimately experienced through a diligent practice of “Madhu technique”: the
very famous Madhu Vidyaa of the Chandogya Upanishad. The term Maadhavah can
also mean One who is the Silent (Mauni); who is ever the Non-interfering
Observer, the Silent Witness of the physical, mental and intellectual
activities in the realm of change. To put it in one word, He is the One whom
the seeker experiences when he has stilled his mind which has been purified by
Yoga practices.
(73) Madhusoodanah -One who destroyed the great demon Madhu.
The story of Vishnu destroying these two demons, Madhu and Kaitabha, is a story
of secret suggestions in Mahabharata. Madhu also means in Veda (Madhu=honey) as
the fruits of actions (Karma-phala). Actions leave impressions and these sensuous
Vaasanaas are destroyed by meditations on the Reality and so the Supreme
gathers to Itself the name Madhusoodanah: “the Destroyer of Vaasanaas.”
Stanza 9
eesvaro
vikramee dhanvee medhaavee vikramah kramah
anuttamo duraadharshah kritajnah kritir-aatmavaan.
(74) Eesvarah -One
who is Omnipotent, and so has all powers in Him to the full. The manifested
powers of Life express themselves in every intelligent man as the power of
action in the body (Kriyaa Sakti), the power of desire in the mind (Icchaa
Sakti) and the power of knowledge in the intellect (Jnaana Sakti). All these
three powers are manifestations of Him, and since He is the One everywhere, He
is the total mighty power-the Great Vishnu.
(75) Vikramee -One
full of prowess (Vikrama), courage, daring. Or, it can be One who has “Special
foot steps”. This term commemorates how the Lord, as Vamana, measured with His
tiny three steps all the three worlds.
(76) Dhanvee
-Lord Vishnu’s Divine Bow is called ‘Saarnga’ and it is described as the
mightiest among the weapons. One who is having this Mighty Bow at all times is
Dhanvee. It can also remind us of His incarnation as Sree Ramachandraji, when,
in order to protect the world from the mighty Raakshasas of Lanka, He had to
dedicate a substantial part of His life almost constantly wielding his bow:
hence Sri Rama came to be known as Dhanushpaani; in His attitude of protection
He is known as Kodandaraama. Thus, the term Dhanvee, the Wielder of the bow, is
quite appropriate for Vishnu. “I am Sri Rama among the Wielders of the bow”
–Geeta Ch.l0, St. 31.
(77) Medhaavee
-Supremely intelligent; One who is capable of understanding everything. One who
has the capacity to comprehend intellectually all that is happening around is
called Medhaavee. Since Consciousness is the One Light in all living creatures,
which illumines all intellects, and since Vishnu is this Infinite
Consciousness, He is the One Knower, knowing all things, at all times, at once.
Hence Sarasvati, the Goddess of Learning and Knowledge is described as the very
tongue of Vishnu.
(78) Vikramah -While
describing the term Vikramee (75) we had already explained the meaning contents
of Vikrama, and thus Vikrama is an appellation that had come to Vishnu as a
result of His Supernatural Act of measuring the universe with three
steps.
Also, Vi means the “king-of-birds”, the
white-necked eagle; Krama means steps and, therefore, ‘movement or travel’. In
this sense Vikrama can mean: “One who rides on the white- eagle (mind) is
Vishnu”-who is described as having Garuda for His vehicle (Vaahanam).
(79) Kramah -He
who is All-Pervading is Kramah. Because of His All-Pervasiveness, the Infinite
is called as Vishnu. That which goes beyond the frontiers of the known is the
Supreme, and, therefore, in the description of Him, who has manifested as the
Cosmos, we have in Purushasookta an indication that He not only pervades all
that is known but “extends even beyond by ten digits” (Atyatishthat
Dasaangulam).
(80) Anuttamah -One
who is ‘incomparably Great’ in glory-Anuttamah. In the Sanskrit construction of
the word, it means something more than what we have said; it means: ‘He is one,
beyond whom there exists none who is greater than He (unexcelled). The
Upanishad itself describes Him: In Geeta (XI-43) we read: “For Thy equal exists
not, whence another superior to Thee?” In Sri Narayana Upanishad (12) we again
read, “There is nothing above or below, equal to Him”.
(81) Duraadharshah -One
who cannot be attacked, stormed or beleaguered successfully. In short, He is
All-Powerful. In the Puranas, we find Daityas and Asuras and others, mighty and
powerful ones, become themselves helpless victims of His Power and come under
His sway. To one who has realized the Infinite, the lower nature of the mind
(Daityas) and the enchantments of the senses (Raakshasas) , are all helpless to
overwhelm Him. “Rasopyasya Param Drishtvaa Nivartate” -Geeta Ch. 2, St. 59.
(82) Kritajnah -He who knows all that is done by all: the One Knower
who knows all physical activities, all emotional feelings, and all intellectual
thoughts and motives. He illumines them all, in all, at all times. Hence He is
called Kritajna. Vishnu is the One who knows clearly the exact depth of
sincerity, the true ardency of devotion, the real amount of purity in the bosom
of all his devotees, and, accordingly, brings joy and bliss to their hearts.
(83) Kritih -The
One, who is the very dynamism behind all activities. He is the Inevitability
behind the result of actions. He is called Kritih because it is He who visits
to bless the good and to punish the evil; in short; He is the One who rewards
all our actions.
(84) Aatmavaan -One who is the Self in all beings. In the
Chandogya Upanishad (7.24.1) when the disciple asks, “Where does the Lord, the
Infinite, stand established?” the Sruti answers, “In Its own glory established
ever is the Self”-(Sve Mahimni Pratishthitah).
Stanza 10
suresah
saranam sarma visva-retaah prajaa-bhavah
ahah samvatsaro vyaalah pratyayah sarvadarsanah.
(85) Suresah -The
denizens of the Heavens are called in the Puranas as Suras. Eesa means the
Lord; Suresa, therefore, indicates the God of gods, the Lord of the Suras. The
gods are called as Suras because they are capable of blessing their devotees
with a fulfilment of their desires. Therefore, Suresah means One who is the
best among those who fulfil all the demands of their devotees (Suras). In
short, He is the One who gives the Supreme State of Beatitude and the
consequent total liberation from all desires of the ego.
(86) Saranam -The
Refuge for all who are suffering from the thraldom of imperfection in life.
According to the Sanskrit Lexicon (Amarakosa), the term Saranam means
‘Protector’ and also ‘home’. Since the Lord is the Ultimate Goal, Saranam, He
is also the “Destination”, the ‘Harbour’. The One Who realizes Him comes to
live in Him.
He is the home to which the prodigal son
(jeeva) ultimately returns. Not only for the men of Realization is He the Home,
but for all creatures, movables and immovables, He is the Home, to which they
all disappear to rest and to revive during Pralaya (Sleep).
(87) Sarma -One
who is Himself the Infinite Bliss. Transcending the mind lie the shores of
Bliss, beyond the waters of agitations. The Infinite is described in our
Upanishads as the “Sacchidaananda”, ever of the same nature-“Saantam Sivam
Sundaram”.
(88) Visvaretaah -Retas
means ‘seed’; the term connotes that He is the seed from which the tree of life
has sprung forth. He who is the very cause for the entire play of experience in
the world of pluralistic objects (Sarva- Prapancha-Kaaranabhootah) is called
Visvaretaah.
(89) Prajaabhavah -He
from whom all living creatures (Prajaa) spring forth (Bhava) is known as
Prajaabhavah.
(90) Ahah -Ahan
has got two meanings: the 24-hour-day or the 12-hour day-time. He is of the
nature of ‘day-time’ means “He is the One, ever effulgent and bright”; as
bright as the daylight that illumines all objects around. In case we accept the
other meaning, “the 24-hour-day”, then, a day being a unit of time, the term
Ahan can also mean, “One who is of the nature of Time itself”. Also He is one
who does not (a) ever destroy (han) the devotees who have surrendered
themselves to Him.
(91) Samvatsarah -One
who is of the nature of year-meaning One who is the Lord of Time; He, from whom
the very ‘concept of Time’ rises.
(92) Vyaalah -One
who is unapproachable. Vyaala also means ‘Serpent’; to those who have no
devotion or understanding, God or Truth is as horrible and terrible as a
‘serpent’. Moreover, it is so difficult to grasp in our understanding that It is
like a serpent: ever eluding, always slippery.
(93) Pratyayah -One whose
very nature is Knowledge. That the Supreme is Knowledge Absolute is very well
known. It is in the light of Consciousness that all ‘know- ledges’ are
possible. ‘Knowledge of a thing’ is the Awareness of its
nature. Awareness is Knowledge. Since the Supreme is the One Awareness
everywhere, all ‘Knowledges’ spring from the Self. Hence, He is called “the
Pure Knowledge”. “Consciousness is Brahman” is one of the Mahaavaakyas.
(94) Sarvadarsanah -This
term, “All-seeing” is very appropriate in as much as the Supreme Consciousness
has been defined and indicated in the Kenopanishad as, “That which the eyes
cannot see, but because of which the eyes see”. It is the Seer in the eyes, the
Hearer in the ears, the Speaker, the Feeler and the Thinker”. And since this
Principle of Consciousness is One everywhere, as expressed through the
equipments, It is indeed the One Seer in all ‘seeing’, by everyone, everywhere.
The Upanishad says: and the Geeta
indicates Him as “One who has eyes and heads everywhere”.
Stanza
11
ajah
sarvesvarah siddhah siddhih sarvaadir achyutah
vrishaakapir ameyaatmaa sarva-yoga- vinissritah.
(95) Ajah -Unborn.
Birth implies a modification; birth cannot be without the death of its previous
condition. Since the Eternal and the Infinite, is ever Changeless there can be
in It neither birth nor death. That which is born must necessarily die: -(Geeta
Ch. 2, St. 27) and so, that which is unborn should be deathless (Amritah).
Rig Veda (1-81-5): “He was neither born nor is
He going to be born.”
(96) Sarvesvarah -God of all gods or the Supreme Controller of all. In
a sense it means the Almighty, the All-powerful. “He is the Lord of all,” says
Brihad Upanishad (6-4-2).
(97) Siddhah -One who has
achieved all that has to be achieved, as He Himself is the Final Goal for all.
Or the term can also mean “the most famous”.
(98) Siddhih -He
who is available for recognition (Siddha) everywhere at all points in His
nature as Pure Consciousness. Again, Siddhi also means the ‘fruit of action’,
and in the context here this would-mean, “He who gives the Infinite fruit of
Kaivalya, Moksha.” All other karmas can acquire for us only relative joys of
the heavens, but in realizing the Self the seeker gains an ‘Infinite State from
which there is no return’, so describes Geeta.
(99) Sarvaadih -One who is the very beginning (Aadi) of all; one who
was in existence earlier than everything else. Even before effects arise, the
Cause. The Infinite which was before creation and from which the created beings
had emerged out, as an effect, is naturally the Primary Cause (Moola-Kaarana).
(100) Achyutah -Chyutah= Fallen; Achy utah: One who has never fallen:
the Ever-Pure Reality which is never fallen into the misconceptions of Samsar:
the Pure Knowledge in which ignorance has never come to pollute Its purity.
Lord Himself says in Bhagavata, “I have never ever before fallen from my Real
Nature; therefore, I am Achyutah”.
(101) Vrishaakapih -There is a lot of controversy among pundits upon the
exact meaning of this term. But all controversies become meaningless when we
read Bhagavan’s own words, “Since Kapi has a meaning the ‘boar’, and since
vrisha has the meaning of ‘Dharma’ the great Kasyapa Prajapati says I am Vrishaakapih”.
In Sanskrit the term Kapi has a meaning: ‘that
which saves one from drowning’. Lord in the form of the Great Boar, (Varaaha)
in that incarnation, had lifted the world from the waters at the end of the
deluge; the term vrisha means ‘Dharma’. One who thus lifts the world drowned in
Adharma to the sunny fields of Dharma is vrishaakapih
(102) Ameyaatmaa -One
who has His manifestations (Aatmaa) in Infinite varieties, almost unaccountable
(Ameya), The Viraat Purusha of the Form of All-Lord of the Cosmic Form is
suggested here. As all forms have risen from Him, exist in Him, and dissolve
into Him alone, all forms are His own different forms.
(103) Sarva-yoga-vinissritah -Yoga is from Yuj ‘to join’; ‘to attach’, One who is totally free
(vinissritah) from all contacts or attachments. Attachment to a thing is
possible only when the object-of-attachment is other than the subject, In the
One Infinite Reality there cannot be any attachment with anything, mainly
because there is nothing here that is not the Infinite Itself. The Infinite is
a Mass of Love; there is no attachment in It; for, attachment is Love with
possessiveness and desire for gratification, “This Purusha is, indeed,
unattached”, roars Brihad Upanishad (6-3-15), Lastly, the term, Sarva- Yoga- Vinissritah
can also mean that He is beyond the reach of the various systems of Yogas
taught in the Sastras. These systems are to quieten the mind, to end the
misapprehensions-of- Truth, to annihilate the Maayaa, What is there left over
in the seeker’s bosom is the Self-the Great Vishnu,
Stanza
12
vasur-vasumanaah
satyah samaatmaa sammitah samah
amoghah pundareekaaksho vrishakarmaa vrishaakritih.
(104) Vasuh -The
One who is the very support of all elements, and the One who Himself is the
very Essence of the elements, This is something like the dream made up of our
own mind; and the very same dream-world plays itself out, all the time
sustained in the very same mind. Similarly, the Self indwells all and all dwell
in the Self. In the Geeta we are told by the Lord, “I am among the Vasus the
Paavakah”-(Geeta. Ch. 10, St. 23). Therefore, the Self exists like air-allowing
everything to remain in it and sustaining everything by it.
(105) Vasumanaah -One
who has a mind which is Supremely Pure; meaning a mind that has none of the
sins of passions and pains; none of the storms of desires and jealousies; none
of the quakes of likes and dislikes.
(106) Satyah -He is
the Real. The term Satyam used in philosophy has a special connotation. That
which remains the same in all the three periods of time is called Satyam. That
which seemingly exists, but which never was nor shall ever be, is considered as
a false delusion, A-satya. He who remains the same, before the creation, during
the existence and even after the dissolution, is the Infinite Truth, Satyah.
The Taittireeya Upanishad thunders that the Eternal Truth is “Truth, Knowledge,
Bliss”: “Satyam, Jnaanam, Anantam Brahma” - Taittireeya Upanishad: 2-1.
We may here mention a couple of other meanings
that are generally given to this term “The best among good people is Satyam.
Again, the word Satyam is made up of three sounds -Sat-ti-yam -and, herein,
according to the Upanishad itself, “Sat means praana, ti means food, Yam means
sun;” therefore, Sat yam is the Law which orders the food to sustain the praana
when both are blessed by the sources of all gross energies in the cosmos, the
Sun.
(107) Samaatmaa -He
wbo is equally in all. In Kathopanishad we read the declaration of Lord Death
to Nachiketas how the same Truth has come to express itself differently from
form to form. To visualize the Paramesvara who revels equally ill all, among
the perishables and imperishables, is the Vision Divine. Kauseshika Upanishad
(3-9) says, “One should understand that the Self is the same-in-all”. In the
Geeta also is the declaration “I am the Seer in all the fields-of-experiences
everywhere” -Geeta Ch. 13, St. 3).
(108) Sammitah -The
term Sammatam means ‘acceptable’. The One. Truth, which has been proved and
accepted by the Rishis In the Upanishads through subtle logic and philosophical
reasoning, is called Sammatah. This is the most direct and very appealing
meaning. But there are some who would interpret this portion of the Thousand
Names of Lord Vishnu by combining Samaatmaa (107) and Sammitah (108) to form
together a single ‘Name’, wherein the compound word would read
Samaatma-asammitah. Here the term Asammitah then would come to mean “One who is
incomparable, Inimitable (Atulya) who has none to equal Him”.
(109) Samah -Equal;
the same. Truth remains the same. One Infinite Reality plays the game of
plurality. As has been said in the Kathopanishad, “The One Principle of Fire
having entered this world burns itself out differently according to the
equipments upon which it is manifested”, so the One Truth manifests as the many
Jeevas. Hence He is called the Samah. Also it can mean as One who is ever
united, with (Sa) Lakshmi (Maa).
(110) Amoghah -Moghah
means “useless fellow” (Nishphalah), “a disappointing power”. Amogha is the
opposite of it: “Ever Useful”, “Ever the Fulfiller” of all the wishes and
demands of His devotees. Chandogya Upanishad (8-1-5) declares: “Truthful is His
wish, and Truth is His resolve”.
(111) Pundareekaakshah -One who can be contacted and fully experienced in the Heart Space
(Pundareekam). In the Narayana Upanishad (10) we find the same term employed:
“In the core of the body, in the Heart Space, dwells the Supreme.” In the
‘Heart’, the meditator can experience the Reality more readily and very
clearly, and so the All- Pervading Reality is described as “dwelling in the
Heart-cave”.
(112) Vrishakarmaa -Vrisha
means Dharma. One whose every activity is righteous and who acts only to
establish righteousness. “For the sake of establishing Dharma, I am born in
every age”, says Lord -(Geeta Ch. 4, St. 8).
(113) Vrishaakritih -One who is of the form (Aakriti) of Dharma (Vrisha). It is not only
that His actions are righteous but He is Himself Righteousness. It can also
mean as One who takes different forms during His Divine Incarnations-all for
maintaining the Rule of Dharma in the world.
Stanza
13
Rudro
bahu-siraa babhrur visvayonis-suchi-sravaah-
amritah saasvatah-sthaanur- varaaroho mahaatapaah.
(114) Rudrah -One who makes all people weep, At the time of death
or during the total dissolution, the One who makes all weep is Rudrah. From a
devotee’s standpoint the same term is interpreted as the One who liquidated all
sorrows is Rudrah. Bhagavan declares Himself to be “Among the Rudras, I am
Sankara –(Geeta Ch. 10, St. 23). According to the Vedic terminology there are
11 Rudras; this eleventh “Rudra” is called as Sankara: Sam-karoti-iti =
Sankarah - “One who blesses all with Auspiciousness (Sam).”
(115) Bahusiraah -One who has many heads. The Purushasooktam of the Rig
Veda describes the Cosmic Form of the Lord with a narration, “The Purusha of
thousand heads, thousand eyes and thousand feet…….” In Geeta a similar description of the Universal Form of the Lord
is found in Chapter XI. Again in the Geeta Chapter XIII when the Lord was
describing the Infinite Goal to be known (Jneyam), He describes It as
“Everywhere legs, everywhere hands, every- where eyes, everywhere His face”.
Thus, He whose personal manifestations constitute the universe is known
as “One who has many heads.”
(116) Babhruh -One who rules over the worlds. “Like a King”
-Atmabodham gives this analogy .He in whose presence all the instruments of
perception, feeling and knowing continue their coordinated activity is the
Self, the Atman, who is Great Lord Vishnu.
(117) Visvayonih -One who is the Total Cause from which alone the
entire world of experiences (visvam) has emerged
out. The womb (yoni) from which thoughts and actions had risen is called
Visvayonih.
(118) Suchisravaah -One who has beautiful and
efficient ears (Sravas): “Everywhere are His ears”-(Geeta Ch. 13, St. 13)
meaning thereby He is the Hearer in all ears. The term Sravas not only means
ears, but it also means “names” -so Suchisravas can mean ‘One who has Divine
and Sacred names’. Thus, the devotee can invoke Him with thousands of His names
when He can readily listen in and rightly understand the exact purity and the
real depth of devotion in the devotee. Also the term can be used to indicate
the One whose “names” are worthy of being heard by seekers.
(119) Amritah -One
who is Immortal and Immutable. Mritam = dead. The Infinite is Ajarah, Amarah
and Avyayah. It can also mean as One who is of the nature of Nectar (Amritam)
-a sure cure for those who are suffering from malady of ignorance. Amritah also
means Moksha; and thus it is indicated, He is the ever-liberated-the Pure State
of Being.
(120) Saasvata-sthaanuh -One who is both permanent (Saasvatah) and irremovable (Sthaanuh). He
is the One who remains Changeless, because Immortal; who remains the same in
all periods of time, because permanent (Saasvatah); and who remains changeless
in His nature or Consciousness (Sthaanuh). This is a single term
(Saasvata-sthaanuh) and, therefore, we must add the meanings together-
Permanent and Changeless; Permanently Changeless Factor in lire is Vishnu.
(121) Vararohah - He
who is the most Glorious (Vara) Destination (Aaroha). The Seat of the Self is
the most Glorious because the imperfections of the world-of-matter (Prakriti)
are not there in the Spirit (Purusha). Liberation from the thraldom of matter
is the arrival of the Infinitude of the Self. “He never returns”, thunders the
Chandogya Upanishad (8-15-1) three times in one and the same breath, assuring
us that one who has reached the Seat of Vishnu, beyond the frontiers of the
intellect, there is for him no more any return ever into the ego-centric life
of tensions of sorrows.
(122) Mahaatapaah -One
of great Tapas. The term tapas in Sanskrit has three meanings: ‘Knowledge’
(Jnaana), ‘Prosperity’ (Aisvarya) and also ‘Might’ (Prataapa). It is in the
presence of Consciousness that we come to know all our experiences. ‘Conscious
of’ a thing or an idea is the ‘Knowledge of’ the thing or the idea. That about
which I am not conscious of, I have really no knowledge of it. All knowledges,
of all bosoms, in all living creatures, everywhere, at all times, cannot be
without the play of Consciousness upon the respective objects of knowledge, and
hence this Consciousness is indicated in the Upanishads as Pure Knowledge, in
the light of which alone all knowledges are possible. All achievements and
prosperity (Aisvarya), all might and power of the living creatures can express
themselves through them only when they are alive. This great truth is Maha
Vishnu. “Whose Tapas is of the nature of Knowledge” (Mundaka- Upanishad.
1-1-9).
Stanza
14
sarvagah
sarvavid-bhaanuh- vishvak-sena janaardanah
veda vedavid-avyango vedaanga vedavit kavih.
(123) Sarvagah –“He
who has gone everywhere”, meaning “One who pervades everything”. The cause pervades
its effect: gold in all ornaments; ocean in all waves; cotton in all cloth. The
Infinite Consciousness Itself expresses as both world-of-matter (Kshetra) and
the Knower-of-the-field (Kshetrajna). Vishnu, the Infinite is beyond these two
(Uttamah Purushah) in whom there is no expression of matter and, there- fore,
no ‘Knower’-hood. He is the All-Pervading Self, Maha Vishnu.
(124) Sarvavid-bhaanuh -One who is All- Knowing (Sarvavit) and Effulgent (Bhaanuh) .The Light
of Consciousness is the “Light that illumines all lights” and it is again
Consciousness that “illumines even darkness” -Geeta Ch.13, St.17. In the
Mundaka Upanishad (4.10) also we read:
“By its Light alone it illumines all other experiences.” Sarvavit-Bhaanuh
is one term: meaning that all Knowing Effulgent Consciousness.
(125) Vishvaksenah -He,
while facing whom, even the mighty army of the gods retreat and scatter away,
is called as Vishvaksenah. He is the Almighty and All-Powerful, and no army can
stand against Him.
(126) Janaardanah -The
term Ardayati is a verb meaning both ‘giving sorrow’ or ‘giving joy’. Thus, One
who gives sorrow and disaster to the vicious, and who blesses with joy and
peace to the good people is called Janaardanah.
(127) Vedah –The
term Veda comes from the root vid: ‘to know’. Since Veda gives knowledge, the
Lord is termed as Vedah, in the sense, that He is the One who gives the
Knowledge of the Reality, because He is the very Reality. In Mahabharata, Vyasa
says: “Krishna alone is All-vedas, All-sciences, All-techniques and
All-dedicated Actions”. In the Bhagavad Geeta (Ch. 10, St.2) Lord says: “Out of
mere compassion for them, I, abiding in their Self, destroy the darkness born
of ignorance, by the luminous lamp of wisdom”.
(128) Vedavit –‘One
who knows the veda’. The Lord alone is the One Experience without which the
Vedas cannot be fully realized. The surest and the most exhaustive commentary
of the Vedas is to be found only in a stilled mind, which is in communion with
Vishnu, the Supreme Reality. Geeta (Ch. 15, St. 15) says, “I am the author of
the Vedanta, as well as the Knower of the Vedas.”
(129) Avyangah -He
who has no imperfections (Vyanga) anywhere in him- The All-Perfect. The term
Vyanga also means person, and so A vyanga means One who cannot be known by
anyone in any ‘personal-form’. Geeta plainly says “This great Reality is
Imperceptible, Unthinkable, without any modifications”. -Geeta. Ch. 2, St. 25
(130) Vedaangah –One
whose very limbs are the vedas. In Kenopanishad in the closing stanzas, the
teacher insists that all knowledges are Its limbs.
(131) Vedavit –‘One
who contemplates upon the Veda is Vedavit’: (Vedam Vichaarayati=Vedavit). Mere
word meaning cannot give us the true concept of the subtle theme discussed in
the Vedas. Continuous reflection upon their declarations alone can reach us to
the peaks of their imports. In the Geeta, Bhagavan Himself declares that He is
not only the very Revealer of Vedas but He is at once the Knower of the Veda
-Geeta Ch. 15, St. 15.
It is absolutely necessary that the student of
the Vedas should try to understand the meaning of their declaration. To repeat
the mantras parrot-like is not of any consequence: ‘He who has studied the
Vedas but has not understood the meaning, but carries a load, as the
‘road-rest’ on the roadside.’ Thus He who constantly reflects upon the Veda,
and naturally lives up to it, is the Great Lord.
(132) Kavih -The
term Kavi in the Vedas means the ‘Seer’. One who experiences something more
than the ordinary is called a Kavi. In the Isavasyopanishad (8) we read: -“The
Seer, the Intelligent....” In the
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (5-7-23) we read: “There is no Seer except Him.”
In the Glory of the Lord, He confesses, in the Geeta, “among the Poets,
I am Usanas, Sukra-Aachaarya”.
Stanza 15
lokaadhyakshah
suraadhyaksho dharmaadhyakshah krita-akritah
chaturaatmaa chaturvyoohas-chatur-damshtras-chatur-bhujah.
(133) Lokaadhyakshah –One who presides over all fields of experiences -all lokas. President
is one who is responsible for the conduct of the assembly; he guides the
discussion in a disciplined manner, and ultimately at the end of it all, he
dissolves the meeting. All through the discussions he never interferes with the
freedom of speech and action of the members, if they act within the agenda of
the day. Similarly, the Lord presides over all the fields of activities, never interfering with the freedom of the individuals to act. “The Supreme
Purusha in this body is also called the spectator, the permitter, the
supporter, the enjoyer, the great Lord, and the Supreme Self.” From the Puranic
standpoint the Lord in His Vaamana manifestation was installed as the king of
the three worlds and, therefore, this name, say the Pauraanikas.
(134) Suraadhyakshah -The President of the Heavens to whom the Devas run for protection when
they are threatened by their constant enemies -the Daityas and the Asuras. When
in the Heaven of our bosom, the thought-angels are threatened by the negative
tendencies and criminal purposes, He to whom the good in us surrender totally
for sure protection and safety is Vishnu, the President within the bosom.
(135) Dharmaadhyakshah -Presiding over the activities of the living organisms, Consciousness
revels, illumining both the good and the evil therein. The One Sacred factor
that constantly thus illumines all the nature and functions (Dharma) of the
body, mind and intellect is the Dharmaa- dhyakshah, Lord Vishnu.
(136) Kritaakritah -Kritam
= that which is done = that which is manifested or created Akritam, therefore,
is that which has not manifested or become. The former (Kritam) indicates all
the “effects” manifested out of the Creator’s activities, and the latter
(Akritam) is the “cause” from which no manifestation has yet emerged -it is
still unmanifest. The Self, the Atman, is the ‘Post’ -in the ghost-in-the-post
example -upon which the cause and the effect, the unmanifest and the manifest,
like the “ghost” apparently come to play (Kritam = Vyaktam, A-Kritam =
A-Vyaktam).
(137) Chaturaatmaa -The
Self is described as four-fold when we consider the Atman as the Glory
(Vibhooti) of the Self. Thus, the Essential factors, with which alone the
endless play of creation, sustenance and destruction can continue, are the
glories of the Self (Aatma-Vibhooti). In Vishnu Purana, four distinct
vibhooties of the Lord -when He functions as the creator, sustainer and
destroyer -are found enumerated. From the standpoint of a Vedantic student,
since in the Non-dual Reality there cannot be anything other than It- self, all
the plays of the gross, the subtle and causal bodies, in the microcosm and in
the macrocosm, are the glories (vibhooties) of the One Self. In the Absolute,
in the Eternal, all these are transcended; these- the water, dreamer,
deep-sleeper, the Tureeya -are all Its Glories. The Possessor of these Glories
is the One that transcends even “Tureeya”; He is called as the Tureeyaateetah.
(138) Chaturvyoohah -One who manifests into the four
mighty powers (Vyooha). The Truth, that plays thus Himself in these four levels
having apparently created the world of experiences, is Vishnu, the
All-Pervading. According to the Vaishnava literature, for the purpose of
creation, Maha Vishnu Himself became four mighty powers (Vyooha) and they were
called Vaasudeva, Samkarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. One who has Himself
these four mighty powers, necessary for the conduct of plurality, is the Great
Self, Maha Vishnu.
(139) Chatur-Damshtrah -The canine teeth fully developed in the upper and the lower rows, as
in the case of carnivorous animals, are called in Sanskrit as Damshtraa. This
is reminiscent of the Powerful Damshtraa of the Lord when He took the form of
Nara-Simha to protect Prahlaada.
Also in the Puranas we find that the Great
white Elephant of Indra, “ Airaavata,” has four tusks -He whose glory is the
four-tusked Airaavata is Maha- Vishnu. To the student of the Upanishad, it is
indeed very clear that these four ‘tusks’ or ‘teeth’ are nothing other than the
four paadas which Mandukya thunders -”Chatushpaada”. The manifestation of the
Might and Glory of the Supreme are the play of the waking, dream and deep-sleep
conditions. With reference to these three, transcending them all, is the fourth
plane-of-consciousness the Springboard for all these three. He, whose Glory are
all these four grinding, crushing, fearful experiences of duality, is the One
Non-dual Self, the Great Maha Vishnu.
(140) Chaturbhujah –“One who has four hands”. It is famous that Maha Vishnu has four hands
and they carry the Conch, the Discus, the Mace, and the Lotus. According to the
Puranas, these four are used by the Lord in maintaining Dharma among mankind.
The ‘Conch’ calls man to the righteous path that directly leads to Peace and
Perfection, the Divine Vishnupada. Very many of us in the enchantment of the
immediate sense-joys refuse to listen to the small inner voice of conscience,
the sound of the Paanchajanya-conch, and so He wields the ‘Mace’ and we come to
suffer small calamities and tragic jerks in our smooth existence -communal,
social or national. If still the individual is not listening to the call of the
‘Conch’, the wheel-of-time, Chakra annihilates the entire. The call and the
punishment are all only to take man towards his Ultimate Goal, represented by
the “Lotus” in His hand.
Subjectively Vishnu is the Self within, who
manifests as the four-armed ‘subtle-body’ to serve as the Eesa of the gross
physical structure, in all its actions and protect it with existence. The
“Subtle-body” as the inner-equipment (Antah-Karana) functions as four mighty
powers -mind, intellect, chit and ego. Chit is the ‘Lotus’, intellect is the
‘Conch’, ego is the ‘Mace’, and mind is the ‘Discus’. All these four are
wielded by the One Infinite Blue-bodied Narayana, clothed in His ‘yellow garb’,
manifesting to maintain and sustain the world of good and evil. Since the Self
functions thus in a four-fold pattern, Vishnu has the appellation, “the
four-armed Lord.”
Stanza 16
bhraajishnur-bhojanam
bhoktaa sahishnur- jagadaadijah
anagho vijayo jetaa visvayonih punarvasuh.
(141) Bhraajishnuh -Self-Effulgent
Consciousness illumines everything; and it is not borrowing Its Light from any
other source. “It is the Light of lights that illumines even darkness”-(Geeta
Ch. 13, St.18). And the Upanishad is equally vehement and declares: “There the
sun has no light nor the stars nor these lightnings; how little then can this
fire! By its Light alone all these are illumined.
(142) Bhojanam -The
immediate meaning of the term is food, viz. eatables. In philosophy it has a
wider implication and the term “food” cannotes the entire field-of-objects
experienced or enjoyed by the sense-organs. The world-of-objects projected by
the sense-organs, the inner psychological play and this world-of-matter
constituting the field-of-plurality, all together is comprehended by the term
Maayaa. Thus cathodox commentators reduce this term ‘Bhojanam’ to the contents
and functions of Maayaa. Taittireeya Upanishad (2-7) says: “He is indeed the
Essence (Rasa)”.
(143) Bhoktaa -The
“Experiencer” Not only the world-of-objects is essentially nothing but the
Spirit, Lord Vishnu, but even the very instruments-of -experiences and their
ultimate joys and sorrows, are all illumined for us by the Lord- of-Lakshmi.
The Pure Self, expressing through the gross, the subtle and the causal bodies,
becomes the waker, dreamer and deep-sleeper, experiencing all happenings, good
and bad, as the individuality in that living person. Consciousness, Purusha,
identifying with and functioning through matter (Prakriti), comes to experience
the endless modifications that are born out of Prakriti. The Self in Its
Infinite nature is actionless and yet in Maayaa seems to function and becomes
the Enjoyer or Sufferer of the actions of matter.
(144) Sahishnuh -One
who is capable of patiently suffering, in his perfect detachment, all that is
happening around, is a sahishnuh. Whatever happens to the reflections of the
Sun, the Sun in the cosmos is unaffected by them, and with reference to his
reflections we can call him a Sahishnuh, the Sun is a mere “witness” of his own
endless reflections.
The term has also got two more meanings in
Sanskrit as ‘Forgiver’ or ‘Conqueror’. Vishnu is one who forgives us readily
all our trespasses, and conquers for us all the inimical forces in our inner
personality.
(145) Jagadaadijah -One
who had born (Jah) in the very beginning (aadi) of the world (jagat) is called
Jagadaadijah. At the time of dissolution (Pralaya) when the entire gross and
subtle bodies go to lie absorbed in the Total Causal-body, the world, in
Pralaya, lies merged in Eesvara. Before the gross world-of-plurality emerges
out there should be a condition of subtle manifestation of it in the form of
thoughts. Thoughts constitute the mind-intellect; when the Infinite functions
through this Total Mind-intellect, It is called as Hiranyagarba the womb of all
objects, it is from the Hiranya garba-state, the manifestation of the gross
world emerges out, when the lord comes to play as a Virat Aatmaa. Maha Vishnu
is the one who was born before the world of gross bodies, therefore it is indicated
here that he is the “Womb-of all- objects” in the world, the Hiranyagarba-the
very creator.
(146) Anaghah
-Agham means sin (Paapa), impurities (mala); and therefore, Anaghah means One
who has no imperfections and who is not affected by the good and bad Vaasanaas
left over in the personality as a result of the wilful actions. He is the
Uncontaminated (Aliptah) .The Light of Consciousness is the Illuminator of the
mind, and so the peace of virtue or the agitations of the sin cannot affect the
Illuminator -the Illuminator being always different from the illuminated.
Chandogya Upanishad (8-1-5) says: “He is free from Sin”.
(147) Vijayah –“The
Victorious”. One who realizes the Self can thereafter stand apart from the
thraldom of matter, Victorious over the tyrannies of the flesh, feelings or
facts. Thus, the Seat of Self is the Seat of Victory over matter. The Peace and
harmony of the Self can never be assailed by the noisy hordes of the world of
plurality. Vijaya is the name also of Arjuna and the Lord Himself says, “Among
the Pandavas, I am Arjuna” - Geeta Ch. 10, St. 37.
(148) Jetaa –“Ever
Successful”. In all undertakings He alone wins; One who never knows any defeat
or failure. Upanishad says: “Truth alone wins, never falsehood”.
(149) Visvayonih -It can
be interpreted in two ways as (a) He who is the Cause of the universe or (b) He
who has the world as His Cause. The former is clear to those who have so far
followed the commentary, and to them the latter may be a very confusing
statement. From the standpoint of the Puranas, it is logical. The Self has
manifested as the various Incarnations from time to time because of the
condition of the world, and therefore, Visvam is the cause for His
manifestations.
(150) Punarvasuh -One
who comes to live again and again in various equipments of living organisms is
Punarvasuh:
Stanza 17
upendro
vaamanah praamsur-amoghah suchir-oorjitah
ateendrah samgrahah sargo dhritaatmaa niyamo yamah.
(151) Upendrah -The
younger brother of Indra. In His Incarnation as Vaamana, He was born to Aditi,
who was the mother of Indra, and hence, the Lord is known as the “Younger
brother of Indra”. In Sanskrit the prefix upa denotes ‘Above’ in the sense of
‘superior to’; therefore, Upendra may also mean “One who is superior to Indra”,
the king of gods. Such an explanation we find in the Harivamsa (76-47).
Indra, the king of the sense-organs, is the
mind and the Consciousness, which is the Self, is the One factor that dynamises
the mind. Since life is that which controls even the mind, certainly It is
superior to the mind and this Self is the Maha Vishnu.
(152) Vaamanah -Of
the ten great incarnations, the fifth one is Vaamana; and the very name
indicates ‘One who has a small body’. It was in the form of a child (vatuh =A
child student in a gurukula) that Vaamana approached the divinely righteous
Emperor Mahaabali to beg of him a little land, of the length of his tiny three
steps-and the Lord measured in His three steps all the three worlds and thus
conquered Mahaabali. He checked (Vamayati) the rising pride of possession in
Bali, hence He, in that incarnation as a Vatu, is called Vaamana.
The term Vaamana also means ‘worshipful’: “Him,
the Dwarf, sitting in the middle of the heart, all gods adore”, so we read in
the Kathopanishad (5-3). However, here the emphasis should be upon the meaning
“short statured” because of the contrast it makes with the following name.
(153) Praamsuh -One
whose body is vast is called Praamsuh. Vaamana, when He got the promise from
the righteous King, and when He started measuring, the Lord took His Cosmic
Form, and with each step measured the earth, the interspace, and the heaven. In
Harivamsa (262-263) there is a beautiful description of the little Vaamana
growing into His Total Form. The rate of His expansion is described with
reference to two fixed factors the Sun and the Moon. When He took the form, the
Sun and the Moon were His eyes; as He measured the earth, they came to His
bosom; as He was measuring the space, the Sun was at His navel and as He lifted
His feet to measure the Heaven, the Sun and the Moon were just below His knees.
(154) Amoghah -One
whose activities are ever a fulfilment of some great purpose. Even
insignificant actions, which, ordinarily, people would think are empty and
purposeless, are never really so, when they spring from Him. Even when He
punishes, it is only for inaugurating a greater evolutionary blessing.
(155) Suchih -One
who is spotlessly ‘clean’, and therefore, Ever-Pure. Impurities in a substance
are things other than itself; when dust is on the cloth, the cloth is impure,
unclean. Since the Self, the Aatman, is the Non- Dual Reality, having nothing
other than Itself in It, Ever-pure alone must It always be. And Suchih is One
who gives this purity to those who contemplate upon Him constantly.
(156) Oorjitah -One
who has infinite strength and vitality. Wherever, in the organism, we meet with
any strength and vitality they are all the strength and vitality of the Self.
The Infinite Vishnu is the One All-Pervading Self, and therefore, He is the
very springhead for all strength.
(157) Ateendrah -One who is beyond Indra in knowledge, glory
and strength. Since Indra represents the ‘mind-intellect’ equipment, Aatman,
the Self is denoted here as that which transcends the mind.
(158) Samgrahah -One
who holds the entire world of beings-and-things together in an indissoluble
embrace unto Himself. Just as the hub of a wheel holds the rim unto itself by
its endless spokes, so too the Aatman, the Self within, lends Its vitality to
every cell in the body and to every thought in the inner-equipments.
In none can anything happen which is not a
glory borrowed from Him. And, the Self, being the same everywhere, in all
existence, in both the movables and immovables, gross and subtle -in the
manifest as well as in the unmanifest - He certainly is the One who holds the
world of phenomena unto Himself in a vast embrace of Love and Oneness.
(159) Sargah -One
who has created out of Him- self the whole world. It therefore must also
connote One, who has the whole created world as His own form, since the
creation is His own manifestation as the Subtle and the Gross.
(160) Dhritaatmaa -One
who supports Himself by Himself. In the previous epithet Samgrahah, He was
shown as the Cohesion of Love in the world of matter and energy, and in Sargah,
He, as the One material and efficient cause of creation, was shown as also the
very supporter of the manifested world. But who supports Him? He is Dhritaatmaa
- He is established in Himself.
(161) Niyamah -The
Appointing Authority: It is He, who orders all the mighty forces of nature and
prescribes for each the Laws of their conduct, the ways of their behaviour and
the methods of their functions. The Sun, Moon, Air, Waters, Dik-Paalakas, Death
etc. are all appointed and ordered by the Lord.
(162) Yamah -One
who is the mighty Power that administers all the forces of Nature under His
Law. Everything in nature strictly obeys ever all His Laws.
Stanza 18
vedyo
vaidyah sadaa-yogee
veerahaa
maadhavo madhuh
ati-indriyo mahaamaayo mahotsaaho mahaabalah.
(163) Vedyah -That
which is to be known; in the language of the Geeta, it is Jneyam. That final
knowledge, knowing which every-thing becomes known. “Kasmin nu bhagavo vijnaate
sarvamidam vijnaatam bhavati iti”-(Mundaka. 1-3).
All sciences are investigations into Truth
After observing the nature and behaviour of things and beings when the
investigator moves ahead seeking the ONE Harmonious Chord of Reality that holds
all phenomena in its inescapable love-web, the scientist of Truth-comes to
reject first the gross, and soon thereafter the subtle realms, and ultimately
even the causal factors, and thus-comes to apprehend this harmony, which he is
seeking as the very subjective core of his own Self. This final Goal to be
realized, “having known which everything else becomes known,” the One
Consummate Knowledge to be gained (Vedyah), is the Self, the Great Vishnu.
(164) Vaidyah -The
One Supreme Doctor who alone can minister to the world suffering from ego and
egocentric misconceptions. One who is a master of all knowledge (Vidyaa) is
also termed as Vaidvah
(165) Sadaa Yogee -To
the confused and the deluded to detach themselves from the false
vestures-of-matter and to seek their identity with the ETERNAL Self is called
Yoga. All attempts in attaining an at-one-ment with the Self is called Yoga.
The Goal, the Self, therefore, in the language of the seeker must be
Sadaayoga-ever-in yoga.
(166) Veerahaa –“He
who destroys the mighty heroes”. The powerful men of strength and valour when
they grow in their audacity to become tyrants, the Lord manifests to destroy
such Raakshasas and thus protects the Dharma and the Good.
(167) Maadhavah -Earlier
this term was used (72) where we interpreted the term as the “Lord of Lakshmi.”
Maa means not only “Lakshmi,” but she is also “Vidyaa” (Knowledge). The Lord
(Dhava) of all Knowledge (Maa) is Maadhava.
He who helps introspection and meditation in
the seeker is Maadhava. “To become conscious of the existence of a thing” is
called the knowledge of the thing, The Aatman, the Self is Existence (Sat) and
Consciousness (Sphurana) and, therefore, Lord Vishnu, the Self is the source of
all knowledge and as such the Master of all Vidyaas: (Maa-dhava), Harivamsa
says” “O Hari, You are the Lord (Dhava) of Knowledge (Maa), and hence You are
called as Maadhava, the Master of Maa.”
(168) Madhuh -The
term Madhuh familiarly stands for “honey”. It is also a term to indicate
“nectar.” One who generates Nectarine Bliss in the hearts of His devotees is
called Madhuh. The springtime in India is called as Madhumaasa since spring is
the season of flowers; full of honey for the bees, and joy for man. The month
called Madhu (March- April) is the Chaitra month which is considered specially
auspicious for prayers, and meditation. One who is of the nature of the
Maadhava-maasa, the month of Maadhava (April-May) can also be the suggestion in
this term. Vaisaakha (April-May) is considered as the most auspicious time of
the year for the worship of Vishnu by all Vaishnavites.
(169) Ateendriyah -One
who is beyond the sense-organs not only in the sense, that the sense-organs
cannot perceive Him as their ‘object’ but also in the sense that He is other
than the sense-organs and their functions. Lending to them, all their very
vitality, is His mere presence! He is the very ‘subject’ in the perceiver, and,
therefore, the instruments of perceptions, emotions, and thoughts cannot
experience Him: this Source of All-life is Maha Vishnu. Kathopanishad (3-15)
says: “He is soundless, untouched, formless, immutable, so without taste,
eternal, smell-less.
(170) Mahaamaayah -One
who is the Supreme Master of all Maayaa. He is the very Substratum upon which
all the plurality spring up and play their infinite enchantments, constantly
basking in the Light of the Supreme Consciousness. Aatman, the Self, is
untouched by the play of Maayaa, and yet the Maayaa-play is sustained only by
the exuberant warmth of His Divine presence. The Sun is the Master of all
clouds, inasmuch as, in its presence, borrowing its heat, water by its own
nature gets evaporated, and the water, vapour again, because of its own nature
of a lesser density than the atmospheric air, rises to the higher altitudes and
gathers there as clouds. It is, again, the nature of the atmosphere that at
higher altitudes it is cooler and the water-vapour so cooled becomes water
again, and due to the higher density of water it descends as rain. In this
example the Sun can be called as the “Creator” of all clouds and the “Cause for
the rams,” and consequently the sun is also the “ Master of the Seasons.” And
yet, the Sun is uncontaminated by all these phenomena that are happening in its
presence.
In the same fashion the Infinite Reality,
Vishnu, is indicated here as the Great Magician, who has the magic of Maayaa at
His command. Krishna Himself confesses in the Geeta: “Very difficult indeed it
is to cross over My Maayaa” -(Geeta Ch. 7 St. 14).
(171) Mahotsaahah -The
Great Enthusiast; the Ever-Dynamic Accomplisher. The Powers of creation, of
sustenance and of annihilation-in their totality is the world of birth and
death that we live in. This wonderful world cannot be sustained without the
endless enthusiasm of this Mighty Power. Looking at the ocean, through the
waves, we come to recognise the ocean as the “Sleepless Agitator”; similarly,
looking at Vishnu, “through the ephimeral kaleidoscopic changes in the patterns
of life available to us in our experience today, we call Him as the “Dynamic
accomplisher” (Mahotsaahah). The term employed here, the Enthusiastic
Accomplisher, is indeed one of the most appropriate names for Maha Vishnu.
(172) Mahaabalah -One
who has Supreme Strength. He, being Omnipotent, is the Source of all Strength
that we see in each individual organism in life. His Vitality reflected in each
of us, is our individual strength; naturally He is the Infinitely Strong,
Mahaabalah.
Stanza 19
mahaabuddhir-mahaa-
veeryo mahaa-saktir mahaa-dyutih
anirdesya-vapuh sreemaan ameyaatmaa mahaadri-dhrik.
(173)
Mahaabuddhih-In
the previous term, we were told He is Omnipotent. Here He is indicated as
Omniscient. The Supreme, functioning through the intellect, is the
intelligence. The quality and quantity of the intelligence will depend upon the
condition of the “intellect’ through which the Infinite comes to play. The
intelligence in a mathematician, poet or an artist, scientist or politician-all
are the different play-patterns of energies invoked from the one Supreme
Intelligence, and therefore, Mahavishnu, the Self, is called here as
Mahaabuddhih, the Reservoir of all Intelligence.
(174) Mahaaveeryah -One
who is the Supreme Essence. “Veerya” is the Essence behind all the creative
urges. Since the Divine is the very source, from which alone the dynamism for
creation can manifest, the Supreme Divinity is termed here as the Mahaaveerya.
(175) Mahaasaktih -All-Powerful.
Power here means efficiency. He-whose manifestations are the power-of-action,
the power-of-desire and the power-of-knowledge saktees-must necessarily be the
most powerful, in as much as a play of these three powers is the total play of
the world.
(176) Mahaadyutih -Of
Splendorous Light. Dyuti means ‘Glow’, Sobhaa. The Pure Consciousness is the
illuminator of all, including all other material sources of light in the
world-Sun, Moon, stars, fire etc.-but this is not all; He is also the One, who
is Himself Self-Effulgent. This is Mahavishnu-the Supreme Self. In the
Mundakopanishad (4-9) Lord is described as the “Light of lights”.
Brihadaaranya- kopanishad (6-3-9) declares: “He is Self-effulgent”.
(177) Anirdesyavapuh -One whose form is indefinable, indescribable, inexplicable
(Anirdesyam). Ordinary things can be defined, described or explained because
they come within our experience. Our objective experiences can be
satisfactorily expressed in words. Vishnu is that Truth which is the Subjective
Essence in all of us; He is that ‘Knowledge’, in the light of which, all other
knowledges are rendered possible. As such no “sources of knowledge” (Pramaanas
such as Direct perception, Inference etc.) can be employed successfully in
exploring the realm of the Self. Subjective experiences of ‘Be’, the Maha
Vishnu, is possible; but It can never become an ‘idea’ to express, nor can It
become an ‘emotion’ to feel, nor can It ever become an ‘object’ to be described.
(178) Sreemaan -Sree
means Glory (Aisvarya). Vishnu is permanently wedded to Mother Glory; He, who
is constantly courted by all glories, is Sreemaan, Lord Vishnu.
(179) Ameyaatmaa -He
whose Essence (Aatmaa) is inestimable and immeasurable (Ameya). As Aatman
(Kshetrajna) He, the One, expresses Himself everywhere in every equipment
(Kshetra), as the ‘knower’ in each ‘field’. Since these equipments are infinite
in number, as the individuality (jeeva) in each one of the created beings, His
own Glory expresses in endless manifestations.
(180) Mahaadridhrik -One who supports the great Mountain. In the Puranas, we find two
instances, wherein the Lord has been described as the uplifter of or as having
lifted and supported the mountains. While churning the milky ocean with the
Mandara mountain we are told that the “churning-stick” sunk into the bottom and
the Lord had to manifest in the form of the Great Tortoise (Koorma) and support
it, while the Gods and Demons continued the churning, until they gathered the nectar
(Amritam).
Again, the Supreme, as Lord Krishna, in order
to protect the cows had to lift the Govardhana Mountain. Because of these two
stories in the Puranas, Lord, the Protector of the mind in Saadhanaa, is called
as Mahaadridhrik.
Vishnu is the Divine, that supports the
mind-intellect of the Saadhaka while he is churning, through study (sravana)
and reflection (manana), his own Milk-like pure heart-of devotion in order to
gain the experience of Immortality (Amritam).
Stanza
20
maheshvaaso
maheebhartaa sreenivaasah sataam gatih
aniruddhah suraanando govindo govindaam-patih.
(181) Maheshvaasah -One
who wears or wields the Great Bow called Saarnga.
(182) Maheebhartaa -The husband of Mother Earth. The Sanskrit term for husband is Bhartaa
and the term denotes ‘Supporter’. In the Puranic language we have the
description of how the Lord, as the Great Boar uplifted the earth from the
“waters of Deluge.” Viewed from the platform of philosophy, just as gold is the
supporter of all things made of gold, the Infinite Consciousness is the Essence
from which everything has risen. Hence He is the Lord, the Supporter, the
Husband (Bhartaa) of Mother Earth and everything that exists in her.
(183) Sreenivaasah -The
permanent abode of Sree. Mother Sree connotes “all Glory and power, faculties
and strength, to be good and to perform creative acts of righteousness”. She is
found to remain never permanently in any bosom. Even saints and sages, in
recorded history, have come to compromise the perfections in them. The only place,
where imperfections never enter to molest the serene essence, is the seat of
Eternal Perfection, which is the bosom of Narayana. Hence Maha Vishnu is
indicated as Sreenivaasa –“the Permanent Abode of Lakshmi”.
(184) Sataam Gatih -For
the truly virtuous and for all spiritual seekers (Sat-People) He who is the
final Goal. In the language of the Geeta He is the “Paraa gatih”. The term gati
is used to denote not only the goal, but the very movement, as well as the
direction and the way. Narayana is the very Direction, Path, Progress and the
Goal for his devotees.
(185) Aniruddhah -One
who cannot be obstructed or resisted by anyone. Irresistibly, the will of the
Lord functions in the world of created things-and-beings. Just as in the world
of matter, the laws of nature are irresistible, the Rhythm and Harmony of Truth
ever march in their Eternal Logic of objectless Love and immaculate perfection.
Time and tide wait for none. When the sun rises, the living creatures absorb
energy and nothing can obstruct this process. In the presence of the Self, the
worlds of matter must get thrilled into their own independent activities, and
in all these welter of efforts and exertions, achievements and failures, joys
and sorrows, the Self is not involved by the Irresistible Enchantment of His
presence, the Gopis seek their own fulfilment in their own dances. In the
Puranas, we find Bhagavan Vishnu taking up in His various Incarnations
different manifested forms and in all of them He was victorious; ever
irresistible (Aniruddhah) is His Might.
(186) Suraanandah -The
One who doles out happiness (Aananda) even for the Denizens-of-the Heavens
(Suras). In the Upanishad we have the declaration, that the Infinite
Perfection, the Lord is of the very nature of Absolute Bliss. In the
Aanandavallee of Taittireeya Upanishad we find the arithmetics of Bliss. The
Rishi concludes that all joys of the world and heavens-mental and
supramental-are all but flickerings of the Infinite Bliss, which is the Lord
Mahavishnu.
(187) Govindah -The
word Go in Sanskrit has four meanings: ‘Earth’, ‘Cows’, ‘Speech’ and ‘Vedas’.
As the earth is the supporter of everything that is existing, He, who is the
supporter of everything within the individual, is called Govinda; He, who is
the Protector of the Cow’s and played the part of Gopaala in Gokula, is the
very controller of the animal instincts and passions in the bosom of man; “One,
without whom, no speech can ever emerge out of any throat-He being the very
Life in all Creatures” says Kenopanishad; and the Highest Speech is the
declaration of Truth in the Vedas. The Lord Himself is the very Theme and the
Author of the Vedas. This great Self is Mahavishnu.
(188) Govidaam Patih -One, who is the Lord of all ‘seers’ and “Men of Wisdom”. We have
already indicated that Go means Vedas. Govit- Vedavit-those, who have realized
the Theme indicated in the Vedic declaration as the Essential Reality in their
Own subjective bosom. They are called the Seers or Sages. To such Men-of-Wisdom
the Self-alone is the Lord and the Master.
Stanza
21
mareechir-damano
hamsah suparno bhujagottamah
hiranyanaabhah sutapaah padmanaabhah prajaapatih.
(189) Mareechih -The
term Mareechih means ‘Effulgence’. Consciousness illumines objects and
therefore in terms of worldly knowledge the Upanishads declare that the Supreme
is the Light-Infinite. In the Geeta we read Bhagavan, Vaasudeva declaring: “I
am the Light in all effulgents” -(Geeta Ch. 10, St. 36).
(190) Damanah -One
who restrains and controls every Raakshasic impulse within the bosom. In the
forms of the ten incarnations, He had controlled the irresistible tyrannies of
the vicious against the good. In the form of pain and agitation, sorrow and
death, it is He, who is the Controller, Damanah, of all negative tendencies in
everyone’s Heart.
(191) Hamsah -One
of the great declarations of the Vedas is: “I am Brahman” (Aham Brahmaasmi).
Here the term I, the first person singular used, denotes the supreme. Self
functioning through the conditionings.” This individual concept is called jeeva.
Thus I, the Jeeva (Aham), once detached from the conditionings, IS essentially
nothing other than He, the Lord (Sah). This experience that Aham is Sah is the
very God-consciousness and therefore, Vishnu, the Supreme State of Realization
is declared as Hamsah.
(192) Suparnah -Parna
means wings; Suparna means that which has beautiful wings-bird. “A pair of
white- winged birds extremely friendly sit on one and the same tree; one cats
the fruits, the other eats not and gazes on”.
Thus traditionally in the Upanishads, the
Suparnas suggest the Jeevaatmaa and the Paramaatmaa sitting on the same tree
(body): one (Jeeva) eats the fruits (of actions) and the other (the Self)
merely gazes on (Saakshee). Vishnu is this All-experiencing Principle of
consciousness.
(193) Bhujagottamah -The sacred serpent named in the puranas as Ananta. “ Among the serpents
I am Ananta,” says Krishna: -(Geeta Ch. 10, St. 29).
(194) Hiranyanaabhah -He, who supports at His navel, the creator, Hiranyagarba. The meaning
for this term as given by some is “the One who has the navel region beautiful
in its golden hue” must fail, in the context of the thoughts in the stanza, to
appeal to all seekers.
(195) Sutapaah -One
who has glorious Tapas. Consistent creative thinking is called tapas. For this,
mental concentration is unavoidable. Mind cannot have consistent concentration
unless it can have a perfect control over the sense-organs. Even when the mind
is withdrawn from the sense-organs, it must have a consistent intellectual
ideal to concentrate upon. In the Upanishad, we read: “He thought and through
thought, He created all this”.
(196) Padmanaabhah -One
who supports at His navel the very seat of all creative-power. We have
described this term earlier (48). According to Sankara, here the term may mean
one who has a navel region which in its rounded beauty, is as charming as the
lotus flower .
(197) Prajaapatih -The
Lord of the creatures. Since all creatures have emerged from Him, the living
creatures are His children (Prajaa) and He is their Pati. The term Pati has a
direct meaning: ‘father’. Thus Vishnu, as the only source from which all
creatures have emerged out, is called as Prajaapatih.
Stanza 22
amrityus-sarva-drik
simhah san-dhaataa sandhimaan sthirah
ajo durmarshanah saastaa visrutaatmaa suraarihaa.
(198) Amrityuh –One
who knows no decay Birth, growth, decay, disease and death, are the five great
modifications through which every finite objects must necessarily pass.
Everything born must perish. The one who has no birth has no death. The waves
die but not the ocean. That which is Changeless in the changing whirls of
matter is the Infinite Vishnu. In the Bhagavad Geeta, the Lord is emphatic: “He
who sees the Changeless amidst the changing names and forms, He alone sees the
meaning and purpose of life.”
(199) Sarvadrik -The
seer and knower of everything. The Consciousness that illumines all motives and
intentions -and the manifested activities that spring from them -in each
individual, at all times, is necessarily the Witness of all, the Seer of
everything, Maha Vishnu.
(200) Simhah -One
who destroys. The Law be- hind all destruction and change in the Maayaa is the
Mighty Lord. On transcending the Vehicles of the body, mind and intellect, at a
time when all experiences of perceptions, emotions and thoughts are annihilated
from us, the Experience left over is the Supreme. And in the Non-dual Supreme,
there cannot be any object other than itself. Therefore, that “State” is called
as the Total Destroyer. The State of Waking is the “destroyer” of the
dream-world; the State of Sleep is the “destroyer” of the waking and the dream;
the State of God Consciousness is the total “ Annihilator” of all the known
three planes of Consciousness. He is Simhah -a word that has been formed by the
mutual transposition of the letters in Himsaa.
Even taking its obvious superficial meaning
Vishnu is a Lion in our bosom, in as much as, He is the king of the forest of
Samsaar: at the roar of Narayana all the animal-passions flee from the jungles
of the mind. In the Geeta while describing His own Glory, the Lord says, “Among
the animals, I am the King of animals, Lion.” -Geeta Ch. 10, St. 30.
(201) Sandhaataa - The
Co-relator, the Regulator, the One who co-relates the actions and their fruits.
In fact, the fruit of an action is nothing other than the action itself; the
action itself presents as its fruit in a different period of time, maturing
under its own Law. This Great Law is the Lord, whom the devotee accepts as “The
Giver of all fruits of action”.
202) Sandhimaan - The
structural engineering of individuality is the mightiest of phenomenon
available in nature. The Supreme is the Law and the Law-giver; and the Light of
Consciousness functioning in the mind and intellect Itself is the individuality
(Jeeva), that comes to suffer the good and bad results of the actions. Thus not
only that it is He, who is the Giver of the results but It is He, again, Who is
the enjoyer or the sufferer of the results. Hence He is called as the One who
is apparently conditioned by the actions that emanate from Him, Sandhimaan,
enjoyer (conditioned). In fact, He is the One presiding over and illumining all
actions; the very Law of reaction Itself; the ensuing experience in all actions
of all people, at all times. From the standpoint of our existence, with
reference to our individual existence, the Divinity in us, for all appearances,
seems to be conditioned; this Sandhimaan, the Jeeva in His own Pristine Purity
is Maha Vishnu.
(203) Sthirah -Firm, consistent. One who is ever consistent
in His nature and One who remains changeless, at all times.
(204) Ajah -Unborn. Ajah is also a term denoting the
Creator, Brahmaaji; He who, in the form of Hiranyagarbha, apparently creates
the delusory world of plurality is Vishnu.
(205) Durmarshanah -One
who cannot be attacked and vanquished. In the long run, everyone in his own
maturity will have to come and accept and walk the path of Vishnu -He is the
final Goal. In the lesser levels of evolution, the animal-man may deny himself
the peace and joy of living the spiritual values, and deluded by the senses and
enchanted by the flesh, he may live a life of sense-joys and temporary
fulfilments. But soon enough irresistibly he will be seeking the “feet” of
Vishnu for real happiness and true achievement. His also is the final victory
and one can stand apart from Him in a victory over him.
(206) Saastaa -One who rules over the universe, Not only
that He is the Administrator of the laws of the Phenomenon but also He is the
Saastaa. He is the One who, through Sastra, with firm hand, instructs and
guides us through the righteous path, drives us along steadily to progress in
cultural beauty and finally reaches us at the Great Goal of all evolutions: the
Seat of Vishnu.
(207) Visrutaatmaa -The famous term Aatmaa, famous in all the
Vedas, is Vishnu. This term clearly shows that all the thousand terms, used
herein, though can be considered for the Saguna worship of Vishnu, represent
nothing other than the Pure Self, which is the famous theme of the Hindu
Scriptures. Through hundreds of suggestive definitions, this Great Self has
been successfully pointed out through declarations of Its Transcendental Nature
and through statements of negation indicating what He is not.
(208) Suraarihaa -Sura=“God
of the Heaven”, Ari=“enemies”, Ha=“destroyer”. The Supreme is the Destroyer of
the enemies of the gods. The sensuous claims of the flesh, the mild assertions
of the ego, the nocturnal devils of i desires and passions, are the common
enemies of the higher mind aspiring to evolve. When invoked with true devotion,
He who drives away and destroys the inimical negative tendencies, and helps the
devotee to master himself, is Suraarihaa, Sri Narayana.
Stanza
23
gurur-gurutamo
dhaama satyas-satya-paraakramah
nimisho-a-nimishah sragvee vaachaspatir-udaara-dheeh.
(209) Guruh -The
teacher, who initiates seekers into the secrets of the sacred scriptures is
called the Guru. Since the Lord, the infinite alone, is the very author and
knower of the Vedas, He is the Teacher in all spiritual study. Aatman being the
Light, that illumines the knowledge in the teacher, his very capacity to speak
and the very ability in the student to hear, understand and apprehend this
great Truth, He alone is the Teacher wherever there is any transference of knowledge.
(210) Gurutamah -The
Greatest Teacher; One who had inspired with knowledge and initiated the very
Creator Brahmaaji into the knowledge of the four Vedas. The creative mind of
the very first Spiritual Master must have received this experience of the
Transcendental, initiated by none other than the Supreme Itself. Later on, the
Man of Realization might come to help other seekers, and to that extent the
following generations of disciples, can, no doubt, psychologically believe that
the teacher guided them to Truth. But, in fact for all times to come, the final
experience of the theme of the Vedas is arrived at only through the final
revelation, which has nothing to do with the teacher or the text. Svetaasvatara
Upanishad (6-18) says, “He who first Created the Creator (Brahmaa) and imparted
him the Vedas.”
The Guru and the scripture, devotion to God,
meditation, moral conduct and the religious discipline are all necessary, in as
much as, they prepare the bosom of the seeker for the dawn of realization. But
the final unveiling is done by the Infinite alone, and hence, Vishnu, the Self,
is the best among the Gurus. Heaviness is called by the same term (Gurutvam),
and in this sense the Lord is Indicated here as “that which is heavier than the
heaviest.
(211) Dhaama -The
Goal; the Sacred destination of a pilgrimage. The Supreme is the Param-dhaama,
the ‘Supreme Destination’, having reached which, there is nothing more to reach
beyond. This Absolute State of Perfection is called the “Peak” (Dhaama). The
Sanskrit term Dhaama also means “Effulgence” (Tejas); the Pure Consciousness as
the illuminator of all experiences is considered and glorified as the Light of
all Lights etc.
(212) Satyah -One
who is Himself the Truth. The difference from the general connotation, we have
for the term “That which remains without a change in the past, present and
future” is called Sat yam. “Truth, Knowledge, Infinite is Brahman”, thunder the
scriptures. Brihad Upanishad (4-1-20) says, “The Praanas are the truth, and He
is the Truth of them.”
(213) Satyaparaakramah -Dynamic Truth. Passive truthfulness is the harbour of the fools, the
dark den of the cowards; although it is any day better than suicidal un- truth
and criminal dishonesty. The Lord, the Infinite is not only Himself the Truth
but He is Dynamic in insisting that “Truth shall prevail, not untruth”. Not
only gravity is a law of nature, itself ever truthful, but it insists that none
shall escape its influence or disobey sway. So too, the Infinite Law of Harmony
and Love is an Inevitable Truth persisting with insistence in life. The Lord is
therefore indicated by the term “ Satyaparaakramah”.
(214) Nimishah -The
condition of “the eyelids closed” is called Nimishah; the unwinking is called
Animishah. When the eyes are open, the mind is extrovert; the condition of
mental introvertedness is expressed in an unconscious closing of the eyes. When
a man is deeply thinking, remembering, contemplating, we find him naturally
closing his eyes.
In a state of intense contemplation, when the
intellect is turned away from the objects-of-experiences, the bosom experiences the One
Divine “Subject” both within and without. The Lord is described here as “with
eyes closed”, only to indicate that He is ever rooted in Himself; from Him
viewed, there exists nothing other than Himself to constitute the world-
of-objects.
(215) Animishah -One
who remains unwinking. Whenever we wink both the eyelids close together and
what we are seeing is at least technically veiled from the seer in the eye. The
Supreme is indicated here by the term “unwinking”, in the sense that, the
consciousness is Ever-Knowing. In Sankara’s words, in Chandogya Bhaashya,
“there is no cession of knowing in the knower”.
(216) Sragvee -A
garland is called Srak and, therefore, the term means One who is constantly
wearing a garland of undecaying flowers. The famous garland of Vishnu is called
Vaijayantee.
(217) Vaachaspatir-Udaaradheeh -Vaachaspati is a term given to One who is eloquent in cham” pioning the
Supreme law of life; and Dheeh means the power of intelligence; and Udaaradheeh
one who has a “Large- hearted intelligence”, One who is not puritanical in his
view points. God is not only the Declarer of the Law but He has a large-hearted
tolerance to appreciate the weakness of the devotee’s heart, suffering under
the delusion of Maayaa, and hence, has a great sympathy for the weakness in us
This is expressed in God’s Infinite kindness towards sinners in general.
The laws of spiritual living can be disobeyed
for a long time without any tyrannical onslaught, unlike the law of physical
nature, which is blind and uncompromising. Fire knows no mercy. But Narayana,
the Great Vishnu, is kind and considerate the while He expresses the Truth of
Life eloquently at all times around us. In His Large-heartedness, He has enough
paternal kindness to overlook our trespasses.
Stanza
24
agraneer-graamaneeh
sreemaan nyaayo netaa sameeranah
sahasra-moordhaa visvaatmaa sahasraakshas-sahasrapaat.
(218) Agraneeh -One
wh0 guides us to the end -the peak. Also the One, wh0 leads (Agra) the entire
pilgrim- age-the Guide. He moves ahead and following His footsteps, keeping Him
in our gaze, faithfully following Him, we shall reach the Goal and thus He is
called as the leader, Vishnu.
(219) Graamaneeh -One who controls, guides and leads the “Collection”,
the “flock” (Graama). In Sanskrit Graama means “a collection of many number of
things”.
(220) Sreemaan -Sree
means Light, Effulgence or glory. Consciousness has all these three, and
therefore, Sreemaan means the Self, the Lord.
(221) Nyaayah -The
word in its direct meaning is “Justice”. In the spiritual world, it connotes
logical arguments (Tarka) and lines of contemplation (Yukti), which help us in
arriving at the absolute experience indicated in the Sruti, are together called
Nyaaya.
(222) Netaa -the
leader-one who protects, nurtures, nourishes and guides all living creatures in
the world. One who is being the Superintendent of the machinery of life
-(“Jagat-Yantra Nirvaahakah”)-Sankara.
(223) Sameeranah -One
who efficiently administers all movements of all living creatures. In the
physical body, all physiological activities are controlled by the five
‘Praanaas’ and thus in the form of ‘Praanaas’ He who governs all movements of
all living creatures in the universe is Maha Vishnu.
(224) Sahasria-Moordhaa -One who has endless number of heads. All living creatures are His
manifestations and He Himself is the One who has become the many. Therefore all
heads are His, just as in a factory the proprietor considers all the employees
as his own ‘hands’. Here the term Sahasra means innumerable.
(225) Visvaatmaa -The
very Soul of the universe; the very inner Essence in all living creatures.
(226) Sahasraakshah -In describing the macro- cosmic form of the Lord we have an endorsement
of this declaration in the Bhagavad Geeta.
227. Sahasrapaat -In
the Purushasookta of the Rig-Veda, the same terms are used in describing the
Infinite Form of the Mighty Truth:
(“The Purusha is thousand-headed, thousand-eyed, and thousand-footed.”)
The “many heads” (224), “many eyes” (226),
“many legs”
(227), together indicate that, through all
these equipments of thinking (head), of action (leg) and of perception (eyes),
the Thinker, the Doer and the Seer, the One Infinite Consciousness expresses
everywhere, in all forms, at all times, and He is Lord Vishnu.
Stanza
25
aavartano
nivrittaatmaa samvritah sam-pramardanah
ahassamvartako vahnir anilo dharaneedharah.
(228) Aavartanah -One
who is the Unseen Dynamism behind the ever-whirling wheel-of time upon which
play the endless drama of birth and death. The repetition (Aavartanam) of these
changes is the experience of Samsaar, and the One mighty Lord, in whose
presence alone the factors of matter start their thrilled dance of decay, is
indicated here (Aavartanah) as “the Great Power behind the continuity of change
in the world of phenomena”. In the Geeta, Bhagavan says, “O Arjuna, the Lord
dwells in the heart of all, and spins, through His Maayaa, all layers of
personal ties as though the universe is a complicated machinery.”
(229) Nivrittaatmaa -The pure Self, which has retreated totally (Nivritta) from all Its
identifications with matter. In short, Maha Vishnu is the Pure Self, ever
Immaculate and totally Free from all the sorrows of the constant modifications
taking place apparently in the Prakriti.
(230) Samvritah -One
who is completely veiled from the recognition of the
“Perceiving-feeling-thinking entity”, the ego (Jeeva) .The Self is veiled away
from direct experience of all Jeevas. This intellectual state of
non-apprehension (Aavarana) creates the agitation (Vikshepa) which is the cause
for the misapprehensions of Truth as the sad and sorrowful world of
imperfections. Thus veiled, lies the Truth today to the seeker, and that
Glorious spiritual Centre is Vishnu.
(231) Sampramardanah -One who persecutes relentlessly
men, who are sensuous, evil-minded, and so, fully extrovert in their
personality (Raakshasas). In the form of disease, decay, disaster or death That
which manifests to annihilate the pride, vanity and conceits of all
“animal-men”, as they live drowned in their flesh cravings, low emotions and
materialistic values, is the Ultimate Reality-the Supreme Lord Vishnu.
(232) Ahassamvartakah -One who thrills the day (Ahas)
and makes it function vigorously (pravartakah). The one who dynamises the day
and lends the enchantment of joy to all living creatures is the Sun. The Mighty
Truth, who, in the form of the Sun, gives life to all and lends this energy to
them to act, is Vishnu. In the Geeta, Lord Krishna says, “Please understand
that I am the Light of the Sun that illumines all earth; and the light and heat
in the moon and fire are all mine only.”
(233) Vahnih -Fire.
One, who is worshipped at the altar as the God of gods, was Fire in the Vedic
period. Invoking the various deities, oblations were poured into the Fire in
Vedic ritualism and Lord Fire is entrusted with the duty of conveying the
oblations to the appropriate deities Invoked by the devotee.
In short, Vishnu is the Omniscient Lord, who
conveys appropriate Karma-phala to the Kartaa (doer) and thus fulfils all
actions of everybody, at all times.
234. Anilah
–This term has four distinct meanings. All of them are appropriate here. (a)
Air (Vaayu); living creatures; (b) “Beginning-less” (Aadi-rahitah); that Truth,
from which the concept of time itself has born, must have been there even
before time, manifested, and therefore, in terms of our intellectual concept of
time, we can only say that He is “Beginningless”; (c) ‘Eater’ of food (Attaa);
all experiences that satisfy the inner man is called the “food”, and since all
experiences are lived only when illumined by the consciousness, the Supreme, in
terms of our experience is called the “Eater” and (d) “The Homeless” since He
is All-pervading He is the shelter of all and He is not sheltered by anything.
235. Dharaneedharah -One
who supports (Dharah) the earth (Dharanee). The field of our experiences is the
earth, and for all our earthly experiences, Consciousness is at once the very
substratum and the very Illuminator. In the Light of Consciousness alone, the
web of happenings around is held together to provide us with our experiences.
Stanza 26
suprasaadah
prasannaatmaa visva-dhrik- visvablluk- vibhuh
satkartaa satkritah saadhur jahnur-naaraayano narah.
236. Suprasaadah -One
who is full of the Supreme Grace and who, so little, so easily, becomes so
entirely satisfied. Even to those who can remember Him, even if it be in a
spirit of constant and faithful antagonism, His Grace is readily available. In
Bhaagavata we read Pootanaa, who tried to poison Him, Kamsa, who planned to
murder Him, or Sisupaala, who falsely accused Him-all of them were ultimately
rewarded by the Lord. In the Geeta, He confesses, “with a little am I satisfied,
if it is given with sincerity, and with faithful consistency”.
237. Prasannaatmaa
-Ever-Pure and All- Blissful Self. The Supreme is ever-pure because, It is
untouched by the sorrows lived by matter, when matter is ruled over by its
gunas. In Geeta we read that the cause for all the sorrows of the individuality
(Jeeva) is the attachment with matter and its various imperfect conditions
(Gunas). Since He is untouched by them He is Ever-Pure; and since no
identification of matter is in Him, He is all-Bliss.
238. Visvadhrik -As
a Mighty Source of all existence in every thing and every being, He is the
Supporter (Dhrik) of the total world of all perceptions, all emotions and all
thoughts (Visva).
Herein the Supporter and the supported being
essentially one, no calamity comes to the Lord by the increase in population.
Ocean, the supporter of the waves, can never feel bothered by the stormy
surface and the consequent increase in the number of waves.
239. Visvabhuk -The
One who enjoys or swallows (Bhuk) all experiences (Visva). The Supreme
Consciousness apparently conditioned by the mind and intellect is the
experiencer of the joys and sorrows.
The term also means, “the One who absorbs unto
Himself all names and forms” at the time of the dissolution (Pralaya) .In the
plane of God-consciousness all other experiences, gathered in fields of waking,
dream and deep- sleep, are transcended and, therefore, the State of Perfection
can be figuratively indicated as “Visvabhuk” the One who swallows all other
experiences of plurality”.
240. Vibhuh -One
who manifests Himself in an endless variety of forms. Though essentially the
Infinite is One, Non-Dual and All-Pervading, the Reality, when viewed through
the equipments of mind-and-intellect (Maayaa) seems to have apparently become
the pluralistic world. Mundakopanishad (1-6) says, “He is Eternal and
Multiform.” Based upon this idea we have in the Puranas, the description of the
Lord's incarnations and His play in the world of the many.
241. Satkartaa -One
who revels and adores those who are good and wise. His palace is ever lit up
with His hospitality and He Himself presides over the loving reception of the
righteous.
242. Satkritah -One who is adored by all good people, not
only is He adored and worshipped by great men of wisdom and devotion-as the
Sanatkumaaras, Naarada and others-but He is invoked and worshipped consciously
by all living creatures. The Upanishad describes every experience of all living
creatures as a Yajna in which the stimuli received are the ‘Oblations’ poured
at which the inner Consciousness flares up into brilliancy.
243. Saadhuh
-One, who functions strictly according to the righteous code of living is a
Saadhuh Atman, the Self, is the Mighty Presence, which apparently lends
intelligence and capacity to inert matter. The Supreme Saadhu is Vishnu
Himself.
244. Jahnuh
-leader of men; the One who leads all creatures along the path of an inexorable
law-the law of action and reaction, the rhythm of Karma. Irresistibly, the good
is led, by his own subjective disharmony, dashes to reach a hell made by
himself for himself.
245. Naaraayanah
-This simple sacred word has an endless number of direct and indirect meanings,
imports and suggestions, and Vyasa seems to have explored almost all its
possibilities.
1. The Shelter (Ayanam) for man (Nara) is
Naaraayana.
2. The term Nara implies the ego-centric
individuality and a large collection of them is called Naara and the One who is
the sole refuge for the entire living creatures is called Naaraayanah.
3. Nara also means Eesvara and the elements
(Tattvas) born out of Him are called Naara; and One who is the controller, the
regulator, the very source of all Existence. in these very Tattvas is called
Naaraayanah.
4. Naaraah also mean “waters”. According to the
picture painted in the Puranas of the Deluge, wherein the names, and forms
devolve themselves into their elemental waters, the Lord is objectively
described as lying alone upon the waters, the Eternal baby, floating upon a
banyan leaf. “Holding in His Lotus-hand His own Lotus-feet, and sucking His own
toe with His Lotus-lips, the Lotus child resting playfully upon a banyan leaf,
floating up on the waters of the Deluge-I meditate.”
It is in this sense, we find Manu interpreting
the word “Naaraayana”. In the great devotional classic, Bhaagavatam, we find
very many suggestions digged out of this sacred name; such as the ‘Self of all
bodies’, “the Dynamic Force behind matter”, “the Witness of all good and bad”.
All these indicate that Sri Narayana is nothing other than the Glory (Ayanam)
of the Self.
246. Narah -The Guide: One-who guides all creatures
strictly according to their actions is none other than the Ancient (Sanaatana)
Self.
Stanza
27
asankhyeyo-aprameyaatmaa
visishtah sishta-krit-suchih
siddhaarthah siddhasankalpah siddhidah siddhisaadhanah.
247. Asankhyeyah
-Sankhyaa means number; Asankhya=numberless. Asankhyeyah is one who has
numberless names and forms. The infinite variety of things and beings that
constitute the manifested Universe are all His Own Form, and hence He is indeed
numberless, whom He expresses Himself as the Universe. In the 11th Chapter of
Geeta, we see through Arjuna’s eyes the Cosmic Form of the Lord. Of boundless
forms on every side with numberless arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes-neither end
nor middle, nor beginning do I see, O Lord of the Universe.
248. Aprameya-Atmaa -Prameya=Pramaana Vishaya-anything that can be known through any of the
“Sources-of-knowledge”-direct or indirect. Atman, the Self, cannot be
apprehended by the intellect through any of the known “Sources-of-Knowledge”
(Pramaana) and so He is called as Aprameya. One who has this nature is the
Self, Aprameya-Atmaa, Sri Narayana.
249. Visishtah -The
One who transcends every- thing, in His Glory is the Supreme (Visishtah). Something
that is other than the three bodies, something other than the five kosas,
something definitely different from the finite world of perishable things is
the Infinite Self-which cannot be defined in terms of either the waking or the
dream or the sleep conditions. The Self is something other than all these:
This
Supreme-most Troth is Maha Vishnu.
250. Sishtakrit -One
who governs; One who is the Law Maker and the Law that governs the universe.
The goal of His administration is the protection of the good (Sishtah). Maha
Vishnu is the Governor of all, and the Protector of the good.
251. Suchih -One
who is Pure. The immaculate Reality which is never contaminated by the Maayaa
and its by- products is Maha Vishnu. When dirt (Mala) exists upon anything, it
becomes unclean. In the Absolute Oneness there can be nothing other than itself
and therefore the Fourth-plane-of- Consciousness (Tureeyam) is indicated in our
Scriptures as the Transcendental Ever-Pure Self, Sri Hari.
252. Siddhaarthah -One who has gained all that has to be
gained and achieved all that has to be achieved. That which has to be achieved
in life during an individual’s existence have all been classified under four
heads and they are called as the four “aims of life” (Purushaartha). Theyare
Righteousness in conduct, (Dharma), Wealth and Possession (Artha), desires and
ambitions (Kaama), liberation from imperfections (Moksha). One who has gained
all these “four” have nothing more to gain as there cannot be any sense of
imperfection in Him. One who has gained (Siddhah) all that has to be gained
(Arthah) is Siddhaartha, Lord Vishnu.
253. Siddhasankalpah -Sankalpa means “intellectual willing and wishing”. One who gains all
that He wishes for, or One who immediately gains what He wills is called Siddha-sankalpah.
Ordinarily we fail to gain what we demand because of the disintegration within
ourselves. The Lord, the Perfect, is One who instantaneously gains all that He
wishes; hence the Upanishads define Him as the Satya Sankalpavaan. This great Paramesvara
of the Upanishads is the Maha Vishnu, the theme of the “Thousand Chants’
(Sahasranaama).
254. Siddhiddah -One
who is the Giver of the appropriate reward for all actions, for those who are
doing spiritual practices. Lord Narayana is the great Universal Power that
brings about the reward for all actions.
255. Siddhi-Saadhanah -One who is the very secret force which enables the seeker to
diligently continue all efforts of his seeking. Siddhi ordinarily means
“fulfilment”, here it means all efforts at a given fulfilment. It is also
interpreted by some as the One Mighty Reality, to worship at whose altar is the
very means (Saadhana) for all achievements (Siddhi), and this is Sri Narayana.
Stanza
28
vrishaahee
vrishabho vishnur-vrishaparvaa vrishodarah
vardhano vardhamaanascha viviktah sruti-saagarah.
256. Vrishaahee -The
term Vrishah is very familiar with the ritualistic portion of the Vedas and it
connotes objectively the sacred “Left over” after the Yajna functions.
Subjectively, Vrisha means the residual ‘results’ gathered in the personality
after each devoted and dedicated act of offering, during all Self-less services
(Yajnas). Therefore, Vrishaahee means “One who is a controller of all actions
and the dispenser of all results”, in all individual, conscious, intelligent
creatures.
257. Vrishabhah -The
term Vrisha though not very familiar now is used in the Vedic literature to
indicate Dharma-“the essential nature of a thing without which the thing cannot
remain as the thing” is its Dharma. One who showers all Dharmas is called
Vrishabhah. In short, one who showers glowing health, burning devotion and
thrilling silence on all sincere seekers and faithful devotees is Vrishabhah;
and He is Sri Narayana.
258. Vishnuh
-All-Pervading: Long-Strident. We had already explained this term earlier (2).
In Mahabharata we also read the Lord Himself explaining to Arjuna, “Because I
stand striding across the Universe (Kramanaat), O Partha, I am known as
Vishnu.” -(Mahabharata 12-350-43).
In the Upanishad also we read, “Vishnu has
spread Himself and conquered all these three worlds.
259. Vrishaparvaa -We
had already explained that Vrisha means Dharma. The term Parvam means “Ladder”,
“a flight of steps” that takes us to the Higher floors (Hence Parvata means
mountain). Thus, here, the term is explained as a flight of steps on the ladder
of life to take one to the Ultimate Reality, the Eternal (Sanaatana) Dharma: “1
am the way”. Vishnu is the One to worship at whose altar will facilitate the
devotee’s steady evolution towards the experience of the Higher consciousness.
260. Vrishodarah
-Vrisha, that which rains; Udara = belly. The idea here is the seat of
all-creative thinking is resting on a psychic, centre, roughly indicated by the
navel, and hence we find the description that the total Creator of the universe
is sustained and held aloft at the navel of Maha Vishnu. During Pralaya (sleep)
the “creative power” merges back to its source, and thereafter, upon waking,
the creation again starts; the creative power” manifests itself and continues
its creative activities, from the same point of Its merger, (Udara). This
culminating point of all creation, during the time of the dissolution-which is
also the same from wherein, during creation, the manifestations of names and
forms spring forth (shower down = Vrisha)- is Vishnu, the Supreme, and hence,
He is called as Vrishodarah, “the Showering Belly.”
261. Vardhanah -One
who is the nurturer and nourisher everywhere, at all levels of life, both
material and spiritual. In short, from the standpoint of the student, who is
studying with devotion these “Thousand names of the Lord”, the term indicates
that Vishnu is the Mighty Power that supplies all spiritual growth, provides
all well-being and ultimately blesses all His devotees with the final
Realization.
262 Vardhamaanah -One who can grow Himself into any
dimensions; ever-growing. Since the names and forms of the universe are ever
dynamic and has the unseen movement of progressive evolution everywhere, the
Lord is indicated here as this very “dimensional movement of progress”
(Vardhana). (The Pauraanikas attribute that this name came to Him because He in
His Vaamana incarnation grew
Himself to measure under His three steps the
whole universe.
263. Viviktah
-Alone=solitary. Every standing apart from everything. With reference to the
dream and the dreamer, the waker is, we knew, indeed, separate. Similarly the
world of names and forms and its joys and sorrows, passions and lusts, smiles
and tears, though they all play in the Self, the Supreme is not affected by
them.
The horrid “ghost” cannot affect the innocent
“post”. One who thus remains alone and apart, in His Own Majesty and
perfection, even when the world-of-Maayaa is heaving about is Viviktah. In the
daily happenings of Samsar, in its births and deaths, He remains ever
changeless and ever unaffected. This freedom is indicated in the Geeta and the
Lord explains: “They are in me; I am not in them
264. Srutisaagarah -The
ocean for all the rivers of all scriptural thoughts. All scriptures,
irrespective of the age, language, tradition and beliefs, ultimately indicate a
Theme which is ever the same. All scriptures are rivulets of thoughts, flowing
through different terrains of national character and historical climates, gushing
to reach forward the ocean of Perfection, which lies beyond the dark sorrows of
mortality. That which is the goal of all Scriptures is the Immortal Bliss of
God-consciousness, the Maha Vishnu.
Stanza
29
subhujo
durdharo vaagmee mahendro vasudo vasuh
naika-roopo brihad-roopah sipivishtah prakaasanah.
265. Subhujah -He
who has graceful arms. This need not be taken as a description of the physical
beauty of the anatomical structure of the arms but since those arms are ever
working in the service of His devotees on sheltering them (Abhaya) and in
blessing them (Varada) they are full of grace and hence graceful.
266. Durdharah -One who cannot be comprehended even by Great
Yogis, who spend long periods of time in meditation. Transcending the mind and
intellect is the “experience” of the Supreme and, therefore, the mind and
intellect can never comprehend It.
267. Vaagmee -One
who is eloquent of His Glory. The full sense or the term should embrace not
only the eloquence in speech, but all physical capabilities in the world, all
the Glories or the cosmos, all the beauties or the heart, the total might of
the intellect-all are eloquent of His Glory. Through the scriptures of the
world, it is again He, who speaks to us of our ultimate Harbour beyond the
stormy seas; of Maayaa, in the simple words of brilliant suggestions declared
by the Saints, Sages, Rishis, Prophets and other Divine Men.
268. Mahendrah -One
who is Lord of even Indra, the Lord or gods. In philosophy the “Mind” is called
lndra (lndriyaanaam Raajaa) and One who is the Lord of even the “mind” is the
Self.
269. Vasudah -Vasu
means wealth and, therefore Vasudah means One who enriches all, both in their
outer prosperity and in their inner well-being. Once surrendered unto Him man
learns to live ever in dynamic success, with all the glories of the loving
heart, self-controlled mind, and contemplative intellect.
270. Vasuh –The
term Vasu has got three meanings: Wealth (Dhana), Veil (Aacchaadana) and Sun
(Aaditya); thus He is the One who manifests Himself in the form of the external
wealth, for He, as the very sun, nurtures and nourishes the world. He is the
One, who veils Himself from the comprehension and understanding of the
unprepared men of evil temperaments and who possess no true devotion.
The term Vasu also can mean “One who lives in”
(Vasati iti) all things and beings of the universe; or it can also mean as “One
who allows all things and beings to exist in Himself” (Vaasayati iti). In Geeta
and in the Upanishads we find the Infinite described as the very Indweller
everywhere in His Eesvara status, and as the very substratum for the universe
in the Pure Transcendental nature.
271. Naikaroopah -One
who is of Infinite forms in his manifestations; the single waker’s mind becomes
itself variegated to serve as the endless items of the dream-world. The One
Supreme “Cause” of the whole Universe is Vishnu; and all “effects” are but
different expressions of their “cause”. In a very familiar chant, traditionally
repeated by all devotees, this Idea has been brought out beautifully.
Looking at Him through our distorting
instruments of body-mind-intellect, we see the plurality, and only on
transcending this equipment can we “experience” the Oneness of the Absolute
Reality.
272. Brihadroopah
-Vast of Infinite dimensions; pervading all. One whose very form (roopa) is the
totality of the universe and therefore as vast as the universe, nay, in the
description of the Supreme Person in the Rig Veda (Purusha- sookta) we read the
Rishis declaring that Vishnu is not only of the total size and dimension of the
Universe but He stands beyond it all by ten digits. – “Atyatishthat
Dasaangulam”.
273. Sipivishtah -Sipi
is the name given to the “Sacrificial cow”. The term denotes the One who
sanctified all dedicated offerings poured into all fields of selfless
sacrifices (Yajna). The root Si has
also the meaning of waters; Sipi-‘that which drinks water’ –“The rays of the
Sun”. Thus Sipivishtah would indicate
the Supreme, who is the Presiding deity in the Sun, giving it both its energy
of heat and light. In Geeta, the Lord confesses: “Understand that the light and
energy that expresses themselves through the sun and moon is the Light and
Glory essentially belonging to Me”.
274. Prakaasanah –The
One who illuminates; expressing Itself as the All-pervading Consciousness in
every equipment. He is the knower, knowing everything in each bosom (Sarvavit)
and knowing all things that are happening in the universe at one and the same
time in His omnisciency (Sarvajnah). He is the Illuminator of all experiences.
Just as the One sun illumines everything in the world the Reality illumines
both the fields of experiences and the knower-of- the-field.
Stanza
30
ojas-tejo-dyutidharah
prakaasa-aatmaa prataapanah
riddhah spashtaaksharo mantras-chandraamsur-bhaaskara- dyutih.
275. Ojas-tejo-dyutidharah -One who is the possessor
(Dharah) of Perfect physical virility (Ojas), all brilliancy (Tejas) and every
beauty (dyuti). These three terms indicate perfection at three different levels
of personality known to us at present. Ojas is glowing health (physical) due to
perfect balance in the constituents (Tattvas) of the healthy body. This
virility in us when conserved, disciplined and trained can, through meditation,
be converted into intellectual “brilliancy” and perfect personality
“integration”.
The shine of an individual, who has thus
sublimated Ojas, is termed in our Sastras as tejas. A Yogi, through intelligent
living and through a devoted life of continued meditation, has thus gathered to
himself ojas and Tejas sufficiently, he, in time, grows to become an
experienced Saint of Divine Realization, a Buddha. The enchanting atmosphere of
irresistible peace and compassion, love and perfection, knowledge and strength,
such a man throws around him, is called the aura of Divinity (Dyuti). In the
lOth Chapter of the Geeta, the Geetacharya autobiographically confesses, “I am
the Might in all strength; I am the Brilliancy in all that is brilliant.”
Some commentators are found to take these three
terms as separate names of the Lord. However, Sankara interprets it as one
single term.
276. Prakaasaatmaa -The Effulgent Self. The One who is the Self
in all hearts, who can be experienced as the Consciousness, which is the source
of all illumination to shine upon all experiences in the three
planes-of-consciousness, in all living creatures, at all times. This Universal
and Absolute Self is Maha Vishnu.
277. Prataapanah -The One who manifests Himself as the
Essential Thermal Energy, that lends Life Potential to the very atmosphere
around each living creature. In the words of the Geetacharya, we find a
confirmation to thus declaration when the Lord declares to Arjuna that He
Himself is the Reality that manifests as the heat and light in the Sun and the
Moon, and it is He again who warms up the crust of the earth and impregnates it
with its fertility. (Geeta XV-12 & 13).
278.
Riddhah -One who is ever full of all prosperity. As the
very Lord of Lakshmi, Vishnu should be one who has all glories (Aisvarya). When
the entire universe of wealth, strength and beauty is itself a manifestation
from Him, He Himself must be the Absolute Glory.
279. Spashta-aksharah -Spashtam=clear. One who is clearly indicated by the Supreme Sound
(Akshara), the famous Sound-Symbol of the Eternal Lord Om. In Geeta we read:
“One who chants my name Om and leaves his body at the time of death thus
remembering Me, he shall go to the Supreme State” In Sanskrit, Kshara means the
“Perishable” and Akshara means the “imperishable.” The world of plurality, the
“perishable” is no doubt nothing other than the All-Perfect, the Immutable
Truth, but due to the imperfections of the instruments-of-perception-body, mind
and intellect-the perceiving ego can experience only this world constituted of
a plurality-sense objects, emotions and thoughts- The ego peeping through the
vehicles can never experience the One co-ordinating Reality, the Divine. When
the mind is hushed and the ego thus sublimated, the Immutable Akshara-factor is
experienced, wherein we gain the clearest (Spashta) understanding of the
Absolute. Since it is thus clear (Spashta) only in Its Immutable nature
(Akshara=Kootastha), Vishnu, the Supreme Self, is indicated here as
Spashtaaksharah).
280. Mantrah -One
who is of the nature of the Mantras of the Vedas. The declarations of the Vedas
the mantras are the vehicles that will take us straight into an experience of
the Transcendental. The vehicles are often called by the nan1e of their
destination. Mantra means that which can save us on being properly meditated
upon. Only through the mantras of the Upanishads we ever come to experience the
Supreme Nature of the Lord, and so He is named as Mantrah.
281. Chandraamsuh -Rays of the moon. That the moonlight has got
an effect upon the herbs was known to India in the Vedic period. “As the rays
of the moon (Soma) I fill the vegetable kingdom with nutrition”, confesses
Bhagavan Vaasudeva. Thus the Lord is One who nurtures and nourishes all living
creatures instilling into each its particular vitality. Though this is the deep
philosophical significance, superficially the beauty, calm and peace that the
moon suggests to our mind is but a reflection of the Infinite Peace of Vishnu.
282. Bhaaskaradyutih -The Effulgence of the Sun. Sun
is the centre of the solar system, an eternal exchequer of energy, ever
distributing Life and Strength to all living upon the earth; life would have
been impossible but for the Sun. At the same time, the Sun stays where he is
and he never interferes with life; from afar he blesses life. The Lord who thus
from afar blesses by His mere presence is the true Sun of Life, the Atman, the
Self- Sree Maha Vishnu.
Stanza 31
amritaamsoodbhavo bhaanuh sasabinduh suresvarah
aushadham jagatas-setuh satya-dharma-paraakramah.
283. Amritaamsoodbhavah -The moon who has consoling rays
that gives the essential food value (Rasa) to the plants and fruits is called
in Sanskrit as Amritaamsuh. In the Puranas it is described that the moon was
first born from the milky-ocean during its churning. Since Vishnu is described
as ever reposing upon His Ananta-bed in Ksheerasaagara, the Lord is Himself
termed here as the Begetter of the Moon. Subjectively Moon (Mati) is the
Presiding Deity of the intellect, and the discriminating intellect itself arose
when our bosom started churning the heart by the two forces, the positive -the
good (Deva) -and the negative -Vicious (Asuras). If the Sun is the Presiding
Deity of energy, moon represents the world of matter, and the very source from
which the world-of-matter, Kshetra, has risen is Amritaam- soodbhavah.
284. Bhaanuh -Self-Effulgent;
One who expresses Himself for the blessing of the world in the form of the Sun
and presides over the entire solar system.
285. Sasabinduh -The
patch in the moon looks like the silhouette of a rabbit for the naked eye; that
which has a “beauty-spot” (Bindu) in the shape of a rabbit (Sasa) is called
Sasabindu -the moon. Since the Lord is the Nourisher of all and He is Himself
the entire world of matter, He Himself is the Moon “that nourishes with essence
all plant kingdom”.
286. Suresvarah -Sura
means Deva and so the term indicates “the God of all gods”. The word Sura also
can be dissolved to mean Giver (Ra) of Plenty (Su); Sura therefore stands for a
person of extreme charity .The Lord, Eesvara, who prompts and fulfils the
loving kindness of all charitable men is Suresvarah, Lord Vishnu.
287. Aushadham -Medicine.
Narayana is the Divine Medicine for the immediate cure for all the burning
sorrows of Samsar. Even to consider it more directly as the specific cure for
all bodily ailments is not necessarily wrong, for ailments of the body are
caused by mental disintegration, and when the inner man has surrendered in
devotion to Him, Lord Narayana indeed becomes a specific cure for even all the
physical diseases of His devotees.
288. Jagatassetuh -A reclamation bund thrown across waters
connecting distant islands to the main land is called Setu. Sri Ramachandraji
built one and reached Lanka. The term Jagatassetuh, therefore, implies that the
Lord is Himself the Bridge over which one can safely cross over the realm of
egocentric imperfections and reach the joyous realms of the Infinite
Perfection.
289. Satyadharmaparaakramah -One who champions heroically for Truth (Satya) and Righteousness
(Dharma). It can also imply as One who has Truthfulness (Sat yam),
Righteousness (Dharma) and Heroism (Paraakramah) .In short, Lord is One, who
fights constantly against the false and the unrighteous to establish Truth and
Purity.
Stanza
32
bhoota-bhavya-bhavan-naathah
pavanah paavano-analah
kaamahaa kaamakrit-kaantah kaamah kaamapradah prabhuh.
290. Bhoota-Bhavya-Bhavan-Naathah - The Lord of the three periods of time: the past, the present and the
future. Lord of Time is the One, in whose presence alone, time concept is
possible. “Time” is the interval between “thoughts” and the Awareness that
illumines the rise and fall of thoughts is the very Lord of Time. Objectively
He is the Lord of all those, that exist in the three periods of time; or He to
whom all creatures conditioned by time, pray for comforts, solace and
protection.
291. Pavanah -One who purifies everything. Or One who
manifests as the life-giving atmosphere around the world and sustains the
existence everywhere.
292. Paavanah -In
the earlier term “Pavanah” the Lord is indicated as the One who has, in the
form of the atmospheric air, filled the universe. He is the One who sustains
life in all living creatures as the life-giving atmospheric air. Here, the
present term “Paavanah” means the One who gives this life-sustaining power to
the atmospheric air. It is very well-known that the moving air (Breeze)
purifies more than any other known thing in the world. This purifying power is
acquired by the atmosphere by His Grace. In short, He is the secret glory that
lends the atmosphere, the very life-sustaining property for the air, and He is
the dynamism that moves the air.
293. Analah -The term itself means Fire. So He who is in
the form of fire, and sustains life. A certain amount of minimum thermal heat
is necessary for life to continue, be it in the human body or be it in the
Earth itself. This warmth of life in the world around and in the organism
itself, without which life cannot continue. that mighty warmth of life is none
other than the Lord, and hence, He is called Analah. Also the term ‘Ana’ has
the meaning of Praana, and ‘La’ means to receive. Therefore, the term can also
imply “One who is the very Self, the very Vital Factor, in the Praana”.
294. Kaamahaa -One
who destroys all desires. Desires spring forth from the Vaasanaas. We can
experience the Self only on transcending the vaasanaas. Just as the sun is the
destroyer of night, similarly, the Pure consciousness, the Atman and the
Vaasanaas cannot remain at the one and the same time. The Vaasanaas end when
the Atman is experienced. From the devotees’ stand-point, He is the One who
fulfils all his desires. Or He who is the father of Kaama, Pradyumna, which
again is one of the names of Vishnu.
Desire is the source from which endless series
of other sources of sorrows flow into the human life. When a desire arises in
the mind, only two things are possible. Either we fulfil the desire or we do
not. In case we get our desires fulfilled, it is natural for the human mind to
crave for more and thus he becomes restless due to greed. If, on the other
hand, the desire is not fulfilled, anger rises and when anger increases, it
brings about delusion of the mind and makes the victim see things in others, in
himself and the situation he is in, which are not in fact there around him. In
such a deluded one, Wisdom slips away and, naturally, therefore, his
discriminative power cannot function, since he cannot judge the present
situation with reference to any standard ideal that he had in the past. When
the rational discriminative power fades away that man falls completely off the
dignity of mall and becomes worse than a brute. Geeta charters thus, a steady
psychological fall in a spiritual being, and this entire chain of
self-destruction springs forth from desire. A devotee, or a meditator, when he
approaches this Great Reality, existing in the subjective Core of his own
personality, he transcends all the realms of his desires and passions and,
therefore, this Great Inner Self is indicated here as the “Destroyer of all Desires”.
He is the One who fulfils all desires in His devotees, and thus bring about a
calm fullness of joy within.
295. Kaama-krit -One
who fulfils all desires. The implications have been indicated in the analysis
of the previous term. It can also mean as the Very Creator of the Lord of
Love-Kaama Deva. Even though desires spring forth from the realm of the Causal
Body, constituted of the Vaasanaas without the thrilling touch of the Self,
even Vaasanaas cannot express all by themselves. In that sense of the term, the
very agitations of desire, erupt from His Grace. Hence, He is called the
Kaama-krit.
296. Kaantah -One
who is of enchanting form. Infinite Beauty is the very nature of the Self, and
the Upanishads define the Self as Saantam-Sivam-Sundaram.
The aestheticism in man craves for harmony and
where we experience the greatest of harmony, there we detect the presence of
beauty. In front of beauty, the entire personality of an intelligent man
becomes calm and peaceful, hushed in silence, transported to ecstasy. These are
moments when the meditator has transcended his Sheaths and is in union with the
Pure Self. Naturally therefore, the Pure personality of an intelligent man
becomes calm and peaceful. Self is indicated here as Kaantah-Divine Auspicious form
of Absolute Beauty.
297. Kaamah -One who is the beloved. Not only He is the
beloved of the devotees, but every activity of all living creatures is an
attempt at courting and winning bliss and happiness. The Blissful Self is the
goal of all creatures in life. Even insignifical1t unicellular organisms revolt
against pain, and they too seek happiness. Man is no exception. The Infinite
Bliss which is experienced only on transcending the body, mind and intellect,
is that which is constantly demanded by every organism that breathes in this
universe. In the ignorance of this All Satisfying Goal, the world suffers. That
Lord is the beloved of all devotees, and in fact, He is also the beloved of
even those who deny Him and run after the sense- objects. The theist seeks Him
through devotion or meditation. The atheist too seeks Him only in and through
all his diligent pursuits of the sense-stimuli.
298. Kaamapradah –One
who supplies the desired objects; One who fulfils all desires To the devotee,
the Lord, is the giver of all desired objects, and to a man of meditation, the
Lord is that state-of-mind where all desires are fulfilled- in the sense that
no more can any desire linger in his heart after the Experience-Divine
299. Prabhuh -He
is the Lord, the Master, the Owner, the proprietor. One who has all powers to
do, not to do and to do otherwise is called the Great Lord.
Stanza
33
yugaadi-krit
yugaavarto naikamaayo mahaasanah
adrisyo vyaktaroopascha sahasrajit anantajit.
300. Yugaadi-krit -One
who is the creator of the divisions of aeons, described in our Puranas, as
Yugas. These Yugas are four in number. Kritam, Tretaa, Dvaapara and Kali. In
short, He is the Lord of Time. By the term Aadi, it must be understood to
indicate all other divisions of Time as Centuries, Years, Months, Weeks, Days,
Hours, Minutes and Seconds. He is not only the Lord of the Yugas, but He is the
Light of Consciousness that illumines the duration of each experience and the
very interval between every pair of subjective experiences.
301. Yugaavartah -In the previous term the Lord is indicated
as the Creator of the Yugas, and here we are told that He is also the Power
behind the wheel of time that goes on changing and repeating itself, i.e. not
only He is the Lord of Time, but He is the Mighty Administrator of the
performances of Time, the very Law behind the constant flow of the flood of
time.
302. Naikamaayah -One
whose delusory forms are endless and variegated. According to Puranas, for the
sake of sustaining the world and maintaining its order and rhythm, the Lord had
taken different forms, each of His manifestations well-suited for the times of
His arrival. Thus, we have ten in- carnations. Also, in that mighty
manifestations of the Lord, as Krishna and Raffia, we find descriptions of how
one and the same entity generated different attitudes and emotions in different
types of people. In short, one who has realised the Self, can thereafter freely
play through all his existing Vaasanaas and none of them can ever entangle him,
because he has grown to be the master of his own Vaasanaas. Maayaa, otherwise
called as Avidyaa, is constituted of the Vaasanaas in us, forming our Causal
Body. One who has transcended this is the One who has realised the Infinite.
Lord is therefore, one who is without Maayaa in Him. An individual entity, like
us, is one who is under the tyrannies of Maayaa. The Lord is one who can wield
Maayaa for His purpose without Himself becoming involved in it.
303. Mahaasanah -This
word can be dissolved as He who eats up everything. One who swallows up all
perceptions, emotions and thoughts, created by the Vaasanaas, at the various
levels of personality, due to our own individual Vaasanaas. At the time of
Samaadhi when the limited ego is ended and the Supreme is experienced all the
expressions of Vaasanaas are, as it were, swallowed by that Infinite
Experience, and therefore, this Great Vishnu is called as the “Consumer of
Everything.”
304. Adrisyah -Through
the sense-organs, the mind and intellect at this moment, we are aware of the
outer objects and our subjective emotions and thoughts. The ultimate Reality is
neither the objects perceived by us, nor the instruments of our perception. He
is the Subjective Core, the Eternal Essence, wherein, the perceived and the
instruments of perceptions are all totally absent. This Subjective Reality must
necessarily be, by Its very nature, not an object-of- perception, and hence, It
is called as the Imperceptible meaning, He is the very Perceiver in all
perceptions.
305. Vyakta-roopah -He
who has a form- clearly perceptible to the meditator in his meditation. The
contradiction is so smotheringly apparent because of the very placing of the
term. It is only just-now, in the above term, that we are told that the Lord is
imperceptible (Adrisyah) and the very following term declares that He is
perceptible. Here it means that though He is not perceptible with the physical
instruments of perceptions, yet on transcending the equipments, the Yogi
intimately comes to experience the entire Divine Glory of the Self. Though,
ordinarily it is not easy to see Him, in the devotee's heart, the Lord comes to
play vividly and drives the devotee mad in his ecstasy.
306. Sahasra-jit -One
who vanquishes thou- sands. In all the Puranas everywhere, it is found that the
Incarnations manifest to destroy the diabolically fallen (Raakshas) who
approach the good in endless hoards to annihilate them. One who conquers over
these diabolical forces is the Lord Vishnu.
Subjectively the hosts of passions and lusts,
greeds and jealousies which invade the inner bosom, and loot away the seeker’s
tranquillity and peace, are all ultimately vanquished by this Higher
Consciousness and therefore, the Self is indicated as the one who is ever
victorious over all the hoards of our lower impulses.
307. Ananta-jit -Ever-victorious.
The victory of the Lord is endless; in every Incarnation, He alone wins in the
end. The victory over negative forces becomes complete when once the Higher
Consciousness is experienced, and hence, the Self is indicated here as
Ananta-jit.
Stanza
34
ishto
visishtah sishteshtah sikhandee nahusho vrishah
krodhahaa krodhakrit kartaa visvabaahur maheedharah.
308. lshtah -This
term can be interpreted in two ways. One who is invoked through the different
types of Vedic rituals (Yajnas), is Ishtah. Or, it can also mean, One who is
loved by all. The Lord being the very centre of all love in everyone. The
Brihadaranyakopanishad very clearly indicates this idea in almost unvarnished
words: “The man loves his wife not because of the wife, but because of himself.
...etc.”
All love spring from our personal love for the
Infinite which is the Self in us.
309. Visishtah -One
who is the noblest and the most sacred. Vishnu, the Lord, dwells in the heart
of every- one. He is the sole essence presiding over every physical, mental and
intellectual activities in every living creature and, therefore, He is
indicated by this term.
310. Sishta-ishtah -To
all spiritually minded good people and therefore sincere seekers, the Lord is
the greatest beloved in-as-much as, He represents the Goal and the Destination
of all devoted seekers. In short, He is the Supreme Beloved for all spiritually
inclined divine hearts.
He can also mean that the Lord is one who
Himself is sincere and ardent lover and courtier of all devotees, sincerely and
diligently seeking Him. There are commentators who indicate that the term can
also mean: One who is being constantly invoked and help in adoration by all
true devotees with their physical, mental and intellectual activities.
311. Sikhandee -One
who wears ‘Sikhanda’ meaning “the peacock feather”, Lord Krishna is described
in Bhagavat as having adorned with the ‘eye’ of the peacock feather, especially
in his early child and boy-hood.
312. Nahushah -The
term “Nahanmn” means bondage, therefore, the term stands for “One who is
familiar with bondages,” ln Vedanta, the word ‘Isvarah’ is the Supreme
Consciousness conditioned by the total- Causal-Body (Maayaa); at the same time,
Isvara is One who has the Maayaa under His control, It can also be understood
as “One who bind, all creatures of the world with the cord of Maayaa.” Those
who are students of the Puranas interpret this word as One whose glory was
expressed in the spectacular magnificence in Nahushah, who gained the Office of
Indra.
313. Vrishah -There
is a famous statement in the Hindu tradition from which we can gather that the
Lord is of the nature of Dharma. Dharma means the essential Law of Being, that
because of which an individual is an individual, without which the individual
cannot exist, is the Dharma of the individual. In this sense, the essential
Dharma of one is the Self. Thus, Vrishah is but another name to suggest that
the Lord Vishnu is none other than the Self in us. It can also mean “One who
showers the fulfilment of all desires in all devotees.” Desires arise when the
existing Vaasanaas get impatient and explode into manifestation. As the desire
arises, the mind plans out and the body acts towards its fulfilment. All these
activities are possible only when the vehicles are thrilled by the Self in us.
Thus, ultimately, one who fulfils all desires is the Lord of our heart, the
Atman.
314. Krodhahaa -One
who destroys anger in all sincere seekers. We have already found earlier that
anger manifests when fulfilment of a deep desire is obstructed. On realising
the Lord, all desires end and, therefore, there cannot be any anger on any
occasion. Also, anger can come only when we recognise the world of plurality
around us. For one who is experiencing the Self, there is nothing but the One
Self everywhere and, therefore, there is no occasion to entertain this emotion
of anger.
315. Krodha-krit-kartaa –One who generates in a sincere and serious seeker anger against the
lower tendencies when they manifest-”Krodha-krit”. Also He is the very creative
impulse ‘Kartaa’ behind the lower tendencies; because all things come out from
Him alone. Some commentators consider this term as two different words, but the
majority consider them as an integrated one.
316. Visvabaahuh -One
who has number of hands; whose hands are everywhere doing all activities in the
universe. The life in the bosom as long as it exists, so long alone the hands
and the legs function. The hands can lift and do its job only when it is in
contact with life. Life expressing through the hand is its function. All hands
that are doing variegater activities all over the world are all His hands
in-as- much as, where He is not, that lifeless hand can perform no more any
activity. Since He is thus the dynamic One Principle that functions through all
hands at work, He is called a Visvabaahuh.
317. Maheedharah -One
who is the Substratum and support for the Earth. The Lord is the very material
cause for the universe and as such, He supports the world-just as cotton supports
the cloth, mud supports the pot, gold supports the ornament. Since the term
Mahee also means “the adorations sent up by the devotees,” it can also mean
‘One who receives all the worship of devoted hearts.’
Stanza
35
achyutuh
prathitah praanah praanado vaasavaanujah
apaam nidhiradhishthaanam apramattah pratishthitah
318. Achyutah -One
who has not got any modifications (Chyutam) such as birth, growth, decay,
disease, death etc. The Eternal and Immutable cannot have any change and the
Self being the Eternal, it cannot have any of the changes that are natural to
all mortal and finite things, Upanishads themselves thunder this
Truth-“Eternal, Auspicious and Changeless”.
319. Prathitah -One who exists pervading all; spreading
Himself everywhere. It can also mean “One whose glory, as described in the
Upanishads, has spread round the world everywhere.”
320. Praanah -All
manifested expressions of life are called as the Praana. He is the Praana in
all-living creatures; meaning, it is His manifestations that we recognise as
the endless activities in all living creatures in this dynamic world. Also it
can mean that “He is the One who in the form of vital-air, sustains life in all
creatures.”
321 Praanadah –One
who gives strength (Praana) to everywhere The root ‘da’ has a meaning of
destruction and, therefore, the term comprehends also the power of destruction
everywhere According to the Puranas, therefore, He is the One who gives the
strength and glory for Devas, and again, He is the One who supplies special
strength to them to win over the brutal forces of the diabolically wicked, the
Asuras Subjectively, it is the Self that supplies the mental strength for
cultivating the higher values of life, and it is the same Source Divine that
floods the seekers heart with the courage to annihilate the lower impulses that
come to destroy his peace and tranquillity within
322. Vaasavaanujah -the
brother of the Indra. This name has been acquired by lord Vishnu because
of his incarnation as the Adorable
Dwarf-(Vaamana). At that time, the Lord had to take birth in the womb of Aditi
and manifest as the younger brother of Indra. In the subjective science of
Vedanta, the king of the gods (Indra) is the Lord of the sense organs and so he
is the Mind. The spiritual urge that dawns in us as a younger brother of the
Mind, ultimately comes to measure away and win over the three worlds of waking,
dream and deep-sleep, and thus comes to conquer over the entire kingdom of
Indra in more sense than one.
323. Apaam-nidhih -Treasure of waters, meaning the ocean. The
very glory and might of the oceans are all but a reflection of Sri Narayana’s
own glory divine. In the Geeta, Bhagavan Himself says, “among the collections
of waters, I am the Ocean.”
324. Adhishthaanam - the
substratum for the entire universe. The delusory misconceptions can be
projected only upon something that is real and this permanent ‘post’ is called
the ‘substratum’ for the desulory ‘Gost’-Vision.
325. Apramattah -One
who has no Pramaada, meaning, ‘One who never commits a mistake in judgement.”
The Lord is the Law behind all happenings in the universe. The results of the
actions are always strictly according to the quality of the actions. In
administering this Law of Karma, One who never makes any mistake is Apramattah.
We are full of Pramaada -we make the mistake of misunderstanding ourselves to
be the matter equipment around us and due to this Pramaada, we project in
ourselves the false concept of an Ego The Supreme is ever the Pure
Consciousness and, therefore, He is without such wrong self-judgement.
326. Pratishthitah -Everything
in the world depends upon something else to serve as its cause. Since all
things that we perceive and experience in the world are all effects, they have
their own causes, and the effects must necessarily depend upon the cause for
their very existence. The Supreme Lord is the One uncaused Cause with reference
to whom everything is only an effect. Since He is thus the ultimate Cause, He
is not depending upon anything other than Himself. This self-established
Reality is indicated by the term Pratishthitah.
Stanza
36
skandah
skanda-dharo dhuryo varado vaaryuvaahanah
vasudevo brihat bhaanur aadidevah purandarah.
327. Skandah -This
is one of the names of the youngest son of Lord Siva, Subrahmanya, who is
described in the Purana as Commanander-in-Chief of the righteous army.
Therefore, Skanda means “the Lord, whose glory is expressed, through
Subrahmanya”, In order to realise the Self, it is a prerequisite condition that
the different personality layers in the seeker should be completely integrated.
328. Skanda-dharah –“One
who upholds the withering righteousness.” Or, “One who fathered Lord
Subrahmanya”, meaning One who is in the form of Paramesvara.
329. Dhuryah -One
who carries the Lord. The Lord is the One who carries the responsibilities of
creation, sustenance and annihilation of the entire world of plurality. One who
carries out these functions systematically without any hitch round millenniums
is Sree Narayana and He is therefore Dhuryah.
330. Varadah -One
who blesses all true devotees and fulfils their request for boons. It can also
mean “One who gives the best (Varam) in life to those who seek Him with perfect
detachment and sharpened discrimination.
331. Vaayuvaahanah –“The
One who controls, regulates and moves the great winds”. In the Sanskrit
literature, the movement of air in the atmosphere has been classified under
seven types and they are called the ‘Sapta Marutah’.
In short, the inconceivable might and power of
the winds and their life-sustaining abilities are all lent out to the air by
His own munificence and, therefore, He is called as Vaayuvaahanah.
332. Vaasudevah –“One
who is at once both Vaasu and Deva. Vaasu means “One who dwells in the physical
equipments of all living creatures as its indweller (Jeeva); Deva means “One
who revels or One who illumines”. Thus, Vaasudevah means “One who lives in the
physical equipment as though conditioned by them, and yet, who is the Vital
Consciousness in the light of which every experience is illumined. The Lord is
the One who dwells in all things of the universe and He is at once the
Supporter of the entire world.
Also, directly, it can be taken to mean, One
who is born as the Son of Sri Vasudeva in the Jail of Kamsa, the Blue-Boy of
Brindaavana. He is called Vaasu as He veils Himself with His own Maayaa; Deva
means “He who sports, wishes to conquer, conducts, shines, creates and moves”.
In the Udyoga Parva of Mahabharata, we read, “Like the Sun with his rays I am
covering (Deva) in all beings and hence, I am called Vaasudeva”.
Vishnupurana says, ‘‘as He resides everywhere
in and through all things, He is termed Vaasudevah. “ All beings remain in the
Supreme, and He in all being and hence, the Omnipresent is called the
Vaasudeva.
333. Brihat-bhaanuh -Possessed of endless rays, meaning “One who illumines the world with
the rays of the Sun and the Moon.”
Mahabharata says, “He whose great rays are in
the Sun, Moon and others and He who illumines the universe through them is
called the Possessor of great rays.
334. Aadidevah –“One
who is the Primary source for everything,” meaning the Lord. He is the First
Cause, and hence the first Deity.
335. Purandarah –“The
destroyer of the cities.” City is the well-equipped field for gathering endless
experiences. The three cities through which we generally move about gathering
our experiences in this world are the waking, dream and deep-sleep, On
transcending the Gross, Subtle and Causal Bodies, one experiences the Self, and
at such a moment these three cities are burned down or pillaged or blasted, The
same ideal is explained in the Shiva-purana also; accordingly, we can say that
He is One who as Mahesvara, performed the destruction of the three cities.
Stanza
37
asokastaaranastaarah
soorah saurih-janesvarah
anukoolah sataavarttah padmee padmanibhekshanah.
336. Asokah –“One
who has no sorrows.” Sorrow is a condition experienced when the mind is
agitated and extremely disturbed. The agitations of the mind come from desires,
greed, etc. Therefore, the term Asokah indicates, “One who has none of these
negative tendencies that create in their turn more and more mental
disturbances”. This is a true appalation, because, the Lord, as the Self,
transcends the realm of the thought-disturbances constituted by the mind-intellect-
equipment.
337. Taaranah –“One
who enables others to cross.” The ego suffering the constant agitations of the
equipments is saved by the Self. The ego (jeeva), when it discovers its
identity with the Self, automatically moves away from the sorrows of the
vehicles. In short, as Vishnubhaagavata says, “who is there other than You that
can save us from the wheel of birth and death.”
338. Taarah –“One
who saves is called Taarah, One who saves from the fear of re-birth and also
One who is a constant protector of the devotees and, therefore, the devotees
themselves call Him as the Saviour (Taarah).
These three terms indicate how Vishnu is the
Absolute Protector of His devotees. He saves us from the afflictions (Asoka) of
the body and so Subjective-sorrows (Adhyaatma). He enables us to cross the
ocean of Samsaara (Taaranah) and, therefore, He saves us from all Cosmic pains
(Adhibhootah). He saves us from the elements (Taarah), and so, He is the
Saviour from all sorrows of birth and death; this indicates all trans-Cosmic
tragedies (Aadhidaivika), meaning that Narayana can save us from all sorrows
contributed by the hand God.
339. Soorah –“The
Valiant”. All sources of strength and courage spring from the Life in us and,
therefore, the Lord of the universe is called here as the Valiant-capable of
crushing all unrighteous forces, however well-trenched they may be in the
world.
340. Saurih –Soorasena
was the father of Vasudeva, and we have already found that Vasudeva’s son is
Vaasudeva. Therefore, the Lord had taken His incarnation in the family of Soora
and so He is termed as ‘Saurih’.
341. Janesvarah -The
Lord of the people (jana). Those who are born are called Jana. Therefore the
term indicates that He is the Lord of all creatures born the universe.
342. Anukoolah –“A
hearty well-wisher, or friend of everyone”. Since the Lord is the Essential
Life in everyone, He is the friend and ally of every individual in as much as,
nobody spends his life except in concurrence with his own subjective intentions
and purposes. Thus, the Lord is a friend fulfilling the intentions of a
murderer, and He is again the friend of another helping Him to serve the
mankind, if that be his intention. Thus, He is a friend and a devoted ally to
everyone since He is the mighty power behind all Vaasanaas expressing through
all creatures.
343. Sataavarttah -Sata
means “hundred”, and here it is used as “innumerable”. Thus the term’
Sataavarttah’ means “One who takes infinite varieties of forms”. All forms in
the universe are but His own, inasmuch as, His manifestation is the universe.
Again, He takes innumerable incarnations in order to maintain the taw of the
cosmos and also the law of evolution. It can also mean “One who, as Praana,
moves in the innumerable Naadees in the body”.
344. Padmee –“One
who has the lotus in his hand”. The lotus is the national flower in Bharat as
it symbolises in our culture, the Goal of our Spiritual life. It is to offer
this “Knowledge”, that the Lord blows His conch, and if people are not
listening to this silent call of the Higher from within, He uses His gadaa
(mace) to give merciful knocks in life. Still, if an individual or a generation
is not listening to His kindly warnings, He has the Discus (Chakra) in His
hand. He annihilates totally the existing forms and re-creates.
345. Padma-nibhekshanah –“One whose eyes are as beautiful as the Lotus.” In short, ‘lotus-eyed.’
Stanza
38
padmanaabho-arvindaakshah
padmagarbhah sareerabhrit
maharddhi-riddhah uriddhaatmaa mahaakshah gantdadhvajah.
346. Padmanaabhah
–“One who has the lotus in his navel”. This is not to be taken literally. Navel
(Naabhi) is the psychic centre where all un-manifest thoughts first spring
forth into our recognition (Pasyantee). The seedless state of all thoughts is
called in the Yoga Sastra, as Paraa. It therefore means “one in whose bosom
lies, in potential, all the possibilities of the universe of expression.” It
can also mean “One who manifests Himself in the lotus of the heart of his
devotee. Some translate as “He who is seated in the pericarp of the lotus.”
347. Aravindaakshah –“One who has eyes as beautiful as the lotus”. The lotus opens at
sun-rise and closes in the night. The Lord opens His beauty and grace in
the presence of the devotees and the
flood of His grace, as it were, drys up in the presence of the dark sensuality
of the ignorant.
348. Padmagarbhah –“One
who is being meditated upon in the centre of the lotus-of-the-heart.”
349. Sareerabhrit –“One
who sustains nourishes all bodies”. Or, it can mean “One who is form of food
and praana, becomes the very cause for the sustenance of the body”. It is a
fact very well known that even though a body can continue existing without
visibly decaying for 50 years, once Life has ebbed away, the deadbody cannot
maintain its form and it does not exist even for 48 hours intact. He who while
presiding over the body nourishes and maintains it, and in whose absence the
body decays and nourishes, He is the One who is the Sustainer of the body
(Dehahhrit).
350. Maharddhih –“One
who has great riddhi, meaning, prosperity and power”. These two-prosperity and
power-together is called glory (Aisvarya). Thus the term means, “One who has by
His very nature glory ever with Him.”
351. Riddhah -“One who has expanded Himself to be the
universe.” In short, “One who has manifested Himself as the entire world of
plurality, constituted of the finite things of the Cosmos.”
352. Vriddhaatmaa –“The
ancient Self.” In the Self there is no concept of Time, It being beyond the
intellect. But here, by the term Vriddhaatmaa, it only means that He was the
Self before all creation. It is only after the creation of Time that we are
capable of saying and indicating Him as the Self of the various living
creatures. He is the first Self, meaning, He is the Self whose manifestations
are the world of plurality.
353. Mahaakshah –“The
Great-eyed”, meaning, the eyes that can see not only the world-of-objects, but
also X-ray through them and see all that are happening deep within the bosom of
all creatures. He is the “Great Eye” seeing all, at all times, as He is the
Consciousness that illumines everything at all times, in all bosoms.
354. Garuda-dhvajah –“One who has the (Garuda) as his insignia on his flag. The eagle is
consider as the vehicle of the Lord; most probably Because this bird ever soars
high and from above sees even the minutest speck of dirt in the world. The
eagle after spying the carrion, swoops down and takes it away, thus purifying
the atmosphere. Similarly, the Lord never allows any negative thought to come into
the heart of His devotees, and hence, the eagle is considered as His vehicle.
Stanza
39
atulah
sarabhah bheemah samayajno havirharih
sarvalakshanalakshanyah lakshmeevaan samitinjayah.
355. Atulah –“Incomparable.”
For him whose name is the glory of the universe, there is no licence.” Again,
Bhagavat Geeta says, “For Thy equal exists not, where is another superior to
Thee in the three worlds ?” In short, there is nothing like Him, since He does
not fall under the categories of the things perceived by the body or the
emotions felt by the mind or the thoughts entertained by the intellect: nothing
that we know of can be comparable with Him.
356. Sarabhah –“One
who dwells and shines forth through the bodies.” Bodies are called Sara because
they are perishable. The life that presides over the perishable body, whose
glory is the individuality, is the Self, the Lord. It can also mean, “Lord, who
is of the nature of Paramesvara,” for, Lord Siva had once taken the incarnation
of Sarabha, a creature with eight legs, capable of killing even the lions.
357. Bheemah –“The
All-inspiring, the Terrible,” meaning, One who is a mighty and terrible
phenomena to those who are cruel and sensuous in the world. To the bad, the
Lord is always a frightful power of vengeance, to follow them relentlessly as
their doom.
Some commentators, due to the position of this
word in the stanza, read it as a-bheemah, meaning thereby, “He who is the
shelter” to those who are good.
358. Samayajnah –“Knower
of all six systems of philosophy,” or it can mean “One who knows the exact time
(samaya) for creation, preservation and destruction.” Or, it can also mean “One
whose worship (Yajna) is nothing more than keeping an equal vision of the mind
by the devotee” The great devotee Prahalada says, “to be equal in all
conditions, is the worship of Achyuta.”
359. Havir-harih –“The
receiver of all oblation.” He is the Lord of all Yajnas and as such, He is the
One to whom the devotee offers his oblations, and He is the One who receives
them in all dedicated activities. Bhagavat Geeta says, “I am indeed the enjoyer
and also the Lord of all sacrifices.” The Lord is called Havis as He is
worshipped through oblation.
Some commentators recognise in this term two
different names of the Lord: ‘Havih’ and ‘Harih’. In this case, the former
term, ‘Havih’ means “He who is invoked by everyone who performs the Yajnas.”
The term Harih means “One who loots away all Vaasanaas (Paapa),” and
consequently, “One who wipes away all expressions of Vaasanaas.”
360. Sarva-lakshana-lakshanyah –“Known through all methods of proofs,” meaning “He is the One Self that
is ultimately proved by all scientific investigations and philosophical
enquiries.” Whether it be through dualistic (dvaita) or through non-dualistic
(advaita) philosophy, the Ultimate Truth experienced by the realised seeker, is
this Great Vishnu.
361. Lakshmeevan –“The
consort of Lakshmi.” He is the Spirit (Purusha) that thrills the entire world-
of-matter (Prakriti). Matter thrilled with the spirit is the dynamic world that
we see around. Thus, the manifested Lord is ever wedded to Lakshmi. Lakshmi
also means Effulgent, and therefore, the Lord who is Ever-effulgent, meaning
the Pure Consciousness, that illumines everything, is indeed Lakshmeevan.
362. Samitinjayah –“Ever-Victorious.”
In the Puranas, we find the Lord ultimately wins in His battle with the
unrighteous forces. He is the destroyer of all pains in the individuality of
the devotees. Samiti as a word, has got the meaning-“Battle”.
Stanza 40
viksharo rohito maargo hetur daamodarah sahah
maheedharo mahaabhaago vegavaan-amitaasanah.
363. Viksharah -Ksharah
means “decaying,” “that which is perishing”, and so Viksharah means
“Imperishable”. Those who are meditating upon the Lord in His un-manifested
State of Glory, this term is very often used. All material things are
conditioned by time and all objects are, therefore, perishable. The Lord, the
Self, is the Subject and is, therefore, ever Unchanging and always
Imperishable.
364. Rohitah -The
term ‘Rohita’ means fish, and this name has come to indicate Lord Vishnu
because of His first incarnation as the Fish. When the entire world was
submerged in the waters of the deluge, the only living creatures that were
available at that time could only be fishes. Lord could incarnate at that time
only in the form of the Fish. Therefore, here the term means “One who had
manifested to serve the living creatures as the Fish among the fishes.”
365. Maargah –“The
Path.” In order to realise the Highest which is the Nameless and Formless,
human mind will have to first hold on to a divine form, and that is Lord
Vishnu. He is the Way and the Goal. In short, “He is the One whom seekers of
the Highest meditate upon in order to reach the Supreme.”
366. Hetuh –“The
Cause”. One who is the cause for the whole universe. He is at once the
material-cause (Upaadaana Kaarana), the instrumental-cause (Nimitta Kaarana)
and He who alone is also the efficient-cause in the creation of this universe.
Hence, He is called The Cause.
367. Daamodarah –This
term has come to indicate the Lord because, He is One who is known through a
mind which is purified (Udara) by means of self-control (dama) and such other
qualities. According to Mahabharata, “We call Him as Daamodara as He is known
by means of Dama.”
Brahmapurana re-capitulates the incident in the
early childhood of the Lord when He was tied with a cord (daama) round His
waste (udara). This term can also mean “One in whose bosom rests the whole
universe.”
368. Sahah –“All
enduring”. The Lord is One who has patience at everything, and is One who
readily forgives all the defaults of His sincere devotees.
369. Maheedharah –“The
Supporter or the Bearer of the Earth”. Since He is the very essence in the
universe as its material-cause, He is the One who supports all forms in the
universe. The Lord supports the world, just as gold ‘supports’ the ornaments,
the cotton ‘supports’ the cloth, the ocean ‘supports’ the waves.
370. Mahaa-bhaagah -He
who has extreme beauty in all His limbs, or He who is ever fortunate, or fie
who gets the greatest share (Bhaaga) in every Yajna.
371. Vegavaan –“He
who is swift”; One who is the fastest in reaching the devotee the moment his
loving heart remembers Him. By import it means that He is All- pervading,
therefore, He is the fastest, inasmuch as “nothing can ever overtake Him.”
In the Isavasyopanishad He is indicated as
swifter than the mind- (Manasojaveeyah).
372. Amitaasanah –“Of
endless appetite.” This should not be taken literally, but it only means that
the entire world of plurality projected by the mind, merges back when the mind
is transcended at the time of the experience of the Self. Just as we can say
that the waker swallows the dreamer, the Higher Consciousness, with an infinite
appetite, as it were, swallows the Infinite Cosmos; hence figuratively, He is
considered as ‘the Great Consumer’ of the whole world of plurality during
involution (Pralaya).
Stanza
41
udbhavah
kshubhano devah sreegarbhah paramesvarah
karanam kaaranam kartaa vikartaa gahano guhah.
373 Udbhavah –“The
Originator” The Lord is the material-cause from which the entire universe
arises and, therefore, He is the origin for the Cosmos, or it can mean to
indicate, “One who is again and again born as the endless jivas under the urge
of their individual vaasanaas”.
374 Kshobhanah –“The
Agitator” If the Self were not in the equipments, the equipments will not get
agitated -will not pursue their functions The Atman, the Pure Consciousness is
that which thrills and agitates both the matter (Prakriti) and energy
(Purusha), and causes the manifestation of the living entities (jives), who,
with their actions, constitute the dynamic aspect of the world. If the Self is
not there, there can be no movement or expression of life; everything would
have remained completely inert and insentient. He is the Lord who thrills the
world and makes it so beautifully palpitating with life. Hence, He is called as
the Agitator (Kshobhanah).
375 Devah –“One
who revels is Deva. This term ‘Deevyati’ in Sanskrit also means ‘to conquer’,
‘to shine’ and ‘to praise’ Therefore, Lord Vishnu is rightly called as Derah
because He sports through His play-the great
Creation-Sustenance-Destruction-play, He functions in all Beings as He shines
as the Universal Consciousness; and He is praised by all the devotees
Svetasratara Upanishad indicates “there is only one Deva”.
376 Sree-garbhah -“Containing
all glories within; One in whom are all glories (Aisvarya)” The glory of the
Lord is the universe and this universe resides in Him, and therefore, all
powers and glories that are manifested in the universe are also ever in Him.
377. Paramesvarah -The
Supreme (Parama) Lord (Isvara). The fanatics generally interpret the word to
mean as “the only Lord”, in the sense that all other concepts of God are wrong.
The large-hearted, tolerant Rishis of old, could have never meant such a
meaning. It could only mean “that He is the Supreme Consciousness whose
expressions are all the deities”. The term Isvara indicates both might and
glory. Therefore, Paramesvara means “One who is Omnipotent and All-glorious.”
378. Karanam
–“The Instrument.” That which is most useful in fulfilling any piece of work is
called the tool or the instrument. For the creation of the world He is the
instrumental-cause (Nimitta Kaarana).
379. Kaaranam –“The
Cause.” By the earlier term it was indicated that He is the instrumental-cause
(Nimi- tta Kaarana) for the whole universe. Here now, by this term, it is
indicated that He is the very material-cause (Upaadaana Kaarana) of the
universe. Since the term directly means only “the cause”, it can mean not only
the material cause, but also it can suggest the instrumental-cause. In the
former case it would mean “He from whom the whole universe arises”, and in the
latter sense, the term is interpreted by some commentators as “He who causes
the universe to emerge out”.
380. Kartaa –“The
Doer”. He is the One in whose presence alone all activities are possible, and
hence by a transferred epithet, though the doings all belong to the equipments,
the Self is called as the “Doer”. One who can freely perform all the functions
of creation, sustenance and destruction, is the “Doer”.