1000 names of Vishnu [contd verses-76-108]

Stanza 76

bhootaavaaso vaasudevah sarvaasunilayo-analahdarpahaa darpado dripto durdharo-athaaparaajitah.

708. Bhootaavaasah –“The very dwelling place of the Great Elements.” “Since the

Beings (Elements) dwell in You, You are called ‘Bhootaavaasa,’ “ so says

Harivamsa. Bhagavaan Himself says in the Geeta: “I am the Source of all

Creation.” Therefore He is also called the ‘Bhootayoni.’

709. Vaasu-devah -One who envelops the world with His Maayaa-powers of veiling

and agitations. The Lord discloses: “I pervade the whole world with My Glory,

as the Sun with its rays.”

710. Sarvaasu-nilayah –“The Abode of all Life-Energies.” One who is the very

Substratum for the life and existence of all creatures. He is the Self, the

Life in all of us-therefore, He is the very support for the Praana in each

living creature.

711. Analah –“One who is unlimited wealth, power and Glory.” There is no

boundary for his Glories – there is no limit for his greatness, and

All-pervasive. ‘Of my Divine Glories there is no end’, Bhagavan Himself reveals

to Arjuna.

712. Darpahaa –“The Destroyer of the pride in evil-minded people.” Easily He

curbed the pride of Indra and others by lifting the mountain and protecting the

cows of the Yamuna banks.

713. Darpadah –“One who gives pride to the righteous,”- meaning, one who creates

in the Good an Anxious urge to be the best among the righteous and virtuous.

This pride is their protection from compromising in even in a small way in any

act. This is a positive ‘pride’ of the higher order. There is also a reading of

A-darpadah when the meaning would be: “One who never allows his devotees to

become proud.” In this way, devotees would totally surrender unto him all their

virtues, acting on purely as His agents, are feed by him from bondage of

spiritual pride. For such pride, resulting from a preponderance of Sattva guna

and sense of doership, would make them vain-glorious of their goodness.

714. Driptah –One who is ever drunk with the infinite Bliss of his own essential

nature as Sat-chit-Ananda.

715. Durdharah –the object of contemplation which is indeed very difficult to

attain: -the one who is realized by yogis through radios process of intense,

single pointed contemplation. Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Geeta admits: “Greater

in their trouble whose minds are set on the unmanifest; for the goal, the

unmanifested, is very hard for the embodied to reach.”

716. A-paraa-jitah –“The Unvanquished.” “Never-Conquered” is the Glory of the

self, for, conquering is of ‘objects’; the ‘subject’ can be conquered. This,

being the reality in all, the senses, mind, etc., including the faculties

(Devas) can never reach or conquer him. Even when the mighty senses and the

terrible Asuras fight against it, still this over whelming powers of desires

and passions can never vanquish the self, the divine Narayana.

Stanza 77

visvamoortirmahaamoortirdeeptamoortiramoorimaananekamoortiravyaktah satamoortih sataananah.

 

717. Visvamoortih –“Of the form of the entire universe.” Lord as the total –

created, so his form is called Visvaroopa. The total gross form of the universe

to be gather represents his gross-form-divine.

718. Mahaa-moortih –the great form divine of the lord as he reclines upon the

sesha couch as the very support for the creator to bring into existence the

universe of the forms and plurality. The entire universe and the creator of the

universe are but an aspect of Sree Narayana, the Supreme Self.

719. Deepta-moortih –“Of the Resplendent Form.” As Consciousness, He is never

bright and fully effulgent illuming all experiences at all times. Sanjaya

reports: “If the splendour of a thousand Suns were to blaze out at once in the

sky, that would be like the splendour of that Mighty Being.”

720. A-Moortimaan –“Having no Form.” Though He is described above as

Deepta-moorti: “of the resplendent Form”; Mahaa-moorti: “of great form”;

Visva-moorti: “of the universal-Form” – He has, in reality, “No-Form”;

A-moortimaan. He pervades all, but nothing limits Him. The limited alone has a

form-the unlimited, like ‘Space’, has no form. The Infinite Brahman being so

subtle. “Subtler than the subtlest.” Sree Narayana as the Self-in-all, allows

everything to remain in Him, but He is not conditioned by anyone of them. ever.

 

721. Aneka-moortih –“Multi-Formed”: One Who Himself has become the world of

varieties of Forms -Who has Himself taken the various Incarnations in order to

help the world of beings to evolve quicker and fuller.

722. Avyaktah –“Unmanifest.” Things are called manifest when they can be

perceived by the sense- organs. As the Self. The Consciousness in us. Sree Hari

is the very faculty of seeing. Hearing, smelling, tasting and touching in the

five sense-organs. He being, thus, the very subject. He cannot at the same time

be the object of the sense-organs. Hence. He cannot be defined or described.

723. Sata-moortih –“Of Myriad-Forms”: even though Consciousness, like Light, has

no form of its own, all thought and the thought-projected world of infinite

forms are all illumined by the Supreme. Therefore, the Self, functioning

through the fluctuations of the restless mind “creates” the illusion of

forms-all those forms as His, just as all dream- forms are created by the

waker’s mind only.

724, Sataananah –“Many-Faced”: because He is of the Universal-Form, all faces

are His only. “Hands and feet everywhere, with heads and mouths everywhere, His

ears everywhere, stands (The Lord). enveloping all”

 

Stanza 78

eko naikah savah kah kim yattatpadamanuttamamlokabandhurlokanaatho maadhavo bhaktavatsalah.

 

725. Ekah –“The One. The One-without-a second.” As the Infinite is without any

of the three distinctions, He, Sree Narayana, the Brahman, can only be the One

without any otherness.

726. Naikah -“The Many.” One who, though the One, yet plays in the bosom of all

the living creatures. Just as we are one entity, but our thoughts are many, the

Supreme Consciousness, Sree Narayana, though One, His reflections as ‘Jeevas’

play in all mind-intellect-equipments. Because He is thus seen to be manifested

in the world of plurality, He is “Not One.” Again, “The One” is a definition, a

quality. The Lord is Indefinable, quality-less (unqualified). Hence after

making the student grasp that He is “The One,” where the pluralities are all

merged, the teacher is immediately pointing out that He is “Not even One” For,

to conceive “The One” is to conceive the Truth with our intellect-He is to be

experienced on

transcending the intellect. “The One” has a meaning only with reference to the

many. “The One” is a relative statement. To show that the Infinite is to be

“experienced” by the “becoming” and not by “knowing,” the teacher has negated

“Not even One.” Sruti says “The Lord sports with many forms by His Maayaa.”

 

727. Savah -“He Who is of the nature of the Sava-Sacrifice.” The sacrifice in

which the Soma juice is squeezed out is called Sava.

728. Kah –“Happiness.” One who is of the Nature of Bliss. Since He transcends

the body-mind-intellect-equipments, which are the seats of sorrow, in Him there

can be only Bliss. Or Kah means a question: He Who is ever a “question without

an answer” to the human intellect-He who can be experienced only on

transcending the intellect and not apprehended through intellection.

729 Kim –“What.” Since the Lord is the final Goal to be reached, Ho is the On,

Who is to be enquired into or diligently sought through constant questioning

upon What is His Nature Also because the Truth is realised through this process

of enquiry and discrimination-the final Goal of all “What” enquiring-the Lord,

is termed here a, “What,” (Kim).

730 Yat –“Which.” The pronoun “Yat” means “that which is self-existent” Hence in

the Upanishad, we find the usage of this term frequently. It may also be noted

that the pronoun “Which” (Yat) denotes an already existing object Thus the

Self-existence of the Supreme Reality, independent of the existence and

non-existence of things in the world is indicated when Lord Sree Hari is termed

as “Which.”

731 Tat –“That.” The Supreme is indicated by this term in all the Upanishadic

literature, and one of the Mahaavaakya is “That Thou Art” Here “That” means the

Truth that is not comprehended now, but is to be apprehended through listening

to the Teacher (Sravana), reflections upon what you have heard (Manana) and

meditation (Nididhyaasanaa). In Geeta, Bhagavan says “Om Tat Sat” are the three

designations of Brahman” Or again, the term Tat can mean, “That which expands

all the world of plurality:”

732 Padam Anuttamam -“The Un-equalled Stare of perfection The Supreme State of

Truth.” Lord Vishnu is the Way and the Goal and the very pilgrimage. “He than

whom there is no Higher.”

733. Loka-bandhuh –“Friend of the World.” Everyone is inextricably bound to Him

in His Love Infinite, and He is the Father to all. Since there is no

well-wisher or friend dearer than one’s own Father, He is the One unfailing

sure Friend of the world of beings and things. The Lord serves for the uplift

of the world whenever the creatures come to suffer sorrows created by their own

immoral negative ways.

734. Loka-naathah –“One Who is the “Lord” of the World,” or “One Who is

‘solicited’ by the world of beings for the fulfilment of all their desires and

needs. Or it also means, “One Who ‘adds glory’ to the world. There are also

interpretations for the term ‘Naath’ which express “ shines, praised by or

loved by”: in all these different meanings, Sree Hari is described as the Lord

of the World Lokanaatha.

735. Maadhavah –“One Who was born in the family of Madhu.” The Vaisaakha-month

is called Maadhava- month because the Lord is the Spirit of Beauty behind the

Spring and its regal lush.

736. Bhakta-vatsalah –“One Whose Love for the devotees knows no bounds.” He is

ever merciful and endlessly kind towards His devotees.

 

Stanza 79

suvarnavarno hemaango varaangaschandanaangadeeveerahaa vishamah soonyo ghritaaseerachalaschalah.

 

737. Suvarna-varnah –“Golden Coloured” is Sree Narayana for He is, in the

devotee, the pure Self; and in all, He is the very All-Illumining Pure

Awareness. Mundaka Upanishad declares: “When the Seer sees Him of Golden- hue.”

Upon witnessing the Self-Effulgent (Golden) Being, the seer’s realization is

completely transforming, and “then that wise one, shaking off all deeds of

merits and demerits, becomes stainless, and attains the supreme State of

Equipoise.”

738. Hemaangah –“One who has limbs of Gold.” The description of the Lord

functioning through the orb of the Sun is well-known: Hiranmaya-”of

pure-golden- form.” Sruti mentions it: “This Golden Person seen in the disc of

the Sun”… This same Upanishad insists further that “Mind is Brahman” and the

“Sun is Brahman.” Lord Hari, as the Infinite Brahman, plays in the Sun

(Soorya-Narayana)- thus the term is most appropriate.

739. Varaangah –“With beautiful limbs.” Also, Vara can take the meaning

“lovable,” therefore, Sree Narayana is described here as “One whose form

(limbs) is supremely “lovable” to the yogi-of-devotion.”

740. Chandanaangadee -This is made up of two terms, “Joy-giving” (Chandana) and

“armlets” (Angada). Thus the phrase means “One who has attractive armlets.” It

can also be used as describing “One Who is smeared with the sandal.”

741. Veerahaa –“The destroyer of the valiant heroes”-in order to uphold

righteousness, Lord Hari takes His Incarnations and destroys the intrepid and

daring Asuras in battle. Again, it may be interpreted as One Who destroys the

powerful and mighty forces of likes and dislikes-Dvandva -pairs of opposites,

the hosts of our own negativities in our hearts.

742. Vishamah –“Unequalled.” Arjuna, in Bhagavad Geeta, estimates his experience

of the Lord’s Cosmic Form and says: “None there exists who is equal to You; how

can there be then another superior to You in the three worlds, O Being of

unequalled power?”

743. Soonyah –“The Void.” Here Void means the total absence of (a) the

equipments-of-experiences-the body-mind-intellect; (b) the

fields-of-experiences-the objects- emotions-thoughts; © the

experiencer-attitudes-the perceiver-feeler-thinker personality. In Brahman, the

Pure Consciousness, all these three (a, b and c) are totally absent as the

devotee of Hari transcends them all. So the Lord, in His Infinite Nature, is

‘without attributes;’ seemingly then, He is the “Void.” This is not

“non-existence” of the Buddhists. This is Pure Existence without the

object-emotion-thought world-the Self, Sree Narayana.

744. Ghritaaseeh –“One Who has no need for any good wishes from anyone.” The

Infinite Lord, perfect and transcendental, has no need for any of the objects

of the world to make Him complete since the state of incompleteness is indeed

the springboard for all desires to gush forth. It can also mean one who has

eaten away the ghee stolen from the cow-herds’ store-rooms in Brindavan.

745. Achalah –“The non-moving.” Either it can signify One Who never falls and

therefore does not move away from His own Infinite nature, or it may mean that

since the Lord is All-Pervading, He cannot move as there is no place where, at

any time, He is not. He is Ever-Present everywhere.

746. Chalah –“Moving.” By the juxtaposition of these two opposite qualities, we

are reminded that the apparent world of plurality that constitutes the realm of

change is also nothing other than the immovable Atman interpreted through our

personal equipments of experiences. Unconditioned by the body, mind and

intellect, the Lord in His Infinitude is motionless, but as conditioned by the

vehicles He apparently seems to move. We have already explained this

relationship earlier. It is something like a traveller, though himself

sleeping, is able to travel all the night since he is conditioned by the

vehicle which carries him.

 

Stanza 80

amaanee maanado maanyo lokasvaamee trilokadhriksumedhaa medhajo dhanyah satyamedhah dharaadharah.

 

747. Amaanee –“One who has no false vanity.” Since He knows His own real divine

nature, He has no false identifications with the equipments of not-Self such as

the flesh, the emotions or the thoughts.

748. Maanadah -”One who gives, or causes, by His Maayaa the false identification

with the body.” The Sanskrit term ‘maana’ can also mean ‘honour,’ and therefore,

‘maanadah’ can mean One who honours all His true devotees. The root ‘da’ in

Sanskrit means ‘blasting’, and therefore, the same term can also mean one who

blasts all false notions from the bosom of his devotees.

749. Maanyah –“One Who is to be honoured.” He is the most worshipful as He is

the very material Cause for the world of plurality. Bhagavan Sankara says: “If

he, who has realised the Supreme, is so blessed and to be honoured in this

world,” how much more worshipful is the Lord who is the very substratum and

support of the whole universe and by whom all are blessed and inspired to gain

their experiences in the world of things and beings!

750. Lokasvaamee –“Lord of the Universe.” Here the word ‘loka’ in Sanskrit means

‘field-of-experience.’ The One Who is the Controller, Director, Who is the Lord

and Governor of all fields-of-experiences of all living creatures, at all

times, everywhere, is the Consciousness that illumines matter. Therefore, the

term Loka-svaamee is extremely appropriate.

751. Thriloka-dhrik –“One Who is the support of all the three worlds.” Apart

from the usual concept of the three worlds: heaven, earth and hell, there is a

deeper import of the term ‘loka’. It should mean the three fields of experience

constituted of waking, dream and deep sleep. Atman, the Self, as Consciousness,

is the One that supports all these three states inasmuch as, without this

kindling support of life in the bosom, it would be impossible for us to have

any experience.

752. Sumedhaah –“One who has Pure Intelligence.” In fact, the term may denote a

special power in the human intellect which is the capacity to remember and

repeat what has been once experienced before. As such, the term indicates that

the very nature of the Self is not a knowledge newly gained, but it is only a

remembrance of the seeker’s own real nature, which the seeker in his earlier

confusion had forgotten. So long as we have not invoked this great power of

memory of our real nature, we shall continue to grope in our sorrows created by

our misconception. On realising the Self, it is not that we gain anything new,

but we re-discover our own essential Self. Naturally, therefore, with reference

to our present forgetfulness, the ultimate goal is indicated by the

pregnant term ‘Divine Memory Power.

753. Medha-jah –“Born out of sacrifices.” ‘Medha’ means sacrifices like

Asvamedha Yajna. In such a sincere and great ritual, He is invoked and in His

Pure Presence there in the sacrifice, we can say He is born. The Geeta meaning

of ‘sacrifices’ (Yajna) is “a co-operative endeavor wherein: -we offer our

capacity into a field of chosen work invoking in It the unmanifested Lord Who

pours forth His blessings in terms of profit.” In this sense, when all the

personality layers are offered in an act of total surrender, the spiritual

experience of the Self is born. To the student of Vedanta, the term is rich in

its suggestiveness.

754. Dhanyah –“Fortunate.” As He has no objects yet to be fulfilled, or any of

His wishes not already fulfilled, He is indeed one who is utterly fulfilled.

The state of the Self is an eternal state of total contentment.

755. Satyamedhah –“One whose intelligence never fails.” He is the supreme Power

of Discrimination, never deluded by the finite world of appearances, but is, in

all circumstances, ever rooted in the Truth that He alone is the world of

multiplicity.

756. Dharaadharah –“The sole support of the earth.” The earth here stands for

matter; and the very essence from which matter has come to express itself, both

in its gross and subtle forms, is the Self, Narayana, and therefore, He is

considered as the very substratum for the play of matter (earth).

Geographically, the earth is supported by water. Water is supported by the

atmospheric air and the atmospheric air by the space. The daring enquirer may

still continue the question and investigate into the source of space. We know

that the space is a concept which we experience in our intellect. All

experiences of the intellect are established in Conscious- ness and, therefore,

the ultimate support for the entire ‘world’ is the Supreme Narayana.

 

Stanza 81

tejovrisho dyutidharah sarvasastrabhritaam varahpragraho nigraho vyagro naikasringo gadaagrajah.

 

757. Tejo-vrishah –“One Who showers Radiance.” In the outer cosmos the Sun gives

out heat and light, and because of this, rain and cultivation are possible-not

directly because of the Sun, but due to the sum-total-result of an endless

chain of cause-effect links. In the same way, He Who by His mere presence

illumines the experiences of all living creatures with His Light, is Sree

Narayana, the Self.

758. Dyutidharah -The term ‘Dyuti’ indicates the glow of beauty and strength in

a form; thus the term means “One Who bears an Effulgent Form.” The _expression

also discloses that the seat of Pure Consciousness is described as “the Bearer

of Radiance” for it is in the light of the Atman that creatures become aware of

all their perceptions, emotions and thoughts.

759. Sarva-sastra-bhritaam-varah -“The best among those who wield weapons.”

Since Sree Narayana is described in the Puranas as wielding the Discus

(Sudarsana), it, being the greatest of all weapons, justifies this term. Also,

the Lord never uses His weapon of annihilation indiscriminately-for He is ever

supremely just. It is also significant that all destructions in nature are

always ‘constructive destructions’, therefore the Lord’s Discus is itself

called “the auspicious vision” (Sudarsana). In the maturity of one’s evolution

when one becomes fit for one’s own inner unfoldment, slowly, but irresistibly

the seeker can ever detect a secret hand that diligently cuts off all his

connections with the outer world, and compels him to lean more and more on the

higher. Our

Puranic literature is replete with instances, and, without exception, in all of

them Sree Narayana is described as using His weapon to destroy the devilish-and

to give him Moksha! –“the Auspicious Vision”: Su-darsana. Others, when they

employ their weapons of destruction, the result invariably end in a sad

‘destructive destruction’, and, therefore, to invoke Him as “the best among

those who wield weapons” is most significant for a seeker.

760. Pragrahah -One who is the sole receiver of all the worship of every

devotee, irrespective of his creed or race, or his location in the world, at

all times. The devotee may invoke the spiritual presence in various

institutions, using different symbols, believing in his own creed and

scripture, but, whoever he be, when he comes to transcend his vehicles of

perception, feeling and thinking, the experience of the Self (God) should be

universally one and the same-as God is All-Pervading and Changeless. This great

factor-transcendental IS the Self, Sree Narayana, and therefore, He is the

ultimate, sole Receiver of all prayers that rise consciously or unconsciously

in every heart, be it from a plant, an animal or a man.

The term ‘Pragrahah’ is used in Sanskrit to mean the reins with which horses are

controlled and their movements regulated. In this sense when we reflect, the

metaphor of the chariot In the Upanishad suddenly comes in front of us. In this

famous scriptural metaphor, mind is the rein by which the steeds of the

sense-organs are controlled and regulated. Here Lord Sree Narayana Himself is

invoked as ‘Pragrahah’ because when the mind has turned in devotion to His

feet, the devotee need not strive to control his sense-organs, but the Lord’s

own glory shall imperceptibly do the job for His beloved seeker. There- fore, a

truly devoted heart in its utter surrender, calls the Lord ‘‘as the very

controller of his sense-organs.”

761. Nigrahah –“The killer.” An uninitiated student may get shocked when he

finds that the Lord is invoked as a murderer! But it is true. The only

difference is that He is only the destroyer of the ego-just as a doctor is a

‘murderer’ of diseases; just as the sun is the destroyer of the night; as

summer is the annihilator of winter. Similarly, the Lord is the destroyer of

ego and ego-centric limitations in the devotee. In Sanskrit this word also

indicates “One who absorbs the devotee unto Himself.” Once an individual

withdraws himself even a wee bit from his total pre-occupation with the world

and turns his attention to the spiritual centre in himself, the Lord fascinates

and enchants the seeker’s attention more and more to His own Infinite Glory, and

ultimately

“absorbs (Ni-grahah) the individual totally into the state of Pure-Consciousness.

762. Vyagrah –“One Who is ever engaged in fulfilling the devotee’s desires.”

Desire arises in the human mind due to a sense of imperfection in oneself. In

the absolute sense of bliss and peace, which is the true nature of Sree

Narayana, there cannot arise any desire and, therefore, He is described as “the

fulfiller of all desires.”

763. Naika-sringah –“One Who has many (na-eka=Naika) horns.” To a modern student

it would look fantastic and even foolish should one worship his Lord, the God,

as One with many horns. This mental shock can even stun him when he understands

also that his Lord has three legs: “Chatvaarah Sringaah Trayo Asya Paadaah,”

says the Maha Upanishad. If the literal translation shocks the student, the

very jolt prods him to a more vigorous enquiry. The four horns mean the four

States of Consciousness-the waking, dream, deep-sleep and the fourth plane of

consciousness, the Pure Awareness. The three feet (paada) indicate the three

states of consciousness in which we now revel in our gross, subtle and causal

bodies respectively.

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764. Gadaagrajah -“The elder brother of Gada.” Lord Krishna had a younger

brother whose name was Gada. The term Gada has also the meaning in Sanskrit of

‘mantra.’ Mantra are chanted and therefore Gada can indicate ‘mantra, -”Gadyate

iti gadah.” A commentator insists that Ni-gada means mantra, but the prefix Ni

gets dropped, so Gada means mantra. Naturally, “Gadaagraja” would mean One who

manifests or is invoked through mantras.

 

Stanza 82

chaturmoortischaturbaahuschaturvyoohaschaturgatihchaturaatmaa chaturbhaavaschaturvedavidekapaat.

 

765. Chatur-moortih –“Four-Formed.” The Lord, the Infinite is considered as

having four forms-meaning that He, in His manifestations in the world, takes

these four forms.

The Puranas have declared that the incarnations of the Lord in the various Yuga,

were of different colours: white in Krita Yuga, red in Tretaa Yuga, yellow in

Dvaapara Yuga and dark (black) in the Kali Yuga. But according to Vedanta, the

Lord, the Self, has four distinct expressions in the subjective life of each

individual: the Waker, the Dreamer, the Deep- sleeper and the Pure Self. In the

microcosm these are called as Virata, Taijasa, Prajna and Tureeya, and in the

macrocosm, the Lord’s complete _expression, in the total gross, subtle and

causal bodies, is called as Viraat, Hiranyagarbha, Eesvara- and, beyond all

bodies as the Eternal Paramaatman.

766. Chatur-baahuh -Lord Narayana is represented as having four hands. These

represent the four factors that together constitute the inner equipments in

man- mind (Manas); intellect (Buddhi); thought flow towards objects (Chitta)

and ego (Ahamkaara). These are the four agents by which all the physical

activities are controlled, regulated and constantly commanded from within the

body.

767. Chatur-vyoohah –“One Who expresses himself as the dynamic centre in the

four Vyoohas. A “Vyooha” is a whirlpool of activities made by a large number of

imperfected forms, commanded by a pivotal person who remains in the centre of

the whirlpool-just as a battalion functions under the orders of its commander.

It is shown in this analogy that the Lord, the central Source of all

activities, is manifest as the universal Force which blesses every engagement

and contact of a living man with his outer world. In the Aitareya Upanishad,

the four Vyoohas (or persons) are mentioned: the person in the body, the person

in the Chhandas (Vedic mantra), the person in the Vedas and the Great Person.

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768. Chatur-gatih –“The ultimate goal of all the four.” Though their means and

purposes appear divergent, Sree Narayana alone is the inevitable goal of all

activities of the four types (Varnas) of men: Thinkers (Braahmanas), Rulers and

Leaders (Kashatriyas), Men of Commerce (Vaisyas) and Workers (Soodras). The

Lord, also, is the consummate goal to be achieved by the four stages (Aasramas)

of life: the Age of Study (Brahmacharya), the Householder (Grihastha), the

Retirement (Vaanaprastha) and the Stage of Renunciation (Samnyaasa).

769. Chatur-aatmaa -There is also a reading as Chatvaraatmaa. In the former

reading, the definition suggests “the clear-minded”-meaning the Lord is one who

is completely free from desires, passions, vanities, in short, free from all

maladies of ego in His essential Nature. In the latter term, the meaning

signifies that Sree Narayana is the one Infinite Effulgence which expresses

Itself as the four aspects of our inner equipment (Antahkarana Chatushtaya).

770. Chatur-bhaavah –“The Source of the four.” One who is the Source for the

four types (varna), for the four stages-of-life (Aasrama) and the four human

aspirations (purushaartha). The human aspirations as codified by the Sanaatana

Dharma are again four in number. Righteousness (Dharma), Wealth (Artha),

Pleasure (Kaama) and Spiritual Liberation (Moksha). Lord Krishna reveals in the

Bhagavad Geeta: “ All the four types in creation have come from Me.”

771. Chatur-veda-vit –“Knower of all the four Vedas.” The Lord is the very theme

discussed and expounded in the four vedas. The student of the vedas when he

realises the Lord, then only he fulfils his study of them. In this sense of the

term, Bhagavan proclaims in the Fifteenth Chapter of Geeta: “I am verily that

which has to be known in all the Vedas: I am indeed the author of the Vedas and

the “knower” of the Vedas am I.”

772. Eka-paat –“The one-footed.” The term ‘paada’ in Sanskrit has two meanings:

a ‘part’ and a ‘foot.” The Lord, in Bhagavad Geeta, uses the first meaning to

describe His mighty Glory: “The whole universe’ is supported by one part of

Myself.” There is a reference in the Taittireeya Aaranyaka which clarifies the

latter meaning: “All beings are His foot.” The significance here is the ~me as

in Geeta-wherein even the totality of all universes cannot be compared to Him,

the Infinite Absolute Existence.

 

Stanza 83

samaavarto-anivrittaatmaa durjayo duratikramahdurlabho durgamo durgo duraavaaso duraarihaa.

 

773. Samaavartah –“The efficient turner’ -of the wheel-of-life. ‘ Aavarta’ is to

turn. The wheel-of-life- and-death, the samsar, is constantly being churned by

the Law, which is none other than the Lord. The Law and the Law-Giver are one

and the same in this universe-Sree Narayana.

774 Nivrittaatmaa –“One whose mind is turned away from all sense indulgences.”

The famous ‘two birds’ of the Mundaka Upanishad strike a simile here. “Two

birds bound one to the other in close friendship, perch on the selfsame tree.

One of them eats the fruits of the tree with relish, while the other looks on

without eating,” The latter is the Nivrittaatmaa, Some commentators have taken

the word as’ A-nivrittaatmaa’ in which case the meaning would be: “One who

never turns away from anything, but enters into every- thing.” as the very Self

is every thing and every being-that Supreme One, Lord Narayana.

775. Dur-jayah –“The Invincible”-One who cannot be conquered by anyone else.

Even though, in the majority of us, there is a preponderance of the lower

urges, in the patient grinding of time, the evolutionary goal ultimately wins

and irresistibly pushes each one of us towards the altar of the Self. Battles

may be lost but the war in the end is won by the Lord of our heart.

776 Durati-kramah –“One who is difficult to be disobeyed:’ This term declares a

truth which is proven upon observation of this scientifically precise world

where no object or being dares to disobey the Lord, the Cosmos The Rishi in

Kathopanishad says “through fear of Him the Fire burns, through fear of Him

shines the Sun, through fear of Him functions Indra, Vaayu, Lord of the Wind,

and Death itself is the fifth”-as though He is behind each one with uplifted

thunderbolt. The term ‘Atikromah’ means ‘going beyond’, therefore the term, as

it stands, indicates “a state beyond which no one can go”-meaning Sree Narayana

is the final and the absolute destination of all evolution He is the

transcendental Reality and other than He there is no more a beyond to he

achieved

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777. Dur-Labhah –“One who is obtained with consummate effort.” The final

destination of all evolution is He, the spiritual perfection. Therefore, He is

only gained after millenniums of slow evolutions, from the insignificant

unicellular existence to the status of man, and the fulfilment of man’s

evolved, rational life is the state of Godhood. The reward for all the slow and

steady efforts of evolution is bestowed when an organism reaches the height of

the rational human being; and, thereafter, through selfless, dedicated service,

deep and individual devotion, and sincere and serious study of the scriptures,

man learns to remove his mind from all his worldly pre-occupations and brings

himself to finally realise his divine Godhood. Indeed, the state of Narayana-

Consciousness is an experience that is to be obtained with consummate effort.

778. Dur-Gamah –“One Who is realised with great difficulty.” In Bhagavata there

is a statement that the Lord is easily obtained (A-dur-gamah). For those who

have not already developed extreme meditative abilities in their devoted

hearts, the processes of self development, when studied from a book or heard

from a teacher, the immediate reaction in the bosom of such students will be

that it is very difficult. But as he marches forward in his saadhanaa he gains

the further guidance and inspiration to ‘go-forward.’ More bounteous aspects on

him beam and the ‘kindly light’ leads him safely to the goal through all

obstacles. A candle or torch can at best light up only ten or fifteen yards in

front of a traveller. It can never illumine the whole path of one or two miles

at

a stretch. He has to start and proceed as far as he can see and as he marches

ahead the forward stretches will be illumined.

779. Dur-Gah –“Not easy to storm into.” The term is used in Sanskrit to indicate

a fortress; therefore the suggestion is that the essence of the Lord, Sree

Narayana, is fortressed around by the matter vestures and their objects of

fascination. Attracted by them, our attention is always distracted towards the

joy contents in them. This seducing power of the matter vestures is itself the

mighty Maayaa, which only very rare, courageous and blessed ones are able to

cross over.

Bhagavan Himself says: “Mama My Duratyayaa….” The Upanishads say that the truth,

Narayana, cannot be perceived by the senses, imagined by the mind or thought of

by the intellect. These being the only source of our knowing, it almost

impossible to realize the Truth. It is only an all-out suicidal attack that

enables some rare ones to storm the fort and reach the Goal. Hence to an

extrovert man, the seat of Consciousness apparently seems to be impenetrably

fortified. The direct meaning here indicates the great Lord seated in our heart

who is “not easily realized.”

687. Punyah –“The truly–Holy.” When the devotee’s heart is filled with

remembrance of the glorious from divine and infinite nature and supreme of the

lord Vishnu, he then, in that very moment, removes all sin from his devotee’s

heart. The lord is Auspiciousness itself, so where he is invoked, all

inauspiciousness must immediately retire.

688. Punya-keertih –“Of Holy frame.” He is gloriously renowned as the holy one.

Whoever glorifies him becomes himself holy. All the unholy animal passions in

the devotee are routed and beaten back when his heart is wholly in tune with

the lord’s Glory and Form.

689. Anaamayah –One who has neither the mental or physical diseases. Of pure

unstained divine essence is his nature. He is not involved in karmas, thus the

resultant of the karmas which visit us in terms of mental restlessness or

physical pangs, never touch Him.

 

Stanza 84

subhaango lokasaarangah sutantustantuvardhanahindrakarmaa mahaakarmaa kritakarmaa kritaagamah.

 

782. Subhaangah –“One with enchanting limbs of perfect beauty.” The Beauty of

all beauty is the Lord, and His captivating form and the rhythm of His shape

are the theme of meditation for the devotees. In the Upanishads the Infinite

Lord, the Self, is described as Peace-Auspiciousness-Beauty

(Saantam-Sivam-Sundaram). Thus the devotees of the Lord, remembering the

auspicious beauty of His sacred limbs, prostrate at His altar in their deep

reverence and mounting joy of devotion.

783. Lokasaarangah –“One who has enquired into or understood the Essence behind

the universe of names and forms” Or, Lokasaarangah can mean the essence, or the

source, of the world which is the great Pranava, `OM.’ So the term means the

State of Supreme Consciousness that is gained or reached through the

contemplation upon the significance of OM.

784. Sutantuh –“Beautifully expanded.” Just as the thread is drawn out in

different counts from cotton which is later employed as the warp and woof in

the creation of infinite varieties of cloth, so too, from the

Narayana-Consciousness, the endless variety of beings and things gets projected

to constitute the enchanting tapestry of His mighty universe. As the thread is

the substratum for all the various fabrics, the Narayana is the beautiful

thread, the-substratum, for all this wonderful universe. The Lord Himself says:

"There is nothing whatsoever higher than I, O Dhananjaya. All this is strung on

Me, as clusters of gems on a string.

785. Tantu-vardhanah –“One who sustains the continuity of the drive for the

family.” The family is maintained by the virility of the members and this

potency in the individual is an _expression of vitality which Life imparts to

the living organism. Thus, the grace of the Self is that which is manifested in

the fertility of the seed (Ojas). Generally in India, among the Hindus, it is

customary to attribute the continuity of the family to the Grace of Narayana.

786. Indrakarmaa –“One who always performs gloriously auspicious actions” The

root ‘Id’ is used in the sense of Supreme Auspiciousness, Parama-aisvarya.

787. Mahaa-karmaa –“One Who accomplishes Great Activities.” To create a cosmos

so scientifically precise and perfect out of the five great elements, and to

sustain them all with an iron hand of efficiency, all the time constantly

presiding over the acts of destruction without which the world of change cannot

be maintained, is, in itself, a colossal achievement of an Absolute

Intelligence.

788. Krita-karmaa –“One Who has fulfilled all His activities.” There is nothing

more for Him to achieve. He is the Goal. He is the Destination. In His Eternal

Perfection there is nothing more for Him yet to achieve. This sense of complete

fulfilment is described in all the scriptures as the State of Blissful

Perfection-the Self.

789. Kritaagamah –“One who is the author of the Vedas.” The vedic mantras are

called Aagamah. The mantras were revealed to the great Rishis during moments

when they were not identified with the Body-Mind- Intellect and, therefore,

they were not, at those inspired moments, limited individual egos. Where the

ego is thus ended, the Self-alone comes to manifest. In this sense of the term,

all scriptures have burst forth from prophets and seers when they transcended

their limited existence to experience their oneness with the Eternal, Sree

Narayana, In Bhagavad Geeta also, Lord Krishna confesses, “I am the author of

all the Vedas; I alone am the knower of the Veda.”

 

Stanza 85

udbhavah sundarah sundo ratnanaabhah sulochanaharko vaajasanah sringee jayantah sarvavij-jayee.

 

790. Udbhavah –“The ultimate source”- the very spring of Creation. In the

Puranic view of the term, it may mean One Who has by His own free-will

manifested Himself by Himself for the service of mankind, or, it may designate

subjectively, the Self, Sree Narayana, as the one dynamic Witness in Whose

Presence alone the vital activities of life gush forth into _expression.

791. Sundarah –“Of unrivalled beauty.” In almost all religions the Infinite Lord

is described as one having the most enchanting beauty. When we experience beauty

in the world, we are moved to consider its beauty either by the pro- portion or

the symmetry, or th~ tender charm in the object of observation. Within the mind

of the observer, there reflects for a moment the rhythmic grace in the

proportion, the smooth peace in the symmetry, or the joy of ecstasy which

ripples out from the object into the contemplative eye. In all these

conditions, the observer’s mind, sensitive to the aestheticism in him,

quietens, and, it is at such moments of supreme inner satisfaction, the flashes

of “beauty-experiences” floods the bosom.

Remember, beauty is not in the object nor is it in the mind. The enchanting

occasion silences the mind that is now available for the aesthetic reaction

which resultingly fills the observer- and this is nothing but the manifestation

of That which is behind the mind, Sree Narayana. Hence, the Infinite Reality is

glorified in the Upanishads as “Peace-Auspiciousness-Beauty’. (

Saantam-Sivam-Sundaram} .

792. Sundah –“Of Great Mercy.” Whatever be the amount of vaasanaas hoarded in

our personality, due to our ego-centric, extroverted activities, once a devotee

turns unto Him in total surrender, all the vaasanaas are purified and he comes

to move more and more towards Him-as though, in infinite mercy, He forgives all

sins that a man might commit in his innocent ignorance (Avidyaa).

793. Ratnanaabhah –“Of beautiful navel.” Text books of Bhakti-cult advise

devotees that they should meditate upon the Lord’s navel-point, as a flashy,

brilliant jewel (Ratna). This point of concentration is not without

significance. The mystics of India long ago explored the percentage of human

action that is grossly manifest at the physical level. Today also,

psychologists confess that they have no other knowledge beyond the obvious fact

that thoughts express themselves as actions. But deeply meditative mystic

enquirers delved deeper to detect and chart the story of actions. In their

adventurous explorations, they discovered that in seed form all thoughts are

with the Infinite (Para) before manifestation. From this womb they become

manifest and an individual becomes

dimly aware of thoughts in their embryo form-vague and still incompletely

un-formed (Pasyantee). Thereafter, the thoughts get translated into expressions

(Madhyamaa) and in their last full stage of manifestation they come to express

themselves as actions in the outer world (Vaikharee).

In this chain of processes when thoughts become manifest for the thinker, it is

said the seat of Pasyantee-stage is the navel region. This brilliant seat of

nascent manifestation of all thoughts is indicated here as “the jewel of his

navel.” Generally, the intelligent student would readily jump to the conclusion

that this truth is merely a poetic exaggeration, but there is a deep

significance in it indeed.

794. Sulochunuh –“One Who has the most enchanting eyes.” The term indicates the

beauty of the Lord’s eyes for those devotees who turn to the Lord’s form. To

the deeper students of contemplation, the eyes are great not be- cause of their

form, colour or _expression, but because of their ability to see constantly the

infinite purpose and goal of the entire creation. Therefore, the term means.

“One who has the wisdom of the Self.”

795. Arkah -“One Who is in the form of the Sun.” The Sun is worshipped as a

Vedic deity, even by the Creator Himself-hence, the term suggests ‘most

worshipful.’ The Sun-centre of the solar system-is the one source of light and

energy illumining and nourishing everything. The Infinite Consciousness, Sree

Narayana, is the Sun by Whose Splendour the experiences of all people are

illumined, at all places and at all times. He, as the One Life, thrills all

living creatures and presides over, in and through their nurture and

nourishment. Once He has left from therein, that body cannot be maintained

-though we witness today the experiments of medical science to do so.

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796. vaajasanah –“The giver of food.” The one Vital Force that ultimately

sustains, supports and nourishes all living creatures in the Universe is the

Supreme. and Its Nature is not really different from the Lord, Sree Narayana.

In the Bhagavad Geeta the Lord describes Himself as manifesting through the sun

as the sunlight which penetrates the earth to fertilise it. The fertility of the

soil, in turn, becomes the plant on the surface into which the Lord transfuses

the food value of the vegetable world by the essence of moon- light from the

moon. Further, in the Upanishads, we find indicative declarations that

offerings, given in the worship of Fire themselves come down as a reward in the

form of rain and plenty for the society.

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Again, it is a law of life that each individual is supplied with the exact type

of ‘equipments for experiences’ and each one also finds himself in the precise

environmental circumstances for their _expression according to the texture and

type of vaasanaas in him. Thus, in the larger sense, the entire world of

‘emotions-feelings-and-thoughts’ constitute the total food (Annam) for the

experiences of the body, mind and intellect.

797. Sringee -“The horned one.” This is generally commented upon as reminiscent

of the Lord’s Incarnation as a Fish. It would have been happier had it been

reminiscent of the Boar-Incarnation which Sree Narayana took to lift up the

world from its slushy condition to the plane of dry-surfaced earth.

798. Jayantah –“The conqueror of all enemies.” No force could ever vanquish Him

who is ‘the Source of all energy and strength’-the Almighty. Sree Narayana is

acclaimed as the conqueror, because it is by His Grace and direct help that the

gods always win against the ‘diabolically bad’ (the Asuras). In our bosom it is

the grace of the mind and intellect, in attunement with the Self, that helps us

to conquer our lower impulses, our endless desires for the sensuous-and our

craving for the cruel pleasures of indulgence.

799. Sarvavij-jayee –“One Who is at once Omniscient (Sarvavit) and victorious

(Jayee).” The term, however, is not two words and, therefore, as a single

_expression, we can also understand it to mean, ‘One who is victorious over all

men of wisdom.’ Prattlers of wisdom, however eloquent in their discussions, must

become utterly silent in their moments of Samaadhi, in the presence of the Self,

Sree Narayana.

 

Stanza 86

suvarnabindurakshobh yah sarvavaageesvaresvarahmahaahrado mahaagarto mahaabhooto mahaanidhih.

 

800. Suvarna-binduh –“With limbs radiant like gold.” Chhandogya Upanishad

declares: “He, having a golden body, even to the tip of his nails.” The great

name of the Lord in the Vedic literature is ‘OM’ which consists of the sounds

‘A’, ‘U’, and the bindu ‘M.’

801. Akshobhyah –“One Who is ever unruffled.” Ordinarily an individual gets

disturbed, subjectively, by the presence of desires, anger, passions, etc., and

objectively an average man is constantly stormed by the enchanting dance of

beautiful sense-objects all around him. Lord, the Self, is a state of existence

wherein neither the subjective disturbances of the mind, nor the objective

persecutions of the sense-organs can ever reach to ruffle the quietude and

peaceful grace of His perfection. In describing the state of the Sthitaprajna,

Bhagavan says in the Geeta that such a one will be Akshobhya like the ocean:

“He attains Peace into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean, which

filled from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the ‘desirer-of-desires.”

802. Sarva-vaageesvaresvarah –“The very Lord of the Lord of Speech.” In the

Kenopanishad it has been made amply clear that it is not the instruments of

actions and perceptions that act by themselves as they are all made up of inert

matter. The immediate animation to the equipment is given by the ‘inner

instruments.’ Therefore, for all the sense-organs, the mind-intellect-equipment

is their immediate Lord. But these subtle instruments themselves get their

dynamism to act only in the presence of Sree Narayana, the Consciousness.

Therefore, it is most appropriate to invoke Him as the Lord of Lords in all

living creatures.

The term Vaageesvara (Lord of Speech) is often used in the language to indicate

poets, writers and orators. Therefore, the term can also be interpreted as ‘the

Lord from whose altar all ordinary speakers draw their powers. Theologically,

some commentators have spun a meaning out of this term indicating that Sree

Narayana, as the Absolute Reality, is the ‘Lord’ of even the Creator .

803. Mahaa-hradah –“One Who is like a great refreshing swimming pool.” In the

hot summer season, plunging into the cool crystal waters of a. pool holds the

swimmer in a refreshing cool embrace on all sides. Similarly, the plane of

Narayana-Consciousness revives, refreshes and en- thralls all meditators when

they plunge into its reviving quietude. The Yogins often plunge into It from

the springboard of their devotion, and after a time emerge out of It-cool,

clean and refreshed. Sree Narayana is metaphorically addressed as the great

(Mahaa) pond (Hradah).

804. Mahaa-gartah –“The great chasm.” Here the ‘chasm’ means the Lord’s maayaa

which He Himself describes, in the Bhagavad Geeta as “My Maayaa

(non-apprehension and the consequent misapprehension) is very difficult to

cross over.” The industrious lexicographers enter here and additionally press

out of this word garta the meaning, ‘chariot,’ and, therefore, the term can

also mean that He is a ‘mahaaratha’ (Great Chariot).

805. Mahaabhootah –“The Great Being.” He is the Source from which even the Great

Elements spring forth into existence and, therefore, in His Infinitude and

Pervasiveness, Lord Narayana is called ‘Mahaabhootah.’ The entire play of birth

and death, of integration (sanghaata) and disintegration (vighaata) are taking

place in Him Who is the mighty substratum and, therefore, it is very

appropriate that the Lord, the God, is considered by the devotees as the “Great

Being.’

806. Mahaa-nidhih –“The Great Abode.” “The Eternal Source from which everything

springs forth and the Infinite substratum upon which the entire play of the

finite is held in animated suspension.” The term ‘nidhi’ means ‘treasure’ and,

therefore, its indication here is that Sree Narayana is the richest treasure of

all His devotees-to loot at will!

 

Stanza 87

kumudah kundarah kundah parjanyah paavano-anilahamritaaso-amritavapuh sarvajnah sarvatomukhah.

 

807. Kumudah –“One Who gladdens the earth,” or “one who gets gladdened by the

earth.” Earth here should be understood as the entire cosmos ever so dynamic

and scientifically precise. The world of plurality is Narayana’s joyous

_expression of His infinite potentialities. It is the fulfilment of the

Omnipotent.

808. Kundarah –“The one who tore the earth in His Incarnation as the Boar in

order to destroy the mighty tyrant, Hiranyaaksha. It can also mean: Darah(one

who wears); Kum (the earth). The term is further commented upon as “One who

bestows rewards as beautiful as the Kunda flowers.”

809. Kundah -Here we read it as ‘Kunda flower.’ In this context the term means

“One who is as comely and attractive as the kunda flowers.” In Harivamsa it is

said that the Lord, as Parasuraama, in order to atone for the battles he had

fought, gave (do) gifts of this earth (kum) to Rishi Kasyapa. ‘ Ku’ also has

the meaning of the “rulers of the earth,” and ‘do’ means “slaying.” In this way

the term indicates the “one who had taken the Incarnation of Parasuraama to

destroy the unreasonably vicious tyrants of the land.”

810. Parjanyah –“He who is similar to the rain-bearing clouds.” Lord Krishna has

been described as being so gloriously hued. Again, agriculturists and all living

creatures are extremely happy when they see these clouds-the harbingers of

comfort and prosperity. To the devotees, the Lord is a total fulfilment, as the

clouds are for the parched earth.

811. Paavanah –“One Who ever purifies.” The impurities of a personality are

gathered when the mind and intellect, in a natural impulse of animal

voluptuousness, rush towards the sense-objects with ego-centric passion. To I

retrieve the mind from the sense-objects and to peacefully let it settle in

contemplation of the divine nature and the eternal J glory of Sree Narayana,

the Self, is to exhaust all the existing vaasanaas, which are the

personality-impurities within.

812. Anilah -Like the atmospheric air the Lord is the life-giver everywhere, and

also He is All-pervading. Nilah also means ‘to slip’-into a condition of

non-apprehension: thus, one who is ignorant (avidya). When the symbol of

negation, ‘a’, is added to it, ‘A-nilah’ comes to indicate “One who slips not,

but is ever of the nature of Consciousness.” Hence it means “Omniscient.”

813. Amritaasah -Since ‘amrita’ has both the meanings of ‘nectar’ and

‘immortality,’ the term is interpreted to mean “One whose desires are never

fruitless,” as well as “One whose greatest desire is for the State of

Immortality.”

814. Amrita-vapuh –“He Whose Form is Immortal.” He, the Eternal Reality, is

unconditioned by time. This principle of Consciousness, functioning as the

flame of life in every bosom, by its mere presence has in Itself neither the

physical, subtle nor causal bodies-which alone are the perishable. Transcending

them all-unconditioned by time, and, therefore, never undergoing any of the

natural modifications of mortality, Sree Narayana revels in His Absolute Glory.

 

815. Sarvajnah –“Omniscient.” It is only when the light of Awareness illumines

the happenings that living creatures can become conscious of their experiences.

To know the outer and the inner world of happenings, they must be lighted up by

the principle of Consciousness. This seat of Sree Narayana is, therefore,

called the Pure Knowledge- the Principle, because of which all other knowledge

is possible in every being.

816. Sarvato-mukhah –“One Who has His face turned everywhere”-just as the light

in the sun, or the light of a lamp. In the Bhagavad Geeta He is described as

having eyes, heads and faces on all sides.

 

Stanza 88

sulabhah suvratah siddhah satrujit

satrutaapanahnyagrodhodumbaro-asvatthaschaanooraandhra-nishoo-danah.

 

817. Sulabhah –“One who is readily available” and, therefore, easily attainable

for those who have true devotion and the heroism to put forth the right effort

in unveiling Him from the miserable pits of matter. To the mind in

contemplation, the Reality is self-evident; all saadhanaas are only to render

the mind contemplative.

818. Suvratah –“He Who has taken the most auspicious Forms”-to destroy the evil

and to protect the good is the motive behind all His manifestations. The seeker

himself is one of the Lord’s own manifestations; thus, every spiritual/ student

will ultimately realise that to destroy the ego in himself and finally gain

back the very state from which he apparently manifested is re-discovery of the

Self.

819. Siddhah –“One Who is Perfection”-not one who has attained perfection. Sree

Narayana, the Absolute State of Perfection, can never, even when He is playing

as the Incarnation, forget His real nature of Eternal, Unbroken, Unchanging

Perfection.

820. Satrujit –“One Who is ever victorious over His hosts of enemies.” In the

bosom of man, his enemies are none other than consciousness of his body and the

con- sequent passions of the flesh-both objective and subjective. The seeker

feels that these urges in him constitute a very powerful team of belligerent

forces, and against their concerted onslaught he feels helpless. But when such

an alert seeker turns himself towards the Truth, the Lord Who is in his own

heart, all obstacles whither away. It is natural then that Sree Narayana is

invoked here as the “Supreme Conqueror of all Enemies.”

821. Satrutaapanah –“The Scorcher of enemies.” When the devotee offers himself

at the altar of His Feet, He burns down all the negative tendencies polluting

the devotee’s heart.

822. Nyagrodhah –“The One who, while controlling all beings, veils Himself

behind this Maayaa.” The Consciousness constantly functions within us, but due

to the Vaasanaas, our attention is constantly distracted to the perception of

objects outside and not to the Effulgent Being which is the core in us. At the

same time Sree Narayana, the Self, is the very Life which has made possible the

entire manifestation of the world. Still, by His own playful inscrutability we

recognize Him not. Interpreted in another sense, the term can also mean, “He

who is above all.’ The nobler, the mightier power which controls and regulates

any organised set of activities, when it is conceived by human intellect, it is

always expressed as something higher or above. Therefore, the

significance of this term must be clear to the students.

823. Udumbarah –“He Who is the Nourisher of all living creatures”-supplying each

with its appropriate food. The term also suggests: “one who transcends even

Aakaasa, the subtlest of the manifested elements.” Sree Narayana, the Source

out of which all creatures have emerged, He alone must also be the Great Cause

from which even the subtlest element, Aakaasa, (space) has sprung forth. The

cause is subtler than the effect, therefore, the essential principle, Narayana,

transcends even the concept of space.

824. Asvatthah -In the Upanishad, (Kathopanishad) and in the Bhagavad Geeta

(Chapter XV), Lord Narayana is indicated as the great “Tree of Life,” the

Asvattha. Ficus Religiosa is a perennial tree, seemingly relatively immortal,

as compared with the quickly-perishing mankind that comes in waves, generation

after generation, to play under its shade, to make love at its base; to grow

old in its breeze. Even when they are dead, their bodies are carried in moonlit

procession to the burial ground, where under the tree’s dancing leaves, a play

of light and shade splashes a wizardly pattern upon each lifeless face. The

children of each departed one, in their turn, repeat the unending cycle of life

under the shade of the same old tree whose nodding grimace mocks the

procession of fleeting joys and sorrows. This tree has been chosen to represent

the finite play of the Infinite and the Tree itself has been named: A-svattham

meaning: “That which will not remain the same tomorrow.”..

825. Chaanooraandhranishoodanah - “The slayer of Chaanoora, the great wrestler.

Andhra means wrestler.”

 

Stanza 89

sahasraarchih saptajihvah saptaidhaah saptavaahanahamoortiranagho-achintyo bhayakrit bhayanaasanah.

 

826. Sahasra-archih –“He Who in His Effulgence has thousands of rays.” The Self,

Sree Narayana, the Pure Consciousness which illumines all experiences, is

considered in our scriptures as the ‘Light of all Lights,’ and, in the Geeta’s

famous description of this mighty Effulgence of Reality we read: “If the

Splendour of a thousand suns were to rise up together and at one and the same

time blaze forth. In the sky, that would be like the Splendour of the Mighty

Being.”

827. Sapta-jihvah –“He Who expresses Himself as the ‘seven tongues’ (flame).”

‘Jihvaa’ means tongue; here it is used as the ‘tongues-of-flame.’ These seven

flames of different properties are enumerated in the Mundakopanishad. It sets

forth the idea that the Light of Consciousness beams out through seven points

in the face of a living entity-two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth.

As intelligent beings, powers of perception metaphorically flame out through

each one of them, illumining the world for us. The one in our heart, Sree

Narayana, Who totally manifests as the seven distinct tongues-of-flame is

classified here by the scientific-poets, the Rishis, in the language of lyrical

service as Sapta-jihvaah.

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828. Sapta-edhaah –“The Seven Effulgent flames.” The earlier term invoked Him as

the “Seven tongues- of-flame.” Here the emphasis seems to be for the Effulgence

in those flames.

829. Sapta-vaahanah –“One Who has the vehicle of seven horses.” Lord Sun is

described by the poet-seers of the Vedas as riding in a chariot drawn by seven

horses, representing the seven days of the week.

830. A-moortih –“One Who is formless.” ‘Form’ implies a thing that is limited by

other factors. The All-Pervading cannot have a form-just as space has no

particular form. All things having a form are perishable. Narayana who is

Infinite and Eternal is thus ever Formless.

831. Anaghah -The Sanskrit term Aghah means sin or sorrow. Therefore the term

means one who is sinless or sorrowless. Lord Paramesvara, the Self, is

Immaculate-untouched and uncontaminated by the Vaasanaas. He is Eternal

Bliss-beyond all traces of sorrow.

832. Achintyah –“One Who cannot be comprehended by man’s mind and intellect.”

Not only the Lord is Formless, and consequently Imperceptible, but He is also

unavailable as an object for our emotional experience, or for our intellectual

appreciation. He is the Pure Conscious- ness in Whose Light all our

perceptions, feelings and thoughts are illuminated. In Geeta, this “Nourisher

of All” is compared with the changeless white screen upon which all the

perishing scenes of life are focused.

833. Bhaya-krit -Lord is the “Giver of fear.” He is a terror to the evil-minded.

In all His Incarnations, He gives fear to the evil-hearted, that they may

ultimately be swayed to the path of Dharma.

834. Bhayanaasanah –“Destroyer of all fear,” is the Supreme Lord. The Upanishads

repeatedly -declare the State of Self-Knowledge to be the only state of absolute

fearlessness. From a sense of otherness or plurality alone can fear spring

forth. In the One Reality, where there is no other, how can there be fear? Sree

Narayana alone is the only harbour from all fears.

 

Stanza 90

anurbrihat krisah sthoolo gunabhrinnirguno mahaanadhritah svadhritah svaasyah

praagvamso vamsavardhanah.

 

835. Anuh –“The Subtlest; the All-pervading.” Sree Narayana is the subtle

flame-of-life in our bosom, the Essence from which all life’s activities spring

forth. He is called as Anuh because He is in the centre of even the Subtlest.

Bhagavan Himself says: “I am seated in the heart of all-as the core or Essence

in all.”

836. Brihat -At the same time He is Greater than the Greatest in dimension, He

being the All-pervading. These two may seem paradoxical but the apparent

contradiction dissolves into an illumining experience for the contemplative

mind. The Upanishad daringly combines these two terms to give the students a

vague comprehension of the All-pervading Infinitude of the Self.

837. Krisah –“One Who is lean; subtle; delicate.” Again, this description will

be opposed by the next following one, for herein is a deliberate use of

contradictions. The Rishis made an art of effectively employing terms of

contradiction in order to bring the incomprehensible within the cognition of

the students of contemplation.

838. Sthoolah –“One Who is the fattest; the grossest; roughest.” These two terms

are indicating opposites. Here it is to be understood that the Lord, in His

state as Pure Consciousness, is the subtlest, and He is the grossest in the

form of the Universe (Viraat).

839. Gunabhrit –“One Who supports”- maintains and expresses through the three

Gunas. Through rajas He creates; through Sattva He preserves and through tamas

He annihilates. He, as Consciousness, expresses Him- self through these three

textures of vaasanaas.

840. Nirgunah-“Without-any-properties.” That which has property is

matter-perishable, changeable, finite. The Imperishable, the Changeless, the

Infinite is property-less; it is the Consciousness that illumines all

properties (Gunas). With the matter equipments, in His Incarnations He

manifests as having ‘form’ (Guna-bhrit), and in His Absolute Nature He is

‘form-less’-the Non-dual Self.

841. Mahaan –“The Great; the Glorious; the Mighty.” “One who is not conditioned

by the five Elements- nor by Time and Space. Quite on the other hand, it is He

Who is the very Existence in everything.

842. Adhritah -None supports Him, but He supports all. Just as the cotton in

cloth, gold in ornaments, mud in pots, He is the supporter of the entire

universe. To the devotee who feels the Lord is far away from him, to

contemplate upon Sree Narayana as his very own support will open his heart to

the certainty and plenitude of faith.

843. Svadhritah –“Self-supported.” When from the previous term we hear that the

Self is he ultimate support of the Universe, the question automatically rises

in a rational intellect: ‘what supports the Self?’ The Lord is “supported” by

nothing else other than His own Glory. In the Upanishad, in answer to a

question where the Mighty One abides, the teacher declares, “He abides in His

own Glory.”

844. Svaasyah –“One Who has an Effulgent Face.” Because He gives to the Vedas

their beauty and charm, He is conceived as brilliantly beautiful, enchantingly

fascinating, hauntingly charming.

845. Praag-vamsah –“One Who has the most ancient ancestry.” The Infinite, the

Cause for the universe and Time itself, is indicated as the ‘Most Ancient’. The

term can also mean the accommodation reserved during a Yaaga meeting where the

invitees and guests may rest. Generally built on the eastern courtyard of the

house~ this accommodation is called ‘Praagvamsah.’ Since everything connected

with a Yajna or Yaaga is considered as sacred, the ‘Praag-vamsah’ has been used

here as a name to indicate Sree Narayana.

846. Vamsa-vardhanah –“He who multiplies His family of descendents.” The Lord’s

family is the whole Universe of things and beings. Or it can also imply just

the opposite as the root Vardh means ‘the annihilator.’ Narayana is the sacred

factor in us, to Whose Feet we turn in all love and undivided attention, in

Whom the world of perceptions, emotions and thoughts merge as a dream merges

into the mind of the waker.

 

Stanza 91

bhaarabhritkathito yogee yogeesah sarvakaamadahaasramah sramanah kshaamah suparno vaayuvaahanah.

 

847. Bhaara-bhrit –“One Who carries the load of the Universe.” This carrying is

not as a man would carry a load-something other than himself. The Self Itself

has become the world so here it means only that Narayana is the very material

Cause of the Universe.

848. Kathitah –“One Who is glorified in the Vedas and other spiritual text

books.” Narayana-essence is the theme of all scriptures in the world.

849. Yogee –“One Who can be realised through Yoga:” “One Who is the greatest

Yogee.” The term Yoga is defined in the Sastra as ‘stopping all thought flow.’

One who has no thought agitations-who has totally conquered the mind( Maayaa)

and lives in His own Effulgent Self-nature is the greatest Yogee.

850. Yogeesah –“The King of Yogees.” “One who realises the Self, becomes the

Self,” is an Upanishadic declaration. Therefore, Self alone is the perfect

Yogee and Sree Narayana, the Self, is the King of all Yogees. The sense of

agency-in-action and the sense of enjoyership-in- experience is the ego

(Jeeva-bhaavanaa). To end this ego-personality is to rise to the awareness of

the Universal Consciousness, the Self. Sree Narayana, the Absolute Reality,

alone can be free-entirely and fully-from any involvement while being ever in

the midst of Samsar and its seething activities. Hence He is glorified as the

best among Yogees.

851. Sarvakaamadah –“One Who fulfils all desires of all true devotees.” Such

devotees have no other desire but to reach, meet and merge in Him. In this way

the term would also indicate that He destroys the chances of fulfilment of all

unholy, sensuous and lusty desires in the faithless.

852. Aasramah -Sree Narayana is the harbour, the sequestered haven for all who

are tossed about in the storms of life without and within. For each one, the

source of all strains is attributable entirely to his functioning as a

body-mind-intellect equipment. To remain as the Self-the essential real nature

of man-is to experience the end of all stresses and strains. This state of

Peace and Joy, of Quiet and Bliss is Sree Narayana, the Lord of the heart.

853. Sramanah –“One Who persecutes the worldly people”-who, driven by their

hungers and passions, seek sense-gratifications. By the very nature of the

ephemeral sense-objects and the ever-changing instruments of experience in us,

the life of gratifications can only yield exhausting fatigue and weary

disappointments. This is the ‘Law’ and Sree Narayana is the ‘Law-Giver.’ The

Law and the Law-Giver are but one in theology.

854. Kshaamah –“One Who destroys everything during the final deluge”-He who

prunes our agitations and shrinks our desire-prompted world-projections.

855. Suparnah –“The Golden Leaf.” In Bhagavad Geeta the world is pictured as the

Asvattha tree and its leaves are declared to be the Vedas. The theme of the

Vedas is none other than the Self, making the term extremely en- chanting with

its springs of suggestions.

856. Vaayu-vaahanah –“The mover of the winds.” From fear of Him Fire burns, Sun

and Moon function, earth rotates, the Wind moves....declares the Upanishad.

 

Stanza 92

dhanurdharo dhanurvedo dando damayitaa damahaparaajitah sarvasaho niyantaa niyamo yamah.

 

857. Dhanurdharah -“The wielder of the Bow.” In His Incarnation as Sree Rama,

He drew the great Bow as no one else ever could. Also in the Upanishad there is

the famous metaphor of the Bow with which the arrow of the individuality is to

be shot to strike and sink into the goal. The Rishi of the Mundakopanishad

explains that the ‘Bow’ is the OM (Pranava mantra). (The significance is

clear.)

858. Dhanurvedah –“One Who declared the Science of Archery.” The One Who

propounded the unfailing technique of OM -meditation for realisation of the

Self.

859. Dandah –“One who punishes the wicked.” In Geeta, Bhagavan declares Himself

to be the policeman of the Universe. The term can also mean the ‘Sceptre’-the

insignia of king-ship. Sree Narayana, the King of kings in the entire,

limitless universe, holds the Sceptre of total royalty.

860. Damayitaa –“The Controller.” One who punishes the wicked, destroys the

sinners and thus regulates and cultivates life in the universe, making it a

garden for the blossoms of spiritual beauties.

861. Damah -That which is ultimately gained by the worldly punishments-the final

experience of Beatitude in the Self.

862. Aparaajitah –“The Invincible; One who cannot be defeated.” The Self

ultimately asserts within every bosom from wherein the spiritual values finally

emerge victorious. The Self alone remains when all else has been destroyed.

863. Sarvasahah –“One Who carries the entire Universe.” The One Who meets

heroically all the enemical impulses of unspiritual lusts. He carries the

entire Universe as its very material Cause: as mud in pots.

864. Aniyantaa –“One Who has none above Him to control Him.” He is the One Who

has appointed all other controllers of the phenomenal forces as the Sun, the

Moon, Air and Waters.

865. Aniyamah –“One Who is not under the laws of anyone else.” He is the Law and

the only Law- Giver. It is His hand that governs the inscrutable and un-

relenting laws of nature.

866. Ayamah –“One Who knows no death.” He is the Eternal: how can He know death?

- the principle of death cannot act in Him. Within Time alone there is change or

death. The Pure Consciousness is That which illumines the sense of time and so

is beyond Time-beyond death.

 

Stanza 93

sattvavaan saattvikah satyah satyadharmaparaayanahabhipraayah priyaarho-arhah

priyakrit-preetivardhanah.

 

867. Sattvavaan –“One Who is full of exploits and courage.” Supremely

adventurous, daring and heroic is Narayana-as witnessed in all His actions

during all His Incarnations.

868. Saattvikah –“One Who is full of Saattvic qualities.” Quietude,

tranquillity, peace-these are some of the saattvic qualities. Sattva is the

creative-pause of the mind before it launches out into a burst of creative

thoughts and action. Full of inspiration and meditative-poise is the

Total-Mind, Sree Narayana.

869. Satyah –“Truth.” That which remains the same in the past, present and

future is Truth. Self knows no change. It is ever in Its own Nature in all the

three periods Time.

870. Satya-dharma-paraayanah - Who is the very abode of Truth and

Righteousness.” Satyam (Truth) is ‘truthfulness in thought, speech and action.

Dharma (Righteousness) is the injunctions regarding what is and what is not the

duty to be fulfilled.

871. Abhipraayah –“One Who is faced by all seekers marching to the Infinite.” Or

it can mean, “One who merges the entire world of plurality into Himself.”

872. Priyaarhah –“One Who deserves all our love.” Priya also expands its meaning

into: “things we are supremely fond of,” therefore, the term, as it stands, may

be read: “One Who deserves to be worshipped by His devotees with all that they

are supremely fond of.” As an _expression of our devotion we do offer to the

Lord that which we love the most in life.

873. Arhah -Narayana is the One Who de to be worshipped by all devotees. He,

being our very own self is the treasure-source of all our devotion. Thus He

does from us all our surrender, love and reverence.

874. Priya-krit –“One who is ever-obliging in fulfilling our wishes” -One Who is

anxiously eager for the well-being of all devotees. But the term can also yield

just opposite meaning –“One who- destroys the wishes or disturbs the well-being

of the wicked and the faithless.”

875. Preeti-vardhanah -The sense of drunken joy that arises in one’s bosom when

one loves deeply and truly is called Preeti. “One who increases Preeti in the

devotee’s heart” is Sree Narayana. The more He is contemplated upon, the more

His glories are appreciated, thereby the more

 

Stanza 94

vihaayasagatirjyotih suruchirhutabhug vibhuhravirvirochanah sooryah savitaa ravilochanah.

 

876. Vihaayasa-gatih -The term Vihaayasa means pertaining to, depending on, the

space-aerial. Gatih means one who moves. Therefore, in its totality, this name

describes: “One who travels in space-having the nature of the Sun,

Soorya-Narayana.”

877. Jyotih –“Effulgent with His own inherent Light.” The Lord as Consciousness

is the ‘Light of all lights.’ “By Its Light all are brilliant: by Its Light all

are illumined.” Sree Narayana is the Self-effulgent Atman, the Self.

878. Su-ruchih -The suffix ‘Su’ indicates Auspiciousness (sobhana): the term

‘Ruchi’ is Glory or Desire. The Glory of Lord Narayana is this world: it is His

‘desire’ (sankalpa) that manifests as the universe.

The Supreme Brahman, the Infinite Reality, functioning through the ‘Total-

Vaasanaas,’ meaning the ‘Total-Causal- Body’ (Maayaa), is Lord, the Eesvara. So

we are given the irrefutable scientific truth in the Sruti-declaration that the

universe is the ‘will’ or ‘desire’ of Lord Narayana.

879. Huta-bhuk –“One Who receives and enjoys all that is offered into the sacred

fire during the Vedic Rituals- Yajnas and Yaagas.” The faithful may offer

oblations invoking his own special Deity, but it is the One Lord, Narayana Who

receives them all, manifesting as the particular Deity invoked.

880. Vibhuh –“All-pervading.” Lord Narayana, the Self, is unconditioned by time

or space for He is the Eternal, the Omnipresent. In His Absolute Nature, He is

All-pervading as He is unlimited by any conditionings.

881. Ravih –“One Who absorbs the vapour (Rasa) from everything.” As the

Soorya-Narayana, Sree dries up everything in the universe.

882. Virochanah –“One Who shines in different forms.” Whatever form the devotee

chooses for contemplation upon Him, the Lord manifests in that very Form for

the sake and joy of the devotee. Additionally it may be interpreted as “One Who

Himself manifests as the Sun and the Moon and all other resplendent spheres in

the Consmos.”

883. Sooryah -The term etymologically means the One Source from which all things

have been born or out of which they have been delivered. The Lord as the First

Cause is the Womb of the Universe. On the surface of the world it is the Sun

that nurtures and nourishes all living creatures. It must be noted that many of

the Lord’s names indicate or are associated with the sun –as he is like the sun

in the solar System: the Centre around which the entire system revolves and by

Whose benign rays, as the ‘Orb-of-all Energies’, He thrilling to life the

infinitude of creatures.

884. Savitaa –the one who brings forth, from Himself, the me Self functioning

through the sun is called savitaa.

885. Ravi-lochanah –“One Whose Eyes are the Sun.” In the Upanishad and the

Geeta, the Viraat Form of the Lord (the Cosmic-Form) is described as having for

His eyes the Sun and the Moon.

 

Stanza 95

ananto hutbhugbhoktaa sukhado naikajoagrajahanirvinnah sadaamarshee lokaadhishthaanamadbhutah.

 

886. Anantah –“Endless.” One who is not conditioned by time and place is Self.

In His All-pervading nature He is immortal, and thus Immutable.

887. Huta-bhuk –“One who accepts the things devotedly poured as oblation into

the sacred Fire.” These oblations which may be in the name or any devataa, are

all received by Narayana in the form of that devataa because He is the One

Infinite Self Who plays in and through all forms, worldly and heavenly.

888. Bhoktaa –The One Who enjoys the world of objects-emotions-thoughts, through

the equipments of body- mind-intellect is none other than the Self expressing

through these ‘instruments-of-experiences’ as the individuality-constituted of

the perceiver-feeler-thinker-ego.

The term Bhoktaa also means “One Who Protects” (the Universe)-as He is the very

material Cause for the entire world of names and forms.

889. Sukha-dah -“One Who gives the experience of Eternal Bliss to the devotees

at their final spiritual destination-Moksha. As the term stands in the verse,

some would read it-’ A-sukha-da’ in which case the nominative would mean: “One

Who removes all the discomforts and pains of the devotees.”

890. Naikajah -Na-’not’; Eka-’once’; Ja ,-born.’ One who is born not only once,

but many times, in many Forms, to serve the devotees in His different

Incarnations. In fact, all births are all His manifestations alone as he is the

Spark-of-Existence in the Universe of inert matter. Through all equipments He

alone is the One Consciousness that dances Its Infinite Glories.

891. Agra-jah –“The One Who was First-Born.” Naturally, everything came from Him

alone; this Primordial First Cause is the concept of God. That from which

everything comes, in which everything exists and into which all things can

again finally merge-'That' is conceived as God.

892. Anirvinnah –“One Who feels no disappointments”-Who has no chance to feel

disappointment as He is ever the totally fulfilled. The agonising disgust with

things that comes to a bosom when a burning desire is unfulfilled is called

Nirveda. One who has no Nirveda is called Anirvinnah. He, being “Ever-full” and

“Perfect,” has no desires yet unfulfilled or something yet to be fulfilled in

the future. Bhagavan declares this in Geeta: “There is neither anything that I

have not gained nor anything I have yet to gain.”

893. Sadaa-marshee –“One who ever forgives the trespasses of all His devotees”

-One who is infinitely merciful and kind.

894. Loka-adhishthaanam -The one sole substratum for the entire Universe of things and beings.”

895. Adbhutah –“Wonder is He.” The Geeta roars of this 'wonder,' and the

Upanishads assert that He and the teacher who teaches of Him, and even the

student who grasps Him are all ‘wonders.’ “ Wonder” is an experience that comes

to one whose mind and intellect are stunned by the overwhelming experience of

any given moment. The experience has made the mind stagger, the intellect to

halt-so that no feelings or thoughts emanate from them. That moment of

realisation is a moment of total transcendence of the “inner- equipments,’ so

this term “Wonder” is often used in our scriptures to point out the condition

within at the time of our Experience Infinite.

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Stanza 96

sanaat sanaatanatamah kapilah kapirapyayahsvastidah svastikrit svasti svastibhuk svastidakshinah.

 

896. Sanaat –“The Beginningless and the Endless factor is He.” Time cannot

condition Him. He, the Consciousness, illumines the very concept of Time and

Space. He was, is and shall ever be-He being Changeless, Immutable.

897. Sanaatanatamah –“The most Ancient.” It is from Him that the very intellect

springs forth and thereafter one of the concepts of the intellect is Time.

Therefore, He is the most’ Ancient,’ inasmuch as He was already there to be

aware of even the first experience of the beginning of Time.

898. Kapilah -The Lord Himself, manifested as the great Rishi Kapila, propounded

the Saamkhya philosophy. In the Geeta, Bhagavan Sree Krishna declaring His own

Glory, describes Himself: “I am Kapila among the great ones.”

899. Kapih –“One Who drinks water” -by one’s rays. The Sun it is that dries up

everything, evaporating the water-content contained on the surface of the

earth.

900. Apyayah –“The One in whom the entire Universe merges”-during the great

deluge when the Total- mind-the Creator-rests. The Supreme Atman functioning

through the Total-mind is the Creator, Brahmaaji-each mind being ruled by its

own vaasanaas. The Total-vaasanaas in the Universe (Causal-Body) is Maayaa and

the Supreme Self expressing through Maayaa (the Total-Causal-Body) is Eesvara.

Therefore, Sree Narayana, as Eesvara, is the One into Whom the total world of

experiences merges when the Total-mind rests during the ‘pause’ between two

busy cycles of Creation and involvement in the projected world of

thoughts-feelings-objects.

In the north this term is read as Avyayah where the meaning is clear:

“Immutable”: and needs no explanation.

901. Svasti-dah –“One Who gives Svasti to all His sincere devotees.” A true

devotee is one who has discovered his fulfilment in seeking and gaining the

Infinite Bliss that is Sree Hari. Naturally, he comes to turn away from the

realms of inauspiciousness. To the extent he is able to move into the

Hari-Consciousness, he is to that degree in the Bliss- Experience. Therefore,

the Lord is termed as the ‘Giver-of- Auspiciousness.

902. Svasti-krit -As in many earlier terms which were preceded by the suffix ‘

Krit,’ here also, it expands into two meanings: “One Who brings Auspiciousness”

-or “One who robs all Auspiciousness.” To the seeker who is moving towards the

Narayana-Consciousness, his experience is of added joy and peace in life, but

the one who seeks only sense-gratification and so moves away from the Reality,

to him the experience is more and more sorrow, agitations, tears and

tragedies-total inauspiciousness. The indeclinable (Avyaya) Sanskrit word

‘Svasti’ means Auspiciousness.

903. Svasti –“One Who is the Source of all Auspiciousness” -as He is Himself the

Auspicious. In essence His Nature is Sat-Chit-Aananda so there can be no cause

for inauspiciousness therein. The individual functions within the powers of His

avidyaa and so is under the infatuation of Maayaa, while the Lord rules over

Maayaa and plays out through Maayaa.

904. Svasti-bhuk -“One who constantly lives in His Experience a perpetual sense

of holy Auspiciousness”-as it is His very nature-divine. It can also be

interpreted as “One Who showers Grace and makes His devotees constantly

experience Auspiciousness in their loving Narayana- centred hearts.”

905. Svasti-dakshinah -Lord is ever engaged in smartly distributing

Auspiciousness. The word ‘Dakshinaa’ has, apart from the meaning of ‘gift,’

also a meaning: “One who is efficient and quick.” Therefore, the term indicates

that Sree Narayana quickly and efficiently will reach His sincere seekers to

give them the experience of Auspiciousness which is the Lord’s very nature.

 

Stanza 97

araudrah kundalee chakree vikramyoorjitasaasanahsabdaatigah sabdasahah sisirah sarvareekarah.

 

906. Araudrah –“One who has none of the negative terrible urges and emotions.”

The State of Perfection is a condition where the frailties of the mortal heart

can never remain. The Lord is One in Whom the cruelties which rule the man of

the world-likes, dislikes, hatredness, jealousy and his other imperfections-can

never abide or even be contained.

907. Kundalee –“One Who wears the famous ear-ring called the Makara-Kundala.”

The term Kundalee also signifies the ‘Serpent’-hence the Kundalinee-Sakti-the

‘Serpent-Power’-the coiled mystic-glory lying now inert, uninvoked at the base

of the back-bone in the deep pelvic region. Here the ‘Serpent’ may be taken as

the thousand- tongued Ananta on whom Sree Narayana is described as ever

reclining in His Yoga-rest.

In all religions, ‘Serpent,’ it seems, symbolises the ‘mind.’ In Hinduism it is

true. Whether it is in Krishna’s dance on the Kaaliyan-Serpent, or Siva wearing

as ornaments the Serpents (Bhooshana), or Sree Hari resting upon Ananta-the

idea is always the conquest of the mind, the poisonous serpent.

908. Chakree –“He Who wears ever His Discus called Su-Darsana (Auspicious

Vision).” The Lord destroys with the Discus only the foul and the low in us and

the individual naturally gains the Experience Divine, the Self.

909. Vikramee –“He Who is more daring than all others.” The term is also

interpreted: “One who travels by air,” as ‘Vi’ means Bird. Famous is the

allegory that Lord Vishnu travels on the back of the white-necked Eagle.

910. Oorjita-saasanah –“One who commands and administers with His Hand.” His

commands in the scriptures advise us firmly what is right to do and what are

the destructive forces in each one of us. In case man decides to disobey His

Laws, He severely punishes him on all such occasions. Disobedience of Laws is

immediately followed by His loving curative punishment. It permits no

exceptions; accepts no excuses; admits no circumstantial conditions.

911. Sabdaatigah –“He who transcends all words”-One who is Indescribable. The

Vedas themselves are but indications ‘pointing to Truth’ and are not

explaining, describing or even defining Truth. The Infinite and the Eternal

Truth is beyond even the Vedas, beyond all that can be gained through even the

highest faculties of the finite equipments (mind and intellect).

912. Sabda-sahah –“One who allows Him- self to be invoked by the Vedic

declarations.” If, however, the Upanishadic declarations are properly reflected

and sincerely meditated upon, even though the Vedas have failed to define Truth,

their contemplative implications can transport us into the realms of the

Infinite Experience-Divine.

913. Sisirah -The term means winter, the cold season. In India it is the cool

season. Therefore, by suggestion, this name indicates that the Lord is the

‘cool arbour’ for those who are tortured by the heat of Samsar.

914. Sarvaree-karah -The word Sarvaree means ‘night’ or ‘darkness’; therefore,

the term defines the Lord as “One Who creates darkness.” To the men of

realisation, our world of sorrows and pains, of strains and stresses, of

worries and anxieties are unknown -while to those who live in their ego-sense,

to them the Real is unknown. ! The unknown means ‘veiled in darkness.’ The

subtle meaning is clear now.

 

Stanza 98

akroorah pesalo daksho dakshinah kshaminaam varahvidvattamo veetabhayah punyasravanakeertanah.

 

915. Akroorah –“Never-cruel.” Cruelty comes from anger, and anger rises from

‘desire’--craving or lust. Sree Narayana, the Fulfilled and the All-Full,

cannot have ‘desire’ from which could come anger-thus, naturally, never any

cruelty. Generally this term is interpreted as “One who is of the form of the

Yaadava, Sree Akroora.” Akroora was a great devotee of the Lord upon whom were

bestowed many divine powers. “Wherever, there is any special glory in anyone,

know that to be a manifestation of a part of my Splendour,” sings Lord in

Bhagavad Geeta. Thus the term is interpreted as the Lord Whose one ray of glory

was the Kamsa-employee, the Yaadava-Akroora.

916. Pesalah –“One who is supremely soft.” In His Infinite Kindness and Mercy,

His Heart-divine is ever flowing out in love and tenderness towards His

devotees when they call out for help ardently and lift themselves from their

body-consciousness and ego-centric life of sense-pursuits.

917. Dakshah -This term stands for the quality of ‘promptitude.’ In army

training, the Sanskrit command Daksha is equal to “attention alertness,

vigilance and utter preparedness to act immediately with supreme urgency.” All

these are implied in that pose of “ Attention.” The Lord is ‘Daksha’ in

serving the world and in rushing to His sincere devotees. Omnipotent and

divinely Efficient in His Infinite Smartness to reach and help all, at all

times, everywhere, under every circumstance is echoed in the charming

suggestions of this chosen term in the Sahasranaama of Sree Narayana, the Self

in All.

918. Dakshinah –“One who is most liberal.” The term’ Dakshina’ is popularly used

for the ‘gift’ presented to the priests after a ritual as their fee. This giving

must be done in a spirit of large-hearted, liberal charity-so that very

large-heartedness of mind (Daakshinya) itself is the Lord, as it is the

opposite of selfishness and attachment to the wealth which one possesses. “One

who has Infinite Kindness and Charity towards all good people and One Who is

thus ever- ready to liberally give away His endless Benevolence” is Sree

Narayana, the Dakshina.

919. Kshaminaam-varah –“One Who has the greatest amount of patience with the

sinners and forgiveness for their sins.” Sree Narayana is more patient than

even the Earth which is generally pointed to as an example of highest patience

(Kshamaa). He exhibits supreme patience with the evil-minded, with the tyrant,

the foul and the fiendish. Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakasipu, Ravana and others of

this type were given many fair opportunities to realise for themselves the

folly of their baser attitudes to existing things and their immoral ways of

life. It is only when no other method of treatment could cure them that the

Lord destroyed them in His infinite kindness.

920. Vidvat-tamah –“One who has the greatest Wisdom.” There are wise men in the

world-each one also may be a master in his own subject. The Lord, the very

Consciousness illumining all bosoms simultaneously everywhere, is the One

Knowledge Absolute, the Knower of all knowledge of all wise men.

Omniscient-Infinite Truth is Sree Narayana as He is Pure Knowledge by the Light

of which all ‘Knowledge’ is known.

921. Veeta-bhayah –“One who has lost all fears.” Fear can come only from the

sense of ‘other.’ In Advaita Reality, there cannot be any fear as He is the

“One- without-a-second.” The state of Narayana-Consciousness is declared in all

scriptures to be’ Abhaya’-the Fearless State.

922. Punya-sravana-keertianah –“One whose Glory when ‘heard’ (sravana) and

‘sung’ (keertana) causes merits (punya) to grow in the bosom of that devotee.

This statement of fact is never investigated deeply by students so they

generally understand its superficial and obvious meaning only.

By ‘hearing’-with attention-to the stories of the Lord- we must get ourselves

involved in the ‘listening’ and thereafter we must reflect upon the glories of

the Lord (Bhagavat Guna) and thus expose ourselves to those recreative

thoughts. Not only is it sufficient thus that we imbibe the qualities

spiritual, but we must learn to get ourselves committed to the life of God-

centred activities. This is called true keertana-singing His Glories. It is not

to be a mere noisy chanting of hymns, a mere muttering of mantras; we must teach

ourselves to allow Him to express through us. Our physical activities, mental

feelings and intellectual thoughts must all shine forth the awareness of His

Divine Presence that is in us at every moment, every- where. The life of such a

deyotee will itself become, in its dynamic beauty, love and devoted tenderness,

a constant worship (poojaa), a

continuous (akhanda) hymn chanted (keertana) in praise of the Lord-of-the-heart.

 

Stanza 99

uttaarano dushkritihaa punyo duhsvapnanaasanahveerahaa rakshanah santo jeevanah paryavasthitah.

 

923. Uttaaranah –“One who lifts us out of the ocean-of-change.” We, by

identifying through our body- mind-intellect, with the changing whirls of

matter around us, assume to ourselves the changes and these provide us, in

their totality, the horrible sorrow of the mortal finitude. On lifting our

attention from the giddy changes in these whirls of finite matter, when we fix

it upon Him, the one Consciousness that illumines all changes in all living

creatures, we get uplifted into a state of Immortality-Changeless, Blissful,

Supremely Satisfying. Hence, Sree Narayana is called as the ‘Up-lifter,’ the

‘Saviour.’

The ‘Taara-mantra’ lifts us from the cesspool of sense living into the serener

climes of the lit-up peaks of peace and perfection.

924. Dushkritihaa –‘Kriti’ means actions; ‘Dush-kriti’ means bad actions. When

actions are undertaken, prompted by sensuous desires, they leave impressions

(vaasanaas) and these always have a tendency to make us repeat similar actions.

When one turns the mind towards Narayana,-the Self, he is emptied of his

existing vaasanaas, so Lord is indicated as the ‘destroyer (Haa) of the sins.’

925. Punyah –“Supremely Pure.” One who purifies the heart of His

devotee-removing all his sensehunting vaasanaas of indulgence. Sree Narayana

guides the pure-hearted to the portals of the final goal, the Higher

Consciousness.

926. Duh-svapna-naasanah –“One who destroys all ‘bad dreams’.” The worst dream

is the samsar. Perception of plurality is the horrible dream of terrible pangs,

consuming fears and drowning sorrows. Dreams are explosions of the suppressions

stored away in the subconscious. A real devotee exists in utter surrender unto

the Lord. When his life is ever-centred in Narayana-smarana, in such total and

humble dedication he has no chance of earning these suppressions. Since his

sub-conscious mind is not loaded with half-digested thoughts and unexpressed

intentions, repressed desires and suppressed motives, immoral passions and

covetous inclinations, he has no fearful dreams in his daily sleep. Ultimately

each seeker will rise above his little ego and its hungers and enters

into the plane of Narayana-Consciousness.

927. Veerahaa –“One Who ends the passage from womb-to-womb-the wheel of birth

and death.” ‘Veera’ means diversified ways, or one who functions in innumerable

fields in countless ways.

928. Rakshanah -“One who is the Protector of the Universe.” Among the Trinity,

Vishnu is the Protector, the Sustainer of all the created. “For the protection

of the good, the destruction of the wicked and the establishment of

righteousness, He takes different Incarnations.”

929. Santah -This term, used in the plural number, indicates “the good people.”

They are considered as “good” who have moral virtues, ethical values, spiritual

purity and scriptural knowledge. By using the plural form here, the import is

that the holy beauty of Sree Narayana is found expressed in the glory of such a

company of good and saintly men.

930. Jeevanah –“The Life-Spark in all living creatures.” The Flame-of-Existence

that warns an organism to life is the presiding Consciousness Supreme, the

Self. This Self is Narayana. “Permeating the earth I support all beings by (My)

energy; and having become the juicy Moon I nourish all herbs”-is the declaration

of Bhagavan.

931. Paryavasthitah -In all places, in all creatures, He dwells. He is the final

Factor-Divine beyond which there is nothing, and upon which all else depends.

 

Stanza 100

anantaroopo-anantasreer jitamanyur bhayaapahahchaturasro gabheeraatmaa vidiso vyaadiso disah.

 

932. Ananta-roopa –“One of the infinite forms.” The endless variety of forms

constituting the world of objects are all projections in him. They are in their

essence nothing but himself. Just as the entire spread –of –objects in a dream

is nothing but the creation of the single mind of the waker, and it is seen as

many only in the dream –plane –of –consciousness, so, too, the world of objects

–emotions-and –thoughts are all discovered as the Narayana –Consciousness.

933. Anantasreeh –“One who is full of infinite Glories,” “One who is full of

Incomparable Powers,” the main tree ‘powers’ which the lord expresses in the

world are the ‘Desire Power’ (Icchaa-sakti). These are expressions of his Glory

at our physical, mental and intellectual levels. These are three manifestations

of his ‘powers’ and their continuous interplay, together weave the fabric of

the total dynamic expressions of life in the world. The self, Sree Narayana,

the one spring –board for all these vibrant aspects of the life –He, the

Omniscient, is called “One of Infinite Forms.”

934. Jitamanyuh –“One who has conquered anger” (manyuh). It cannot be repeated

too often, thus this significance is again given in this term, that anger is

one of the most overpowering enemies within us –”One who has conquered anger”

is One who established in his own Purity. Earlier, the technique of anger was

explained that when a desire is unfulfilled, anger rises in a man’s heart

towards a desire is unfulfilled, anger rises in a man’s heart towards the

obstacle between him and his desire. The self is All-full (Paripoorna); it

cannot feel any need, want or desire. The Self, then Sree Narayana, is ever

without the low and ruinous passion called ‘anger.’

935. Bhayapahah –“One who destroys or removes all fear in the samsaric life.”

Naturally, lord Narayana is the one sure harbour wherein the boats of life,

tossed mercilessly on the high seas of passions, can find their calm of peace

and total security.

936. Chaturasrah –“One who deals squarely with all.” The term Chaturasrah means

a geometrical square of equal sides. Sree Narayana distributes the results of

actions equally to all: each one can get only the exact reward of his own

previous actions. Thus, Narayana bestows justly and squarely upon all.

937. Gabheeraatmaa –“One who, in his real Nature, is too deep to be fathomed by

the frail instrument of our mind.” Depth here indicates the profoundness –the

supreme essence pervading the Universe is unfathomably profound in its

significance and glory.

938. Vidisah –“One who is unique in his giving.” He is divinely liberal,

magnificently benevolent in fulfilling the earnest desires of all his true

devotees.

939. Vyaadisah –“One who is unique in his Commanding –Power.” One who orders

even the phenomenal powers, the deities and gods.

940. Disah –“One who advises and gives knowledge.” It is the self who is author

of the Vedas, nay, the very theme and essence of the Vedas. Lord Narayana, in

the form of the sruti-texts, gives to man the knowledge of the self.

 

Stanza 101

anaadirbhoorbhuvo lakahmeeh suveero ruchiraangadahJanano janajanmaadir bheemo bheemaparaakramah.

 

941. Anaadih –“One who is the first cause” –and who is himself the uncaused. The

eternal, the Beginingless is Sree Narayana.

942. Bhoorbhuvah –“the very substratum or support for the earth.” Since the

earth revolves in the space in which the universe exists and revolves is the

supreme, Narayana.

943. Lakshmeeh –“One who is wealthy, the richness or glory of the universe.” If

self were not, then all would have been inert, unborn, deed. As the one life

every-where, as pure existence, all the glories of this dynamic Universe are in

him and from him alone.

There is a reading wherein the terms 942 and 943 are coupled, in which case

their combined meaning would be: “One who is the glory in the universe and in

the interspace everywhere.”

944. Suveerah –“One who moves through various ways which are all divinely

glorious.” Or, One who exhibits in all his Incarnations the inimitable

splendour of valour in his actions and achievements.

945. Ruchiraangadah –“One who wears resplendent shoulder-caps” –a kind of

ornament used by ancient Indian kings to protect their upper arms and shoulders

from their enemies slashing swords.

946. Jananah –“He who delivers all living creatures.” Lord Sree Narayana is the

great Father of all living beings as all the universe comes from him alone. He

alone was before all creation; from him alone everything has risen; in him

everything exists, is nurtured and nourished by his Glory. Thus, as the very

progenitor of the universe, Sree Narayana, the Self, is the only jagat-Eesvara

(Lord of the universe).

947. Janajanmaadih –“One who is the sole Cause of birth for all living creatures

in the universe.” The immediate cause is, of course, the vaasanaas of each

being, but the real and ultimate cause in the self, Sree Narayana.

948. Bheemah –“One whose form is terrible and frightening to the sinners.” “Oh,

Glorious Sir, seeing yours wonderful but awesome from, the whole world is

shuddering with fear,” cried Arjuna upon beholding the cosmic Form of the lord.

He adds: “Having seen Thy Immeasurable Form … the worlds are terrified and so am

I.” Again, “On seeing thee touching the sky…my heart is stricken with dread and

I find no courage nor peace, O Vishnu.”

949. Bheemaparaakramah –“One whose prowess is irresistible and fearful to his enemies.”

 

Stanza 102

aadhaaranilayo-adhaata pushpahaasah prajaagarahoordhvagah satpathaachaarah

praanadah prranavah panah.

 

950. Aadhaaranilayah –“One who is the fundamental sustainer” –the support for

all that exists. All things and all beings are supported by the earth which

itself rests upon the lord, the self, that each mind projects the entire world

of names and forms.

951. Adhaataa –“Above whom there is no other to control or to command” –One who

is the supreme controller of all. He is the Law; the eternal truth is that the

Law and the Law-Giver are one and the same.

952. Pushpahaasah –“He who shines like an opening flower.” The bud opens and

manifests into the lord at the time of deluge existed as the total Unmanifest,

and there after, at the maturity of the vaasanaas, opens up as the manifest

world of things and beings, He came to be indicated by this term.

953. Prajaagarah –“Ever-Awaked” –He who knows no sleep. Sleep means

‘non-apprehension.’ This ‘non-apprehension’ of reality is called ‘Avidyaa’

(nescience) which produces our ‘mis-apprehension’ of I and mine, and the world

of pains and shocks. Since Narayana is the self, He is ‘Ever-available” and is

never asleep to his Eternal-Divine-Nature.

954. Oordhvagah –“One who walks the path of truth” –a path which other

implicitly follow to reach the Truth Inifinite. “Whatever an adored one does,

other people will implicitly follow,” warns Krishna in Bhagava Geeta. Lord is

the standard of perfection” and all devotees place him as the ideal –trying to

imitate, in their own lives, His Absolute Goodness, Absolute Love and Absolute

Peace.

956. Praanadah –“One who gives ‘Praana’ to all.” The term ‘Praana’ in our

Sastras means the physiological functions, the manifestations of life in man.

Therefore, Narayana, the self, is the Vital Source from which all sense organs,

mind and intellect barrow their power of perception, capacities of feeling and

their faculties of thinking and understanding.

957. Pranavah –“Om-kaara is Pranava.” The Infinite reality is indicated by ‘OM’

in the Vedas. ‘OM’ is the manifesting sound of the supreme self. Therefore,

Sree Narayana is called ‘Pranavah’: meaning he is of the ‘nature of Omkaara.”

958. Panah –“The supreme Manager of the universe.” The root ‘Pana’ means “to

transact.” By giving the exact rewards for all actions, Lord both orders and

justly manages all activities of each individuals and things constituting this

scientifically precise universe.

 

Stanza 103

pramaanam prananilayah praanabhrit praanajeevanahtattvam tattvavidekaatmaa janmamrityujaraatigah.

 

959. Pramaanam –“He whose very form is the Vedas” –which are the only ‘proof’

for the Eternal Reality. Or, we may read it: He who is pure Infinite

Consciousness (Prajnaanam) as we have it in the great Commandment,

“Consciousness is the Infinite Reality.”

960. Praananilayah –“He in whom all ‘praanas’ stand established.” He who is very

substratum –vital foundation –for all ‘activities’ manifested in a living

organism.

961. Praana-brit –“He who rules over all ‘Praanas’ –Sree Hari is the one who

causes everyone to eat, digest, feel energized, act, achieve the fruits

thereof, grow old and die. In all ‘activities,’ the great One-commanding,

Factor-Divine, Sree Narayana, the self, presides in silent detachment, and by

His Presence He initiates and maintains all these activities in all living

creatures upon the earth’s surface.

962. Praana-jeevanah –“He who maintains the life-birth in all living creatures.”

This interpretation is not a happy one as this meaning has just come in the

preceding, endearing term. In love, of course, there is no rule that the lover

should not repeat the same loving words to address his beloved. But, we can

find yet a new depth of suggestion if we understand this term to mean “One who

is the very life-giving divine-touch in every breath.”

963. Tattvam–“the Reality” –that which is eternal, the essence. “That which one

gains in subjective realization is the self,” Sree Narayana.

964. Tattvavit –“One who has realized fully the reality” –meaning the original

essential nature of the self. On realizing the self, the individual become the

self and, therefore, Sree Narayana, that very self, is One who has realized

fully the Reality which is His Own Nature Divine.

965. Ekaatmaa –“The Advaita Reality” –Narayana is the One self, the Oversoul,

Who expresses himself as the individualities of the infinite entities in the

universe.

966. Janma-mrityu-jaraa-atigah –“One who knows no change or modifications in

Himself.” Ever finite object in the world undergoes constant ‘change’ and each

of them is extremely painful. They are birth, growth, decay, and the Eternal,

the changeless Self, Sree Narayana, Ever- the-same Supreme. Geeta thunders the

nature of the self to be “ever-birthless and never dying,” and once It has

existed, Self never becomes non-existent.

 

Stanza 104

bhoorbhuvah svastarustaarah savitaaa prapitaamahahyajno yajnapatiryajvaa yajnaango yajnavaahmah.

 

967. Bhoor-bhuvas-svas-taruh –“One who is snap in the tree-of-life existing in

all the universe of the higher world, our-world and the lower world.” The

famous Vedic terms bhooh Bhuvah and Svah connote the three worlds (lokas). The

world ‘Loka’ in Sanskrit means “a field of experience.” Therefore, in fact,

these three terms, called Vyaahritees, subjectively represents all our

experiences in the walking, dream and deep-sleep states of consciousness. His

constant Yajna to nurture and nourish the Universe. So, this epithet has been

given to Sree Narayana, the infinite Self, the glorious Essence (Sap) that

pervades the entire Tree-of-Life-flowering out to even embrace all experiences

in all planes of Consciousness. Everywhere, in the everything at all times.

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968. Tarrah –“One who helps all to cross –over” –the Eternal Boat-man, to whom,

if the devotees can surrender in unswerving faith and true devotion, he will

surely row them across the “Ocean of samsara:” that one is Taarah. Through

exclusive, devoted meditation, alert with understanding, the individuality in

each of us wakes up to the higher plane – and there is Be-attitude to

experience the Self, the eternal Brahman – Sree Hari.

969. Savitaa –“He who is the father of All” –Who is the eternal father of the entire Universe.

970. Pra-pitaamahah –“He who is the father of even the ‘Father of all Beings,’

the creator, Brahmaaji, of the trinity.” The creator Himself rose from the

Absolute self. Creator is known in our scriptural language as Pitaamaha –the

Father.

971. Yajnah –“One whose very nature is yajna.” The term yajna means “work

undertaken with a pure spirit of total dedication in complete co-operative

endeavor with total selflessness, there is Sree Narayana in action through His

creatures.

972. Yajna-patih –“The lord of all yajnas.” I am the ‘Enjoyer’ in all self

–dedicated, co-operative endeavors (Yajna). These are the joyous words of the

lord who Himself declares; “The ‘Enjoyer’ and the ‘lord’ in all yajnas am I.”

973. Yajvaa –“The one who performs Yajna according to the strict prescriptions

laid down in Vedas” –the one who maintains in ll his divine actions the true

Yajna spirit.

974. Yajnaangah –“One whose limbs are the ‘things’ employed in Yajna.” In

Harivamsa we told that ‘things’ are the very aspects of Lord Sree Narayana.

975. Yajna-vaahanah –“One who fulfils Yajnas in complete and exact accord with

the Vedic instructions.”

 

Stanza 105

yajnabhridyajnakridyajnee yajnabhugyajnasaadhahyajnaantakridyajnaguhyamannamannaada eva cha.

 

976. Yajna-bhrit –“the ruler of the Yajnas” –the One who helps us to conclude

successfully all our ‘good, dedicated. Selfless acts of service to others’

–Yajnas.

977. Yajna-Krit –“One who performs Yajna.” The same term also mean One who

destroys the yajnas. The term Yajna connotes all noble and divine actions of

service and love undertaken in a pure sense of God dedication, selflessness and

joy. Lord issued forth the creation as an act of yajna, and in the end He must

also undertake the total dissolution of this very yajna. Sometimes this is

interpreted as “One who ‘performs’ the yajnas of the good people and one who

‘destroys’ the Yajnas of the evil minded folk.”

978. Yajnee –“One who is constant ‘Enjoyer’ of the perpetual Yajnas.” In all

Yajnas, because every act is Narayana –centered-god-dedicated-to him alone is

the attribute of being the only single ‘Enjoyer.’

979. Yajnee –“All that is offered into the scared Fire during a Yajna, though

with an invocation to any of the deities, in tender devotion and joy. Goes to

Him alone, the “One receiver of all that is offered,” for all deities are but

Narayana in different forms.

980. Yajna-saadhanah –“One who fulfills all Yajnas.” It is by his grace alone

all noble endeavours, undertaken in an honest and true sincerity, gain

spectacular success.

981. Yajnaantakrit –“One who performs the last, concluding act in all Yajnas.”

The final item in a yajna is the “total –offerings” (Poorna-Aahuti) when Sree

Narayana is reverently and earnestly invoked. Without this prayer-ritual. Yajna

is never complete. Sree Hari, therefore, is of the form of Poorna-Aahuti -in the

sense that when ‘total’ surrender of all vehicles and their actions is

accomplished, the transcendental experience of the Self, Narayana alone, comes

to manifest in all His divine Splendour.

Some commentators have, however, taken the meaning of the Yajna-anta-not as “the

last item in yajna” but as ‘anta,’ the ‘fruit’ of the yajna by which they bestow

the meaning that Narayana is the “One who gives away the ‘fruits’ for all

Hari-dedicated, selfless acts of love and service.”

982. yagna-guhyam –“Sree Narayana is the most profound truth to be realised in

all yajnas.” The self is the most noble truth to be sought through ‘offerings’

all the ‘Dravya’ (objects) into the “consciousness” (Fire) in the “body”

(kunda). This kind of subjective-Yajna is called in the Geeta as

“Knowledge-Yajna.” This is also called in the Vedas as Brahma-Yajna.

983. Annam –“One who has himself become the ‘food’ ” –sense –objects which are

the ‘food’ consumed by the sense –organs. As a verb it can be used as One who

“Eats” the whole universe at the time of the great dissolution. At that time,

he is the one in whom the world remains absorbed in the pralaya, just as our

individual world each day gets dissolved in our sleep. The one in whom alone

the world of names and forms can remain in their ‘seed-form,’ is Sree Narayana,

the self.

984. Annaadah –“One who eats the ‘food.’ ” not only the objective world is the

projection on Narayana, but the subjective-enjoyer –the individuality, the ego,

that experiences-is also Narayana. The self, functioning through the “equipment”

is the jeevaatman, the individuality in each of us who “experiences.” Thus the

self is the both ‘food’ (Annam) and ‘eater-of-food’ (Annaadah) just as our own

waking-mind becomes the “experiencer” and the “experienced” in our dream-world.

 

Stanza 106

aatnayonih svayamjaato vaikhaanah saamagaayanahdevakeenandanah srashtaa kshiteesah paapanaasanah.

 

985. Aatma-yohin –“One who is himself the ‘material cause’ (Upaadaana Kaarana)

for himself;” the self born, the uncaused cause.

986. Svayam-jaatah –“One who, as the lord of the universe, has no other

‘Instrumental cause’ (Nimitta-Kaarana) in projecting Himself.”

Three cause are necessary in all ‘creation’ in the pluralistic world: the

Material cause’ (mud), the “Instrumental cause’ (wheel), and the ‘Efficient

cause’ (the pot maker). In sree Narayana’s self-projection, as in the dream,

that all these three causes are He, Himself, is shown in these term.

987. Vai-Khaanah –“The one who dug through the earth” –cutting through the

denseness of the gross to reach, apprehend and kill the subtle Hirnyaksha, the

terrible and the monstrous who had tried to destroy the spiritual values in the

world. The self has to reach us to destroy the ego in us and give us the

‘liberation’ from our evil adherence to the body-mind-intellect.

988. saama-gaayanah –“One who signs the Saama-songs.”

989. Devakeenandhanah –“He who appeared as born to Devakee in his Incarnation as

Krishna.” And since Devakee could only, from afar, see, watch and enjoy the

pranks and play of her blessed child in Gokula, Krishna is called as the “Joy

of Devakee” (Devakee-nandhana).

990. Srashtaa –“One who creates.” Even the Creator can perform his job only by

drawing his abilities and capacities from the infinite self, Sree Narayana.

991. Kshiteesah –“One who is the lord of the earth.” Sree Narayana is the

husband of mother Earth. He is her protector. Her nurtuer and nourisher. Her,

earth may stand for all that is gross –the entire maayaa-and Narayana is the

Lakshmee-Pati.

992. Paapa-naasanah –meditating upon whom, all vaasanaas (sins) are liquidated.

When the individuals, surrendering in love to Him, acts and fulfils his duties,

all his existing vaasanaas are destroyed and no new ones are created –this is

the very root in the theory of karma Yoga in the Vedas. Through meditation upon

the self, all sins are dissolved and totally removed.

 

Stanza 107

Samkhabhirnnandakee chakree saarngadhanvaa gadaadharahRathaangapaanirakshobhyah

sarvapraharanaayudhah.

 

993. Samkha-bhrit –“One who has the divine conch named “Paanchajanya.” The word

meaning is this term pancha-janya is “that which is born of the five” (sense

organs), so it stands for the mind. Mind being the seat of ego, the sastras

declare that the conch in the divine hand of Sree Narayana is the ego-factor

(Ahamkaara-Tattva) in our personality.

994. Nandakee –The lord’s sword is called Nandaka. Therefore,this term indicates

one who holds and wields the Nandaka sword. The word Nanda-kam mean “that which

brings bliss.” The Sastras sing that the divine sword in the sacred hands of

the lord hari represents the knowledge-Spiritual (Vidyaa-Tattva) with which the

seeker can destroy all his “ignorance” of the self in him.

995. Chakree –“one who carries the discus called Sudarsana.” The term Su-Darsana

means “that gives the auspicious vision.” The sastras attribute to this

discus-Divine the representation of the human mind.

996. Saarnga-dhanvaa –“One who aims his unerring bow called Saarnga.” This bow

of Narayana is glorified in our texts as representing the Ego, as the ‘apex’ of

all the sense organs, Ahankaara-Tattva. In this concluding Stanza, the

instruments of Blessing in sree Narayana’s hands are remembered with reverence

and devotion.

997. Gadda-dharah –“One who holds his divine club (Mace) celebrated as

Kaumodakee –which generates and spreads beauty and joy.” This Mace is described

as representing the intellect in man (Buddhi-Tattva).

998. Rathanga-paanih –“The traditional meaning is, of course, “One who has the

‘wheel of the chariot’ as his weapon.” This means the discuss which already has

been mentioned in this very Stanza as Chakree. But, there are others who would

like to interpret this term in other ways. In a glorification-Hymn or

devotional-Chant, repetition is no sin; in fact, it should be quite natural.

999. Akshobhyah –“One who cannot be exasperated by anyone, by any act or acts,

however blasphemous they may be.” One whose peace and calm cannot be stormed

out by any happening in his outer world; Ever-peaceful. The term suggests

Infinite patience, love and kindness towards man and his frailties.

1000. Sarva-praharanaayudhah –“He who has all implements for all kinds of

assault and fight.” No enemy can surprise Him. The ‘conqueror of all.’ One who

has weapons to meet any missile. However powerful.

 

Stanza 108

Vanmalee gadee sharngi shankhee chakree cha nandakee | Shree-maannaraayano

vinshuh vaasu-devo dhira-kshatu

 

Sree Sarva-praharanaayudhah Om Namah iti

Om Sree Krishnaaya Para-Brahmane Namah "Gurur Brahma Gurur VishnuGurur Devoh

Maheshwar;Gurur Shakshat ParambramhaTashmai Shri Gurur Veh Namah"May the

Merciful Sri Sai Baba always shower His grace on us and our families and remove

our problems and anxieties by giving us all - strength , goodluck, success and

happiness with peace of mind.Sai bhakt,Deepa Hdebu7366

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