Shri Maha Vishnu Sahasranamam - some observations ...

[Guest guest]

I have been taught that in these days of modern living, if one can not

find time to meditate on the Lord's name for a significant period of

time, utterring of Sri Vishnu Sahasranam once a day is sufficient to

lead one towards the path of moksham. In the prologue to the

Sahasranamam, Dharma Putra asks of Shree Bheeshma Acharya - one of the

greatest of Gurus:

 

"kimEkam Dhaivatham lokE kim vABhyEkam parAyaNam"

 

meaning - whose is the supreme of all beings that once should perform

penance for to achieve true meaning of life ?

 

Shri Bheeshma Says:

 

"jagath prabhum dEva dEvam anantham purushOthamam

sthuvan nAma sahsrENa purusha sthathathothithaha"

 

The purest of all beings - one without a beginning or an end

("anantham") - the Lord with a Thousand Names, he is the Lord of the

World, the Lord of all the Devas and the Lord of all the Lokas.

 

Interestingly, these words were uttered by Shri Bheeshma Acharya, who

was under the tutelage of great Gurus such as Shri Surya, and Shri Guru,

whom only the Devas has had access to. He also weilded such supreme

respect from all the Gods, that even Shri Dharma Devar (God of Death)

would take him away only when Shri Bheeshma wished it. Surely enough,

Bheeshma attained Mahasamadhi on the holy day of Ekadashi as he wished.

 

Another interesting shloka in the "balashruthi" part of the composition

is:

 

"vEdAnthakO BhrAmaNasyAth kshathriyO vijayI BhavEth

vaishyO dhana samudhrasyAth shUdraha sukham avapnuyAth"

 

karuththu (meaning):

God realizes neither caste nor creed. Everyone may utter the Lord's

name and when utterred with genuine devotion, every one is blessed with

true meaning of life. If a bhrAhmanA utters the Lords name to excel in

his knowledge of the 5 Vedas (I always contend that the nAlayiram is the

5th Veda), the so be it. If the names are called by a King, then he

will flourish in his reigning supreme. If it was utterred by a vaishyA

(a businessman), he would foreverbe wealthy, and the shUdhra (serving

class) who reaches to the Lord would forever remain happy.

 

utkaruththu (the subtle meaning):

 

In the olden days, mankind divided themselves into classes for division

of labor. Not everyone can be a brAhmaNa for there would be no one to

provide for him and his pursuit of knowledge disemmination and not

everyone could be vaishyA, for there may be no one to spread the word of

ethics. The four classes here are symbolic to indicate that by

utterring the Maha Vishnu Sahasranamam, you would attain the supreme in

your field of endeavour and if you endeavour to realize the Supreme

Truth then - so be it.

 

There is a tamil saying - "seyyum thozhilE dhramam - athil thiramai thAn

selvam".

 

This means that what ever you do is your dhrama (through karma yOgA) and

as long as you do it righteously and in the true interests of Godliness,

then that is the profit you reap from it. Similarly the above

balashruthi shlokam says that when you utter the name of the Lord, you

attain mOksha - in this case through karma yOga as the layman would

understand it. Such sublime meaning and such a common thread between a

composition in an Aryan Language (sanskrit) and a Dravidian Language

(Tamil)

 

 

 

shrI BhUmAdEvI samEdha shrI uppiliappan thiruvadiyE charaNam

 

Raja Krishnasamy

 

--

Raja Krishnasamy

(617) 483-1437

raja

http://www.geocities.com/bourbonstreet/6110

 

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