Sri Vishnu Sahasra NAmam - Part 3.

[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees:

 

I sincerely appreciate the encouragement I received from Sri Sadagopan and

others in continuing this article. Even though I am originally from India

unlike Sri Mohan Sagar, Sri Mani, etc., in the level of knowledge on Sri

Vaishnavism, I am like an unborn child. The main benefit of the article I am

submitting is that it makes me spend some time on things that I probably spend

on useless things otherwise. With His grace, after this article is over, I

plan to continue to look into the meanings of some of the thousand names and

share these with you. I have atarted this effort, but it is turning out to be

more than what I am able to handle with my limited knowledge of Sanskrit. I

am going to depend on the rest of you to help me with your inputs once I

start this.

 

Part 3 of the article follows:

 

- Dasan Krishnamachari

 

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Sri Vishnu Sahasra NAma Stotram - Part 3.

 

 

The Thousand Names

 

The word sahasra in the title of the Stotram means "one thousand".

The main body of Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram consists of 107 stanzas which

contain the thousand names of Sri Maha Vishnu.

Every one of the Thousand Names in

Vishnu Sahasranamam is full of significance in that it refers to one

particular quality, guna, characteristic or attribute of Paramatma.

(yani namani gaunani, where the emphasis is that

each name is indicative of a guna of Vishnu).

 

One could legitimately ask the question: Why were these 1000 names chosen?

Does the Parama Purusha get absolutely

defined by these thousand names? The obvious answer is that God is Infinite and

Indescribable, and can only be experienced, but cannot be

translated into words and communicated from one to another.

The vedas conclude that God

is neither accessible to words nor to mind (yato vacho nivartante aprapya

manasa saha - Taittiriya Upanishad). In Isavasya Upanishad,

it is said that you cannot reach (understand) the Paramatma

with the human mind (reasoning) alone even if you spend all your life.

This holds true

even though mind can travel (think)

faster than anything known to us, including

the speed of light (anejadekam manaso javiyo.... ).

Given this Infinite nature of the Paramatma who is not governed or constrained

by any of the

physical laws as we know them, the choice of a thousand names of Vishnu by

Bhishma should be

recognized as a representation of some of the better-known qualities

of Sriman Narayana that are repeatedly described in our great epics, vedas,

puranas, etc., and sung by the devout sages repeatedly.

 

As was indicated earlier, the thousand names are strung together in a poetic

form by Sri Vedavyasa. While identifying the thousand names of Narayana from

this

poetic composition describing the qualities of the Infinite

Paramatma, the different revered acharyas have come up with slightly differing

sets of thousand names.

This is partly because of the

ability of these great acharyas to be able to enjoy the indescribable Parama

Purusha in their own ways,

based on the unique philosophies which they

have propounded.

 

Of the thousand names, some are repeated: For example, in Sri Parasara

Bhattar's choice of the thousand names, two names occur

four times, 12 names occur three times, and 82 names occur

twice. When a name occurs more than once, the revered commentators have

interpreted

the meaning of the name differently in each instance

depending on the context in which the name occurs. They have also quoted

extensive

evidence from ancient scriptures in support of their

interpretation.

The commentators have emphasized that the

recurrence

is not the result of a

dosha (deficiency of being repetitive) in the composition.

 

Part 4 will follow.