bhishma-stuthi-16

[Guest guest]

srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha

sri vedanta guravE namaha

 

Dear "bhAgavatOttamA-s",

 

There is one more "commonplace" reason why great importance is given to

"bhagavanAmA-s" (like "vijaya-sakhE") in our religious traditions.

 

"nAmA" -- or "names' -- aid complex processes of the human mind such as

memory-"store", memory-"recall", "non-symbolic/non-verbal comprehension" and

a host of other psychological functions !

 

To take only one common example, we know how the art of "mnemonics" aids

memory! And we all know that many "mnemonic" techniques involve the skillful

use of "names" to "trigger" memory-responses of the human mind !

 

"nAmA" enables or elicits a variety of psychological responses from the

human mind not only in day-to-day living but also in its spiritual or

religious endeavours. Such "responses", in ways, remain mysterious to

psychologists even today just as they have remained over the ages to

religious "sAdhakA-s" or spiritual aspirants.

 

Let me further explain the point with a simple analogy from the modern world

of sports so that it could be easily understood !

 

In the tennis world we have many "racquet-wielding" heroes of past and present.

We know their "names" from the Roll Call of Honour hung in the many 'Halls

of Fame' inside the hallowed tennis-establishments of Wimbledon, Rolland

Garros or Flushing Meadows.

 

Many are such heroes -- Fred Perry, Lew Hoad, Manuel Santana, Rod Laver,

John Newcombe or Bjorn Borg.... the list is long!

 

Each of these great names has made his indelible mark on the history of the

game. Their great exploits on court are all written down somewhere in the

records of the times when their great exploits were performed --- somewhere

in newspapers columns or, perhaps, on TV or video footage.

 

Now, whenever a fan of a particular hero wants to recollect or "re-visit"

the glorious moment of a past tournament in which, say, Bjorn Borg or Rod

Laver, set Wimbledon Centre Court 'on fire', what does the fan do ?

 

He can do one or more of the following things :

 

a) He can ferret out an old newpaper-clipping from the past and which he'd

taken the trouble of preserving in his scrap-book. He can then reminisce

happily with his scrap-book !

 

b) He can go back to an old video-clip he'd recorded for his personal

video-library; or he could buy or borrow the same from a video-library.

 

c) He can go to his club and gather a group of like-minded fans/"buddies"

around him and together they could chat and re-live those glory-moments of

their tennis-hero.

 

Now suppose, the fan is unable to do any of the above for want of a

facility, then, what would he do to still re-live those great moments of the

game ?

 

In all probability, our fan would sit in an armchair and recall, in his own

mind, Wimbledon Centre Court from a distant past and visualise the great

games his hero played on that day ! Our fan would most likely go into a long

personal reverie, wouldn't he ? His mind would make a "personal journey into

the past" ...what is commonly called "taking a walk down memory-lane " !

 

In personal "memory-lane walks", unfortunately, there are no buttons and

knobs available (as in a VCR) with which, by a mere flick of the finger,

vivid scenes of a hero's fantastic tennis-shots can be "re-played" on

screen, "fast- forwarded", "zoomed", "re-wound" or "action-frozen" !

 

The only way that our fan would however, be able to recall a particular

moment of a game in the past, when his hero brilliantly "served" or

"volleyed", is for him to "flick-on" the "knobs/buttons" of a different

variety i.e. the "knobs and buttons" of the human mind ! It is by

"operating" those "mental buttons" -- of human memory and imagination --

that the fan will be able to recall... and "re-play"... on the

"digital-screen" of his mind every moment of the glory of a Centre Court

game of tennis played in a distant past !

 

Now, one such "mental-button", that "triggers" complex human imagination,

would be the special "name" or "sobriquet" ascribed to the fan's great hero !

 

For example, every great tennis hero of the past, we know, has been

investitured by fans with a special, inimitable "nAmA" by which posterity

knows him much better than even by his original name :

 

Rod "Rocket" Laver !

"Ice" Borg !

"Pistol" Pete Sampras !

John "Brat" McEnroe !

"Ivan the Terrible" Lendl !

"Nasty" Nastase !

"Boom-boom" Becker !

 

The above "nAmA-s" for each of the above tennis-heroes are all, indeed,

uniquely definitive and characteristic of them, aren't they ?!

 

Now, each time a fan recalls the special sobriquet of one of his above

heroes he/she instantly can be said to be "pushing a button" inside the mind

..... and presto ! ... the fan is immediately transported into a mental-state

of "experience" where a glorious "five-setter" played between "pistol-Pete"

and "boom-boom Becker" can be witnessed most enjoyably !

 

In other words, it becomes possible then for the human mind to perform the

COMPLEX and INTENSE activity of "walking down memory lane" and

"experiencing" its joys ("AnandAnubhavam") ! Now, such "experiences" are

called (in technical terms) "non-verbal"/ "non-symbolic" processes of the

human mind. And such "experiences" of the mind, too, are considered

"spiritual" --- although to a very, very small and insignificant degree ---

in the same sort of way our great "pUrvAchAryA-s" had had in a religious

context !

 

It is the sobriquet which somehow conjures up instantly for the tennis-fan,

in his mind, all the "mighty exploits" of his hero on court --- all the

"serves", the "volleys", the "drop-shots" and the superb "cross-court

winners" executed on that great day at Wimbledon many years ago !! The fan

is able to enjoy the scene in his mind just exactly as he would have

otherwise done through images on a VCR-screen !

 

The source of such enjoyment for the tennis-fan, if you notice carefully, is

undoubtedly the "triggering" device called "nAmA" -- that special sobriquet

bestowed on the tennis hero !

 

Now, exactly as the tennis-fan above, but to a much, much MORE INTENSE and

COMPLEX degree, our great "pUrvAchAryA-s", too, used the

"triggering-devices" of "bhagavanAmA-s" (the Lord's sobriquets like

"achuthA", "govindA", "mAdhavA" and even "vijaya-sakhE" !) to switch on the

"mental-screen" in the depths of their hearts and on which they "played" and

"re-played" the intensely spiritual, "non-verbal and non-symbolic" moments

of extreme delight associated with the Lord's "avatarA-s" and His "leelA-s" !!

 

As in the case of the tennis-fan, but again to a MUCH, MUCH MORE INTENSE and

COMPLEX DEGREE, so was it with the "AchAryA-s" : each of the Lord's "divya-

nAmA-s" became for them the "key" to an unbounded source of pure and inward

spiritual enjoyment !

 

(Which is why the great mystic Sri."Bhadrachala" Ramadas sang in one his

very popular Telugu compositions (rAgam: PurvikalyANi) "O Rama, nin nAmam,

entha rucheerA !!")

 

If we truly and sincerely understand this "triggering" nature of

"bhagavanAmA", as explained above, and the impact it has on our psychology,

we will then realize why such a pre-eminent role has been reserved in the

religious traditions of India for simple and plain "nAma-samkirtanam",

"nAma-shravanam" and "nAma-japam" !

 

We might also be able to appreciate, at the same time, why in the

"bhishma-stuthi", thus, the extraordinary epithet "vijaya-sakhE", in Verse

#2, became one such glorious and rare "nAmA" or sobriquet for Lord Krishna !!

 

In the next post, we will continue to examine, in further and more thorough

detail, the 'nAmA', "vijaya-sakhE" !

 

srimathE srivan satagopa sri narayana yathindra mahadesikaya namaha

sudarshan