SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - sloka 12.

[Guest guest]

Sri vishNu sahasranAma stotram - sloka 12 - nAma 105 to 114 .

 

sloka 12: vasur vasurmanAh satyah samAtmA sammitah samah |

amoghah puNdarIkAkshO vr*shakarmA vr*shAkr*tih ||

 

105. Om vasavE namah

 

vasuh - a) One who dwells in the hearts of His devotees.

b) One who dwells in the Milk-Ocean.

c) One who is the wealth that His devotees seek.

d) The best among the eight vasus - pAvaka.

e) One who lives in the sky.

 

This nAma occurs two more times (nAma 271 and 701).

 

a) and b): vasati iti vasuh - One who dwells. He dwells in the

hearts of His devotees even with a small amount of devotion, and He

dwells in the kshIrArNava. SrI krshNaprEmi in one his upanyAsas remarks

that SrIman nArAyaNa chose to dwell in the Milk-Ocean as if to be nearer

to those devotees who are not yet accomplished enough to join Him to

SrivaikuNTham, or as if He can be closer to the devotees so as to rush

to help those who need Him.

 

We have the following from the srutis -

 

"sa lokAnAm hitArthAya kshIrOdhE vasati prabhuh" - The great Lord

resides in the milk ocean for doing good to the people of the world.

 

"Esha nArAyaNah SrImAn kshIrArNava nikEtanah" - This nArAyaNa is always

with Lakshmi, and resides in the Milk-ocean (HarivamSa 113.62).

 

c) The word vasu also means wealth - vasati nItimatAm gr*ha iti vasu.

In gItA we have

vAsudevah sarvam - vAsudeva is everything (gItA 7.19). He is the wealth

that great men seek.

 

d) He is vasu because He is one of the eight vasus. Sri Sankara gives

the following reference to the gItA to support this interpretation -

vasUnAm pAvakaScAsmi - I am pAvaka among the vasus (gItA 10.23).

 

e) One who, as air, moves about and has residence in the mid-region.

In kaThopanishd we have

vasurantiksha sat ( kaThopanisahd 2.5.2).

 

106. Om vasumanasE namah

 

vasu-manAh - a) One who has a 'wealthy' or rich mind.

b) One who has a mind which thinks of His devotees as a treasure.

 

a) BhagavAn is vasu-manA because His mind is unpolluted by anything

such as rAga, dvesha (attachement, hate), and similar secondary

afflictions such as mada or infatuation. He has a mind which has none

of the sins of passions and pains, none of the storms of desires and

jealousies, none of the quakes of likes and dislikes.

 

b) Sri kr*shNa says in the gItA that the high-souled man is very hard

to find - sa mahAtmA sudurlabhah - gItA 7.19.

 

107. Om satyAya namah

 

satyah - a) The Truth

b) One whose form is made up of prANa, matter and sun

c) One who is well-disposed towards the good.

 

 

This nAma occurs two more times later (nAma 213, 873).

 

a) The most commonly known meaning for this word is Truth. The direct

support for this interpretation comes from mahAbhArata -

 

"satye pratisThitah kr*shNah satamasmin pratishThitam |

sattAsattE ca gOvindah tasmAt satyah satAm matah ||

(udyOga parva 69.12.13)

 

"Kr*shNa is rooted in satya and satya is rooted in kr*shNa. Existence

and non-existence are grounded in govinda. So great men opine that

kr*shNa is Truth itself".

 

b) Sri Sankara gives the following from aitarEya AraNyaka in support of

the second

interpretation - saditi prANAstItyannam yamityasAvAdityah - sat means

prANa, ti means food, and yam the sun. He is satya because His form is

made up of prANa, matter and sun.

 

c) satsu sAdhutvAt satyah - He is satya because He is well-disposed

(excellent) towards the noble souls. The pANini sutra that supports

this interpretation is tatra sAdhuh (4.4.98) - tatrEti saptamIsamarthAth

sAdhurityEtasminnarthE yatpratyayO bhavati - The affix yat comes after a

word in the locative construction, in the sense of 'excellent in regard

thereto'.

 

Sri ChinmayAnanda points out that in philosophy, satya is that which is

the same in all three periods (past, present, and future). He is the

the only one who fits this definition, and so He is satya.

 

108. Om smAtmanE namah

 

samAtmA - One who has an even mind.

 

One whose mind is undisturbed by love or hatred. He is also sama AtmA

since He does not distinguish one from another when it comes to His

thoughts on His devotees. Since He is the soul in everything, He finds

no distinction between them. Since He is unattached to anything, He

sees everything and everyone as equal.

 

109. Om sammitAya namah

 

sammitah - a) One who has let Himself be understood (controlled) by His

devotees.

b) The One Truth who is accepted by the r*shis and revealed in the

upanishads.

 

Either meaning seems to be based on the words sammata - accepted. The

first interpretation is by Sri Bhattar, who points out that this name

signifies that He willingly accepted the role of being 'controlled' by

devaki, kausalyA, yasoda, dasaratha, vasudeva, etc. He chose the

parents to whom He was going to be the child, and then 'played' the role

of the child willingly.

 

Sri chinmayAnanda points out that sammita can mean that He is the only

one who is the accepted Truth or sammata by the r*shis and the

upanishads.

 

The advaita pATha is asammita, which is interpreted as referring to One

who is limitless or Immeasurable.

 

110. Om samAya namah

 

samah - One who treats all His devotees equally.

 

In gItA we have "samO'ham sarva bhUtEshu" - I am equally disposed

towards all beings (gIta 9.29). Sri Sankara interprets the meaning as

One who is the same at all times. He gives another interpretation also

- He is (sa) with (mayA) lakshmi always, and therefore He is sama.

 

111. Om amoghAya namah

 

amOghah - One who always gives fruits to those who worship Him.

 

MOgha means futile. Mogham nirarthakam is amrakOSa. AmOgha is the

opposite of it. We have the following from rAmAyaNa -

 

"amOgham darSanam rAma na ca mOghah tava stavah |

amOghAstE bhavishyanti bhaktimantaSca yE narAh ||

(rAmAyaNa yuddha 120.31)

 

"o rAma! A sight of You is never futile. The praise of You is also

never futile. Those who are endowed with devotion to You will always be

successful in their life".

 

112. Om puNdarIkAkshAya namah

 

puNdarIkAkshah - a) One whose eyes are beautiful like the lotus flower

b) One who resides in the heart space of everyone and observes all

c) One who is like the eye to the residents of SrIvaikunTham.

 

puNdarIkam means lotus flower. PuNdarIkE iva akshiNI yasya sah

puNdarIkAkshah - One whose eyes are beautiful like lotus flowers.

lingAyatasUrin in his bhAshya for amarakOSa gives a second

interpretation as well - puNdarIkam hr*tkamalam akshatIti vA - One who

pervades the heart space - akshati pervades. SrI Bhattar gives the

meaning 'vaikuNTham' to the word puNdarIka based on the following, and

interprets puNdarIkAkshah as One who is the eye for the residents of

SrIvaikunTham -

 

"puNdarIkam param dhAma nityam aksharam avyayam |

tadbhavAn pundarIkAkshah ........ ||

 

PuNdarIka is the Transcendental world which is eternal, indestructible,

and immutable. You are like the eye to that world and so you are known

as puNdarIkAksha." - (MahAbhArata udyoga - 69.6).

 

113. Om vr*shakarmaNE namah

 

vr*shakarmA - One who is of righteous actions.

 

Vr*sha means dharma or virtue - abhilashitam varshatIti vr*shah. SrI

chinamayAnanda points out that His actions are righteous, and He acts

only to establish righteousness - dharma samsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi

yugE yugE. In gItA BhagavAn says that He does his actions according to

His dharma even though He has nothing to gain or lose by any action - na

anavAptam avAptavyam varta eva ca karmaNi - 3.22.

 

114. Om vr*shAkr*taye namah

 

vr*shAkr*ti - One who is an embodiment of dharma.

 

vr*sha - dharma, Akr*ti - form. One whose form is itself dharma. Lord

Rama is considered Dharma Incarnate. Or it can mean One who incarnates

for the sake of preserving dharma - dharma samsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi

yuge yuge.

 

-dAsan kr*shNamAchAryan