Guest guest Posted October 13, 1997 Report Share Posted October 13, 1997 >Dear Sri BhAgavatottama-s: > >I tried sending the following a few times last week, but it seems my atttempt >was not successful. So I am resubmitting it today. I hope this is not a >duplication. > >-dAsan kr*shNamAchAryan > > > > Sri vishNu sahasranAmam - sloka 13 - nAma 115 to 123 . > > sloka 13 - rudrO bahuSirA babhrur viSva_yOnih Suci_sravAh | > amr*tah SASvatah sthANur varArOhO mahA-tapAh || > >Om rudrAya namah >Om bahu-SirasE namah >Om babhravE namah >Om viSva-yOnayE namah >Om Suci-SravasE namah >Om amr*tAya namah >Om SaSvatAya namh >Om sthANavE namah >Om varArOhAya namah >Om mahA-tapasE namah > >115. rudrah - a) One who brings tears to the eyes. > b) One who confers the good on the devotees > c) One who destroys misery. > >Om rudrAya namah > > rOdayati iti rudrah - Sri Bhattar interprets this to mean that He brings >tears of joy to the eyes of His devotees. SrI rAdhAkr*shNa SAStri gives an >example from SrImad bhAgavatam in support of this, but probably because of a >typographical error in the book I could not find the particular Sloka in my >copy of SrImad bhAgavatam. The gist of this reference is that one who is not >shedding tears of joy on hearing of bhagavAn's guNas, singing His praise >etc., must indeed have a heart made of stone. The reference given is MB >3.3.24. It could also mean that He brings tears to the eyes of the beings >when He withdraws them during the pralaya. Sri Sankara points out that it >could also mean one who confers (ra) the good (rud), or it could mean one who >destroys (dru) misery and its cause (ru - duhkham) - rum drAvayati iti >rudrah. > >116. bahu-SirAh - One who is multi-headed. > >Om bahu-SirasE namah. > > In purusha sUktam of r*g veda we have the description of the cosmic form of >BhagavAn described as "sahasra SIrshA purushah sahasrAkshah sahasra pAt - The >purusha of thousand heads, thousand eyes and thousand feet..... In gItA we >find the following description of the viSvarUpa of bhagavAn - >sarvAScaryamayam devam anantam viSvatOmukham - the rUpa with uncountable >faces in all directions (11.11). Again in gItA (13.13), we have "sarvatah >pANi pAdam tat sarvato'kshi SirO mukham - The Pure jivAtma savarUpa has hands >and legs everywhere, has eyes, heads, and mouths everywhere.....". > > Sri Bhattar has interpreted the name as referring to the form of bhagavAn as >ananta, in which form He has many faces and over a thousand hoods. > >117. babhruh - The Supporter. > >Om babhravE namah > > bibharti lOkAn iti babhruh - The one who supports the worlds. He as >AdiSesha supports the earth. >He is also the supporter of the Earth as Adi kUrma, Adi varAha, etc. > >118. viSva-yOnih - a) The cause of this world. > b) One who unites His devotees with Himself. > >Om viSva-yOnayE namah > > yOni means cause. Since He is the cause of this world He is called >viSvayOni. In nAma 89 - viSvarEtA - we saw that He is the seed from which >the world originates. This nAma says that He is also the place where the >seed develops into its full blossom. yOni means womb, and He is the seed, >the womb, the sustainer after the birth of the world, the one who impartially >observes as the kshetraj~na, etc. Note that we have refeered to the >following from the gItA a few times before, and it applies here again - >vAsudevah sarvam. > > The word yOni can also be derived from the world yu - to unite (yu miSraNE). > Thus yOni can refer to bhagavAn's act of uniting His devotees with Him. >Without His will, no one will be united with Him. He is viSvayOni because He >unites His devotees with Himself. > >119. Suci-SravAh -a) One who listens to words which are pure. > b) One whose names are worthy of being heard. > c) One who has beautiful and divine ears. > >Om Suci-Sravase namah. > > a) SucIni SrAvaNyAni Sr*Noti iti Suci-SravAh - One who listens to words that >are pure. Sri Bhattar gives the following reference to mahAbhArata in >support of this interpretation - > > "SucIni SrAvaNIyAni Sr*Nomi iha dhanan~jaya | > na ca pApAni gr*hNAmi tato'ham vai SuciSravAh || (MB Santi parva >344.61) > > "O dhanan~jaya! I listen here to all that is pure and agreeable to hear. I >do not heed to what is sinful. Therefore I am known as Suci-SravAh". > > In this context, Sri Bhattar points out the incident where bhagavAn just >kept listening to the words of vidura which were full of dharma, and the >night passed away for Kr*shNa unnoticed - > > "dharmyA ramyASca arthavatIh vicitrArtha padAksharAh | > Sr*Nvanto vividhA vAcah vidurasya mahAtmanah | > akAmasyaiva kr*shNasya sA vyatIyAya SarvarI || (MB >Udyoga 93.2) > >b) Sri Sankara gives the following interpretation - SucIni Sravamsi nAmAni >SravaNIyAnyasyeti Suci-SravAh - One whose names and glories are very holy and >purifying to hear. > >c) The word Sravas also means ear. Sri chinmayAnandA thus interprets the >name as meaning One who has divine ears - He is the Hearer of all ears. > >120. amr*tah - a) The unsatiating nectar to His devotees > b) One who is Immortal > >Om amr*tAya namah > > a) The devotees never get satiated by doing service to bhagavAn, and He is >sweet to the devotees to an unlimited extent. > > b) na vidyate mr*tam maraNam asya iti amr*tah - He has no decay or death. >The sruti says He is non-decaying and Immortal - ajarah amarah - >(br*hadAraNya upanishad 4.4.25). > > Sri chinmayAnandA points out that He is amr*tah because He can cure the >disease of ignorance in His devotees. > >121. SASvata-sthANuh - One who is Eternally Firm. > >Om SaSvata-SthANave namah. > > The two parts of this name, SASvata and SthANu, occurred as separate names >earlier (SASvata - which occurred as nAma 57, and sthAnu as nAma 28). sthANu >also occurs as part of the current nAma and of nAma 427 - sthAvara-sthANuh >later. Recall that sthANu was earlier interpreted as One who is firm in >blessing His devotees, and SASvata was interpreted as One who is Eternal >because of His unceasing act of creation, sustenance and destruction. > > SASvata-SthANu here is interpreted as one name in all the references I have, >and there is no discussion on why it is treated thus. > > Sri Bhattar gives this name the meaning 'Eternal and Steady'. Unlike the >nectar for which the devas and asuras churned the Ocean, He is Eternal >because he cannot be taken away from those who enjoy Him. Sri Sankara gives >the meaning "Eternally Firm". SrI rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri gives the >interpretation that He is SASvata because He has no beginning or end, and >sthANu because He does not age or decay. > >122. varArohah - a) One who is the most supreme object of attainment. > b) One of Excellent Ascent. > >Om varArohAya namah. > > Varam means supreme, and Arohanam means ascent. Sri Bhattar's >interpretation is that He is the Supreme object of attainment, since all >other objects are inferior. Sri Sankara gives the meaning that He is of >Excellent Ascent. Sri rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri suggests that bhagavAn is varAroha >because He is reclining on AdiSesha, the high paryanka. > > In the second or third article in this series, I had indicated that Sri >Bhattar interprets the first 122 nAmas as describibg the para-vAsudeva form >of the Lord, which is not conditioned by any limiting adjuncts and which is >not the effect of another object. It is endowed with six qualities (~jnAna, >bala, aiSvarya, vIrya, Sakti, tejas). This is the object of attainment of >the released souls. The transcendental nature (paratva) of bhagavAn has been >spoken of mostly by the names ending with the above nAma - varAroha. Sri >Bhattar also interprets the contents of the first 122 names as the response >from BhIshma to YudhisThira for the first two of the six questions posed to >him - 1) kim ekam daivatam loke? 2) kim vApi ekam parAyaNam? > > The next set of nAmas are interpreted by Sri Bhattar as a) representing the >vyuha (emanation) forms, and b) responding to YudhisThira's question - >stuvantah kim - eulogising whom? The vyuha forms are four in number - >vAsudeva, samkarshaNa, pradyumna, aniruddha. Of these, vAsudeva can be taken >as having been included in the para form. The vyUha forms are in charge of >the work of creation, sustenance, and destruction; they propound the >Sastras, explain their significance, and give the fruits in accordance with >the rules laid down therein; they also teach the method of meditation and >workship of bhagavAn. The six qualities of the para rupa are distributed >amongst the four vyUhas and each has its own form and duties. They are the >means for the attainment of salvation. > >The samkarshaNa form is associated with knowledge and strength. Starting >with the next nAma, the samkarshaNa form - the second in the vyuhas - is to >be dealt with. > >123. mahA-tapAh - One who is endowed with great knowledge. > >Om mahA-tapase namah. > > Tapas is given the meaning "great knowledge" based on muNdakopanishad - >yasya ~jnAnamayam tapah - Whose tapas is the nature of knowledge. Mahat is >pUjyam - worthy of respect. Here knowledge is the ability to guide people so >that they may be rid of the miseries of the world which they have been having >from time immemorial. > >-dAsan kr*shNamAchAryan > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 14, 1997 Report Share Posted October 14, 1997 Dear bhAgavatottama-s: Following is some additional information provided by Sri Muralidhar Rangaswamy on SASvata, sthANu etc., which he was kind enough to send me through personal mail. I would like to share this info with all of you. -dAsan kr*shNamAchAryan >---------- > hotmail.com>, !""[sMTP:rangaswamy_m] > Monday, October 13, 1997 1:46 PM > Krishnamachari, N. > Re: FW: Sri vishNu sahasranAmam - sloka 13. > > >Dear Sri Krishnamachari, > >Additional references which support the >interpretations you provided include the Narayana Sooktam salutation >"Patim VishvasyAtmeshwaragam Shashvatagam Shivamachyutam" and the >Sri Ranganatha Gadyam salutation "Sthairya". The equanimous nature of >the Lord is also referred to in the Sri Ranganatha Gadyam salutation >"Samya". Your interpretation of Sthanur is supported by the Tattriya >Upanishad salutation "Satyam Jnanam Anantam Brahma". > >Best Wishes, > >Muralidhar Rangaswamy > > >____ >Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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