Guest guest Posted November 7, 1997 Report Share Posted November 7, 1997 SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - sloka 16. brAjishNur bhojanam bhoktA sahishNur jagadAdijah | anagho vijayo jetA viSvayonih punarvasuh || Om bhrAjishNave namah Om bhojanAya namah Om bhoktre namah Om sahishNave namah Om jagadAdijAya namah Om anaghAya namah Om vijayAya namah Om jetre namah Om viSvayonaye namah Om punarvasave namah 143. bhrAjishNuh - One who is effulgent. Om brAjishNave namah. bhrAjata iti tacchIlo bhrAjishNuh - One who has the habit of being effulgent. The name is derived from the root bhrAjr* and the pANini sutra 3.2.138 - bhuvasca - which states that the afix ishNuc in the sense of "the agent having such a a habit etc." comes after the verbs such as bhU, bhrAjr* etc. SrI Bhattar points out that it is the nature of bhagavAn to show Himself to His worshippers. An author by name satyadevo vAsishTha, who has written a detailed vyAkhyAna for Sri vishNu shasranAma in samskr*t in this century, points out that the radiance in the sun, the moon, etc. arise only because they derive it from the effulgence of vishNu. Sri rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri points out that we see objects because of the light that makes them visible, and we see the light only because it gets scattered by the objects. But bhagavAn is Pure Effulgence without any association with any object, and this is why the non-devotees don't see Him, though He makes Himself visible to His devotees. The yajurvedic passages given to support the interpretation for this nAma are: "brahma surya samam jyotih"; "suryo jyotir-jyotih surya" etc. 144. bhojanam - One who is the object of enjoyment. Om bhojanAya namah. taih bhujyate - sukhena anubhuyate iti bhojanam - bhagavAn is bhojanam because He is enjoyed with pleasure by His worshippers. bhojanam also means literally food or the means of sustenance. Even though in nature one object becomes the means of sustenance of another object, He is the one who maintains this balance and sustains everything. The vedAntic interpretation for bhojanam is the collection of all objects of enjoyment by the sense-organs. He makes the objects of this world fit for enjoyment, and He also becomes the object of enjoyment Himself when His devotee overcomes the desire for the material objects of enjoyment and longs for Him. 145. bhoktA - The Enjoyer. Om bhoktre namah. He Himself is the Enjoyer since He enjoys the things offered by His devotees like nectar. In gItA we have "patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktyA prayacchati | tadaham bahktyupahr*tam aSnAmi prayatAtmanah || (gItA 9.16) "If a devotee offers to me a mere leaf, flower, fruit, or water with sincere devotion and love, I accept it as invaluable treasure." Or He is the bhoktA for all the sacrificial offerings irrespective of the deity to whom the offering is made - aham hi sarva ya~jnAnAm bhokta - gItA 9.14. 146. sahishNuh - The Forgiver. Om sahishNave namah. The word is derived from sah - to put up with, forgive. Note the grammatical rule quoted for bhrAjishNu earlier - the affix ishNuc is added to indicate one having a habit etc. Thus it is His Nature to forgive. We have the yajurvedic mantra "saho'si saho mayi dhehi". sah also means to suffer patiently. He is sahishNu because He suffers patiently , in His perfect detachment, all that is happening around. He is just a mere witness. He continues to support this world without ever getting impatient - nAkshastapyate bhUribhArah - r*gvedic manta. sahate also means conquers, and Sri Sankara uses this meaning and interprets this nAma as meaning that bhagavAn is sahishNu because He conquers daitya-s such as hiraNyAksha. In SrI Bhattar's vyAkhyAna, the vyuha forms are covered up to the above nAma. .Starting with the next nAma, he interprets the guNa-s as reflecting those of the vibhava form of vishNu, the second of the trinities. 147. jagadAdijah - He who was born at the beginning of the Universe. Om jagadAdijAya namah. jagat +_ Adi + jAtah = jagadAdijah. Before the world got created, one who had the ability to create the world had to exist. Thus bhagavAn existed before the world was created. SrI chinmayAnanda points out that this is the manifestation of bhagavAn as HiraNyagarbha, the form where the world of all objects is submerged after pralaya and before the manifestation of the gross world emerges out. This is the manifestation of bhagavAn as the virAt Atma. That vishNu was the first-born among the gods is supported by the following from mahAbhArata - "gatiSca nastvam pUrvajo jagatah prabhuh | rakshArtham sarva-bhUtAnAm vishNustvam upajagmivAn || (MB Udyoga 12.11) "Thou art our refuge; Thou art the first-born amongst the gods. Thou art the Lord of the Universe. Thou didst assume the role of vishNu for the protection of all the worlds." 148. anaghah - One who is Sinless, Un-contaminated. Om anaghAya namah. aghah pApam na vidyate asmin iti anaghah. Though He resides in the midst of the samsAra in His incarnations, He is untainted by sins. Because He is unattached, He is not contaminated by the effects of any actions. Several passages in the sruti-s refer to this attribute - suddham apApaviddham - yajur 40.8, na puNya pApe mama (kaivalya 22), etc. 149. vijayah - Victory Incarnate. Om vijayAya namah. vividham viSesheNa vA jayati iti vijayah - One who wins over everything in different and special ways. He is sat, cit, and Ananda rupa, and thus controls everything including the prakr*ti and jiva-s. Or He excels in everything - ~jnAna, vairAgya, aisvarya, etc. SrI Bhattar points out that He is vijaya because He controls everything that happens in this world, including the creation and destruction, which are performed by Brahma and Rudra with His help and guidance - "tad_AdarSita panthAnau sr*shti samhAra kArakau - Guided by Him in the right way, Brahma and Rudra carry out the task of creation a d destruction (MB moksha 169.19). 150. jetA - The Conquerer. Om jetre namah. sarvam jagat sa jayati iti jetA. He is jetA because nothing ever can happen that is not His will. All the other gods act His will. One who has satyam as His sthira guNa never has any failure or defeat. He is satya kAma, satya samkalpa, etc. 151. viSva-yonih - The Cause of the Universe. Om viSva-yonaye namah. viSvasya - sakalasya yonih - kAraNam viSva-yonih. Another interpretation is that He is viSva-yonih because He has the world as His Cause, i.e., He manifests Himself in various incarnations because of the condition of this world. 152. punarvasuh - One who lives again and again as the antarAtmA of all His creations. Om punarvasave namah. He is the antarAtmA of all the other gods whom He creates for different functions, beginning with rudra and brahma. In moksha dharma in mahAbhArata we have indra saying to rudra - "tavAntarAtmA mama ca ye cAnye dehi-samjnitAh - He is the Inner Soul of yourself and myself as well as those who are called the Released Souls" - MB moksha 179.4. It can also mean that He is punarvasu because He recreates the world with the sun, moon, etc., the same way all over again after each pralaya - "sUrya candramasau dhAtA yathA pUrvam akalpayat | divam ca pr*thivIm cAnthariksham atho svah || r*g 10/190/3) -dAsan kr*shNamAchAryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 10, 1997 Report Share Posted November 10, 1997 Dear Sri Parthasarathy Ranganathan: Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. In response to your note below, other than Sri Parasara Bhattar's attempt at grouping the nAma-s in a logical sequence, which I have been mentioning as I am going through the slokas, I do not know of any other commentator trying to look for a thread of connectivity in the names. For instance, the first 122 nAma-s are interpreted by Sri Bhattar as describing the paravAsudeva form of the Lord, up to nAma 146 address the vyuha form, and then the description of the vibhava form etc. Beyond this, I have not found an explanation of stringing together the names on a slokam-by-slokam basis. I am sending your mail to the general distribution list so that some of the other members can share their thoughts on this. I will keep your comments in mind, and will share anything I find out in the future. I sincerely appreciate your very valuable comments. P.S.: I would like to request SrimAns Sadagopan, Sundararajan, Anbil Ramaswamy, and others to shed light on the following question from Sri Parthasarathy Ranganathan. With Best Regards, -dAsam kr*shNamAchAryan > ---------- > parthas[sMTP:parthas] > Saturday, November 08, 1997 12:22 PM > Krishnamachari, N. > Cc: parthas > Re: SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - sloka 16. > > Dear Sri. Krishnamachari, > > Thanks for your posting on sloka 16. I had some more feedback that I > thought you might be interested in. > > I had a question. In all these slokas, you explain the meaning of > the individual names, but I am sure that there is a reason why these > individual names are tied in together in this particular slokam (for > example, in many cases, the same name occurs in different slokas and > means > different things). For instance, what does sloka 16 convey other than > just > a collection of names? Do you think there is an overall theme behind > each > sloka? Could you shed more light on this? > > Regards, > -- Partha > > Krishnamachari, N. said: > > > > SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - sloka 16. > > > > brAjishNur bhojanam bhoktA sahishNur jagadAdijah | > > anagho vijayo jetA viSvayonih punarvasuh > > || > > . > > -- > ---- > - > Parthasarathy Ranganathan Graduate Student > Dept of ECE, MS 366 Office: Duncan Hall 3028 > Rice University email : parthas > Houston TX 77005 Phone : 713-527-8101 x2887 > Webpage : http://www-ece.rice.edu/~parthas > ---- > - > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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