SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 50 - Part 1.

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SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 50 - Part 1.

 

svApanah sva-vaSo vyApI naikAtmA naika-karma-kr*t |

vatasaro vatsalo vatsI ratna-garbho dhaneSvarah ||

 

om svApanAya namah

om sva-vasAya namah

om vyApine namah

om naikAtmane namah

om naika-karma-kr*te namah

om vatsarAya namah

om vatsalAya namah

om vatsine namah

om ratna-garbhAya namah

om dhaneSvarAya namah

 

466. svApanah - He who lulls people into sleep.

 

om svApanAya namah.

 

SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is that bhagavAn in His mohini incarnation lulled

into sleep the asura-s who had not been put away as described in the

previous nAma, using His beautiful smile, sweet glances and the play of His

eyebrows, and thus made them forget that He was distributing the nectar to

the deva-s exclusively.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha's anubhavam of this nAma is "svApayati nidrApayati

pralayakAle sarvam prakr*tAviti svApanah" - He puts everyone to sleep at the

time of pralaya. Even though He makes everyone sleep, He Himself is wide

awake. This svApanatva guNa of bhagavAn is reflected again in everything He

creates after the pralaya also. The Sun puts everyone to sleep when the

night comes, but the sun itself does not sleep.

 

SrI rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri refers to gItA 7.25 - "nAham prakASah sarvasya

yoga-mAyA-samAvr*tah, mUDho'yam nAbhijAnAti" - His paratva has been

concealed to the non-devotee in bhagavAn's incarnations because He appears

like all of us in His body, appearance, and talk etc., and so they don't

recognize Him as paramAtmA. He who does not see what is in front of Him is

as good as a person who is sleeping.

 

The dharma cakram writer gives the analogy of the animal life vs. the human

life. Humans are "awake" in the world of intelligent reasoning, in which

the animals are "asleep", i.e., they are not capable of operating in this

domain as well as humans can do. Similarly the ordinary human is asleep to

the world of the j~nAni. The path for the ordinary human to become awake

in the world of the j~nAni is to chant the nArAyaNa mantra - "nalam tarum

Sollai nAn kaNDu koNDEn nArAyaNA ennum nAmam" is AzhvAr aruLic-ceyal. This

is the lesson we should take from this nAma.

 

467. sva-vaSah - He who is under His own control.

 

om sva-vaSAya namah.

 

Continuing on his anubhavam of the mohini incarnation, SrI BhaTTar explains

that after bhagavAn put the asura-s to sleep, He plays as He likes with the

deva-s, consistent with His absolute independence.

 

The bhAvam here is that bhagavAn is not under the control of anyone or

anything else, and He is only under His own control. He does not need

anyone's help or support for whatever He does. Everything else is under His

control. He does His acts of creation etc. as He wishes. He does not also

have any desire that is out of His reach (based on vaS - kAntau to wish, to

desire - SrI satyadevo vAsishTha). BhagavAn is sva-vaSah because He has

everything that He desires within Himself, does not have any desire outside

of Him, and rejoices with His own Self.

 

SrI Sa~nkara bhAshyam is that bhagavAn is Independent, being the cause of

creation, preservation and withdrawal of the Universe - svatantrah.

 

The dharma cakram writer points out that it is only when one does not have

any need that one can be totally independent. tiruvaLLUvar refers to

bhagavAn as "vENDudal vENDAmai ilAn". ANDAL's words are "kuRaivu onRum

illAda gOvindA". When we are under the control of our mind, we lose our

independence, and do whatever our mind dictates. Then we become dependent

on others. This nAma teaches us that we should learn to control our mind

and get it under our control instead of being controlled by our mind.

Meditating on this nAma of bhagavAn will give us this discipline. The more

we are able to devote ourselves to bhagavAn, the more our mind will get

under our control.

 

468. vyApI - The Pervader.

 

om vyApine namah.

 

SrI BhaTTar-s vyAkhyAnam is that bhagavAn pervades everyone with His own

Power and gives energy to them. At the time of churning the Mik-Ocean, He

pervaded the deva-s, the asura-s, the mandAra mountain, vAsuki and others,

and gave them the energy to churn the ocean. SrI v.v.rAmAnujan refers us to

nammAzhvAr 1.1.10 - "paranda taN paravai uL nIr torum paranduLan....karandu

e~ngum paranduLan ivai uNDa karanE". (paravai here refers to an expanse of

water - Ocean).

 

SrI rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri gives reference to the Sruti - avyaktAt-tu parah

purusho vyApakah ( muNDaka 2.3.8). SrI cinmayAnanda points out that in

philosophy pervasiveness indicates subtlety. BhagavAn is all-pervasive, and

so is subtler than the subtlest. Since the cause pervades the effect (e.g.,

gold pervades all gold ornaments), so also bhagavAn who pervades everything

is thus the Cause of everything.

 

The dharma cakram writer observes that All-pervasiveness also implies

limitlessness, since whatever there is and wherever it is, BhagavAn pervades

it, and so there is no limit to Him. This limitless emperumAn just projects

Himself such that we see whatever little we see based on our limitations.

Meditating on this nAma of bhagavAn will broaden our ability to see this

Limitless vyApI.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives several references from the Sruti - parItya

bhUtAni parItya lokAn parItya sarvAh pradiSo diSaSca (yajur), pr*shTo divi

pr*shTo agnih pr*thivyAm pr*shTo viSvA oshadhIrAviveSa (r*g), yo agnau rudro

yo apsv-antarya oshadhIr-vIrudha AviveSa (atharva); etc.

 

469. naikAtmA - He of diverse forms.

 

om naikAtmane namah.

 

SrI BhaTTar's anubhavam is that bhagavAn assumed several forms at the time

of churning - as vishNu to help the gods and the asura-s to churn, as the

tortoise to support the mandAra mountain, and as mohini to distribute the

nectar.

 

SrI rAdhAkr*shNa SAstri reminds us of the similarity between this nAma and

nAma 139 - caturAtmA. A more general interpretation is that bhagavAn

expresses Himself through all the forms of His creation. The dharma cakram

writer points out that the different forms of gods that the followers of

different religions worship are all an expression of bhagavAn, and it is

because of their ignorance of bhagavAn being a naikAtmA that they think they

are worshipping different deities and fighting within themselves.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the root of the word AtmA as ata -

sAtatyagamane - to go constantly, which nicely explains the nature of the

AtmA. BhagavAn is everywhere in the form of the father, the mother, the

son, the disciple, the teacher, the husband, the wife, the friend, etc.,

since He is the antaryAmi in everything. SrI vAsishTha gives several

references to the Sruti in support of the interpretation of this nAma, among

which are the following - tadev-Agnis-tad-Adityas-tadu vAyus-tadu-candramAh

| tadeva Sukram tad-brahma tA Apah sa prajApatih || (yajur. 32-1); tvam hi

nah pitA vaso tvam mAtA Satakrato babhUvitha (r*g 8.98.11).

 

470. naika-karma-kr*t - He who performs diverse acts.

 

om naika-karma-kr*te namah.

 

SrI BhaTTar explains the nAma by giving the example of His churning the

ocean, supporting the mountain, overcoming the enemies, distributing the

nectar, etc. SrI v.v.v rAmAnujan gives the quotes from nammAzhvAr - kUDi

nIraik-kaDaindavArum amudam dEvar uNNa asurargaLai vIDum vaNNa~ngaL Seidu

pOna vittagamum (tiruvAimozhi 5.10.10), and from tirumaZhiSai AzhvAr - malai

Amai mEl vaittu vASugiyaic-cuRRi talai Amai tAn oru kai paRRi alaiyAmal

pIrak-kaDainda perumAn (nAnmugan 49). SrI Sa~nkara points to diverse

actions such as creation, sustenance, etc. as a way of interpreting this

nAma. SrI rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri points to His actions in the form of candra,

sUrya, agni, etc. and helping to serve us.

 

The dharma cakram writer gives a view which summarizes all the above by

pointing out that everything that ever takes place is His action and nothing

else. Examples of this abound. We are instruments in His creation, but we

are not creators. From one mango tree, only another mango tree can come,

and we can't create something else from a mango seed. We are the

instruments and He is the kartA. If we have this realization, the benefits

(karma phalam) of none of the actions for which we are the instruments will

accrue to us.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha continues his interpretation based on his previous

interpretation of naikAtmA. BhagavAn who is in many forms (father, mother,

son...), performs many actions in the form of the father, mother, son, etc.

 

-To be continued in Part 2.

 

-dAsan kr*shNamAcAryan