SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 51 - Part 2.

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SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 51 - Part 2.

 

 

SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 51 - Part 2.

 

483. avij~nAtA - The Non-cognizant.

 

om avij~nAtre namah.

 

SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is that He is non-cognizant of the faults of His

devotees. He observes that it is a great commendable quality of bhagavAn

that He is willing to forget and forgive the sins of those who have

surrendered to Him unconditionally. It is said of Lord rAma that He never

even responds back to those who speak harsh words towards Him - ucyamAno'pi

parusham nottaram pratipadyate (ayodhyA 1.10). SrI BhaTTar quotes his

revered father, SrI kUrattAzhvAn - "Oh Lord! We refute the statement that

you are a sarvaj~nA! It is obvious You are totally ignorant of the faults

of your devotees!" - sarvaj~natAm evam upAlabhAmahe, tvam hi aj~na eva

Asrita-dosha-joshaNah.

 

SrI v.v.rAmAnujan refers us to periAzhvAr's outpouring - en aDiyAr adu

SeyyAr seidArEl nanRu seidAr enbar (4.9.2) - My devotee would not have

committed this sin, and if he did, then as far as I am concerned, it is a

good deed. He also gives reference to the gItA (9.30)- api cet sudurAcAro

bhajate mAm ananya-bhAk | sAdhureva sa mantavyah ... || (Even if someone

does not follow the AcAra for his jAti etc., as long as he worships me with

singular devotion and without expecting any other benefit, he is a parama

viahsNava to Me).

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha derives the meaning by looking at the word as avi +

j~nAtA instead of the traditional a+vij~nAtA. Then he derives the meaning

from av rakshaNAdau - to protect, to do good, and j~nAtA - One who knows.

Thus his meaning for avij~nAtA is One who knows how to protect, or He who

protects everyone. Thus it refers to His being antaryAmi in everything, His

being the Protector of those who surrender to Him, etc. SrI satyadevo

vAsishTha gives reference to the atharva-vedic mantra "avirve nAma

devatartenAste parIvr*tA" (10.8.31) to support this interpretation.

 

SrI Sa~nkara interrpets vij~nAtA as referring to jIva with the distorted

knowledge of being responsible for its own actions etc. (Atmani kartr*tvAdi

kalpa vij~nAnam kalpitam iti jIvo vij~nAtA). He who is above this distorted

knowledge is a-vij~nAtA (tad-vilakshaNo vishNuh a-vij~nAtA).

 

484. sahasrAmSuh - He who has a thousand rays (of knowledge).

 

om sahasrAmSave namah.

 

amSu means ray. sahasra here refers to infinite or countless. SrI BhaTTar

interprets amSu as referring to radiating knowledge, and thus sahasrAmSuh

refers to One who is possessed of infinite knowledge. nammAzhvAr says -

mikka j~nAna mUrtiyAya veda viLakkinai (4.7.10) - BhagavAn is pure and

unalloyed radiating knowledge, who revealed the veda-s to us, and who is

revealed to us by the veda-s.

 

SrI Sa~nkara interprets the nAma as referring to His being the Sun with

countless rays. yena sUryas-tapati tejaseddhah - (tai.brA. 3.12.9) -

Lighted by His effulgence, the sun shines. SrI Sa~nkara also gives

reference to the gItA to support his interpretation - yad-Aditya gatam tejah

.... yac-candramasi yac-cAgnau tat-tejo viddhi mAmakam - 15.12 - O arjuna!

know that the tejas of the sun, the moon, agni, etc. is mine viz. I am the

One who bestowed this tejas on them.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha's interpretation is that BhagavAn radiates His

knowledge and His tejas everywhere, and so He is sahasrAmSuh (anata j~nAna

ananta prabhaSca vushNuh ata sahasrAmSuh).

 

485. vidhAtA - a) The (Supreme) Controller.

b) The Supporter of the Universe.

c) The Creator of brahma.

 

om vidhAtre namah.

 

This nAma occurred earlier as nAma 44.

 

vidhA in the dictionary is given the meaning "division, part, portion", and

vidhAtA means one who apportions, controls, distributes, creates, etc.

li~ngayasUri defines the meaning as "vidhatta iti vidhAtA" in his

amarapadavivr*ti. SrI BhaTTar interprets the nAma with the meaning "The

Supreme Controller". He explains the nAma in the context of the meaning of

avij~nAtA that he gave earlier - bhagavAn ignores the faults of His

devotees. Then one can ask the question "what happens if someone else, like

yama for instance, who is impartial in his treatment of everyone for their

sins as well as good deeds, punishes the devotees of vishNu for their

sins?". This nAma says that bhagavAn controls yama and all other gods, and

so they won't punish a vishNu-bhakta, and they will inform their servants

not to punish a vishNu-bhakta in any way.

 

SrI v.v.rAmAnujan gives several references to divya-prabandham to support

this interpretation. tirumazhiSai AzhvAr in nAnmugan tiruvantAdi (68) says:

SaduvarAip-pOdimingaL enRAn namanum tan tUduvariak-kUvic-cevikku - yama

tells his servants in their ears so that no one else notices: "If you

approach a bhakta who worships SrIman nArAyaNa single-mindedly without

worshipping any other gods, not only you should leave them alone, but you

should also treat them with devotion". The support for this comes from SrI

vishNu purANam 3.7.14 - parihara madhusUdana-prapannAn prabhuraham

anaya-nr*Nam na vaishNavAnAm - where yama declares that he is the prabhu for

all others but not for vaishNava-s. The same idea is expressed by poigai

AzhvAr in mudal tiruvantAdi (55) - em kOn avan tamar, naman-tamarAl

ArAyappaTTu aRiyAr kaNDIr - yama's servants don't go and interrogate the

devotees of SrIman nArAyaNa.

 

Another way to understand the meaning of this nAma is: The word vidhAtA is

derived from the root dhA - dhAraNaposhaNayordAne ca - to put, to grant, to

produce, to bear. vi is added to indicate "in a number of different ways -

vividha". vidhAtA thus refers to One who protects the beings in a variety

of ways (SrI satyadevo vAsishTha). A simple illustration of this is the

protection of the mother and the child in the womb of the mother by bhagavAn

simultaneously in different ways. Several references to the Sruti are

given, e.g., sa no bandhur-janitA sa vidhAtA dhAmAni veda bhuvanAni viSvA

(yajur. 32.10).

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha also gives an alternate interpretation - vede

manushyasya kr*te kartavyANam vidhAnakartr*tvena vidhAtA, i.e., vidhAnasya

kartA vidhAtA - He who lays down the rules for the vedic rites to be

observed by people. Or, He who bestows the benefits for the karma-s that

are observed is also vidhAtA - kartavya karmaNAm vidhAtr*tve visdhAtA;

vyadhadAt iti.

 

SrI Sa~nkara bhAshyam is that bhagavAn is vidhAtA - The All-Supporter since

He supports AdiSesha, the eight elephants, etc., which in turn support the

universe.

 

BhagavAn is also called vidhAtA because He is the creator of brahma - yo

brahmANam vidhatAti pUrvam (SveTASva. 6.18) - SrI BhaTTar under nAma 44.

 

See also under nAma 44.

 

486. kr*ta-lakshaNah - a) He who has prescribed the distinguishing

characteristics for the pious.

b) He who has created distinguishing marks for

Himself.

c) He who has created the veda-s.

d) He who distinguished the different species by

external and internal attributes.

 

 

om kr*ta-lakshanAya namah.

 

This nAma means "He who has laid down the lakshaNa-s or distinctions". SrI

Sa~nkara and SrI BhaTTar give different anubhavam-s of this aspect of

bhagavAn's guNa. Meaning (a) is from SrI BhaTTar and (b) to (d) are from

SrI Sa~nkara.

 

a) SrI BhaTTar had interpreted nAma 483 - avij~nAtA, as indicative of

bhagavAn overlooking the defects of His devotees. Here it is indicated that

bhagavAn does not ignore everyone's faults, but only the faults of those who

have certain distinguishing characteristics, which He Himself has laid out -

kr*talakshaNah. SrI BhaTTar gives the following references where bhagavAn

has identified these attributes:

 

- mitrabhAvena samprAptam - yuddha kANDa 18.3 - "He who has come to Me

as a friend";

 

- samyag vyavasito hi sah - gItA 9.30 - "He who has rightly resolved in

his mind that bhagavAn is everything", and does not look for any other

benefit - ananya bhAk (same Slokam in gItA);

 

- cakrA~nkitAh praveshTavyAh (harivamSa 21.24) - "They who bear the mark

of the discus on their bodies". This mark is to be cherished by a vishNu

bhakta just as a chaste woman cherishes her mangala sUtra and other

ornaments when her husband is alive (vishNu tattva). SrI v.v.rAmAnujan adds

further support from divya prabandham - tIyil poliginRa Se~ncuDarAzhi tigazh

tirucc-cakkarattin kOyil poRiyAlE oRRuNDu ninRu kuDi kuDi AtceyginROm -

tiruppallANDu.

 

In addition to the above lakshaNa-s that SrI BhaTTar has identified, SrI

v.v.rAmAnujan adds the following as the most important lakshNa: maRandum

puRam tozhA mAndar (nAn~gAm tiruvantAdi 68) - "He who does not worship anya

devatA-s even absent-mindedly". The dharma cakram writer points us to gItA

chapter 12, Sloka-s 13 to 20, where Lord Kr*shNa has laid down the

lakshaNa-s of His bhakta, starting with adveshTA sarvabhUtAnAm..., and

ending with SraddadhAnA mat-paramA bhaktAste atIva mama priyAh.

 

SrI Sa~nkara gives different alternative interpretations: b) He created

(kr*t) the veda-s (lakshaNah). c) He has also distinguished Himself with

the SrIvatsa mark on His vaksha-sthalam. d) He has created the different

species with distinguishing marks that identify the species uniquely through

external as well as internal distinguishing marks. He is kr*ta-lakshNah

from all these aspects.

 

SrI cinmayAnanda points out that bhagavAn is kr*ta-lakshaNah since He

distinguishes Himself through the six attributes - aiSvarya dharmah yaSaSca

SrIh j~nAnam vairAgyam (glory, righteousness, fame, wealth, knowledge, and

detachment). SrI rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri observes that bhagavAn has

distinguished Himself through His unique attributes of being sat, cit, and

Ananda svarUpa, and other aspects such as His AdiSesha Sayanam, garuDa

vAhanam, megha SyAmam, San~kha and cakra Ayudha-s, pItAmbara vastra, etc.

 

-dAsan kr*shNamAcAryan