SrIvishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 56 - Part 1.

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SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 56 - Part 1.

 

ajo mahArhah svAbhAvyo jitAmitrah pramodanah |

Anando nandano nandah satya-dharmA tri-vikramah ||

 

om ajAya namah

om mahArhAya namah

om svAbhAvyAya namah

om jitAmitrAya namah

om pramodanAya namah

om AnandAya namah

om nandanAya namah

om nandAya namah

om satya-dharmaNe namah

om tri-vikramAya namah

 

524. ajah - a) He who is signified by the letter 'a'.

b) He who is not born.

c) He who drives away the darkness in the mind of the devotee.

d) He who goes where the devotee is.

e) He who is the cause of motion in the heart.

f) He who is ever active in bestowing the effects of karma.

g) The collections of things that exist.

h) He who is everywhere and in everything.

 

om ajAya namah.

 

This nAma occurred earlier twice (96, 206). Based on the root aja -

gati kshepaNayoh - which signifies motion or throwing away, SrI BhaTTar

interpreted the first of these occurrences as referring to BhagavAn

being the remover of obstacles (kshipati iti ajah). He dispels the

darkness of ignorance by means of the luminous lamp of knowledge. The

second occurrence was interpreted based on na jAyate iti ajah - He who

is not born. The current nAma is interpreted as "akAra vAcyatayA

jAtah" - He who is signified by the sound a or the letter a. SrI

rAdhAkRshNa SAstri explains that when the world comes to an end, after

the world submerges into earth, earth into water, water into air, etc.,

ultimately what is left behind is the sound of praNava, and then its

root or origin or base, the sound 'a' (akAram), which symbolizes

bhagavAn.

 

The other interpretations which have been given by other vyAkhyAna

kartA-s are summarized under the discussion relating to the nAma-s 96

and 206. Briefly, SrI Sa'nkara gives the interpretation that bhagavAn

is the Mover in the heart of the devotee - ajati gacchati kshipati vA

ajah. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives the interpretation that bhagavAn

reaches out (gacchati) to where His devotees are, or He is ever active

in ensuring that everyone gets the effects of their karma without

discrimination.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha derives the meaning (g) above starting with 'a'

referring to vishNu, and ja referring to everything that is born from

vishNu when combine with 'a'.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the reference to mahAbhArata Santi parva

341.74 in support of the interpretation (b):

 

na hi jAto na jAye'ham na janishye kadAcana |

kshetraj~nah sarva-bhUtAnAm tasmat aham ajah smr*tah ||

 

525. mahArhah - He who is worthy of worship.

 

om mahArhAya namah.

 

maham - pUjanam arhati iti mahArhah. maham means worship. SrI v.v.

rAmAnujan adds that the pUjA referred to here is Atma-samarpaNam or

prapatti. This principle of nyAsam or bhara samarpaNam is revealed to

us in the upanishad. SrI BhaTTar refers us to taittirIya nArAyanIyam

21 -

 

brahmaNe tvA mahasa om iti AtmAnam yu'njIta

etad-vai mahopanishadam devAnAm guhyam ||

 

"The great secret which the gods are keeping, and which is revealed to

us by the great upanishad, is that the jIva is to be offered to

bhagavAn, the Supreme Brahman, by means of the praNava, the first

letter of which, 'a', signifies the paramAtmA, and the last letter, 'm'

signifies the jIvAtmA. "To Thee, the Brahman of great effulgence, I

offer myself through the mantra "Om"".

 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri adds that of all the worships offered to

bhagavAn, the worship offering our own selves, which is nothing but

prapatti, is the greatest and the most supreme. This nAma indicates

that He is One who is deserving of prapatti.

 

526. svAbhAvyah - a) He who is to be meditated upon by those who belong

to Him.

b) He who is by nature fit to be the Master.

c) He who is naturally without a beginning.

d) He who is present everywhere and in everything without exception.

 

om svAbhAvyAya namah.

 

SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is "svabhUtaih (Atmabhih) bhAvanIyatvAt

svAbhAvyah" - He who is fit to be meditated upon by the individual

souls who are His property. Alternatively, svAbhAvikatvena bhAvyatvAt

svAbhAvyah - He who is naturally accepted (as the Master) because

everything else His property, He being the Creator.

 

SrI Sa'nkara's vyAkhyAnam is "svabhAvena abhAvyah" - He who is

naturally without a beginning, because He is eternally perfect. SrI

satyadevo vAsishTha derives the meaning based on sva + bhU + vyat,

where he uses the meaning bhU - bhav to be, and the pANini sUtra

orAvaSyake - the affix vyat comes after a root ending in short or long

u when the sense is that of necessity. Thus, the meaning he gives is

that bhagavAn exists everywhere and in everything as a matter of

inevitability i.e., svAbhAvyah means that bhagavan is One who is

present everywhere and in everything naturally and without exception.

 

527. jitAmitrah - a) He who helps His devotees conquer enemies such as

anger, kAmam, ahamkAram, mamakAram, etc.

b) He who has conquered anger, kAmam, etc.

c) He who has conquered His enemies such as rAvana etc.

 

om jitAmitrAya namah.

 

amitrAh jitAh anena iti jitAmitrah - He by whom the foes have been

conquered. SrI BhaTTar indicates that the foes referred to here are

kAmam, aham-kAram and mama-kAram in the devotees. kAmam is the desire

in the devotee for material objects, ahma-karam is egotism, and

mama-kAram is the feeling that all things that one possesses are one's

own (and not bhagavAn's). One translator has translated the later two

as I-ness and mine-ness. These are the enemies that prevent us from

having the svarUpa j~nAnam, and bhagavAn helps His devotees by removing

them in His devotees. Lord kRshNa reveals the powerful negative

nature of these enemies (desire, anger, etc.)., in bhagavad-gItA 3.37

to 3.43 (kAma esah krodha esha rajod-guNa samudbhavah | …..jahi Satrum

mahAbAho! kAmarUpam durAsadam ||).

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives several references from the Sruti-s for

bhagavAn's nAma of jita amitrah: dyumAgm amitra dambhanah (Rg 4.15.4),

amitra senAm maghavan (atharva. 3.1.3); etc. He also points out that

those who follow bhagavAn and dharma come out victorious in whatever

they undertake, whereas those who forsake dharma are guaranteed to fail

in the end as well.

 

This guNa of bhagavAn in removing the foes of self-realization in His

devotees is also described in the prabandham (v.v. rAmAnujan) - "en

peru vinaiyaik kiTTik kizha'ngoDu tan aruL ennum oL vAl uruvi veTTik

kaLaindavan"; SeyyEl tIvnai enRu aruL Seyyum en kaiyAr cakkarak kaNNa

pirAnE (tiruvAimozhi 2.9.3).

 

SrI Sa'nkara also adds the aspect of bhagavAn's conquering the enemies

such as rAvaNa, SiSupAla, etc. There is also the interpretation that

He has conquered these enemies such as kAma, krodha, etc., Himself;

thus, He has conquered the enemies within as well as outside.

 

528. pramodanah - a) He who delights His devotees.

b) He who is always joyful.

 

om pramodanAya namah.

 

pramodam karoti iti pramodanah - He who fills with joy the minds of

those who meditate on Him. The nAma is derived from the root mud -

harshe - to rejoice, to be glad. SrI BhaTTar connects the

interpretation of this nAma to the previous one by indicating that

when the devotees realize that bhagavAn has removed the foes such as

anger, desire, etc., they feel delighted, and He is pramodanah in this

sense. SrI Sa'nkara also gives an alternate explanation - pramodate

iti pramodanah - He is ever joyful.

 

SrI PBA, SrI v.v. rAmAnujan etc. connect both interpretations a and b

nicely through the following anubhavam - The devotees feel delighted

that enemies such as ahamkAram, mamakAram, fear, anger, etc., have been

removed from them by bhagavAn; bhagavAn in turn feels delighted when

He finds that His devotee is delighted. This is like the parents

feeling delighted when their child is happy.

 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri points out that while modah refers to the

pleasures associated with day-to-day life, pramodanam is the delight

that is associated with the realization of the true nature of the self.

 

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha remarks that the extent to which bhagavAn keeps

His creations happy can be seen by the fact that everyone wants to

cling to this material body and no one really wants to leave this body

that they get because of their prior karma!

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

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