SrI vishNu sahasranAma stotram - Slokam 59 - Part 2.

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SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 59 -Part 2.

 

555. dRDhah - a) He Who assumes firm, concrete vyUha

forms for the benefit of His devotees.

b) He Who is firm and determined in His thoughts,

words and deeds.

c) He Who is firmly established and cannot be

negated as the Supreme Deity by counter-arguments.

d) He Who is huge and strong.

 

om dRDhAya namah.

 

dRDha literally means solid, firm, strong, massive,

etc. The root word from which the nAma dRDhah is

formed is dRh - vRddhau - to be fixed or firm, to

grow. SrI v.n. vedAnta deSikan gives the

interpretation in English as: Para vAsudeva takes the

vyUha forms which are firm and concrete and are not

merely of a nebulous, imaginative level. In other

words, the term dRDhah here refers to forms that can

be more easily comprehended and meditated upon. SrI

v.v. rAmAnujan gives reference to the nRsimha

incarnation - tiNNiyadOr ari uru, where ari means

lion.

 

b) SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri interprets the nAma as

referring to bhagavAn being firm in His actions - one

meaning for acyutah which we will encounter later in

this write-up. SrI cinmayAnanda observes that even

though bhagavAn is firm in His Infinite Justice, this

Justice becomes a-dRDhah when a great sinner

surrenders to Him, and bhagavAn immediately reaches

out to help the sinner.

 

c) SrI PBA gives the interpretation that bhagavAn s

dRDhah because He if firmly established as the Supreme

Deity by vedic pramANa-s, and no amount of false

arguments by the "bAhya ku-dRshTi-s" can negate that.

 

d) dRDhah also means huge, mighty, strong, etc. -

dRDhau sthUlo balavAn vA. Since bhagavAn assumes

huge and strong forms when He takes His incarnations

to destroy His enemies, this nAma can be interpreted

as a reference to this guNa of His. SrI satyadevo

vAsishTha gives the explanation dRDahu sthUlo balavAn

vA. He also gives another view - everything that

bhagavAn creates reflects His guNa of firmness. The

Oceans have always been firm in keeping the massive

amount of water in their bounds without exception, and

the skeleton that holds the body together is firm from

birth to death and never collapses from its shape, and

the earth holds all its subjects and contents firmly.

BhagavAn who is giving all of these their firmness, is

thus also called dRDhah.

 

556. sankarshaNah - He Who draws others near Him.

 

om sankarshaNAya namah.

 

SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is "samsAre cit-acitoh Atmani

samam karshaNAt samam karsham nayati" - In this world,

He draws towards Himself both the cit and acit in the

same way and unites them - His power of attraction is

uniform, and so He is called samkarshaNa. SrI Sankara

specifically refers to this attraction as referring to

the time of cosmic dissolution, when bhagavAn draws

everything towards Himself.

 

SrI kRshNadatta bhAradvAj gives the interpretation -

samyak karshati iti sankarshaNah; SrI bhagavAn

svajanAn AtmAnam prati svakIyaih vAtsalya mAdhuryAdi

guNaih karshati - He who draws His devotees towards

Him through His infinite guNa-s such as vAtsalyam, His

exquisite beauty, etc.

 

SrI Sankara combines this nAma with the next one,

acyutah, and interprets sankarshNocyutah as one nAma,

meaning that bhagavAn draws everything at the time of

dissolution towards Himself (samkarshNah), while

Himself not slipping from His Real Nature (acyutah).

 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa Sastri gives yet another anubhavam for

the sequence dRDhah, sankarshNah, and acyutah: dRDhah

- He is one who is firm in His Nature, sankarshNah -

He who draws those who are caught in the ocean of

samsAra towards Him with firm determination and Mercy,

and acyutah - He Who is firm and does not slip while

drawing the entire group of these cetana-s towards

Him. The dharma cakram writer gives a simple analogy

to illustrate the above. To drag someone who has

fallen into a forceful river to safety, the savior

should be strong enough not to be drawn by the river

himself, but also should have the strength to drag the

other individual against the force of the river.

BhagavAn is the acyutah who has the firmness, resolve,

and the power to save the samsAri-s from the ocean

current of samsAra.

 

557. acyutah - a) One who never slips from His glory.

b) One who never

lets His devotees slip.

c) One who

undergoes no modifications such as birth, growth,

decay,

disease, etc.

 

om acyutAya namah.

 

We came across this nAma twice before (nAma-s 101 and

320). The contents of the previous explanations have

been included in the following summary.

 

a) cyuti means "fall" and cyuta means "fallen".

acyuta means "One

who has never fallen from His true nature".

Different anubhava-s are

given to further expand this guNa of the Lord. Sri

Bhattar points out

that He does not ever fall from His position of

overlordship unlike

Brahma, Indra, etc. who are subject to loss of

position, and therefore

He is called acyuta. In support of the

interpretation that bhagavAn does

not undergo transformations like others, SrI BhaTTar

quotes the following:

 

cyavanotpattiukteshu brahmendra varuNAdishu |

yasmAn na cyavase sthAnAt tasmat samkIrtyase acyutah

||

 

The source of this reference has not been provided in

Prof. SrInivAsa rAghavan's text. The meaning is:

"Whereas brahma, varuNa, and others are subject to

birth and death and fall down from their position,

Thou dost not fall down like that. So Thou art called

acyuta".

 

Sri rAdhAkrshNa SAstri points out that He also does

not slip from His position by being influenced by kAma

etc. unlike Brahma, Indra etc.

 

In mahAbhArata we have "yasmAt na cyuta pUrvo'ham

acyutastena karmaNA" - SAnti parva

12.330.16. Sri Sankara interprets the above as

meaning "svarUpasAmarthyAt na cyuto na

cyavate na cyavishyata iti acyutah" - He has not

lapsed, is not lapsing, and will not lapse from His

own glory; hence the name acyuta.

 

The dharma cakram writer points to the passage in

muNDakopanishad which

describes the two birds sitting in different branches

of the tree, one tasting the

fruit and the other just watching the bird that is

tasting the fruit (of karma).

This has been described in a previous write-up.

BhagavAn is the acyuta, from

His superior position, watching the jIvAtmA which is

tasting the fruits of karma

in this case.

 

b) Sri Bhattar also gives the alternate vyAkhyAna: "I

have never abandoned (my

bhaktas). Because of this act of mine, I am known as

acyuta". His

words are "tebyah prapannebhyah na apagatah acyutah -

He is never away

from those who have sought refuge in Him". Sri

tirukkaLLam

nrsimharAghavAchAryar in his bhagavadgItA bhAshya has

given the

explanation na cyAvayati iti acyutah - One who does

not let His devotees

slip. arjuna calls Lord kRshNa as acyuta since He has

taken it

upon Himself to be his charioteer and will ensure

that arjuna will not slip.

 

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan adds the following reference from

rAmAyaNa in support of

the interpretation "He who does not let His devotee

slip" - na cyAvayati -

"mitra-bhAvena samprAptam na tyajeyam kathancana dosho

yadyapi tasya

syAt " - "No matter what flaws a person has, if he has

come to Me seeking My

friendship, there is no way that I will abandon him

under any circumstance".

SrI rAmAnujan also gives the reference to divya

prabandham - "kArtigaiyAnum

kari-mugattAnum kanalum mukkaN-mUrtiyum mODiyum

veppum mudugiTTu" - the reference here is to the story

of bANAsura who was

abandoned by the other devatA-s when he approached

them for protection. Not

so with bhagavAn - na me bhaktah praNaSyati - "My

devotee will never perish" - gItA.

 

c) cyutam means modification. The upanishad says of

BhagavAn -

"SASvatam Sivam acyutam" - Eternal, Auspicious, and

Changeless" - taittirIya

AraNyakam - 10.11). Sri rAdhAkrshNa SAstri points

out that BhagavAn is acyuta

because He does not slip from stage to stage in the

sequence of events such as birth,

living, growth, change in appearance, decay, and

finally disappearance from the body.

 

-To be continued

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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