SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 63 - Part 1.

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SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 63 - Part 1. .

 

SubhA'ngah Santi-dah srashTA kumudah kuvaleSayah |

gohito gopatir_goptA vRshabhAksho vRsha-priyah

||

 

om subhA'ngAya namah

om SAnti-dAya namah

om srashTre namah

om kumudAya namah

om kuvaleSayAya namah

om go-hitAya namah

om go-pataye namah

om goptre namah

om vRshabhAkshAya namah

om vRsha-priyAya namah

 

593. SubhA'ngah - a) He Who possesses and gives the eight auspicious

accessories of yoga.

b) He Who has a handsome form.

c) He Who has a form that bestows ma'ngaLam to those who meditate on

It.

d) He Who makes everything auspicious by His presence, movement, etc.

 

The same nAma occurs again as nAma 788.

 

Om SubhA'ngAya namah.

 

a) SrI BhaTTar interprets the term a'nga here to refer to the eight

accessories of yoga - ashTA'nga yoga (yama, niyama, Asana, prANAyAma,

pratyAhAra, dhAraNa, dhyAna, and samAdhi). All of these are

auspicious (Subha) on account of the devotion to Him and are obtained

by His favor. It is He who helps the devotee to begin and complete the

meditation on Him.

 

The dharma cakram writer nicely explains how the practice of asTA'nga

yoga results in the realization of Oneness with bhagavAn. One gets

control of the mind by practicing yama and niyama, the first two of the

8 a'nga-s of the ashTA'nga yoga, with their aspects (ahimsA, satya,

brahmacarya, asteya, and aparigraha as part of yama, and Sauca,

santosha, svAdhyAya, tapas, and Atma samarpaNam as aspects of niyama).

Asana and prANAyAma help in developing the body so that it is fit for

the meditation on Him. The next four a'nga-s of the ashTA'nga yoga -

pratyAhAra, dhAraNa, and dhyAna, and samAdhi - develop and nurture the

thought and concentration on Divinity continuously with each step, the

ultimate end being the realization of Him - samAdhi.

 

b) SrI Samkara interprets the term a'nga here to refer to His form, and

so the meaning given is - sundarAn tanum dhArayan SubhA'ngah.

 

SrI BhaTTar gives this interpretation for nAma 788 - He Who has a

bewitching form. It is so beautiful that with this form He beguiled

and deluded the asura-s when He appeared as mohini. SrI v.v.

rAmAnujan gives reference to peria tirumozhi 4.9.8 - ponnin vaNNam

maNiayin vaNNam puraiyum tirumEni. SrI anantakRshNa SAstri refers us

to the beauty of Lord kRshNa that showered happiness on the gopi-s.

References to Lord rAma's beauty are numerous. HanumAn describes in

many verses the beauty of Lord rAma to sIta pirATTi when he first

meetss her in aSoka vanam. SrI cinmayAnanda gives the upanishadic

support - Santam, Sivam, sundaram (Peace, Auspicouness, Beauty) is how

the Infinite Lord is described in the upanishads. In chAndogya

upanishad (1.6.7), we have the description - ya esho'ntarAditye

hiraNmayah purusho ucyate | tasya yathA kapyAsam puNDarIkaevamakshiNI

….|| - He shines like gold in the middle of the Sun, and His eyes shine

like the blossoming lotus.

 

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives an additional interpretation - BhagavAn is

SubhA'ngah since He has 788 beautiful a'nga-s in His tirumeni. A

reference tot he original source of this information is not available.

 

c) SrI kRshNadatta bhAradvAj interpets the nAma as "One Who has the

form that bestows Subham or ma'ngaLam on those who meditate on His

caraNam (Feet), vadanam (tirumeni), nayanam (lotus eyes), etc. -

SubhAni - darSakAnAm mangalotpAdakAni; a'ngAni - caraNa vadana

nayanAdIni; yasya iti SubhA'ngah.

 

d) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha interprets the word a'nga based on the root

a'ng - to go, and his anubhavam of this nAma is that bhagavAn is

SubhA'ngah since He makes everything auspicious by His very movement in

every form, of His very presence in everything that is moving, for

example the Sun.

 

To summarize, the vyAkhyAna kartA-s have given two different

interpretations for the term a'nga that occurs as part of this nAma.

The first refers to the eight a'nga-s of the ashTA'nga yoga, and the

second refers to the auspicious parts of bhagavAn's body. The meanings

given are thus: a) He is One who blesses the devotee with the means of

the a'nga-s of the ashTA'nga yoga and the success in it, and b) He is

One who has the captivating auspicious form that the devotee meditates

on.

 

594. SAnti-dah - The bestower of eternal peace.

 

Om SAnti-dAya namah

 

SrI BhaTTar continues the interpretation of this nAma in the context of

the previous one - to those who have thus perfected their devotion to

Him through observances such as the yoga referred to above, He bestows

ever-lasting peace in the form of His own realization. For them there

is no longer any fear of rebirth in this world. In other words, SAnti

here refers to moksha, and He is the moksha-pradan. SrI BhaTTar gives

the support from

 

SvetASvatara upanishad 2.7 - viSvasyaikam pariveshTitAram j~nAtvA Sivam

SAntim atyantam eti - If a person realizes the auspicious God who

pervades the Universe, He attains perfect peace;

 

SvetAS. 3.11 - tam ISAnam varadam devamIDyam nicAyya AtmAnam SAntim

atyantam eti - When a person realizes that God who is the Ruler, the

grantor of boons, worthy of praise and is the Inner Soul, he obtains

the highest peace;

 

and the gItA 18.59 - mat prasAdAt param SAntim sthAnam prApsyasi

SASvatam - By My Grace, you will attain supreme tranquillity and the

eternal world as well.

 

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to tiruvAimozhi 3.7.7 - aDiyArgaLaik koNDu

pOi tanmai peRuttit tan tALiNaikkIZh koLLum appan.

 

SrI Samkara's vyAkhyAnam is that bhagavAn bestows peace of mind

characterized by complete absence of likes and dislikes, and so He is

called SAnti-dah. True peace of mind results only when there are no

likes and dislikes. One cannot get contentment as long as one has

likes and dislikes.

 

The dharma cakram writer refers us to tiruvaLLuvar who defines God as

one who is "vENDudal vENDAmai ilAdAn". By our dedicating our thoughts

to Him, we can get to the stage where we will be able to get away from

likes and dislikes, and thus attain true inner peace.

 

The lesson to take from this nAma is that He is the Bestower of the

Ultimate Peace - moksha, which one gets by constant meditation on Him.

 

 

595. srashTA - The Creator.

 

Om srashTre namah.

 

This nAma also occurs later as nAma 990.

 

SrI BhaTTar: The root from which this nAma is derived is srj - to

create. Just as He bestows moksha to those who long for it, He also

bestows samsAra who ask for it through their karma. Thus He is the

Creator as well.

 

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives the anubhavam of nammAzhvAr: kaDal j~nAlam

SeidEnum yAnE (tiruvAimozhi 5.6.1), mun-nIr j~nAlam paDaitta em mugil

vaNNanE (3.2.1), and Lord kRshNa's own words from the gItA 7.6 - aham

kRtsnasya jagatah prabhavah - I am the Source of the entire creation.

 

SrI Samkara: BhagavAn is srashTA - Creator - in that He brought forth

everything at the start of the creative cycle - sargAdau sarva bhUtAni

sasarja iti srashTA. SrI kRshNadatta bhAradvAj explains - sRjati

lokAnAm iti srashTA. He quotes from the Rg veda 10.81.3 - dvAvA bhUmI

janayan deva ekah. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri refers us to SvetASvatara

upanishad 4.14 - viSvasya srashTAram aneka rUpam, and to aitareya

upanishad 1.2 - sa imAn lokAn asRjata.

 

The root srj also means to let loose, to send forth - visarge. SrI

satyadevo vAsishTha uses this meaning, and his anubhavam of this nAma

is that bhagavAn keeps all the beings inside Himself at the time of

pralaya, and then puts them out at the time of sRshTi, and so He is

srashTA.

 

The dharma cakram writer looks at the positive aspect of creation - by

giving the body to the jIva, bhagavAn gives the jIva one more

opportunity for it to seek and attain Him. The beauty of this

anubhavam is that whatever He does, He does it for our welfare,

including all the punishments that He gives us.

 

SrI cinmayAnanda observes that He is the Creator of brahma, whose

function is to create, and it is only because of the abilities and

capacities derived from vishNu that brahma can perform his functions of

creation. Thus one can see that He is the antaryAmi behind all the

other gods, and their powers derive from Him.

 

All interpretations converge on His function as the Creator. The

different vyAkhyAna-s emphasize the different aspects of His function

of creation. He created everything to start with, the cycle of

creation keeps happening from Him after each pralaya, this creation is

an inevitable consequence of the karma of the beings who insist on

being on born again and again, this act of creation by bhagavAn is an

expression of His extreme kindness to us in that this gives the jIva

one more opportunity to realize Him, and all this is happening because

He is the Power behind everything. Thus, all vyAkhyAna kartA-s are

using the meaning "Creator" for the nAma, and yet we get the benefit of

the richness of the diversity of the anubhavam-s here.

 

596. ku-mudah - He who is happy in His relation to this world in

various forms.

 

Om kumudAya namah.

 

This nAma also occurs as nAma 813.

 

SrI BhaTTar interprets the nAma as ku-mudah. ku refers to the prakRti

maNDalam - the world that consists of objects that are a source of

pleasure for all created objects from brahma to a tiny blade of grass.

He gives these objects rUpam, rasam, Sabdam etc., and gives the beings

the ability to have the anubhavam of these objects. BhagavAn makes all

those beings enjoy these objects, and He Himself feels delighted by

that (modate). So He is ku-mudah. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives reference

to tiruvAimozhi 3.10.7 - pala pala mAya mayakkugaLAl inbuRum

iv-viLaiyATTuDaiyAn.

 

Based on the same derivation, SrI BhaTTar gives yet another anubhavam -

kau modate iti kumudah - bhagavAn delights Himself even in the prakRti

maNDalam because of His company with His devotees. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan

elaborates: In this world which can make rAma cry and suffer - nATTil

piRandu paDAdana paTTu, losing sItA, being kicked out His kingdom,

being forced to live in a forest, losing jaTAyu, etc., He still finds

it His pleasure to be in the company of bharadvaja, atri, agastya, etc.

nammAzhvAr describes how bhagavAn mingles with His devotee - oru iDam

onRu inRi ennuL kalandAn (tiruvAimozhi 2.5.2).

 

SrI Samkara interprets the nAma as suggesting that He gives joy to this

earth by freeing it of its burdens (at the time of pralaya?) - kum -

dharaNim bhArAvataraNam kurvan modayati iti kumudah.

 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri's anubhavam, starting with the same meanings for

the words ku and muda, is that He delights in His company with bhUmi

pirATTi, and so He is called ku-mudah. Or, He takes incarnations in

this earth to get rid of the evil and to protect the good, and thus He

delights Himself with this earth.

 

SrI cinmayAnanda interprets the nAma as indicating that bhagavAn

delights Himself by creating this world of plurality which is the

joyous expression of the infinite potentialities of bhagavAn.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha's anubhavam is based on a line of thought

entirely different from all the above. He derives the meaning based on

the root kai - Sabde - to sound, and thus interprets the nAma as

indicating bhagavAn's guNa of deriving pleasure through Sabda, in the

form of giving this experience to His creations in the form of their

power of speech, hearing, music etc. One could also think of His

deriving pleasure in hearing the chanting of the veda-s and the sAma

gAna.

 

The dharma cakram writer illustrates the dimension of the pleasure that

is derived by bhagavAn in this world through an example. He refers us

to the pleasure that a small ant derives out of a huge mound of sugar.

Even though there is this huge source of pleasure for the ant, all the

ant sees of this is the few particles of sugar that it needs to fill

itself, and then a few more particles to save for the future in its

nest. The pleasure that we see in this world through our five

indirya-s etc. is similar to what the ant enjoys, and most of us miss

out on the great store of pleasure called bhagavad anubhavam. What

bhagavAn offers and derives out of this world is the huge mound that we

don't take advantage of. This nAma illustrates to us that the true

pleasure to be derived out of this world is the greater pleasure, which

is accessible to us by meditating on His nAma and by seeing beyond the

sense-pleasure, by dedicating ourselves to His kaimkaryam.

 

Thus, to summarize the different vyAkhyAna-s, the nAma indicates that

bhagavAn delights Himself with this earth in various ways: by creating

the diverse beings, by giving them the anubhavam of rUpam, rasam,

Sabdam etc., by destroying the evil and protecting the good through His

different incarnations, by having bhUmi pirATTi as His consort, by

being in the company of His devotees, by relieving the earth of its

burden at the time of pralaya, by giving the veda-s to us, by hearing

us sing His praise through songs and through the veda-s, etc.

 

597. kuvaleSayah - a) The Controller of the jIva-s who wander in this

world with the thought that they are the masters of their bodies.

b) He Who is reclining in the waters surrounding this earth.

 

 

a) SrI BhaTTar derives the meaning by looking at the nAma as

ku_vala-ISa-ya. ku refers to the world as pointed out in the previous

nAma. vala means valanti -wandering. ISa means Ruler. Thus,

ku-vala-ISa refers to the jIva-s who wander around in this world with

the thought that they are the masters of their bodies and that they

control everything about themselves. Yah is the part that refers to

bhagavAn who goes after (yAti - goes) these jIva-s, i.e., keeps them

under control. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to nammAzhvAr - "ulagam

mUnRu uDaiyAi! ennai AlvAnE! (tiruvAimozhi 6.10.10).

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha also looks at the nAma as ku + vala + ISah +

yah. However, he interprets the nAma as referring to bhagavAn who has

control (ISah) over all those that make sound (kai - Sabde - to sound,

see previous nAma), all those that walk or move (vala), etc. In other

words, He is the antaryAmi in everything.

 

b) SrI Samkara derives different interpretations, all based on looking

at the nAma as kuvale Sayah, where Sayah refers to reclining. His

different interpretations are based on different meanings for the term

kuvala. One of the interpretations is: koh kshiteh, valanAt -

samsaraNAt, kuvalam - jalam; tasmin Seta iti kuvale-Sayah. In other

words, He is kuvale Sayah because He is reclining in the waters that

surround the earth. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri notes that since the earth

originated from water - adhbhyah pRthivI - water surrounds the earth.

 

 

Another interpretation that SrI Samkara gives is that kuvala can refer

to the underside of the serpent, since it crawls on the earth with its

stomach - kau - bhUmyAm, valate - samSrayata iti sarpANAm udaram

kuvalam, tasmin Seta iti kuvale-Sayah - He reclines on the serpent, and

so He is called kuvaleSayah.

 

The dharma cakram writer explains that the pa'nca bhUta-s evolved in

the sequence AkASa, vAyu, agni, waters, and earth. Since earth arose

from waters, the waters surround the earth. The pa'nca bhUta-s all

arose from Him, and so a simple way to understand the statement "He is

reclining in the waters" is to remember that bhagavAn is in the Nature

that originated from Him.

 

To summarize, there are essentially two different ways that this nAma

has been interpreted. One is kuvala + ISa + yah - He is the controller

or Master of everything that moves around, and the other is kuvale +

Sayah - He Who reclines in the waters, or He Who is reclining on the

AdiSesha.

 

-To be continued.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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