SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 70 - anantah.

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665. anantah - a) The Limitless.

b) One who is beyond the reach of those who are not of pure mind.

 

Om anantAya namah.

 

Note that this is one of the nAma-s from the trio - acyuta, ananta,

govinda, that is uttered several times daily by vaishNava-s.

 

Starting from this nAma, and up to nAma 683 (mahA havih), SrI BhaTTar

interprets the nAma-s as describing His limitless vibhUti-s.

 

a) SrI BhaTTar gives the interpretation - na asya deSa kAla vastutah

avadhayah santi iti anantah - He for whom there is no limitation of

space, time or object. He is ananta-mUrti - One of unbounded form. In

the gItA, bhagavAn declares: nAstyanto vistarasya me (10.19) - There

is no limit to My auspicious manifestations (vibhUti-s). SrI BhaTTar

also gives reference to the Sruti-s: "satyam, j~nAnam anantam brahma"

(tait. Ananda. 1) - Brahman is Existence, Knowledge, and Infinite;

"athaitasyaiva anto nAsti tad brahma" (tait. yajur. 7.3.4) - There is

no limit or end to this object known as Brahman.

 

SrI Samkara gives additional reasons for His being called ananta -

vyApitvAt, nityatvAt, sarvAtmatvAt, deSatah, kAlatah, vastutaSca

aparichinnah anantah - Because He is all-pervading, eternal, and the

Self of all, and because He is unlimited by space, time, or substance,

He is known as anatah. In addition to the upanishadic support, he also

gives additional support from SrI vishNu purANa -

 

gandharvApsarasah siddhAh kinnaroraga cAraNAh |

nAntam guNAnAm gacchanti tena anantah ayam avyayah || (2.5.24)

 

"The gandharva-s, apsara-s, siddha-s, kinnara-s, uraga-s, and the

cAraNa-s are unable to find the end of His attributes; hence, the

imperishable Lord is called ananta".

 

nammAzhvAr refers to bhagavAn as "kaNakku aRu nalattanan, antam il Adi

am bhagavan" (tiruvAi. 1.3.5) - "bhagavAn possesses limitless kalyANa

guNa-s, He is the beginning of everything, and He has no end". He

captures the ananta nature of bhagavAn nicely in the pASuram

 

nAm avan ivan uvan avaL ivaL uvaL evaL

tAm avar ivar uvar adu idu udu edu

vImavai ivai uvai avai nalam tI'ngavai

Am avaiyAi avaiyAi ninRa avare (tiruvAi. 1.1.4)

 

"We are but He; What one indicates as that man, this man, that woman,

this woman, that object, this object; on whatever we indicate in plural

similarly, all are but He and He alone; Things with good traits or bad

traits, things there or here, things that go off, things that will come

one day, all are merely He. All are aspects of His splendor"

(translation copied from Sri V. N. Vedanta deSikan).

 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri elaborates further on His being unlimited by

time, space, and substance.

 

- Since He existed before everything else, He exists now, and He will

exist for ever in the future, He is unlimited by time

(bhUta-bhavya-bhavan-nAthah). Thus He is nitya - nityo nityAnAm

(kaTha. 2.2.13);

- Since He pervades everything and is everywhere inside and out, He is

unlimited by space (vishNu); eko devah sarva bhUteshu gUDhah

sarva-vyApI ca bhagavAn (SvetASva. 3.11).

- Since He is everything there is, it is not possible to precisely say

that He is this, that, man, woman, or any one thing, and so He is

unlimited by form; naiva strI na pumAn eshah ( SvetASva. 5.10).

 

b) SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN gives the interpretation that He is

anantah because He is beyond the reach of those who are not pure in

their mind - a-viSuddha manasAm a-nikaTatvAt anantah.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

 

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