SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - Part 2.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - mahA-karmA.

 

677. mahA-karmA - He of great actions.

 

Om mahA-karmaNe namah.

 

This nAma occurs as nAma 793 again (Slokam 84).

 

mahAnti karmANi yasya iti mahA-karmA - One Whose action are great is

mahA-karmA. SrI BhaTTar and his followers interpret the nAma in terms

of His great actions in helping His devotees. Other interpretations

emphasize His great actions in the form of His creation etc.

 

SrI BhaTTar refers to His actions as "ati-vismayanIyam" - extremely

surprising, and refers to bhagavAn's action in lifting the likes of

worms, germs, and less, from those low levels to the level where they

are capable of enjoying His supreme glory. He lifts us from our very

low levels to the level of a nitya sUri, a wonder that can't even be

comprehended by us. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives reference to nammAzhvAr

(tiruvAi. 7.5.1): "…. puRpA mudalAp pul eRumbu enRu Ado onRu inRiyE

naRpAl ayottiyil vAzhum SarASaram muRRavum naRpAlukkumuittanan…" -

Lord rAma lifted all the jIva rASi-s starting from the blades of grass,

the ants, and all other life forms that existed in His land ayodhyA

with Him to SrI vaikunTham when He departed this world after His

avatAra kAryam ended. Kulasekhara AzhvAr refers to the same incident

in perumAL tirumozhi 10.10 - "anRu SarASara'ngaLai vaikundattu ERRi…",

where His makA-karmA aspect is sung.

 

His great actions do not stop with just directly helping His devotees

by lifting them to His level, but also in His acts in punishing His

devotee's enemies, including tricking them as part of His leelA. SrI

BhaTTar interprets the occurrence of this nAma in Slokam 84 in this

sense (in terms of His Buddha avatAra, where He intentionally taught

those who were averse to Him to follow the non-vedic path). These

great acts of His are also just, since they are aimed at punishing

those who are set against Him.

 

SrI Samkara interprets the nAma in terms of His great karma or act in

the form of His creation of this Universe etc. - mahat jagat utpatyAdi

karmA asya iti mahA-karmA. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives the example of

His swallowing the entire universe at the time of dissolution. In the

later occurrence of this nAma in Slokam 84, SrI Samkara brings out

another aspect of His great creation - that of bringing out the great

elements etc. - mahAnti viyadAdIni bhUtAni karmANi kAryANi asya iti

mahA-karmA.

 

SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj refers to Lord kRshNa's words in the gItA

that His actions are "divya" karma-s (divine actions) - janma karma ca

me divyam … (gItA 4.9.

 

The dharma cakram writer explains His "great action" in terms of His

supporting whatever a jIva is after: if the earthly pleasures is what

one wants, He supports that by providing the means for these; if after

some stage this person realizes that it is not worth going after

earthly pleasures, He provides the necessary means for them to follow

the yogic path; when the person matures in this path over several

births, and starts feeling the desire to seek Him, He aids this person

in this path as well, and ultimately unites this person with Him. He

does all these things simultaneously to all the beings, according to

their wishes and desires.

 

For the English-speaking world, SrI cinmayAnanda's description for this

nAma is a good summary, which is similar to SrI Samkara's

interpretation: "To create a cosmos so scientifically precise and

perfect out of the five great elements, and to sustain them with an

iron hand of efficiency, all the time presiding over acts of

destruction without which the world of change cannot be maintained, is,

in itself, a colossal achievement".

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

 

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