SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - Part 4.

[Guest guest]

SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - mahoragah.

 

679. mahoragah - a) He Who is great, and enters into our heart (uras).

b) He Who has a great heart (uras), and blesses us.

c) He Who manifests Himself in the form of the great serpent ananta,

vAsuki, etc.

d) He Who has the serpent ananta as His bed.

e) he Who traverses everywhere in the form of the Sun with His broad

chest.

 

Om mahoragAya namah.

 

a) SrI BhaTTar derives his interpretation by using the combination mahA

+ urah + gah. Uras refers to chest, and in this context it refers to

the heart within us. urah pradarSitam hRdayam, yad-dvArA tAn (adIyAn)

gaccgati iti mahoragah - He is called mahoragah because He reaches us

who are small like a particle of dust compared to Him, through our

hearts. SrI BhaTTar poses the rhetorical question: "How does He enter

our heart?", and gives the answer that He enters our heart the same way

the material objects of pleasure enter our heart, namely through our

indriya-s. We see His form through our eyes, we hear His praise

through our ears, etc., and He slowly gets into our heart through our

own indriya-s, and occupies it after displacing our materialistic

desires from our hearts.

 

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives several references to prabandham in support of

SrI BhaTTar's interpretation: "vandAi! En manam pugundAi, manni

ninRAi, nandAda kozhum SuDarE! E'ngaL nambi!" - tiruma'ngai AzhvAr,

tirumozhi 1.10.9; "eNNam pugundu tittikkum amudE! imaiyOr adhipatiyE" -

tiruvAimozhi 6.10.3; "muttanAr mukundanAr pugundu tammuL mEvinAr;

ettinAl iDar kaDal kiDatti? Ezhai ne'njamE" - tiruccanda. 115; "vandu

aruLi en ne'nju iDam koNDa vAnavar kozhundu" - tiruvAi. 5.7.7.

 

b) While SrI BhaTTar interprets uras as referring to our heart, the

term can also refer to His great heart in blessing the lowest of

creatures - mahatA urasA hRdayena gacchati sva-bhaktam mucukundam iti

mahoragah (Sri baladeva vidyA bhUshaN). SrI vidyA bhUshaN uses the

term "bhakta praNayittvam", or love for the devotee, to describe the

significance of this nAma. He gives examples of Lord rAma's getting

into guha's heart by His Ali'nganam or embrace, His showing His

magnanimous heart in performing the last rites for jaTAyu, and His

showing His great affection for His devotee by accepting the fruits

offered by SabarI.

 

c) uragah means serpent. The snake or serpent moves around on its

chest (uras), and so it is called uragah - urasA gacchati iti uragah.

SrI Samkara uses this meaning for urgah, and gives the interpretation

that bhagavAn manifests Himself in the form of the great serpent

vAsuki, and so He is called mahoragah. He supports his interpretation

with the quote from gItA 10.28 - sarpANAmapi vAsukih. Lord kRshNa also

declares that He is ananta among the many-hooded serpents -

anataScAsmi nAgAnAm (10.29), and based on this, SrI cinmayAnanda

interprets the nAma as indicating that He has this nAma because He

manifests Himself in the form of ananta.

 

d) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj suggests that the nAma is suggestive of

His having ananta as His bed - mahAn - mahanIyah, uragah - anantah,

SayyA-rUpeNa yasya iti mahoragah.

 

e) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha uses the same etymological approach as SrI

BahTTar (mahA + uras+ gah), but comes up with the interpretation that

He is mahoragah because He moves relentlessly with His great (broad?)

vaksha-sthalam (chest), in the form of the Sun.

 

In passing, I would like to point out that most of SrI satyadevo

vAsishTha's interpretations are based on an assmption of identity

between Lord vishNu and the Sun, even though I have not represented his

interpretations in this view. The significant value I have derived

from his vyAkhyAnam is the very detailed etymological derivation of

each nAma, which is thorough, with references to the pANini sUtra-s,

and detailed vedic references. In this aspect, his vyAkhyAnam in

superb.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more

http://games./