SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - Part 6.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - SUnyah, ghRtASIh.

 

749. SUnyah – a) He Who is devoid of defects when He takes births as

one of us.

b) He Who is without any attributes (advaita interpretation)

c) He Who goes everywhere, or is present everywhere.

d) He Who celans out everything at the time of pralaya.

e) He Who is not accessible when we seek Him through our senses.

 

Om SUnyAya namah.

 

The word SUnyam means empty, void, etc. The nAma is interpreted by

different vyAkhyAna kartA-s in terms of His being devoid of defects,

His destroying everything completely at the time of pralaya, His

ridding His enemies completely without trace, etc.

 

a) SrI bhaTTar’s interpretation is that He has this nAma because He was

without any trace of any type of defect even though He took human

incarnations. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to nammAzhvAr’s

tiruvAimozhi pASuram 3.10.6:

 

tuyar il SuDAroLi tannuDaic cOdi ninRa vaNNam niRkavE

tuyarin maliyum maniSar piRaviyil tOnRik kaN kANa vandu

tuyara’ngaL Seidu tan deiva nilai ulagil puga uykkum ammAn

tuyaram il SIrk kaNNan mAyan pugazh tuRRa yAn Or tunbam ilanE.

 

BhagavAn is without any trace of defect, and this is well accepted.

But He takes birth among the grief-stricken human beings. Even so, He

continues to have all His parattvam intact in His incarnations, and so

He is without any defect. He takes these births so that He is

accessible to the people. He continues to torture His enemies through

His weapons etc., and He continues to torture His devotees because of

even the minutest separation from Him. But for nammAzhvAr there is no

tuyaram in this world because he is constantly having the anubhavam of

His thought.

 

svAmi deSikan describes the six rahasya-s of bhagavAn’s incarnations,

in his SaraNAgati dIpikA, Slokam 17: 1) nAnA-vidhaih (they are of

different types, e.g., matsya, nArasimha, kRshNa, etc.), 2) a-kapaTaih

(they are all His true Forms, not just appearances), 3)

ajahat-svabhAvaih (He is full of all His qualities of parattvam during

these incarnations, 4) a-prAkRtaih (His tirumeni during His

incarnations are made of suddha-sattva, and not of the pa’nca bhUtas as

in the case of His creations); 5) nija vihAra vaSena siddhaih (These

Forms are not a result of pUrva karma, as is in our case; they are

assumed as part of His leelA, by His own Free Will); 6) AtmIya raksha,

vipaksha vinASanArthaih (They are assumed for the protection of His

devotees, and for the destruction of their enemies, and not for the

expiation of the karma accumulated in previous countless births as in

our case). It is clear that bhagavAn is a Big Zero when it comes of to

any form of defect even when He is born among us humans!

 

SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives the interpretation that the nAma

signifies that bhagavAn is completely devoid of anay guNa-s associated

with prakRti – prAkRta guNa virahitatvAt SUnyah, which is item 4 in

svAmi deSika’s list above.

 

b) SrI Sa’nkara’s interpretation is a reflection of his advaita

philosophy – He is called SUnyah because He is devoid of any attributes

– sarva viSesha rahitatvAt SUnyavat SUnyah.

 

c) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha uses the root Sun – gatau – to go, and

interprets the nAma as referring to “One Who goes everywhere, or is

everywhere” (Sunati prApto bhavati sarvatra iti SUnyo vishNuh). He

points out that kham – the word for sky, also means “void” or “a

cipher”. It is because there is a void that a motion or movement from

another place to this void is possible, and thus void leads to motion,

and motion leads to void. He points out the importance of SUnya by

reminding us how the number “1” undergoes a ten-fold increase in value

by the placement of just a SUnyam next to it in the number system.

 

d) SrI satyasandha yatirAja gives the interpretation that He is SUnyah

because He clears out everything in this universe with nothing left, at

the time of pralaya - pralaya kAle sarva padArtha SUnyatvAt SUnyah.

 

e) The dharma cakram writer gives yet another anubhavam: bhagavAn is

called SUnyah because He is not accessible to our senses, no matter how

much we try. We are used to believing that something exists only if we

can relate to it through our senses. He is not accessible to the

senses, and so He is SUnyah.

 

750. ghRtASIh – a) He Who sprinkles the world with prosperity

b) He Who is desirous of the butter in the gopis’ houses.

c) He from Whom all desires have flown away.

d) He Who enjoys the offering of ghee in the homa etc.

 

Om ghRtASishe namah.

 

The two parts that make up this nAma are ghRtam and ASIh. There are

several meanings for the word ghRtam - secanam, ksharaNam, dIpanam vA

ghRtam – sprinkling, flowing, or shining. ghRtam also refers to ghee

or butter. The word ASIh is derived from the root A’ng – SAsu –

icchAyAm – to expect, to bless. The different combinations result in

the different interpretations.

 

a) SrI bhaTTar derives his interpretation using the meaning ghR –

secane – to sprinkle, to cover. SrI bhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam is – ghRtam –

secanam, sva-guNaih jagat ApyAyanam - He makes the world prosperous by

means of His benevolent qualities.

 

b) An alternate interpretation given by SrI bhaTTar is based on the

meaning "ghee or butter" for the word ghRtam. Since He has great

desire (ASAsti) for the butter (ghRtam) in the gopis’ homes, He is

called ghRta-ASIh - gopa gRha gavye ASAstih asya iti ghRtASIh (ghRte

ASIh kAmo yasya sa ghRtASIh).

 

c) SrI Sa’nkara’s interpretation is: ghRtAh vigalitAh Asishah

prArthanAh asya iti ghRtASIh – He of non-existent requests is ghRtASIh.

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri paints a picture of this guNa by pointing out

that “the qualities of desiring something, seeking someone’s grace to

get it, receiving it from someone, etc., which are common sequences for

many of us in day-to-day life, have melted away like ghee, and dripped

off or oozed out from Him, and so He is devoid of all these qualities

of need, want, etc”.

 

d) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the interpretations that He is

ghRtASIh because He desires or enjoys the offerings of ghRtam or ghee

in the fire offerings; or, He is ghRtASIh because He likes the

offering in the form of a lighted dIpam.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

 

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