SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - Part 7.

[Guest guest]

SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - a-calah, calah.

 

751. a-calah – a) He Who is unshakable against His enemies.

b) He Who is immutable in His nature, power, wisdom, etc.

c) He Who does not move anywhere, because He is everywhere already.

 

Om a-calAya namah.

 

The root from which the nAma is derived is cal – kampane – to stir, to

shake. That which does not move, or He Who is firm in His conviction

and action, are called a-calah.

 

a) SrI bhaTTar gives the interpretation: duryodhanAdhibhih durAtmabhih

a-bhedyah a-calah - He is called a-calah because He is not stirred by

the evil-minded duryodhana and others.

 

b) SrI Sa’nkara’s anubhavam is: na svarUpAt na sAmarthyAt na ca

j~nAnAdikAt guNAt calanam vidyate asya iti a-calah – He is Immutable,

or a-calah, because He undergoes no change in His nature, power, wisdom

or any other attributes.

 

The reader is again referred to the article that had been posted

earlier, comparing the approaches of SrI Sa’nkara dn SrI BhaTTar to the

vyAkhyAna of SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam. The difference we see in the

interpretation of the current nAma is another illustration of this

difference.

 

c) One of the interpretations that SrI cinmayAnanda gives is that

because bhagavAn is everywhere (All-pervading), and there is no place

that He is not, therefore He is a-calah. He gives the gItA Slokam 2.24

as support:

 

ac-chedyo’yam a-dAhyo’yam a-kledyo’Soshya eva ca |

nityah sarva-gatah sthANuh a-calo’yam sanAtanah ||

 

“It cannot be cleft; It cannot be burnt; It cannot be wetted and It

cannot be dried; It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable, and

primeval”.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha observes that bhagavAn Who is a-calah, has also

inculcated in all His creations, the principle of a-calattvam in some

form. Thus, for instance, the tree or plant that comes out of a given

seed is only of the same type as the seed, and not of a different type.

This dharma is not violated ever. When a fire shoots out, it is

always directed in an upward direction, and not in a downward

direction. Thus, even those that are moving and active, are bound by

His principle of a-calattvam.

 

The dharma cakram writer gives a real-world analogy to illustrate the

importance of this nAma. A small wind is able to move and shake small

plants; a bigger cyclone is able to uproot even big trees; however, a

mountain is not moved by any of these. Similarly, people who are

involved and entangled in worldly joys and sorrows are shaken up and

tossed around emotionally; even arjuna got totally confused and

disheartened when he entered the battlefield. It is very rare indeed

to find human beings who are not tossed around, because their indriya-s

control them. But he who controls his manas and indriya-s is firm in

his resolve, and he is not tossed around or shaken by happenings around

him. His mind becomes a-cala manas. The peace that comes out of this

disposition is the true peace that we should aim for.

 

752) calah – a) He Who swerves.

b) He Who moves (in the form of vAyu etc.).

c) He Who rushed out of SrI vaikunTham at the cry for help from

gajendra.

d) He Who is full of leelA-s.

 

Om calAya namah.

 

We just saw in the previous nAma that bhagavAn is a-calah. Now we see

that He is also calah, He Who swerves. His a-cala guNam or firmness

was towards His enemies; his cala guNam is reserved for His devotees.

 

 

SrI bhaTTar gives the well-known instance of His carrying arms against

bhIshma after making a promise earlier that He will never take to arms

in the mahA bhArata war. Thus, He swerved from His word, and so He was

a calah in this case. A couple of reasons are given for His breaking

His own promise. One was that He wanted to save His dear devotee,

arjuna, from the wrath of bhIshma, and so decided to go with His cakra

against bhIshma to protect arjuna. The second reason given is that

bhIshma, who was a great devotee of kRshNa, had taken an oath in front

of kRshNa the previous evening that he will fight so ferociously the

next day as to make kRshNa break His promise and take to arms; what

was at stake was the word of His devotee bhIshma, and kRshNa had to

protect the word of His devotee even if it meant that He had to break

His own promise. Making His devotee’s word come true was more

important for Him than to keep His own promise. So He took to arms,

and thus became a calah – One Who swerves for His devotee. Another

instance was His cheating jayadratha by converting day into night. The

real truth to be understood in the above instances that He is the One

who establishes what is right and what is wrong, and so by definition,

what He decides is Justice.

 

b) SrI Sa’nkara’s interpretation is that He is calah, or One Who moves,

in the form of air – vAyu rUpeNa calati iti calah.

 

c) SrI ananta kRshNa SAstry has added an interpretation that He is

called acalah because He rushed out of SrI vaikunTham to help the

elephant-king gajendra when he cried out for help.

 

d) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj uses the root cal – vilasane – to sport,

to frolic, and gives the interpretation that He has this nAma because

He is full of leelA-s – calati vilasati iti calah vilAsa leelA

sampannah.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

http://mailplus.