SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokma 80 - Part 2.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 80 - mAna-dah.

 

754. mAna-dah – a) He Who honors others.

b) He Who confers rewards on His devotees, or denies rewards for the

unrighteous

 

 

(Sa’nkara)

c) He Who removes the false understanding of Atman in true seekers,

or induces a false

sense of Atman in non-seekers (Sa’nkara)

d) He Who gives spiritual enlightenment to His devotees.

e) He Who gives a measure and dimension to everything in the

Universe.

 

Om mAnadAya namah.

 

The same root that was used in the last nAma applies for the current

nAma as well.

 

a) SrI bhaTTar’s interpretation is that BhagavAn is called mAna-dah

because He always honors His devotees. He gives the instances of Lord

kRshNa’s honoring arjuna by making him the master of the chariot,

making ugrasena the Ruler and being his vassel, and making yudhisthira

the king and respecting him – arjuna ugrasena yudhisthirAdibhyo

rathitva, Adhi-rAjya , bahumAnam dattavAn mAna-dah.

 

There are numerous other instances where bhagavAn has exhibited His

guNa of being a mAna-dah. His being born as a son to daSaratha,

vasudeva, etc., are all examples where He bestows honor on these great

devotees of His.

 

b) c) SrI Sa’nkara gives multiple interpretations for the nAma:

 

- In the first of his interpretations, SrI Sa’nkara ues the meaning

AtmAbhimAnam for the word mAnam, and gives the interpretation that Lord

vishNu induces a false sense of Atman through His mAyA – He creates the

false attachment in objects that are not the self, and makes people get

attached to them as if they are the self – sva-mAyayA sarveshAm

anAtmasu mAnam AtmAbhimAnam dadAti it mAna-dah.

- His second interpretation is that vishNu is mAna-dah because He

confers rewards on His devotees – bhaktAnAm mAnam satkAram dadAti iti

vA.

- The third interpretation is that He prevents rewards to the

unrighteous – a-dharmishThAnAm mAnam sat-kAram dyati khANDayati iti.

- The last interpretation of SrI Sa’nkara is that He has this nAma

because He destroys the wrong notions of Atman in earnest seekers –

tattva-vidAm anAtmasu mAnam AtmAbhimAnam dyati khaNDayati iti vA

mAna-dah.

 

d) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj uses the meaning “citta samunnati” or

“elevation of mind” to the word mAna, and thus interprets the nAma as

meaning that He gives spiritual enlightenment to His devotees, and so

He is mAna-dah – mAnam citta-samunnatim dadAti iti mAna-dah

(mAnaS-citta samunnatih – qamara koSam).

 

e) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha uses the meaning “parimANam” or measure to

the word mAnam, and gives the interpretation that the nAma means “One

Who gives dimension to everything. SrI vAsishTha uses both the roots

dad – dAne – to give, and dau – avakhaNDane – to cut, to divide, in his

interpretation of the nAma simultaneously, and points out that bhagavAn

has this nAma because He establishes a definition of everything in this

universe by both the principles of attraction and repulsion (AkarshaNam

and vikarshaNam) to achieve this function of giving dimension to

everything (mAna-dah) – mAna dadAti AkarshaNena, mAna dyati khaNDayati

vikarshaNena. He gives the example of the various planets having their

shapes, orbits, etc., only because of this function of bhagavAn as

mAna-dah. He also points out that the very shape of the body, with its

different parts, is because of His giving dimension and definition to

all these, and thus His guNa of mAna-dah is reflected in everything we

see. SrI vAsishTha-s anubhavam of the nAma goes further, and he points

out that because bhagavAn has thus given the definition and dimension

to everything, He has shown us the principle of the airplanes through

the birds that fly, the principle of the ship etc., through the

creatures that navigate in water, etc. Water quenching fire, and fire

evaporating away water, are all instances of His giving dimension and

definition to these elements, such that everything works together in

unison.

 

Drawing from the thoughts conveyed by the dharma cakram writer, the

lesson to take from this nAma is that just as bhagavAn gives respect to

His devotees, we should learn to give respect to Him and to His

devotees, and to devote our energy to Atma vishayam, and not waste our

life and time by giving respect to things that do not deserve true

respect, such as a-dharma, injustice, etc.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

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