SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - Part 5.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - vishamah.

 

748. vishamah – a) He of unequal (conflicting) acts towards His

devotees vs. His enemies

b) He for Whom there is no equal.

c) He Who destroyed the effect of the poison that was consumed by rudra

during the churning of the Milk Ocean.

 

Om vishamAya namah.

 

The word vi-shamah is derived by the combination: vi + samah = vishamah

– vigatah samo yasya iti vi-shamah – One Who is devoid of equals is

vishamah. When the prefix vi is combined with the word samah, the sa

becomes sha according to pANini sUtra 8.3.88 (ashTAdhyAyI) –

su-vi-nir-durbhyah supi, sUti, samAh – The s of svap, sUti, and sama,

is changed to sh after su, vi, nir, and dur.

 

a) SrI bhaTTar’s anubhavam is that His guNa of vi-samam reflects in His

conflicting behavior in His treatment of the good vs. the bad. His

interpretation is that bhagavAn is “One with unpredictable and

conflicting acts” – vi-samah, because He acts in different ways with

different persons. He is very benevolent with His devotees, and He is

fearsome and terrific with those who are offenders of dharma.

 

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to tiruvAimozhi 2.6.1, where nammAzhvAr

describes this guNa of bhagavAn: “vaikunthA maNi vaNNanE en pollAt

tiruk kuraLA …… Sei kundA varum tImai un aDiyArkkut tIrttu aSurarkkut

tImaigaL Sei kundA!

 

nammAzhvAr names some of His “viDam’ngaL’ in tiruvAimozhi pASuram

7.8.3: “Sittirat tEr valavA! Tiruc-cakkarattAi!….ivai enna

viDama’ngaLE!” He was the charioteer for arjuna in the mahAbhArata

war. As arjuna’s charioteer, He will either depress the whole chariot

slightly or raise it slightly, such that the arrows of bhIshma aimed at

arjuna will miss him, and the arrows of arjuna meant of the enemies

will hit their targets without fail. In the war between arjuna and

jayadratha, He just wielded His cakra to interchange day and night, so

that jayadratha who was hiding till he thought the sun had set, could

be eliminated by arjuna. These are just some instances of His

“viDama’ngaL” .

 

The same idea is conveyed by SrI baladeva vidyAbhUshaN, who gives the

interpretation “bhakta pakshapAtittvAt” vishamah – Because He is biased

towards His devotees, He is called vi-samah.

 

b) SrI Sa’nkara’s interpretation is that He is vishamah because He has

no equal in any sense, and He transcends everything – samo na asya

vidyate sarva-vilakshNatvAt iti vishamah. He refers us to arjuna’s

words from bhagavad-gItA:

 

pitA’si lokasya carAcarasya tvamasya pUjyasSca gurur-garIyAn |

na tvat-samosti abyadhikah kuto’nyo loka-trayepyapi apratimaprabhAva

||

 

(11.43)

 

“You are the Father of this world, of all that moves and that does not

move. You are its Teacher and the One most worthy of reverence. There

is none equal to You. How then can there be another greater than You

in the three worlds, O Being of matchless greatness?”

 

nammAzhvAr describes perumAL in his tiruvAimozhi as “ottAr mikkArai

ilaiyAya mA-mAyA (2.3.2)” – “You are a mA-mAyan without a peer or a

superior”.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha comments that it is precisely this vishama guNa

of bhagavAn that He reflects in all His creation – no two creations are

exactly identical in all respects, and every single creation is unique.

No two children of any parent are identical, and nothing is identical

to another in this universe consisting of countless creations. As has

been indicated in a few places before, SrI vAsishTha, who explains the

intricate grammatical basis for each of the nAma-s in great detail,

also has composed a Slokam for each nAma explaining the significance of

the nAma, in addition to giving a detailed vyAkhyAnam. His Slokam for

the current nAma is:

 

sa vishNureko vishamah purANah karoti viSvam vishamam svabhAvAt |

tamAnukurvan vishamam pravRttA sampat vipac-cApi jagat prasRptA ||

 

“The purAna purusha, vishNu, is distinct from everyone else, and is

distinct. Consistent with this guNa of His, He has also created

everything else such that nothing is same as another in His creation.

This guNa is spread not only in species of different kinds, but also in

members of the same kind”.

 

c) SrI satya sandha yatirAja gives the interpretation that He has the

nAma vishamah because He nullified the effect of the poison that was

consumed by rudra during the churning of the Milk Ocean (visham rdura

pItam mInAti hanti sva-nAma-smaraNena iti vish-mah. The root mI –

himsAyAm – to kill, to lesson, to change, to be lost is used in this

interpretation).

 

The dharma cakram writer gives several examples to illustrate that

bhagavAn is unique and without anyone to compare to Him – vi-samah. 1)

He is hRshIkeSan – One Who is unexcelled in His control of His

indriya-s, and even more so, He is the sole Controller of all our

indriya-s. b) He is keSavan, KeSi nishUdanan, madhu sUdanan, etc. In

other words, there is no one comparable to Him in assisting the deva-s

when they are harassed by the asura-s, and in destroying the asura-s.

c) He is govindan, since there is no one comparable to Him in knowing

the nature of the jIva-s. d) He is janArdanan; there is no one as

determined and powerful as He is in chastising the wicked people. e)

He is vishNu; He pervades everything and He is everywhere. Without

Him nothing exists and functions. f) He is yogISa and yogavidAm netA –

The best among the yogi-s and the Leader of all those who follow the

path of yoga. g) He is bhagavAn, who is unique in His shad-guNya

paripUrNattvam – the qualities of j~nAna, Sakti, bala, aiSvarya,

vIrya, and tejas. h) He is acyuta, Who neither slips from His vow, nor

lets His devotees slip away from their goal. These are just a few

instances that bring out His vi-samattvam, and so He is known as

vishamah.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

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