SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 80 - Part 4.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 80 - loka-svAmI, tri-loka-dhRt.

 

756. loka-svAmI – The Master of the Universe.

 

Om loka-svAmine namah.

 

One meaning for the word svam is aiSvaryam. The amara koSa vyAkhyAnam

for svAmI is svam aiSvaryam asya asti iti svAmI. There is a pANini

sUtra, svAmin aiSvarye (5.2.126), which equates the word svAmin with

aiSvaryam. The affix Amin after the word sva comes in the sense of

lordship. aiSvaryam refers to sovereignty, Lordship, power, wealth,

etc. Thus, one interpretation for the nAma is: He is called loka-svAmI

because He is the Lord of the Universe.

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The thread in SrI bhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam is worth revisiting for the full

enjoyment of his vyAkhyAnam. BhagavAn is called amAnI (nAma 753)

because He is not proud of any of His possessions or guNa-s, He is

mAna-dah (nAma 754) because He honors His devotees, and he is mAnyah

(nAma 755) because He considers Himself worthy of respect because of

His special relationship of affections to His devotees. Now we come to

His nAma – loka-svAmI (nAma 756) – The Master of the Universe. In what

sense? According to SrI bhaTTar, it is not because of His superior

power or wealth or parattvam, but because He is the Master in

simplicity, based on the previous three nAma-s, and so He is loka-svAmI

in soulabhayam. This anubhavam of bhagavAn as living for the devotees

and acting for the devotees, is the crowning aspect of SrI bhaTTar’s

bhAshyam, which can be seen throughout the vyAkhyAnam. His

interpretation for the current nAma is: he is loka-svAmI because He is

a-mAnI, mAna-dah, and mAnyah as explained above – ka evam karmakarah?

loka-svAmI.

 

The idea that SrI bhaTTar reflects is conveyed by nammAzhvAr in

tiruvAimozhi pASuram 4.5.7:

 

enRum onRAgi ottArum mikkArgaLum, tan tanakku

inRi ninRAnai ellA ulagum uDaiyAn tannai

kunRam onRAl mazhai kAtta pirAnai….

 

The important point here that bhagavAn is not only superior because of

His parattvam, but more so because He is unique and excels everyone in

His soulabhyam by His own choice; He behaves and sees Himself as

another human being, even though in every sense He retains His

parattvam in His human incarnations – aham mAnusham manye.

 

SrI Sa’nkara’s vyAkhyAnam is that He is loka-svAmI because He is the

Lord of the fourteen worlds, the seven worlds above and the seven

worlds below – caturdaSAnAm lokAnAm IsvaratvAt loka-svAmI. SrI

rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives support from the kaushItakI Upanishad – esha

lokAdhipatih (3.9). SrI cinmayAnanda comments that He is loka-svAmI in

the sense that He is the Creator, Controller, Director, the Lord and

the Governor of all fields-of-experience of all creatures, at all

times, everywhere; He is the Consciousness that illumines matter.

 

SrI vAsishTha gives an alternate interpretation, based on “One Who has

lokam or the Universe as His svam or aiSvaryam”. Adding the affix Amin

to the word loka-svam, he derives the meaning for the nAma as “The Lord

Who has the Universe as His wealth”.

 

757. tri-loka-dhRt – a) He Who supports the three worlds (the worlds

above, the worlds below, and earth in the middle).

b) The Supporter of the three states of experience (waking, dream and

deep sleep)

 

 

Om tri-loka-dhRte namah.

 

a) SrI bhaTTar’s interpretation is that He is One Who has the burden of

responsibility for the support and nourishment of the entire Universe,

and so He is called tri-loka-dhRt – aSeshANAmapi dhAraNa poshakayoh

bhArakatvAt loka-svAmI (the root involved is dhR – dhAraNe – to hold,

to bear, to support). Because He created us, therefore He necessarily

has the burden of responsibility for supporting us, justlike the

responsibility of a father to his children.

 

SrI Sa’nkara bhAshyam is: trIn-lokAn dhArayati iti tri-loka-dhRt – The

Supporter of the three worlds.

 

b) In addition to the meaning “world” for the word “loka”, SrI

cinmayAnanda also gives an alternate interpretation where he takes

tri-loka to mean the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. He

then gives the interpretation that bhagavAn has this nAma because He is

the Supporter, in the form of Consciousness, of the three states of

experience, since without the kindling support of life in the bosom, it

would be impossible for us to have any experience.

 

Another variant of the nAma is tri-loka-dhRk. The interpretation given

is essentially the same as for tri-loka-dhRt. SrI baladeva vidyA

bhUshaN gives the interpretation – tir-loka-dRg-iti dhArakatayA

pAlakatayASca tri-lokIm dharjati gacchati iti tasya svAbhAviko’yam

dharmah – It is His dharma to sustain this universe and keep it going

by supporting and protecting all the creatures of the three worlds.

Here he uses the root dhRj – gatau – to go, to move, as the root for

this explanation. SrI satya sandha yatirAja gives the interpretation –

tri-lokAn dyu pRthivi antarikshAn dharati iti tri-loka-dhRk, where the

root dhR – dhAraNe – to hold (dharati) is used. Without getting into

intricate grammatical rules, it is difficult to distinguish between the

two versions. However, it is to be noted that SrI Sa’nkara and SrI

bhaTTar have explained the nAma using the version tri--loka-dhRt, and

SrI satya sandha yatirAja has explained the nAma as tri-loka-dhRk.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

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