SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokma 83 - nivRttAtmA - Part 1.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokma 83 - nivRttAtmA - Part 1.

 

780. nivRttAtmA – a) He whose Nature is different from, and superior

to, everything else (Trasncendental Form).

b) He whose mind is turned away from worldly attachments.

(nara-nArAyaNa incarnation)

c) He who is the AtmA of those who practice the nivRtti dharma

(Bestower of benefits according to karma).

d) He whose nature is that He is free from the bonds of samsAra, even

when He takes His incarnation amongst us (kRshNa incarnation).

e) He who does not turn away from anything or anywhere because of He is

Omnipresent. (a-nivRttAtmA - Sa’nkara)

f) He Who withdraws the jIva-s into Him during pralaya

g) He Who has permeated everything completely.

h) He Who is Himself unimpacted or withdrawn with respect to the

effects of pralaya of sRshTi.

i) He whose mind turns away from any feeling of self-glory over His

kIrti or fame.

 

Om nivRttAtmane namah.

 

The nAma nivRttAtmA occurs 4 times in SrI BhaTTar’s system of

interpretation. This is one of only two nAma-s that occur this many

number of times (the other nAma is prANa-dah). The instances of the

nAma nivRttAtmA in SrI BhaTTar’s shcem of interpretation are:

 

nAma 231 (Slokam 25)

nAma 453 (Slokam 48)

nAma 604 (Slokam 64)

nAma 780 (Slokam 83)

 

SrI Sa’nkara has given the nAma-s as nivRttAtmA in Sloka-s 25 and 64,

as vimuktAmA in Slokam 48, and as a-nivRttAtmA in Slokam 83, with

nivRttAtmA being his alternate version in Slokam 83.

 

What follows is a consolidation of the previous write-ups for this

nAma. The nAma has been explained in detail in the previous three

instances, using the approach that I have taken for all other nAma-s,

namely, giving the different anubhavam-s of the different vyAkhyAna

kartA-s for the nAma in one place. We will take a look at the

vyAkhyAna for this nAma from a different perspective in the current

write-up.

 

There are two unique contributions that SrI BhaTTar has made in his

vyAkhyAnam for SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam. These are:

 

1. He has approached the elucidation for all the nAma-s with the

emphasis on bhagavAn’s guNa-s of saulabhyam and sauSIlyam towards His

devotees as the primary guNa-s of bhagavAn that are of interest from

the devotees’ perspective. SrI Sa’nakra generally gives his

interpretations with emphasis on the parattvam or Supremacy of vishNu

in his interpretations. This point has been brought out in detail in

my write-up comparing the two vyAkhyAna-s, and has been mentioned as a

reminder under different nAma-s.

 

2. SrI BhaTTar is unique in viewing the 1000 nAma-s as a collection of

44 discrete groups, each group consisting of a series of nAma-s

describing a specific incarnation or manifestation of bhagavAn. This

aspect has also been mentioned off and on during the discussion of the

nAma-s.

 

Because of the general approach I have taken throughout, of summarizing

the different anubhavam-s of several interpreters under each nAma, I

have inevitably lost the stress on the second aspect of SrI BhaTTar’as

contribution in my write-ups, even though I try to mention this aspect

off and on. In the current view of the nAma nivRttAtmA, we will

emphasize this second aspect of Sri BhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam for the four

instances of this nAma.

 

SrI BhaTTar interprets the nAma-s in the following contexts:

 

nAma 231 – as part of the group of nAmas from 226 to 247, reminiscent

of the purusha sUkta-upanishad pratipAdita virAT svarUpam.

nAma 453 – as part of the group of nAma-s from 451 to 463, describing

the nara-nArAyaNa incarnation, as the nivRtti dharma pravartaka.

nAma 604 – as part of the group of nAma-s from 590 to 606, describing

His guNa as a conferrer of benefits to jiva-s based on their karma.

nAma 780 – as part of the nAmas from 697 to 786, describing His kRshNa

incarnation.

 

The meaning for the word nivRtta is to turn away, to abstain from, to

be above worldly acts, etc.

 

a) SrI BhaTTar’s interpretation for nAma 231(in the group of nAma-s

describing the Transcendental Person described in purusha sUkatam

etc.,), is that bhagavAn’s svabhAva (Nature) is past the prAkRta

svabhAva (the ordinary nature of mortals), and the meaning given is

that His Nature as the Supreme purusha is superior to anything else,

and stands above all other things. He is the Master of the

Transcendental Glory that is thrice the glory of the material world.

He is the svAmI or Lord of all that is this Universe, and all that is

beyond this Universe.

SrI Bhattar gives the following references:

tripAdUrdhva udait-purushah - The Purusha stands eminent in the

parama-pada which has thrice the glory of the material world" - purusha

sUkta 4.

parAt-param yan-mahato mahAntam - He is greater than the greatest, more

exalted than the most exalted. - taitti. nArAyanIya 1.5.

 

SrI satya devo vAsishTha gives reference to the muNDakopanishad

passage, of two birds sitting in the same tree, one representing the

jIva and the other the Supreme Soul. His interpretation is: ni is an

upasarga; the root involved is vRt – vartane – to exist, to happen, to

live on, to occupy; or vRt – varaNe – to choose, to divide. The word

nivRtta means One Whose Nature is different – svarUpa paryAyah (SrI

vAsishTha).

 

dvA suparNA sayujA sakhAyA samAnam vRksham parishasvajAte |

tayoranyah pippalam svAdvat-anaSnan-anyo abhicAkaSIti ||

(muNDa. 2.1.)

 

The above talks of two birds, one representing the paramAtmA and the

other the jIvAtmA, one watching and shining brilliantly, while the

other enjoys the fruits of the karma. Thus it illustrates the

different nature of the superior Soul, who turns away from the

enjoyment that the jIva goes after (nivRtta - anaSnan). SrI vAsishTha

captures the spirit of the nAma through the Sloka he has composed for

describing the meaning of this nAma, just as he has composed his own

Sloka as his interpretation for each of the 1000 nAma-s:

 

ja~jne sa viSvam sa bibharti viSvam sakhA sa jIvasya samAna Sakhah |

nASnan jagaj-jAta rasAn aseshAn nivRtta mAtro’Snuta eva sarvam ||

 

“BhagavAn creates the universe and protects everything, and is a Friend

of the jIva-s and treats everything in His creation equally. He does

not consume any of the fruits of this world, but withdraws everything

into Him at the time of pralaya”.

 

b) In SrI BhaTTar’ interpretation for nAma 453 in Slokam 48 (in the

group dealing with the nara-nArAyaNa incarnation), the anubhavam is

that bhagavAn has His mind turned away from the worldly desires. Since

the nara-nArAyaNa incarnation deals with the life of austerity that He

adopted, and He taught the nivRtti dharma to nara, this is an

appropriate interpretation in this context.

 

BhagavAn appeared as nara and nArAyaNa to teach the nivRtti dharma to

the world and to practice it with extreme detachment (BhagavAn’s form

was nArAyaNa in the role of the teacher, and nara in the role of the

student). To indicate His profound detachment (parama vairAgya) to

material objects of pleasure, He had His mind withdrawn from them.

The nara-nArAyaNa avatAra as well as the nivRtti dharma are embedded in

this nAma. The avatAara emphasized nivRtti-dharma and propagated the

sacred ashtAkshara. The essence of nivRtti dharma is the realization

that nothing is done for our benefit or by us, and everything is for

the benefit of nArAyaNa and happens because of Him. We are not for us

or for someone else, but only for nArAyaNa.

 

SrI BhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam here is: parama vairAgya khyApanaAya

vishayebhyah pratyAhRta-manAh nivRttAtmA - To indicate His profound

non-attachment to material objects, He has His mind withdrawn from

them. About His meditation it is said - antarnivishTa bhAvam ca - He

who has His thoughts concentrated on Himself. Also, Atma-dhyAna

parAyaNAya - To Him who has His thoughts concentrated within Himself";

"hRd -admArpita mAnasam - Him with His mind fixed on the lotus-heart",

etc.

 

c) For nAma 604, which is in the group of nAma-s dealing with His

relation with the jIva-s in giving them the results of their karma-s,

SrI BhaTTar gives the interpretation that He has this nAma because He

is the AtmA of those who practice the nivRtti dharma, or the life of

renunciation.

 

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan elaborates on how bhagavAn is the AtmA of those who

practice the nivRtti dharma. These are the jIva-s who do not have any

interest in pravRtti dharma, and live their lives with the soul

objective of doing kaimkaryam to Him. They are not interested in any

fruit out of their action except the bhAgyam of doing kaimkaryam to

Him. BhagavAn gives them exactly that, namely He gives them His lokam

from where there is no return to samsAra - viNNulagam taruvAnAi

variaginrAn (tivuvAimozhi 10.6.3). In fact, even though bhagavAn is

AtmA of these nivRtti dharma practitioners just as He is the AtmA of

all other creations, yet He considers that these nivRtti dharma

followers as His soul that supports Him. Another name for these

practitioners of nivRtti dharmA is j~nAnI, whom bhagavAn considers as

His own soul.

 

Of the two kinds of dharma - the pravRtti dharma and the nivRtti

dharma, pravRti dharma takes us to the world of the pitR-s where we

enjoy the fruits of our karma, and come back to this world with the

balance of karma-s to our credit; nivRtti dharma is that which leads

one to moksha.

 

d) For the current instance of this nAma in the context of the kRshNa

incarnation, SrI BhaTTar’s anubhavam is that even though He took the

incarnation among us for our benefit, and even though we are deeply

immersed in pravRtti dharma, He keeps Himself in the nivRtti dharma,

and is not in any way affected by worldly things, and so He continues

to be a nivRttAtmA.

 

Thus, even though the nAma is the same, the anubhavam is related to the

context of the particular aspect of bhagavAn that is emphasized in that

context. This vision of SrI BhaTTar in recognizing the connectivity

between the different nAma-s in sequence has also naturally taken care

of the issue of avoiding punar-ukti.

 

Interpretations e) to i) will be covered in Part 2.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

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