SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 83 - nivRttAtA - Part 2.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam – Slokam 83 - nivRttAtmA.

 

SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 83 - nivRttAtmA - Part 2.

 

(The following list has been revised, and is slightly different from

the one posted yesterday. So it is included here).

 

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 Whose Mind turns away from sacrifices that are performed by those

who are not qualified.

i) He Who is Himself unimpacted or withdrawn with respect to the

effects of pralaya of sRshTi.

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

kIrti or fame.

 

Om nivRttAtmane namah.

 

(Interpretations a to d were posted yesterday. This is the

continuation).

 

For the rest of the write-up, new information that was not included in

the previous write-ups is included below.

 

SrI Sa’nkara’s interpretation in Slokam 25 is that bhagavAn is called

nivRttAtmA because He is free from the bonds of worldly life – The

unbound Self – samasAra-bandhAn nivRtta AtmA savrUpam asya iti

nivRttAtmA. SrI BhaTTar’s interpretation a) above is along the same as

lines as this. For the incidence of the nAma in Slokam 48, SrI Samkara

vyAkhyAnam is – svabhAvato vishayebhyo nivRtta AtmA manah asya iti

nivRttAtmA – He turns away from material pleasures naturally. SrI

BhaTTar’s interpretation b) is along the same lines, even though SrI

BhaTTar links the guNa to His nara-nArAyaNa incarnation specifically.

 

e) For the current instance, SrI Sa’nkara uses the pATham a-nivRttAtmA,

and then gives the interpretation that because He is present

everywhere, there is no turning away from anything for Him, and so He

is a-nivRttAtmA.

 

New interpretations (f, g, and h) that have not been presented earlier

are from satya sandha yatirAja:

 

f) nivRttAAtmAno yena pralaya iti – He is nivRttAtmA because He

withdraws the AtmA-s (jIva-s) into Him during pralaya.

 

g) ni – nitarAm – wholly, completely; vRttah – sakala vishayeshu

pravRttah – exists in everything; One Who exists in everything, On Who

has permeated everything completely.

 

h) ayogya-kRta ya~jnAdibhyo nivRtto vA AtmA mano yasya sa nivRttAtmA –

He Whose mind turns away from the sacrifices that are made by those who

are not authorized or not qualified to perform these sacrifices.

 

i) For the instance of the nAma in Slokam 64, SrI vAsishTha uses the

meaning “asa’nga - unassociated with” for the word nivRtta, and gives

the interpretation that bhagavAn is called nivRttAtmA because at the

time of pralaya He is not impacted by the effect of pralaya (i.e., He

does snot cease to exist), and at the time of creation He is not

impacted by the effect of creation (that is, He is not created). So He

is unassociated with the effects of the pralaya, sRshTi, etc. –

bhagavAn vishNuh sRshTi kAle pralaya kAle ca sRshTim pralayau

yathA-kramam vidadhadapi, sva-svarUpavato nivRttAtmA bhavati asa’ngah,

pralaya kAle vA sRshTer nivartata iti nivRttAtmA vishNurukto bhavati.

 

j) SrI rAmAnujan also gives his anubhavam of bhagavAn's detachment from

any feeling of self-glory over His greatness. Here He is, creating

this great wonder with all its innumerable creatures and all the

planets and the different worlds. He is the svAmi of all these worlds

- vIRRirundu Ezhulagum tanik kOl Sella; varambilAda mAyai mAya!.

varambilAda kIrtiyAi! (tiruccanda viruttam 96). With all this

greatness, one would expect that He should have some attachment of

ownership to His wonderful creation, and pride of this great creation

of His. Yet, He does not have any of this sense of pride, and is only

interested in our welfare instead, in whatever He does. Such is His

greatness. In this sense also, bhagavAn is nivRttAtmA.

 

SrI cinmayAnanda observes that the significance of the nAma lies in

indicating to us that we have to detach our mind from sense indulgences

in order to realize Him. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri notes that bhagavAn is

the only one who can retrieve those who are attached to all kinds of

material and sense objects, because He is the only one who is not

attached to anything. Only the one who is not stuck in the mud can

retrieve one who is stuck in it.

 

The writer in dharma cakram points out that the significance of this

nAma is to realize that we should live a life with detachment in

material objects in order to realize the Truth, and meditating on this

nAma of mahA vishNu will help us live that kind of life. Meditating on

the Lord who has no attachments will lead us to live a life without

attachment. He gives the life of Lord Rama as an example of the life of

nivRttAtmA.

SrI Sa’nkara pATham:

As indicated earlier, for the four instacvne of nivRttAtmA in SrI

BhaTTar’s scheme of interpretation, the corresponding treatment by SrI

Sa’nakara is the use of the nAma nivRttAtmA in Sloka-s 25 and 64,

vimuktAtmA in Slokam 48, and a-nivRttAtmA in Slokam 83. The adoption

of a specific pATham by a given vyAkhyAna kartA can be for one of the

following reasons:

1. It may be a result of the specific anubhavam that these great

devotees of nArAyaNa have, and the way they feel the enjoyment of the

nAma.

2. In addition to the above, the specific pATham may give a beneficial

edge in providing an interpretation that supports the specific

philosophy that the particular vyAkhyAna kartA propounds or follows.

3. Adopting different pAThams may be a way of avoiding the issue of

punar-ukti (repetition or redundancy).

SrI Sa’nkara’s interpretations for the above nAma-s in Sloka-s 25, 48,

63 and 83 respectively, do not seem to suggest that he has adopted the

pATham that he has chosen, for illustration of any specific advaita

philosophy related issues. So it can be assumed that his choice is

more a reflection of 1 and/or 3 above.

 

vimuktAtmA:

 

a) He Who is a naturally free Soul, since He is never born, not touches

by effects of karma, etc.

b) He Who liberates the souls or jIva-s.

 

SrI Sa’nkara’s alternate pATham in Sloka-s 48 is vimuktAtmA. We did not

cover this as part of Slokam 48, and so we will cover this here.

The root involved is muc – mokshaNe – to set free, to leave, to

abandon. Vi is an uapasarga.

a) The interpretation given by SrI Sa’nkara is: svabhAvena vimukta AtmA

yasya iti vimuktAtmA – One Who is naturally free. SrI rAdhAkRshNa

SAstri gives the interpretation that the nAma stands for One Who has

attained “viSesha mukti”, or liberation in a unique or special way.

BhagavAn is naturally free in a unique way since He does not have birth

and its associated avidyA, desire, etc., like every one else does. He

is not affected by karma, the three guNa-s, etc. SrI cinmayAnanda

translates the nAma as “The ever-liberated Self”.

b) SrI satya sandha yatirAja, a follower of the dvaita tradition, also

uses the pATham as vimuktAtmA here, and gives an interpretation

different from SrI Sa’nkara – vimuktA AtmAno jIvA yena iti vimuktAtmA –

He by Whom the jIva-s are liberated or released is vimuktAtmA.

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha observes that there is essentially no

difference in the meaning of the words vimuktAtmA and nivRttAtmA.

The dharma cakram writer describes the four kinds of karma – nitya,

naimittika, kAmya, and nishiddha. nitya karma-s are (such as trikAka

sandhyAvandanam) those which are to be done necessarily; doing them

does not accumulate puNya, but not doing them accumulates papa.

Performance of naimittika karma-s (such as observance of ekAdaSi) will

lead to specific benefits. Acts that are done with specific desire for

benefits (such as special sacrificial rites undertaken with specific

benefits in mind) are called kAmya karma-s. The nishiddha karma-s are

the ones that are forbidden. BhagavAn is not subject to the effects of

any type of karma, because He does not undertake any karma for His

benefit; whatever He does is for the benefit of the jIva-s.

a-nivRttAtmA:

SrI Sa’nkara’s interpretation for this version is that bhagavAn is

a-nivRttAtmA, One Who never turns away from anything, because He is in

everything and everywhere – sarvatra vartamAnatvAt s-nivRttah kuto’pi

a-nivRttAtmA. Not too many other interpreters have used this version.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

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