SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 83 - dur-labhah, dur-gamah, dur-gah, dur-AvAsah - Part 1.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 83 -

dur-labhah, dur-gamah. dur-gah,dur-AvAsah - Part 1.

 

783 to 786. dur-labhah, dur-gamah, dur-gah, dur-AvAsah.

 

Om dur-labhAya namah, or dur-gamAya namah, dur-gAya namah, om

dur-AvAsAya namah.

 

The next four nAma-s: dur-labhah, dur-gamah, dur-gah, dur-AvAsah have

similar meanings. In fact, the one-line translation in English given

by SrI Srinivasa Raghavan is almost identical for the first three of

these:

 

- dur-labhah – He Who is difficult to be attained.

- dur-gamah – He Whom it is impossible to attain.

- dur-gah - He Who cannot be entered into.

- dur-AvAsah – He Whose place of residence is not easy to attain.

 

At first look, the above meanings seem very similar. So here we have

another opportunity to enjoy how SrI BhaTTar and SrI Sa’nkara deal with

the interpretation of the nAma-s such that there is no redundancy.

 

First, let us look at SrI BhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam. The general idea that

is being described is that He is difficult to attain. This may be

because of

 

a) Deficiencies in the approach of the seeker;

b) Attributes that pertain to the Sought, that make it difficult to

access Him;

c) Barriers between the seeker and the sought;

d) The limitations imposed by the place where the person that is sought

is located.

 

These are precisely the four aspects that SrI BhaTTar addresses, and

assigns one of these for each nAma, each of which contributes to the

difficulty in His unattainability. Thus once again he has nicely

handled the issue of avoiding punar-ukti in the interpretation.

 

783a. dur-labhah - He Who is difficult to attain for those who are not

single-minded in their devotion to Him.

 

The root involved is labh – prAptau – to get. SrI BhaTTar gives the

interpretation that bhagavAn is difficult to attain for those who are

not single-minded in their devotion to Him - ajitendriya dushprApo

dur-labhah sa ca kathyate – He is not easy to access to those who have

not controlled their indriya-s. SrI BhaTTar gives support from vishNu

dharma and from mahAbhArata:

 

- tasyApyanya manaskasya sulabho na janArdanah” (vishNu dharma 73.6) –

janArdana is not within easy reach of those who have their minds after

things other than Him.

- aprApyah keSavo rAjan! Indriyaih ajitaih nRNAm (mahAbhA. udyoga.

78.21) – O King! KeSava cannot be attained by men if their senses are

not conquered by them.

 

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to nammAzhvAr pASuram – tiruvAimozhi

1.3.1: pattuDai aDiyavarkku eLiyavan, piRargaLukku ariya vittagan –

“He is easy to access to the devotees who worship Him as their Lord,

but for others, He is not easily accessible”.

 

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN refers us to the following, which indicates

how difficult it is for one to get to follow the path of bhakti:

 

janmAntara sahsreshu tapo dAna samAdhibhih |

narANAm kshINa pApAnAm kRshNe bhaktih prajAyate ||

 

It takes countless births of austerities and other good deeds before a

human being is rid of sins and develops devotion to kRshNa.

 

784a. dur-gamah – He Who is difficult to attain because of His

Effulgence.

 

The root involved in this nAma is gam –gatau – to go. The meaning

given by SrI BhaTTar is “He to whose nearness One cannot go”. SrI

BhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam here is: dur-gamah – netra durbalAnAm iva

madhyAhna bhAskarah apradhRshya tejAh daNDA pUpikayA dur-gamah – Just

as the mid-day sun cannot be seen by men with weak eyes, so also

bhagavAn who is endowed with the brilliance and splendor of a thousand

suns, cannot be accessed by weak-minded people. (SrI BhaTTar invokes

the “daNDa pUpikA” nyAayam here, to reinforce his point: If a cake

with some sticks embedded in the cake is left in a room, and if someone

declares that sticks have been eaten away by rats, then it goes without

saying that the cake has been eaten by the rats too. So also, if a

trivial sun cannot be seen by our eyes, need we say anything about our

seeing bhagavAn with the radiance of a thousand such suns).

 

785a. dur-gah – He Who is separated from us by our avidyA which acts

like a fortress between Him and us.

 

The root is the same as for the above nAma: gam – gatau – to go. Here

SrI BhaTTar ascribes His inaccessibility because of curtains or

protections that are too difficult for us to go through, in the form of

our a-vidyA or Nescience: avidyA AvaraNaih dush-praveSaSca dur-gah.

The term dur-gah usually refers to a fortification for a fortress, such

as a moat. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives the derivation – duhkenApi gantum

aSakyah – One Who cannot be reached even with difficulty.

 

SrI cinmayAnanda translates the nAma as “Not easy to storm into” (kkep

in mind that one meaning for the word dur-gah is fort). He observes

that the essence of nArAyaNa is fortressed around by the matter

vestures and their objects of fascination. Attracted by them, our

attention is always distracted towards the joy contents in them. This

seducing power of the matter vestures is itself the mighty mAyA, which

is crossed over only by very rare, courageous, and blessed ones”. He

gives reference to the gItA:

 

daivI hyeshA guNamayI mama mAyA duratyayA |

mAmeva ye prapadyante mAyAm etAm taranti te || (gItA 7.14)

 

“This divine mAyA of Mine consisting of the three guNa-s is hard to

overcome; but those who take refuge in Me alone shall pass beyond this

mAyA”.

 

The upanishads say that the Truth cannot be perceived by the senses,

imagined by the mind, or thought of by the intellect. These being the

only source of our knowing, it seems almost impossible to realize the

Truth – yato vAco nivartante… (tait. upa. 2.9.1). SrI cinmayAnanda

reminds us that “He is in our heart, but even then He is not easily

realized”.

 

786a. dur-AvAsah – He Whose place of residence is not easy to attain.

 

Here SrI BhaTTar refers to the sheer inaccessibility of parama padam

for us, and thus the impossibility of accessing Him in this birth to

perform kaimkaryam to Him in parama padam – evam ca dUre dushkarah

tat-pada AvAsa iti dur-AvAsah.

 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri indicates that there is a version “dUr-AvAsah”

also in use, and then it means “One Who is far, far, away, and thus is

not easily accessible”.

 

-To be continued.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

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