SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 84 - SubhA'ngah.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam – Slokam 84 - SubhA'ngah.

 

SubhA’ngo loka-sAra’ngah su-tantuh tantu-vardanah |

Indra-karmA mahA-karmA kRta-karmA kRtAgamah ||

 

Om SubhA’ngAya namah

Om loka-sAra’ngAya namah

Om su-tantave namah

Om tantu-vardhanAya namah

Om indra-karmaNe namah

Om mahAkarmaNe namah

Om kRta-karmaNe namah

Om kRtAgamAya namah

 

788. SubhA’ngah – a) He with a bewitching form that mesmerizes the

asura-s and misleads them.

b) He with an auspicious form that is meditated upon by His true

devotees.

c) He Who makes the ashTA’nga yoga successful for those who follow

this path with devotion

d) He Who has beautiful gaits

e) He Who pervades everywhere at all times with His auspicious form

f) He Who makes things functional in this Universal in a beautiful

way.

g) He Who brings the auspicious aspects such as trust in SAstra-s,

guru’s words, etc., to His devotees.

 

om SubhA’ngAya namh.

 

We studied this nAma earlier in Slokam 63 (nAma 593). The details

covered here are supplemental to the information presented for nAma

593.

 

The word a’nga refers to a limb or part of the body, a constituent part

or an essential component, a part of a division or part of anything,

etc.

 

a) SrI BhaTTar has interpreted nAma 593 as part of the description of

the auspicious qualities of bhagavAn in bestowing benefits to His

devotees according to their efforts. In that context, he uses the

meaning “a constituent part or an essential component” as the meaning

for the word a’nga. His anubhavam there was that bhagaVan is called

SubhA’ngah because He makes His devotees succeed in the eight a’nga-s

of bhakti yoga, for those who undertake this path with faith in Him

(For details, please see under Slokam 63).

 

b) For the current instance of the nAma SubhA’ngah, SrI BhaTTar

continues his interpretation in terms of bhagavAn’s Buddha incarnation.

He gives the meaning “He Who had limbs that were bewitching”, or “He

Who had a bewitching form”, in reference to the Buddha incarnation – a

form that could easily convince the asura-s that His words of deceit

were trustworthy, even though He took this form only to succeed in

misleading them by diverting them from the vedic observances. SrI

BhaTTar’s words are: “katham tAn anupravishTah? SubhA’ngah” – How did

He enter in their fold? By taking a bewitching form that made them

feel comfortable with Him and believe that He is trustworthy. This

deceitful form that He took was also one of perfection – in deceit

(vastreNa, vapushA, vAcA – by His dress, His appearance, His words,

etc., to use v.v. rAmAnujan’s quote).

 

Thus, for the two instances of the nAma SubhA’ngah, SrI BhaTTar

differentiates the interpretations by using two different meanings for

the word a’nga.

 

c) SrI Sa’nkara’s interpretations are:

- sundarIm tanum dhArayan SubhA’ngah (Slokam 63) – One Who has a

handsome form

- Sobhanaih a’ngaih dhyeyatvAt SubhA’ngah (current instance) – One Who

is to be meditated upon with a form of auspicious limbs.

 

Thus, while SrI BhaTTar interprets the nAma SubhA’ngah in its current

instance as His kapaTa vesham or deceitful form to fool the ausra-s,

SrI Sa’nkara interprets the auspicious form that is worshipped by His

true devotees. Note that both are forms taken for the benefit of His

devotees - for the destruction of His devotees’ enemies in the former

case, and for the benefit of meditation of His true devotees in the

later case.

 

SrI cinmayAnanda translates the nAma SubhA’ngah as “One with enchanting

limbs of perfect beauty”. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri refers us to the

anubhavam of His bewitching form by sage nArada and by hanuman, as

revealed to us by vAlmIki in rAmAyaNa. SrImad rAmAyaNam begins with

vAlmIki’s question to nArada: “Who is the best guNavAn, vIryavAn,

dharmaj~nah, kRtaj~nah, satya-vAkyah, and dRDha-vratah in ths world?”.

nArada responds to vAlmIki and tells him that there is no one other

than rAma, born to daSaratha, who qualifies for all these in one

Person. In three Sloka-s (bAlakANDam 1.9-11), nArada describes the

beauty of rAma’s form:

 

vipulAmso mahA-bAhuh kambugrIvo mahA-hanuh |

 

mahorasko maheshvAso gUDha-Satruh arindamah |

AjAnubAhuh su-SirAh su-lalATah su-vikramah ||

 

samah sama-vibhaktA’ngah snigdha-varNah pratApavAn |

pIna-vakshA viSAlAksho lakshmIvAn Subha-lakshaNah ||

 

“rAma is One with broad shoulders, long arms, beautiful neck, great

facial features, broad chest, great at wielding weapons, a muscular

body, one who subdues His enemies easily, long hands that reach up to

His knees, beautiful head and forehead, beautiful gait, …”.

 

In sundara kANDam, sitA pirATTi asks hanuman to describe rAma and

lakshmaNa to her, partly because she wants to make sure that hanuman

has been genuinely sent by rAma, and partly because she wants to enjoy

the anubhavam of His beauty being describes to her. In Sloka-s 9-22 of

the 35th sargam in sundara kANDam, hanuman describes the beautiful

appearance of Lord rAma.to sItA – Lord rAma Who is SubhA’ngah.

 

A similar anubhavam of His beautiful form is by SrI baladeva vidyA

bhUshaN, who gives the interpretation: SubhAni darSakAnAm

ma’ngalotpAdakAni a’ngAni caraNa-vadana nayanAdIni yasya iti SubhA’ngah

– He Who has a form that bestows auspiciousness to those who meditate

on Him - His Lotus Feet, His lotus eyes, His beautiful form etc.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha takes a different root to the interpretation.

He interprets the part a’nga based on the root agi –gatau - to go, and

gives several alternate interpretations (d, e, f).

 

d) SobhamAno a’ngati – gacchati yah sa SubhA’ngah – He Who has a

beautiful gait. (Recall the simha gati, gaja gati, etc. that peruMAL

has in SrI ra’ngam during utsava-s).

 

e) a’nganam – sArva-kAlikam sArva-deSikam ca vyApanam; Subham a’nganam

yasya sa SubhA’ngah – He Who pervades everywhere at all times with His

auspicious form

 

f) SobhAya’njagat gamayati it SubhA’ngah – He Who makes things

functional in this Universal in a beautiful way.

 

g) Using the same approach for the word a’nga, SrI baladeva vidyA

bhUshaN interprets the nAma as signifying that bhagavAn makes

accessible to the devotees the auspicious things such as the trust in

Sastra-s, the trust in the words of the AcArya-s, etc. – SubhAni guru

Sastrokti viSvAsa svapna AsvAsana lakshaNAni a’ngyati utpalambhayati

iti SubhA’ngah.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

 

 

 

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