SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 86 - sarva-vAg-ISvara-ISvarah.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 86 - sarva-vAg-ISvara-ISvarah.

 

808. sarva-vAg-ISvara-ISvarah – The Lord of all who have a mastery

over all words.

 

Om sarva-vAg-ISvara-IsvarAya namah.

 

He Who is the Lord of all who have mastery over vAk or speech is

sarva-vAg-ISvara-ISvarah – The ISvara of those who are "sar-vAg-

ISvara-s". The different interpreters give different anubhavam-s on

who these "masters over speech" are.

 

SrI BhaTTar continues his interpretation in terms of bhagavAn's

Buddha incarnation. He interprets the nAma as signifying that

bhagavAn was the clear winner over the "learned masters" among the

rAkshasa-s in arguments and disputations. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan

comments that vAcaspati is known for piling points after points in

support of his position in any argument. That skill of vAcaspati is

but a tiny fraction of bhagavAn's power. The point to be kept in

mind here is that in his Buddha incarnation, bhagavAn was advancing

arguments to promote nAstikam among the asura-s, and so his arguments

in the current context were not consistent with the SAstra-s.

 

SrI Sa'nkara interprets sarva-vAg-ISvara as a reference to brahmA,

and since bhagavAn is the Lord of brahmA, He has the nAma saarva-vAg-

ISvara-ISvarah. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri points out that brahmA with

his four faces and four mouths, gives the veda-s to the rest of the

world, and so he is sarva-vAgISvaran, and he got this power from

bhagavAn, the sarva-vAg-ISvara-ISvara.

 

SrI satya sandha yatirAja considers the reference of the

phrase "sarva-vAg-ISvara to rudra, and so describes the namA as

indicating that He is the Lord of rudra: sarveshAm vAcah sarva-vAcah

tAsAm Isvarasya rudrasya ca ISvaratvAt sarva-vAg-ISvara-ISvarah.

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN lists brahma, rudra, etc., as those

learned in the SAstra-s, and bhagavAn being the Lord of all of them,

has this nAma – sarvAh SrutyAdilakshaNA vAco yatra sa sarva-vAk;

nikhila SAstra pratipAdya ityarthah; yata ISvara-ISvara vidhi-

rudrAdi niyAmakah. Same idea is reflected in SrI kRshNa datta

bhAradvAj's interpretation – sarveshAm vAg-ISvarANAm sura-guru-

druhiNAdInAm ISvarah – SastA iti sarva-vAg-ISvara-ISvarah.

 

SrI cinmayAnanda quotes the kenopanishad passage where the question

is first asked: keneshitAm vAcam imam vadanti – At whose behest do

people utter speech?, and the answer is given: tadeva brahmam tad

viddhi – It is Brahman from which all these arise. SrI cimnayAnanda

explains the nAma thus: "It is not the instruments of actions and

perceptions that act by themselves, as they are all made up of inert

matter. The immediate animation to the equipment is given by

the `inner instruments'. Therefore, for all the sense-organs, the

mind-intellect-equipment is their immediate lord. But these subtle

instruments themselves get their dynamism to act only in the presence

of SrI nArAyaNa".

 

SrI vAsishTha comments that the gods or devatA-s for speech and sound

are vAcaspati, agni, vidyut, etc., and He is the Lord of all those

gods who are the gods of vAk, and so He is called sar-vAg-ISvara-

ISvarah – sarva vAgISvarANAm api ISvarah. SrI vAsishTha comments

that even though there are a large number of species, each with its

own unique structure of the organs that produce sound from them, all

of these originate from Him, and ultimately subside in Him.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan