SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 87 - sarvaj~nah.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 87 - sarvaj~nah.

 

821. sarvaj~nah: a) He Who knows all.

b) He Who knows all the needs of all His devotees.

 

Om sarvaj~nAya namah.

 

This nAma occurred earlier in Slokam 48 - nAma 454.

 

a) In Slokam 48, SrI BhaTTar gives the interpretation that bhagavAn

is sarvaj~nah because He knows that He is the antaryAmI in

everything – tathA sarvAtmanA AtmAnam jAnAti iti sarva~jnah. SrI

rAdhAkRshNa SAstri refers to us bRhadAraNya Upanishad, which conveys

this message: idam sarvam yad ayam AtmA (bRha. 6.5.7). He knows

that He is the best means and the best end (best upAyam and best

upeyam). SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to nammAzhvAr's tiruvAimozhi

4.7.7, where AzhvAr refers to emperumAn as "nirainda j~nAna mUrti" –

sarvaj~nan.

 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri has given several additional references to the

Sruti where Supreme Brahman is referred to as sarvaj~nah:

 

- yah sarvaj~nah sarvavit (muNDakopanishad 1.1.9);

- sa sarvaj~nah sarvo bhavati (praSna 4.10);

- esha sarveSvara esha sarvaj~nah (mANDUkya 6);

- sa viSvakRt siSvavid Atmayonih j~nah kAlakAlo guNI

sarvavidyah (SvetASva. 2.6.2,16).

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha comments that as the Maker of everything that

exists (the Creator), He knows the in and out of everything there is

to know about everything. He gives several Sruti references, where

He is referred to as "One Who knows everything":

 

- tvam indra asi viSva-jit sarva-vit puruhUtas-tvam=indra |

(atharva. 17.1.111)

- sa no bandhur-janitA sa vidhAtA dhAmAni veda bhuvanAni viSvA

| ( yajur. 32.10)

- yo nah pitA janitA yo vidhAtA dhAmAni veda bhuvanAni viSva |

(Rg. 10.82.3)

- yas-thishThati carati yaSca va'ncati yo nilAyam carati yah

prata'nkam |

dvau sannishadya yan-mantrayete raja tad veda varuNas-tRtIyah

|| (atharva. 4.26.2)

 

SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj brings out the significance of the "all-

knowing" aspect through the following words –

SrI bhagavAn hi sarvam sarvatra sarvadA sarvathA ca jAnAti – He knows

everything, always, everywhere, through

all means. He is the Only One Who knows the past, present and the

future – bhUta-bhavad-bhavishyAdInAm

j~nAnam. He is inside everyone and everything. All the bodies and

all the souls are His body, and nothing is beyond His reach. His

sarva~jnatvam thus covers everything that is known, and everything

there is to know.

 

b) While SrI BhaTTar's anubhavam for the previous instance of this

nAma (in Slokam 48) was that He knows that He is the antaryAmI in

everything, his vyAkyAnam for the current nAma is in terms of what is

particularly beneficial for the devotee - that He knows precisely

what is useful for the devotee. His vyAkhyAnam is that bhagavAn

knows what is in the power of His devotees and what is not in their

power, what they can accomplish by themselves and what they cannot

accomplish by themselves – teshAm Sakya aSakya sAdhya asAdhyAdikam

anusandatte iti sarvaj~nah. The benefit to us from this is that He

will help us achieve things that we cannot achieve by ourselves,

depending on our wishes. SvI v.v. rAmAnujan reminds us of

tiruma'ngai AzhvAr's pASuram of this quality of perumAl, where AzhvAr

takes issue with perumAL for not revealing Himself to AzhvAr right

away, without delay, even after knowing fully well how much AzhvAr is

suffering from the separation from Him:

 

nallAr aRivIr, tIyAr aRivIr; namakku iv-ulagattil

ellAm aRivIr, EdE ariyIr indaLUrIrE ! (periya

tirumozhi 4.9.6)

 

"You know who Your devotees are that cannot bear separation from You,

and who those people are that do not know the value of their

association with You! You know everything else in this universe

too! But somehow You do not seem know the purity and simplicity of

the intense pain that I am undergoing right now, because You are not

giving Your darSanam to me right away!"

 

SrI Sa'nkara bhAshyam for the instance of this nAma in Slokam 48

is "sarvaSca asau j~naSca iti sarva~jnah" - He

who is all and who knows all. For the current instance of the

nAma, his interpretation is – sarvam jAnAti iti sarva~jnah – He Who

knows all. The difference is that in the first case he treats the

nAma as sarvah + j~nah (sarvah as a noun or pronoun), and in the

second case as sarvam + j~nah (as qualifying j~nah).

 

c) SrI cinmayAnanda gives the interpretation as "One Who illumines

all – "The Illuminator of all thoughts, all intentions, motives,

emotions, and all sense perceptions in an individual".

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan