SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 88 - su-labhah.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam – Slokam 88 -su-labhah.

 

sulabhah su-vratah siddhah Satru-jit Satru-tApanah |

nyag-rodhodumbaro'Svatthah cANUrAndhra-nishUdanah ||

 

om sulabhAya namah

om su-vratAya namah

om siddhAya namah

om Satru-jit-Satru-tApanAya namah

om nyag-rodhodumbarAya namah

om aSvatthAya namah

om cANUrAndhra-nishUdanAya namah

 

823. su-labhah – a) He Who can be easily attained.

b) He Who makes it possible to attain sukham (sukham

labhata).

 

Om su-labhAya namah.

 

su is a prefix (pratyaya) meaning sukham or saukaryam here. The root

involved in the nAma is labh – prAptau – to get. sukhena saukaryeNa

vA labhyah su-labhah – He Who is attained easily.

 

In SrI viSishTAdvaita sampradAyam, His soulbhayam is one of the two

most important guNa-s that is enjoyed by the devotees very much (the

other being His sauSIlyam).

 

a) SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is – anargho'pi mUlya-bhAsena svIkartum

Sakyah – su-labhah – Even though He is priceless, He can be easily

attained as if for a small price. SrI BhaTTar gives the example of a

woman of multi-defaced body (kubjA) who offered some sandal paste to

Lord kRshNa and got Him to visit her house – She seized govinda by

the dress and said "Come to my house": vastre pragRhya govindam mama

geham vrajeti vai (vishNu purANam 5.20.11). SrI v.v. rAmAnujan

gives instances from AzhvAr's SrI sUkti-s:

 

- pattuDai aDiyavarkku eLiyavan (tiruvAi. 1.3.1) – He is

extremely easy of access to those who approach Him with devotion.

 

(After describing bhagavAn's parattvam in the first two tiruvAimozhi-

s of the first pattu (decad), nammAzhvAr starts to describe His

saulabhyam, and this is the first pASuram of the third tiruvAimozhi,

where he starts describing the incident where He just let Himself be

bound to the mortar just to please yaSOdA. Tradition has it that

nammAzhvAr was so moved by this soulabhyam of perumAL that He passed

out at this simple, unassuming, virtue of emperumAn mingling with

all, and was in this state of lost consciousness for six months

before regaining consciousness. That is the kind of anubhavam that

the AzhvAr-s had of emperumAn. For those who have gone through

ANDAL's nAcciyAr tirumozhi, to understand ANDAL's outburst of

emotion, it is important to understand that this is the level where

she was in her anubhavam of perumAL).

 

- eNNilum varum en ini vENDuvam (tiruvAi. 1.10.2) – if we count

numbers and utter the number 26, He thinks we are referring to Him,

and uses this as an excuse to come to us.

 

(Among the tattva-s, the twenty-fifth is the soul (jIva), and the

26th is paramAtmA. If someone counts numerals just for counting

purposes, and accidentally utters the number 26, He is willing to

assume that this person is thinking of Him as the 26th tattvam, and

is willing to appear before this person to bless him. Such is His

willingness to be easily accessible).

 

- aNiyan Agum tana-TAL aDaindArgatkellAm (tiruvAi. 9.10.8) - He

is very near to those who surrender themselves to Him.

 

SrI v. n. vedAnta deSikan comments that when sugrIva surrendered to

rAma for help in getting his kingdom and his wife, rAma considered it

His supreme responsibility to protect sugrIva above any other

responsibility of His, including protecting sItA. Such is the power

of surrender to Him. Lord rAma tells sugrIva:

 

tvayi ki'ncit samApanne kim kAryam sItayA mama |

bharatena mahAbAho lakshmaNena yavIyasA |

Satrughnena ca Satrughna sva-SarIreNa vA punah ||

(yuddha. 41.5)

 

"If you meet with death (by My lack of protecting you), I do not care

if any of the others are left behind – such as sItA, lakshmaNa,

bharata, Satrughna, or for that matter, Myself".

 

That is the level of His ease of accessibility through the simple act

of surrender.

 

SrI Sa'nkara's vyAkhyAnam is: patra-pushpAdibhih bhakti-mAtra-

samarpitaih sukhena labhyata iti su-labhah – He Who is easily

attainable even by the offer of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc., with

full devotion. The key words are "with devotion". SrI Sa'nkara

quotes from mahA-bhArata:

 

patreshu pushpeshu phaleshu toyeshu akrIta-labhyeshu sadiava

satsu |

bhaktyeka-labhye purushe purANe muktyai katham na kriyate

prayatnah ||

 

"The Ancient Purusha is easily attainable by devotion alone, with the

offer of leaves, flowers, fruits, and even water, which are always

attainable without cost. When such is the case, how is it that

people do not even want to try to work towards emancipation?"

 

SrI cinmayAnanda quotes the gItA Slokam where bhagavAn Himself

declares that He is "sulabhah":

 

ananya-cetAh satatam yo mAm smarati nityaSah |

tasyAham su-labhah pArtha nitya-yuktasya yoginah || (gItA

8.14)

 

"I am easy of access, O arjuna, to that yogin who is ever integrated

with Me, whose mind is not in anything else but Me, and who

ceaselessly recollects Me at all times".

 

b) SrI satya sndha yatirAja givea a new anubhavam – sukham labhata

iti sulabhah – He Who bestows happiness is su-labhah.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan