SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 90 - kRSah.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 90 - kRSah.

 

841. kRSah – a) He Who is lighter than the light.

b) He Who is thinner than anything thin.

c) He Who reduces or eliminates the difficulties to His

devotees.

d) He Who pares down the form for the jIva-s to make it

possible for them to live in comfort.

e) He Who makes `light work' of the asura-s (i.e., He Who

destroys the asura-s).

 

Om kRSAya namah.

 

This nAma represents another of the ashTa aiSvarya-s, called laghimA,

or the ability to be lighter than anything that we know is light.

The root from which the nAma is derived is kRS – tanUkaraNe – to

become lean or thin. The nAma is interpreted as referring to the

ability to be lean or thin, or to be light, depending on the

interpreter. SrI BhaTTar interprets the nAma in terms of His ability

to be lighter than anything light, and Sri Sa'nkara interprets the

nAma as One Who can be thinner than anything thin, to the point of

not having a form.

 

a) SrI BhaTTar explains that He is lighter than cotton, wind, etc.,

and so His movement is unimpeded on all sides and in all respects –

sarvatra avyAhata gatih. He quotes from mahA bhArata in support –

yatra-kAma-gato vaSI – He can go wherever He chooses.

 

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN's anubhavam is that bhagavAn is so thin

that He can be even inside a rock unobstructed, because of His

kRSatvam – leanness or thinness - SilAsvapi apratihat praveSatvAt

kRSah.

 

b) SrI Sa'nkara vyAkhyAnam is: asthUlam ityAdinA dRSyatva

pratishedhAt kRSah – He Who can become so thin that He is devoid of

visibility. One interpreter has the given the text is "dravyatva

pratishedhAt – because He does not have a form. A translator

translates this as "One Who is of the form of non-material Spirit".

SrI Sa'nkara quotes the bRhadAraNya Upanishad in support – asthUlam

(BU 3.8.8)– He Who is not of a gross body. He might have chosen this

interpretation – asthUlah, because of the next nAma – sthUlah (as the

opposite of the next nAma).

 

SrI rAdhA kRshNa SAstri summarizes this nAma and the next one, by

observing that the question of whether bhagavAn is One Who is lean or

hefty, can be answered only if He can be seen to start with. If He

is either so huge that we do not even see Him, or so lean that we

cannot see Him, then the question of whether He is lean or huge

cannot be answered. That is the Nature of bhagavAn, whom we cannot

see. In fact, the passage that SrI Sa'nkara quotes from bRhadAraNya

Upanishad, referring to bhagavAn as asthUlam, in the very next word

says that bhagavAn is an-aNu also – asthUlam an-aNu. The point to be

understood is that He can be whatever He chooses to be, whenever He

chooses to be, and He can become anything He wants in the minutest

fraction of time. The Sakti or aiSvarya that is described in the

current nAma specifically, is His ability to become as light as He

chooses or as thin as He chooses, at His Will.

 

We saw bhagavAn described as aNu, and in the next nAma He was

described as exactly the other extreme, bRhat. In the current nAma

we see Him describes as kRSah, and in the next nAma we will see Him

described as its other extreme, sthUlah. SrI cinmayAnanda notes that

this is an example of how "the Rshi-s have made an art of effectively

employing terms of contradiction in order to bring the

incomprehensible within the cognition of the students of

contemplation". We have already seen some examples of this in the

upanishadic passages in the last few nAma-s.

 

c) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj's interpreation is: kRSyati tanUkaroti

svajana vipadam iti kRSah – He Who reduces or eliminates the

difficulties to His devotees.

 

d) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha also gives an interpretation that is not

based on the ashTa aiSvarya concept. He takes the generic meaning

for the root – kRS – to make lean, and gives the meaning that the

nAma refers to bhagavAn architecting the creatures of the features in

various forms by paring them down as needed for their survival and

comfort. SrI vAsishTha equates the nAma kRSah to the nAma tvasTA in

its essential meaning (Slokam 6, nAma 52).

 

e) SrI satya sandha yatirAja's interpreation is: daityAn karSayati

iti kRSah – He Who makes `light work' of the asura-s. – He Who

destroys the evil asura-s.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan