Reflections on " Kim "

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Dear Devotees,

 

In Slokam 78 of Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, Kim is not the only nAmA

which impresses as unique and which is not commonly used. The other

nAmAs with the same peculiar chracteristics are: Sah, Vah, Kah, yat,

tat. As pointed out by Shri Krishnamachari in his commentary on this

Slokam,

"When a word is a pronoun or a sarvanAma, (and the words viSvam, ekah

etc. are sarvanAma-s when they have their traditional meanings), then

it is declined similar to the word sarva, and the dative singular is

"sarvasmai, viSvasmai, ekasmai etc." (pANini sUtra 1.1.27). However,

when this same words is not treated as a pronoun, and instead refers

to something special, like the specific name of a person (e.g., ekah

as a person's actual name), then the word is declined like an

ordinary noun such as narah, and not as a pronoun. Then the dative

singular is declined as sarvAya, viSvAya, ekAya, etc. The example

given in explanation of this sUtra by SrISa Candra Vasu in his

"AshTAdhyAyI of pANini" is that of the word "sarva" meaning

"everything" (a pronoun) vs. sarva being the name of a person (an

ordinary noun). The former is declined as a pronoun, and the latter

is declined as an ordinary noun like narah. The followers of the

advaita sampradAyam seem to consider the different sarvanAma-s that

occur in SrI vishNu sahasra nAma as pronouns representing Brahman,

whereas the followers of the viSishTAdvaita sampradAyam seem to treat

each of the nAma-s as a distinct personification of bhagavAn in His

different Forms, and thus each sarvanAma word that occurs as a nAma

in sahasra nAmam is treated as a special nAma of bhagavAn with its

own special meaning, each a proper noun in its own right, and not

treated as a pronoun standing for Brahman. "

I am reproducing below Shri Krishnamachari's Posting on the nAmA Kim

only; interested members may read his excellent explanations for the

other nAmAs, such as Sah, Vah, Kah, Yat & Tat at

http://home.attbi.com/~chinnamma/sahasra/sloka78.htm :

 

"735. kim –

a) He about Whom all questions are asked by seekers of Truth (such as

– Where is He, What is He, Who is He, etc.)

b) He Whose praise is sung by His devotees

c) He Who is fit to be enquired about or sought after.

Om kime namah (om kasmai namah in Samkara pATham –see explanation under ekAya namah, nAma 730).

The common usage of the word kim is to represent the question “What?”.

The word kim is derived from the root praccha – j~nIpsAyAm – to ask,

to seek. Here it is used as a noun, and means “He about Whom all

questions are asked by seekers of Truth”.

SrI sataydevo vAsishTha comments:

pRcchati iti kim | pRcchyata iti vA kim |” –

He who asks is kim, or He about whom questions are asked is also kim.

Here bhagavAn is called kim in the context of the latter of the two.

In other words, all questions that are asked by those who want to

realize Him, are questions about Him, since they all lead to Him in

the end.

SrI vAsishTha gives an alternate derivation as well, starting from the

root kai – Sabde – to sound, leading to “kAyati iti kim” – He about

Whom questions are asked, such as “Who is He, What is He, Where is

He”, etc., is kim. Those who seek Him start with the enquiry of

“What”, and end up with Him after they realize that He is the

ultimate answer to every enquiry.

SrI BhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam is: tat tat sarvepsituh buphutsUnAm

nirupAdhika prashTavyatvAt kim – He is enquired into by all those who

are desirous of knowing the ultimate objects of their desire without

any other motive, and so He is called kim. SrI BhaTTar gives the

support from the Sruti -sa anveshTavyah, sa viji~njAsitavyah –

ChAndogya. 8.7.1 – He is to be sought after, He is to be known with

eagerness.

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives reference to tiruvAimozhi 5.6.2, where

nammAzhvAr declares about perumAL: “kaRkum kalvic cAramum yAnE”. In

fact, every line of each pASuram, starting with 5.6.1 (kaDal j~nAlam

SeidEnum yAnE ennum…), all the way up to 5.6.10 (kOlam koL

Suvarkkamum yAnE ennum …….), are beautiful singing of His being

everything, line after line.

SrI Samkara’s interpretation is: “sarva purushArtha rUpatvAt Brahmaiva

vicAryam iti Brahma kim” – As Brahman is the supreme goal among all

aims of life, He is to be inquired after, and so is called kim. He

refers us to the first Slokam of chapter 8 of Bhagavad gItA, where

arjuna precisely starts with this question:

kim tad brahma kim adhyAtmam kim karma purushottama | adhibhUtam ca

kim proktam adhidaivam kim ucyate || (gItA 8.1)

“What is that Brahman? What is adhyAtma? What is karma? What is said

to be adhibhUta? O Supreme Person, who is said to be adhidaiva?”

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives similar passages from the Rg veda, which

ask similar rhetorical questions about Brahman:

- ambhah kim AsIt gahanam gabhIram (10-129-1) – Was water there, unfathomed and deep? -

kutah AjAtA kuta iyam visRshTih (10-129-6) – Whence was it born, and

whence comes this creation? -

yo’syAdhyakshah parame vyoman (10-129-7) – (He) whose eye controls

this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows

not.

Thus, He is called “kim- What” because He is the Ultimate answer to all the questions.

b) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj uses the root ku~ng – Sabde – to sound,

and the uNAdi sutra kAyater dimih (siddhAnta kaumudi, uNAdi sutra

600) to derive the word kim, and gives the definition – kUyate –

AhUyate svajanaih bhajamAnaih iti kim – He Whose praise is sung by

His devotees is kim.

c) SrI aNNa’ngarAcArya gives the interpretation that this nAma means

that He is One who is worth being sought after; One Who is described

as anveshTavyah in the Upanishads: sa anveshTavyah, sa

viji~njAsitavyah – ChAndogya. 8.7.1 – He is to be sought after, and

He is to be known with eagerness.

The dharma cakram writer elaborates that bhagavAn is called kim – He

Whose Nature is contemplated on by those who seek the Truth, because

it is by knowing this Truth that everything there is to be known is

known. That which is beyond time, space, etc., that which never

changes and is eternal, that which is beyond the reach of the senses

and is only reached by true devotion and meditation, that which is in

everything and everywhere, is the Ultimate answer to all questions

asked by those who seek the Truth."

I thank Shri Krishnamachari for his extensive research that has

produced notes such as this for the remaining nAmAs also, namely,

Sah, Vah, Kah, Yat & Tat to enlighten us on these Special nAmAs for

Sri Vishnu about which even Sanskrit Pandits seem to be confused.

Dasan,Krishnaswamy M.K.