SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 103 -tatt-vit.

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SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 103 -tatt-vit.

 

964. tattva-vit – The Knower of Truth.

 

om tattva-vide namaH.

 

The term `tattvam' has been explained above. The root vid – to know,

is the second part of the nAma. tattvam tat-svarUpam vetti iti

tattva-vit – "He Who knows the true nature of Himself".

 

SrI BhaTTar explains the nAma as "AtmanaH tattvam vetti iti tattva-

vit" - "One Who knows the truth about Himself", or One Who knows the

truth about the tattva. The truth that bhagavAn is the Supreme Deity

and the Lord of all, is something that is not easily understood even

by the likes of brahmA, rudra and indra, as repeatedly pointed out by

nammAzhvAr:

 

- Surar aRivu aru nilai (tiruvAi. 1.1.8) – He is of such nature

that even the deva-s cannot understand His tattvam.

- uNarndu uNarndu uNarilum uyar nilai uNarvadu aridu uyigAL!

(tiruvAi. 1.3.6) – It is just not easy, even with intense

contemplation, to understand the true nature of the Supreme Deity.

 

SrI BhaTTar refers to Slokam 10.15 in the gItA, in which arjuna

declares that bhagavAn knows Himself by His own Self:

 

svayameva AtmanAtmAnam vettha tvam purushottama |

bhUta bhAvana bhUteSa devadeva jagatpate || (gItA 10.15)

 

"O Supreme Person, O Creator of beings, O Lord of all beings, O God

of all gods, O Ruler of the Universe, You Yourself know Yourself by

Yourself".

 

SrI BhaTTar also refers to the Sruti vAkyam – "tvameva tvAm vettha" –

You alone are aware of Yourself".

 

SrI veLukkuDi kRshNan refers us to tArA's description of bhagavAn

as `a-prameyan' (SrImad rAmAyaNam) – He Who is beyond the reach of

our intellect (pramA means `buddhi'). It is not just the ordinary

mortals like us who can't fully comprehend Him through our intellect,

but even the SAstra-s return back declaring that He is beyond

description. The taittirIya upanishad declares: yato vAco

nivatante, aprApaya manasA saha (Anandavalli) – Words, along with the

mind, turn back without being to fully comprehend the Bliss of

Brahman, which is infinite. The deva-s are unable to fully know Him,

as we have seen through nammAzhvAr's words above. Even He is unable

to fully realize His own greatness. SrImad SrImushNam ANDavan refers

to AzhvAr's words: "tanakkum tan tanmai aRiya aRiyAnai" – He whose

greatness is such that even He cannot know it fully. AlavandAr

declares in his stotra ratnam: "yasyAste mahimAnam Atmana iva tat-

vallbho'pi prabhuH" – Neither bhagavAn's greatness nor pirATTi's

greatness can be known either by Him or by Her, because there is no

limit to it, and so even they cannot measure something that has no

limit. The idea is that of all those who can know Him, He knows

Himself the most.

 

SrI Sa'nkara explains the nAma as "tattvam svarUpam yathAvat vetti

iti tattva-vit" – "He Who knows the Truth as it is".

 

BhagavAn alone knows the functions of creation, preservation,

destruction, giving the benefits to the jIva-s according to their

karma-s, taking the jIva to Him ultimately at the appropriate time,

etc., and no one else does.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan