SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 103 - janma-mRtyu-jarAtigaH.

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SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 103 - janma-mRtyu-jarAtigaH.

 

966. janma-mRtu-jarAtigaH – He Who is beyond birth, death and old age.

 

om janma-mRtyu-jarAtigAya namaH.

 

janma = birth; mRtyu = death, jara =old age; atigaH = He Who is

beyond. The meaning for the nAma is thus derived easily. Just for

the sake of completeness, the respective roots are: jani –

pradurbhAve - ; mR'ng – prANa-tyAge - ; jRsh – vayohAnau - ; gam –

gacchati – to go with ati- as prefix meaning overstep, go beyond

(atigacchcati iti atigaH). janma mRtyu jarA atigacchati it janam-

mRtyu-jarAtigaH.

 

SrI BhaTTar explains the nAma as One Who is beyond birth, death,

aging etc.. His vyAkhyAnam is – tathApi tad-ubhaya vidharmAtmA – He

Who, while being the Inner Soul or antaryAmi of all the sentient and

non-sentient objects, is not affected by their attributes (such as

rajas, tamas, puNya, pApa etc.). The ordinary souls accumulate the

effects of the puNya-s and pApa-s that they accrue while they are

embodied. Unlike these souls, bhagavAn is not touched by any of

these effects of puNya-s and pApa-s even though He is the antaryAmi

of all these objects. In addition, when He assumes a body out of His

own free will, He is not born like the rest of us, and is not subject

to aging, death etc. like the rest of us.

 

It is important to understand the difference between the body and the

soul in order to understand the meaning of this nAma. Ordinary souls

(jIva-s) also are beyond birth, death and decay. But they get a body

based on their previous karma-s, to enable them to enjoy the effects

of these karma-s. This body is subject to birth, death and decay.

The jIva-s go through repeated births and deaths, with the associated

new bodies, until they exhaust all their karma-s, and ultimately

realize the paramAtman and are relieved of this cycle of birth and

death. BhagavAn is not subject to this cycle, since He is not

touched by the effects of karma ever. Lord kRshNa declares in the

gItA:

 

na mAm karmaNi limpanti na me karma phale spRhA |

iti mAm yo'bhijAnAti karmabhir na sa badhyate || (gItA

4.14)

 

"Works do not contaminate Me. In Me there is no desire for fruits of

actions. He who understands Me thus is not bound by actions".

 

Even though He has all the sentient and non-sentient beings as His

body according to the viSishTAdvaita philosophy, SrI BhaTTar explains

that BhagavAn is still not touched by the dharma-s (namely, sins,

good deeds, the resulting birth, death etc,), of these sentient and

non-sentient beings, but instead, it is the souls of these beings

that get the effects of these karma-s. The bodies of all the

sentient and non-sentient beings are part of His body in the sense

that they are all subservient to Him and are fully under His

control. So are the souls of all these beings – they are His body,

and are subservient to Him. He is the antaryAmi of these souls, and

is a witness and the Energizer of these souls; however He is not

touched by their karma-s, and so He is never born, and so there is no

question of aging, death etc. There is no such thing as karma for

Him, since all His actions are all selfless, and are devoted to the

benefit of all the beings that exist. None of His actions is for His

benefit.

 

SrI veLukkuDi kRshnan delves in some length on some of the above

points in his sahasra nAma upanyAsam for this nAma.

 

SrI Sa'nkara's vyAkhyAnam is: "jAyate, asti, vardhate, vipariNamate,

apakshIyate, naSyati, iti shaD-bhAva vikArAn atItya gacchati iti

janma-mRtyu-jarAtigaH – He Who transcends the six kinds of changes,

namely conception, birth, growth, maturity, decay and death.

 

SrI vAsishTha refers us to a Rg-vedic mantra that conveys the sense

of this nAma:

 

akAmo dhIro amRtaH svayambhU rasena tRpto na kutaScanonaH |

tameva vidvAn na vibhAya mRtyor-AtmAnam dhIrm ajaram

yuvAnam || (Rg. 10.8.44)

 

"Desirelss, firm, immortal, self-existent, contented with the

essence, lacking nothing, free from fear of death is he who knows

that Soul courageous, youthful and undecaying".

 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives the following upanishadic mantra in

support:

 

- sa vA esha mahAn aja AtmA ajaraH amaraH amRtaH abhayaH brahma

abhayam vai brahma abhayam hi vai brahma bhavati ya evam veda

(bRhadAraNya. 4.4.25).

 

"That infinite birthless undecaying , indestructible immortal, and

fearless self (ParamAtman) is the Supreme Brahman. The Supreme

Brahman is devoid of fear. He who knows that Supreme Brahman thus

becomes indeed the fearless parabrahman".

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan