SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 104 - savitA.

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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 104 - savitA.

 

969. savitA – He Who produces.

 

om savitre namaH.

 

SrI vAsishTha indicates the root for the nAma as sU – prANi garbha vimocane – to

produce, to bring forth. sUte sarvam jagat iti savitA; sarvasya utpAdaka

ityarthaH – He Who creates everything in the universe is savitA.

 

We studied this nAma in Slokam 94 (nAma 887), with the same generic meaning, but

interpreted by SrI BhaTTar as a reference to bhagavAn in the form of the Sun

(the producer of rain, crops etc)., since the context there was the description

of the arcirAdi mArga, of which Sun is the seventh step. The current

interpretation refers to bhagavAn as the Creator of everything – sarveshAm

sAkshAt janayitA savitA. SrImad SrImushNam ANDavan refers us to the upanishad

mantra –

"so'kAmayata | bahu syAm prajAyeyeti |" – (taittirIya. Ananda. 6) –

 

He willed : May I become many. May I be born.

 

SrI kRshNan stresses the importance of the word `sAkshAt' in SrI BhaTTar's

vyAkhyAnam. When it is stated that bhagavAn is the Creator of everything in all

the worlds, some may have a doubt that the four-faced brahmA is the true

creator. SrI kRshNan points out that there are two aspects to sRshTi –

a-dvAraka sRshTi, and sa-dvAraka sRshTi. In the first category, bhagavAn first

creates the 24 tattva-s

(prakRti, mahAn, aha'nkAra, the five tanmAtra-s or subtle elements (Sabda,

sparSa, rUpa, rasa, and gandha - sound, touch, sight, taste, smell), the pa'nca

bhUta-s (ether, air, agni or light, water, earth), the five karmendriya-s (hand,

leg, tongue, anus, and the organ of reproduction), the five j~nAnendriya-s (ear,

eye, mouth, nose, and skin), and manas. After this, He creates the first

being, the catur-mukha brahmA, and endows him with the knowledge for proceeding

further with creation. He becomes the antaryAmi of brahmA, and guides him in

the creation after this point. All the a-dvAraka sRshTi is performed by

bhagavAn through the medium of catur-mukha brahmA. If it were not for the

knowledge and power given to brahmA by bhagavAn, the subsequent stage of

sa-dvAraka sRshTi through brahmA would not have happened. So the true Creator

is bhagavAn – sAkshAt janayitA. The creation that takes place through brahmA

is the sa-dvAraka sRshTi by bhagavAn – in other words, the process of creation

continued by Him through the medium of brahmA.

 

nammAzhvAr, in many of his tiruvAimozhi pASurams, repeatedly reminds us that

bhagavAn is the true Creator, Protector and Destroyer. One among these is

pASuram 1.5.3, where AzhvAr refers to bhagavAn's action of creating brahmA and

delegating the further responsibility to Him for subsequent creation: nI

yOnigaLaip paDai enRu niRai nAnmuganaip paDaittavan.

 

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN uses the pATham sa-pitA, and interprets the word

`sa-pitA" as two nAma-s: sa, and pitA. This interpretation might have been

chosen because of the next nAma (pra-pitAmahaH, meaning "Great Grandfather".

But for the nAma pita, he essentially the same interpretation as SrI BhaTTar has

given for the nAma `savitA', namely, The Father of all, or the Creator of all –

"teshAm janakatvAt pitA". We already noted earlier that SrI ananta kRshNa

SAstry also has used the same pATham, and his interpretation is also same.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan