Literal meaning of Narada?

[Guest guest]

Well, the Mayavadis take it as "nA" (no) "radaH" (tooth) -- i.e. a toothless

old man. However, Srila Prabhupada has explicitly said that that is wrong,

since Narada is always young.

 

I looked in the dictionary by V.S. Apte, and he has not given an explanation.

If you just break the word as "nAra" (water) "daH" (giver), you can put the

syllables together, but it has no apparent meaning -- I certainly know of no

pastime where Narada acts as the giver of waters. Of course, some such

compounds drop syllables (e.g. "yo kaRSati naH" is "kRSNa"). Perhaps "yo

nArAyaNaM dadAti" (he who gives Narayana)? Of course, that's pure speculation,

but certainly fits in with Narada's pastimes. Maybe you should ask on the

Sanskrit conference.

 

Yours,

 

Vijay