[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Efficacy of Vishnu Sahasranamam.

[Guest guest]

Shri Ganapathy Ramanji,

Thanks for the e-mail and putting forward the idea for more discussions on this. When I hear the name Vishnu Sahasranamam, my heart melts. Such is the greatness of this Maha mantra that I am in loss of words to describe it. I started by reciting the VS on daily basis when I was anxious or worried about several things [in my college days]. Due to time constrains, I used to discontinue after a while. But it changed my life so much that I recite it now regularly. By the grace of God I wish I can do it always. More than material benefits, the spiritual benefits are immense. So much so that I would like everybody to benefit from it.

Just to narrate an incident that happened about 15 days ago. On the Sravanam [Thiruvonum] day, I had been to the temple for regular Sravanam celebrations. I was contemplating to send postings to the group on the meaning of the 1008 namas and was seeking the blessings of the Lord in the endeavour. Just after the Pooja, our Guru in temple came up to me and invited me to a Vishnu Sahasranama Yagna that he was perfoming in a near-by town. It was such a great pleasure to witness the Yagna and participate in it. It is such a rare oppurtunity to get when you are in a place like the US.

To completely appreciate the greatness of the same, I would like to urge the members of the group [who are not already doing so] to recite the VS regularly. If not on a daily basis, Saturday is a very good day to do the recitation. Meanwhile, with the blessings of the LORD and other elders in the group like Shri Ganapathy Ramanji, I can start compling the meaning of the namas and post it to the group, a couple of namas each time. I am a novice in this field and will try my best to put down all the information that I have assess to, in a form that will benefit the members.

The namas describe the infinite qualities of the Lord. Though the Lord is Nirguna [without any qualities], He assumes these qualities [saguna] for the benefit of his devotees. It is believed that we are what we think. By constant chanting and meditating on the attributes of the Lord, we gradually imbibe these qualities. This leads to our transformation from the material to the spiritual plane.

May the Lord bless all of us in these efforts.

GANAPATHY RAMAN <agraman62 wrote:

 

Though there are sahasranamams for many deities Vishnu Sahasranamam is the harbinger of all.It is the oldest one and countless people hv recited and reciting as part of their daily prayers and it has the stamp of approval by none other than Sri Krishna ,the Primal Energy.It has all the potentials of being called a Maha Mantra and those reciting the same every day with absolute devotion will enjoy so many benefits by the Grace of the Lord.

 

There is a story in this respect.Adi Sankara after writing bashyams for Brahma Sutras,Upanishads Bhagavat Gita etc wanted to do a bashyam on Lalitha Sahasranamam euologising Devi.So he asked one of his disciples to bring the book on Lalitha Sahasranamam.When the disciple brought the book Sankara opened the same but to his amazement it was Vishnu Sahasranama book.He scolded him and asked him to go again to bring the LS.He brought another book and to his astonshment that was also VS.Sankara asked his disciple when he wanted to bring LS why he is bringing again and again VS.For that the disciple answered 'Master,what can I do?A girl wearing lovely ornaments and clothes commanded me to give the VS to you.You must know my predicament".Sankara with great admiration went into the room for the girl but he could not see anybody.He understood thru his vision that it is nothing but the Devi Herself asking him to do bhashyam for VS first.He with tears prayed 'Mother Goddess you want me to

do bhashyam for your brothers namas first.How merciful you are.I will obey your command'.So stating he started to do the bhashyam for VS first.Such is the famous thing abt VS.

In Baja Govindam Sankara says

Keyam Gita Nama Sahasram Itheyyam Sripathyroopa bhajasram

Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam Moodamathey II

In this stanza he compels to recite Bhagavat Gita and Vishnu Sahasranama daily.

Of course Sunita has given an elaborate description of the benefits accrued by reciting VS in an earlier mail.By reciting the VS daily cure of many illness,

power,tejas,prosperity and all good effects will accrue to the devotee if recited sincerely and earnestly.This is the experience of everso many persons.

In 1930s and 40s when medical science had not any improvement recting VS cured the illness of cholera,typhoid and other illness as people used to perish like flies due to lack of the adavanced medicines that are available today which can cure any illness.So the people of those days had to depend mainly on the mercy of God and prayers.So too during World War II when the Japanese were abt to attack Madras the whole population of the city was abt to be vacated because of orders from the then British Govt but at that time Sri Ramana Maharishy advised to do Vishnu Sahasranama parayana by eight persons and no harm will happen.Amazingly the Japanese planes which came near to the city of Madras turned thier direction and moved towards Calcutta for inexplicable reasons.This is a fact which is corroborated in certain books.In North India there is a practice of doing the VSjapa fully for 5 times daily so that the cure of many evil effects of untimely death,escape from accidents etc will

happen.By reciting the namas 5 times a day for 45 days( a mandala) or half mandala will remove all problems is the general belief and many people hv been benefitted from that.

Sankara,Bhatta,Ragavendra hv written elaborate bashyams on the namas.In effect the recitation of Vishnu Sahasranama daily by all will act as a panacea to all the ills that are plagueing the humanity and will bring harmony and peace everywhere.Of course it can be asked by reciting this by Hindus only how the whole world will become a place of peace and harmony.The recitation is something like a group prayer and naturally nobody can expect immediate results.But in course the effect will come automatically as prayers are meant for not only one's own uplift but for the whole humanity itself.That is why we say Loko Samastha Sukhino Bavanthu.It is said by an ancient lady saint that if there is a very good human being in this world just for him/her rains will fall everywhere.The sages of yore hv written so many things for the welfare of whole humanity and not for the particular people of a particular country.So argumentng on this can only lead one to narrow mindedness.By reciting the

namas daily the reciter,hearer and all will be benefitted.In this world there are everso many things that are happening for which there can't be any explanation as the humanity is still at its infant stage only and can't understand the intricaciesof Nature.Scientists with all their latest knowledge could not solve all the problems of the world nor could they understand the mysteries of the Universe.No scientist can predict the origin of lightning and other things of nature except by saying it is the result of positive and negative cloud effects.They also admit that of all the computers the human brain is the Super computer which can store such vast knowledge that no other computers produced by them can do.So arguments for arguments sake will lead us nowhere as our evolutionary progress has not developed to such an extent.So we must repose faith in the wisdom of the ancestors.When we fall sick we go to a doctor and he prescibes certain medicines and when we take the same we get cured

of our illness.We don't question the contents of the medicine or doubt whether we will be cured or not.Why?Only on the faith of the prescription given by the doctor.The doctor himself has not produed the medicines but some pharamaceutical cos hv done research and give the medicines.The doctor on the faith in the cos prescribe the medicines.So everywhere faith is the important criterion.So too the same yardstick can be applied here and VS if recited with faith will confer the benefits and the test is only recital over a period and faith.The taste of pudding is in eating and not by simply saying.Just like that.So let us believe in the wisdom of millions of devotees who still make it a habit of reciting the Vishnu Sahasranama and the benefits will come automatically.

In this connection for those beginners if some member with knowledge and interested in posting the namas with their meaning and commentaries post some namas every week the members who hv not much idea abt the meaning of the namas (which is essential while reciting VS so as to hv more devotion of the attributes of Vishnu) come forward I hope that wll be a great service to the Group.I think and feel Sunita can help in this.Any comments?

 

Hare Krishna,

agraman

 

 

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