Vishnu Sahasranama-1

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Om Namo Narayanaya!

Sri Sankara begins his commentary with these 3 mangala slokas.

saccidAnandarUpAya kRshNAyAklishtakAriNe

namo vedAntavedyAya gurave buddhisAkshiNe

 

[ " Obeisance to Krishna whose nature is sat (existence/being), cit

(consciousness) and Ananda (bliss), who performs his functions

without any effort, who is cognized by the vedanta, who is the guru

(teacher) and who is the witness of buddhi " .

Sankara wants to impress us that although Krishna, in whose praise

the sloka is sung is saguna brahman, he is sat cit Ananda swarupa

parabrahman. He is not only vishnu but also the ultimate parabrahman

or the supreme self. ]

 

kRshNAdvaipAyanam vyAsam sarvalokahite ratam

vedAbjabhaskaram vande SamAdinilayam munim

 

[ " I worship the muni krishnadvaipayana Vyasa, devoted to the

welfare of the world, who is to the vedas as the sun is to the lotus

and who is the fountain of self-control " .

The words " krishnadvaipayanam vyasam " shows that he is an avatara of

Vishnu. The vedas were in a massy and unclassified condition and

they were like closed lotuses. Vedavyasa classified and handed them

to the world for our moral and spiritual welfare. ]

 

sahasramUrteH purushottamasya sahasranetrAnana pAdabAhoH

sahasraNamam stavanam praSastam nirucyate janmajarAdiSAtyai

 

[ " The admirable stotra containing the thousand names of the supreme

Purusha (person) who has thousands of forms, eyes, faces, feet and

arms is now being expounded to enable the creation to overcome the

samsaric evils " .

The purusha sukta, found in all the 4 vedas, describes the cosmic

purusha divinity as having one thousand heads, eyes, and feet.

Sankara suggests in this sloka that the number of names viz. one

thousand is quite appropriate for a stotra of the cosmic Purusha

having one thousand eyes, faces, feet and forms. He echoes the sloka

of brahmadeva, recited at the end of the stotra saluting the Sasvata

ananta purusha of one thousand forms, legs, eyes, heads and hands

possessing one thousand names existing for one thousand crores of

years i.e. for ever.]

 

 

In the very first names of Vishnu in the Vishnu Sahasranama, Sage

Vyasa intends to indicate the sum and substance of the vedanta

philosophy.

 

Om vishvam vishnur-vashatkaro bhuta-bhavya-bhavat-prabhuh

Bhutakrud bhutabhrud bhavo bhutatma bhuta-bhavanah ..1

 

Nama 1: vishvam

Vishvam means " Universe " . It includes everything. The entire

universe is created, sustained and dissolved by Brahman, the Supreme

Being. This universe has no existence apart from Him. He is called

Vishwam, because the whole universe has Him as the source. The

Sanskrit term Visvam comes from the root Vis, to enter: Thus it

means He who has created and entered into the entire universe, as

the All-Pervading Reality. It can also mean, That into which the

entire universe has entered to remain therein established.

Sri Sankara views that bhgavan who is Brahman or the Supreme Person

created vishvam and is therefore, called vishvam. Brahman is the

karta or the Creator here (the Cause), and viSvam is the creation or

the effect. Because the Cause who is Brahman is being called by the

nAma viSvam which is the effect, effects are nothing different from

the Cause, and everything is Brahman.

SrI BhaTTar interprets the term " Worlds " or " Universe " here to

denote entirety. BhagavAn is viSvam because He enters all the

worlds. He points out that it is quite fitting that the first name

of vishNu in SrI vishNu sahasranAmam suggests His immense glory, the

fullness to the brim of His essential nature, form, qualities, etc.,

which are all natural, unexcelled, auspicious and superior.

 

Nama 2: Vishnuh

The term Vishnu means, That which is all-pervading.

That which has the nature of pervasiveness is Vishnu. He is the one

who pervades all and nothing ever pervades Him. The root Vis

means `to enter'. The entire world of things and beings is pervaded

by Him.

SrI Samkara gives the following supports for this nAma:

antar bahiSca tat sarvam vyApya nArAyaNah sthitah - (mahA nArAyaNa

upa. 1.13) -

nArAyaNa pervades the whole universe externally and internally.

" yasmAd vishTam idam sarvam tasya SaktyA mahAtmanah |

tasmAd vishNuriti khyAto veSer dhAtoh praveSanAt || (vishNu purANam

3.1.45)

" Because the whole world has been pervaded by the energy of the

great Self,

He is named vishNu, from the root viS - to enter or pervade. "

SrI Bhattar's vyakhyanam is visati iti vishnuh. keSava exists

everywhere and permeates everything that is His Wealth; He is

unlimited by space, time, and substance; He pervades the whole

universe internally and externally. SrI Bhattar gives the following

references in support.

viveSa bhUtAni carAcarANi - He entered all beings, movable and

immovable

tat srshtvA | tadevAnuprAvisat - Having created it, He entered into

the same.

 

Nama 3: Vashatkaarah

ln the ritualistic portion of the Vedas, many mantras ending

with `vashat' and they are used in pouring devoted and dedicated

oblations. Thus the term Vashatkaara means: He who is invoked, and

for propitiating whom, the oblations are poured in Vedic ritualism,

using mantras ending with vashat. Also Vashatkaara can mean yajna in

its association and thus the term in its suggestion can signify `He

who is of the form of the Yajna'. In the Upanishads also we find

this meaning endorsed when the Upanishad mantra says: " Yajno vai

Vishnuh " - Yajna itself is Vishnu.

Sri Sankara points out that BhagavAn is Himself the vashatkAra

mantra, where vashat is a sacred sound (similar to Om, svAhA, etc).

used on sacrificial offerings. It is also used in the anganyAsa and

karanYasa practice before chanting the sacred slokas (e.g.,

sahasrArchis saptajihva iti saktyai sikhAyai vashat). VashatkAra is

thus a mantra, and BhagavAn is the mantra svarUpi.

Sri Bhattar interprets the names VishNu, vashatkAra, and bhuta-

bhavya-bhavat-prabhu, as additional elaborations of the name visvam.

The root of the word is vas - to control as He wills. One who

controls and directs (not merely pervades). It should be noted that

Sri Bhattar has pointed out in his commentary for visvam that

BhagavAn is everywhere, in the commentary for vishNu that He

permeates everything that HE creates and possesses, and in the

current one for vashatkAra that He controls as He wills. Thus, all

these guNas are not something that have been acquired or imparted by

something external, but this is His will and schema. The explanation

in terms of BhagavAn having control over all His creations is

appealing because of the continuity it provides to the

interpretations of the previous nAmas.

 

Nama 4: bhUta-bhavya-bhavat-prabhu:

The Master of all things past, future, and present.

He who is the Lord (Prabhu) of the Past (Bhooita), the Future

(Bhavya) and the Present (Bhavat). Time is the concept of the

intellect; it expresses itself in the interval between experiences.

Experiences are registered as thoughts and thoughts are ever

changing. This very change is known and experienced by us. The

knower of the change must be something other than the change. Thus,

He who is the Illuminator of all changes, meaning the Consciousness

(Aatman) is the Lord Vishnu. He is the One who is not conditioned by

time.

The idea that BhagavAn is beyond the physical laws as we know them,

such as the laws and constraints of time, can be inferred from this

nAma. In order for Him to be the Lord of all things past, future,

and present, He existed before anything existed, exists now, and

will exist forever into the future. Thus the well-known and

established physical law that all living things come to an end does

not apply to Him. He is beginningless and endless.

 

Nama 5: Bhoota-krit

The Creator (Krit) of all creatures (Bhoota). This word can be

dissolved in two ways:

(a) One who creates the creatures (Bhootaani Karoti iti Bhoota-

Krit) or (b) One who annihilates all creatures (Bhootaani Krindati

iti Bhoota-krit). In both these cases, Brahman, the Supreme is the

One Reality that seems to function as the Creator, Sustainer or

Destroyer, when He functions through different gunas in the Total-

Mind. Functioning through preponderance in Rajoguna, He becomes

the `Creator'; through Sattvaguna the `Sustainer', and through

Tamoguna, He Himself expresses as the `Destroyer'.

Sri Bhattar points out that this act of creation of is done by Him

without dependence on anything external.

 

Nama 6: Bhoota-brit

The supporter of all things.

One who nurtures and nourishes all beings (living creatures) in all

their attitudes is this Great Reality and, therefore, He is called

as the Bhoota Bhrit. In Geeta there is an elaborate description of

this idea in the l5th Chapter where the Lord points out how, He, as

the light in the sun, fertility in the earth, growth in the plants,

nourishment in food, heat in fire, -becomes Himself the `eater',

and, therefore, how He Himself presides over all the functions of

the body and mind, and apparently nurtures and nourishes the

creatures, who are in fact nothing other than Himself.

Sri Sankara interprets this nama as referring to the acts of

creation or destruction ( " bhUtani krtanti krNoti hinsti iti bhUta

krt), and nama 7 as referring to the act of sustenance, in the

context of the three functions of creation, sustenance, and

destruction

Sri Bhattar explains that this support is like that of the support

at the center for a wheel and its spokes. If this central support

does not exist, the rest of the spokes and the wheel collapse. Thus,

one can think of this support as the responsibility for the

existence of all the things that He creates. This support is in the

form of being the inner soul or atman of all beings (nama 8 below),

and as the One who nourishes and protects all beings (nama 9 below).

BhUtAni Bibharti iti bhUta-bhrt - One who supports all.

 

Nama 7: Bhaavah

One who `becomes' (Bhavati iti Bhaavah) Himself into the movable and

the Immovable beings and things in the world. He is the Pure

Existence in all the sentient organisms and the insentient objects

in the universe. Hence He is indicated by the term Bhaavah. He who

exists always, independent of anything else.

 

Nama 8: bhUtAtma

The AtmA or soul of all beings. He is the essence of all beings. He

is the indweller of all objects, individually and collectively.

He is the Aatman of all the beings: The very `Be' in all the living

beings. Just as the same universal space plays in all rooms as the

room-space, or in all pots as the pot-space, so the Infinite Life

playing through any given vehicle is called the Aatman of the

vehicle. It is well known that space everywhere is one and the same;

so too, the One Reality sports as though different Aatmans. This One

Universal Soul is called in Vedanta the Supreme Brahman (Para-

Brahman) .In Bhaagavata, the Lord is addressed as " You are the One

Self in all living creatures ever illumining all their

experiences.'' In Kathopanishad: " The One enchanting Truth that

revels in every form manifesting in plurality " .

All things are His body, and He is the soul of all things.

The soul enters the bodies, and directly controls and directs all

their activities.

Sri Sankara gives the following reference from BrhadAraNya

Upanishad: esha ta AtmA antaryamyamrtah

The Lord is the soul, the antarYamI or inner ruler of all beings,

and amrta or never ceasing to exist.

 

Nama 9: bhUta-bhAvanah

One who nourishes and nurtures all beings that He created. One who

creates and multiplies the creatures; meaning the One, who is the

cause for the birth and who is responsible for the growth of all

living creatures.

The key word that both Sri Sankara and Sri Bhattar use in their

vyAkhyAnas for this nAma

is vardhayati - makes them grow - the act of nourishing is

emphasized.

Sri Sankara bhAshya says: bhUtAni bhAvayati janayati vardhayati iti

vA bhUta-bhAvanah -

He makes them shine (bhA - to shine), generates or invigorates, and

makes them grow.

Sri Bhattar's words are: tAni dhAraka poshaka bhogyapradAnena

vardhayati iti bhUta-bhAvanah -

He is bhUta-bhAvana because He makes all things grow by bestowing on

them things that sustain them, nourish them, and contribute to their

enjoyment.