Vishnu Sahasranama Sloka 2

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Om Namo Narayanaya!

 

pootaatmaa paramaatmaa cha muktaanaam paramaa gatih

avyayah purushah saakshee kshetrajno akshara eva cha.

Nama 10: Poota-atmaa

One with an extremely Pure (Pootam) Essence; One who is not affected

the least by the impurities of Maayaa. The Self is beyond all

vaasanaas and, therefore, He cannot be affected by anyone of the

manifestations of Maayaa such as thoughts of the intellect, emotions

of the mind or the perceptions of the body. Immaculate is ever the

Self, and so He is termed as the Pure Self (Poota-Aatmaa).

Our Atmas reap the fruits of the actions that we are involved in

because of their association with our body. BhagavAn is also

associated with the same bodies since we are all extensions of His

body. However, He is Pure Atman because He is not affected by the

fruits of the association with the bodies.

Sri Bhattar gives a very simple example to make this point. A

teacher uses a stick to strike a student. Both the teacher and the

student come in contact with the same stick, but the pain of

association with the stick is felt by the student, but not by the

teacher. So also, even though both the Lord and the jivatmans are

associated with the bodies of the jivatmans, the Lord is not

affected by the fruits of the actions of the jivatmans.

In the Gita, Sri Krshna says: " na mAm karmANi lipanti " - actions do

not taint me.

Nama 11: Parama-atmaa

The Supreme Soul - for whom there is no other guiding or superior

soul. The Supreme, meaning that which transcends all limitations and

imperfections of matter: in short, the Transcendental Reality.

Sankara in Aatma Bodha points out that matter borrows its energy

from the Spirit and continues its activity " as the world from the

Sun " .

paro mA asya .sa AtmA paramAtmA - That Soul for whom there is none

superior is paramatma. All of us have Him as our inner souls, but

Bhagavan has no one as His Inner Soul that guides Him. There is no

one superior to Him. Lord Krishna says in the Gita: " I am in every

one, but no one is in Me " .

" parah parANAm paramah paramAtmA " -He is greater than the great; He

is superior, and he is the Supreme Soul (visHNu purANa - 1.2.10)

" paramAtmA ca sarveshAm AdhAra: paramesvara: |

vishNurnAma sarva-vedeshu vedAnteshu ca gIyate || (VishNu purANa

6.4.10)

The Isvara above all Isvaras, the paramAtmA who is the supporter of

every being, is sung by all vedas and vedantas as Lord VishNu.

 

Nama 12: Muktaanaam paramaa gatih

He who is the final Goal reached by all the liberated souls.

This `Goal' to be attained is called as `Gati' in Sanskrit, " The

Supreme Goal " (Paramaa Gatih) would necessarily be then that Goal,

having reached which, there is no return: " There where having gone,

men never return, That sacred place is My seat " -Geeta Ch. 15. St. 6.

In Geeta. (Ch. 8. St. 6) even more explicitly the same idea has been

asserted by Sri Krishna when He says: " O Son of Kunti, having

reached Me, there shall be no more any re-birth " .

Parama gati is the goal after attaining which you won't desire

anything else. In other words, this is the limit of the goal.

Normally, the nature of any goal is such that if you attain that

goal, then you will want to attain the next higher goal. This is not

the case with parama gati.

Sri Bhattar says " The reasons for the muktas choosing Sri MahA

VishNu as their Supreme goal are: He does not send them back to the

cycle of samsAra once they reach Him (13), He gives the enjoyment of

His Bliss to the muktas in abundance (14), He witnesses the muktas'

enjoyment of Him and is in turn pleased, which pleases the muktas

(15), He knows the right place for the muktas to get their eternal

Bliss (16), and He is one whose Greatness never diminishes over time

in spite of the constant Bliss that He provides to the muktas (17).

Nama 13: Avyaah

According to Sri Sankara's interpretation - Indestructible - based

on na asya vyayah iti avyayah, where vyaya means something that can

be destroyed. He gives the following pramANa from the BrhadAraNya

Upanishad: " ajarah amarah avyayah - He is undecaying, immortal, and

indestructible " (6.4.25).

Also, in the nArAyaNa sUktam - anatamavyayam kavim ..... The

Immortal and Indestructible Seer.

" Vyaya " means destruction; destruction cannot be without change;

therefore, that which is " without destruction " (Avyayah) is the

changeless. The Indestructible, and therefore, changeless, can never

have any modifications (Parinaama). For, modification is but the

death of a previous condition and the birth of a new condition. The

Eternal and the Immutable (Avyayah) is the Supreme Sat-chit-

aananda, and every other thing and being come under the hammer or

change. The medium in which all these changes are sustained is

Brahman, the Immutable.

Sri Bhattar's vyAkhyAna - One who does not send back anyone who has

reached Him (to the cycle of birth and rebirth.) na vIyate - na

vyapagamyate iti avyayah - He is avyaya because He does not send

them back (to samsAra)

Nama 14: Purushah

One who dwells in the Fort-city (Puri sete iti Purushah). Herein

metaphorically the Rishis conceive our body as a fortress with nine

gate-ways- " Nava Dvaarc Pure Dehee " -(Geeta Ch. 5, St. 13) -and

declare the One who rules within it, like a king, is the Self.

This term can also be dissolved in two more different ways giving

more and more suggestions to the nature of the Self. Thus, Purusha

can mean " That which was before all creatures " -Puraa Aaseet iti

Purushah or it can be " One who completes and fulfils the Existence

everywhere " , meaning, without whom Existence is impossible

(Poorayati iti Purushah). Sri Sankara refers to the following from

the taittirIya AraNyaka -

" pUrvameva aham iha Asam iti purushasya purusahtvam " - I indeed

existed here before; as I existed before, I am called purusha.

In addition to these interpretations of Sri Sankara, Sri Bhattar

interprets Purusha as the following.

Puru sanoti iti purushah - One who gives in plenty;

puru means plenty, and sanoti means giver.

Or, purUNi phalAni sanoti - dadAti iti pururshah -

One who gives plentiful benefits.

Nama 15: Saakshee

Witness, The All-Knower, The Omniscient. In every day life he is a

witness who without any mental reservation or personal interest

observes and watches what is happening in a given field of

experience. " Saakshaad Drashtari Saakshee syaad-

Amarakosa. " The `Knower' in every bosom is the same Supreme Self " ,

says Lord Krishna (Geeta Ch. 13, St. 3). Though Consciousness

illumines everything, It is only a Witness, as It knows no change.

Just as the sun illumines everything but is not affected in anyway

by the state of the objects it illumines, so also the Lord witnesses

everything but is not affected by all that He witnesses. The

jIvAtmAs see everything through some sense organ or other, and so

the deficiencies of these organs limits what is seen. Not so in the

case of the Lord. BhagavAn sees everything directly by His own

awareness without any instrument for seeing (such as the sense

organs) in between. SAkshAt Ikshate - The Direct Cognizer.

Sri Bhattar interprets this name as indicating that the Lord

witnesses the muktas enjoying the Bliss that He confers on them, and

is thus happy Himself. Obviously, this give great pleasure to

Mukhtas, since they are interested in His happiness and this is one

of the reasons for His being their paramA gati.

Nama 16: Kshetrajnah

Sri Sankara has interpreted this name based on Bhagavad GItA Chapter

13 - slokas 1 and 2, in particular. Here, the word kshetra refers to

the body, and kshetrajna refers to One who knows (understands the

principle or tatva behind) all the bodies and is the direct witness

of the actions of all the bodies (by being directly inside the

bodies and not needing any secondary means to witness these). These

bodies are the fields in which seeds consisting of man's good and

bad deeds yield their fruits as enjoyments or suffering. As the

dwelling spirit is the knower of all these, He is called Kshetrajnah.

Bhagavat Gita says " ksetrajnam ca pi mam viddhi- know Me to be the

Knower of the Kshetra or the field, i.e. the body "

Sri Bhattar interprets Kshetrajnah as One who knows, and can lead

the muktas to the exact place where the muktas will get their sought-

after Supreme Bliss.

Sri nArAyaNa is the vaikunTha vAsi.

VaikunTha is the place after reaching which there is no return to

this world.

That this is a place which even the greatest of sages can realize

only after intense meditation and devotion to the Lord.

Nama 17: Aksharah

lndestructible: things which are finite are necessarily conditioned

by time and space; the Infinite is unconditioned, and so It is

Aksharah. Since It is Indestructible, It cannot come under the

methods of universal destruction arising from nature or through the

wilful actions of man. " It cannot be cleaved by instruments of

destruction, nor can fire burn It, nor water drench It, nor air dry

It " -(Geeta Ch. 2, St. 23). It is also indicated that the Supreme

Brahman is the Akshara- " Aksharam Brahma Paramam " -(Geeta Ch. 8, St.

3).

Please note that in the stanza there is the extra word `only' (Eva)

used, indicating that Kshetrajnah is the Aksharah; there is no

difference between them both: the " Knower-of-the-field " and

the " field " .

Sri Sankara's interpretation is: " sa eva na ksharati iti aksharah -

He alone exists without dying.

Sri Bhattar explains this nama as -One whose greatness never

diminishes over time in spite of being enjoyed by the muktas

constantly.

na ksharati iti aksharah . His greatness is innate, and does not

derive from something external. So it never diminishes.

Sri Bhattar has thus explained nAmas 13 to 17 as the reason why

muktas consider the Lord the paramA gati.

 

 

Krishnaarpanamastu!