Vishnu Sahasranama Stanza 11

[Guest guest]

Om Namo Narayanaya!!

 

ajah sarvesvarah siddhah siddhih sarvaadir achyutah

vrishaakapir ameyaatmaa sarva-yoga- vinissritah.

 

(95) Ajah -Unborn. Birth implies a modification; birth cannot be

without the death of its previous condition. Since the Eternal and

the Infinite, is ever Changeless there can be in It neither birth

nor death. That which is born must necessarily die: -(Geeta Ch. 2,

St. 27) and so, that which is unborn should be deathless (Amritah).

Rig Veda (1-81-5): " He was neither born nor is He going to be born. "

This nAma occurs two more times later.

According to Sri Bhattar,

a) Unborn.

b) The Remover of all obstacles.

c) One who moves in the hearts of the devotees

d) One who removes the ignorance from the hearts of His devotees

e) One who is the root of all sound (akshara " a " ).

a) The first meaning is derived as na jAyata iti ajah - One who is

not born in the traditional sense.

Sri Sankara gives the following from the srutis to support this

explanation:

na jAto na janishyate - He was neither born nor will be born (Rg

veda 1.81.5)

" na hi jAto na jAye'yam na janishye kadAcana |

kshetraj~nah sarvabhUtAnAm tasmAt aham ajah smrtah || MB SAntiparva

330.9

" I was not born, nor am I born, nor will I have a future birth; I am

the soul in all beings; hence I am called the Unborn " .

Other references to the name aja are:

" ajo nityah SASvato'yam purANah " (kaThopanishad 1.2.18), and

" sa vA esha mahAn aja AtmA " (brhadAraNyaupanishad 4.4.22).

Sri Bhattar points out that BhagavAn only emerges out of a pillar

etc., but is not born like others (see the explanation for

svayambhuh).

b) There are several interpretations of the nAma aja using the

meaning " movement " for the root aj - aja gati kshepaNayoh - The

root 'aj' signifies movement or throwing away.

Sri Bhattar uses this meaning and interprets the name as

meaning " The Remover of all obstacles " to ensure that His devotees

accomplish in their objective of reaching Him. Sri Sankara uses the

same meaning for aja (movement, motion) and comes up with the

explanation - ajati gacchati kshipati iti vA ajah - He who moves

into the heart of His devotees. Sri rAdhAkrshNa SAstri uses the

meaning " movement " and interprets the name as Remover of the

ignorance in us, or One who goes to the bhaktas to enable them to

reach Him, or One who throws away His weapons at anyone who disturbs

or causes hardship to His devotees.

One other explanation given for aja is akAravAcyatayA jAtah - One

who is known through the letter " a " . - akAra vAcyatayA jAtah ajah.

In the gItA we have " aksharANaAm akAro'smi - (gItA 10.33) - I am 'a "

among the syllables. Sri rAdhAkrhNa SAstri points out that at the

time of pralaya the panca bhUtas coalesce into ether (the reverse of

AkASAt vAyuh, vAyoragnih, aganerApah, adbhyah pethivI, etc.)., and

the ether coalesces into its tanmAtra, the sound, and Sabda

ultimately dissolves into the sound " a " , which is the form of

BhagavAn at the conclusion of prlaya. The sruti is 'akAro vai sarvA

vAk " .

(96) Sarvesvarah -God of all gods or the Supreme Controller of all.

In a sense it means the Almighty, the All-powerful. " He is the Lord

of all, " says Brihad Upanishad (6-4-2).

a) One who reaches all who seek Him

b) One who is the Isvara for all isvaras

a) Sri Bhattar derives the first interpretation from the root aS to

pervade. By the uNAdi sUtra 738, aSnoterASukarmaNi varat ca - the

affix varat comes after the root aS - to pervade, when the word

formed from it refers to " having the power of granting success

soon " . Thus aS + varat = ISvarah. The interpretation is that He is

sarveSvara because He quickly reaches all those who have taken

refuge in Him in order to avoid delay in dispelling their uneasiness

whether they are qualified or not. Or rather, the sufficient

qualification is that they have taken refuge in Him.

b) sarveshAm ISvarANAm ISvarah sarveSvarah. The Sruti says - esha

sarveSvarah - BrhadAraNya upanishad - 4.4.22 - He is the Lord of all

lords.

(97) Siddhah -One who has achieved all that has to be achieved, as

He Himself is the Final Goal for all. Or the term can also mean " the

most famous " .

Sri Bhattar summarizes as svarUpeNaiva bhaktAnAm siddhatvAt siddhah

ucyate - He is in the hands of His devotees in His true form. A

siddha can also mean One who has accomplished all that has to be

achieved. Sri Sankara gives the interpretation that He is ever

perfect - nitya nishpanna rUpatvAt siddhah.

An interpretation from the amarakoSa gives the definition siddhyati

iti siddhah.

(98) Siddhih -He who is available for recognition (Siddha)

everywhere at all points in His nature as Pure Consciousness. Again,

Siddhi also means the `fruit of action', and in the context here

this would-mean, " He who gives the Infinite fruit of Kaivalya,

Moksha. " All other karmas can acquire for us only relative joys of

the heavens, but in realizing the Self the seeker gains an `Infinite

State from which there is no return', so describes Geeta.

(99) Sarvaadih - The Infinite which was before creation and from

which the created beings had emerged out, as an effect, is naturally

the Primary Cause (Moola-Kaarana).

SarveshAm purushArtAnAm Adih sarvAdih or sarva bhUtAnAm

AdikAraNatvAt sarvAdih. One who is the very beginning of all; One

who was in existence earlier than anything else. The Infinite which

was before creation, and from which the created beings emerged out.

(100) Achyutah -Chyutah= Fallen; Achy utah: One who has never

fallen: the Ever-Pure Reality which is never fallen into the

misconceptions of Samsar: the Pure Knowledge in which ignorance has

never come to pollute Its purity. Lord Himself says in Bhagavata, " I

have never ever before fallen from my Real Nature; therefore, I am

Achyutah " .

a) One who has never slipped from His glory.

b) One who never lets His devotees slip.

c) One who undergoes no modifications such as birth, growth, decay,

disease, etc.

This nAma occurs two more times later.

In mahAbhArata we have " yasmAt na cyuta pUrvo'ham acyutastena

karmaNA " - SAnti parva 12.330.16.

a) Sri Sankara and Sri Bhattar have interpreted the above sruti

slightly differently. Sri Sankara's words are - svarUpasAmarthyAt na

cyuto na cyavate na cyavishyata iti acyutah. He has not lapsed, is

not lapsing, and will not lapse from His own glory; hence the name

acyuta. Sri Bhattar's interpretation for the above Sruti lead to the

second meaning, which follows:

b) Sri Bhattar's vyAkhyAna for the above is " I have never abandoned

(my bhaktas). Because of this act of mine, I am known as acyuta " .

His words are " tebyah prapannebhyah na apagatah acyutah - He is

never away from those who have sought refuge in Him " .

c) cyutam means modification. The upanishad says of BhagavAn -

" SASvatam Sivam acyutam " - Eternal, Auspicious, and Changeless " -

taittirIya AraNyakam - 10.11). Sri rAdhAkrshNa SAstri points out

that BhagavAn is acyuta because he does not slip from stage to stage

in the sequence of events such as birth, living, growth, change in

appearance, decay, and finally disappearance from the body.

(101) Vrishaakapih - In Sanskrit the term Kapi has a meaning: `that

which saves one from drowning'. Lord in the form of the Great Boar,

(Varaaha) in that incarnation, had lifted the world from the waters

at the end of the deluge; the term vrisha means `Dharma'. One who

thus lifts the world drowned in Adharma to the sunny fields of

Dharma is vrishaakapih

In the mahAbhArata we have

" kapir varAhah SreshThaSca dharmaSca vRsha ucyate |

tasmAd vRshAkapim prAha kASyapO mAm prajApatih || (Santi parva

330.24)

" The word vRsha means dharma, and the word kapi refers to boar (pA

means to protect and ka means water, and so kapi refers to varAha

incarnation where He protected the Earth from the waters).

(102) Ameyaatmaa -One who has His manifestations (Aatmaa) in

Infinite varieties, almost unaccountable (Ameya), The Viraat Purusha

of the Form of All-Lord of the Cosmic Form is suggested here. As all

forms have risen from Him, exist in Him, and dissolve into Him

alone, all forms are His own different forms.

(103) Sarva-yoga-vinissritah -Yoga is from Yuj `to join'; `to

attach', One who is totally free (vinissritah) from all contacts or

attachments. Attachment to a thing is possible only when the object-

of-attachment is other than the subject, In the One Infinite Reality

there cannot be any attachment with anything, mainly because there

is nothing here that is not the Infinite Itself. The Infinite is a

Mass of Love; there is no attachment in It; for, attachment is Love

with possessiveness and desire for gratification, " This Purusha is,

indeed, unattached " , roars Brihad Upanishad (6-3-15), Lastly, the

term, Sarva- Yoga- Vinissritah can also mean that He is beyond the

reach of the various systems of Yogas taught in the Sastras. These

systems are to quieten the mind, to end the misapprehensions-of-

Truth, to annihilate the Maayaa, What is there left over in the

seeker's bosom is the Self-the Great Vishnu,

 

Krishnarpanamastu!!

[Guest guest]

guruvayur , " rsunitaa " <rsunitaa wrote:

>

> Om Namo Narayanaya!!

>

> ajah sarvesvarah siddhah siddhih sarvaadir achyutah

> vrishaakapir ameyaatmaa sarva-yoga- vinissritah.

>

> (95) Ajah -Unborn. Birth implies a modification; birth cannot be

> without the death of its previous condition. Since the Eternal and

> the Infinite, is ever Changeless there can be in It neither birth

> nor death. That which is born must necessarily die: -(Geeta Ch. 2,

> St. 27) and so, that which is unborn should be deathless (Amritah).

> Rig Veda (1-81-5): " He was neither born nor is He going to be

born. "

> This nAma occurs two more times later.

>

 

Namaste, Sunita-ji and all

 

Your coverage of stanza-11 is wonderful. I wonder whether you have

been writing this from Stanza-1 onwards or not. I tried to find it in

the previous posts but I could not. If they are there please give

some number references to your earlier posts.

 

My appreciations and congratulations for the exhaustive coverage of

both Bhatta Bhashya and Shankara Bhashya that you are giving. I

notice you are also referring to Radhakrishna Sastri's book. Good.

Please continue in the same style. It would very useful to have all

this in English.

 

PranAms to Shri Guruvayoorappan.

profvk

[Guest guest]

Dear Sir,

Thanks for your email. By doing a search on the messages in this

group, I am able to find all the messages that I have posted up to

now. If thats difficult to find, I can send them by e mail to you.

Also, if there are many more new members to this group since July, I

can upload the files to the groups.

Sunita

 

In guruvayur , " V. Krishnamurthy " <profvk wrote:

>

> guruvayur , " rsunitaa " <rsunitaa@> wrote:

> >

> > Om Namo Narayanaya!!

> >

> > ajah sarvesvarah siddhah siddhih sarvaadir achyutah

> > vrishaakapir ameyaatmaa sarva-yoga- vinissritah.

> >

> > (95) Ajah -Unborn. Birth implies a modification; birth cannot be

> > without the death of its previous condition. Since the Eternal

and

> > the Infinite, is ever Changeless there can be in It neither

birth

> > nor death. That which is born must necessarily die: -(Geeta Ch.

2,

> > St. 27) and so, that which is unborn should be deathless

(Amritah).

> > Rig Veda (1-81-5): " He was neither born nor is He going to be

> born. "

> > This nAma occurs two more times later.

> >

>

> Namaste, Sunita-ji and all

>

> Your coverage of stanza-11 is wonderful. I wonder whether you have

> been writing this from Stanza-1 onwards or not. I tried to find it

in

> the previous posts but I could not. If they are there please give

> some number references to your earlier posts.

>

> My appreciations and congratulations for the exhaustive coverage

of

> both Bhatta Bhashya and Shankara Bhashya that you are giving. I

> notice you are also referring to Radhakrishna Sastri's book. Good.

> Please continue in the same style. It would very useful to have

all

> this in English.

>

> PranAms to Shri Guruvayoorappan.

> profvk

>