Vishnu Sahasranama Stanza 12

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Om Namo Narayanaya!!

 

vasur-vasumanaah satyah samaatmaa sammitah samah

amoghah pundareekaaksho vrishakarmaa vrishaakritih.

 

(104) Vasuh -The One who is the very support of all elements, and

the One who Himself is the very Essence of the elements, This is

something like the dream made up of our own mind; and the very same

dream-world plays itself out, all the time sustained in the very

same mind. Similarly, the Self indwells all and all dwell in the

Self. In the Geeta we are told by the Lord, " I am among the Vasus

the Paavakah " -(Geeta. Ch. 10, St. 23). Therefore, the Self exists

like air-allowing everything to remain in it and sustaining

everything by it.

a) One who dwells in the hearts of His devotees.

b) One who dwells in the Milk-Ocean.

c) One who is the wealth that His devotees seek.

d) The best among the eight vasus - pAvaka.

e) One who lives in the sky.

This nAma occurs two more times.

a) & b): vasati iti vasuh - One who dwells.

He dwells in the hearts of His devotees even with a small amount of

devotion, and He dwells in the kshIrArNava. SrI krshNa-prEmi in one

his upanyAsas remarks that SrIman nArAyaNa chose to dwell in the

Milk-Ocean as if to be nearer to those devotees who are not yet

accomplished enough to join Him to SrivaikuNTham, or as if He can be

closer to the devotees so as to rush to help those who need Him.

We have the following from the srutis -

" sa lokAnAm hitArthAya kshIrOdhE vasati prabhuh " -

The great Lord resides in the milk ocean for doing good to the

people of the world.

" Esha nArAyaNah SrImAn kshIrArNava nikEtanah " -

This nArAyaNa is always with Lakshmi, and resides in the Milk-ocean

(HarivamSa 113.62).

c) The word vasu also means wealth - vasati nItimatAm gRha iti vasu.

In gItA we have vAsudevah sarvam - vAsudeva is everything (gItA

7.19). He is the wealth that great men seek.

d) He is vasu because He is one of the eight vasus. Sri Sankara

gives the following reference to the gItA to support this

interpretation - vasUnAm pAvakaScAsmi - I am pAvaka among the vasus

(gItA 10.23).

e) One who, as air, moves about and has residence in the mid-region.

In kaThopanishd we have vasurantiksha sat ( kaThopanisahd 2.5.2).

(105) Vasumanaah -One who has a mind which is Supremely Pure;

meaning a mind that has none of the sins of passions and pains; none

of the storms of desires and jealousies; none of the quakes of likes

and dislikes.

a) One who has a 'wealthy' or rich mind.

b) One who has a mind which thinks of His devotees as a treasure.

a) BhagavAn is vasu-manA because His mind is unpolluted by anything

such as rAga, dvesha (attachment, hate), and similar secondary

afflictions such as mada or infatuation. He has a mind which has

none of the sins of passions and pains, none of the storms of

desires and jealousies, none of the quakes of likes and dislikes.

b) Sri kRshNa says in the gItA that the high-souled man is very hard

to find - sa mahAtmA sudurlabhah - gItA 7.19.

(106) Satyah -He is the Real. The term Satyam used in philosophy

has a special connotation. That which remains the same in all the

three periods of time is called Satyam. That which seemingly exists,

but which never was nor shall ever be, is considered as a false

delusion, A-satya. He, who remains the same, before the creation,

during the existence and even after the dissolution, is the Infinite

Truth, Satyah. The Taittireeya Upanishad thunders that the Eternal

Truth is " Truth, Knowledge, Bliss " : " Satyam, Jnaanam, Anantam

Brahma " - Taittireeya Upanishad: 2-1.

We may here mention a couple of other meanings that are generally

given to this term " The best among good people is Satyam. Again, the

word Satyam is made up of three sounds -Sat-ti-yam -and, herein,

according to the Upanishad itself, " Sat means praana, ti means food,

Yam means sun; " therefore, Sat yam is the Law which orders the food

to sustain the praana when both are blessed by the sources of all

gross energies in the cosmos, the Sun.

a) The Truth

b) One whose form is made up of prANa, matter and sun

c) One who is well-disposed towards the good.

This nAma occurs two more times later.

a) The most commonly known meaning for this word is Truth. The

direct support for this interpretation comes from mahAbhArata -

" satye pratisThitah kRshNah satamasmin pratishThitam |

sattAsattE ca gOvindah tasmAt satyah satAm matah || (udyOga parva

69.12.13)

" KRshNa is rooted in satya and satya is rooted in kRshNa. Existence

and non-existence are grounded in govinda. So great men opine that

kRshNa is Truth itself " .

b) Sri Sankara gives the following from aitrEya AraNyaka in support

of the second interpretation -

saditi prANAstItyannam yamityasAvAdityah - sat means prANa, ti means

food, and yam the sun. He is satya because His form is made up of

prANa, matter and sun.

c) satsu sAdhutvAt satyah - He is satya because He is well-disposed

(excellent) towards the noble souls. The pANini sutra that supports

this interpretation is tatra sAdhuh (4.4.98) -

tatrEti saptamIsamarthAth sAdhurityEtasminnarthE yatpratyayO

bhavati -

The affix yat comes after a word in the locative construction, in

the sense of 'excellent in regard thereto'.

(107) Samaatmaa -He who is equally in all. In Kathopanishad we read

the declaration of Lord Death to Nachiketas how the same Truth has

come to express itself differently from form to form. To visualize

the Paramesvara who reveals equally in all, among the perishables

and imperishable, is the Vision Divine. Kauseshika Upanishad (3-9)

says, " One should understand that the Self is the same-in-all " . In

the Geeta also is the declaration " I am the Seer in all the fields-

of-experiences everywhere " -Geeta Ch. 13, St. 3).

Sri Bhattar interprets samAtmA as- One who has an even mind.

One whose mind is undisturbed by love or hatred. He is also sama

AtmA since He does not distinguish one from another when it comes to

His thoughts on His devotees. Since He is the soul in everything, He

finds no distinction between them. Since He is unattached to

anything, He sees everything and everyone as equal.

(108) Sammitah -The term Sammatam means `acceptable'. The One.

Truth, which has been proved and accepted by the Rishis in the

Upanishads through subtle logic and philosophical reasoning, is

called Sammatah. This is the most direct and very appealing meaning.

But there are some who would interpret this portion of the Thousand

Names of Lord Vishnu by combining Samaatmaa (107) and Sammitah (108)

to form together a single `Name', wherein the compound word would

read Samaatma-asammitah. Here the term Asammitah then would come to

mean " One who is incomparable, Inimitable (Atulya) who has none to

equal Him " .

a) One who has let Himself to be understood (controlled) by His

devotees.

b) The One Truth who is accepted by the Rshis and revealed in the

upanishads.

Either meaning seems to be based on the word sammata - accepted. The

first interpretation is by Sri Bhattar, who points out that this

name signifies that He willingly accepted the role of

being 'controlled' by devaki, kausalyA, yasoda, dasaratha, vasudeva,

etc. He chose the parents to whom He was going to be the child, and

then 'played' the role of the child willingly.

The advaita pATha is asammita, which is interpreted as referring to

One who is limitless or immeasurable.

(109) Samah -Equal; the same. Truth remains the same. One Infinite

Reality plays the game of plurality. As has been said in the

Kathopanishad, " The One Principle of Fire having entered this world

burns itself out differently according to the equipments upon which

it is manifested " , so the One Truth manifests as the many Jeevas.

Hence He is called the Samah. Also it can mean as One who is ever

united, with (Sa) Lakshmi (Maa).

Sri Bhattar interprets samah as- One who treats all His devotees

equally.

In gItA we have " samO'ham sarva bhUtEshu " - I am equally disposed

towards all beings (gIta 9.29).

Sri Sankara interprets the meaning as One who is the same at all

times.

He gives another interpretation also - He is (sa) with (mAyA)

lakshmi always; therefore, He is sama.

(110) Amoghah -Moghah means " useless fellow " (Nishphalah), " a

disappointing power " . Amogha is the opposite of it: " Ever

Useful " , " Ever the Fulfiller " of all the wishes and demands of His

devotees. Chandogya Upanishad (8-1-5) declares: " Truthful is His

wish, and Truth is His resolve " .

Sri Bhattar interprets amOghah as - One who always gives fruits to

those who worship Him.

MOgha means futile. Mogham nirarthakam is amrakOSa. AmOgha is the

opposite of it. We have the following from rAmAyaNa -

" amOgham darSanam rAma na ca mOghah tava stavah |

amOghAstE bhavishyanti bhaktimantaSca yE narAh || (rAmAyaNa yuddha

120.31)

" o rAma! A sight of You is never futile. The praise of You is also

never futile.

Those who are endowed with devotion to You will always be successful

in their life " .

(111) Pundareekaakshah -One who can be contacted and fully

experienced in the Heart Space (Pundareekam). In the Narayana

Upanishad (10) we find the same term employed: " In the core of the

body, in the Heart Space, dwells the Supreme. " In the `Heart', the

meditator can experience the Reality more readily and very clearly,

and so the All- Pervading Reality is described as " dwelling in the

Heart-cave " .

Sri Bhattar interprets this as

a) One whose eyes are beautiful like the lotus flower

b) One who resides in the heart space of everyone and observes all

c) One who is like the eye to the residents of SrIvaikunTham.

puNdarIkam means lotus flower. PuNdarIkE iva akshiNI yasya sah

puNdarIkAkshah - One whose eyes are beautiful like lotus flowers.

lingAyatasUrin in his bhAshya for amarakOSa gives a second

interpretation as well - puNdarIkam hRtkamalam akshatIti vA - One

who pervades the heart space - akshati pervades. SrI Bhattar gives

the meaning 'vaikuNTham' to the word puNdarIka based on the

following, and interprets puNdarIkAkshah as One who is the eye for

the residents of SrIvaikunTham

puNdarIkam param dhAma nityam aksharam avyayam |

tadbhavAn pundarIkAkshah ........ ||

PuNdarIka is the Transcendental world which is eternal,

indestructible, and immutable. You are like the eye to that world

and so you are known as puNdarIkAksha. " - (MahAbhArata udyoga -

69.6).

(112) Vrishakarmaa -Vrisha means Dharma. One whose every activity

is righteous and who acts only to establish righteousness. " For the

sake of establishing Dharma, I am born in every age " , says Lord -

(Geeta Ch. 4, St. 8).

VRsha means dharma or virtue - abhilashitam varshatIti vRshah. SrI

chinamayAnanda points out that His actions are righteous, and He

acts only to establish righteousness - dharma samsthApanArthAya

sambhavAmi yugE yugE. In gItA BhagavAn says that He does his actions

according to His dharma even though He has nothing to gain or lose

by any action - na anavAptam avAptavyam varta eva ca karmaNi - 3.22.

(113) Vrishaakritih -One who is of the form (Aakriti) of Dharma

(Vrisha). It is not only that His actions are righteous but He is

Himself Righteousness. It can also mean as One who takes different

forms during His Divine Incarnations-all for maintaining the Rule of

Dharma in the world.

 

Krisharpanamastu!!!