[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Vishnu Sahasranama Stanza 17

May 11, 2006

Respected madam,

This is wonderful. I never knew you were so scholarly! Hats off to you

for publishing commentary on Vishnu Sahasranamam. I wish you publish in

book form when completed. Hope you are referring to Sankara Bhashyam on

Vishnu Sahasranamam as well. In the last mail, I addressed you by your

name. But after seeing this, I respect you as my Guru and like to

address you as such. Kindly accept me also as one of your " Sishyotthamsas "

In veneration,

KVG.

rsunitaa wrote:

> Om Namo Narayanaya!!

>

> *upendro vaamanah praamsur- amoghah suchir-oorjitah

> ateendrah samgrahah sargo dhritaatmaa niyamo yamah.*

>

> *151. Upendrah *-The younger brother of Indra. In His Incarnation as

> Vaamana, He was born to Aditi, who was the mother of Indra, and hence,

> the Lord is known as the " Younger brother of Indra " . SrI rAdhAkRshNa

> Sastri gives the following instance in this context. PrahlAda's

> grandson Bali defeated Indra by doing penances according to

> SukrAcArya's advice. Indra's mother aditi prayed to God to get Indra's

> position back. Since Bali had attained Indra's position through

> penance etc., there was no way of getting back the position easily. So

> bhagavAn appeared as the younger brother of indra by being born as the

> son of aditi, and restoring the position of indra by asking for three

> feet of land from Bali in his yAga Sala. In Sanskrit the prefix upa

> denotes `Above' in the sense of `superior to'; therefore, Upendra may

> also mean " One who is superior to Indra " , the king of gods. Such an

> explanation we find in the Harivamsa (76-47) " mam'opari yathendras

> twam sthapitho gobhir isvarah | Upendra iti krsna tvam gasyanti bhuvi

> devatah || - The cows have established Thee superior to me as my

> master. Therefore, o Krishna, the Devas will singabout thee,

> addressing Thee as Upendra " . Sri rAdhAkRshNa Sastri gives the example

> of Lord KRshNa subduing indra's self-assumed superiority complex in

> gokulam when indra tried to flood and destroy the place for not

> offering prayers to him.

>

> Indra, the king of the sense-organs, is the mind and the

> Consciousness, which is the Self, is the One factor that dynamises the

> mind. Since life is that which controls even the mind, certainly It is

> superior to the mind and this Self is the Maha Vishnu.

>

> **

>

> *152. Vaamanah *-Of the ten great incarnations, the fifth one is

> Vaamana; and the very name indicates `One who has a small body'. vAmo

> valgutvam asya asti iti vAmanah - One who has a very charming short

> form. vAmo vatutvam asya asti iti vAmanah - One who has a short form

> of a gurukula student. It was in the form of a child (vatuh =A child

> student in a gurukula) that Vaamana approached the divinely righteous

> Emperor Mahaabali to beg of him a little land, of the length of his

> tiny three steps-and the Lord measured in His three steps all the

> three worlds and thus conquered Mahaabali. He checked (Vamayati) the

> rising pride of possession in Bali, hence He, in that incarnation as a

> Vatu, is called Vaamana. vAmayati tyAjayati madam balim - One who

> expelled the pride out of Bali.

>

> The term Vaamana also means `worshipful': " madhye vamanam asinam visve

> deva upasate – the Visve-devas devoutly worship the vamana who is in

> the middle. " , so we read in the Kathopanishad (2.5-3). However, here

> the emphasis should be upon the meaning " short statured " because of

> the contrast it makes with the following name.

>

> Another interpretation - sarvANi vAmAni nayati iti vAmanah - One who

> bestows all the desires of the devotees, or He produces joy in those

> who see Him, by His effulgence. In chAndogyopanishad we have " esha u

> eva vAmanIh esha hi sarvANi vAmAni nayati (chAndogyopanishad 4.25).

>

> *153. Praamsuh *-One whose body is vast is called Praamsuh. Vaamana,

> when He got the promise from the righteous King, and when He started

> measuring, the Lord took His Cosmic Form, and with each step measured

> the earth, the interspace, and the heaven. In Harivamsa (262-263)

> there is a beautiful description of the little Vaamana growing into

> His Total Form. The rate of His expansion is described with reference

> to two fixed factors the Sun and the Moon. When He took the form, the

> Sun and the Moon were His eyes; as He measured the earth, they came to

> His bosom; as He was measuring the space, the Sun was at His navel and

> as He lifted His feet to measure the Heaven, the Sun and the Moon were

> just below His knees.

>

> Toye tu patite haste Vamano'bhud avamanah | Sarva deva mayam rupam

> darsayamasa vai prabhuh | bhuh padau dyauh siras c'asya candr'adityau

> ca caksusi ||

>

> Immediately after Bali poured water in his hands with the resolve [to

> give the gift asked for], the dwark [vamana] became the opposite of a

> dwarf [Avamana]. The Lord then revealed His cosmic form, having the

> earth as His feet and the sun and moon as His eyes.

>

> *154. Amoghah *-One whose activities are ever a fulfilment of some

> great purpose. Even insignificant actions, which, ordinarily, people

> would think are empty and purposeless, are never really so, when they

> spring from Him. Even when He punishes, it is only for inaugurating a

> greater evolutionary blessing.

>

> na mogham ceshTitam yasya sah amoghah. When bhagavAn asked for three

> feet of earth from bali, it helped indra; when Bali could not give the

> third foot of earth, it helped subdue Bali and make him a great

> devotee on the spot; subduing Bali led to Bali getting the status

> equal to indra in a trice, and led to all the gods partaking in the

> offerings made in the sacrifice. Thus every act of His has a purpose.

>

> *155. Suchih *-One who is spotlessly `clean', and therefore,

> Ever-Pure. Impurities in a substance are things other than itself;

> when dust is on the cloth, the cloth is impure, unclean. Since the

> Self, the Aatman, is the Non- Dual Reality, having nothing other than

> Itself in It, Ever-pure alone must It always be. And Suchih is One who

> gives this purity to those who contemplate upon Him constantly. Sri

> Sankara: One who purifies those who adore and praise Him. " asya

> sparsas ca mahan sucih – His very contact is very purifying " .

>

> According to Sri Bhattar, Sucyata iti Sucih - One who purifies is

> Sucih. BhagavAn is Pure because He is the ParamAtmA who is

> uncontaminated by actions and their effects. He is Sucih because One

> who contemplates on Him becomes pure, and thus association with Him

> makes one pure. Whatever He does is uncontaminated by anything other

> than dharma, and so His purity never diminishes. When He helped indra

> by subduing Bali, one could say He was biased towards the deva-s; not

> so, since He made Himself the door-keeper of Bali and thus Bali

> benefited several-fold more than indra did in the process. He is

> pavitrANAm pavitram, or purer than the purest. The several references

> from sruti attest to His purity - Suddham apApa viddham - ISAvasya -

> 8); asparSaSca mahAn Sucih etc.

>

> **

>

> *156. Oorjitah *-One who has infinite strength and vitality. Wherever,

> in the organism, we meet with any strength and vitality they are all

> the strength and vitality of the Self. The Infinite Vishnu is the One

> All-Pervading Self, and therefore, He is the very springhead for all

> strength.

>

> **

>

> *157. Ateendrah * -One who is beyond Indra in knowledge, glory and

> strength. Since Indra represents the `mind-intellect' equipment,

> Aatman, the Self is denoted here as that which transcends the mind.

>

> **

>

> *158. Samgrahah *-One who holds the entire world of beings-and-things

> together in an indissoluble embrace unto Himself. Just as the hub of a

> wheel holds the rim unto itself by its endless spokes, so too the

> Aatman, the Self within, lends Its vitality to every cell in the body

> and to every thought in the inner-equipments.

>

> In none can anything happen which is not a glory borrowed from Him.

> And, the Self, being the same everywhere, in all existence, in both

> the movables and immovables, gross and subtle -in the manifest as well

> as in the unmanifest - He certainly is the One who holds the world of

> phenomena unto Himself in a vast embrace of Love and Oneness.

>

> **

>

> *159. Sargah *-One who has created out of Him- self the whole world.

> It therefore must also connote One, who has the whole created world as

> His own form, since the creation is His own manifestation as the

> Subtle and the Gross.

>

> a) SrI Sankara gives the interpretation " sarveshAm samhRtau

> pratisamhArAt samgrahah " - One who withdraws everything into Him

> during pralaya.

>

> b) SrI Bhattar gives the interpretation " atha bhaktaih ayatnena

> samgRhayata iti samgrahah " - One who is reached by His devotees

> without any effort (other than pure devotion).

>

> c) SrI chinmayAnanda gives the interpretation that bhagavAn is

> samgraha because he holds the entire world of beings and things together.

>

> **

>

> *160. Dhritaatmaa *-One who supports Himself by Himself. In the

> previous epithet Samgrahah, He was shown as the Cohesion of Love in

> the world of matter and energy, and in Sargah, He, as the One material

> and efficient cause of creation, was shown as also the very supporter

> of the manifested world. But who supports Him? He is Dhritaatmaa - He

> is established in Himself. Sri Sankara: One who is ever in His

> inherent form or nature, without the transformation involved in birth

> or death.

>

> **

>

> *161. Niyamah *-The Appointing Authority: It is He, who orders all the

> mighty forces of nature and prescribes for each the Laws of their

> conduct, the ways of their behaviour and the methods of their

> functions. The Sun, Moon, Air, Waters, Dik-Paalakas, Death etc. are

> all appointed and ordered by the Lord. niyamayati iti niyamah

>

> *162. Yamah *- yacchati iti yamah or yamayati iti yamah - One who

> rules. One who is the mighty Power that administers all the forces of

> Nature under His Law. Everything in nature strictly obeys ever all His

> Laws. He rules all our selves from within. He also rules all the

> beings of the earth from within the sphere of the Sun. We have the

> passage from bRhadAraNya upanishad - yah sarvANi bhUtAni antaro

> yamayati (3.7.15).

>

> Other passages from the sruti-s are " yah pRthivIm antaro yamayati - He

> who rules the earth from within " - BRhadAraNya 3.7.3, yah AtmAnam

> antaro yamayati - He who rules the self from within " , etc.

>

> Krishnarpanamastu!!

>

> Om Namo Narayanaya:

>

May 12, 2006

Respected All,

I am very greatful to be part of your group. First I should thank Alady Sukumar for guiding me and adding me into this group. Every mail I read from this group gives me immense strength and direction to move more towards the god. I am also fortunate to see Shree KVG into the group.

I wish that I grow into greater hights of knowledge of Lord Guruvayur.

I feel like Paamarudu (Telugu word) in the group of Pandits.

It all started with a line from a song in telugu and got me into this group.

Dehame Ra Devalayam Jeevude Santhana Daivam

Thanks for all you for sharing the information.

Satya

-

"K.V Gopalakrishna" <gopalakrishna.kv

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 9:42 PM

Re: [Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Vishnu Sahasranama Stanza 17

Respected madam,This is wonderful. I never knew you were so scholarly! Hats off to you for publishing commentary on Vishnu Sahasranamam. I wish you publish in book form when completed. Hope you are referring to Sankara Bhashyam on Vishnu Sahasranamam as well. In the last mail, I addressed you by your name. But after seeing this, I respect you as my Guru and like to address you as such. Kindly accept me also as one of your "Sishyotthamsas"In veneration,KVG.