Vishnu Sahasranamam Stanza 19

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Om Namo Narayanaya!! mahaabuddhir-mahaa- veeryo mahaa-saktir mahaa-dyutihanirdesya-vapuh sreemaan ameyaatmaa mahaadri-dhrik. 173. Mahaabuddhih - In the previous term, we were told He is Omnipotent. Here He is indicated as Omniscient. The Supreme, functioning through the intellect, is the intelligence. The quality and quantity of the intelligence will depend upon the condition of the “intellect’ through which the Infinite comes to play. The intelligence in a mathematician, poet or an artist, scientist or politician-all are the different play-patterns of energies invoked from the one Supreme Intelligence, and therefore, Mahavishnu, the Self, is called here as Mahaabuddhih, the Reservoir of all Intelligence. SrI Bhattar points out that He is mahA-buddhi because His knowledge does not depend on His sense organs or any external help. He sees and hears and senses all at the same time with any of His organs or with no need for any of the organs. This is supported by several passages from the sruti-s - viSvataScakshuruta viSvatomukhah - He has eyes on all sides and faces on all sides (taittirIya nArAyaNa upanishad 1.12); paSyat_yacakshuh sa SRNoti akarNah - He sees without eyes and hears without ears (SvetASva 3.19); sarvato'kshi Siromukham - He has everywhere eyes, heads, and mouths (gItA 13.13). The dhAtu word from which the name is derived is budh ~jnAne to know, to understand. BhagavAn is the

buddhi behind the functioning of all His creations, and so He is the mahA-buddhi. SrI satyadevo vAsishTha points out that the behavior of many objects such as even the shedding of the leaves by the trees during the winter months and the regeneration during the summer months etc., is indicative of knowledge that He has invested in them. The establishment of the stars and planets in their respective positions and orbits is a totally different dimension of the same mahA-buddhi of the Lord. The magic of creation of the multitude of beings and their being held together as a functional entity is beyond the knowledge of anyone else but Him. The author also points out cases such as a "lajjAvanti" plant which survives and grows only if a woman waters the plant, and dies if a man pours the water to the plant, which are all examples of the wonders of the ~jnAna that is the mahA-buddhi. SrI rAdhAkRshNa Sastri points out that buddhi is the most important of the four antah:karaNa-s. buddhi chooses between the options provided by the manas, taking into account the pictures of previous experiences provided by the cittam, before the ahamkAram takes over and executes the action. If the buddhi makes a poor choice, then it becomes alpa-buddhi; if the buddhi always chooses noble choices, then it is the mahA-buddhi. 174. Mahaaveeryah -One who is the Supreme Essence. “Veerya” is the Essence behind all the creative urges. Since the Divine is the very source, from which alone the dynamism for creation can manifest, the Supreme Divinity is termed here as the Mahaaveerya. Sri Sankara: The most powerful one, because Ignorance which is the cause of Samsara is His great power. SrI rAdhAkRshNa Sastri explains that vIryam is the quality of achieving one's objective no matter how difficult it is. bhagavAn's first accomplishment, the creation of this Universe from the prakRti or primordial matter, is a

result of His vIrya. In the vyAkhyAna in dharma cakram it is pointed out that one with the vIrya or creative energy should also be one who has complete control of the indriya-s in order for this creative energy to be beneficial to everyone else. From this point, the Lord is the only one who can be called the mahA-vIrya. 175. Mahaasaktih -All-Powerful. Power here means efficiency.

He-whose manifestations are the power-of-action, the power-of-desire and the power-of-knowledge saktees-must necessarily be the most powerful, in as much as a play of these three powers is the total play of the world. The word can be derived from Sak - marshane to endure, to be able, or Sak Saktau to be able, to endure, to be powerful. Thus SrI satyadevo vAsishTha interprets the meaning to be similar to be mahA-bala, mahotsAhah etc. SrI Sankara interprets Sakti as sAmarthyam or skill, and Sri chinamayAnanda follows up on this and indicates that He is mahA-Sakti because He is the cause of the interplay of the three Sakti-s, the kriyA Sakti or the power-of-action, the kAma-Sakti or the power-of-desire, and the ~jnAna Sakti or the power-of-knowledge, which in turn is the cause of this Universe. SrI Bhattar points out that this nAma emphasizes that

bhagavAn is not just the sentient cause of this world, but is also the material cause of this world; i.e., He is not only the brain behind the creation, but He is also the one whose immense power caused the physical creation of this world from the prakRti. 176. Mahaadyutih -Of Splendorous Light. Dyuti means ‘Glow’, Sobhaa. The Pure Consciousness is the illuminator of all, including all other material sources of light in the world-Sun, Moon, stars, fire etc.-but this is not all; He is also the One, who is Himself Self-Effulgent. This is Mahavishnu-the Supreme

Self. In the Mundakopanishad (4-9) Lord is described as the “Light of lights”. Brihadaaranyaka upanishad (6-3-9) declares: He is Self-effulgent”. The sruti references that support this are: svayam jyotih - He is pure Effulgence Himself without the need for external means to illuminate Him (bRhadAraNyaka upanishad 4.3.9), jyotishAm jyotih - The Light among lights (muNdakopanishad 2.2.9),

etc. SrI rAdhAkRshNa Sastri points out that there are 43 nAmas in sahasranAmam that start with mahA. Of these, the above six nAmas refer to bhagavAn's qualities of overlordship, strength, knowledge, virility, power, and effulgence. The combination of these six guNas is what makes bhagavAn the mahA-mAya or the One who performs the wonderful acts which are His sport. The dharma cakram writer points out that those who worship the Lord are automatically blessed by the Lord with a part of this dyuti. 177.

Anirdesyavapuh - Something that can be described as this or that, or can be pointed to as this or that, is nirdeSa - idam tat ityAdi rUpeNa vi~jnApanam, ~jnApyasya prakASanam vA nirdeSah. AnirdeSa is something that cannot be described as above. vapu means SarIra or body. vapu also can be derived from the dhAtu vap - bIjasantAne chedane ca - to sow, to scatter, etc. SrI satyadevo vAsishTha uses this latter approach and gives a meaning for anirdeSyavapu as One who cannot be easily described and who is the sower of the seed for this Universe. SrI rAdhAkRshNa Sastri remarks in his commentary that the mahA-guNas cannot be visualized by the meager knowledge that we possess, and it is only by the inner experience that He can be realized. SrI chinmayAnanda points out that He is the knowledge through which we can describe everything else, but He himself cannot be described. (Just as the eye can see others, but the eye cannot be used to see itself). One

whose form is indefinable, indescribable, inexplicable (Anirdesyam). Ordinary things can be defined, described or explained because they come within our experience. Our objective experiences can be satisfactorily expressed in words. Vishnu is that Truth which is the Subjective Essence in all of us; He is that ‘Knowledge’, in the light of which, all other knowledges are rendered possible. As such no “sources of knowledge” (Pramaanas such as Direct perception, Inference etc.) can be employed successfully in exploring the realm of the Self. Subjective experiences of ‘Be’, the Maha Vishnu, is possible; but It can never become an ‘idea’ to express, nor can It become an ‘emotion’ to feel, nor can It ever become an ‘object’ to be described. 178. Sreemaan - Since this nama immediately succeeds the description of the body of the Lord (anirdeSya vapu), the meaning that is given here is to the enormously beautiful ornaments that decorate the body of bhagavAn (SrI Bhattar), or they refer to the beauty associated with the six great qualities (SrI Sankara). Note that even though the same nAma, SrImAn, occurs three times, both SrI Sankara and SrI Bhattar interpret them differently each time depending on the context. SrImAn also refers to Sriyah pati, or the Lord of Sri or mahA-lakshmi. BhagavAn's beauty is natural to Him because He has SrI in his vaksha-sthala. The dharma-cakram author inteprets this nAma to mean that the prakRti and purusha are inseparable, just as SrI and the Lord are inseparable, and are part of the same para-brahmam. SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the root as "Sri -sevAyAm" - One who is fit to be served. SrI also means SobhA or beauty or "kAnti". He points out that the beauty that is seen all around us in the trees, the birds, the rivers,

the flowers, the Sun, the Moon, the stars, etc., should remind us constantly of bhagavAn, the SrImAn whose SrI is shining in everything. SrI also means wealth. The wealth that humans have is transient, and can disappear any time. BhagavAn is SrImaAn whose wealth is nitya or permanent. 179. Ameyaatmaa -He whose Essence (Aatmaa) is inestimable and immeasurable (Ameya). As Aatman (Kshetrajna) He, the One, expresses Himself everywhere in every equipment (Kshetra), as the ‘knower’ in each ‘field’. Since these equipments are infinite in number, as the individuality (jeeva) in each one of the created beings, His own Glory expresses in endless manifestations. 180.

Mahaadridhrik -One who supports the great Mountain. In the Puranas, we find two instances, wherein the Lord has been described as the uplifter of or as having lifted and supported the mountains. While churning the milky ocean with the Mandara mountain we are told that the “churning-stick” sunk into the bottom and the Lord had to manifest in the form of the Great Tortoise (Koorma) and support it, while the Gods and Demons continued the churning, until they gathered the nectar (Amritam). Again, the Supreme, as Lord Krishna, in order to protect the cows had to lift the Govardhana Mountain. Because of these two stories in the Puranas, Lord, the Protector of the mind in Saadhanaa, is called as Mahaadridhrik. Vishnu is the Divine, that supports the mind-intellect of the Saadhaka while he is churning, through study (sravana) and reflection (manana), his own Milk-like pure heart-of devotion in order to gain the experience of Immortality (Amritam). Krishnarpanamastu!!

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