Vishnu Sahasranamam Stanza 30

September 9, 2006

Om Namo Narayanaya!

ojas-tejo-dyutidharah prakaasa-aatmaa prataapanahriddhah spashtaaksharo mantras-chandraamsur-bhaaskara- dyutih.

275. Ojas-tejo-dyutidharah -One who is the possessor (Dharah) of Perfect physical virility (Ojas), all brilliancy (Tejas) and every beauty (dyuti). These three terms indicate perfection at three different levels of personality known to us at present. Ojas is glowing health (physical) due to perfect balance in the constituents (Tattvas) of the healthy body. This virility in us when conserved, disciplined and trained can, through meditation, be converted into intellectual "brilliancy" and perfect personality "integration".

The shine of an individual, who has thus sublimated Ojas, is termed in our Sastras as tejas. A Yogi, through intelligent living and through a devoted life of continued meditation, has thus gathered to himself ojas and Tejas sufficiently, he, in time, grows to become an experienced Saint of Divine Realization, a Buddha. The enchanting atmosphere of irresistible peace and compassion, love and perfection, knowledge and strength, such a man throws around him, is called the aura of Divinity (Dyuti). In the l0th Chapter of the Geeta, it is said, "I am the Might in all strength; I am the Brilliancy in all that is brilliant."

Some commentators are found to take these three terms as separate names of the Lord. However, Sankara interprets it as one single term.

276. Prakaasaatmaa -The Effulgent Self. The One who is the Self in all hearts, who can be experienced as the Consciousness, which is the source of all illumination to shine upon all experiences in the three planes-of-consciousness, in all living creatures, at all times. This Universal and Absolute Self is Maha Vishnu.

277. Prataapanah -The One who manifests Himself as the Essential Thermal Energy, that lends Life Potential to the very atmosphere around each living creature. We find a confirmation to thus declaration when the Lord declares to Arjuna that He Himself is the Reality that manifests as the heat and light in the Sun and the Moon, and it is He again who warms up the crust of the earth and impregnates it with its fertility. (Geeta XV-12 & 13). SrI Sankara gives the explanation that He is pratApana because He heats the world through power manifestations like the Sun.

278. Riddhah -One who is ever full of all prosperity. As the very Lord of Lakshmi, Vishnu should be one who has all glories (Aisvarya). When the entire universe of wealth, strength and beauty is itself a manifestation from Him, He Himself must be the Absolute Glory.

279. Spashta-aksharah -Spashtam=clear. One who is clearly indicated by the Supreme Sound (Akshara), the famous Sound-Symbol of the Eternal Lord Om. In Geeta we read: "One who chants my name Om and leaves his body at the time of death thus remembering Me, he shall go to the Supreme State" In Sanskrit, Kshara means the "Perishable" and Akshara means the "imperishable." The world of plurality, the "perishable" is no doubt nothing other than the All-Perfect, the Immutable Truth, but due to the imperfections of the instruments-of-perception-body, mind and intellect-the perceiving ego can experience only this world constituted of a plurality-sense objects, emotions and thoughts. The ego peeping through the vehicles can never experience the One co-ordinating Reality, the Divine. When the mind is hushed and the ego thus sublimated, the Immutable Akshara-factor is experienced, wherein we gain the clearest (Spashta) understanding of the Absolute. Since it is thus clear (Spashta) only in Its Immutable nature (Akshara=Kootastha), Vishnu, the Supreme Self, is indicated here as Spashtaaksharah.

280. Mantrah -One who is of the nature of the Mantras of the Vedas. The declarations of the Vedas, the mantras are the vehicles that will take us straight into an experience of the Transcendental. The vehicles are often called by the name of their destination. Mantra means that which can save us on being properly meditated upon. Only through the mantras of the Upanishads we ever come to experience the Supreme Nature of the Lord, and so He is named as Mantrah. The writer in dharma cakram gives the perspective on the importance of mantra-s in our scheme of life. Just as we take external bath forkeeping our bodies clean, mantra-s are the means to keep our mind clean. This can be done either through constant repetition of the mantra-s (japam), through deep and constant contemplation (meditation), through musical singing (bhajan) etc.

281. Chandraamsuh -Rays of the moon. That the moonlight has got an effect upon the herbs was known to India in the Vedic period. "As the rays of the moon (Soma), I fill the vegetable kingdom with nutrition", confesses Bhagavan Vaasudeva. paushNAmi caushadIh sarvA somo bhUtvA rasAtmakah – gItA 15-13. Thus the Lord is One who nurtures and nourishes all living creatures instilling into each its particular vitality. Though this is the deep philosophical significance, superficially the beauty, calm and peace that the moon suggests to our mind is but a reflection of the Infinite Peace of Vishnu.

282. Bhaaskaradyutih -The Effulgence of the Sun. Sun is the centre of the solar system, an eternal exchequer of energy, ever distributing Life and Strength to all living upon the earth; life would have been impossible but for the Sun. At the same time, the Sun stays where he is and he never interferes with life; from afar he blesses life. The Lord who thus from afar blesses by His mere presence is the true Sun of Life, the Atman, the Self- Sree Maha Vishnu. His effulgence is explained by sanjaya in the gItA - divi sUrya sahasrasya bhaved yugapadutthitA | yadi bhAh sadRSI sA syAd-bhAsas-tasya mahAtmanah || (gItA 11-12) "If simultaneously thousands of suns appear in the sky shining bright, the tejas or effulgence that is seen can be compared to a fraction of the tejas of paramAtmA". Dr. V. V. rAmAnujan in his vishNu shasranAmabhAshyam points out the significance of the two nAma-s - candrAmSuh and bhAskara-dyutih occurring side by side. It is unique that BhagavAn has at the same time the comforting coolness of the moon and the scorching heat of the sun in Him - He is soothing to His devotees and burning to His enemies.

Krishnarpanamstu!