Vishnu Sahasranamam Stanza 37

December 22, 2006

Om Namo Narayanaya!

asokastaaranastaarah soorah saurih-janesvarah

anukoolah sataavarttah padmee padmanibhekshanah.

336. Asokah – " One who has no sorrows. " SrI Sankara gives the

interpretation that bhagavAn is devoid of defects such as sorrow,

delusion, hunger, etc., and so He has this nAma. Sorrow is a

condition experienced when the mind is agitated and extremely

disturbed. The agitations of the mind come from desires, greed, etc.

Therefore, the term Asokah indicates, " One who has none of these

negative tendencies that create in turn more and more mental

disturbances " . This is a true appellation, because, the Lord, as the

Self, transcends the realm of the thought-disturbances constituted

by the mind-intellect- equipment. SrI BhaTTar points out that

bhagavAn has this nAma because He is the dispeller of the troubles

such as sorrow, delusion,hunger, etc.

337. Taaranah – " One who enables others to cross. " The ego suffering

the constant agitations of the equipments is saved by the Self. The

ego (jeeva), when it discovers its identity with the Self,

automatically moves away from the sorrows of the vehicles. In short,

as Vishnubhaagavata says, " who is there other than You that can save

us from the wheel of birth and death. " Sri Sankara: One who uplifts

beings from the ocean of Samsara.

338. Taarah – " One who saves is called Taarah, One who saves from the

fear of re-birth and also One who is a constant protector of the

devotees and, therefore, the devotees themselves call Him as the

Saviour (Taarah).

These three terms indicate how Vishnu is the Absolute Protector of

His devotees. He saves us from the afflictions (Asoka) of the body

and so Subjective-sorrows (Adhyaatma). He enables us to cross the

ocean of Samsaara (Taaranah) and, therefore, He saves us from all

Cosmic pains (Adhibhootah). He saves us from the elements (Taarah),

and so, He is the Saviour from all sorrows of birth and death; this

indicates all trans-Cosmic tragedies (Aadhidaivika), meaning that

Narayana can save us from all sorrows.

339. Soorah – " The Valiant " . All sources of strength and courage

spring from the life in us and, therefore, the Lord of the universe

is called here as the Valiant-capable of crushing all unrighteous

forces, however well-trenched they may be in the world. Sri Sankara:

One of great prowess, that is, who fulfills the four supreme

satisfactions of life –Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.

340. Saurih –Soorasena was the father of Vasudeva, and we have

already found that Vasudeva's son is Vaasudeva. Therefore, the Lord

had taken His incarnation in the family of Soora and so He is termed

as `Saurih' Or One who as Krishna was born out of Sura, that is

Vasudeva [sri Sankara].

341. Janesvarah -The Lord of the people (jana). Those who are born

are called Jana. Therefore the term indicates that He is the Lord of

all creatures born the universe.

342. Anukoolah –One being the atman of all beings is favourable to

all, for no one will act against oneself [sri Sankara]. The dharma

cakram writer points out that bhagavAn is always acting His role as

an anukUlah to everyone by being the internal conscience of everyone

and telling them what is right. The inner conscience is always

pointing to what is right and what is wrong. Those who obey their

inner conscience do not do anything that will be negative to their

path of progress towards Him, and those who disobey their inner

conscience deteriorate and move away from Him. But He does His job

of being the anukUlah in everyone's case all the time by being their

inner-conscience.

Since the Lord is the Essential Life in everyone, He is the friend

and ally of every individual in as much as, nobody spends his life

except in concurrence with his own subjective intentions and

purposes. Thus, the Lord is a friend fulfilling the intentions of a

murderer, and He is again the friend of another helping Him to serve

the mankind, if that be his intention. Thus, He is a friend and a

devoted ally to everyone since He is the mighty power behind all

Vaasanaas expressing through all creatures.

343. Sataavarttah -Sata means " hundred " , and here it is used

as " innumerable " . Thus the term' Sataavarttah' means " One who takes

infinite varieties of forms " . " dharamasamsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi

yuge yuge " . All forms in the universe are but His own, in as much

as, His manifestation is the universe. Another interpretation, also

by SrI Sankara, is that it refers to the 100 nADi's or vessels that

proceed from the heart and maintain prANa or life in the body - nADI-

Sate prANarUpeNa vartata iti vA.

His repeated incarnations in human form to protect dharma in this

world is an example- His protection of pAnDava-s and draupadi

repeatedly when they were in distress. He protected draupadi from

duryodhana's evil act of stripping her in public, from durvAsa's

curse when he tested her by appearing in her house and asking for

food after she had cleaned the akshayapAtra, etc. He protected

prahlAda from all cruelties meted out to him by hiraNyakaSipu. He

did many wonders by protecting the yAdava people in His incarnations

as kRshNa.

344. Padmee – " One who has the lotus in his hand " . Padmam is what He

carries in one of His four hands (Sankha, cakra, and gadAare in the

other three hands). The lotus signifies the sAttvic qualities of

bhagavAn viz. dharma, j~nAna, vairAgya, and aiSvarya (SrI

rAdhAkRshNaSAstri). He refers us to SrImad bhAgavatam - itareNa

dhunAnam abjam – with the other hand He is playing with the lotus

(10.23.22). The padmam is suggestive of His always being ready to

welcome anyone who comes to Him. SrI cinmayAnanda points out that

bhagavAn first blows His conch and invites us to offer

His " knowledge " - signified by His padma, and if they don't listen

to this, He uses His gadA to give a gentle knock, and if this does

not yield results, then there is the cakra, which annihilates the

evil and restores order again

345. Padma-nibhekshanah – " One whose eyes are as beautiful as the

Lotus " Or " lotus-eyed " . This nAma describes the cool, benevolent,

kind, inviting, consoling, appearance of His eyes, which look like

the lotus flowers.