Vishnu Sahasranamam Stanza 39

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Om Namo Narayanaya!!

 

atulah sarabhah bheemah samayajno havirharih

sarvalakshanalakshanyah lakshmeevaan samitinjayah.

 

 

355. Atulah – " Incomparable. " SrI Sankara gives the following

references - " na tasya pratimA asti yasya nAma mahadyaSah " - For Him

whose name is Great Glory, there is no likeness -SveTasva. upa.

4.19; " na tvat-samo'sti abhyadhikah kuto'nyah " - gItA 11.43- There

is no one equal to You, where is the question of someone exceeding

You? In short, there is nothing like Him, since He does not fall

under the categories of the things perceived by the body or the

emotions felt by the mind or the thoughts entertained by the

intellect: nothing that we know of can be comparable with Him.

 

356. Sarabhah – " One who dwells and shines forth through the bodies. "

According to Sri Sankara's Vyakyanam, the body is called `sara', as

it is perishable. As the Lord shines in the body as the indewelling

self, He is called Sarabhah. The life that presides over the

perishable body, whose glory is the individuality, is the Self, the

Lord. It can also mean, " Lord, who is of the nature of Paramesvara, "

for, Lord Siva had once taken the incarnation of Sarabha, a creature

with eight legs, capable of killing even the lions.

 

357. Bheemah –The nAma is derived from the verb bhI - to fear. The

whole world operates in an orderly way in fear of violation of His

will. bhIshA'smAt vAtah pavate - The wind does not transgress its

bound out of fear from Him (taittirIya AraN 8). Also from

kaThopanishad we have " bhayAdeva agnistapati bhayAt tapati sUryah |

bhayAt indraSca vAyuScamRtyur-dhAvati pa~ncamah || (2.6.3) - Only

out of fear from Him the fire burns, the sun blazes, indra and vAyu

discharge their duties, and death, as the fifth, runs (performs its

duties). The same idea is expressed in the brahma sUtra 1.3.40 SrI

Sankara has also considered an alternate pATham - viz. abhIma - One

who causes no fear to those who follow the proper path.

 

358. Samayajnah – " Knower of all six systems of philosophy, " or it

can mean " One who knows the exact time (samaya) for creation,

preservation and destruction. " He is samayaj~na since He establishes

the rules e.g., that when the fire burns, the flame goes upwards,

and also at the time of creation after the pralaya. He establishes

the path of the Sun, the moon and the planets -sUryA-candramaso

dhAtA yathApUrvam akalpayat (tai. nArA. 1). Another way he has

interpreted this nAma is as sama yaj~nah - One who has the yaj~na or

observance of treating everyone equally without showing preferential

treatment. He gives reference to vishNu purANam - samatvam

ArAdhanamacutasya (1.17.90) – The perception of equality of all

beings is the worship of Acyutha. SrI BhaTTar also offers an

alternate interpretation - He knows the proper time when He should

offer Himself to the devotees, or the proper time when He should

fulfil the vow of protection He has taken. SrI v.v.rAmAnujan refers

to the incidence of nRsimha avatAra, where bhagavAn knew exactly

when to appear in the pillar. The dharma cakram writer adds more

dimension to the anubhavam of this nAma by pointing out that

bhagavAn knows when He needs to appear among us in His incarnations

(dharma samsthApanArthAya sambahavAmi yuge yuge). He also knew when

to send kunti to karNa to get him to promise that he won't attempt

to kill any pANDava other than arjuna, etc.

Or, it can also mean " One whose worship (Yajna) is nothing more than

keeping an equal vision of the mind by the devotee " .

 

359. Havir-harih – " The receiver of all oblation. " He is the Lord of

all Yajnas and as such, He is the One to whom the devotee offers his

oblations, and He is the One who receives them in all dedicated

activities. Hari or vishNu who is the ultimate acceptor of the

offerings - yaj~neshu havir-bhAgam harati iti havir-harih. Bhagavat

Geeta says, " I am indeed the enjoyer and also the Lord of all

sacrifices. " The Lord is called Havis as He is worshipped through

oblation. SrI Sankara gives reference to the gItA - aham hi sarva

yaj~nAnAm bhoktA ca prabhurevaca (9.24) – I am the enjoyer and the

Lord of all sacrifices. " It can mean none who is made in to Havis,

or object for offering and sacrificed. Purusha sukta says: Abadnam

purusham pashum – They tied the animal in the form of Purusha. "

Thus, He Himself Is the Havis. And to this is added hari, which

means He whose rememberance removes man's involvement in Samsara

consisting of endless series of births and deaths. Or Hari can mean

one who is blue in complexion. The word havis is derived from the

root hu, which means both " to accept " and " to offer " . He both enjoys

His devotees, and is the subject of enjoyment by His devotees, and

thus again He is havir-harih. The word " harih " is derived from the

root hR - to obtain. One who is obtained by offering of havis is

havir-harih. Also we have in mahA bhArata - hrAmyagham ca smartR*NAm

havirbhAgam kratushvaham| varNaSca me haridveti tasmAd harir_aham

smRtah ||(SAnti parva 330.3) " I destroy the sins of those who

remember Me, and also receive the oblations in sacrifices; My

complexion also is blue; hence I am named Hari " . harih also means

one who removes the obstacles - harir harati pApAni. Some

commentators recognise in this term two different names of the

Lord: `Havih' and `Harih'. In this case, the former term, `Havih'

means " He who is invoked by everyone who performs the Yajnas. " The

term Harih means " One who loots away all Vaasanaas (Paapa), " and

consequently, " One who wipes away all expressions of Vaasanaas. "

The following nAma-s are interpreted by SrI BhaTTar in the context

of the lakshmI-patitvam (vishNu as the Consort of Lakshmi) of

bhagavAn para-vAsudeva.

 

360. Sarva-lakshana-lakshanyah – " Known through all methods of

proofs, " meaning " He is the One Self that is ultimately proved by

all scientific investigations and philosophical enquiries. " Whether

it be through dualistic (dvaita) or through non-dualistic (advaita)

philosophy, the Ultimate Truth experienced by the realised seeker,

is this Great Vishnu.

Sri Bhattar has given several interpretations for this nama. a) He

who is the abode of all the auspicious qualities b) He who is the

ultimate definition of all good qualities c) He who is pointed to as

the Ultimate Truth through all analysis d) He who reveals Himself

through everything around us. SrI BhaTTar gives the following dhyAna

Sloka that identifies some of these distinguishing marks. " dhyAyet

kamala-garbhAbham devam lakshmI-patim tatah | kamalAlaya hetISa

vibhUshita kara-dvayam|| " One should meditate on that Deity who is

the Consort of Lakshmi, who has the splendor of the inner part of a

lotus, and whose two hands are adorned by the lotus which is the

abode of Lakshmi and cakra which is the lord of all weapons " . He

also gives reference to the mantra " puNDarIkAksha! sakala-sukha

saubhAgyavAridhe! " - Oh the Lotus-eyed Lord! The Sea of Bliss and

Good Fortune! He also refers us to vishNu purANam- paSyatAm sarva-

devAnAm yayau vaksha-sthalam hareh - When the nectar by name Lakshmi

came out of the Milky Ocean when it was churned, She chose the

vaksha-sthalam of mahA vishNu straight out of the Ocean even though

all the deva-s were standing there; such are His lakshaNa-s or

attributes. SrI Sankara's interpretation is He is the lakshaNya or

end result that is obtained through all lakshaNa-s or pramANa-s i.e.

all means of investigation ultimately lead to Him as the Supreme

Knowledge or the Ultimate Truth. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri points out

that bhagavAn is the ultimate definition for each and every lakshaNa

or attribute, and so He is sarva-lakshaNalakshaNyah. The dharma

cakram writer points to four types of pramANa-s which are used for

recognizing something. These are: prakyaksha pramANa (recognition

through our senses, such as taste, touch etc.), yukti pramANa

(recognition through indirect evidence - such as recognizing fire

through smoke), SAstrapramANa (what is laid down in scriptures, and

anubhava pramANa (what we experience ourselves, e.g., head ache).

He gives the example of rAmakRshNa paramahamsa who recognized God as

the Only Truth through all these pramANa-s. He could talk to God,

he could not live without the thought of God just as we can't live

without air, he recognized him through the SAstra-s, and in essence

he recognized God as the ultimate Truth through all the pramANa-s.

 

361. Lakshmeevan – " One on whose chest Lakshmi is always residing "

[sri Sankara]. Sri Bhattar says " There are two things that are

eternal and always existed and will always exist, without beginning

or end. One is bhagavAn. The other is prakRti, the Primordial Matter

that is the material from which all the things in this Universe are

created. This Primordial Matter signifies Lakshmi, the Universal

Mother. The Universe is a result of the Union of these two. Neither

exists without the other. There is change in the svarUpam of the

prakRti depending on the proportion of the three guNa-s viz. sattva,

rajas and tamas, but prakRti does not end at the time of pralaya,

nor does it begin at the beginning of the world. The mUla-prakRti

which is beginningless and endless just like bhagavAn, is none other

than Lakshmi. SrI BhaTTar has given the following Sloka in support -

" dvayam devI-pariNaye leelayaiva samarpayan | prakASayan anAditvam

AtmanA prakRthe saha || mat-karaih anuviddheyam prakRtih prAkRtaih

aham | yato'ham ASritaSca asyA mUrtih mayi etat AtmikA || " At the

time of my marriage with Lakshmi, I in a playful mood, revealed the

secret to all that the Supreme Reality is a couple, and not nArAyaNa

alone, nor Lakshmi alone. Then I also revealed that like Myself,

Lakshmi is also beginningless (i.e. eternal). This prakRti was

embraced by My hands, and I by Her hands; wherefore I have resorted

to Her, and She, in Her turn, has resorted to Me. So we are always

together " . SrI cinmayAnanda echoes the same spirit through the

following words: " He is the Spirit (purusha) that thrills the

entire world-of-matter (prakRti). Matter thrilled with the spirit is

the dynamic world that we see around. Thus, the manifested Lord is

ever wedded to Lakshmi " . Lakshmi also means Effulgent, and

therefore, the Lord who is Ever-effulgent, meaning the Pure

Consciousness, that illumines everything, is indeed Lakshmeevan.

 

362. Samitinjayah – " Ever-Victorious. " In the Puranas, we find the

Lord ultimately wins in His battle with the unrighteous forces. He

is the destroyer of all pains in the individuality of the devotees.

Samiti as a word, has got the meaning- " Battle " . samitim yuddham

jayati iti samiti~njayah - He who conquers the wars or battles (SrI

Sankara). He is the destroyer of all pain in all the devotees. He

helps overcome the feeling of independence from Him in the jIvAtmA-

s, and thus brings true happiness to them by winning over their

minds (SrI BhaTTar).

Krishnarpanamastu!!