Vishnu Sahasranama Stanza 53

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Om Namo Narayanaya!

 

uttaro gopatirgoptaa jnaanagamyah puraatanah

sareera bhootabhritbhoktaa kapeendro bhooridakshinah.

 

494. Uttarah -One who helps to lift us from (Uttarah) the ocean of

Samsar. It also conveys the most excellent meaning of " One who is

greater and nobler than all other deities. " Rigveda declares: " He is

the most excellent of all. " SrI Sankara gives the

interpretation " janma samsAra bandhanAt uttarati iti uttarah " – The

Savior from the ocean of samsAra. SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is that

bhagavAn is the Rescuer of brahma and others from the asura-s. The

dharma cakram writer gives the significance of this nAma in our day-

to-day life. Our mind is normally torn by all kinds of desires,

bondage, etc., and these are trying to puncture holes in our mind

which is the boat we need to safely cross this ocean of birth. Rocks

in the form of aha~nkAra, mamakAra, etc. are trying to wreck this

boat. Till we cross this life span, we need to have this boat intact

without being wrecked or punctured. Meditation on bhagavAn is

essential in order for us to accomplish this.

 

495. Gopatih -The shepherd-As one who played the part of a cowherd

in His Krishna-incarnation. The term `Go' in Sanskrit has got four

meanings: the cattle, the earth, the speech and the vedas. In all

these meanings He is the Lord (Pati): Lord of the cattle; Lord of

Earth; Lord of speech; the Lord about whom all the Vedas speak of as

the very Goal. The dharma cakram writer interprets this as meaning

that bhagavAn keeps His word to His devotees, as well as meaning

that He ensures that His bhakta's words come true. We know of

bhagavAn's promise to protect those who surrender to Him

unconditionally, and we know that He ensured that bhIshma's promise

to make Him take to weapons in the war against His own promise come

true. He also made the words of prahlAda come true that BhagavAn

will be in the pillar when hiraNyakaSipu challenged the young

prahlAda.

 

496. Goptaa -The protector He is the Protector of all living

creatures in as much as, if He were not there, the creatures could

not exist He is the very Existence in the living Kingdom. The dharma

cakram writer observes that this nAma should remind us that bhagavAn

is the one who is constantly protecting everything He has created.

Those who think they are protecting themselves or are being

protected by some other human being have this thought because of

their sheer ignorance. This nAma should remind us of this simple

fact.

 

497. Jnaanagamyah -The One who is to be attained only through the

subtle perception of Jnaana. He is not attained either by actions,

or by progeny or by wealth. Only through a ( " JnaanaPrasaadena " )

pure `knowledge' alone He is experienced. Here the word knowledge

does not mean the ordinary knowledge-of-thing. The experience of

Truth is gained only on transcending the intellect. Thus crossing

the barriers of the non-apprehension (Avidyaa) the meditator comes

to apprehend the Reality; this subjective first-hand apprehension is

called True Knowledge (Jnaana); by this one process alone can one

attain the Infinite; hence this term.

The dharma cakram writer elaborates on this further.

Knowledge can be considered to be of two kinds- that which is

obtained by external indriya-s like the eyes, ears, etc., or by

mind - aparavidyA, and that which is beyond the reach of the indriya-

s -paravidyA. Among the means that aid in attaining this para

knowledge are j~nAna, bhakti, karma, and yoga. Practices on a

continuing basis such as nAma samkIrtanam (chanting bhagavAn's

nAma), SravaNam (listening to bhagavAn's nAma, purAna,

itihAsa, ...), kaimkaryam (performing duties in support of temple

services, making garlands, cleaning the temple-premises, ...), etc.,

facilitate in purifying our mind and developing bhakti. Bearing with

patience any difficulties that arise in our life, not rejoicing at

any good things that happen in our life but dedicating them to

bhagavAn, etc., will also help in directing our mind towards Him.

j~nAnam in our context is the realization of the relationship and

association between us and our Creator. This j~nAnam will

materialize for us only by His Grace. This nAma conveys to us that

BhagavAn is realizable only through the j~nAnam, and He is the only

One who can bless us with this j~nAnam, but what we can do is

prepare ourselves to receive this j~nAnam when He decides to bless

us with it.

 

498. Puraatanah -He who was even before Time. That from which even

the concept-of- Time itself rose up is the Infinite Truth and

therefore Truth cannot be measured in terms of Time. Therefore, he

is called the Ancient, for, he transcends Time.

 

499. Sareera-bhoota-bhrit -One who nurses and nourishes the very

element from which the bodies are constituted. The Lord is the

controller of the very five elements. SrI Sankara gives the

interpretation that since bhagavAn nourishes the elements of the

body, and since He Himself is the prANa (the vital air), He is

SarIra-bhUta-bhr*t.

SrI BhaTTar uses the meaning of bhUtaas referring to the 24 tattva-s

or Reals that are the elements involved in creation - prakr*ti,

mahat, ahankAra, sound, ether, touch, air, sight, light, taste,

water, smell, earth, mind, eye, ear, nose, mouth, skin, tounge,

hand, leg, anus, and the organ of reproduction. These are the SarIra-

bhuta-s, the elements of creation. BhagavAn supports these tattva-s

through His body, i.e., they are part of Him. SrI BhaTTar gives

reference to mahAbhArata - tasya mUrdhA samabhavatdyauhsa-nakshatra

devatA - His head was the sky along with the stars and the deities -

SAnti parva 348.49.

 

500. Bhoktaa -The Enjoyer or the Protector. The term " Bhoktaa " can

be dissolved in either of the two ways. According to Vedanta, Lord

in His transcendental glory, as the Atman, is neither the `Doer' nor

the `Enjoyer' and yet, here, the Lord is taken as the `Enjoyer' only

in the sense that the experiencer `ego,' the Jeeva, is also nothing

other than the Supreme in Its final Essence. The dharma cakram

writer explains the function of bhagavAn as bhoktA in a way that

applies to our day-to-day life. BhagavAn is in all of us -in some

cases He is the observer, in others He is the guide, in yet others

He is the Enjoyer, etc. (gItA 13.22). For those who spend their time

in worldly pursuits, He is just the observer. For those who observe

the path of dharma, He is the bhartA in times of need - as in the

case of pANDava-s. For those who offer to bhagavAn the worldly gains

that they get, such as the fame etc. that come to them, He is the

bhoktA, i.e, He accepts these as offerings, and He bestows on them

His anubhavam instead. The more we dedicate our actions and the

benefits of these actions to Him, and thus make Him the bhoktA, the

more He reveals to us what true happiness is, and the more we are

relieved of undesirable attributes such as ahamkAram, mamakAram,

etc. The significance of this nAma thus is for us to realize that we

should dedicate all our actions and their effects to bhagavAn as the

bhoktA, and we should instead enjoy Him and attain eternal bliss.

 

501. Kapeendrah -One who is the Lord of the Monkeys-Sri

Ramachandraji. ` Kapih' also can mean the Boar-incarnation (Varaaha).

 

502. Bhoori-dakshinah -He who gives away large gifts (Dakshinaa), as

presents distributed at the end of the Sacrifices. When the body,

mind and the intellect of man make sacrifices, man does Karmas. Lord

Narayana is the One who gives the results for all actions: (Karma

Phala Daataa); hence this term to indicate the Lord.

 

Krishnarpanamastu!