SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 106 - nAma 987. vaikhAnah.

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SrImate SrI ra'nga rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namaH.

 

SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 106 - nAma 987. vaikhAnah.

 

987. vaikhAnaH – He Who uproots (the evils of the world).

 

om vaikhAnAya namaH.

 

The root from which the nAma is derived is khana – avadhAraNe – to

dig. vi- is an upasarga, and the sense in which it is used here is

to denote intensity (viSesheNa). The sense in which He `digs' is

interpreted differently by different interpreters.

 

Sri BhaTTar uses the root khana with the meaning `uproot', and

explains the nAma as One Who uproots the miseries of His devotees –

janitvA, bhava duHkha vikhananAt vaikhAnaH – Having taken His birth

or incarnation out of His own will, then BhagavAn proceeds to uproot

the sorrows of the world, in particular the sorrow of repeated birth

and death.

 

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN follows a similar interpretation –

janitvAca sva-bhakta duHkha vikhananAt vaikhAnaH – Taking birth

voluntarily, He destroys the sorrows of His devotees.

 

SrImad SrImushNam ANDavaan refers us to the first pASuram of

nammAzhvAr's tiruviruttam, where AzhvAr points out that bhagavAn

takes His births for the purpose of removing our bondage to this

samsAra:

 

poi ninRa j~nAnamum pollA ozhukkum, azhukku uDambum

in ninRa nIrmai ini yAm uRavAmai uyir aLippAn

en-ninRa yOniyumAip piRandAi! imaiyOr talaivA

mei-ninRu kETTu aruLAi, aDiyEn Seyyum viNNappamE.

 

" O Lord of the deva-s! You take Your births amongst us out of Your

own free will in order to protect us, who live with false and

incomplete knowledge, bad conduct, and an impure body and mind, and

are stuck deep in the ocean of samsAra. You alone can redeem us from

this deep misery. Please bless us and heed my plea and save us " .

 

Sri Sa'nkara uses the meaning `dig' for the root khana, and uses the

instance of bhagavAn's varAha incarnation to illustrate the

significance of the nAma – dharaNIm viSeshena khanitvA pAtAla vAsinam

hiraNyAksham vArAha rUpam AsthAya jaghAna iti purANe prasiddham – It

is well-known in the purANa-s that He, in the form of a boar, dug up

the earth, and killed hiraNyAksha, an asura who lived in the

netherworld.

 

Sri cinmayAnanda gives an interesting interpretation for the above

purANic incident – hiranya is gold, and aksha is eye, and the

term `hiraNyAksha' symbolizes our eye towards materialistic

pleasures. BhagavAn has to dig and reach inside our ego to rid us of

this desire for materialistic pleasures, and in this sense He is

vaikhAnaH.

 

*One of the interpretations given by SrI satyadevo vAsishTha uses the

meaning `disturbance' for the term `khana'. Using the

meaning `devoid of' for the upasarga vi-, he interprets the term

vikhAna as a reference to the mukta-s who are completely liberated,

and then explains the term vaikhAna as the Lord of vikhAna-s or the

mukta-s – vikhAnAH khanana rahitAH muktAH, tatsambandhI vaikhAnaH.

 

SrI raghunAtha tIrtha takes the word `khana' as meaning `to dig – to

completely undo', and interprets the nAma as – viSesheNa Satrum

avadArayati iti vikhAnaH, vikhAna eva vaikhAnaH – He who cuts into

pieces and destroys the enemy.

 

Using the meaning `dig' for the root khana, SrI vAsishTha gives

another interpretation, and attributes the existence of oceans etc.,

as the work of the Lord – He has specially provided for these as

examples of His specially digging out these resources of water in

nature, which no one else can do – tasya ca viSishThaH khAno

samudrasya _ nahIdRk khananam kenacit tad-anyena kartum Sakyam |

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

-To be continued