SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 106 - nAma 989 - devakI-nandanaH.

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SrImate SrI ra'nga rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namah.

 

SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 106 - nAma 989 - devakI-nandanaH.

 

989. devakI-nandanaH – The Source of joy to devaki.

 

om devakI-nandanAya namaH.

 

Recall that the whole vishNu sahasra nAma has been revealed to

yudhishThira by bhIshma in the presence of kRshNa. SrI BhaTTar's

interpretation for the nAma is that through this nAma, bhIshma is

clarifying to yudhisThira that the nAma-s that have been revealed all

along are not about some Deity who is beyond reach, but they describe

none other than devakI-nandana who is seated just next to him, and

who has taken incarnation as the kinsman of yudhishThira. SrI

BhaTTar refers us to a Sloka from mahAbhArata:

 

sa esha pRthudhIrgAkshaH sambandhI te janArdanaH |

esha bhUtam bhavishyacca bhavacca bharatarshabha | ||

 

" O! Best of Bharata-s! JanArdana, the broad and long-eyed Lord is

your kinsman. He is all things in the past, the present and the

future " .

 

SrI Sa'nkara's interpretation is also along the same lines. He gives

another support from the mahAbhArata:

 

jyotIgmshi SukrANi ca yAni loke

trayo lokA loka-pAlAS-trayI ca |

trayo agnayaSca AhutayaSca pa'nca

sarve devA devakI-putra eva || (mahAbhArata 13, app.

1, 156-7)

 

" All the luminaries of the world, the three worlds themselves, the

protectors of the worlds by guarding the quarters, the three veda-s,

the three sacred fires, the five oblations are all but the Son of

devaki (kRshNa) " .

 

SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives the reference from SrImad

bhAgavatam, describing the incarnation of ParamAtmA as the Son of

devaki:

 

devakyAm devarUpiNyAm devakI-nandanaH SrI kRshNaH |

AvirAsIt yathA prAcyAm diSir-induriva pushkalaH ||

((bhAga. 10.3.8)

 

" Lord kRshNa, the Joy of devaki, appeared as the child of the divine

devaki just like the moon appearing from the eastern direction " .

 

While the nAma devakI-nandana immediately reminds us of Lord kRshNa

who was 'born' to devaki, a couple of interpreters have taken a

different approach to interpreting the nAma that does not refer to

this incident of Lord kRshNa's incarnation. A couple of these

interpretations are included below as an example:

 

- SrI raghunAtha tIrtha's interpretation is: devAnAm kam

sukham asya asti iti devakI somaH | tena devakinA somena nandate iti

devakI-nandanaH | - " The term devaki refers to soma juice because

it gives pleasure to the deva-s; The Lord is called devakI-nandanaH

because He is delighted by the offering of soma juice " . Or, devena

pAshANena kriyate sUyate iti devakI | devakyA somena nandate iti

devakI-nandanaH | - " soma juice is extracted by the use of stones and

so it is called devakI; One Who is delighted by the offering of soma

juice extracted through the use of stones, is devakI-nandanaH " .

- Sri satyadevo vAsishTha also avoids any reference to Lord

kRshNa in this nAma, and explains the nAma as a reference to sUrya.

We will not go into the details of how he gets this interpretation,

but will only note that for some reason, he also chose to not use the

obvious interpretation that suggests itself for this nAma, namely

that the Supreme Deity Lord vishNu is none other than kRshNa who was

seated in the midst of the bhIshma and yudhishThira.

 

One can only speculate on why they chose to take this approach. One

reason could be that kRshNa chose to leave devaki within a few

moments after He was born to devaki, and so He was not a source of

delight for devaki at least for a few years after He was born. A few

interpreters observe that another name was yaSodA was devaki, and so

He was a devakI-nandana (for instance, SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri and SrI

baladeva vidyA bhUshaN both make this observation).

 

Bhagavad rAmAnuja mentions in his SrI Bhashya, in the explanation of

the mahA vAkya `tat tvam asi', that " when a direct meaning of an

expression is sufficient, it is illegitimate to seek an indirect

implied meaning – (SrI AdidevAnanda's words in his Introduction to

the translation of bhagavad rAmAnuja's gitA bhAshyam. The 'indirect'

interpretations have been included here purely for those with

academic interest, and may kindly be ignored by the respected

bhAgavata-s.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

(To be continued)