SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - 'sarva-praharaNAyudha om nama iti'.

[Guest guest]

SrImate SrI ra'nga rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namaH.

 

SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - 'sarva-praharaNAyuda om nama iti'.

 

 

Slokam 107 that we concluded in our last posting, has different

versions in different books. The version we used in our last posting

is the version used by some; there are some who include the

words `sarva-praharaNAyudha om nama iti' as part of Slokam 107, at

the end of the Sloka that we had in our last posting. There are some

versions that just include the nAma `sarva-praharaNAyudhaH' once more

at the end as part of Slokam 107, followed by the words `om nama iti'

as the next sentence.

 

This is then followed by phala Sruti. Not all commentators have

included vyAkhyAna beyond what we covered in our previous posting.

Some proceed further, and give interpretation for the words `sarva-

praharaNAyudha om nama iti', followed by interpretation for the phala

Sruti Sloka-s; others give vyAkhyAnam for " sarva-praharaNAyudha om

nama it', but do not include a commentary for the phala Sruti Sloka-s.

 

SrI satya devo vAsishTha, SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj, SrI M. V.

rAmAnujAcArya, NS SrI cinmayAnanda, are among those who end their

commentaries WITH Slokam 107 as we had in the preceding posting. SrI

BhaTTar, SrI Sa'nkara, SrI v.v. rAmAnujan, are among those who

continue their vyAkhyAna-s further, even though they do not all cover

everything beyond this point.

 

sarva-praharaNAyudha om nama iti –

 

I came to know about a `Critical edition' of mahA bhArata by the

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. Following is a brief

description of the `Critical Edition' provided to me by Dr. Bob Evans

of the University of Chicago:

 

" The project took decades. Some of the greatest Sanskrit scholars of

India and the West worked on the project at different times. What I

recall from Professor van Buitenen at the University of Chicago (from

Sanskrit classes nearly 30 years ago), is that the goal was to try to

reconstruct Vyasa's orginal text by comparing the oldest dated

manuscripts from all over India. As manuscripts were copied and

recopied over thousands of years, variations crept in. Some were

mistakes made by the copiers, others were corrections based on the

learning of the copier, etc. etc. In some cases, there were stories

that exist only in one region and not in other regions. The

differences were culled out (and fully documented in notes). In a

nutshell, the editors attempted to recover the " original " text before

the variations crept in over time. In the West, this approach has

been used to " recover " the " original " texts of the Bible. In India,

this approach has been used to edit the Ramayana (project completed)

and the Bhagavata Purana (project in progress at Tirupati) " .

 

The editing of this manuscript for mahabhArata extended over several

years (the cover page of the Critical Edition that I have lists the

starting date as August 1925, and the effort was on-going as of at

least April, 1961). The reason for my bringing up this information

is that this Critical Edition does not have the words " sarva-

praharaNAyudha om nama iti " in its text. This may partly explain why

certain vyAkhyAna-kartA-s have omitted this line from their

commentaries. However, it is worth noting that Adi Sa'nkara, the

first one known to have written a vyAkhyAnam for SrI vishNu sahasra

nAmam, has included these words in his vyAkhyAnam, and has commented

on the phrase. Others have included his vyAkhyAnam when they have

included the vyAkhyAnam for this line in their publications.

 

I am unable to find a vyAkhyAnam for this line by SrI BhaTTar in

three texts that I have. asmad AcAryan, SrImad SrImushNam ANDavan,

does not include this in his upanyAsam on SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam,

and continues directly to the phala Sruti after Slokam 107. However,

Prof. A. Srinivasa Raghavan, in his English translation of SrI

BhaTTar's `bhagavad guNa darpaNam', has added an explanation in

English for the line `sarva-praharaNAyudha om nama iti', which

esentiallay echoes SrI Sa'nkara's vyAkhyAnam. . The same is the

case with the English translation for SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam by SrI

vishNu sahasra nAma satsa'ngam, New Delhi.

 

SrI Sa'nkara's vyAkhyAnam for this line is: " dvir-vacanam samAptim

dyotayati | OmkAraSca ma'ngalArthaH | " - The repetition " sarva-

praharaNAyudhah " marks the end of the work. The syllable " OM " is

used for auspiciousness. He gives support from the bRhan-nAradIya

purANam (51.10):

 

Om-kAraScAtha SabdaSca dvAvetau brahmaNah purA |

kaNTham bhitvA viniryAtau tasmAn-mA'ngaLikAvubhau ||

 

" As the words OM and atha proceeded from the throat of brahmA at the

beginning, they are auspicious " .

 

He further comments that by the word namaH, the author of the stotra

offers obeisance to Lord vishNu. He gives support from the Sruti:

 

bhUyishThAm te nama uktim vidhema | (ISA. 18)

 

" We offer Thee many words of salutation with the word `namaH' " .

 

SrI Sa'nkara notes that it is the practice followed by elders to

offer salutation to bhagavAn at the beginning of an act as well as

the end of the act. (ante'pi namaskArasya SishTaiH AcaraNAt).

 

He concludes his vyAkhyAnam of the tenth hundred with the following

Sloka-s pointing out the greatness attained by prostrating to Lord

kRshNa:

 

eko'pi kRshNe sukRtah praNAmo daSASvamedhAvabRthena tulyah |

daSASvamedhI punareti janma kRshNa praNAmI na apunar-bhavAya

||

 

atasI pushpa sa'nkASam pIta-vASasam acyutam |

ye namasyanti govindam na teshAm vidyate bhayam ||

 

loka-trayAdhipatim a-pratima-prabhAvam

Ishat praNamya SirasA prabhavishNum ISam |

janmAntara pralaya kalpa sahasra jAtam

Asu praNASam upayAti narasya pApam ||

 

" Even one salutation, offered with sincerity to Lord kRshNa, is

equivalent to ten aSva-medha yAga-s properly performed. He who has

performed the aSvamedha yAha can still take another birth, but he who

salutes kRshNa is never re-born.

 

" There is no fear for those who bow down before Govinda, whose color

resembles that of the atasI flower, who is clad in yellow pItAmbaram,

and who never lets His devotees fall.

 

" The non-righteous acts committed by a man in his past births, over a

thousand kalpa-s and pralaya-s, are immediately destroyed by slightly

bowing down his head before the Supreme Lord, vishNu, of incomparable

excellence, and the Master of the three worlds. "

 

SrI v. v. rAmAnujan notes that in the gItA, it is declared that the

syllable `OM' is the representation of Brahman in sound form – `

omityekAkasharam brahma' (gItA 8.13).

Lord kRshNa declares again –

 

tasmAt OM iti udAhRtya yaj~na dAna tapaH kriyAH |

pravartante vidAnoktAH satatam brahma vAdinAm || (gItA

17.24)

 

" Therefore, the sacrificial acts performed as specified in the veda-

s, gifts and austerity by the expounders of the veda-s, or such acts

by those belonging to the first three stations, are always and at all

times begun after pronouncing the syllable OM at the beginning " .

 

The same practice applies to the completion of an act as well,

according to the practice of elders.

 

SrI satya sandha tIrtha uses a version of Sloka 107 that contains a

repetition of the nAma saeva-praharaNAyudaH, followed by the

words `om nama iti', as follows:

 

Sa'nkha-bhRn_nandakI cakrI SAr'nga-dhanvA gadA-dharaH |

rathA'nga-pANr_akshobhyaH sarva-praharaNAyudhaH sarva-

praharaNAyudhaH || om nama iti ||

 

This pATham retains the recurrence of the nAma sarva-praharaNAyudhaH

twice in sequence, followed by the words `om nama iti', as a separate

phrase following this version of Slokam 107. SrI satya sandha

tIrtha also points to the common practice that the last word(s) are

repeated at the end, to signify conclusion of the work – adhyAyAnte

dvir-uktiH syAt vede vA vaidike'pi vA |

 

SrI veLLukuDi kRshNan includes comments for the phrase `srva

praharaNAyudha om nama it', and his vyAkhyAnam also echoes the spirit

of SrI Sa'nkara bhAshyam. He gives the example of the brahma sUtra,

where the last word(s) at the end of each of the four adhyAya-s are

repeated, to signify the end of the adhyAya:

 

etena sarve vyAkhyAtA vyAkhyAtAh | - at end of chapter 1

vaiSeshyAttu tad-vAdas-tad-vAdah – at end of 2nd adhyAya

evam muktiphalAniyamas-tadavasthAvadhRtes-tadasthAvadhRteh - at end

of 3rd adhyAya

anAvRtti SabdAt anAvRtti-SabdAt | - at end of 4th adhyAya.

 

This is the form of the sUtra that is used by both Adi Sa'nkara and

bhagavad rAmAnuja in their bhAshya-s for the brahma sUtra, confirming

that this is the form in which bAdarAyaNa himself has given the sUtra

to us (with the words repeated at the end to indicate conclusion).

 

Thus, in conclusion of the write-up on the phrase `sarva-

praharaNAyudha om nama it', we note that athis phrase is not found

int eh Critical Edition of mahA bhArata. SrI Sa'nkara has commented

on this line, and many subsequent commentators have followed his

commentary. As expected, his commentary follows the vedic

tradition of indicating the conclusion of the work by repetition of

the last nAma, followed the `OM' and namaH' Sabda-s.

 

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

(To be continued)