BhOgyAmrutam - ViShNuhu

September 6, 2002

ViShNuhu

(star-AShwini)

Jai Sriman Narayana

viShati it viShNuhu = The who who is spread every where, the all encompassing.

While the previous nAma, viShwam explained the antar vyApti due to the completeness of His Love to us, this nAma explains both the antar and bahir vyApti - the all encompassing nature of the supreme Lord.

pASuram - PeriyALwAr Tirumozhi - 4-10-4

samanvayam with pASuram : Oh Lord, you have the short & sweet name 'viShNu' as you are everywhere, just to protect me and control my fickle mind and thereby remove my sufferings in the hands of the servants of yama. This is explained with a nice example :

Oh Lord, you are the train, you are its driver and its guard. You are the track and the land on which it is laid. Brahma is the green flag and Rudra is the red flag in your hands. You are existing everywhere in different forms, always engaged in taking all of us to our destination. But, we try to escape by pulling the chain, cause inconvinience to our fellow passengers and get caught by the police (the servants of yama).

pASuram :

ottai viDayanum nAnmukanum | unnai ariya pperumaiyOnE |

O Highest Lord, not known to Brahma & Rudra.

mutta ulakellAm nIyEyAki | mUnrezhuttu Aya mutalvanEyO |

You have become all the worlds | O Source, told by the praNavam (OmkAram)

attattu vAzh nAL ivarku yenreNNi | ajnya naman tamar pattalutta

When my lifetime is over & when I am terrified in the grip of the servants of Yama

attaikku nI yennai kkAkkavEnDum | arangattu aravaNai ppaLLiyAnE

By that time you have to protect me | O Lord (SriRanga) reclining on the AdiSESha

Detailed meaning :

1) O Highest Lord not known to Brahma & Rudra : Both Lord Shiva and Brahma are like the red and the green flags in your hands, for carrying out the destruction and creation respectively (stopping & starting of the train). Both Brahma and Rudra know only as much about you as the flags know about the guard who uses them.

2) You have become all the worlds : You have taken every possible form and are existing everywhere, just to take us to our home (the paramapadam).

It is like you have become the train, which takes us to our destination, its driver, its guard, the track and the land below it. Out of extreme love towards us, you have taken innumerable forms and have spread yourself everywhere in the urge to take us all at once to our destination. Whom else, can I call by the name ViShNu then?.

Such a small and a sweet name describing such a supreme Lord encompassing everything...!!

3) O source told by the praNavam : Let us see, what the Lord keeps feeling about the meaning of Om :

Om = a + u + m

a = The protector; u = only for; m = jIvAtmAs

The Lord always feels that "I exist only for protecting all the jIvAtmAs". He continuously strives for our upliftment and has made Himself available everywhere in the entire universe, just for the sake of protecting us. Like a true mother who doesn't expect anything from its child, He continously protects us and expects nothing in return.

How nice it would be, if all of us realize his Love for us and the extreme strain He keeps taking for us?. Even though, we never feel that, "We exist for Him", He continuously feels that - "He exists only for us". All His kaLyANa guNAs, His great wealths, everything He has only for us. Thus, He takes the meaning of praNavam ( "I exist only for the jIvAtmAs" ) and has become viShNu and thus praNavam became the reason for Him becoming viShNu.

4) When my time is over & when I am terrified in the grip of the servants of yama, then you have to protect me :

We always try to run away from you, due to our inclination to all objects other than you. We commit many crimes in the process and incur the wrath of the servants of yama.

( Ex : When you have taken all forms like the train, the guard, its driver etc to take us safely to our destination, we see some beautiful scenary outside, get attracted to it. We then try to stop the train by pulling the chain and get out. This causes inconvinience to our fellow passengers and we get punished by the police).

Even, after all these mistakes, O Lord, at the time of our death, when we are trembling with fear due to Yama, you are the only one whom we can look forward to, for protecting us again.

O Lord, You are ViShNu, isn't it?. So, you are everywhere. So, kindly don't leave us to the mercy of Yama in our last moments. We have been commiting mistakes and suffering like this perennially. Its only you, who can come and embrace us from all the directions & protect us once for all, from the sufferings, especially in our last moments. We are never grateful to you, as we never recognize your love for us when we are in proper heath. We never think about you all through our life. During our last moments, our sins make us suffer and then also we cannot remember you.

So, O Lord, where is the end to it?. So, O Lord, Do come and protect me. They call you viShNu, isn't it??!! You can come from anywhere at anytime and protect me at any moment.

5) O Lord, Sri RanganAtha, reclining on the AdiSESha...!! :

Just like a fellow traveller, not known to me, you are calmly reclining on the AdiSESha in Sri Rangam. I do not know about your greatness. You just appear to be lying down and sleeping. But you observe everything and are there in the right form at the right place and at the right time to protect me.

You are that fellow traveller, who is continously sleeping, but comes to the rescue of the guy who pulls out the chain to get out. You tell the police (servants of yama) that this guy didn't pull the chain and it was somebody else.

Thus, you should keep protecting us. That is why, you are spread everywhere, isn't it true my Lord??.

Om ViShNavE namaha

( I exist only for the sake of my Lord, who has taken innumerable forms and who is spread everywhere, just to protect me and just out of Love for me. And that is the the vEda sAram, the praNavam.)

Jai Sriman Narayana

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