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Archive for March 24th, 2009

Lord Shri Vishnu Sahasranama Part: 14

Posted by kathavarta on March 24, 2009

Stanza::13::
Rudro bahushira babhrur vishva-yonih shuchi sravah
Amrutah shashvata-sthanur vararoho maha-tapah ..13

(114) Rudro: One who makes all beings cry at the time of cosmic dissolution.

One who makes all people weep, At the time of death or during the total dissolution, the One who makes all weep is Rudrah. From a devotee’s standpoint the same term is interpreted as the One who liquidated all sorrows is Rudrah. Bhagavan declares Himself to be “Among the Rudras, I am Shankara – (Gita Ch. 10, St. 23). According to the Vedic terminology there are 11 Rudras; this eleventh “Rudra” is called as Shankara: Sam-karoti-iti = Shankara – “One who blesses all with Auspiciousness (Sam).”

(115) Bahushira: One with innumerable heads.

One who has many heads. The Purushasuktam of the Rig Veda describes the Cosmic Form of the Lord with a narration, “The Purusha of thousand heads, thousand eyes and thousand feet…….” In Gita a similar description of the Universal Form of the Lord is found in Chapter XI. Again in the Gita Chapter XIII when the Lord was describing the Infinite Goal to be known (Jneyam), He describes It as “Everywhere legs, everywhere hands, every- where eyes, everywhere His face”.

Thus, He whose personal manifestations constitute the universe is known as “One who has many heads.”

(116) Babhrur: One who governs the world.

One who rules over the worlds. “Like a King” -Atmabodham gives this analogy .He in whose presence all the instruments of perception, feeling and knowing continue their coordinated activity is the Self, the Atman, who is Great Lord Vishnu.

(117) Vishvayonih: One who is the cause of the world.

One who is the Total Cause from which alone the entire world of experiences (Vishwam) has emerged out. The womb (yoni) from which thoughts and actions had risen is called Visvayonih.

(118) Shuchi sravah: One whose names and glories are very holy and purifying to be heard.

One who has beautiful and efficient ears (Sravas): “Everywhere are His ears”-(Gita Ch. 13, St. 13) meaning thereby He is the Hearer in all ears. The term Sravas not only means ears, but it also means “names” -so Suchisravas can mean ‘One who has Divine and Sacred names’. Thus, the devotee can invoke Him with thousands of His names when He can readily listen in and rightly understand the exact purity and the real depth of devotion in the devotee. Also the term can be used to indicate the One whose “names” are worthy of being heard by seekers.

(119) Amrutah: One who is deathless.

One who is Immortal and Immutable. Mritam = dead. The Infinite is Ajarah, Amarah and Avyayah. It can also mean as One who is of the nature of Nectar (Amritam) -a sure cure for those who are suffering from malady of ignorance. Amritah also means Moksha; and thus it is indicated, He is the ever-liberated-the Pure State of Being.

(120) Shashvata-sthanur: One who is both eternal and firmly established, unchanging.

One who is both permanent (Sasvatah) and irremovable (Sthanuh). He is the One who remains Changeless, because Immortal; who remains the same in all periods of time, because permanent (Sasvatah); and who remains changeless in His nature or Consciousness (Sthanuh). This is a single term (Sasvata-sthanuh) and, therefore, we must add the meanings together- Permanent and Changeless; Permanently Changeless Factor in lire is Vishnu.

(121) Vararoho: He whose lap gives the highest blessings.

He who is the most Glorious (Vara) Destination (Aroha). The Seat of the Self is the most Glorious because the imperfections of the world-of-matter (Prakriti) are not there in the Spirit (Purusha). Liberation from the thraldom of matter is the arrival of the Infinitude of the Self. “He never returns”, thunders the Chandogya Upanishad (8-15-1) three times in one and the same breath, assuring us that one who has reached the Seat of Vishnu, beyond the frontiers of the intellect, there is for him no more any return ever into the ego-centric life of tensions of sorrows.
(122) Mahatapah: The austerity connected with creation, which is of the nature of knowledge is of great potency.

One of great Tapas. The term tapas in Sanskrit has three meanings: ‘Knowledge’ (Jnana), ‘Prosperity’ (Aishwarya) and also ‘Might’ (Pratapa). It is in the presence of Consciousness that we come to know all our experiences. ‘Conscious of’ a thing or an idea is the ‘Knowledge of’ the thing or the idea. That about which I am not conscious of, I have really no knowledge of it. All Knowledges, of all bosoms, in all living creatures, everywhere, at all times, cannot be without the play of Consciousness upon the respective objects of knowledge, and hence this Consciousness is indicated in the Upanishads as Pure Knowledge, in the light of which alone all Knowledges are possible. All achievements and prosperity (Aishwarya), all might and power of the living creatures can express themselves through them only when they are alive. This great truth is Maha Vishnu. “Whose Tapas is of the nature of Knowledge” (Mundaka- Upanishad. 1-1-9).

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Lord Shri Vishnu Sahasranama Part: 13

Posted by kathavarta on March 24, 2009

Stanza::12::
Vasur vasumanah satyah samatma sammitah samah
Amoghah pundarikaksho vrusha-karma vrushakrutih ..12

(104) Vasur: One in whom all beings dwell and one who dwells in all beings.

The One who is the very support of all elements, and the One who Himself is the very Essence of the elements, This is something like the dream made up of our own mind; and the very same dream-world plays itself out, all the time sustained in the very same mind. Similarly, the Self indwells all and all dwell in the Self. In the Gita we are told by the Lord, “I am among the Vasus the Pavakah”- (Gita. Ch. 10, St. 23). Therefore, the Self exists like air-allowing everything to remain in it and sustaining everything by it.

(105) Vasumanah: The term Vasu means wealth or riches. Here it indicates greatness. So it means one possessed of a great mind i.e. a mind free from attachments, anger and other evil qualities.

One who has a mind which is Supremely Pure; meaning a mind that has none of the sins of passions and pains; none of the storms of desires and jealousies; none of the quakes of likes and dislikes.

(106) Satyah: One whose nature is Truth.

He is the Real. The term Satyam used in philosophy has a special connotation. That which remains the same in all the three periods of time is called Satyam. That which seemingly exists, but which never was nor shall ever be, is considered as a false delusion, A-satya. He who remains the same, before the creation, during the existence and even after the dissolution, is the Infinite Truth, Satyah. The Taittiriya Upanishad thunders that the Eternal Truth is “Truth, Knowledge, Bliss”: “Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam Brahma” – Taittiriya Upanishad: 2-1.

We may here mention a couple of other meanings that are generally given to this term “The best among good people is Satyam. Again, the word Satyam is made up of three sounds -Sat-ti-yam -and, herein, according to the Upanishad itself, “Sat means praana, ti means food, Yam means sun;” therefore, Sat yam is the Law which orders the food to sustain the prana when both are blessed by the sources of all gross energies in the cosmos, the Sun.

(107) Samatma: One whose mind is Sama, without partiality or anger and thus the same towards all beings.

He who is equally in all. In Kathopanishad we read the declaration of Lord Death to Nachiketas how the same Truth has come to express itself differently from form to form. To visualize the Paramesvara who revels equally ill all, among the perishables and imperishables, is the Vision Divine. Kauseshika Upanishad (3-9) says, “One should understand that the Self is the same-in-all”. In the Gita also is the declaration “I am the Seer in all the fields-of-experiences everywhere” – (Gita Ch. 13, St. 3).

(108) Sammitah: This name and the previous (samatma) occurring together, can be split in two ways – as samatma + sammitah and as samatma + asammitah.

The term Sammatam means ‘acceptable’. The One. Truth, which has been proved and accepted by the Rishis In the Upanishads through subtle logic and philosophical reasoning, is called Sammatah. This is the most direct and very appealing meaning. But there are some who would interpret this portion of the Thousand Names of Lord Vishnu by combining Samatma (107) and Sammitah (108) to form together a single ‘Name’, wherein the compound word would read Samatma-asammitah. Here the term Asammitah then would come to mean “One who is incomparable, Inimitable (Atulya) who has none to equal Him”.

(109) Samah: One unpertubed at all times.

Equal; the same. Truth remains the same. One Infinite Reality plays the game of plurality. As has been said in the Kathopanishad, “The One Principle of Fire having entered this world burns itself out differently according to the equipments upon which it is manifested”, so the One Truth manifests as the many Jeeva. Hence He is called the Samah. Also it can mean as One who is ever united, with (Sa) Lakshmi (Maa).

(110) Amoghah: One whose worship will never go in vain, but will bear ample fruits.

Moghah means “useless fellow” (Nishphalah), “a disappointing power”. Amogha is the opposite of it: “Ever Useful”, “Ever the Fulfiller” of all the wishes and demands of His devotees. Chandogya Upanishad (8-1-5) declares: “Truthful is His wish, and Truth is His resolve”.

(111) Pundarikaksho: One who has pervaded, i.e. is realized in, the lotus of the heart. Or One whose eyes resemble the petals of a lotus.

One who can be contacted and fully experienced in the Heart Space (Pundarikam). In the Narayana Upanishad (10) we find the same term employed: “In the core of the body, in the Heart Space, dwells the Supreme.” In the ‘Heart’, the meditator can experience the Reality more readily and very clearly, and so the All- Pervading Reality is described as “dwelling in the Heart-cave”.

(112) Vrushakarma: One whose actions are according to vrushas i.e. Dharma.

Vrisha means Dharma. One whose every activity is righteous and who acts only to establish righteousness. “For the sake of establishing Dharma, I am born in every age”, says Lord – (Gita Ch. 4, St. 8).

(113) Vrushakrutih: One who takes form for the sake of Vrushas or Dharma.

One who is of the form (Akriti) of Dharma (Vrisha). It is not only that His actions are righteous but He is Himself Righteousness. It can also mean as One who takes different forms during His Divine Incarnations-all for maintaining the Rule of Dharma in the world.

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Lord Shri Vishnu Sahasranama Part: 12

Posted by kathavarta on March 24, 2009

Stanza::11::
Ajah sarveshvarah siddhah siddhih sarvadir acyutah
Vrushakapir ameyatma sarva-yoga-vinihshrutah ..11

(95) Ajah: One who has no birth.

Unborn. Birth implies a modification; birth cannot be without the death of its previous condition. Since the Eternal and the Infinite, is ever Changeless there can be in It neither birth nor death. That which is born must necessarily die: – (Gita Ch. 2, St. 27) and so, that which is unborn should be deathless (Amritah).

Rig Veda (1-81-5): “He was neither born nor is He going to be born.”

(96) Sarveshvarah: The Lord of all Lords or the supreme Lord.

God of all gods or the Supreme Controller of all. In a sense it means the Almighty, the All-powerful. “He is the Lord of all,” says Brihad Upanishad (6-4-2).

(97) Siddhah: One ever established in one’s own nature.

One who has achieved all that has to be achieved, as He Himself is the Final Goal for all. Or the term can also mean “the most famous”.

(98) Siddhih: One who is of the nature of Consciousness in all.

He who is available for recognition (Siddha) everywhere at all points in His nature as Pure Consciousness. Again, Siddhi also means the ‘fruit of action’, and in the context here this would-mean, “He who gives the Infinite fruit of Kaivalya, Moksha.” All other karmas can acquire for us only relative joys of the heavens, but in realizing the Self the seeker gains an ‘Infinite State from which there is no return’, so describes Gita.

(99) Sarvadih: One who is the first cause of all elements.

One who is the very beginning (Adi) of all; one who was in existence earlier than everything else. Even before effects arise, the Cause. The Infinite which was before creation and from which the created beings had emerged out, as an effect, is naturally the Primary Cause (Mula-Karana).

(100) Achyutah: One who never lost and will never lose his inherent nature and powers.

Chyutah= Fallen; Achy utah: One who has never fallen: the Ever-Pure Reality which is never fallen into the misconceptions of Samsar: the Pure Knowledge in which ignorance has never come to pollute Its purity. Lord Himself says in Bhagavata, “I have never ever before fallen from my Real Nature; therefore, I am Achyutah”.

(101) Vrushakapir: One who shwers all objects of desire.

There is a lot of controversy among pundits upon the exact meaning of this term. But all controversies become meaningless when we read Bhagavan’s own words, “Since Kapi has a meaning the ‘boar’, and since vrisha has the meaning of ‘Dharma’ the great Kashyapa Prajapati says I am Vrishakapih”.

In Sanskrit the term Kapi has a meaning: ‘that which saves one from drowning’. Lord in the form of the Great Boar, (Varaha) in that incarnation, had lifted the world from the waters at the end of the deluge; the term vrisha means ‘Dharma’. One who thus lifts the world drowned in Adharma to the sunny fields of Dharma is vrishakapih.

(102) Ameyatma: One whose form or nature cannot be measured and determined.

One who has His manifestations (Atma) in Infinite varieties, almost unaccountable (Ameya), The Virat Purusha of the Form of All-Lord of the Cosmic Form is suggested here. As all forms have risen from Him, exist in Him, and dissolve into Him alone, all forms are His own different forms.

(103) Sarva-yoga-vinihshrutah: One who stands aside completely from all bondage.

Yoga is from Yuj ‘to join’; ‘to attach’, One who is totally free (vinissritah) from all contacts or attachments. Attachment to a thing is possible only when the object-of-attachment is other than the subject, In the One Infinite Reality there cannot be any attachment with anything, mainly because there is nothing here that is not the Infinite Itself. The Infinite is a Mass of Love; there is no attachment in It; for, attachment is Love with possessiveness and desire for gratification, “This Purusha is, indeed, unattached”, roars Brihad Upanishad (6-3-15), Lastly, the term, Sarva- Yoga- Vinissritah can also mean that He is beyond the reach of the various systems of Yogas taught in the Sastras. These systems are to quieten the mind, to end the misapprehensions-of- Truth, to annihilate the Maya, What is there left over in the seeker’s bosom is the Self-the Great Vishnu.

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Lord Shri Vishnu Sahasranama Part: 11

Posted by kathavarta on March 24, 2009

Stanza::10::
Suresah sharanam sharma vishvaretah prajabhavah
Ahah samvasaro vyalah pratyayah sarvadarshanah ..10

(85) Suresah: The lord of the Suras or Devas. It can also mean the greatest of those who bestow good.

The denizens of the Heavens are called in the Puranas as Suras. Eesa means the Lord; Suresa, therefore, indicates the God of gods, the Lord of the Suras. The gods are called as Suras because they are capable of blessing their devotees with a fulfilment of their desires. Therefore, Suresah means One who is the best among those who fulfil all the demands of their devotees (Suras). In short, He is the One who gives the Supreme State of Beatitude and the consequent total liberation from all desires of the ego.

(86) Saranam: One who removes the sorrows of those in distress.

The Refuge for all who are suffering from the thraldom of imperfection in life. According to the Sanskrit Lexicon (Amarakosa), the term Saranam means ‘Protector’ and also ‘home’. Since the Lord is the Ultimate Goal, Saranam, He is also the “Destination”, the ‘Harbour’. The One Who realizes Him comes to live in Him.

He is the home to which the prodigal son (Jeeva) ultimately returns. Not only for the men of Realization is He the Home, but for all creatures, movables and immovable, He is the Home, to which they all disappear to rest and to revive during Pralaya (Sleep).

(87) Sharma: One who is of the nature of supreme bliss.

One who is Himself the Infinite Bliss. Transcending the mind lie the shores of Bliss, beyond the waters of agitations. The Infinite is described in our Upanishads as the “Sacchidaananda”, ever of the same nature-“Santam Sivam Sundaram”.

(88) Vishvaretah: The seed of the universe.

Retas means ‘seed’; the term connotes that He is the seed from which the tree of life has sprung forth. He who is the very cause for the entire play of experience in the world of pluralistic objects (Sarva- Prapancha-Karanabhutah) is called Visvaretah.

(89) Prajabhavah: He from whom all beings have originated.

He from whom all living creatures (Praja) spring forth (Bhava) is known as Prajabhavah.

(90) Ahah: Luminous one.

Ahan has got two meanings: the 24-hour-day or the 12-hour day-time. He is of the nature of ‘day-time’ means “He is the One, ever effulgent and bright”; as bright as the daylight that illumines all objects around. In case we accept the other meaning, “the 24-hour-day”, then, a day being a unit of time, the term Ahan can also mean, “One who is of the nature of Time itself”. Also He is one who does not (a) ever destroy (han) the devotees who have surrendered themselves to Him.

(91) Samvasaro: As Time is a from of Vishnu, He is called Samvasara or a year.

One who is of the nature of year-meaning One who is the Lord of Time; He, from whom the very ‘concept of Time’ rises.

(92) Vyalah: Being ungraspable like a serpent, He is called Vyalah.

One who is unapproachable. Vyala also means ‘Serpent’; to those who have no devotion or understanding, God or Truth is as horrible and terrible as a ‘serpent’. Moreover, it is so difficult to grasp in our understanding that It is like a serpent: ever eluding, always slippery.

(93) Pratyayah: One who is of the nature of Pratiti or Prajna (consciousness).

One whose very nature is Knowledge. That the Supreme is Knowledge Absolute is very well known. It is in the light of Consciousness that all ‘know- ledges’ are possible. ‘Knowledge of a thing’ is the Awareness of its nature. Awareness is Knowledge. Since the Supreme is the One Awareness everywhere, all ‘Knowledge’ spring from the Self. Hence, He is called “the Pure Knowledge”. “Consciousness is Brahman” is one of the Mahaavaakyas.

(94) Sarvadarshanah: One with eyes everywhere. As the Lord has assumed all forms, the eye-sight of all beings is His.

This term, “All-seeing” is very appropriate in as much as the Supreme Consciousness has been defined and indicated in the Kenopanishad as, “That which the eyes cannot see, but because of which the eyes see”. It is the Seer in the eyes, the Hearer in the ears, the Speaker, the Feeler and the Thinker”. And since this Principle of Consciousness is One everywhere, as expressed through the equipments, It is indeed the One Seer in all ‘seeing’, by everyone, everywhere. The Upanishad says: and the Gita indicates Him as “One who has eyes and heads everywhere”.

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