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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - Part 2.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • April 16, 2002 


           SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - mahA-karmA.

677. mahA-karmA - He of great actions.

Om mahA-karmaNe namah.

This nAma occurs as nAma 793 again (Slokam 84).  

mahAnti karmANi yasya iti mahA-karmA - One Whose action are great is
mahA-karmA.  SrI BhaTTar and his followers interpret the nAma in terms
of His great actions in helping His devotees.  Other interpretations
emphasize His great actions in the form of His creation etc.  

SrI BhaTTar refers to His actions as "ati-vismayanIyam" - extremely
surprising, and refers to bhagavAn's action in lifting the likes of
worms, germs, and less, from those low levels to the level where they
are capable of enjoying His supreme glory.  He lifts us from our very
low levels to the level of a nitya sUri, a wonder that can't even be
comprehended by us.  SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives reference to nammAzhvAr
(tiruvAi. 7.5.1):  "Â…. puRpA mudalAp pul eRumbu enRu Ado onRu inRiyE
naRpAl ayottiyil vAzhum SarASaram muRRavum naRpAlukkumuittananÂ…"  -
Lord rAma lifted all the jIva rASi-s starting from the blades of grass,
the ants, and all other life forms that existed in His land ayodhyA
with Him to SrI vaikunTham when He departed this world after His
avatAra kAryam ended.  Kulasekhara AzhvAr refers to the same incident
in perumAL tirumozhi 10.10 - "anRu SarASara'ngaLai vaikundattu ERRiÂ…",
where His makA-karmA aspect is sung.

His great actions do not stop with just directly helping His devotees
by lifting them to His level, but also in His acts in punishing His
devotee's enemies, including tricking them as part of His leelA.  SrI
BhaTTar interprets the occurrence of this nAma in Slokam 84 in this
sense (in terms of His Buddha avatAra, where He intentionally taught
those who were averse to Him to follow the non-vedic path).  These
great acts of His are also just, since they are aimed at punishing
those who are set against Him.

SrI Samkara interprets the nAma in terms of His great karma or act in
the form of His creation of this Universe etc. - mahat jagat utpatyAdi
karmA asya iti mahA-karmA.  SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives the example of
His swallowing the entire universe at the time of dissolution.  In the
later occurrence of this nAma in Slokam 84, SrI Samkara brings out
another aspect of His great creation - that of bringing out the great
elements etc. - mahAnti viyadAdIni bhUtAni karmANi kAryANi asya iti
mahA-karmA.

SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj refers to Lord kRshNa's words in the gItA
that His actions are "divya" karma-s (divine actions) - janma karma ca
me divyam Â… (gItA 4.9.

The dharma cakram writer explains His "great action" in terms of His
supporting whatever a jIva is after:  if the earthly pleasures is what
one wants, He supports that by providing the means for these; if after
some stage this person realizes that it is not worth going after
earthly pleasures, He provides the necessary means for them to follow
the yogic path; when the person matures in this path over several
births, and starts feeling the desire to seek Him, He aids this person
in this path as well, and ultimately unites this person with Him.  He
does all these things simultaneously to all the beings, according to
their wishes and desires.  

For the English-speaking world, SrI cinmayAnanda's description for this
nAma is a good summary, which is similar to SrI Samkara's
interpretation:  "To create a cosmos so scientifically precise and
perfect out of the five great elements, and to sustain them with an
iron hand of efficiency, all the time presiding over acts of
destruction without which the world of change cannot be maintained, is,
in itself, a colossal achievement".

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan



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