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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 88 - su-labhah.

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champakam • March 16, 2003 


          SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam – Slokam 88 -su-labhah.

sulabhah su-vratah siddhah Satru-jit Satru-tApanah     |
nyag-rodhodumbaro'Svatthah cANUrAndhra-nishUdanah    ||

om sulabhAya namah
om su-vratAya namah
om siddhAya namah
om Satru-jit-Satru-tApanAya namah
om nyag-rodhodumbarAya namah
om aSvatthAya namah
om cANUrAndhra-nishUdanAya namah

823. su-labhah –  a) He Who can be easily attained.
		b) He Who makes it possible to attain sukham (sukham 
labhata).
	
Om su-labhAya namah.

su is a prefix (pratyaya) meaning sukham or saukaryam here.  The root 
involved in the nAma is labh – prAptau – to get.  sukhena saukaryeNa 
vA labhyah su-labhah – He Who is attained easily.

In SrI viSishTAdvaita sampradAyam, His soulbhayam is one of the two 
most important guNa-s that is enjoyed by the devotees very much (the 
other being His sauSIlyam).  

a) SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is – anargho'pi mUlya-bhAsena svIkartum 
Sakyah – su-labhah – Even though He is priceless, He can be easily 
attained as if for a small price.  SrI BhaTTar gives the example of a 
woman of multi-defaced body (kubjA) who offered some sandal paste to 
Lord kRshNa and got Him to visit her house – She seized govinda by 
the dress and said "Come to my house":  vastre pragRhya govindam mama 
geham vrajeti vai (vishNu purANam 5.20.11).   SrI v.v. rAmAnujan 
gives instances from AzhvAr's SrI sUkti-s:

-	pattuDai aDiyavarkku eLiyavan (tiruvAi. 1.3.1) – He is 
extremely easy of access to those who approach Him with devotion.

(After describing bhagavAn's parattvam in the first two tiruvAimozhi-
s of the first pattu (decad), nammAzhvAr starts to describe His 
saulabhyam, and this is the first pASuram of the third tiruvAimozhi, 
where he starts describing the incident where He just let Himself be 
bound to the mortar just to please yaSOdA.  Tradition has it that 
nammAzhvAr was so moved by this soulabhyam of perumAL that He passed 
out at this simple, unassuming, virtue of emperumAn mingling with 
all, and was in this state of lost consciousness for six months 
before regaining consciousness.    That is the kind of anubhavam that 
the AzhvAr-s had of emperumAn.  For those who have gone through 
ANDAL's nAcciyAr tirumozhi, to understand ANDAL's outburst of 
emotion, it is important to understand that this is the level where 
she was in her anubhavam of perumAL).   

-	eNNilum varum en ini vENDuvam (tiruvAi. 1.10.2) – if we count 
numbers and utter the number 26, He thinks we are referring to Him, 
and uses this as an excuse to come to us.

(Among the tattva-s, the twenty-fifth is the soul (jIva), and the 
26th is paramAtmA.  If someone counts numerals just for counting 
purposes, and accidentally utters the number 26, He is willing to 
assume that this person is thinking of Him as the 26th tattvam, and 
is willing to appear before this person to bless him.  Such is His 
willingness to be easily accessible).

-	aNiyan Agum tana-TAL aDaindArgatkellAm (tiruvAi. 9.10.8) - He 
is very near to those who surrender themselves to Him.

SrI v. n. vedAnta deSikan comments that when sugrIva surrendered to 
rAma for help in getting his kingdom and his wife, rAma considered it 
His supreme responsibility to protect sugrIva above any other 
responsibility of His, including protecting sItA.  Such is the power 
of surrender to Him.  Lord rAma tells sugrIva:

	tvayi ki'ncit samApanne kim kAryam sItayA mama  |
	bharatena mahAbAho lakshmaNena yavIyasA  |
	Satrughnena ca Satrughna sva-SarIreNa vA punah   ||    
(yuddha. 41.5)

"If you meet with death (by My lack of protecting you), I do not care 
if any of the others are left behind – such as sItA, lakshmaNa, 
bharata, Satrughna, or for that matter, Myself".  

That is the level of His ease of accessibility through the simple act 
of surrender.

SrI Sa'nkara's vyAkhyAnam is:  patra-pushpAdibhih bhakti-mAtra-
samarpitaih sukhena labhyata iti su-labhah – He Who is easily 
attainable even by the offer of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc., with 
full devotion.    The key words are "with devotion".  SrI Sa'nkara 
quotes from mahA-bhArata:

	patreshu pushpeshu phaleshu toyeshu akrIta-labhyeshu sadiava 
satsu    |
	bhaktyeka-labhye purushe purANe muktyai katham na kriyate 
prayatnah     ||  

"The Ancient Purusha is easily attainable by devotion alone, with the 
offer of leaves, flowers, fruits, and even water, which are always 
attainable without cost.  When such is the case, how is it that 
people do not even want to try to work towards emancipation?"

SrI cinmayAnanda quotes the gItA Slokam where bhagavAn Himself 
declares that He is "sulabhah":

	ananya-cetAh satatam yo mAm smarati nityaSah    | 
	tasyAham su-labhah pArtha nitya-yuktasya yoginah   ||   (gItA 
8.14)

"I am easy of access, O arjuna, to that yogin who is ever integrated 
with Me, whose mind is not in anything else but Me, and who 
ceaselessly recollects Me at all times".  

b) SrI satya sndha yatirAja givea a new anubhavam – sukham labhata 
iti sulabhah – He Who bestows happiness is su-labhah. 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan 




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