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SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 50 - Part 1.

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Krishnamachari, N (Krish) • March 22, 1999 


			SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 50 - Part 1.

	svApanah sva-vaSo vyApI naikAtmA naika-karma-kr*t       |
	vatasaro vatsalo vatsI ratna-garbho dhaneSvarah                  ||

om svApanAya namah
om sva-vasAya namah
om vyApine namah
om naikAtmane namah
om naika-karma-kr*te namah
om vatsarAya namah
om vatsalAya namah
om vatsine namah
om ratna-garbhAya namah
om dhaneSvarAya namah

466. svApanah - He who lulls people into sleep.

om svApanAya namah.

SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is that bhagavAn in His mohini incarnation lulled
into sleep the asura-s who had not been put away as described in the
previous nAma, using His beautiful smile, sweet glances and the play of His
eyebrows, and thus made them forget that He was distributing the nectar to
the deva-s exclusively. 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha's anubhavam of this nAma is "svApayati nidrApayati
pralayakAle sarvam prakr*tAviti svApanah" - He puts everyone to sleep at the
time of pralaya. Even though He makes everyone sleep, He Himself is wide
awake.  This svApanatva guNa of bhagavAn is reflected again in everything He
creates after the pralaya also.  The Sun puts everyone to sleep when the
night comes, but the sun itself does not sleep.  

SrI rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri refers to gItA 7.25 -  "nAham prakASah sarvasya
yoga-mAyA-samAvr*tah, mUDho'yam nAbhijAnAti" - His paratva has been
concealed to the non-devotee in bhagavAn's incarnations because He appears
like all of us in His body, appearance, and talk etc., and so they don't
recognize Him as paramAtmA.  He who does not see what is in front of Him is
as good as a person who is sleeping.  

The dharma cakram writer gives the analogy of the animal life vs. the human
life.  Humans are "awake" in the world of intelligent reasoning, in which
the animals are "asleep", i.e., they are not capable of operating in this
domain as well as humans can do.  Similarly the ordinary human is asleep to
the world of the j~nAni.   The path for the ordinary human to become awake
in the world of the j~nAni is to chant the nArAyaNa mantra - "nalam tarum
Sollai nAn kaNDu koNDEn nArAyaNA ennum nAmam" is AzhvAr aruLic-ceyal.  This
is the lesson we should take from this nAma.

467. sva-vaSah - He who is under His own control.

om sva-vaSAya namah.

Continuing on his anubhavam of the mohini incarnation, SrI BhaTTar explains
that after bhagavAn put the asura-s to sleep, He plays as He likes with the
deva-s, consistent with His absolute independence.

The bhAvam here is that bhagavAn is not under the control of anyone or
anything else, and He is only under His own control.  He does not need
anyone's help or support for whatever He does.  Everything else is under His
control.  He does His acts of creation etc. as He wishes.  He does not also
have any desire that is out of His reach (based on vaS - kAntau to wish, to
desire - SrI satyadevo vAsishTha). BhagavAn is sva-vaSah because He has
everything that He desires within Himself, does not have any desire outside
of Him, and rejoices with His own Self.  

SrI Sa~nkara bhAshyam is that bhagavAn is Independent, being the cause of
creation, preservation and withdrawal of the Universe - svatantrah. 

The dharma cakram writer points out that it is only when one does not have
any need that one can be totally independent.  tiruvaLLUvar refers to
bhagavAn as "vENDudal vENDAmai ilAn".  ANDAL's words are "kuRaivu onRum
illAda gOvindA".  When we are under the control of our mind, we lose our
independence, and do whatever our mind dictates.  Then we become dependent
on others.  This nAma teaches us that we should learn to control our mind
and get it under our control instead of being controlled by our mind.
Meditating on this nAma of bhagavAn will give us this discipline.  The more
we are able to devote ourselves to bhagavAn, the more our mind will get
under our control. 

468. vyApI - The Pervader.

om vyApine namah.

SrI BhaTTar-s vyAkhyAnam is that bhagavAn pervades everyone with His own
Power and gives energy to them.  At the time of churning the Mik-Ocean, He
pervaded the deva-s, the asura-s, the mandAra mountain, vAsuki and others,
and gave them the energy to churn the ocean.  SrI v.v.rAmAnujan refers us to
nammAzhvAr 1.1.10 - "paranda taN paravai uL nIr torum paranduLan....karandu
e~ngum paranduLan ivai uNDa karanE". (paravai here refers to an expanse of
water - Ocean).  

SrI rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri gives reference to the Sruti - avyaktAt-tu parah
purusho vyApakah ( muNDaka 2.3.8).  SrI cinmayAnanda points out that in
philosophy pervasiveness indicates subtlety.  BhagavAn is all-pervasive, and
so is subtler than the subtlest.  Since the cause pervades the effect (e.g.,
gold pervades all gold ornaments), so also bhagavAn who pervades everything
is thus the Cause of everything.  

The dharma cakram writer observes that All-pervasiveness also implies
limitlessness, since whatever there is and wherever it is, BhagavAn pervades
it, and so there is no limit to Him.  This limitless emperumAn just projects
Himself such that we see whatever little we see based on our limitations.
Meditating on this nAma of bhagavAn will broaden our ability to see this
Limitless vyApI.

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives several references from the Sruti - parItya
bhUtAni parItya lokAn parItya sarvAh pradiSo diSaSca (yajur), pr*shTo divi
pr*shTo agnih pr*thivyAm pr*shTo viSvA oshadhIrAviveSa (r*g), yo agnau rudro
yo apsv-antarya oshadhIr-vIrudha AviveSa (atharva); etc.

469. naikAtmA - He of diverse forms.

om naikAtmane namah.

SrI BhaTTar's anubhavam is that bhagavAn assumed several forms at the time
of churning - as vishNu to help the gods and the asura-s to churn, as the
tortoise to support the mandAra mountain, and as mohini to distribute the
nectar.

SrI rAdhAkr*shNa SAstri reminds us of the similarity between this nAma and
nAma 139 - caturAtmA.  A more general interpretation is that bhagavAn
expresses Himself through all the forms of His creation.  The dharma cakram
writer points out that the different forms of gods that the followers of
different religions worship are all an expression of bhagavAn, and it is
because of their ignorance of bhagavAn being a naikAtmA that they think they
are worshipping different deities and fighting within themselves. 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the root of the word AtmA as ata -
sAtatyagamane - to go constantly, which nicely explains the nature of the
AtmA.  BhagavAn is everywhere in the form of the father, the mother, the
son, the disciple, the teacher, the husband, the wife, the friend, etc.,
since He is the antaryAmi in everything.  SrI vAsishTha gives several
references to the Sruti in support of the interpretation of this nAma, among
which are the following  - tadev-Agnis-tad-Adityas-tadu vAyus-tadu-candramAh
| tadeva Sukram tad-brahma tA Apah sa prajApatih || (yajur. 32-1); tvam hi
nah pitA vaso tvam mAtA Satakrato babhUvitha (r*g 8.98.11).  

470. naika-karma-kr*t - He who performs diverse acts.

om naika-karma-kr*te namah.

SrI BhaTTar explains the nAma by giving the example of His churning the
ocean, supporting the mountain, overcoming the enemies, distributing the
nectar, etc.  SrI v.v.v rAmAnujan gives the quotes from nammAzhvAr - kUDi
nIraik-kaDaindavArum amudam dEvar uNNa asurargaLai vIDum vaNNa~ngaL Seidu
pOna vittagamum (tiruvAimozhi 5.10.10), and from tirumaZhiSai AzhvAr - malai
Amai mEl vaittu vASugiyaic-cuRRi talai Amai tAn oru kai paRRi alaiyAmal
pIrak-kaDainda perumAn (nAnmugan 49).  SrI Sa~nkara points to diverse
actions such as creation, sustenance, etc. as a way of interpreting this
nAma.   SrI rAdhAkr*shNa Sastri points to His actions in the form of candra,
sUrya, agni, etc. and helping to serve us. 

The dharma cakram writer gives a view which summarizes all the above by
pointing out that everything that ever takes place is His action and nothing
else.  Examples of this abound.  We are instruments in His creation, but we
are not creators.  From one mango tree, only another mango tree can come,
and we can't create something else from a mango seed.   We are the
instruments and He is the kartA. If we have this realization, the benefits
(karma phalam) of none of the actions for which we are the instruments will
accrue to us. 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha continues his interpretation based on his previous
interpretation of naikAtmA.  BhagavAn who is in many forms (father, mother,
son...), performs many actions in the form of the father, mother, son, etc.

-To be continued in Part 2.

-dAsan kr*shNamAcAryan