SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 63 - Part 2.
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• November 15, 2000
SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 63 - Part 2.
598. go-hitah - a) He Who looks after the welfare of the world.
b) He Who protected the cows by lifting the govardhana mountain.
Om go-hitAya namah.
SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is that "go" here refers to prakRti (the
Primordial Matter) which is the field where the seeds for samsAra are
sown. Hitah refers to Him who gives hita to this world, who controls
and looks after the welfare of this world. SrI v.v. rAmAnujam gives
the support from tiruvAimozhi - koLLa mALA inba veLLam kOdila tandiDum
en vaLLal (4.7.2). The inba veLLam that nammAzhvAr refers to is of
course the bhagavad anubhavam.
SrI Samkara gives the meaning "cows" to the samskRt word "go", and thus
interprets the nAma in terms of the hitam that bhagavAn did to the cows
through the lifting of the govardhana mountain - gavAm vRddhyartham
govardhanam dhRtavAn iti gobhyo hito go-hitah. He gives an additional
interpretation based on the meaning "bhUmi" for the word "go" -
gohitah in this sense being a reference to His protecting this world
through different incarnations to destroy the evil and protect the
good.
SrI satyadevo vAsishTha uses the root gatau - to go, and gives the
interpretation that bhagavAn is go-hitah because He facilitates the
movement of all beings in this world.
In summary, "go" can refer to cows in particular or to the world and
its people in a more general sense. Either way, go-hitah refers to His
being the One who facilitates their existence.
599. go-patih - a) The Lord of the Celestial world.
b) The Lord of the indriya-s.
This nAma occurred earlier as nAma 497 (Slokam 53). Please refer to
the write-up under that nAma, which is fairly detailed and is
supplemental to the write-up that follows.
SrI BhaTTar interprets the word "go" in current occurrence of the nAma
as referring to the bhoga bhUmi svarga, and thus gives the meaning to
this instance of the nAma as "He Who is the Lord of those in svarga".
pati refers to His role as the rakshaka or Protector. BhagavAn is the
Lord of this world as well as the Celestial world, and time and time
again He comes to the rescue of the deva-s when the asura-s get the
upper hand. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives the tiruvAimozhi reference - kaN
AvAn enRum maNNOr viNNORkku (1.8.3).
SrI cinmayAnanda interprets the term "go" as referring to cows, people,
sense-organs (indriya-s)etc. Since He is the pati or Lord of all the
things, the term means that He is the Lord of all.
SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the meaning that He is the Protector of
all, starting with the meaning gau - to go for the term "go". In other
words, He shows the path for all the beings, and protects all beings
even as the sArati of a chariot sits in the driver's seat and directs
the chariot and the horses pulling the chariot, and protects them and
looks after their welfare.
600. goptA - The Protector.
Om goptre namah.
This nAma occurred earlier as nAma 498 (Slokam 53). Please the
write-up under that nAma.
The different interpretations offered are all based on either the
meaning gup - to protect, or gup - to conceal. SrI satyadevo
vAsishTha's anubhavam is that He keeps Himself hidden (svayam Atma
guptah), and at the same time protects everyone because this is His
dharma (goptA sa vishNuh sa hi goptR dharmA). Thus, he uses both the
meanings of gup in his vyAkhyAnam.
The summary of the different interpretations is that He is called goptA
because He is
a) the Protector of everything, the Protector of the veda-s, the
Protector of the wheel of dharma, the wheel of karma etc., or
b) He conceals Himself from those to whom He does not want to reveal
Himself, or He conceals His devotees from the bad, He conceals the
Inner Self from those who are not qualified to realize it, He remains
concealed from everything and at the same protects everything etc.
gopAyati - satatam rakshati svabhaktAn nityadA iti goptA.
The dharma cakram writer points out the lesson to take from this nAma -
Only He can protect us, and no one else can. It is not just that He is
the Protector, but there is no one else who can protect us. Recall
svAmi deSikan's beautiful expression of this -
bhayam kutah syAt tvayi sAnukampe |
rakshah kutah syAt tvayi jAtaroshe || (SrI
ashTabhujAshTakam 5)
tava pravRtte mama kim prayAsaih |
tvayyapravRtte mama kim prayAsaih || (SrI
ashTabhujAshTakam 6)
tvayi rakshati rakshakaih kim ananyaih |
tvayi cArakshati rakshakaih kim ananyaih || (SrI kAmAsikAshTakam
8)
(For meanings, please refer to the write-ups on SrI deSika stotram in
this list).
601. vRshabhAkshah - a) He Who is the Support for the cycle of
samsAra in the form of dharma.
b1) He Whose Eyes shower all fruits desired.
b2) He who has dharma as His objective.
om vRshabhAkshAya namah.
The two parts of this nAma are vRshabha and aksha. vRshabha is derived
from the root vRshu - secane - to shower, to rain. vRshabha is also a
term that denotes dharma. The word aksha means axle or eye. The union
of the two words then leads to the different interpretations.
a) SrI BhaTTar gives the interpretation that bhagavAn is the dharma
axle that supports the wheel of samsAra. vRshabha means dharma because
it showers the fruits of actions - phala varshI vRshabho dharmah.
BhagavAn is the support for samsAra cakra or the wheel of samsAra, for
which He is the support or axle in the form of dharma (sah akshah -
samsAra cakra AdhArah). nammAzhvAr refers to Him as "tani mudalAi
mUvulagum kAvalOn (tiruvaimozhi 2.8.5) - v.v. rAmAnujan.
b1, b2) SrI Samkara vyAkhyAnam is - sakalAn kAmAn varshuke akshiNI asya
iti vRshabhAkshah - He whose eye rains the fulfillment of all the
devotee's wishes. All He has to do is look at the devotee with the
samkalpam that He wants to bestow His devotee with his wishes, and the
devotee's wishes will be fulfilled. Alternatively, His vision or look
is dharma - vRshabhah dharmah sa eva vA dRshTih asya iti
vRshabhAkshah; that is, He only has dharma as His objective.
The dharma cakram writer points out the example of duryodhana and
arjuna, and shows how dharma is what protects one ultimately. bhIshma
told duryodhana when the latter asked bhIshma to fight on his side,
that no matter who fights on duryodhana's side, he will lose because he
is following the path of adharma, and arjuna's side will win because he
is following the path of dharma. This nAma teaches us that bhagavAn
will always be on the side of dharma, and if we follow the path of
dharma, He will bestow His blessings on us.
The summary of the different interpretations is that He uses dharma to
run the samsAra cakra by bestowing the benefits of the karma-s to the
devotees according to their karma-s.
602. vRsha-priyah - a) dharma-lover.
b) Dear to the virtuous.
Om vRsha-priyAya namah.
vRsho dharmah priyo yasya iti vRsha-priyah. SrI BhaTTar gives the
interpretation that bhagavAn is vRsha-priyah because He is pleased with
dharma - both pravRtti dharma and nivRtti dharma. It is His pleasure
with the dharma performed by His devotee that results in His bestowing
the desired fruit. pravRtti dharma helps the jIva-s continue in this
world; nivRtti dharma helps its practitioners attain Him instead.
The dharma cakram writer gives the example of one who practices
pravRtti dharma - one who earns money through honest profession and
then spends the proceeds in a dhArmic way - this person is one who is
interested in the life of this world and observes the pravRtti dharma.
One who is not involved in the material world and who instead meditates
on Him as the sole purpose of life is a practitioner of nivRtti dharma.
The life led by svAmi vivekAnanda's father is given as an example of
pravRtti dharma, and the life of svAmi vivekAnanda as an example of
nivRtti dharma. The point to note is that both the paths follow
dharma, and are thus dear to Him.
SrI Samkara gives an additional interpretation - that bhagavAn is dear
to the virtuous - priya for vRsha-s.
SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri observes that dharma is so dear to bhagavAn that
He takes birth among the likes of us just to protect and preserve
dharma - dharma samsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi yuge yuge (gItA 4.8).
-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan
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