There are exactly 1,031 single “Names” of the Lord in the 1000-Name-Chant (Sahasranaama). The extra 31 Names are to be considered each as an adjective qualifying (Viseshana) the immediately following noun. When one makes Archanaa to the Lord the correct dative case is to be used. There are 20 double-names in the first 500 Names and 11 double-names in the second half of the chant. There is one indeclinable (Avyaya) word used, and it (896th) should be used in the dative for Archanaa as Sanaat Namah; so too the 929th Name in the chant, being a plural noun, should be used in Archanaa as Sadbhyo Namah.

It will also be found, as we study the significances of these Divine names, that Vyaasa has employed sometimes masculine gender, on other occasions feminine gender and some other times even neuter gender. Wherever it is masculine. it denotes Vishnu, the Lord of Lakshmi. and when it is feminine it is indicative of His Might. Glory or power (devataa) that is manifest everywhere, and when the term is in neuter gender, it means Pure Brahman, the infinite Reality.

This Archanaa is generally performed by devotees daily; if this is not convenient they perform this worship at least on their own birth-days, on eclipse days and on the day on which the Sun moves from one zodiac to another (the Samkraanti-day). This performance has been prescribed by the Sastra for warding off troubles arising from the position of planets, anger of the rulers, incurable diseases and ruthless enemies. The highest effect is for purifying the mind and thus gaining more and more inner-poise for the Saadhaka in meditation.

INSTALLATION OF THE LORD

All ritualisms start in Hinduism with a beautiful function-the installation of the Lord in the devotee’s own physical form. This is technically called as Anga-Nyaasa and Kara-Nyaasa. The “Installation in the Limbs”, and the “Installation in the Palm”. This is a method by which the seeker with wilful thoughts and deliberate physical signs sanctifies himself to be a Divine Temple and installs various sacred deities in himself.

This helps the student to realise that though he is worshipping the Lord as a Goal (or an Ideal) other than himself (bheda or anya), in fact, he is to seek his identity with no traces of differentiation (Abheda or Ananya), between himself and the Lord. The final realization is a perfect identity indicated in the Mahaavaakya. “I am Brahman”. (Aham Brahmaasmi).

Neither in the Northern texts nor in the original Mahaabhaarata do we find this ‘subjective installation ceremony’ (Anga-Nyaasa) prescribed. However, pundits of ritualism in the South employ the Anga-Nyaasa; and it being such a beautiful act, so very helpful to the seekers, we give here below the most popular one practised widely in the South.

This “Installation Ceremony” declares to the devotees that the enchanting form of Vishnu is to be ultimately realised as One Infinite Reality without names or forms-in which the recognition of even the distinction of the meditator-meditated- meditation is to cease. Beside this deep significance, even though it be only for the time being, the student is also given a temporary sense of purity and sanctity in himself. Just as a devotee feels highly inspired in the divine atmosphere of a sacred temple, so too, after the Anga-Nyaasa, however shattered we might have been, before we entered the Pooja-room, we can artificially work ourselves up into a divine mood of peace and purity.

The body itself is rendered as the temple of the Lord, wherein the various limbs become the altars upon which, with a heart of love and faith, the devotee invokes and installs various deities. In this process, in order to bring the full blast of the sacred suggestions to him, the repetition of each of these mantras is emphasised by a corresponding physical sign. The idea is only, as we have already explained, to establish the correct mood for devoted contemplation.

A. asya Vishnu-sahasranaama-stotrasya veda-vyaasa Rishih

For this sacred chant, the “Thousand Names of Lord Vishnu”, Sri Veda Vyaasa is the Rishi.

Great mantras of deep spiritual significance and sublime Vedic dignity are not mere poetic compositions by mortal fallible intellects. When a. mastermind through meditation transcends the lower levels of his personality and soars into the higher mental altitudes, through his contemplation, there he ‘receives’ certain ‘revelations’ which are faithfully repeated by them to the world. Such ‘heard’ statements (Srutam) alone have the power to stand against the onslaught of the intellect, the ravages of time, the forces of criticism etc.

Such statements when contemplated upon by lesser seekers, they too, in the spiritual cadence of these mantras, get unconsciously uplifted into realms unknown, and there they come to live a world of experiences unfrequented by the ordinary multitudes. The ‘author of the mantra’ is thus termed in our Vedas as the ‘Seer’ (Mantra- Drashtaa). Such Rishis themselves admit that they did not manufacture, compose or create the mantra, but they had a revelation or vision (Darsanam) of the mantra.

The Mantra- Drashtaa, the Rishi, is the guru of the seeker, who is seeking his path with the help of that particular mantra. The Rishi of a mantra is installed at the roof of the head and the seeker, in his seat of Vishnu-Sahasranaama-chanting, first of all chants this mantra in his mind, and, with his right-hand thumb, middle-finger and ring-finger touches the top of his head.

B.  Anushtup Chandah

The metre in which the revealed mantra comes to the teacher is also mentioned because it orders the discipline that should be followed while chanting the mantra. Anushtup is the name of the particular metre in which this thousand-name- chant on Vishnu is sung. The chant is to come out through the mouth, and therefore, the ‘altar of the metre’ can be only the mouth. The fingers that were touching the roof of the head now come down to touch significantly the lips, when the mantra ‘B’ is repeated in the mind by the seeker.

C.  Sri Vishvaroopo Mahaavishnur-Devataa

Lord Vishnu of the form of the entire universe of variegated names and forms (Vishva-roopah) is the deity of the mantra. Vishnu is the theme of the chant. The Lord of Vaikuntha is the altar at which the devotee is preparing to offer himself in humble dedication and utter surrender. Since Lord Vishnu is, to the devotee, the Lord of his heart, the very centre of his personality, while chanting mentally the mantra 'C' the student, with all sincerity and devotion, installs the Lord in his heart, bringing the fingers from the lips down to touch the centre of his bosom.

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