VISHNU SAHASRANAAM

421. Ugrah –“The Terrible.” The One who gives fear to those who are diabolically evil”, or, as the Upanishad declares, “For fear of Him the fire burns; for fear of Him shines the sun; For fear of Him Indra, Vaayu and Death proceed with their respective functions,”-therefore He is the Terrible

422. Samvatsarah –“The Year,” which is the abode of all living creatures. Time is spread in which creatures exist and gather their experiences.

423 Dakshah –“The Smart” One who undertakes the creation, sustenance and destruction of the Whole Cosmos with ease and efficiency, diligence and promptitude,

424. Visraamah –“The resting place;” “the Quiet.” That State wherein people who suffer in Samsar, can discover a perfect rest and quietude is the consciousness Supreme, Sree Narayana.

425. Visva-dakshinah –“The most skilful and efficient.” All efficiency and skill that we find in the universe among the dynamic living creatures are all His expressions alone, and, therefore, He is the source of all skill and efficiency. Again, He is the One who is the very Creator and Preserver of the whole universe and He must be the most efficient Manager and Administrator among the living creatures.

Stanza 46

vistaarah sthaavarah sthaanuh pramaanam beejamavyayam
artho anartho mahaakoso mahaabhogo mahaadhanah.

426. Vistaarah -The extension. The Lord is named thus because in the time of Pralaya, in Him the entire universe of names and forms comes to reside with ample accommodation for all of them. The term Vistaarah can also mean “manifestation;” since the Lord manifests in Himself all the universe.

427. Sthaavarah-sthaanuh –“The firm and the motionless.” The Firm (achanchala) indicates that He has no movements, because He is All-pervading. Sthaanuh (motionless) means that He is fixed like “the pillars that denote the frontiers of a country” (Sthaanuh) .The terms here used are as one- word because the Lord is both these at one and the same time. He is not only All-pervading, and, therefore, no movements in Him (Sthaavarah), but he is also without any locomotion (Sthaanuh). Both these terms indicate the All-pervasiveness of Lord Vishnu.

428. Pramaanam -The proof. He is the underlying principle of all intellectual arguments and for all scientific methodology, since He is the very Consciousness behind all discussions. Lord Narayana is the very authority behind all Dharmas and hence He becomes the essential Reality behind all (pramaana).

429. Beejamavyayam –“The Immutable Seed.” Since the whole world has sprung from Him, He is the indestructible and changeless cause of the world. It can also mean “that without which the world can never be.” Hence He is the undecaying root of all things.

430. Arthah -One who is worshipped by all; invoked by everyone. Lord Narayana is desired by all as He is the Paramaatman who is of the nature of bliss. Even the sensuous man running after the sense-objects is seeking the Lord in as much as he is searching for bliss which is the nature of the Self.

431. Anarthah -One to whom there is nothing that is yet to be fulfilled. This means one who has no desires, as He has fulfilled all His desires. So long as vaasanaas exist desires manifest. Where vaasanaas have ended there cannot be any desires and that state is the State of Self-realization.

432. Mahaakosah -One who has got around him great sheaths. The Self in us functions through the five- sheaths such as the food-sheath, etc. Sri Narayana is one who, as the Lord of the universe (Jagadeesvarah), is conditioned by the macrocosmic sheaths of the universe, and therefore, the great Isvara is here indicated as Mahaakosah.

433. Mahaabhogah -One who is of the nature of enjoyment (bhogah), He being of the nature of bliss. Also He is the one from whom the greatest bliss (bhogah) can be gained by the seekers. In short, the term indicates Him as one who gives the greatest happiness to all those who are devoted to Him.

434. Mahaadhanah -One who is supremely rich with the wealth of bliss which he can give to His devotees. Vishnu is one from whom His devotees gain great wealth.

Stanza 47

anirvinnah sthavishtho-abhoordharma-yoopo mahaa-makhah
nakshatranemir nakshatree kshamah kshaamahsameehanah.

435. Anirvinnah -One who has no nirveda. This term nirveda means “the sense of disinterestedness that comes to the bosom of one who could not fulfil his passionate desires in life.” The Lord is one who is griefless as He has no desires to fulfil. In His fullness and perfection, He has no more any desires to fulfil, and therefore, Sri Hari has no occasion to suffer from the sense of nirveda.

436 Sthavishthah –One who is supremely gross. The entire cosmos being His form. He Himself is the universe, and as such in His total manifestation, He is supremely gross, Geeta says (Chapter XI-20) that the Lord spreads Himself covering the whole world and the atmosphere The Upanishad (Mundaka 1-4) also says how “the sky form' His head, the sun and the moon are His eyes.”

437. A-bhooh -One who has no birth, or the one, baying realised whom, the seeker will no more have births Some people dissolve the line Sthavishthah + Bhooh. In that case instead of A-bhooh they give the Lord the name, ‘Bhooh’, meaning ‘earth.’ Just as the earth is the stage upon which the entire drama of life is being played, Sri Narayana is the substratum upon which the entire world of experiences is playing about.

438. Dharma-yoopah -Yoopah is the name given to the post to which the sacrificial animal is tied in a yaaga The Lord is the very Post to which all Dharmas (righteousness) ace tied to This means He is the very essence behind all righteousness.

439. Mahaa-makhah -The Great Sacrificer. Because the sacrifices dedicated to Him confer total liberation -(Nirvaana). Also in the Geeta we were told, “offer is Brahman, what is offered is Brahman, the fire is Brahman, the offerer is Brahman and the goal reached is also Brahman.”

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