VISHNU SAHASRANAAM

(54) Sthaviro Dhruvah -The Ancient (Sthavirah) and the Motionless or firm (Dhruvah). He is called the ‘Ancient’ because the very first ‘unit of time’ itself had risen from Him. He was the progenitor of the very concept of Time in us. Therefore, ‘Time’ cannot condition Him. Thus He becomes the most Ancient. He is the ‘Firm Truth’; nothing that happens in the phenomenal world can affect Him at any time.

Stanza 7

agraahyah saasvatah krishno
lohitaakshah pratardanah
prabhootah trikakub-dhaama
pavitram mangalam param.

(55) Agraahyah  -That which cannot be perceived through the play of the sense organs; in short, that which is not an ‘object’ of perception, but which is the very ‘subject’-who is the Perceiver in all that is perceived. The ‘subject’ can never become the ‘object’, and hence Truth is something that the sense organs cannot apprehend, as they do any other sense-objects. He is the one ‘subject’ ever-perceiving all objects, through all sense-organs of all living creatures, everywhere, at all times. The Lord is the ‘subject’, not only in the sense organs, but He is the “feeler” in the mind and the “thinker” in the intellect.

And thus the sense organs cannot perceive It, nor the mind feel It, nor the intellect apprehend It; says the Upanishad, “That from which words retire unapproached along with the mind” is the Supreme. Hence He is Agraahya-Imperceptible and Incomprehensible. Kenopanishad is very clear and emphatic: “That which the eyes cannot perceive, but because of which eyes are perceiving, understand That to be Brahman (Maha Vishnu) and not that which you here worship.”

(56) Saasvatah -That which remains at all times the same is the Permanent, That which is permanent, should remain Changeless in all the three periods of time. In short, He is unconditioned by time. The Supreme Consciousness Itself is the very Illumminator of Time, and the Illuminator can never be affected by what It illumines. This changeless reality is Vishnu.

(57) Krishnah -The word Krishna means in Sanskrit ‘the dark’. The Truth that is intellectually appreciated, but spiritually not apprehended, is considered as ‘veiled behind some darkness’.

The root Krish means Existence (Sattaa) and na means Bliss (Aananda) .So says Vyasa in Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva 70, 5. Therefore Krishna (Krish+na) means Existence- Bliss (Sattaa-Aananda). Thus, the very name divine, ‘Krishna’, represents the Supreme Paramaatman. Or, because of His dark-blue complexion He is called as Krishna. Mahabharata Santi Parva 343 says, “As My colour is dark-blue, I am called Krishna, O Arjuna.”

In Mahabharata, we find Krishna explaining Himself to Arjuna ‘when the earth becomes shelled in by its hard crux I shall turn myself into an iron plough-share and shall plough the earth.

Apart from the above meaning Krishna also means the Enchanter of all His devotees (Aakarshana) .Truth is One which irresistibly attracts everybody towards Itself. Commentators have interpreted this significance in a more attractive context. They conclude that Krishna means One who sweeps away the sins in the heart of those who meditate upon Him.

Truth has got a magnetism to attract to Itself all the ego and ego-centric passions of the individual. In this sense viewed, we need not consider Krishna as a deity of the farmyard in the agricultural estates. The Lord ploughs the hard stupidities in us and prepares the heart-field, weeding out all the poisonous growths of sin, and cultivates therein-pure Bliss which is of the nature of Reality.

(58) Lohitaakshah -Red-eyed. Very often we find descriptions in the Puranas, where the Lord is explained as having eyes like the red-lotus (Hibiscus). Generally the ruddy eyes represent anger and the incarnations are taken for the purpose of destroying the evil and so His anger is towards the evil-minded materialists who live ignoring the higher values of life.

(59) Pratardanah - The root Tarda means “destruction” and with the prefix Pro the root (Pra-tarda) means “supreme destruction”. One who does this total destruction (Pratardanah) is the Lord in the form of Rudra at the time of the great dissolution (Pralaya).

(60) Prabhootah -The term means ‘born full’ or ‘ever-full’. He is ever-full and perfect in His Essential Nature, as the Transcendental Reality, or even when He manifests in the form of His various incarnations. Especially in His chief and glorious incarnation as Lord Krishna, He proved Himself to be ever full with His Omnipotency and Omnisciency.

(61) Trikakubdhaama -One who is the very foundation or support (Dhaama) of the three quarters (Kakubh). We find this is generally commented upon and described as “all quarters, in the three realms above, below and middle.” Viewing this from the platform of Vedanta, He must be considered by us as the three Planes-of -Consciousness-the waking (Jaagrat), the dream (Svapna) and the deep-sleep (Sushupti) conditions. The fourth Plane-of-Consciousness (Tureeya) is indeed the Substratum for all the other three planes.

(62) Pavitram –One who gives purity to the heart. To the seekers who are meditating upon Him, He gives inner purity, and hence He is known as Pavitram.

Or, the term Pavi means; the weapon vajra (thunderbolt). One who saves his devotees from the thunderbolt of lndra is Pavitram. The thunderbolt is described as an instrument ill cross bones-made out of the bone of sage Dadheechi. Indra is the Lord of the lndriyas. In Vedanta Indra signifies the mind. Mind’s cross purposes, confusions, intellectual compromises and the consequent self- cancellation of our mental powers (Sankalpa-Vikalpa) can be the great thunderbolt of the mind with which Indra (mind) can destroy in no time all the acquired tapas of the saadhaka. Deep devotion, ardent meditation and firm faith in the Lord Vishnu save the saadhaka from all such mental storms and, therefore, the Lord acquires the significant name Pavitram

(63) Param Mangalam -Mangalam is that which not only removes the dark pains of evil, but brings the bright joys of merit. Param Mangalam is Supreme Mangalam, and It can be none other than He, by whose mere remembrance all inauspiciousness gets lifted up and all Auspiciousness comes to flood our hearts The Upanishad declares. “May That Brahman-who removes all inauspiciousness in man and gives man all auspiciousness, by a mere remembrance of Him -give us all auspiciousness.

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 - 20      Rituals Home