Volume IV Our Sincere thanks to the following for their invaluable contributions to this ebook : For hosting Sri VishNu Sahasra Naamam ebooks Oppiliappan KOil Sri VaradAchAri SaThakOpan Chief Editor, Sundarasimham & AhObilavalli eBooks Series Providing the source for compiling the document: Mandayam Sri K. Krishnaswamy (http://kirtimukha.com/chinnamma/sahasra/) Providing the Sanskrit texts: Mannargudi Sri.Srinivasan Narayanan Cover Image Smt. Somalatha of Somalatha & Associates, Bangalore (http://www.cksoma.in) Sri. V. Gangadhar (Raju) - Artist Sri. B. Srinivas for providing the cover image sadagopan.org sadagopan.org sadagopan.org for use in this e-book Providing the images Sri. B. Senthil (www.thiruvaikuntavinnagaram.blogspot.com) Sri Murali Bhattar (www.srirangapankajam.com) Neduntheru Sri Mukund Srinivasan Exclusive Artwork Sow R. Chitralekha of sundarasimham-ahobilavalli team E-book assembly: Smt. Jayashree Muralidharan Sri. Muralidharan Desikachari CONTENTS SlOkam 83 3 SlOkam 84 33 SlOkam 85 48 SlOkam 86 67 SlOkam 87 82 SlOkam 88 105 SlOkam 89 127 SlOkam 90 150 sadagopan.org sadagopan.org sadagopan.org SlOkam 91 171 SlOkam 92 198 SlOkam 93 225 SlOkam 94 245 SlOkam 95 266 sadagopan.org sadagopan.org sadagopan.org . ïI>. ïImte ramanujay nm>. ïImte ingmaNt mhadeizkay nm>. ïImte ïI r¼ramanuj mhadeizkay nm> SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam (Volume IV) sadagopan.org sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 1 sadagopan.org sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 2 Slokam 83 smavtaeR inv&ÄaTma ÊjRyae Êrit³m>, ÊlRÉae ÊgRmae ÊgaeR Êravasae Êrairha. 83. samAvartO nivruttAtmA durjayO duratikramah | durlabhO durgamO durgO durAvAsO durArihA || [ PLEASE ADD PRANAVAM BEFORE EACH NAAMA ] nAma 779. smavtR> samAvartah a) He Who takes incarnations again and again for the benefit of His devotees. b) He Who performs His function of creation again and again in cycles. sadagopan.org sadagopan.org c) He Whose true thoughts are always revolving around what He can do to help sadagopan.org His devotees. samAvartAya namah. sam is an upasarga here, and can mean “well”, “from all sides”, etc. The term Avarta means “turning around, revolving”. The root from which the word Avarta is derived is vRt – vartane – to exist, to happen, to live on, to occupy etc. The amara koSa vyAkhyAnam is: Avartate carkravad bhrAmyati iti Avartah – That which rotates around like a wheel. a) SrI bhaTTar’s interpretation is that bhagavAn has this nAma because He takes incarnations again and again repeatedly as needed, for the benefit of His devotees, even though He is birthless. nammAzhvAr refers to Him as piRappu ilpal piRavi perumAn in tiruvAimozhi 2.9.5 (SrI v.v. rAmAnujan). b) SrI Sa’nkara gives the interpretation that bhagavAn has the nAma samAvartah because He skillfully turns the wheel of worldly life – samsAracakrasya samyag-Avartaka iti samAvartah. SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives the same interpretation - samyag Avartayati samsAra cakram iti samAvartah. SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN expresses the same idea – because bhagavAn 3 repeatedly continues His creation in cycles, He is called samAvartah – samyak tAnAvartayati punah punah sRjati iti samAvartah. c) An alternate interpretation by SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj is that bhagavAn is called samAvartah because His true thoughts are constantly revolving around what He can do to protect His devotees – samIcInah AvartanaS-cintanamsvajana avanamayam yasya iti samAvartah. nAma 780. inv&ÄaTma nivRttAtmA a) He whose Nature is different from, and superior to, everything else (Transcendental Form). b) He whose mind is turned away from worldly attachments. (nara-nArAyaNa incarnation) c) He who is the AtmA of those who practice the nivRtti dharma (Bestower of benefits according to karma). d) He whose nature is that He is free from the bonds of samsAra, even when He takes His incarnation amongst us (kRshNa incarnation). e) He who does not turn away from anything or anywhere because He is sadagopan.org sadagopan.org sadagopan.org Omnipresent. (a-nivRttAtmA - Sa’nkara) f) He Who withdraws the jIva-s into Him during pralaya g) He Who has permeated everything completely. h) He Who is Himself un-impacted or withdrawn with respect to the effects of pralaya of sRshTi. i) He whose mind turns away from any feeling of self-glory over His kIrti or fame. nivRttAtmane namah. The nAma nivRttAtmA occurs 4 times in SrI BhaTTar’s system of interpretation. This is one of only two nAma-s that occur this many number of times (the other nAma is prANa-dah). The instances of the nAma nivRttAtmA in SrI BhaTTar’s scheme of interpretation are: nAma 231 (Slokam 25), nAma 4 453 (Slokam 48), nAma 604 (Slokam 64), nAma 780 (Slokam 83) SrI Sa’nkara has given the nAma-s as nivRttAtmA in Sloka-s 25 and 64, as vimuktAmA in Slokam 48, and as a-nivRttAtmA in Slokam 83, with nivRttAtmA being his alternate version in Slokam 83. What follows is a consolidation of the previous write-ups for this nAma. The nAma has been explained in detail in the previous three instances, using the approach that I have taken for all other nAma-s, namely, giving the different anubhavam-s of the different vyAkhyAna kartA-s for the nAma in one place. We will take a look at the vyAkhyAna for this nAma from a different perspective in the current write-up. There are two unique contributions that SrI BhaTTar has made in his sadagopan.org sadagopan.org vyAkhyAnam for SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam. These are: sadagopan.org 1. He has approached the elucidation for all the nAma-s with the emphasis on bhagavAn’s guNa-s of saulabhyam and sauSIlyam towards His devotees as the primary guNa-s of bhagavAn that are of interest from the devotees’ perspective. SrI Sa’nakra generally gives his interpretations with emphasis on the parattvam or Supremacy of vishNu in his interpretations. This point has been brought out in detail in my write-up comparing the two vyAkhyAna-s, and has been mentioned as a reminder under different nAma-s. 2. SrI BhaTTar is unique in viewing the 1000 nAma-s as a collection of 44 discrete groups, each group consisting of a series of nAma-s describing a specific incarnation or manifestation of bhagavAn. This aspect has also been mentioned off and on during the discussion of the nAma-s. Because of the general approach I have taken throughout, of summarizing the different anubhavam-s of several interpreters under each nAma, I have inevitably lost the stress on the second aspect of SrI BhaTTar’s contribution in my write-ups, even though I try to mention this aspect off and on. In the currentview of the nAma nivRttAtmA, we will emphasize this second aspect of Sri BhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam for the four instances of this nAma. 5 SrI BhaTTar interprets the nAma-s in the following contexts: nAma 231 – as part of the group of nAmas from 226 to 247, reminiscent of the purusha sUkta-upanishad pratipAdita virAT svarUpam. nAma 453 – as part of the group of nAma-s from 451 to 463, describing the nara-nArAyaNa incarnation, as the nivRtti dharma pravartaka. nAma 604 – as part of the group of nAma-s from 590 to 606, describing His guNa as a conferrer of benefits to jiva-s based on their karma. nAma 780 – as part of the nAmas from 697 to 786, describing His kRshNa incarnation. The meaning for the word nivRtta is to turn away, to abstain from, to be above worldly acts, etc. a) SrI BhaTTar’s interpretation for nAma 231 (in the group of nAma-s describing the Transcendental Person described in purusha sUkatam etc.,), is that bhagavAn’s svabhAva (Nature) is past the prAkRta svabhAva (the ordinary nature of mortals), and the meaning given is that His Nature as the Supreme purusha is superior to anything else, and stands above all other things. He is the Master of the Transcendental Glory that is thrice the glory of the material world. He is the svAmI or Lord of all that is this Universe, and sadagopan.org sadagopan.org sadagopan.org all that is beyond this Universe. SrI Bhattar gives the following references: tripAdUrdhvaudait-purushah - The Purusha stands eminent in the parama-pada which has thrice the glory of the material world" - purusha sUkta 4. parAt- param yan-mahatomahAntam - He is greater than the greatest, more exalted than the most exalted.- taitti. nArAyanIya 1.5. SrI satya devo vAsishTha gives reference to the muNDakopanishad passage, of two birds sitting in the same tree, one representing the jIva and the other the Supreme Soul. His interpretation is: ni is an upasarga; the root involved is vRt– vartane – to exist, to happen, to live on, to occupy; or vRt – varaNe– to choose, to divide. The word nivRtta means One Whose Nature is different– svarUpa paryAyah (SrI vAsishTha). dvA suparNA sayujA sakhAyA samAnam vRksham parishasvajAte | tayoranyahpippalam svAdvat-anaSnan-anyo abhicAkaSIti || (muNDa. 2.1.) 6 The above sloka talks of two birds, one representing the paramAtmA and the other the jIvAtmA, one watching and shining brilliantly, while the other enjoys the fruits of the karma. It thus illustrates the different nature of the superior Soul, who turns away from the enjoyment that the jIva goes after (nivRtta -anaSnan). SrI vAsishTha captures the spirit of the nAma through the Sloka he has composed for describing the meaning of this nAma, just as he has composed his own Sloka as his interpretation for each of the 1000 nAma-s: ja~jne sa viSvam sa bibharti viSvam sakhA sa jIvasya samAna Sakhah | nASnanjagaj-jAta rasAn aseshAn nivRtta mAtro’Snuta eva sarvam || “BhagavAn creates the universe and protects everything, and is a Friend of the jIva-s and treats everything in His creation equally. He does not consume any sadagopan.org sadagopan.org of the fruits of this world, but withdraws everything into Him at the time of sadagopan.org pralaya”.