Search:
Bhakti List Archives

SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - Part 4.

From the Bhakti List Archives

Narasimhan Krishnamachari • December 2, 2002 


      SrI vishNU sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - vIra-hA. 

747. vIra-hA  - a) The Slayer of the strong demons. 
	b) The Destroyer of those who indulge in vain arguments and distract
others from
 meditating on Him.
	c) The Destroyer of the bonds of yama.
	d) He Who leads the jIva-s to moksha by showing them the right path.
	e) He Who provides different ways for His creations to move around.
	f) He Who is accompanied by garuDa and vAyu when destroying the
asura-s.
	g) He Who ends the various paths that go from birth to birth.

Om vIraghne namaH.

We have delved into the anubhavam of this nAma earlier (nAma 168 –
Slokam 18), and we will se the nAma again in Slokam 99 – nAma 927).  

The term vIra is traditionally used to refer to the attribute of a
person who is heroic and exhibits valor towards his enemies in war.  
Based on amara koSa vyAkhyAnam: viruddhAn rAti hanti iti vIrah (rA – 
dAne, chedane ca) – One who destroys his enemies;   vIrayati iti vA
vIrah (vIr - vikrAntau  - to display valor) – He who displays valor. 
So the nAma literally means “He Who destroys the vIra-s”.  To
understand the interpretation of the nAma, we should remember that all
vIra-s are not followers of dharma.  In this nAma, bhagavAnÂ’s guNa of
destroying the vIra-s who resort to a-dharma is what is addressed.  SrI
satyadevo vAsishTha elaborates that it is only where vishNu is that
victory is, and it is not necessarily where a vIra is.  Victory is
where dharma is.  A person who has the strength, but who tortures the
innocent, is called an “aparAdhI” or one who has committed an
aparAdham.  It is these people that are destroyed by bhagavAn in the
end without a trace.  

Grammatically, words such as vIra-hA kAma-hA, etc., signify a past
action (one who has destroyed) – pANini sUtra 3.2.87).

a) SrI bhaTTar gives examples of the “vIra-s” covered under this nAma: 
It is the likes of pUtanA, SakaTa, the twin arjuna trees, and such
others who tried to kill child kRshNa deceitfully.  

nammAzhvAr describes some of these instances in his tiruvAimozhi
pASuram 5.3.8) (SrI v.v. rAmAnujan):  

	peI mulai uNDu SakaTam pAindu marudiDaip 
	pOi mudal SAittu puL vAi piLaNdu kaLiraTTa
	tU muRuval toNDai pirAnaiÂ…Â…Â…Â…Â….

(References to pUtanA, SakaTAsuran, the twin maruda trees,  bakAsuran,
kuvalayApIdam, etc.  He killed all these, and then just smiled with His
bright teeth showing through the red lips in a mild artistic smile that
is characteristic of Him whenever He achieves a feat).

tiruma’ngai AzhvAr refers to Him as “the vIra beyond all vIra-s”  - vem
tirAl vIraril vIrar oppAr (peria tirumozhi 2.8.2).

SrI vAsishTha gives the derivation – viruddha gatIn hanti iti vIra-hA. 
 Along the same lines, SrI kRshNa datta bhArdvAj gives the
interpretation:  viSesheNa Irayanti kshipanti dharma mArgam iti vIrAh
kamsa rAvaNa prabhRtayah; tAn vIrAn hanti iti vIra-hA – He destroys
those that discard the path of dharma, such as kamsa, rAvaNa etc..  

b) Another interpretation that SrI bhaTTar gives for the term vIrAh in
the context of this nAma are those that are proficient in words, but
misuse their skill to give fallacious arguments and prevent people from
meditating on Him.  He destroys them, and so also He is referred to as
vIra-hA (sva-vedana vihantRRn haituka-vIrAn hatavAn iti vIra-hA).   

c) For the third instance of the nAma, SrI bhaTTar explains the nAma as
referring to “One  Who removed the strong bonds with yama for
gajendra”.   bhagavAn removed the bonds of yama from gajendra by
releasing him from the crocodile’s jaws – mokshayAmAsa nagendram
pASEbhyah SaraNAgatam (vishNu dharma 69).   The nirukti author
summarizes the vyAkhyAnam:  vIram tad-bAdhakam mRtyum hatavAn vIra-hA
matah.

d) One of the interpretations that SrI SaÂ’nkara gives is that bhagavAn
is called vIra-hA because He destroys the asura vIra-s (covered under
a).  In addition, he gives an alternate interpretation that bhagavAn
has this nAma because He shows the right path to the samsArin-s and
gives them salvation, by taking them away from following the various
wrong paths – vividhAh samsAriNAm gatIh mukti-pradAnena hanti iti
vIra-hA.  Here the root han – to go is used.

e) In addition to the interpretation a), SrI satyadevo vAsishTha uses
the roots Ir –gatau – to go, and hamm – gatau – to go, to give another
interpretation:  vividham Irati iti vIrah – referring to all the
different creatures which move in different ways; tAnsca yo hanti –
gamayati – He Who makes it possible for them to go, is vira-hA –
sarveshAm bahudhA irANAm jantUnAm gamayitA vishNuh.  

f) One of the interpretations given by SrI satya sandha yatirAja is:
vih = garuDah, Irah = vAyuh; tAbhyAm hanti gacchati iti vIra-hA -
vishNu is called vIra-hA because He goes along with garuDa and vAyu in
destroying the asura-s.  

g) In one of the interpretations, SrI cinmAyananda takes the term vIra
to mean “various or different paths or ways”,  (this is derived from
the root iN – gatau – to go, and the word irA means that which moves),
and gives the interpretation to the nAma as “He Who ends the passage
from birth to birth”.

The dharma cakram writer observes that just as there are those who
follow the path of 
a-dharma and are destroyed by bhagavAn, there are the internal enemies
in each one us in the form of kAma, krodha, moha and lobha.  The lesson
to take from this nAma is that the chanting and meditation on the
mantra derived from this nAma will result in His destroying these
internal enemies in us, that obstruct us from realizing Him. 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan  


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com


--------------------------------------------------------------
           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to:   bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Group Home: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bhakti-list
Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/
 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/