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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 87 - sarvato-mukhah.

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champakam • March 15, 2003 


     SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 87 - sarvato-mukhah.

822.	sarvato-mukhah – a) He Who can be approached from many paths.
                     b) He Who has faces on all sides.

Om sarvato-mukhAya namah.

sarvatah means "from all sides, in every direction, everywhere".  
mukham means mouth, face, and in a generic sense, to an opening.  

a) SrI BhaTTar gives the interpretation that the nAma signifies that 
there are many ways of accessing and attaining Him.  He has not laid 
down any rule that He can be attained only by a particular means and 
not by another.  On the other hand, He can be easily attained by 
means that are sometimes inexplicably simple – yena kenApi vyAjena 
supraveSatvAt sarvato-mukhah.  

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to SaraNAgati gadyam 17, where emperumAn 
tells bhagavad rAmAnuja:  yena kenApi prakAreNa dvaya vaktA tvam 
kevalam madIyayaiva dayayA – As long as one surrenders with the 
utterance of the dvaya mantra with or without sincerity, the natural 
Divine Grace of bhagavAn will protect this person.   Be it with 
sincerity (sa-hRdaya), or with feigned sincerity (a-hRdaya), one who 
needs immediate help (Arta), or one who may need support sometime in 
the future (dRpta), one who is His friend or one who is His sworn 
enemy (such as rAvaNa), as long one approaches Him in the name of 
SaraNagati, it is His vow to protect that person.     During 
vibhIshaNa saraNAgati, Lord rAma tells sugrIva that He considers it 
the sworn duty of a dharmishTan to protect anyone who surrenders to 
him, even by giving up his own life if needed – Arto vA yadi vA 
dRptah pareshAm SaraNAgatah  |  arih prANAn parityajya rakshitavyah 
kRtAtmanA  ||   (yuddha kANDam 18.28).

b) SrI Sa'nkara's vyAkhyAnam is that the name signifies that bhagavAn 
has faces on all sides – 

		sarvatah pANi-pAdam tat sarvato'kshi Siro mukham    |
		sarvatah Srutiman loke sarvam AvRtya tishThati    
||          (gItA 13.13)

"Everywhere are Its hands and feet;  Its eyes, heads and mouths are 
everywhere;  Its ears are on all sides;  and It exists encompassing 
all things".

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives references to the Sruti in support:

-	viSvataS-cakshuruta viSvato-mukhah  (tai. AraN. 10.1)
-	pratya'ng-janAs-tishThati sarvato-mukhah  (SvetASva. 2.16)
-	pratya'ng-mukhAs-tishThati viSvato-mukhah  (tait. AraN. 10.1)

SrI cinmayAnanda gives the analogy of the sun whose light shines in 
all directions, or the light from a lamp that shines in all 
directions simultaneously.  

Yet another anubhavam is given by SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj – Bhakta-
s are singing His praise from all sides simultaneously, and He has 
faces on all sides to listen to all of them simultaneously  - sarvAsu 
diSAsu bhajamAnaih bhaktair-hi SrImad bhagavato mukham avalokyate  
|   A similar interpretation is given by SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN – 
atah sarvato-mukhah sarva-dig-deSa-vartishu bhakteshu mukham asya iti 
sarvato-mukhah.  

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan




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