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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - Part 8.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • May 3, 2002 


     SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - mahA-havih.

683. mahA-havih - a) He Who is worshiped with supreme oblations.
		b) He Who manifests Himself in the form of the great Offering.
		c) He Who accepts the whole Universe as havis at the time pralaya.

Om mahA-havishe namah. 

The root from which the word havis is derived is hu - dAnAdAnayoh - to
offer, to perform a sacrifice, to eat.  The word havis is explained by
the uNAdi sutra "arci Suci hu sRpi chAdi chardibhya ish (268), and has
the meaning "clarified butter offered in sacrifice".  In common usage,
the term is used for referring to the material used in the oblation to
the fire.   mahA-havis is the greatest of these oblations, and
mahA-havih refers to the One who is the recipient of the supreme
oblations.  SrI satyadevo vAsishTha indicates that the term havih can
also refer to one who is making the offering, one who is the object or
recipient of the offering, that by which the offering is made, etc.  

We will see in the interpretations below that He is mahA-havih in all
the above senses:  He is mahA-havih because 

  - He is worshiped by the offerings that are themselves supreme in
nature (e.g., in the form of our AtmA);  
  - He is the Great or Supreme acceptor of the meager offerings that we
make;  
  - Everything is but a form of Him, or His manifestation, and He
manifests Himself in the form of the Great Sacrifice.

a) SrI BhaTTar interprets havis as referring to the offerings, and thus
mahA-havis refers to the great offerings; mahA-havih is the receipient
of the great offerings. SrI BhaTTar explains what these "great
offerings" are, or why the offerings to Him are great or supreme:  He
can be worshiped without killing of any animal - na tatra paSu
ghAto'bhUt (mahA. SAnti. 337.9); the sacrifices to Him that He likes
best are the offering of our mind, buddhi, and indirya-s to Him, and
best of all, Atma-samarpaNa (ahamevan mAm juhomi - tait. nArA. 41; 
pratyagAtma havishTvAt, ahimsram AtMAdi havih yasya syAt sa mahAhavih).


SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to nammAzhvAr's Atma-samarpaNam to Him in
pASuram 2.3.4 in tiruvAimozhi - "enadAviyuL kalanda peru nal udavik
kaimmARu enadAvi ozhindEn ini mILvadenbadu uNDEÂ…".   SrI ALavandAr also
refers to Atma samarpaNam in his stotra ratnam (53) - "aham adyaiva
mayA samarpitah".    Even though this AtmA belongs to Him to start
with, we offer it to Him as if it is an offering from us of something
that belongs to us, and He is kind enough to accept it as a supreme
offering.    
The concept of offering the AtmA as an oblation to the fire is to be
understood as referring to the burning of the feeling, or getting rid
of the feeling once for all, that our AtmA belongs to us and that we
have independent ownership of our soul.  

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN gives an interpretation similar to that of
SrI BhaTTar, and gives different examples of the great offerings that
He likes - namaskAra, svAdhyAya, aushadi rUpatvena ati-pavitratvAt anya
havibhyo mahAnti havImshi yasya sa mahA-havih (He is called mahA-havih
because He has the offerings that are suprmely pure, in the form of
namaskAra, chanting of veda-s, and offerings of tulasi leaves).  He
quotes the following in support:

	tulasI dala mAtreNa jalasya culukena ca    |
	vikrINIte svam AtmAnam bhaktebhyo bhakta-vatsalah  || (quote from
vishNu dharma)

"bhagavAn who dearly loves His devotees, just trades away His own Self
in exchange for the offering of some tulasi leaves or a palm's content
of water". 

He also quotes from moksha dharma, where it is stated that no matter
what a person who has single-minded devotion offers to Him, He accepts
it with a bowed head:

	yAh kriyAh samprayuktAh syuh ekAnta gata bhuddhibhih    |
	tAh sarvAh SirasA devah pratigRhNAti vai svayam   ||               
(from moksha dharma)

A brAhmaNa qualifies for the title of brAhmaNa by pure nAma japam, and
nothing else is required:

	japyenaiva hi sam-Suddhyet brAhmaNo nAtra samSayah   |
	kuryAd-anyan-na kuryAt maitro brAhmaNa ucyate    ||        (from
moksha dharma) 
	 
b) SrI Samkara gives the interpretation that bhagaVan is Himself the
Great Sacrifice.  SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives reference to the gItA in
support:

	aham kratur-aham ya~jnah svadhAham aham aushadham     |
	mantro'ham ahmevAjyam aham-agnir-aham hutam     ||             (gItA
9.16)

"I am the kratu; I am the sacrifice; I am the offering to the manes; I
am the herb; I am the mantra; I am myself the clarified butter; I am
the fire; I am the oblation".  

Bhagavad rAmAnuja explains the concept in his vyAkhyAnam for Slokam
9.15. - "Â… vividha vibhakta nAma rUpa sthUla cit acit vastu SarIrah
syAm iti samkalpya, sa ekadeva eva tiryang manushya sthAvarAkhya
vicitra jagac-charIrah avatishThate iti anusandhAnASca mAm upAsate.." 
- The Lord wills thus: May I become embodied in gross animate and
inanimate entities, distinguished variously by name and form.  He alone
then abides, with the variegated cosmos as His body, comprising gods,
animals, men, and immobile things.  (The mahAtma-s)  worship Me
contemplating on Me thus.

Thus, everything is part of His body, His form.  In the context of the
current nAma, He is Himself the havis also - aham hutam (SrI
tirukkaLLam svAmi reminds us that this does not mean that everything or
everyone is identical to Him, but that everything is part of Him).  

The concept that He is the AtmA of everything, is also conveyed in
Slokam 4.24 of gItA:

	brahmArpaNam brahma havih brahmAgnau brahmaNA hutam    |
	brahmaiva tena gantavyam brahma karma samAdhinA   ||              
(gItA 4.24)

"Brahman is the instrument through which the offering is made; The
offerings are Brahman; The One who offers is Brahman, and the offering
is made into the agni which is Brahman.  One who performs all actions
with this understanding and knowledge of the Supreme Brahman, attains
none other than Brahman".

SrI rAmAnuja again explains that the ladle with which the offering is
made is Brahman because it is an effect of Brahman, (who is the
material cause of this universe);  The oblation likewise is Brahman; 
It is offered by the agent Brahman into the fire of Brahman.  Again,
identity is not to be inferred from this, but the sense that He has all
these as His body. 

c) SrI rAdhAkRshNa Sastri gives the additional interpretation that He
is mahA-havih since He accepts as an offering the whole universe at the
time of pralaya, and contains it all within Him.  Just as an offering
made to fire becomes fire itself, the offering made to Him at the time
of pralaya becomes a part of Brahman Himself.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan




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