SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - Part 2.
From the Bhakti List Archives
• April 16, 2002
SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 72 - mahA-karmA. 677. mahA-karmA - He of great actions. Om mahA-karmaNe namah. This nAma occurs as nAma 793 again (Slokam 84). mahAnti karmANi yasya iti mahA-karmA - One Whose action are great is mahA-karmA. SrI BhaTTar and his followers interpret the nAma in terms of His great actions in helping His devotees. Other interpretations emphasize His great actions in the form of His creation etc. SrI BhaTTar refers to His actions as "ati-vismayanIyam" - extremely surprising, and refers to bhagavAn's action in lifting the likes of worms, germs, and less, from those low levels to the level where they are capable of enjoying His supreme glory. He lifts us from our very low levels to the level of a nitya sUri, a wonder that can't even be comprehended by us. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives reference to nammAzhvAr (tiruvAi. 7.5.1): "Â…. puRpA mudalAp pul eRumbu enRu Ado onRu inRiyE naRpAl ayottiyil vAzhum SarASaram muRRavum naRpAlukkumuittananÂ…" - Lord rAma lifted all the jIva rASi-s starting from the blades of grass, the ants, and all other life forms that existed in His land ayodhyA with Him to SrI vaikunTham when He departed this world after His avatAra kAryam ended. Kulasekhara AzhvAr refers to the same incident in perumAL tirumozhi 10.10 - "anRu SarASara'ngaLai vaikundattu ERRiÂ…", where His makA-karmA aspect is sung. His great actions do not stop with just directly helping His devotees by lifting them to His level, but also in His acts in punishing His devotee's enemies, including tricking them as part of His leelA. SrI BhaTTar interprets the occurrence of this nAma in Slokam 84 in this sense (in terms of His Buddha avatAra, where He intentionally taught those who were averse to Him to follow the non-vedic path). These great acts of His are also just, since they are aimed at punishing those who are set against Him. SrI Samkara interprets the nAma in terms of His great karma or act in the form of His creation of this Universe etc. - mahat jagat utpatyAdi karmA asya iti mahA-karmA. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives the example of His swallowing the entire universe at the time of dissolution. In the later occurrence of this nAma in Slokam 84, SrI Samkara brings out another aspect of His great creation - that of bringing out the great elements etc. - mahAnti viyadAdIni bhUtAni karmANi kAryANi asya iti mahA-karmA. SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj refers to Lord kRshNa's words in the gItA that His actions are "divya" karma-s (divine actions) - janma karma ca me divyam Â… (gItA 4.9. The dharma cakram writer explains His "great action" in terms of His supporting whatever a jIva is after: if the earthly pleasures is what one wants, He supports that by providing the means for these; if after some stage this person realizes that it is not worth going after earthly pleasures, He provides the necessary means for them to follow the yogic path; when the person matures in this path over several births, and starts feeling the desire to seek Him, He aids this person in this path as well, and ultimately unites this person with Him. He does all these things simultaneously to all the beings, according to their wishes and desires. For the English-speaking world, SrI cinmayAnanda's description for this nAma is a good summary, which is similar to SrI Samkara's interpretation: "To create a cosmos so scientifically precise and perfect out of the five great elements, and to sustain them with an iron hand of efficiency, all the time presiding over acts of destruction without which the world of change cannot be maintained, is, in itself, a colossal achievement". -dAsan kRshNamAcAryan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.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/
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