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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 76 - Part 3.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • August 1, 2002 


SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 76 - darpa-hA, darpa-dah.

717. darpa-hA - The Destroyer of pride.

Om darpaghnAya namah.

The root from which the word darpa is derived is dRp - harsha mohanayoh
- to be glad, to be proud;  hA is derived from the root han - to kill. 
So the nAma darpa-hA means "He Who kills or destroys the pride in those
who are afflicted with pride".

SrI BhaTTar gives the above interpretation, and points out instances of
bhagavAn destroying the pride of the deva-s and asura-s without
destroying the deva-s or asura-s themselves.  He gives as examples the
instance of  BhagavAn lifting up the govardhana mountain against the
lashing rains caused by indra, the carrying away of the pArijAta tree
from the garden of indra, chopping off the grove-like arms of bANAsura,
etc.  

SrI Samkara explains the nAma as referring to bhagavAn repressing the
pride of those that stray from the path of dharma.  SrI rAdhAkRshNa
SAstri points out that darpam refers to acts that are undertaken when
one becomes ecstatic without knowing one's own position (relative to
bhagavAn), and starts indulging in actions that are not consistent with
dharma.  This applies to those who do not follow the path of dharma, as
well as to those who follow dharma but momentarily get carried away
from the success of their dhArmic acts and start feeling pride in their
accomplishments.  In these later cases, bhagavAn imparts a lesson to
these people by temporarily posing some obstacle.  The dharma cakram
writer gives a similar explanation, and describes darpa as the act
performed by us when we do not realize that the self is different from
the body, and falsely feel ownership for our action.  BhagavAn creates
obstacles as needed under these circumstances, and strives to remove
this pride.  
  
SrI satyadevo vAsishTha explains the darpa-hA guNa of bhagavAn by
alluding to the day-to-day events in our lives.  He observes that most
jIva-s consider themselves independent of Him and feel proud.  Then,
off and on when these same jIva-s observe someone else undergo
suffering, momentarily their pride gives way to a temporary
annihilation
of a tiny part of their pride.  Thus He performs His act of destroying
the pride constantly (darpa-hA), even as He is the Bestower of pride to
us (see next nAma).   
  
718. darpa-dah - a) The Bestower of pride (to His devotees).
		b) The Bestower of beauty and attractiveness in everything.

om darpa-dAya namah.

a) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives the explanation - darpo harshah;
tam sAttvikebhyo dadAti AtmAnam pradarSya iti darpa-dah.  BhagavAn
makes His true devotees proud by revealing Himself to them.  SrI
aNNa'ngarAcArya svAmi's anubhavam is that bhagavAn gives full enjoyment
of Himself to His true devotees, and makes them feel proud of this
experience.  tiru ara'ngattu amudanAr expresses this kind of pride
arising out  of his association with emperumAnAr -  "enakku Arum nigar
illaiyE";  "Ar
enakku inRu nigar, Sollil?", "enakku enna tAzhvu iniyE?".   
 
SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri explains that bhagavAn gives pride (darpo
garvah) to His devotees when they have to face the opponents of dharma.
 He gives the example of Hanuman bubbling with God-given pride when he
was crossing the ocean going in search of sItA pirATTi, when he was
addressing rAvaNa, etc.   Thus bhagavAn gives the strength in the form
of pride to His devotee as necessary.

SrI cinmayAnanda points out that bhagavAn creates this pride in His
devotees, which helps them in their urge to be the best among the
righteous and the virtuous.  This pride is their protection from
compromising in even a small way in any act.  This is positive 'pride'
of a higher order, and not the pride referred to in the previous nAma. 

The dharma cakram writer comments that pride per se is not bad; if it
is used negatively, then it is bad, but if it is used to advance
dharma, then it is good.  It is like a knife that can be used to cut a
fruit or cut the hand.  A pure devotee of vishNu should feel proud
about his position, and this will help him advance further spiritually.
 The feeling of pride reflecting as "I am following the path of dharma;
I am a sesha (servant) of the Lord; I cannot be defeated in my
objective of attaining Him", is a positive pride that is good.   

b) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha interprets the term darpa as referring to
attractiveness, beauty etc. (dRp - harsha mohanayoh).  His anubhavam is
that the nAma indicates that anything that is attractive or beautiful
around us has this beauty because Lord vishNu, the darpa-dah, has given
this attractiveness to this object.  In addition to his expertise in
samskRt grammar, the veda-s, etc., SrI vAsishTha's expertise also
includes Ayurveda, jyotisha etc.  For this nAma, he indicates that the
aspect of attractiveness arises from the influence of moon and Venus,
and they in turn have their powers because of bhagavAn.  He gives
reference to the Sruti - tadevAgnis- tad-Adityas-tad
vAyus-tadu-candramAh (yajur. 32.1).  

Some interpreters suggest the pATham a-darpa-dah.  SrI cinmayAnanda
gives the meaning "He Who never allows His devotees to become proud". 
The LIFCO publication, "SrI vishNu sahasra nAma stotram", which gives
the alternatives for the viSishTAdvaita, dvaita, and advaita pATham-s,
does not give this alternate version; thus, this version is probably a
later addition by the more recent interpreters.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan



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