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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - Part 5.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • December 3, 2002 


        SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - vishamah. 

748. vishamah – a) He of unequal (conflicting) acts towards His
devotees vs. His enemies
b)	He for Whom there is no equal.
c)	He Who destroyed the effect of the poison that was consumed by rudra
during the churning of the Milk Ocean.

Om vishamAya namah.

The word vi-shamah is derived by the combination: vi + samah = vishamah
– vigatah samo yasya iti vi-shamah – One Who is devoid of equals is
vishamah.  When the prefix vi is combined with the word samah, the sa
becomes sha according to pANini sUtra 8.3.88 (ashTAdhyAyI) –
su-vi-nir-durbhyah supi, sUti, samAh – The s of svap, sUti, and sama,
is changed to sh after su, vi, nir, and dur.  

a) SrI bhaTTarÂ’s anubhavam is that His guNa of vi-samam reflects in His
conflicting behavior in His treatment of the good vs. the bad.  His
interpretation is that bhagavAn is “One with unpredictable and
conflicting acts” – vi-samah, because He acts in different ways with
different persons.  He is very benevolent with His devotees, and He is
fearsome and terrific with those who are offenders of dharma.   

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to tiruvAimozhi 2.6.1, where nammAzhvAr
describes this guNa of bhagavAn:  “vaikunthA maNi vaNNanE en pollAt
tiruk kuraLA Â…Â… Sei kundA varum tImai un aDiyArkkut tIrttu aSurarkkut
tImaigaL Sei kundA! 

nammAzhvAr names some of His “viDam’ngaL’ in tiruvAimozhi pASuram
7.8.3: “Sittirat tEr valavA! Tiruc-cakkarattAi!….ivai enna
viDama’ngaLE!”  He was the charioteer for arjuna in the mahAbhArata
war.  As arjunaÂ’s charioteer, He will either depress the whole chariot
slightly or raise it slightly, such that the arrows of bhIshma aimed at
arjuna will miss him, and the arrows of arjuna meant of the enemies
will hit their targets without fail.   In the war between arjuna and
jayadratha, He just wielded His cakra to interchange day and night, so
that jayadratha who was hiding till he thought the sun had set, could
be eliminated by arjuna.  These are just some instances of His
“viDama’ngaL” .  

The same idea is conveyed by SrI baladeva vidyAbhUshaN, who gives the
interpretation “bhakta pakshapAtittvAt” vishamah – Because He is biased
towards His devotees, He is called vi-samah.

b) SrI SaÂ’nkaraÂ’s interpretation is that He is vishamah because He has
no equal in any sense, and He transcends everything – samo na asya
vidyate sarva-vilakshNatvAt iti vishamah.  He refers us to arjunaÂ’s
words from bhagavad-gItA:

	pitAÂ’si lokasya carAcarasya tvamasya pUjyasSca gurur-garIyAn   |
	na tvat-samosti abyadhikah kutoÂ’nyo loka-trayepyapi apratimaprabhAva  
||  
                                                                       
                                    (11.43)

“You are the Father of this world, of all that moves and that does not
move.  You are its Teacher and the One most worthy of reverence.  There
is none equal to You.  How then can there be another greater than You
in the three worlds, O Being of matchless greatness?”

nammAzhvAr describes perumAL in his tiruvAimozhi as “ottAr mikkArai
ilaiyAya mA-mAyA (2.3.2)” – “You are a mA-mAyan without a peer or a
superior”.  

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha comments that it is precisely this vishama guNa
of bhagavAn that He reflects in all His creation – no two creations are
exactly identical in all respects, and every single creation is unique.
 No two children of any parent are identical, and nothing is identical
to another in this universe consisting of countless creations.  As has
been indicated in a few places before, SrI vAsishTha, who explains the
intricate grammatical basis for each of the nAma-s in great detail,
also has composed a Slokam for each nAma explaining the significance of
the nAma, in addition to giving a detailed vyAkhyAnam.  His Slokam for
the current nAma is:

	sa vishNureko vishamah purANah karoti viSvam vishamam svabhAvAt    |
	tamAnukurvan vishamam pravRttA sampat vipac-cApi jagat prasRptA   ||

“The purAna purusha, vishNu, is distinct from everyone else, and is
distinct.  Consistent with this guNa of His, He has also created
everything else such that nothing is same as another in His creation. 
This guNa is spread not only in species of different kinds, but also in
members of the same kind”.  
	
c) SrI satya sandha yatirAja gives the interpretation that He has the
nAma vishamah because He nullified the effect of the poison that was
consumed by rudra during the churning of the Milk Ocean (visham rdura
pItam mInAti hanti sva-nAma-smaraNena iti vish-mah.  The root mI –
himsAyAm – to kill, to lesson, to change, to be lost is used in this
interpretation).  

The dharma cakram writer gives several examples to illustrate that
bhagavAn is unique and without anyone to compare to Him – vi-samah.  1)
He is hRshIkeSan – One Who is unexcelled in His control of His
indriya-s, and even more so, He is the sole Controller of all our
indriya-s.  b) He is keSavan, KeSi nishUdanan, madhu sUdanan, etc.  In
other words, there is no one comparable to Him in assisting the deva-s
when they are harassed by the asura-s, and in destroying the asura-s. 
c) He is govindan, since there is no one comparable to Him in knowing
the nature of the jIva-s.  d) He is janArdanan;  there is no one as
determined and powerful as He is in chastising the wicked people.  e)
He is vishNu;  He pervades everything and He is everywhere.  Without
Him nothing exists and functions.  f) He is yogISa and yogavidAm netA –
The best among the yogi-s and the Leader of all those who follow the
path of yoga.  g) He is bhagavAn, who is unique in His shad-guNya
paripUrNattvam – the qualities of j~nAna, Sakti, bala, aiSvarya, 
vIrya, and tejas. h) He is acyuta, Who neither slips from His vow, nor
lets His devotees slip away from their goal.  These are just a few
instances that bring out His vi-samattvam, and so He is known as
vishamah.   

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

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