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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - Part 6.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • December 4, 2002 


    SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 79 - SUnyah, ghRtASIh.

749. SUnyah – a) He Who is devoid of defects when He takes births as
one of us.
		b) He Who is without any attributes (advaita interpretation)
c) He Who goes everywhere, or is present everywhere.
d)	He Who celans out everything at the time of pralaya.
e)	He Who is not accessible when we seek Him through our senses.

Om SUnyAya namah.

The word SUnyam means empty, void, etc.  The nAma is interpreted by
different vyAkhyAna kartA-s in terms of His being devoid of defects,
His destroying everything completely at the time of pralaya, His
ridding His enemies completely without trace, etc.  

a) SrI bhaTTarÂ’s interpretation is that He has this nAma because He was
without any trace of any type of defect even though He took human
incarnations.   SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to nammAzhvArÂ’s
tiruvAimozhi pASuram 3.10.6:

	tuyar il SuDAroLi tannuDaic cOdi ninRa vaNNam niRkavE
	tuyarin maliyum maniSar piRaviyil tOnRik kaN kANa vandu
	tuyaraÂ’ngaL Seidu tan deiva nilai ulagil puga uykkum ammAn
	tuyaram il SIrk kaNNan mAyan pugazh tuRRa yAn Or tunbam ilanE.

BhagavAn is without any trace of defect, and this is well accepted. 
But He takes birth among the grief-stricken human beings.   Even so, He
continues to have all His parattvam intact in His incarnations, and so
He is without any defect.   He takes these births so that He is
accessible to the people.  He continues to torture His enemies through
His weapons etc., and He continues to torture His devotees because of
even the minutest separation from Him.   But for nammAzhvAr there is no
tuyaram in this world because he is  constantly having the anubhavam of
His thought.   

svAmi deSikan describes the six rahasya-s of bhagavAnÂ’s incarnations,
in his SaraNAgati dIpikA, Slokam 17: 1) nAnA-vidhaih (they are of
different types, e.g., matsya, nArasimha, kRshNa, etc.),  2) a-kapaTaih
(they are all His true Forms, not just appearances), 3)
ajahat-svabhAvaih (He is full of all His qualities of parattvam during
these incarnations, 4) a-prAkRtaih (His tirumeni during His
incarnations are made of suddha-sattva, and not of the paÂ’nca bhUtas as
in the case of His creations); 5) nija vihAra vaSena siddhaih (These
Forms are not a result of pUrva karma, as is in our case;  they are
assumed as part of His leelA, by His own Free Will); 6) AtmIya raksha,
vipaksha vinASanArthaih (They are assumed for the protection of His
devotees, and for the destruction of their enemies, and not for the
expiation of the karma accumulated in previous countless births as in
our case).  It is clear that bhagavAn is a Big Zero when it comes of to
any form of defect even when He is born among us humans!

SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives the interpretation that the nAma
signifies that bhagavAn is completely devoid of anay guNa-s associated
with prakRti – prAkRta guNa virahitatvAt SUnyah, which is item 4 in
svAmi deSikaÂ’s list above.   

b) SrI SaÂ’nkaraÂ’s interpretation is a reflection of his advaita
philosophy – He is called SUnyah because He is devoid of any attributes
– sarva viSesha rahitatvAt SUnyavat SUnyah.

c) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha uses the root Sun – gatau – to go, and
interprets the nAma as referring to “One Who goes everywhere, or is
everywhere” (Sunati prApto bhavati sarvatra iti SUnyo vishNuh).  He
points out that kham – the word for sky, also means “void” or “a
cipher”.  	It is because there is a void that a motion or movement from
another place to this void is possible, and thus void leads to motion,
and motion leads to void.  He points out the importance of SUnya by
reminding us how the number “1” undergoes a ten-fold increase in value
by the placement of just a SUnyam next to it in the number system.  

d) SrI satyasandha yatirAja gives the interpretation that  He is SUnyah
because He clears out everything in this universe with nothing left, at
the time of pralaya  - pralaya kAle sarva padArtha SUnyatvAt SUnyah.  

e) The dharma cakram writer gives yet another anubhavam:  bhagavAn is
called SUnyah because He is not accessible to our senses, no matter how
much we try.  We are used to believing that something exists only if we
can relate to it through our senses.   He is not accessible to the
senses, and so He is SUnyah.  

750. ghRtASIh – a) He Who sprinkles the world with prosperity
b) He Who is desirous of the butter in the gopisÂ’ houses.
c)	He from Whom all desires have flown away.
d)	He Who enjoys the offering of ghee in the homa etc.

Om ghRtASishe namah.

The two parts that make up this nAma are ghRtam and ASIh.   There are
several meanings for the word ghRtam - secanam, ksharaNam, dIpanam vA
ghRtam – sprinkling, flowing, or shining.  ghRtam also refers to ghee
or butter. The word ASIh is derived from the root A’ng – SAsu –
icchAyAm –  to expect, to bless.  The different combinations result in
the different interpretations.

a) SrI bhaTTar derives his interpretation using the meaning ghR –
secane – to sprinkle, to cover.  SrI bhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam is – ghRtam –
secanam, sva-guNaih jagat ApyAyanam - He makes the world prosperous by
means of His benevolent qualities. 

b) An alternate interpretation given by SrI bhaTTar is based on the
meaning "ghee or butter" for the word ghRtam.  Since He has great
desire (ASAsti) for the butter (ghRtam) in the gopisÂ’ homes, He is
called ghRta-ASIh - gopa gRha gavye ASAstih asya iti ghRtASIh (ghRte
ASIh kAmo yasya sa ghRtASIh). 

c) SrI SaÂ’nkaraÂ’s interpretation is: ghRtAh vigalitAh Asishah
prArthanAh asya iti ghRtASIh – He of non-existent requests is ghRtASIh.
  SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri paints a picture of this guNa by pointing out
that “the qualities of desiring something, seeking someone’s grace to
get it, receiving it from someone, etc., which are common sequences for
many of us in day-to-day life, have melted away like ghee, and dripped
off or oozed out from Him, and so He is devoid of all these qualities
of need, want, etc”.

d) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the interpretations that He is
ghRtASIh because He  desires or enjoys the offerings of ghRtam or ghee
in the fire offerings; or, He  is ghRtASIh because He likes the
offering in the form of a lighted dIpam.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan



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