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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokma 80 - Part 2.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • December 9, 2002 


     SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 80 - mAna-dah.

754. mAna-dah – a) He Who honors others.
		b) He Who confers rewards on His devotees, or denies rewards for the
unrighteous 
                                                                       
                                                                       
 (SaÂ’nkara) 
		c) He Who removes the false understanding of Atman in true seekers,
or induces a false 
			sense of Atman in non-seekers (SaÂ’nkara)
		d) He Who gives spiritual enlightenment to His devotees.
		e) He Who gives a measure and dimension to everything in the
Universe.

Om mAnadAya namah.

The same root that was used in the last nAma applies for the current
nAma as well.  

a) SrI bhaTTarÂ’s interpretation is that BhagavAn is called mAna-dah
because He always honors His devotees.  He gives the instances of Lord
kRshNaÂ’s honoring arjuna by making him the master of the chariot,
making ugrasena the Ruler and being his vassel, and making yudhisthira
the king and respecting him – arjuna ugrasena yudhisthirAdibhyo
rathitva, Adhi-rAjya , bahumAnam dattavAn mAna-dah.  

There are numerous other instances where bhagavAn has exhibited His
guNa of being a mAna-dah.  His being born as a son to daSaratha,
vasudeva, etc., are all examples where He bestows honor on these great
devotees of His.  
	
b) c) SrI SaÂ’nkara gives multiple interpretations for the nAma:  

-	In the first of his interpretations, SrI SaÂ’nkara ues the meaning
AtmAbhimAnam for the word mAnam, and gives the interpretation that Lord
vishNu induces a false sense of Atman through His mAyA – He creates the
false attachment in objects that are not the self, and makes people get
attached to them as if they are the self – sva-mAyayA sarveshAm
anAtmasu mAnam AtmAbhimAnam dadAti it mAna-dah. 
-	His second interpretation is that vishNu is mAna-dah because He
confers rewards on His devotees – bhaktAnAm mAnam satkAram dadAti iti
vA.
-	The third interpretation is that He prevents rewards to the
unrighteous – a-dharmishThAnAm mAnam sat-kAram dyati khANDayati iti.
-	The last interpretation of SrI SaÂ’nkara is that He has this nAma
because He destroys the wrong notions of Atman in earnest seekers –
tattva-vidAm anAtmasu mAnam AtmAbhimAnam dyati khaNDayati iti vA
mAna-dah.

d) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj uses the meaning “citta samunnati” or
“elevation of mind” to the word mAna, and thus interprets the nAma as
meaning that He gives spiritual enlightenment to His devotees, and so
He is mAna-dah – mAnam citta-samunnatim dadAti iti mAna-dah
(mAnaS-citta samunnatih – qamara koSam).  

e) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha uses the meaning “parimANam” or measure to
the word mAnam, and gives the interpretation that the nAma means “One
Who gives dimension to everything.   SrI vAsishTha uses both  the roots
dad – dAne – to give, and dau – avakhaNDane – to cut, to divide, in his
interpretation of the nAma simultaneously, and points out that bhagavAn
has this nAma because He establishes a definition of everything in this
universe by both the principles of attraction and repulsion (AkarshaNam
and vikarshaNam) to achieve this function of giving dimension to
everything (mAna-dah) – mAna dadAti AkarshaNena, mAna dyati khaNDayati
vikarshaNena.  He gives the example of the various planets having their
shapes, orbits, etc., only because of this function of bhagavAn as
mAna-dah.  He also points out that the very shape of the body, with its
different parts, is because of His giving dimension and definition to
all these, and thus His guNa of mAna-dah is reflected in everything we
see.  SrI vAsishTha-s anubhavam of the nAma goes further, and he points
out that because bhagavAn has thus given the definition and dimension
to everything, He has shown us the principle of the airplanes through
the birds that fly, the principle of the ship etc., through the
creatures that navigate in water, etc.  Water quenching fire, and fire
evaporating away water, are all instances of His giving dimension and
definition to these elements, such that everything works together in
unison.  

Drawing from the thoughts conveyed by the dharma cakram writer, the
lesson to take from this nAma is that just as bhagavAn gives respect to
His devotees, we should learn to give respect to Him and to His
devotees, and to devote our energy to Atma vishayam, and  not waste our
life and time by giving respect to things that do not deserve true
respect, such as a-dharma, injustice, etc.   

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

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