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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 80 - Part 4.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • December 12, 2002 


      SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 80 - loka-svAmI, tri-loka-dhRt.

756.	loka-svAmI – The Master of the Universe.

Om loka-svAmine namah.

One meaning for the word svam is aiSvaryam.  The amara koSa vyAkhyAnam
for svAmI is svam aiSvaryam asya asti iti svAmI.  There is a pANini
sUtra, svAmin aiSvarye (5.2.126), which equates the word svAmin with
aiSvaryam.  The affix Amin after the word sva comes in the sense of
lordship.   aiSvaryam refers to sovereignty, Lordship, power, wealth,
etc.  Thus, one interpretation for the nAma is: He is called loka-svAmI
because He  is the Lord of the Universe.   
`
The thread in SrI bhaTTarÂ’s vyAkhyAnam is worth revisiting for the full
enjoyment of his vyAkhyAnam.  BhagavAn is called amAnI (nAma 753)
because He is not proud of any of His possessions or guNa-s, He is
mAna-dah (nAma 754) because He honors His devotees, and he is mAnyah
(nAma 755) because He considers Himself worthy of respect because of
His special relationship of affections to His devotees. Now we come to
His nAma – loka-svAmI (nAma 756) – The Master of the Universe.  In what
sense?  According to SrI bhaTTar, it is not because of His superior
power or wealth or parattvam, but because He is the Master in
simplicity, based on the previous three nAma-s, and so He is loka-svAmI
in soulabhayam.  This anubhavam of bhagavAn as living for the devotees
and acting for the devotees, is the crowning aspect of SrI bhaTTarÂ’s
bhAshyam, which can be seen throughout the vyAkhyAnam.   His
interpretation for the current nAma is:  he is loka-svAmI because He is
a-mAnI, mAna-dah, and mAnyah as explained above – ka evam karmakarah?
loka-svAmI.   

The idea that SrI bhaTTar reflects is conveyed by nammAzhvAr in
tiruvAimozhi pASuram 4.5.7:

	enRum onRAgi ottArum mikkArgaLum, tan tanakku
	inRi ninRAnai ellA ulagum uDaiyAn tannai
	kunRam onRAl mazhai kAtta pirAnaiÂ….

The important point here that bhagavAn is not only superior because of
His parattvam, but more so because He is unique and excels everyone in
His soulabhyam by His own choice;  He behaves and sees Himself as
another human being, even though in every sense He retains His
parattvam in His human incarnations – aham mAnusham manye. 

SrI SaÂ’nkaraÂ’s vyAkhyAnam is that He is loka-svAmI because He is the
Lord of the fourteen worlds, the seven worlds above and the seven
worlds below – caturdaSAnAm lokAnAm IsvaratvAt loka-svAmI.   SrI
rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives support from the kaushItakI Upanishad – esha
lokAdhipatih (3.9).  SrI cinmayAnanda comments that He is loka-svAmI in
the sense that He is the Creator, Controller, Director, the Lord and
the Governor of all fields-of-experience of all creatures, at all
times, everywhere;  He is the Consciousness that illumines matter.	

SrI vAsishTha gives an alternate interpretation, based on “One Who has
lokam or the Universe as His svam or aiSvaryam”.  Adding the affix Amin
to the word loka-svam, he derives the meaning for the nAma as “The Lord
Who has the Universe as His wealth”.  

757. tri-loka-dhRt – a) He Who supports the three worlds (the worlds
above, the worlds below, and earth in the middle).
		b) The Supporter of the three states of experience (waking, dream and
deep sleep)


Om tri-loka-dhRte namah.

a) SrI bhaTTarÂ’s interpretation is that He is One Who has the burden of
responsibility for the support and nourishment of the entire Universe,
and so He is called tri-loka-dhRt – aSeshANAmapi dhAraNa poshakayoh
bhArakatvAt loka-svAmI (the root involved is dhR – dhAraNe – to hold,
to bear, to support).   Because He created us, therefore He necessarily
has the burden of responsibility for supporting us,  justlike the
responsibility of a father to his children.

SrI Sa’nkara bhAshyam is: trIn-lokAn dhArayati iti tri-loka-dhRt – The
Supporter of the three worlds.  

b) In addition to the meaning “world” for the word “loka”, SrI
cinmayAnanda also gives an alternate interpretation where he takes
tri-loka to mean the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep.  He
then gives the interpretation that bhagavAn has this nAma because He is
the Supporter, in the form of Consciousness, of the three states of
experience, since without the kindling support of life in the bosom, it
would be impossible for us to have any experience. 

Another variant of the nAma is tri-loka-dhRk.  The interpretation given
is essentially the same as for tri-loka-dhRt.  SrI baladeva vidyA
bhUshaN gives the interpretation – tir-loka-dRg-iti dhArakatayA
pAlakatayASca tri-lokIm dharjati gacchati iti tasya svAbhAvikoÂ’yam
dharmah – It is His dharma to sustain this universe and keep it going
by supporting and protecting all the creatures of the three worlds.    
Here he uses the root dhRj – gatau – to go, to move, as the root for
this explanation.  SrI satya sandha yatirAja gives the interpretation –
tri-lokAn dyu pRthivi antarikshAn dharati iti tri-loka-dhRk, where the
root dhR – dhAraNe – to hold (dharati) is used.  Without getting into
intricate grammatical rules, it is difficult to distinguish between the
two versions.  However, it is to be noted that SrI SaÂ’nkara and SrI
bhaTTar have explained the nAma using the version tri--loka-dhRt, and
SrI satya sandha yatirAja has explained the nAma as tri-loka-dhRk.  

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

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