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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 80 - Part 5.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • December 13, 2002 


    SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 80 - su-medhAh, medha-jah.

758. su-medhAh – The Well-Intentioned.

Om su-medhase namah. 

medhA means memory or intellect.  su is a prefix or an upasarga which
means “superior”.   So the nAma means “One Who has a Superior intellect
or memory”.  The different interpretations involve different
anubhavam-s of what “good intellect” means.

a) SrI bhaTTar’s anubhavam is that His buddhi is su-medhA or “Superior
buddhi”, because He constantly thinks of the good of His devotees –
ArAdhaka su-sAdhu buddhih su-medhAh.    SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj
gives the derivation – SobhanA medhA dhAraNavatI dhIh asya iti
su-medhAh, which also conveys the above idea.   

SrI Sa’nkara bhAshyam is “SobhanA medhA pra~jnA asya iti su-medhAh – He
of bright intelligence.   SrI rAdhakRshNa SAstri elaborates that
“superior intellect” consists in anticipating future events or
outcomes, not being disturbed or impacted by surrounding events, etc.  
SrI cinmAyananda points out that when applied to us, the term su-medhA
can refer to the ability of the self to realize its true nature,
something that is not new information, but that has been temporarily
forgotten by us.  So he interprets the nAma as meaning “Divine memory
Power”.                                                                
                                         

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the meaning to medhA as “the intellect
that gives protection or support”, and explains the nAma as referring
to the memory of bhagavAn that is always aware of everything that is
going on everywhere, as well as events associated with all beings –
past, present, and future.  He comments that the intellect of each of
us is directly proportional to the extent to which we are able perceive
the medhA of bhagavAn.  

The dharma cakram writer explains medhA as that power which enables us
to understand and realize “That which is the biggest of the big and the
smallest of the small”.  All of us have this power potentially, and can
realize it once we know how to control our thought, word and deed and
realize the potential power that we have in us.  

759. medha-jah – a) He Who was born as a result of a sacrifice.
		b) He Who is realized as a result of sacrifices.
		c) He Who makes His presence in the gatherings of bhakta-s.

Om medha-jAya namah.

The term medha refers to ya~jna or sacrifice.  SrI bhaTTarÂ’s vyAkhyAnam
is: ato medhe – devakI putrIya vrata rUpe ya~jne jAtah iti medha-jah –
He has this nAma indicating that He was born to devaki as a result of
the medhA or sacrifice in the form of austerities performed  by her to
get Him as son.   This was revealed by Lord kRshNa Himself as soon as
He was born to devaki (vishNu purANam 5.3.14):

	stutoÂ’ham yat tvayA pUrvam putrArthinyA tadadya te    |
	saphalam devi! SaÂ’njAtam jAtoÂ’ham yat tavoÂ’darAt   ||

“O Revered Lady!  You praised Me before, desirous of having Me as Your
son.  Your prayers have been fruitful today since I have taken birth
out of your womb”.  

SrI bhaTTar also gives support from vishNu dharma:

	sabyagh-ArAdhitenoktam yat prasannena te Subhe!     |
	tat kRtam saphalam devi!  Â…                                         
||  (vishNu dharma 33.39)

“O Auspicious Lady! When you worshipped Me in the proper manner before,
I became pleased and made a promise to you (that I would be born as
your son).  That has been carried out now”.

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives other instances where bhagavAn has taken birth
as the child of devotees, as a result of their yAga, vrata, etc.  He
was born in His incarnation of vAmana as aditiÂ’s son as a result of her
payo-vratam;  it is well-known that Lord rAma was born as a son to
daSaratha as a result of the putra kAmeshTi yAgam; yaSodA and
nandagopan had Lord kRshNa as their son because of their tapas.   SrI
rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives the additional instances of Lord varadarAja,
Who manifested Himself from the sacrificial fire of brahmA in kAÂ’nci.  

b) SrI cinmayAnanda comments that because bhagavAn makes His appearance
in every yaj~na in His pure Form, we can say that He is born in yaj~na.
 Based on the gItA, he gives the definition for yaj~na as a
co-operative endeavor wherein we offer our capacity into a field of
chosen work invoking in it the unmanifested Lord, who pours His
blessings in terms of profit”.  In this sense, when all the personality
layers are offered in an act of total surrender, the spiritual
experience of the Self is born.  Thus bhagavAn is the result of the
medha or sacrifice (medha-jah), and to the student of vedAnta, the term
is rich in its suggestiveness.

The dharma cakram writer describes the five types of yaj~na-s that each
of us should be observing, and indicates that the realization of the
Self is a result of observing these paÂ’nca mahA yaj~na-s, and this is
the significance of this nAma for us.  In other words, He becomes
accessible and available to us as a result of our observing the paÂ’nca
mahA yaj~na-s (medha-jah).  The paÂ’nca mahA yaj~na-s are:  bhUta
yaj~na, pitR yaj~na, nara yaj~na, Rshi yaj~na, and deva yaj~na.  These
have been described before, under nAma-s 449 and 682.  

c) SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN uses the root med, medh – sa’ngame – to
meet, as the basis for his interpretation:  medha – bhakta sa’ngame
jAyate prAdur-bhavati iti medha-jah – He Who makes His presence in the
gatherings of bhakta-s.  

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

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