Search:
Bhakti List Archives

SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 82 - catur-AtmA.

From the Bhakti List Archives

Narasimhan Krishnamachari • December 29, 2002 


775. catur-AtmA – a) He Who has four forms in His vyUha incarnation
        b) He Who has four manifestations in His vibhava incarnations of kRshNa and rAma
        c) He Who has a four-fold manifestation in His functions of creation, preservation and destruction.
        d) He Who is skilled in keeping His AtmA pure from attachment etc. (catura -cAturya AtmA)
        e) He Who is behind the functions of manas, citta, buddhi, and ahankAra.
        f) He Who manifests Himself in four forms to support the jIva in its four states - viSva, taijasa, prA`jna, and turIya.
        g) He Whos is the antaryAmi of the four types of devotees - Arta, arthArthI, etc.
        h) He Who created the fit being - the four-faced brahmA (catura = kuSala, fit)
        i)He Who manifest Himself in four kinds of AtmA-s: jIva, antarAtmA, paramAtmA, j~nAnAtmA. 


Om catur-Atmane namah.

We dealt with this nAma in Slokam 15 (nAma 139).  The term Atman
usually refers to the individual soul, but is also used refer to the
Supreme Self (ParamAtman), oneÂ’s essential essence or nature, Form,
image etc. (VAman ApteÂ’s dictionary).  The nAma-s catur-mUrtih (nAma
771 in the current Slokam), catur-AtmA (nAma 139 in Slokam 15, and the
current nAma), and catur-vyUhah (nAma 140 in Slokam 15, and the
previous nAma in the current Slokam) have interpretations that are
somewhat related.  So I am re-visiting all the above nAma-s here.

It has been pointed out in many places before, that a unique feature of
SrI BhaTTarÂ’s bhAshyam is that he sees a connection between groups of
nAma-s in SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam, and has grouped the 1000 nAma-s
into 44 groups, like 44 petals of a lotus flower.  So in SrI BhaTTarÂ’s
bhAshyam, we will see the interpretation that is most appropriate to
the form of bhagavAn that he is dealing with for any instance of a
given nAma.  For instance, he interprets the nAma-s 123 to 146 in terms
of His vyUha incarnations (vAsudeva, samkarshNa, pradyumna and
aniruddha), and nAma-s 697 to 786 in terms of the vibhava incarnation
of bhagavAn as Lord kRshNa.  So he interprets the occurrence of
catur-AtmA and catur-vyUhah as nAma-s 139 and 140 in terms of the vyUha
incarnation, and the occurrence of the same nAma-s catur-AtmA and
catur-vyUhah as nAma-s 775 and 773, in terms of His kRshNa
incarnations.  Thus, he uses the meaning “Emanation” or vyUha
incarnation in the former instance of the term vyUha, and refers to His
four vyUha incarnations for the nAma 139,and deals with why He took
these forms, for nAma 140.  When interpreting the series of nAma-s
under the kRshNa incarnation, he refers to the four manifestations of
kRshNa as vAsudeva (Himself), samkarshaNa (His brother), prdyumna (His
son), and aniruddha (His grandson) for catur-mUrtih (nAma 771), the
distribution of the six qualities between them for nAma 773, and the
meditation of these four forms by the devotees under nAma 775.  The
point to be made is that even though the nAma-s may have outwardly same
or similar meanings, the interpretation is made with emphasis on
different aspects of bhagavAnÂ’s manifestations and guNa-s, and thus the
full benefit of the diversity of the guNAnubhavam is provided to us,
with no dosham of repetition or punar-ukti.  

Even though SrI SaÂ’nkara has not adopted a scheme of interpretation
where he weaves a thread of connection between groups of nAma-s as a
rule (as SrI BhaTTar has done), he also avoids punar-ukti or repetition
because this is a an “accepted” and expected trait or lakshaNa of the
great vyAkhyAna kartA-s.    He uses different meanings for the words in
his interpretations for the two instances of catur-AtmA.  In the first
instance, he uses the meaning “four”, and explains the nAma in terms of
four manifestations of His in each of His roles of protection,
creation, and destruction, based on quotes from SrI vishNu purANam.  In
the second instance of the same nAma, he views the nAma as catura +
AtmA, and gives the meaning “cAturyam” to the word catura, and gives
the interpretation that the nAma refers to His skill in keeping His
AtmA or Self pure from any attachment etc.   Similarly, for the first
instance of the nAma catur-vyUhah, he uses the interpretation in terms
of the four vyUha incarnations, and for the second instance of the same
nAma, he gives a different interpretation, based on the different forms
of purusha - The purusha in the body, the purusha in the chandas, the
purusha in the veda-s, and the great purusha. For the nAma
catur-mUrtih, he draws on yet another aspect of bhagavAn’s guNa-s – His
appearing with different colors in the four yuga-s:  white, red, yellow
and black bodies.

With that diversion on how the great vyAkhyAna kartA-s provide us with
diverse anubhavam-s of bhagavAnÂ’s guNa-s and eliminate the purnar-ukti
dosham, we will briefly summarize the anubhavam of the current nAma –
catur-AtmA.

a)	As pointed out in the previous paragraph, for nAma 139 SrI bhaTTar
gives the interpretation that He manifests Himself in four vyUha forms
– vAsudeva, samkarshaNa, pradyumna, and aniruddha.  Here the meaning
given for the term AtmA is rUpam, based on the nirukti description –
vAsudevAdi rUpatvAt caturAtmA iti kathyate.    

b) For the instance of this nAma in the current Slokam, he gives the
interpretation that bhagavAn makes Himself available for experience of
the devotees both in sthUla and in sUkshma form, in any of the four
states of experience: the waking state, the dream state, the sleep
state, and the turIya state, depending on the capacity of the devotee
to meditate on Him.  

c) SrI SaÂ’nkaraÂ’s vyAkhyAnam for this nAma in Slokam 15 is that His
Sakti is expressed in a four-fold manifestation in each of His
functions of creation, preservation, and destruction.   These four
forms are:

In creation:  brahmA, daksha and others, time, and all creatures
In preservation: vishNu, manu and others, time, and all creatures
In dissolution: rudra, yama and others, time, and all creatures.

He supports this interpretation from vishNu purANam 1.22.30-32:
	
        brahmA dakshAdayah kAlah tathaiva aklhila jantavah   |
        vibhUtayA hariretA jagatah sRshTi-hetavah  ||

	vishNur manvAdayah kAlah sarva bhUtAni ca dvija   |
	sthiter nimitta bhUtasya vishNoretA vibhUtayah   ||

	rudrah kAlah antakAdyaSca samastASvaiva jantqavah  |
	caturdhA pralayAyaitA janArdana vibhUtayah   ||
	
d) For the current instance of the nAma caturAtmA, SrI SaÂ’nkara views
the nAma as catrura + AtmA, where he uses the meaning cAturyam for the
word catura.  His interpretation here is that He has this nAma because
He is skilled in keeping His AtmA or Self pure and free from attachment
etc. – rAga deveshAdi rahitatvAt catura AtmA mano asya iti caturAtmA.

e) An alternate interpretation by SrI SaÂ’nkara is that He is in the
form of, or behind, the four types of internal organs – mind,
intellect, sense (ego), and citta (intuition), and so He is in these
four forms –catur-AtmA.  SrI Sa’nkara’s words are:  mano buddhi
ahankAra cittAkhyAntah karaNa catushTaya AtmakatvAt catur-AtmA.   SrI
rAdhakRshNa SAstri elaborates on this.  He describes the four as the
mind function, the buddhi function, the citta function, and the
ahaÂ’nkAra.  The mind function involves thinking of doing something, the
buddhi function is one of analysis, the citta function is one of
drawing on prior experiences in execution, and the ahaÂ’nkAra is the
feeling of accomplishment at the end of this process.  These four are
called the four antah karaNa-s, or internal organs.  Since bhagavAn is
the AtmA of function behind these, He is called catur-AtmA. – mano
buddhir-ahaÂ’nkArah cittam karaNam Antaram  |  samSayo niScayo garvas
smaraNam vishayA amI  ||  SrI cinmAyanada gives the pATham as
catvarAtmA as the one corresponding to this interpretation – catvara +
AtmA – “The One Infinite Efflugence that expresses Itself as the four
aspects of our inner equipment – antah karaNa catushTaya. 

f) SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives a interpretation based on nRsimhottara
tApinI.  This describes His manifesting His Self in four forms.  The
first is the manifestation where He supports the sthUla SarIra of the
jIva (called viSva), in His form as virAT.  The combined form of viSva
and virAT is otA.   The second form is where He supports the sUkshma
SarIra of the jIva called taijasa, in His form as sUtra.  This combined
manifestation is called anuj~nAtA.  There is third aspect or dimension
of the soul, which is called kAraNa SarIra (also called prA~jna), which
is responsible for memories that are carried over from previous birth,
such as the memory of the newborn child that crying will result in its
getting milk.  The manifestation of His Self that supports this kAraNa
SarIra of the soul in His form as ISvara is called anu~jnaikarasa.  His
Self which is past these three aspects of the soul, and which is
realized through brahma j~nAna is called avikalpa.  The nAma caturAtmA,
based on the nRsimhottra tApinI, refers to the four forms of His Self
described above – otA, anu~jnAtA, anu~jnA ekarasa, and avikalpa – atha
turIyaS-caturAtmA turIyAvasitvAt ekaikasya otAnu~jnAtranu~jnA
vaikalpaih (1.11).  The first three forms lead to the fourth form – the
paramAtman, through knowledge and realization.  

SrI T. S. Raghavendran gives reference from mArkaNDeya purANa which
declares that paramAtmA enters the bodies of all creatures with the
four forms of viSva, taijasa, prA~jna, and turIya:

	paramAtmA catu-rUpah sarva-prANi-sarIragah    |
	viSvaSca taijasah prA~jnas-trIyaSceti kathyate    ||

In his explanation, SrI Raghavendran associates the viSva form with the
wakeful state of the jIva, the taijasa with the dream state, the
prA~jna with the sleep state, and the turIya with the state that is
above all the other three, the moksha state. 

g) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives the interpretation that the nAma
refers to His being the antaryAmi of the four types of devotees – the
Arti, arthArthI, j~nAnI and mumukshu – those who worship Him for relief
from sufferings, those who seek wealth, those who seek knowledge, and
those who seek moksha – caturNAm Arta arthArthi ji~jnAsu mumukshUNAm
AtmA antaryAmI priya iti caturAtmA.

SrI satya sandha yatirAja gives an interpretation that is based His
being the cause of the four types of desires in the devotees: caturshu
dharma artha kAma moksheshu janAnAm yogyatAnusAreNa AtmA mano yasmAt sa
caturAtmA.

h) SrI satya sandha yatirAja also gives another anubhavam:  BhagavAn is
called caturAtmA because He created the fit being for purposes of
creation, in the form of brahmA - caturah kuSala AtmA catur-mukho
yasmAt iti caturAtmA.
  
i) Another of SrI satya sandha yatirAjaÂ’s interpretations is that
bhagavAn has the nAma caturAtmA because He has all the qualities of the
four types of AtmA-s:  AtmA, antarAtmA, paramAtmA, and j~nAnAtmA
(catvAra AtmAnah – AtmA, antarAtmA, paramAtmA, j~nAnAtma lakshNA yasya
iti caturAtmA).   SrI T. S. Raghavendran explains that parmAtmA, in the
rUpa of AtmA, resides in our hearts, and resides in the rUpa of
antarAtmA in the heart of the soul.  paramAtmA is the Supreme Soul.  He
explains j~nAnAtmA by referencing the taittirIya Upanishad – satyam
j~nAnam anatam brahma.  He is prANa maya, mano maya, anna maya,
vi~jnAna maya, and Ananda maya.  Manomaya and Ananda maya here refer to
His manifestations as j~nAnAtmA according to the explanation provided
by SrI Raghavendran.  He also quotes the bRhat samhitA to distinguish
between AtmA and antarAtmA as distinct manifestations of hari:

	AtmA antarAtmA iti harir-eka eva dvi-vidhA sthitah     |
	nivishTo hRdaye nityam rasam pibati karmajam   ||

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan



__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com


--------------------------------------------------------------
           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to:   bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Group Home: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bhakti-list
Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/
 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/