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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 86 - mahA-bhUtah.

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champakam • February 25, 2003 


     SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 86 - mahA-bhUtah.

811.	mahA-bhUtah – a) He Who considers great men as His own.
b) He Who is a Great Being.
c) He Who is the Origin of the five elements.

Om mahA-bhUtAya namah.

The root from which the nAma can be derived is bhU – sattAyAm – to 
be, to live, to be born.  The term bhUta also is used to refer to the 
pa'nca bhUta-s –  earth, water, fire, air, and AkASa (prithivI, ap, 
tejas, vAyu, and AkASa).

a) SrI BhaTTar interprets the term mahA-bhUta as referring to "great 
being", and gives the meaning "One Who possesses mahA-bhUta-s or 
great beings as His own" is called mahA-bhUtah.  The "great beings" 
referred to here are those who are single-minded in their devotion to 
Him are great beings.  Since bhagavAn considers them as His own, He 
is the "Owner of the mahA-bhUta-s" – mahA-bhUtah.   nammAzhvAr refers 
to this guNa of bhagavAn in his tiruvAimozhi pASuram 2.3.6:  tIrndAr 
tam manattup piriyAdavar uyirai SorndE pOgal koDAc cuDar – He is like 
the flame that stays in the hearts of His true devotees, to ensure 
that they do not suffer because of separation from Him.  He will not 
like to be separated from those given to devotion to Him.  They too 
cannot bear a separation from Him.  

b) SrI Sa'nkara interprets the nAma as referring to bhagavAn as "The 
Great Being", because He is unlimited by the three dimensions of 
time – the past, the present, and the future – kAla-trayAnavacchinna 
svarUpatvAt mahA-bhUtah.   

The nAma give another instance where we can see the difference in 
approach between SrI Sa'nkara and SrI BhaTTar.  SrI Sa'nkara stresses 
the Supremacy aspect of bhagavAn, and SrI BhaTTar emphasizes the 
saulabhyam and sauSIlyam aspects.  As has been pointed out before, 
both are valid aspects of bhagavAn's guNa-s, but His  saulabhyam and 
sauSIlyam are the guNa-s that give hope to most of us who commit 
enormous sins constantly knowingly and unknowingly, in this birth as 
well as in the countless previous births. 

c) SrI satya devo vAsishTha gives the interpretation that bhagavAn is 
mahA-bhUtah because it is from Him that the five great elements – 
air, water, etc., originated.  SrI satya sandha yatirAja also gives a 
similar explanation – mahAnti bhUtAni AkASAdIni yasmAt iti mahA-
bhUtah.  

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan



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