SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokma 83 - nivRttAtmA - Part 1.
From the Bhakti List Archives
• January 2, 2003
SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokma 83 - nivRttAtmA - Part 1. 780. nivRttAtmA – a) He whose Nature is different from, and superior to, everything else (Trasncendental Form). b) He whose mind is turned away from worldly attachments. (nara-nArAyaNa incarnation) c) He who is the AtmA of those who practice the nivRtti dharma (Bestower of benefits according to karma). d) He whose nature is that He is free from the bonds of samsAra, even when He takes His incarnation amongst us (kRshNa incarnation). e) He who does not turn away from anything or anywhere because of He is Omnipresent. (a-nivRttAtmA - Sa’nkara) f) He Who withdraws the jIva-s into Him during pralaya g) He Who has permeated everything completely. h) He Who is Himself unimpacted or withdrawn with respect to the effects of pralaya of sRshTi. i) He whose mind turns away from any feeling of self-glory over His kIrti or fame. Om nivRttAtmane namah. The nAma nivRttAtmA occurs 4 times in SrI BhaTTar’s system of interpretation. This is one of only two nAma-s that occur this many number of times (the other nAma is prANa-dah). The instances of the nAma nivRttAtmA in SrI BhaTTar’s shcem of interpretation are: nAma 231 (Slokam 25) nAma 453 (Slokam 48) nAma 604 (Slokam 64) nAma 780 (Slokam 83) SrI Sa’nkara has given the nAma-s as nivRttAtmA in Sloka-s 25 and 64, as vimuktAmA in Slokam 48, and as a-nivRttAtmA in Slokam 83, with nivRttAtmA being his alternate version in Slokam 83. What follows is a consolidation of the previous write-ups for this nAma. The nAma has been explained in detail in the previous three instances, using the approach that I have taken for all other nAma-s, namely, giving the different anubhavam-s of the different vyAkhyAna kartA-s for the nAma in one place. We will take a look at the vyAkhyAna for this nAma from a different perspective in the current write-up. There are two unique contributions that SrI BhaTTar has made in his vyAkhyAnam for SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam. These are: 1. He has approached the elucidation for all the nAma-s with the emphasis on bhagavAn’s guNa-s of saulabhyam and sauSIlyam towards His devotees as the primary guNa-s of bhagavAn that are of interest from the devotees’ perspective. SrI Sa’nakra generally gives his interpretations with emphasis on the parattvam or Supremacy of vishNu in his interpretations. This point has been brought out in detail in my write-up comparing the two vyAkhyAna-s, and has been mentioned as a reminder under different nAma-s. 2. SrI BhaTTar is unique in viewing the 1000 nAma-s as a collection of 44 discrete groups, each group consisting of a series of nAma-s describing a specific incarnation or manifestation of bhagavAn. This aspect has also been mentioned off and on during the discussion of the nAma-s. Because of the general approach I have taken throughout, of summarizing the different anubhavam-s of several interpreters under each nAma, I have inevitably lost the stress on the second aspect of SrI BhaTTar’as contribution in my write-ups, even though I try to mention this aspect off and on. In the current view of the nAma nivRttAtmA, we will emphasize this second aspect of Sri BhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam for the four instances of this nAma. SrI BhaTTar interprets the nAma-s in the following contexts: nAma 231 – as part of the group of nAmas from 226 to 247, reminiscent of the purusha sUkta-upanishad pratipAdita virAT svarUpam. nAma 453 – as part of the group of nAma-s from 451 to 463, describing the nara-nArAyaNa incarnation, as the nivRtti dharma pravartaka. nAma 604 – as part of the group of nAma-s from 590 to 606, describing His guNa as a conferrer of benefits to jiva-s based on their karma. nAma 780 – as part of the nAmas from 697 to 786, describing His kRshNa incarnation. The meaning for the word nivRtta is to turn away, to abstain from, to be above worldly acts, etc. a) SrI BhaTTar’s interpretation for nAma 231(in the group of nAma-s describing the Transcendental Person described in purusha sUkatam etc.,), is that bhagavAn’s svabhAva (Nature) is past the prAkRta svabhAva (the ordinary nature of mortals), and the meaning given is that His Nature as the Supreme purusha is superior to anything else, and stands above all other things. He is the Master of the Transcendental Glory that is thrice the glory of the material world. He is the svAmI or Lord of all that is this Universe, and all that is beyond this Universe. SrI Bhattar gives the following references: tripAdUrdhva udait-purushah - The Purusha stands eminent in the parama-pada which has thrice the glory of the material world" - purusha sUkta 4. parAt-param yan-mahato mahAntam - He is greater than the greatest, more exalted than the most exalted. - taitti. nArAyanIya 1.5. SrI satya devo vAsishTha gives reference to the muNDakopanishad passage, of two birds sitting in the same tree, one representing the jIva and the other the Supreme Soul. His interpretation is: ni is an upasarga; the root involved is vRt – vartane – to exist, to happen, to live on, to occupy; or vRt – varaNe – to choose, to divide. The word nivRtta means One Whose Nature is different – svarUpa paryAyah (SrI vAsishTha). dvA suparNA sayujA sakhAyA samAnam vRksham parishasvajAte | tayoranyah pippalam svAdvat-anaSnan-anyo abhicAkaSIti || (muNDa. 2.1.) The above talks of two birds, one representing the paramAtmA and the other the jIvAtmA, one watching and shining brilliantly, while the other enjoys the fruits of the karma. Thus it illustrates the different nature of the superior Soul, who turns away from the enjoyment that the jIva goes after (nivRtta - anaSnan). SrI vAsishTha captures the spirit of the nAma through the Sloka he has composed for describing the meaning of this nAma, just as he has composed his own Sloka as his interpretation for each of the 1000 nAma-s: ja~jne sa viSvam sa bibharti viSvam sakhA sa jIvasya samAna Sakhah | nASnan jagaj-jAta rasAn aseshAn nivRtta mAtro’Snuta eva sarvam || “BhagavAn creates the universe and protects everything, and is a Friend of the jIva-s and treats everything in His creation equally. He does not consume any of the fruits of this world, but withdraws everything into Him at the time of pralaya”. b) In SrI BhaTTar’ interpretation for nAma 453 in Slokam 48 (in the group dealing with the nara-nArAyaNa incarnation), the anubhavam is that bhagavAn has His mind turned away from the worldly desires. Since the nara-nArAyaNa incarnation deals with the life of austerity that He adopted, and He taught the nivRtti dharma to nara, this is an appropriate interpretation in this context. BhagavAn appeared as nara and nArAyaNa to teach the nivRtti dharma to the world and to practice it with extreme detachment (BhagavAn’s form was nArAyaNa in the role of the teacher, and nara in the role of the student). To indicate His profound detachment (parama vairAgya) to material objects of pleasure, He had His mind withdrawn from them. The nara-nArAyaNa avatAra as well as the nivRtti dharma are embedded in this nAma. The avatAara emphasized nivRtti-dharma and propagated the sacred ashtAkshara. The essence of nivRtti dharma is the realization that nothing is done for our benefit or by us, and everything is for the benefit of nArAyaNa and happens because of Him. We are not for us or for someone else, but only for nArAyaNa. SrI BhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam here is: parama vairAgya khyApanaAya vishayebhyah pratyAhRta-manAh nivRttAtmA - To indicate His profound non-attachment to material objects, He has His mind withdrawn from them. About His meditation it is said - antarnivishTa bhAvam ca - He who has His thoughts concentrated on Himself. Also, Atma-dhyAna parAyaNAya - To Him who has His thoughts concentrated within Himself"; "hRd -admArpita mAnasam - Him with His mind fixed on the lotus-heart", etc. c) For nAma 604, which is in the group of nAma-s dealing with His relation with the jIva-s in giving them the results of their karma-s, SrI BhaTTar gives the interpretation that He has this nAma because He is the AtmA of those who practice the nivRtti dharma, or the life of renunciation. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan elaborates on how bhagavAn is the AtmA of those who practice the nivRtti dharma. These are the jIva-s who do not have any interest in pravRtti dharma, and live their lives with the soul objective of doing kaimkaryam to Him. They are not interested in any fruit out of their action except the bhAgyam of doing kaimkaryam to Him. BhagavAn gives them exactly that, namely He gives them His lokam from where there is no return to samsAra - viNNulagam taruvAnAi variaginrAn (tivuvAimozhi 10.6.3). In fact, even though bhagavAn is AtmA of these nivRtti dharma practitioners just as He is the AtmA of all other creations, yet He considers that these nivRtti dharma followers as His soul that supports Him. Another name for these practitioners of nivRtti dharmA is j~nAnI, whom bhagavAn considers as His own soul. Of the two kinds of dharma - the pravRtti dharma and the nivRtti dharma, pravRti dharma takes us to the world of the pitR-s where we enjoy the fruits of our karma, and come back to this world with the balance of karma-s to our credit; nivRtti dharma is that which leads one to moksha. d) For the current instance of this nAma in the context of the kRshNa incarnation, SrI BhaTTar’s anubhavam is that even though He took the incarnation among us for our benefit, and even though we are deeply immersed in pravRtti dharma, He keeps Himself in the nivRtti dharma, and is not in any way affected by worldly things, and so He continues to be a nivRttAtmA. Thus, even though the nAma is the same, the anubhavam is related to the context of the particular aspect of bhagavAn that is emphasized in that context. This vision of SrI BhaTTar in recognizing the connectivity between the different nAma-s in sequence has also naturally taken care of the issue of avoiding punar-ukti. Interpretations e) to i) will be covered in Part 2. -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/
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