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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 83 - dur-labhah, dur-gamah, dur-gah, dur-AvAsah - Part 1.

From the Bhakti List Archives

Narasimhan Krishnamachari • January 11, 2003 


            SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 83 -                     
     dur-labhah, dur-gamah. dur-gah,dur-AvAsah - Part 1.

783 to 786. dur-labhah, dur-gamah, dur-gah, dur-AvAsah.

Om dur-labhAya namah, or dur-gamAya namah, dur-gAya namah, om
dur-AvAsAya namah. 

The next four nAma-s: dur-labhah, dur-gamah, dur-gah, dur-AvAsah have
similar meanings.   In fact, the one-line translation in English given
by SrI Srinivasa Raghavan is almost identical for the first three of
these:  

-	dur-labhah – He Who is difficult to be attained.
-	dur-gamah – He Whom it is impossible to attain.
-	dur-gah -  He Who cannot be entered into.
-	dur-AvAsah – He Whose place of residence is not easy to attain. 

At first look, the above meanings seem very similar.  So here we have
another opportunity to enjoy how SrI BhaTTar and SrI SaÂ’nkara deal with
the interpretation of the nAma-s such that there is no redundancy.

First, let us look at SrI BhaTTarÂ’s vyAkhyAnam.  The general idea that
is being described is that He is difficult to attain.  This may be
because of 

a)	Deficiencies in the approach of the seeker; 
b)	Attributes that pertain to the Sought, that make it difficult to
         access Him; 
c)	Barriers between the seeker and the sought; 
d)	The limitations imposed by the place where the person that is sought
is located.

These are precisely the four aspects that SrI BhaTTar addresses, and
assigns one of these for each nAma, each of which contributes to the
difficulty in His unattainability.   Thus once again he has nicely
handled the issue of avoiding punar-ukti in the interpretation. 

783a. dur-labhah -  He Who is difficult to attain for those who are not
single-minded in their devotion to Him.
 
The root involved is labh – prAptau – to get.  SrI BhaTTar gives the
interpretation that bhagavAn is difficult to attain for those who are
not single-minded in their devotion to Him - ajitendriya dushprApo
dur-labhah sa ca kathyate – He is not easy to access to those who have
not controlled their indriya-s.   SrI BhaTTar gives support from vishNu
dharma and from mahAbhArata:  

-	tasyApyanya manaskasya sulabho na janArdanah” (vishNu dharma 73.6) –
janArdana is not within easy reach of those who have their minds after
things other than Him. 
-	aprApyah keSavo rAjan! Indriyaih ajitaih nRNAm (mahAbhA.  udyoga.
78.21) – O King! KeSava cannot be attained by men if their senses are
not conquered by them.

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to nammAzhvAr pASuram – tiruvAimozhi
1.3.1:  pattuDai aDiyavarkku eLiyavan, piRargaLukku ariya vittagan –
“He is easy to access to the devotees who worship Him as their Lord,
but for others, He is not easily accessible”.  

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN refers us to the following, which indicates
how difficult it is for one to get to follow the path of bhakti:

		janmAntara sahsreshu tapo dAna samAdhibhih   |
		narANAm kshINa pApAnAm kRshNe bhaktih prajAyate   ||

It takes countless births of austerities and other good deeds before a
human being is rid of sins and develops devotion to kRshNa.  

784a. dur-gamah – He Who is difficult to attain because of His
Effulgence.

The root involved in this nAma is gam –gatau – to go.  The meaning
given by SrI BhaTTar is “He to whose nearness One cannot go”.   SrI
BhaTTar’s vyAkhyAnam here is:  dur-gamah – netra durbalAnAm iva
madhyAhna bhAskarah apradhRshya tejAh daNDA pUpikayA dur-gamah – Just
as the mid-day sun cannot be seen by men with weak eyes, so also
bhagavAn who is endowed with the brilliance and splendor of a thousand
suns, cannot be accessed by weak-minded people.   (SrI BhaTTar invokes
the “daNDa pUpikA” nyAayam here, to reinforce his point:  If a cake
with some sticks embedded in the cake is left in a room, and if someone
declares that sticks have been eaten away by rats, then it goes without
saying that the cake has been eaten by the rats too.  So also, if a
trivial sun cannot be seen by our eyes, need we say anything about our
seeing bhagavAn with the radiance of a thousand such suns).

785a. dur-gah – He Who is separated from us by our avidyA which acts
like a fortress between Him and us.  

The root is the same as for the above nAma: gam – gatau – to go.  Here
SrI BhaTTar ascribes His inaccessibility because of curtains or
protections that are too difficult for us to go through, in the form of
our a-vidyA or Nescience:  avidyA AvaraNaih dush-praveSaSca dur-gah. 
The term dur-gah usually refers to a fortification for a fortress, such
as a moat.  SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives the derivation – duhkenApi gantum
aSakyah – One Who cannot be reached even with difficulty.  

SrI cinmayAnanda translates the nAma as “Not easy to storm into” (kkep
in mind that one meaning for the word dur-gah is fort).  He observes
that the essence of nArAyaNa is fortressed around by the matter
vestures and their objects of fascination.  Attracted by them, our
attention is always distracted towards the joy contents in them.  This
seducing power of the matter vestures is itself the mighty mAyA, which
is crossed over only by very rare, courageous, and blessed ones”.  He
gives reference to the gItA:

		daivI hyeshA guNamayI mama mAyA duratyayA   |
		mAmeva ye prapadyante mAyAm etAm taranti te   ||  (gItA 7.14)

“This divine mAyA of Mine consisting of the three guNa-s is hard to
overcome; but those who take refuge in Me alone shall pass beyond this
mAyA”.

The upanishads say that the Truth cannot be perceived by the senses,
imagined by the mind, or thought of by the intellect.  These being the
only source of our knowing, it seems almost impossible to realize the
Truth – yato vAco nivartante… (tait. upa. 2.9.1).   SrI cinmayAnanda
reminds us that “He is in our heart, but even then He is not easily
realized”.  

786a. dur-AvAsah – He Whose place of residence is not easy to attain.  

Here SrI BhaTTar refers to the sheer inaccessibility of parama padam
for us, and thus the impossibility of accessing Him in this birth to
perform kaimkaryam to Him in parama padam – evam ca dUre dushkarah
tat-pada AvAsa iti dur-AvAsah.  

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri indicates that there is a version “dUr-AvAsah”
also in use, and then it means “One Who is far, far, away, and thus is
not easily accessible”.  

-To be continued.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan


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