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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 84 - SubhA'ngah.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • January 17, 2003 


    SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam – Slokam 84 - SubhA'ngah.

SubhAÂ’ngo loka-sAraÂ’ngah su-tantuh tantu-vardanah     |
Indra-karmA mahA-karmA kRta-karmA kRtAgamah     ||

Om SubhAÂ’ngAya namah
Om loka-sAraÂ’ngAya namah
Om su-tantave namah
Om tantu-vardhanAya namah
Om indra-karmaNe namah
Om mahAkarmaNe namah
Om kRta-karmaNe namah
Om kRtAgamAya namah

788. SubhA’ngah – a) He with a bewitching form that mesmerizes the
asura-s and misleads them.
		b) He with an auspicious form that is meditated upon by His true
devotees.
		c) He Who makes the ashTAÂ’nga yoga successful for those who follow
this path with devotion
		d) He Who has beautiful gaits
		e) He Who pervades everywhere at all times with His auspicious form
		f) He Who makes things functional in this Universal in a beautiful
way.
		g) He Who brings the auspicious aspects such as trust in SAstra-s,
guruÂ’s words, etc., to His devotees.

om SubhAÂ’ngAya namh.

We studied this nAma earlier in Slokam 63 (nAma 593).  The details
covered here are supplemental to the information presented for nAma
593.

The word aÂ’nga refers to a limb or part of the body, a constituent part
or an essential component, a part of a division or part of anything,
etc.   

a) SrI BhaTTar has interpreted nAma 593 as part of the description of
the auspicious qualities of bhagavAn in bestowing benefits to His
devotees according to their efforts.  In that context, he uses the
meaning “a constituent part or an essential component” as the meaning
for the word aÂ’nga.  His anubhavam there was that bhagaVan is called
SubhAÂ’ngah because He makes His devotees succeed in the eight aÂ’nga-s
of bhakti yoga, for those who undertake this path with faith in Him
(For details, please see under Slokam 63).  

b) For the current instance of the nAma SubhAÂ’ngah, SrI BhaTTar
continues his interpretation in terms of bhagavAnÂ’s Buddha incarnation.
 He gives the meaning “He Who had limbs that were bewitching”, or “He
Who had a bewitching form”, in reference to the Buddha incarnation – a
form that could easily convince the asura-s that His words of deceit
were trustworthy, even though He took this form only to succeed in
misleading them by diverting them from the vedic observances.  SrI
BhaTTar’s words are:  “katham tAn anupravishTah?  SubhA’ngah” – How did
He enter in their fold?   By taking a bewitching form that made them
feel comfortable with Him and believe that He is trustworthy.   This
deceitful form that He took was also one of perfection – in deceit
(vastreNa, vapushA, vAcA – by His dress, His appearance, His words,
etc., to use v.v. rAmAnujanÂ’s quote).  

Thus, for the two instances of the nAma SubhAÂ’ngah, SrI BhaTTar
differentiates the interpretations by using two different meanings for
the word aÂ’nga.

c) SrI SaÂ’nkaraÂ’s interpretations are:  
-	sundarIm tanum dhArayan SubhA’ngah (Slokam 63) – One Who has a
handsome form
-	Sobhanaih a’ngaih dhyeyatvAt SubhA’ngah (current instance) – One Who
is to be meditated upon with a form of auspicious limbs.

Thus, while SrI BhaTTar interprets the nAma SubhAÂ’ngah in its current
instance as His kapaTa vesham or deceitful form to fool the ausra-s,
SrI SaÂ’nkara interprets the auspicious form that is worshipped by His
true devotees.  Note that both are forms taken for the benefit of His
devotees - for the destruction of His devoteesÂ’ enemies in the former
case, and for the benefit of meditation of His true devotees in the
later case.

SrI cinmayAnanda translates the nAma SubhA’ngah as “One with enchanting
limbs of perfect beauty”.  SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri refers us to the
anubhavam of His bewitching form by sage nArada and by hanuman, as
revealed to us by vAlmIki in rAmAyaNa.  SrImad rAmAyaNam begins with
vAlmIki’s question to nArada:  “Who is the best guNavAn, vIryavAn,
dharmaj~nah, kRtaj~nah, satya-vAkyah, and dRDha-vratah in ths world?”. 
 nArada responds to vAlmIki and tells him that there is no one other
than rAma, born to daSaratha, who qualifies for all these in one
Person.  In three Sloka-s (bAlakANDam 1.9-11), nArada describes the
beauty of rAmaÂ’s form:

	vipulAmso mahA-bAhuh kambugrIvo mahA-hanuh   |

	mahorasko maheshvAso gUDha-Satruh arindamah |
	AjAnubAhuh su-SirAh su-lalATah su-vikramah   ||

	samah sama-vibhaktAÂ’ngah snigdha-varNah pratApavAn   |
	pIna-vakshA viSAlAksho lakshmIvAn Subha-lakshaNah  ||

“rAma is One with broad shoulders, long arms, beautiful neck, great
facial features, broad chest, great at wielding weapons, a muscular
body, one who subdues His enemies easily, long hands that reach up to
His knees, beautiful head and forehead, beautiful gait, …”. 

In sundara kANDam, sitA pirATTi asks hanuman to describe rAma and
lakshmaNa to her, partly because she wants to make sure that hanuman
has been genuinely sent by rAma, and partly because she wants to enjoy
the anubhavam of His beauty being describes to her.  In Sloka-s 9-22 of
the 35th sargam in sundara kANDam, hanuman  describes the beautiful
appearance of Lord rAma.to sItA – Lord rAma Who is SubhA’ngah.     

A similar anubhavam of His beautiful form is by SrI baladeva vidyA
bhUshaN, who  gives the interpretation:  SubhAni darSakAnAm
maÂ’ngalotpAdakAni aÂ’ngAni caraNa-vadana nayanAdIni yasya iti SubhAÂ’ngah
– He Who has a form that bestows auspiciousness to those who meditate
on Him - His Lotus Feet, His lotus eyes, His beautiful form etc. 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha takes a different root to the interpretation. 
He interprets the part a’nga based on the root agi –gatau - to go, and
gives several alternate interpretations (d, e, f).  

d) SobhamAno a’ngati – gacchati yah sa SubhA’ngah – He Who has a
beautiful gait.  (Recall the simha gati, gaja gati, etc. that peruMAL
has in SrI raÂ’ngam during utsava-s).  

e) a’nganam – sArva-kAlikam sArva-deSikam ca vyApanam; Subham a’nganam
yasya sa SubhA’ngah – He Who pervades everywhere at all times with His
auspicious form

f) SobhAya’njagat gamayati it SubhA’ngah – He Who makes things
functional in this Universal in a beautiful way.

g) Using the same approach for the word aÂ’nga, SrI baladeva vidyA
bhUshaN interprets the nAma as signifying that bhagavAn makes
accessible to the devotees the auspicious things such as the trust in
Sastra-s, the trust in the words of the AcArya-s, etc.  – SubhAni guru
Sastrokti viSvAsa svapna AsvAsana lakshaNAni aÂ’ngyati utpalambhayati
iti SubhAÂ’ngah.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan


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