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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 75 - Part 5.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • July 14, 2002 


     SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 75 - Sura-senha, yadu-SreshThah.

709. SUra-senah - a)  He with a valiant army.
	b) He Who keeps everything that moves around, bound together and
functioning as a unit.
	
Om SUra-senAya namah.

a)   The word SUra is derived from the root SUra - vikrAntau - to act
the hero.  The amara koSa vyAkhyAnam for the noun senA is "inena
prabhuNA saha vartata iti senA - That which has a powerful, mighty,
leader is senA.  The term is thus used to refer to an army.  The term
sUra-senah thus refers to One who has a mighty army.  SUrA senA yasya
iti SUra-senah (SrI kRshNa datta bhAradbvAj).   SrI BhaTTar observes
that bhagavAn had a great army of yAdava-s and pANDava-s when He
relieved the Earth of her burden by eliminating the wicked kaurava-s. 
SrI Samkara refers to Lord rAma's great and valiant army consisting of
the likes of hanuman - hanUmat pramukhAh sainikAh SaurySAlino yasyAm
senAyAm sA SUrA senA yasya sah SUra-senah.  nammAzhvAr sings the praise
of the SUra-sena aspect of bhagavAn in his tiruvAimozhi pASuram 6.4.10
- "Or bhArata mA perum pOr paNNi Senaiyaip pAzh paDa nURRiTTa Sodi
nAthan" (reference - SrI v.v. rAmAnujan;  SEnai in the context of this
pASuram refers to the army of the opponents).

b) Alternately, SrI satyadevo vAsishTha derives the word SUra from the
root Su - to go, based on the uNAdi sutra - Su si ci mInAm dIrghASca
(sutra 185) - the root is elongated and the rak pratyaya is added,
leading to SUra.   He derives the word senA from the root si - bandhane
- to bind.  Thus, he gives the interpretation that this nAma indicates
that bhagavAn binds the creatures that have the ability to move around
such that they function as a unit with all their parts intact.  We are
given the ability to walk and to run fast, but we do not ever worry
about our legs falling apart as we run.  We watch a dancer dance, and
in the process our eyes move all around, but there is never a thought
in us that the eyes will fall out as they move around constantly.  
This general rule, trivial as it may seem, is an important part of the
whole world functioning - when the planets keep moving around, we do
not worry about their falling apart, colliding with each other, etc. 
All this is because of bhagavAn- the SUra-sena, who keeps everything
bound in a way that everything functions as a unit and all things
co-exist with each other.  SrI vAsishTha-s summary of this
interpretation is - evameva sakalam carAcara dRSyam adRSyam ca cintayam
acintayam ca jagat tasya vishNoh SUra-senatva lakshaNam guNam
prakASayan SUra-sena abhidhAnam labhate.

The learned people know and understand that bhagavAn has given us the
freedom to move around, and at the same time He is the One who keeps us
all together as one unit, and has established the rules for all of us
to follow.  The mahA-purusha-s understand this simple and universal
secret that permeates in everything all around, and praise this
SUra-sena and thereby all their sins are removed.  

The dharma cakram writer illustrates the significance of this nAma in
terms of the mhaA bhArata war.  In that war, bhagavAn used His army
consisting of the good people such as arjuna, and defeated the wicked
kaurava-s.  When arjuna enlisted good people such as bhIshma and droNa
on his side, and when arjuna hesitated to kill them for the sake of
dharma, bhagavAn imparted true knowledge to him and made him fight.  It
was thus with bhagavAn's help that arjuna could win the war.  We have
to constantly fight the Asuric tendencies in us in order to elevate
ourselves.  For this, we need His help.  It is only by removing our
association with the materialistic desires, and by strengthening our
connection with bhagavAn, that we can succeed in overcoming the Asuric
tendencies in us.  This is the lesson that we should take from this
nAma.

710. yadu-SreshThah - a) The pre-eminent among the yAdava-s.
		b) He Who is Best among those who strive (for the redemption of the
jIva-s).

om yadu-SreshThAya namah.

a) yadushu SreshThah iti yadu-SreshThah (SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj) -
He Who is the most praise-worthy among the yadu-s; yadUnAm
paradhAnatvAt yadu-SreshThah (SrI Samkara) -  The Chief of the yadu-s,
the clan to which kRshNa belonged.  SrI BhaTTar gives support from
vishNu purANa (5.20.37):

	ayam sa kathyate prAg~jnaih purANArthAvalokibhih   |
	gopAlo yAdavam vamSam magnam-abhyuddharishyati   ||

"This is He who has been foretold by the wise, skilled in the sense of
the purANa-s, as gopAla, who shall exalt the depressed yAdava race".   
The depressed state of yAdava kulam was because of kamsa (SrI v.v.
rAmAnujan).   SrI aNNan'garAcArya refers to yayAti's curse on the yadu
kulam as the reason for the depressed state of the yadu clan.    

b) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha derives his interpretation from the root yat
- prayatne - to attempt, to strive for, and gives the meaning "One
whose nature it is to strive for" (yateh yatuh prayatna-SIlah); 
SreshThah is explained on the basis of the pANini sUtra "praSasya Srah"
(sutra 5.3.60), which states that Sra is substituted for praSasya when
followed by the affix "ishThan".  The affix ishThan represents the
superlative (pANini sutra atiSAyine tamap ishThanau (5.3.54).  Thus,
SreshThah refers to One who is the most praiseworthy.   Thus, the
meaning that SrI vAsishTha derives for the nAma yadu-SreshThah is "One
who is most praiseworthy among those who strive, or put in effort".  He
gives the examples of bhagavAn constantly nourishing and sustaining the
different life forms in the form of the Sun, and His being the Soul of
all the souls in our heart, and constantly driving the function of the
heart to sustain life.  In fact, even after the body falls, the AtmA
continues to live and does not get destroyed.  This principle is true
of everything else as well (the principle of conservation of energy?). 
Perhaps the best example of His being "The Best among those who strive
- yadu-SreshThah", is in His constantly striving to reach the jIva-s
and trying to provide for opportunities for them to re-unite with Him; 
He does this by providing the veda-s to us for our guidance, by taking
the arcA form so that He is always accessible to us, by providing
opportunities again and again for us by giving us a body so that we can
use it to reach Him, etc.  On a different level, His efforts to bring a
reconciliation between the pANDava-s and the kaurava-s by repeatedly
trying His very best to impart sense in the kaurava-s to avoid the war,
is also an example of His being the best among those who strive hard to
achieve the best for everyone.    

As with all other nAma-s, the dharma cakram writer relates the
significance of the nAma to our day-to-day life.  He points out that in
the case of Lord kRshNa, because He was born in the yadu kulam, the
clan itself became famous, the place He lived - gokulam - became
well-known, the day He was born is widely celebrated, and both His
natural parents and His adopted parents became famous.  Thus, when one
is praiseworthy, everything else associated with this individual also
become praiseworthy.  This is how kRshNa's guNa of yadu-SreshThah is to
be meditated.  TiruvaLLuvar says:  "tOnRin pugazhoDu tOnRuga; ahdu
ilAdAr tOnRalin tOnRAmai nanRu".  We should use this gift of life in a
way that our life is praiseworthy;  if we don't live such that our life
and everything associated with us is praiseworthy, we would have wasted
this precious gift of life.  The lesson to take from this nAma is that
we should meditate on this quality of bhagavAn, and live a life that
leads to the mental maturity to constantly meditate on Him and elevate
ourselves to be SreshTha-s in our worship of Him.  

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan 


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