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SrIvishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 56 - Part 1.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • July 18, 1999 


		SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - Slokam 56 - Part 1.

        ajo mahArhah svAbhAvyo jitAmitrah pramodanah   |
	Anando nandano nandah satya-dharmA tri-vikramah   ||

om ajAya namah
om mahArhAya namah
om svAbhAvyAya namah
om jitAmitrAya namah
om pramodanAya namah
om AnandAya namah
om nandanAya namah
om nandAya namah
om satya-dharmaNe namah
om tri-vikramAya namah

524. ajah - a) He who is signified by the letter 'a'.
	b) He who is not born.
	c) He who drives away the darkness in the mind of the devotee.
	d) He who goes where the devotee is.
	e) He who is the cause of motion in the heart.
	f) He who is ever active in bestowing the effects of karma.
	g) The collections of things that exist.
	h) He who is everywhere and in everything.

om ajAya namah.

This nAma occurred earlier twice (96, 206).  Based on the root aja -
gati kshepaNayoh - which signifies motion or throwing away, SrI BhaTTar
interpreted the first of these occurrences as referring to BhagavAn
being the remover of obstacles (kshipati iti ajah).  He dispels the
darkness of ignorance by means of the luminous lamp of knowledge.  The
second occurrence was interpreted based on na jAyate iti ajah - He who
is not born.  The current nAma is interpreted as "akAra vAcyatayA
jAtah" - He who is signified by the sound a or the letter a.  SrI
rAdhAkRshNa SAstri explains that when the world comes to an end, after
the world submerges into earth, earth into water, water into air, etc.,
ultimately what is left behind is the sound of praNava, and then its
root or origin or base, the sound 'a' (akAram), which symbolizes
bhagavAn.  

The other interpretations which have been given by other vyAkhyAna
kartA-s are summarized under the discussion relating to the nAma-s 96
and 206.  Briefly, SrI Sa'nkara gives the interpretation that bhagavAn
is the Mover in the heart of the devotee - ajati gacchati kshipati vA
ajah.  SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives the interpretation that bhagavAn
reaches out (gacchati) to where His devotees are, or He is ever active
in ensuring that everyone gets the effects of their karma without
discrimination. 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha derives the meaning (g) above starting with 'a'
referring to vishNu, and ja referring to everything that is born from
vishNu when combine with 'a'.  

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the reference to mahAbhArata Santi parva
341.74 in support of the interpretation (b):

	na hi jAto na jAye'ham na janishye kadAcana    |
	kshetraj~nah sarva-bhUtAnAm tasmat aham ajah smr*tah  ||

525. mahArhah - He who is worthy of worship.

om mahArhAya namah.

maham - pUjanam arhati iti mahArhah.  maham means worship.  SrI v.v.
rAmAnujan adds that the pUjA referred to here is Atma-samarpaNam or
prapatti.  This principle of nyAsam or bhara samarpaNam is revealed to
us in the upanishad.  SrI BhaTTar refers us to taittirIya nArAyanIyam
21 - 

	brahmaNe tvA mahasa om iti AtmAnam yu'njIta 
	etad-vai mahopanishadam devAnAm guhyam  ||

	"The great secret which the gods are keeping, and which is revealed to
us by the great upanishad, is that the jIva is to be offered to
bhagavAn, the Supreme Brahman, by means of the praNava, the first
letter of which, 'a', signifies the paramAtmA, and the last letter, 'm'
signifies the jIvAtmA.  "To Thee, the Brahman of great effulgence, I
offer myself through the mantra "Om"". 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri adds that of all the worships offered to
bhagavAn, the worship offering our own selves, which is nothing but
prapatti,  is the greatest and the most supreme.  This nAma indicates
that He is One who is deserving of prapatti.

526. svAbhAvyah - a) He who is to be meditated upon by those who belong
to Him.
	b) He who is by nature fit to be the Master.
	c) He who is naturally without a beginning.
	d) He who is present everywhere and in everything without exception.

om svAbhAvyAya namah.

SrI BhaTTar's vyAkhyAnam is "svabhUtaih (Atmabhih) bhAvanIyatvAt
svAbhAvyah" - He who is fit to be meditated upon by the individual
souls who are His property.  Alternatively, svAbhAvikatvena bhAvyatvAt
svAbhAvyah - He who is naturally accepted (as the Master) because
everything else His property, He being the Creator.

SrI Sa'nkara's vyAkhyAnam is "svabhAvena abhAvyah" - He who is
naturally without a beginning, because He is eternally perfect.   SrI
satyadevo vAsishTha derives the meaning based on sva + bhU + vyat,
where he uses the meaning bhU - bhav to be, and the pANini sUtra
orAvaSyake - the affix vyat comes after a root ending in short or long
u when the sense is that of necessity.  Thus, the meaning he gives is
that bhagavAn exists everywhere and in everything as a matter of
inevitability i.e., svAbhAvyah means that bhagavan is One who is
present everywhere and in everything naturally and without exception. 

527. jitAmitrah - a) He who helps His devotees conquer enemies such as
anger, kAmam, ahamkAram, mamakAram, etc.
		b) He who has conquered anger, kAmam, etc.
		c) He who has conquered His enemies such as rAvana etc.

om jitAmitrAya namah.

amitrAh jitAh anena iti jitAmitrah - He by whom the foes have been
conquered.  SrI BhaTTar indicates that the foes referred to here are
kAmam, aham-kAram and mama-kAram in the devotees.  kAmam is the desire
in the devotee for material objects, ahma-karam is egotism, and
mama-kAram is the feeling that all things that one possesses are one's
own (and not bhagavAn's).  One translator has translated the later two
as I-ness and mine-ness. These are the enemies that prevent us from
having the svarUpa j~nAnam, and bhagavAn helps His devotees by removing
them in His devotees.    Lord kRshNa reveals the powerful negative
nature of these enemies (desire, anger, etc.)., in bhagavad-gItA 3.37
to 3.43 (kAma esah krodha esha rajod-guNa samudbhavah |  Â…..jahi Satrum
mahAbAho! kAmarUpam durAsadam  ||).

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives several references from the Sruti-s for
bhagavAn's nAma of jita amitrah:  dyumAgm amitra dambhanah (Rg 4.15.4),
amitra senAm maghavan (atharva. 3.1.3); etc.  He also points out that
those who follow bhagavAn and dharma come out victorious in whatever
they undertake, whereas those who forsake dharma are guaranteed to fail
in the end as well.

This guNa of bhagavAn in removing the foes of self-realization in His
devotees is also described in the prabandham  (v.v. rAmAnujan) - "en
peru vinaiyaik kiTTik kizha'ngoDu tan aruL ennum oL vAl uruvi veTTik
kaLaindavan"; SeyyEl tIvnai enRu aruL Seyyum en kaiyAr cakkarak kaNNa
pirAnE (tiruvAimozhi 2.9.3).  

SrI Sa'nkara also adds the aspect of bhagavAn's conquering the enemies
such as rAvaNa, SiSupAla, etc.  There is also the interpretation that
He has conquered these enemies such as kAma, krodha, etc., Himself;
thus, He has conquered the enemies within as well as outside.

528. pramodanah - a) He who delights His devotees.
	b) He who is always joyful.

om pramodanAya namah.

pramodam karoti iti pramodanah - He who fills with joy the minds of
those who meditate on Him.  The nAma is derived from the root mud -
harshe -  to rejoice, to be glad.  SrI BhaTTar connects the
interpretation of this nAma to the previous one by  indicating that
when the devotees realize that bhagavAn has removed the foes such as
anger, desire, etc., they feel delighted, and He is pramodanah in this
sense.  SrI Sa'nkara also gives an alternate explanation - pramodate
iti pramodanah - He is ever joyful. 

SrI PBA, SrI v.v. rAmAnujan etc. connect both interpretations a and b
nicely through the following anubhavam - The devotees feel delighted
that enemies such as ahamkAram, mamakAram, fear, anger, etc., have been
removed from them by bhagavAn;  bhagavAn in turn feels delighted when
He finds that His devotee is delighted.  This is like the parents
feeling delighted when their child is happy.  

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri points out that while modah refers to the
pleasures associated with day-to-day life, pramodanam is the delight
that is associated with the realization of the true nature of the self.


SrI satyadevo vAsishTha remarks that the extent to which bhagavAn keeps
His creations happy can be seen by the fact that everyone wants to
cling to this material body and no one really wants to leave this body
that they get because of their prior karma!

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan   



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