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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 74 - Part 2.

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Narasimhan Krishnamachari • June 1, 2002 


     SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 74 - tIrtha-karah.

696. tIrtha-karah - a) He Who is the source of the holy waters.
		b) He Who makes us cross over the ocean of samsAra.
		c) He Whose touch of hand is purifying.
		d) He Who has provided simple steps to access Him through His various
incarnations.

Om tIrtha-karAya namah.
 
The word tIrtham is derived from the root thRR - plavana taraNayoh - to
swim, to cross over.  That through which one crosses over or swims is
tIrtham.  The term tIrtham is used to refer to sources of water that
purify a person.  The term is also used to refer to the sacred
scriptures which purify a person through their learning - taratyanena
pApam aj~nAnam iti tIrtham, or making it easier for us to reach Him
through His various incarnations (para, vyUha, vibhava, arcA,
antaryAmi).  The "crossing over" can  also refer to crossing over the
ocean of samsAra, the crossing over of all sins, etc.  

nammAzhvAr''s tiruvAimozhi pASuram 7.10.1 captures the full
significance of the word "tIrtham":

	tIrthanukkaRRa pin maRROr SaraN illai enRu eNNi, tIrthanuukE
	tIrtta manattanan Agi, Sezhum kurugUr SaThakOpan Sonna 
	tIrtha'ngaL AyirattuL ivai pattum vallArgaLai, dEvar vaikal
	tIrtha'ngaLe enRu pUSittu nalgi uraippar tam dEviyarkkE    (tiruvAi.
7.10.11)

The reference to "tIrthan" in the first line is to perumAL; the
"tIrtham" in the 3rd line refers to nammAzhvAr's pASuram-s which are
purifying to those who chant them, and are even more purifying than Him
; the reference to tIrtham in the 4th line is to those who have learned
the purifying pASuram-s, who are even more pure than the pASurams
themselves (SrI V. N. vedAnta deSikan from ARAyirap paDi).  Thus,
tIrtham here refers to the three levels - perumAL, the sacred AzhvAr's
pASurams, and the devotees who chant them.  bhUtattAzhvAr also refers
to those who sing His praise as "tIrtha-kara-s" - eN tiSaiyum pErtta
karam nAngu uDaiyAn pEr Odip pediagAL - tIrtha karar Amin tirindu
(iraNDAm tiruvantAdi - 14). - reference from SrI v.v. rAmAnujan.  

The term karah is used in two ways by the vyAkhyAna kartA-s:  The Doer,
from the dhAtu kR - karaNe - to do; or to refer to karah - hand.

Thus, tIrtha-karah means tIrtham karoti iti tIrtha-karah - He Who
creates the tIrtha-s is tirtha-karah (SrI satyadevo vAsishTha), or He
Who creates the SAstra-s etc. that purify the person who resorts to
them, or He has the divine hands whose touch purify the devotee -
tIrthah tArakah karo yasya iti tIrtha karah (SrI kRshNa datta
bhAradvAj). 

a) SrI BhaTTar gives three interpretations:

1)	He has this nAma because He is the source of the holy rivers such as
the ganges, and the holy lakes such as the pushkara, which purify those
that mediate on them or recite their names, just as His nAma purifies
them.
2)	He is the Originator of yoga, j~nAna, sAmkhya (science, craft and
other arts, Vedas, SAstra-s, and music) - yogo j~nAnam tathA
sAmkhyamÂ…(mahA bhArata, Anu. 150.141).
3)	He, Who is deep like an unreachable ocean, but makes it possible for
the devotees to reach Him through a series of incarnations that are
like steps to reach Him.

In dayA Satakam, svAmi deSikan prostrates to the AcArya paramparA as
the steps that make it possible to have access to Him who is otherwise
inaccessible like the deep ocean (Slokam 2 - vigAhe tIrtha
bahulAm.SitalAm guru-santatimÂ…).  One is reminded of the sAmyam of
AcArya-s with bhagavAn that svAmi deSikan refers to in nyAsa vimSati
Slokam 2.   I feel that, along the lines of SrI BhaTTar's third
interpretation above, bhagavAn is tIrtha-karah also in the sense  that
He has provided this great AcArya paramparA starting with Him, followed
by pirATTi, vishvakesenar, etc., all the way down to our current AcArya
in order to enable us to reach Him.  

b) SrI Samkara uses the meaning "vidyA" for tIrtham, and gives the
interpretation - caturdaSa vidyAnAm bAhya-vidyA-samayAnAm ca praNetA
pravaktA ca iti tIrtha-karah - He is the Teacher of the fourteen
vidyA-s and the auxiliary sciences, and so He is called tIrtha-karah. 
These include the veda-s and other vidyA-s which He taught to brahma
and the deva-s, as well the other sciences that are contradictory to
the vedic teachings that He gave to the asura-s to deceive them.   SrI
rAdhAkRshNa SAstri refers to the 14 or 18 vidyA-s or the "ghats of
knowledge - kalvit tuRaigaL" - the four veda-s, the six vedA'ngga-s
(SikshA, vyAkaraNa, chandas, niruktam, jyotisham, kalpam), the two
darSana-s (mImAmsA, nyAaya), dharma SAstra, and purANa-s, and the four
additional ones - Ayurveda, dhanurveda, gAndharva, artha SAstra.  Among
the vidyA divisions that are non-vedic in nature and meant for
misleading those who are Asuric are the bauddha, jaina, etc. branches. 

SrI cinmayAnanda comments that He is tIrtha-karah because He is the
most ancient Teacher of vidyA-s or tIrtha-s.      

c) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj uses the meaning "hand" for the word
karah, and gives the interpretation that He is called tIrtha-karah
because He has hands whose mere touch alone can purify anyone or
anything - tIrthah tArakah karo yasya iti tIrtha-karah.  He gives
support from SrImad bhAgavatam where we find that the mere touch of
bhagavAn was able to lift gajendra from his a~jnAnam, to which he had
been subjected through a previous curse (SApam) from agastya muni..

	gajendro bhagavad-sparSAt vimuktah aj~nAna bandhanAt    |
	prApto bhagavato rUpam pItavAsAS-caturbhujah   ||  ( bhAga. 8.4.6) 

"By the touch of bhagavAn the elephant-king was relieved from the
bondage of a~jnAnam, and attained sArUpyam with bhagavAn, wearing the
yellow silk garment and endowed with four hands".

d) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha comments that the nAma signifies that He is
the One who makes the Sun and all the other planets move around
(tIrtham is used in the sense of crossing over, and karah in the sense
of making this possible for the graha-s).

-To be continued.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan



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