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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 87 - amRtASah.

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champakam • Tue Mar 11 2003 - 17:57:15 PST 


     SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 87 - amRtASah.

819.	amRtASah – a) He Who feeds His devotees with the Nectar - 
Himself.
b) He Who consumed the nectar after churning the Milk Ocean.
c) One Who has an ever-living will to give fruits.
d) One Whose wishes are failure-proof.
e) One Who is dear to the mukta-s.
f) One Who provides unending means of survival for His creation.

Om amRtASAya namah.

The nAma consists of a + mRta+ ASah.  a-mRta refers to undying or 
eternal, or to nectar.  ASah is derived from the root aS – bhojane – 
to eat.  One Who consumed amRtam, or One Who gives amRtam to others, 
is ASah  - aSnAti ASayati vA ASah.  

a) SrI BhaTTar's interpretation is – tAn sva-guNa amRtam ASayati iti 
amRtASah – He Who feeds His devotees with the Nectar of His guNa-s.  
SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers to tivruvAimozhi 8.8.4, where nammAzhvAr 
conveys this:

		….
     	tEnum pAlum kannalum amudum Agit tittittu en
		UNil uyiril uNarvinil ninRa onRai uNarndEnE.     

"I can feel that He is in my body, flesh and blood, life-breath and 
the faculty of thinking.  He is sweet like honey, milk, sugar, candy, 
and what not".

nammAzhvAr also describes that bhagavAn voluntarily entered into him 
and gave him bliss as the insatiable nectar -   

ArA amudamAi al AviyuL kalanda
kArAr karu mugil pOl en ammAn akkaNNanukku      ( tiruvAi. 2.5.5)

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN gives a similar interpretation – amRtam 
ayAcitam moksham ASayati bhojayati bhkatAn iti amRtASah – He Who 
feeds – bestows moksham to His devotees unasked, is amRtASah. 

b) SrI Sa'nkara gives multiple interpretations.  The first one is 
that bhagavAn is called amRtASah because He consumes amRta or 
Immortal Bliss, which is His Own nature – sva-rUpa amRtam aSnAti 
iti   He also refers to bhagavAn's churning of the Milk-Ocean and 
consuming the amRtam from this action in addition to giving it to the 
deva-s.  

c) d)  Sri Sa'nkara gives an additional interpretation using the 
meaning "desire or will" for the word "ASA", and gives the meaning to 
the nAma as "One Who has an ever-living will to give fruits" – One 
Who has amRtA ASA – amRtA avinaSvara phalatvAt ASA vA'ncA asya iti 
amRtASah.   SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri explains this as referring to "His 
desires or wishes being failure-proof – amRta".   

e) One of SrI satya sandha yatirAja's interpretations is based on the 
meaning "desire or attachment" for the word "ASA", and the 
meaning "mukta-s" for the word "amRta-s" – "One Who is very dear to 
the mukta-s" – amRtAnAm muktAnAm ASA icchA yasmin vishaya iti 
amRtASah.  

f) One of the interpretations given by SrI vAsishTha is that bhagavAn 
has the nAma indicating that He provides for the unending supply of 
means of survival for all His creation - pravAhato nitya-sthAyIdam 
catur-vidha bheda vibhaktam yathAtadarha jIvana sAdhanAni ASayati = 
bhojayati iti amRtASo vishNuh. 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan 





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