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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 90 - kRSah.

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champakam • May 10, 2003 


    SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 90 - kRSah.

841. kRSah – a) He Who is lighter than the light.
	b) He Who is thinner than anything thin.
	c) He Who reduces or eliminates the difficulties to His 
devotees.  
	d) He Who pares down the form for the jIva-s to make it 
possible for them to live in comfort.
	e) He Who makes `light work' of the asura-s (i.e., He Who 
destroys the asura-s).

Om kRSAya namah.

This nAma represents another of the ashTa aiSvarya-s, called laghimA, 
or the ability to be lighter than anything that we know is light.  
The root from which the nAma is derived is kRS – tanUkaraNe – to 
become lean or thin.  The nAma is interpreted as referring to the 
ability to be lean or thin, or to be light, depending on the 
interpreter.  SrI BhaTTar interprets the nAma in terms of His ability 
to be lighter than anything light, and Sri Sa'nkara interprets the 
nAma as One Who can be thinner than anything thin, to the point of 
not having a form.  

a) SrI BhaTTar explains that He is lighter than cotton, wind, etc., 
and so His movement is unimpeded on all sides and in all respects – 
sarvatra avyAhata gatih.    He quotes from mahA bhArata in support – 
yatra-kAma-gato vaSI – He can go wherever He chooses.  

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN's anubhavam is that bhagavAn is so thin 
that He can be even inside a rock unobstructed, because of His 
kRSatvam – leanness or thinness -  SilAsvapi apratihat praveSatvAt 
kRSah.  

b) SrI Sa'nkara vyAkhyAnam is: asthUlam ityAdinA dRSyatva 
pratishedhAt kRSah – He Who can become so thin that He is devoid of 
visibility.  One interpreter has the given the text is "dravyatva 
pratishedhAt – because He does not have a form.  A translator 
translates this as "One Who is of the form of non-material Spirit".  
SrI Sa'nkara quotes the bRhadAraNya Upanishad in support – asthUlam 
(BU 3.8.8)– He Who is not of a gross body.  He might have chosen this 
interpretation – asthUlah, because of the next nAma – sthUlah (as the 
opposite of the next nAma).

SrI rAdhA kRshNa SAstri summarizes this nAma and the next one, by 
observing that the question of whether bhagavAn is One Who is lean or 
hefty, can be answered only if He can be seen to start with.  If He 
is either so huge that we do not even see Him, or so lean that we 
cannot see Him, then the question of whether He is lean or huge 
cannot be answered.  That is the Nature of bhagavAn, whom we cannot 
see.   In fact, the passage that SrI Sa'nkara quotes from bRhadAraNya 
Upanishad, referring to bhagavAn as asthUlam, in the very next word 
says that bhagavAn is an-aNu also – asthUlam an-aNu.  The point to be 
understood is that He can be whatever He chooses to be, whenever He 
chooses to be, and He can become anything He wants in the minutest 
fraction of time.  The Sakti or aiSvarya that is described in the 
current nAma specifically, is His ability to become as light as He 
chooses or as thin as He chooses, at His Will.

We saw bhagavAn described as aNu, and in the next nAma He was 
described as exactly the other extreme, bRhat.  In the current nAma 
we see Him describes as kRSah, and in the next nAma we will see Him 
described as its other extreme, sthUlah.  SrI cinmayAnanda notes that 
this is an example of how "the Rshi-s have made an art of effectively 
employing terms of contradiction in order to bring the 
incomprehensible within the cognition of the students of 
contemplation".   We have already seen some examples of this in the 
upanishadic passages in the last few nAma-s.

c) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj's interpreation is:  kRSyati tanUkaroti 
svajana vipadam iti kRSah – He Who reduces or eliminates the 
difficulties to His devotees.  

d) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha also gives an interpretation that is not 
based on the ashTa aiSvarya concept.  He takes the generic meaning 
for the root – kRS – to make lean, and gives the meaning that the 
nAma refers to bhagavAn architecting the creatures of the features in 
various forms by paring them down as needed for their survival and 
comfort.  SrI vAsishTha equates the nAma kRSah to the nAma tvasTA in 
its essential meaning  (Slokam 6, nAma 52).   

e) SrI satya sandha yatirAja's interpreation is:  daityAn karSayati 
iti kRSah – He Who makes `light work' of the asura-s. – He Who 
destroys the evil asura-s.  

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan






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