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SrI vishNu sahasranAmam - sloka 12.

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Krishnamachari, N. • September 29, 1997 


		Sri vishNu sahasranAma stotram - sloka 12 - nAma 105 to 114     .

sloka 12:  vasur vasurmanAh satyah samAtmA sammitah samah      |
	  amoghah puNdarIkAkshO vr*shakarmA vr*shAkr*tih     ||

105.  Om vasavE namah

vasuh - a) One who dwells in the hearts of His devotees.
	        b)  One who dwells in the Milk-Ocean.
        	        c)  One who is the wealth that His devotees seek. 
       	        d)  The best among the eight vasus - pAvaka.
     	        e)  One who lives in the sky.

	This nAma occurs two more times (nAma 271 and 701).

a)  and b):  vasati iti vasuh - One who dwells.   He dwells in the
hearts of His devotees even with a small amount of devotion, and He
dwells in the kshIrArNava.  SrI krshNaprEmi in one his upanyAsas remarks
that SrIman nArAyaNa chose to dwell in the Milk-Ocean as if to be nearer
to those devotees who are not  yet accomplished enough to  join Him to
SrivaikuNTham, or as if He can be closer to the devotees so as to rush
to help those who need Him.

	We have the following from the srutis -

	"sa lokAnAm hitArthAya kshIrOdhE vasati prabhuh" - The great Lord
resides in the milk ocean for doing good to the people of the world.

	"Esha nArAyaNah SrImAn kshIrArNava nikEtanah" - This nArAyaNa is always
with Lakshmi, and resides in the Milk-ocean (HarivamSa 113.62). 

c)  The word vasu also means wealth - vasati nItimatAm gr*ha iti vasu.
In gItA we have 
vAsudevah sarvam - vAsudeva is everything (gItA 7.19).  He is the wealth
that great men seek. 

d)  He is vasu because He is one of the eight vasus.  Sri Sankara gives
the following reference to the gItA to support this interpretation -
vasUnAm pAvakaScAsmi - I am pAvaka among the vasus (gItA 10.23).

e)  One who, as air, moves about and has residence in the mid-region.
In kaThopanishd we have 
vasurantiksha sat ( kaThopanisahd 2.5.2).

106.  Om vasumanasE namah

vasu-manAh - a) One who has a 'wealthy' or rich mind.
		    b)  One who has a mind which thinks of His devotees as a treasure.

	a) BhagavAn is vasu-manA because His mind is unpolluted by anything
such as rAga, dvesha (attachement, hate), and similar secondary
afflictions such as mada or infatuation.  He has a mind which has none
of the sins of passions and pains, none of the storms of desires and
jealousies, none of the quakes of likes and dislikes.

	b) Sri kr*shNa says in the gItA that the high-souled man is very hard
to find - sa mahAtmA sudurlabhah - gItA 7.19.     
     
107.  Om satyAya namah

satyah - a) The Truth
	        b)  One whose form is made up of prANa, matter and sun
	        c)  One who is well-disposed towards the good.


	This nAma occurs two more times later (nAma 213, 873).

	a) The most commonly known meaning for this word is Truth.  The direct
support for this interpretation comes from mahAbhArata -

	"satye pratisThitah kr*shNah satamasmin pratishThitam           |
	   sattAsattE ca gOvindah tasmAt satyah satAm matah              ||
 (udyOga parva 69.12.13)

	"Kr*shNa is rooted in satya and satya is rooted in kr*shNa.  Existence
and non-existence are grounded in govinda.  So great men opine that
kr*shNa is Truth itself".

b)  Sri Sankara gives the following from aitarEya AraNyaka in support of
the second 
interpretation - saditi prANAstItyannam yamityasAvAdityah - sat means
prANa, ti means food, and yam the sun.  He is satya because His form is
made up of prANa, matter and sun.

	c) satsu sAdhutvAt satyah - He is satya because He is well-disposed
(excellent) towards the noble souls.  The pANini sutra that supports
this interpretation is tatra sAdhuh (4.4.98) - tatrEti saptamIsamarthAth
sAdhurityEtasminnarthE yatpratyayO bhavati - The affix yat comes after a
word in the locative construction, in the sense of 'excellent in regard
thereto'.     
 
	Sri ChinmayAnanda points out that in philosophy, satya is that which is
the same in all three periods (past, present, and future).  He is the
the only one who fits this definition, and so He is satya.

108. Om smAtmanE namah

samAtmA - One who has an even mind.

	One whose mind is undisturbed by love or hatred.   He is also sama AtmA
since He does not  distinguish one from another when it comes to His
thoughts on His devotees.  Since He is the soul in everything, He finds
no distinction between them.  Since He is unattached to anything, He
sees everything and everyone as equal.  
	
109. Om sammitAya namah

sammitah - a) One who has let Himself be understood (controlled) by His
devotees.
		b) The One Truth who is accepted by the r*shis and revealed in the
upanishads.

	Either meaning seems to be based on the words sammata - accepted.  The
first interpretation is by Sri Bhattar, who points out that this name
signifies that He willingly accepted the role of being 'controlled' by
devaki, kausalyA, yasoda, dasaratha, vasudeva, etc.  He chose the
parents to whom He was going to be the child, and then 'played' the role
of the child willingly.

	Sri chinmayAnanda points out that sammita can mean that He is the only
one who is the accepted Truth or sammata by the r*shis and the
upanishads.

	The advaita pATha is asammita, which is interpreted as referring to One
who is limitless or Immeasurable.  

110. Om samAya namah

samah - One who treats all His devotees equally.   
	
In gItA we have "samO'ham sarva bhUtEshu" - I am equally disposed
towards all beings (gIta 9.29).   Sri Sankara interprets the meaning as
One who is the same at all times.  He gives another interpretation also
- He is  (sa) with  (mayA) lakshmi always, and therefore He is sama.

111. Om amoghAya namah 

amOghah - One who always gives fruits to those who worship Him.

	MOgha means futile.  Mogham nirarthakam is amrakOSa.  AmOgha is the
opposite of it.   We have the following from rAmAyaNa -

	"amOgham darSanam rAma na ca mOghah tava stavah        |
	   amOghAstE bhavishyanti bhaktimantaSca yE narAh         ||
(rAmAyaNa yuddha 120.31)

	"o rAma! A sight of You is never futile.  The praise of You is also
never futile.  Those who are endowed with devotion to You will always be
successful in their life". 

112.  Om puNdarIkAkshAya namah

puNdarIkAkshah - a) One whose eyes are beautiful like the lotus flower
		b)  One who resides in the heart space of everyone and observes all
		c)  One who is like the eye to the residents of SrIvaikunTham.

	puNdarIkam means lotus flower.  PuNdarIkE iva akshiNI yasya sah
puNdarIkAkshah - One whose eyes are beautiful like lotus flowers.
lingAyatasUrin in his bhAshya for amarakOSa gives a second
interpretation as well - puNdarIkam hr*tkamalam akshatIti vA - One who
pervades the heart space - akshati pervades.  SrI Bhattar gives the
meaning 'vaikuNTham' to the word puNdarIka based on the following, and
interprets puNdarIkAkshah as One who is the eye for the residents of
SrIvaikunTham -

	"puNdarIkam param dhAma nityam aksharam avyayam          |
	   tadbhavAn pundarIkAkshah ........    ||

	PuNdarIka is the Transcendental world which is eternal, indestructible,
and immutable.  You are like the eye to that world and so you are known
as puNdarIkAksha."  - (MahAbhArata udyoga - 69.6).

113. Om vr*shakarmaNE namah

 vr*shakarmA - One who is of righteous actions.

	Vr*sha means dharma or virtue - abhilashitam varshatIti vr*shah.  SrI
chinamayAnanda points out that His actions are righteous, and He acts
only to establish righteousness - dharma samsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi
yugE yugE.  In gItA BhagavAn says that He does his actions according to
His dharma even though He has nothing to gain or lose by any action - na
anavAptam avAptavyam varta eva ca karmaNi - 3.22.

114.  Om vr*shAkr*taye namah

vr*shAkr*ti - One who is an embodiment of dharma.

	vr*sha - dharma, Akr*ti - form.  One whose form is itself dharma.  Lord
Rama is considered Dharma Incarnate.  Or it can mean One who incarnates
for the sake of preserving dharma - dharma samsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi
yuge yuge. 

-dAsan kr*shNamAchAryan