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 SrImate SrI ra'nga rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya namah.

SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 106 - nAma 989 - devakI-nandanaH.

989. devakI-nandanaH ? The Source of joy to devaki.

om devakI-nandanAya namaH.

Recall that the whole vishNu sahasra nAma has been revealed to 
yudhishThira by bhIshma in the presence of kRshNa.  SrI BhaTTar's 
interpretation for the nAma is that through this nAma, bhIshma is 
clarifying to yudhisThira that the nAma-s that have been revealed all 
along are not about some Deity who is beyond reach, but they describe 
none other than devakI-nandana who is seated just next to him, and 
who has taken incarnation as the kinsman of yudhishThira.   SrI 
BhaTTar refers us to a Sloka from mahAbhArata:

        sa esha pRthudhIrgAkshaH sambandhI te janArdanaH  |
        esha bhUtam bhavishyacca bhavacca bharatarshabha   |  || 

"O! Best of Bharata-s!  JanArdana, the broad and long-eyed Lord is 
your kinsman.  He is all things in the past, the present and the 
future".

SrI Sa'nkara's interpretation is also along the same lines.  He gives 
another support from the mahAbhArata:

        jyotIgmshi SukrANi ca yAni loke   
            trayo lokA loka-pAlAS-trayI ca   |
        trayo agnayaSca AhutayaSca pa'nca
            sarve devA devakI-putra eva    ||  (mahAbhArata 13, app. 
1, 156-7)

"All the luminaries of the world, the three worlds themselves, the 
protectors of the worlds by guarding the quarters, the three veda-s, 
the three sacred fires, the five oblations are all but the Son of 
devaki (kRshNa)".

SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives the reference from SrImad 
bhAgavatam, describing the incarnation of  ParamAtmA as the Son of 
devaki:

        devakyAm devarUpiNyAm devakI-nandanaH SrI kRshNaH   |
        AvirAsIt yathA prAcyAm diSir-induriva pushkalaH   ||   
((bhAga. 10.3.8)

"Lord kRshNa, the Joy of devaki, appeared as the child of the divine 
devaki just like the moon appearing from the eastern direction".

While the nAma devakI-nandana immediately reminds us of Lord kRshNa 
who was 'born' to devaki, a couple of interpreters have taken a 
different approach to interpreting the nAma that does not refer to 
this incident of Lord kRshNa's incarnation.  A couple of these 
interpretations are included below as an example:

-       SrI raghunAtha tIrtha's interpretation is:  devAnAm kam 
sukham asya asti iti devakI somaH |  tena devakinA somena nandate iti 
devakI-nandanaH  |  - "The term devaki refers to soma juice because 
it gives pleasure to the deva-s;  The Lord is called devakI-nandanaH 
because He is delighted by the offering of soma juice".  Or, devena 
pAshANena kriyate sUyate iti devakI  |  devakyA somena nandate iti 
devakI-nandanaH | - "soma juice is extracted by the use of stones and 
so it is called devakI;  One Who is delighted by the offering of soma 
juice extracted through the use of stones, is devakI-nandanaH".
-       Sri satyadevo vAsishTha also avoids any reference to Lord 
kRshNa in this nAma, and explains the nAma as a reference to sUrya.  
We will not go into the details of how he gets this interpretation, 
but will only note that for some reason, he also chose to not use the 
obvious interpretation that suggests itself for this nAma, namely 
that the Supreme Deity Lord vishNu is none other than kRshNa who was 
seated in the midst of the bhIshma and yudhishThira.

One can only speculate on why they chose to take this approach.  One 
reason could be that kRshNa chose to leave devaki within a few 
moments after He was born to devaki, and so He was not a source of 
delight for devaki at least for a few years after He was born.  A few 
interpreters observe that another name was yaSodA was devaki, and so 
He was a devakI-nandana (for instance, SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri and SrI 
baladeva vidyA bhUshaN both make this observation).

Bhagavad rAmAnuja mentions in his SrI Bhashya, in the explanation of 
the mahA vAkya `tat tvam asi', that "when a direct meaning of an 
expression is sufficient, it is illegitimate to seek an indirect 
implied meaning  ? (SrI AdidevAnanda's words in his Introduction to 
the translation of bhagavad rAmAnuja's gitA bhAshyam).  The 'indirect 
implied meanings' have been included here for those with academic 
interest, and may kindly be ignored by the bhAgavata-s of this group.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

(To be continued)






 
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