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Vishnu Sahasranamam

(Meanings: based upon the commentary of Shankaracharya)

Meanings: Courtesy: http://www.mypurohith.com

Sanskrit script courtesy: Shri. N. Krishnamachari: 
http://home.attbi.com/~chinnamma/

Vishnu Sahasranama means the "Thousand Names of Vishnu." This 
narrative is based upon the commentary of Shankaracharya. Acharya 
sankara reached the feet of his Guru, Sri Govindapaachaarya, and on 
the bank of Narmada, the Nambootiri-boy from kaaladi got initiated 
into the secrets of the Mahaavaakyas. At the end of his short but 
intense study, sankara, the inspired missionary, wanting to fulfill 
his glorious work, craved from the blessings of his teacher. 
Govindapa Acharya tested sankara by ordering him to write an 
exhaustive commentary (Bhaashya) upon the Vishnu Sahasranaama. He 
accomplished his great task and the very first work of the 
Upanishadic commentator, sankara, the greatst Hindu missionary of the 
7 th century, thus came to see the light of the day.

Govindaacharya, satisfied with the proficiency of the student blessed 
him and set him on the road of service and action. Earning the grace 
of the teacher and the blessings of the Lord Vishnu, Sri sankara 
inaugurated an incomparable revival movement of the decadent culture 
of the 7th century Hinduism. We shall here follow closely Sankara's 
commentary and also draw our material from the Puranic literature 
that has an endless store of appeal to the hearts of all devotees.

The Vishnu Sahasranaama was composed by Sri Veda Vyaasa, the author 
of the Puraanas, and we meet this great chant in his classical work, 
the Mahaabaarata, Prince Yudhisthira, the eldest of the pandavas, at 
the end of the war approached Bheeshma Pitaamaha, when the mighty 
grandsire of the Kuru family was lying on the bed of arrows, 
unconquered and in conquerable, awaiting the scared hour of his 
departure to the feet of the lord. Yudhishthira, the righteous, asked 
six questions, Bheeshma, the constant devotee of Krishna, the 
gigantic Man of Action, calmly answered them all. This is how we find 
the "Thousand Names of Lord Vishnu" introduced in the immortal 
classic of the Hindus, the Mahaabaarata.

For the eradication of all obstructions, I meditate ("dhyayeth") on 
Vishnu, who is wearing ("dharam") a white ("shukla") cloth 
("ambara"), who is of the color ("varnam") of the moon ("sashi"), who 
has four ("chatur") arms ("bhujam"), and who has a placid expression 
("prasanna") on His face ("vadanam").

 
Shree Vaisham pãyana uvacha: 
Shruthvã dharmãna séshéna pãvananicha sarvashaha   
Yudhishtara shanthanavam punarévãbya bashatha  

Vaisampayana, the narrator to Dhritrastra says: Yudhishthira, as a 
righteous man ("dharamana") of spiritual inclination, with the mortal 
integrity ("paavanaani") of a careful mortal, asks ("bhaashatha") 
Bhishma ("shaantanavam") quite an interesting set of questions which 
are typical queries which the heart of seekers will always ask.

 

Yudhishtira uvacha  
Kimékam daivatham loke kim vápyekam parãyanam   

Sthuvantha kam kamarchanda prapnuyur mãnavã shubam

 

Who ("kim") is the greatest ("ekam") Lord ("daivatam") in the world 
("loke")? 

Who is the one ("ekam") refuge ("paraayanam") for all? 

By glorifying ("sthuvantah") whom ("kam") can man ("manavah") reach 
the Auspiciousness ("shubam") (peace and prosperity)?

By worshipping ("archantah") whom can a man reach  
                    auspiciousness (peace and prosperity)?

Ko dharma sarva dharmãnam bhavatha paramo mathaha  

Kim japan muchyathé janthur janma samsãra bandhanãth

 

What ("ko") is, in thy opinion, the Greatest Dharma? 

By ("kim") doing japa of what can "creatures" (jantu) go beyond 
("mutchyate") the bonds ("bandhanaath") of samsara?

Shree Bheeshmã Uvacha  
Jagath prabhum deva devam antham purushothamam   
Sthuvan nãma sahasréna purusha saththo thithaha

The supreme ("uttamam") Purusha, who is ever up and working for the 
welfare of all, the Lord ("prabhum") of the world ("jagat") the 
endless ("anantam") ? Sri Maha Vishnu.

Thameva chãr chayanth nithyam bhakthya purusha mavyayam   
Dhayãyan sthuvan namasyamsha yajamãnas thamevacha    10

By meditating upon ("sthuvan naama"), by ("cha") worshipping 
("archayan") and by prostrating at the same Purusha, man can reach 
true Auspiciousness.

Anãdhinidhanam vishnum sarva lokamahesvaram  
Lokãdhyaksham sthuvan nithyam sarva dhukkã thigo bhavéth

The greatest Dharma is the one Vishnu, who has neither a beginning 
(Aadi) nor an end (Nidhanam), the supreme Lord ("maheshwaram") of the 
world. All creatures can go beyond the bonds of samsar, "and he goes 
beyond all sorrows" who daily ("nityam") chants ("stuvan") the 
sahasranaamas and within glorifies "the knower of the world" 
(Lokaadhyaksha).

Brahmanyam sarva dharmangyam lokãnãm keerthivardhanam   
Lokanãtham mahath bhootham sarva bhootha bhavothbhavam

Esha mé sarvadharmãnãm dharmodhi kathamo mathaha   
Yath bhakthyã pundari kãksham sthavai rar-chén nara ssatha

Paramam yo mahath teja paramam yo mahath thapaha  
Paramam yo mahath brahma paramam ya parãyanam

He who is the great ("mahat") effulgence ("tejah"); He who is the 
Great controller ("tapah"); He who is the Supreme All-Pervading 
Truth; ("brahma") he who is the Highest (Param) Goal (Ayanam)-the 
Lord Vishnu.

Pavithrãm pavithram yo mangalãnãncha  mangalam   
Daivatham dévathãnãncha bhoothãnãm yovyaya pithã    15

He who is ("yo") the very sanctity ("pavitram") that sanctifies all 
sacred things ("pavitraanaam"); he who is most auspicious 
("mangalam"); he who is the god ("devataa") of gods ("daivatam"); he 
who is the eternal ("avyayah") father ("pitaa") of all creatures 
("bhootaanaam") is the one god ? VISHNU.

Yatha sarvãni bhoothãni bhavanthyãdhi yugãgamé   
Yasmimscha pralayam yãnthi punaréva yugakshayé

Thasya loka pradhãnasya jagan-nãdhasya bhoopathé   
Vishnor nama sahasrm mé srunu pãpa bhayãpaham

Yãni nãmãni gounãni vikyãthãni mahãthmanaha   
Rushibhi parigeerthãni thãni vakshãyãmi bhoothayé

Rushirnãmnãm sahasrasya védhavyãso mahãmunihi   
Chchando-nushtup thadha dhévo bhaghavãn dhévagee-suthaha

Amruthãm soothbhavo bheejam shakthir dhévaki nandhanaha   
Thrisãmã hrudhayam thasya shãnthyarthé viniyujyathe    20

Vishnum jishnum mahãvishnum prabhavishum mahéswaram   
Anaika roopa dhaithyãntham namãmi purushoth-thamam

 

----------------------------------------------------------Meanings of 
the Dialogue------------------------------------------------

Yudhistirau Uvaachaa:

(Question 1.)  Kim ekam daivatam loke?



Who ("kim") is the greatest ("ekam") Lord ("daivatam") in the world 
("loke")?

 

(Answer 1.)

Pavitraanaam pavitram yo 
                   Mangalaanaam cha mangalam

Daivatam devataanam cha 
                   Bhootaanam yo avyayah pitaa.

 

He who is ("yo") the very sanctity ("pavitram") that sanctifies all 
sacred things ("pavitraanaam"); he who is most auspicious 
("mangalam"); he who is the god ("devataa") of gods ("daivatam"); he 
who is the eternal ("avyayah") father ("pitaa") of all creatures 
("bhootaanaam") is the one god ? VISHNU.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

(Question 2. )  Kim vaapyekam paraayanam?


                    Who is the one ("ekam") refuge ("paraayanam") for 
all?

(Answer 2.)

Paramam yo mahat-tejah Paramam yo mahat-tapah
Paramam yo mahat-brahma Paramam yah paraayanam.

 

He who is the great ("mahat") effulgence ("tejah"); He who is the 
Great controller ("tapah"); He who is the Supreme All-Pervading 
Truth; ("brahma") he who is the Highest (Param) Goal (Ayanam)-the 
Lord Vishnu.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

(Question 3.)   Stuvantam kam praapnuyuh (
                    Maanavah subham)?



By glorifying ("sthuvantah") whom ("kam") can man ("manavah") reach 
the Auspiciousness ("shubam") (peace and prosperity)?

 

 

Answer 3.      

Jagat-prabhum deva-devam 
                    Anantam purushottamam
Stuvan naama-sahasrena
                     Purushah satatotthitah.

 

The supreme ("uttamam") Purusha, who is ever up and dong for the 
welfare of all, the Lord ("prabhum") of the world ("jagat") the 
endless ("anantam") ? Sri Maha Vishnu.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Question 4. (Kam archantah) praapnuyuh  Maanavaah subham?


                   By worshipping ("archantah") whom can a man reach  
                    auspiciousness (peace and prosperity)?

 

Answer 4.   Tameva cha archayan nityam 
                  Bhaktyaa purusham avyayam 

Stuvan naama-sahasrena
                   Purushah satatthitah.



By meditating upon ("sthuvan naama"), by ("cha") worshipping 
("archayan") and by prostrating at the same Purusha, man can reach 
true Auspiciousness. 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Question 5.  Ko dharmah sarva-dharmaanaam 
                   Bhavatah paramo matah?

 

 What ("ko") is, in thy opinion, the Greatest Dharma?

 

Question 6.  Kim japan muchyate jantuh 
                  Janma-samsaara-bandhaaat?



By ("kim") doing japa of what can "creatures" (jantu) go beyond 
("mutchyate") the bonds ("bandhanaath") of samsara?

 

 

 

Answers 5&6.

Anaadi-nidhanam vishnum 
                  Sarvaloka-maheshvaram

Lokaadhyaksham stuvan nityam
                   Sarva-duhkha-atigo bhavet.

 

Both questions are answered here: - the greatest Dharma is the one 
Vishnu, who has neither a beginning (Aadi) nor an end (Nidhanam), the 
supreme Lord ("maheshwaram") of the world. All creatures can go 
beyond the bonds of samsar, "and he goes beyond all sorrows" who 
daily ("nityam") chants ("stuvan") the sahasranaamas and within 
glorifies "the knower of the world" (Lokaadhyaksha).

 

The supreme is described as that from which the whole world of names 
and forms had risen in the beginning of the creation, that in which 
the world continues to exit, that into which alone the world can 
merge back during the `Dissolution' (Pralaya); this supreme is VISHNU.

 

After thus answering all questions, "His thousand Name", said 
Bheeshma, "I shall now advise you. Please listen to them with all 
attention". This is how the Sacred Hymn, called as "The thousand 
names of Lord Vishnu", is introduced in the Mahaabhaarata. 

 

------------------------------------------------------END: Meanings 
of the Dialogue------------------------------------------------

 

Extra Comments: The Supreme cannot be defined and since He is the 
very substratum of all qualities, He cannot be denominated by any 
name, or indicated by any term, or defined in any language, or ever 
expressed, even vaguely, in any literary form. He is beyond both 
the "Known" and the "Unknown". He is the very illumining Principle of 
Consciousness that illuminates all experiences. 

 

And yet He has many manifestations and, therefore, He can have 
infinite names in terms of His manifestations. Definitions should 
directly describe the thing defined, and here we have a thousand 
indirect definitions with which the Real, the Infinite is being 
indicated in terms of the unreal and the finite. These "Thousand 
names of the Lord" have been coined and given out by the Rishis. They 
were collected and strung together into a joyous Hymn to Vishnu, a 
garland of devotion and reverence, by the poet-seer Vyaasa. 

 

Since each of them is thus an indicative definition of the unknown in 
terms of the known, each term here is believed to rocket-us up into 
the realms of the divine experience, only when we have lifted our 
minds towards it through contemplation. Thus the Vishnu Sahasranaama 
is employed not only by the devotees, in the sweet attitude 
of `sporting with the Lord', but these are also employed by the 
contemplative students of philosophy, as gliders to roam in the 
realms of inspired Higher Consciousness. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

More commentary: In the Kali-Santarana Upanishad, which is one of the 
minor Upanishads, we find the great devotee Naarada approaching 
Brahmaaji to enquire what is the way out for man to evolve in these 
hard days of extrovertedness, which is quite natural and unavoidable 
in the Iron-age (Kaliyuga)."Repetition of the names of Naaraayana is 
sufficient enough", was the reply given. 

 

It is to be carefully noted here that in the sixth question the 
enquiry was how can `creatures' realise the Highest. Jantu 
means `that which is born' (Janana-dharman). So all living creatures 
are fit for this easy path. `Creatures' could even include the animal 
kingdom as it is described in the Puraanas in their own poetic 
language. In the Trikutaachala lake, the elephant that was caught by 
the crocodile is described as having been saved by the Lord (Gajendra 
Moksha). The story of Jadabharata is yet another example. 

Sankara in his commentary describes here Japa as comprehensive of all 
the three types. (A) That which can be heard by others; (B) That 
which is heard by ourselves; (C) That which is mental. 

Vishnu Sahasranaama can be employed in performing Japa of all these 
three kinds. 

 

In the following "Thousand Names", we meet with, though rarely, some 
repetitions. Exactly 90 names have been repeated in this Great Hymn; 
and of them, 74 are repeated twice, 14 are repeated thrice, and again 
2 of them are found to have been repeated four times. Sometimes, the 
terms are repeated as such Vishnu- Vishnu, Siva-Siva etc. and 
sometimes different words with the same meaning are also employed 
(Sreepati- Maadhava; Pushkaraaksha- Kamalaaksha). These need not be 
considered as a defect, since this Hymn is a chant of His Glory .In a 
chant of glory (stuti) repetitions are acceptable-it is but a style 
of the emotional heart to repeat its declarations of love.

 

There are exactly 1,031 single "Names" of the Lord in the 1000-Name-
Chant (Sahasranaama). The extra 31 Names are to be considered each as 
an adjective qualifying (Viseshana) the immediately following noun. 
When one makes Archanaa to the Lord the correct dative case is to be 
used. There are 20 double-names in the first 500 Names and 11 double-
names in the second half of the chant. There is one indeclinable 
(Avyaya) word used, and it (896th) should be used in the dative for 
Archanaa as Sanaat Namah; so too the 929th Name in the chant, being a 
plural noun, should be used in Archanaa as Sadbhyo Namah. 

 

It will also be found, as we study the significances of these Divine 
names, that Vyaasa has employed sometimes masculine gender, on other 
occasions feminine gender and some other times even neuter gender. 
Wherever it is masculine. , it denotes Vishnu, the Lord of Lakshmi. 
and when it is feminine it is indicative of His Might. Glory or power 
(devataa) that is manifest everywhere, and when the term is in neuter 
gender, it means Pure Brahman, the infinite Reality. 

 

This Archanaa is generally performed by devotees daily; if this is 
not convenient they perform this worship at least on their own birth-
days, on eclipse days and on the day on which the Sun moves from one 
zodiac to another (the Samkraanti-day). This performance has been 
prescribed by the Sastra for warding off troubles arising from the 
position of planets, anger of the rulers, incurable diseases and 
ruthless enemies. The highest effect is for purifying the mind and 
thus gaining more and more inner-poise for the Saadhaka in meditation.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

INSTALLATION OF THE LORD

 

All ritualisms start in Hinduism with a beautiful function-the 
installation of the Lord in the devotee's own physical form. This is 
technically called as Anga-Nyaasa and Kara-Nyaasa. The "Installation 
in the Limbs", and the "Installation in the Palm". This is a method 
by which the seeker with wilful thoughts and deliberate physical 
signs sanctifies himself to be a Divine Temple and installs various 
sacred deities in himself. 

 

This helps the student to realise that though he is worshipping the 
Lord as a Goal (or an Ideal) other than himself (bheda or anya), in 
fact, he is to seek his identity with no traces of differentiation 
(Abheda or Ananya), between himself and the Lord. The final 
realization is a perfect identity indicated in the Mahaavaakya. "I am 
Brahman". (Aham Brahmaasmi). 

 

Neither in the Northern texts nor in the original Mahaabhaarata do we 
find this `subjective installation ceremony' (Anga-Nyaasa) 
prescribed. However, pundits of ritualism in the South employ the 
Anga-Nyaasa; and it being such a beautiful act, so very helpful to 
the seekers, we give here below the most popular one practised widely 
in the South. 

 

This "Installation Ceremony" declares to the devotees that the 
enchanting form of Vishnu is to be ultimately realised as One 
Infinite Reality without names or forms-in which the recognition of 
even the distinction of the meditator-meditated- meditation is to 
cease. Beside this deep significance, even though it be only for the 
time being, the student is also given a sense of purity and sanctity 
in himself. Just as a devotee feels highly inspired in the divine 
atmosphere of a sacred temple, so too, after the Anga-Nyaasa, however 
shattered we might have been, before we entered the Pooja-room, we 
can artificially work ourselves up into a divine mood of peace and 
purity.

 

The body itself is rendered as the temple of the Lord, wherein the 
various limbs become the altars upon which, with a heart of love and 
faith, the devotee invokes and installs various deities. In this 
process, in order to bring the full blast of the sacred suggestions 
to him, the repetition of each of these mantras is emphasised by a 
corresponding physical sign. The idea is only, as we have already 
explained, to establish the correct mood for devoted contemplation. 

 

 



 

A. asya Vishnu-sahasranaama-stotrasya veda-vyaasa Rishih

 

For this sacred chant, the "Thousand Names of Lord Vishnu", Sri Veda 
Vyaasa is the divine Rishi.

Great mantras of deep spiritual significance and sublime Vedic 
dignity are not mere poetic compositions by mortal fallible 
intellects. When a. mastermind through meditation transcends the 
lower levels of his personality and soars into the higher mental 
altitudes, through his contemplation, there he `receives' 
certain `revelations' that are faithfully repeated by them to the 
world. Such `heard' statements (Srutam) alone have the power to stand 
against the onslaught of the intellect, the ravages of time, the 
forces of criticism etc.

 

Such statements when contemplated upon by lesser seekers, they too, 
in the spiritual cadence of these mantras, get unconsciously uplifted 
into realms unknown, and there they come to live a world of 
experiences unfrequented by the ordinary multitudes. The `author of 
the mantra' is thus termed in our Vedas as the `Seer' (Mantra- 
Drashtaa). Such Rishis themselves admit that they did not 
manufacture, compose or create the mantra, but they had a revelation 
or vision (Darsanam) of the mantra. 

 

The Mantra- Drashtaa, the Rishi, is the guru of the seeker, who is 
seeking his path with the help of that particular mantra. The Rishi 
of a mantra is installed at the roof of the head and the seeker, in 
his seat of Vishnu-Sahasranaama-chanting, 

 

Symbolism: ... chants this mantra in his mind, and, with his right-
hand thumb, middle-finger and ring-finger touches the top of his 
head. 


B.  Anushtup Chandah

 

The metre ("chandah") in which the revealed mantra comes to the 
teacher is also mentioned because it orders the discipline that 
should be followed while chanting the mantra. Anushtup is the name of 
the particular metre in which this thousand-name- chant on Vishnu is 
sung. The chant is to come out through the mouth, and therefore, 
the `altar of the metre' can be only the mouth. 

 

Symbolism: The fingers that were touching the roof of the head now 
come down to touch the lips, when the mantra `B' is repeated in the 
mind by the seeker. 


C.  Sri Vishvaroopo Mahaavishnur-Devataa

 

Lord Vishnu of the form of the entire universe of variegated names 
and forms (Vishva-roopah) is the deity of the mantra. Vishnu is the 
theme of the chant. The Lord of Vaikuntha is the altar at which the 
devotee is preparing to offer himself in humble dedication and utter 
surrender. 

 

Symbolism: Since Lord Vishnu is, to the devotee, the Lord of his 
heart, the very centre of his personality, while chanting mentally 
the mantra 'C' the student, installs the Lord in his heart, bringing 
the fingers from the lips down to touch his bosom. 

 

 


D. Devakee-nandanah srashteti Saktih

 

Every deity is a manifestation of the mighty Omnipotency of the 
Supreme. The creator and sustainer (Srashtaa) of Dharma, the son of 
Devaki (Devakeenandana), is the manifested power ("shaktih") of the 
Almighty. 

 

Symbolism: This creative power of righteous-ness and peace is 
installed at the navel (naabhi) point, and, therefore, the fingers 
come down from the heart region to the navel.


E. Sankha-bhrit nandakee chakree iti Keelakam

 

The mighty Creative Power invoked and established on the navel region 
cannot be as such conceived by the mind. Therefore, to `nail' it down 
(Keelakam) and establish it in our comprehension, this mantra 
conceives ("udbavah") the Power as the Lord, who bears the Conch 
("shanka"), the Sword, named Nandaka, and the Discus ("chakra"). This 
is only to show how the total cosmic Power, expressed in terms of our 
present understanding as creation, sustenance, and destruction, is 
but a manifestation of the Lord. The conch (Sankha) represents 
the `call' of the Reality, the Lord's own declarations stated in the 
scriptures. Nandaka, the sword that punishes to bring joy (Nandana) 
into the community and the destruction, without which evolution is 
impossible, is represented by the concept of the Discus (Chakra). 

 

Here it is also to be noted that the blowing or the conch represents 
speech; wielding the sword represents action and the discus that 
takes off from Him at His will, represents his thoughts. Thus this 
great Power installed at the navel expresses itself in the world 
through speech, action and thought. 

 

Symbolism: To conceive fully this form is to hold firmly the Lord's 
own feet, and, therefore, when this mantra is mentally chanted, the 
fingers move away from the navel, and with both hands the seeker 
touches his own feet. 

 

Here it is to be carefully noted how:

the Guru is kept at the roof of the head, 

the Veda (metre) in the mouth,

 the Lord in the heart,

 the Power in the navel and, thereby, the seeker himself becomes so 
sacred that he prostrates unto himself by holding his own feet. 


F. Saarnga-dhanvaa-gadaa-dhara iti Astram

 

Whenever there is a large wealth in a box it becomes a treasure and 
it is locked and safely protected; when this divine installation has 
taken place, and therefore, the body has become the Temple of the 
Almighty, and therefore, it has become a scared treasure house to be 
protected. But the seeker himself has no power to protect, and so, he 
invokes the very weapon (Astra) of Vishnu, the protector of the 
world, to stand by for the defence of the sanctified bosom. Saarga is 
the name of the Bow (Dhanus) of Vishnu and the Mace (Gadaa) is 
another of his weapons. These two form the artillery of defence; 
which are manned by the Lord himself. 

 

Symbolism: At this moment when this mantra is mentally chanted, it is 
significant that the student lifts the palm away from the feet, and 
with the stretched out index and middle fingers of the right palm 
snaps them on the open left palm.


G. Rathaangapaanir-akshobhya iti Netram

 

Lord Vishnu as Lord Krishna played the part of the charioteer and 
gained the name "Rein-handed" (Ratha-anga-paani). A charioteer has to 
guide every step of every horse in order that the chariot be safe, 
and the travel be pleasant. Of the sense organs, the eyes ("netram") 
are the most powerful and once they are well guided, all others also 
follow their heels. When Lord Vishnu, the charioteer, Himself is 
installed in the eyes ("netram"), the individual is safe 
("rakshobya") in his spiritual pilgrimage. 

 

Symbolism: Therefore, invoking the Divine Driver, with reins in his 
hand (Rathaangapaani), He is installed in the pair of eyes, and at 
the moment of mentally chanting this, both the eyes are touched by 
the tip of the fingers. 


H. Trisaamaa saamagah saameti Kavacham

 

He (Tri-Saamaa) who is glorified by all the three ("tri") types, of 
Saama songs (Deva-Vrata-Prokta), He who is the very theme that is 
glorified by the Saama songs (Saamagah), He whose glory itself is the 
manifested Sama Veda (Saama), He is none other than the Supreme This 
great Lord is installed a, an armour ("kavacham") to wear for self-
protection.

 

Symbolism: While chanting this in the mind the seeker first touches 
with the tip of his finger, of each arm, the same shoulders, and 
afterwards crosses the arm, in front of him making fingers of each 
palm touch the other shoulder-as if he is actually wrapping himself 
and wearing the divine armour. 


I. Anandam brahmeti Yonih

 

The Supreme ("para") Brahman, the Infinite Bliss ("anandam") is 
("eti") the very womb (Yonih) from which the universe has emerged 
out. The procreated world of endless variety has only one Eternal 
Father, and this source is immaculate Bliss. When this is chanted the 
seeker installs the Bliss Infinite at the very place of procreation 
in himself. It is a spot in this great divine temple of the body, 
wherein is the one source, from which the world has emerged out, 
manifesting itself as the power of procreation (Taittireeya). 

 


J. Visvaroopa iti Dhyaanam

 

The entire band of experience gained through the instruments of the 
body, mind and intellect in terms of perceptions, emotions and 
thoughts together is indicated by the term Visva. He, who has 
manifested to be the total world of experiences (Visva), must 
therefore be Visvaroopah. The cosmic form of the Lord (Visvaroopa) is 
the total universe. Thus to meditate (Dhyaanam) upon Him as the whole 
universe, is a method of installing Him in our intellect. 

 

Symbolism: At this moment the student locks his fingers and sits in 
meditation.

 

K. Ritam sundarasnah kaala iti Dikbandhah

 

Truth (Ritam), the lord, and his weapon, the discus, called 
Sudarsana, and his annihilating power, Time (Kaala)-these three are 
the mighty forces that guard this scared temple of life in the seeker 
at the outer frontier of his world of influence (Dik-Bandhah). To be 
truthful and ever to seek the great Reality (Ritam), to discriminate 
and see the play of the Lord in all situations (Su-Darsanam), and to 
control the very instrument of the time (Kaala), which is intellect 
in the seeker, is to guard the frontiers of one's spiritual world, 
against the hoards of inimical forces. 

 

Symbolism: At this moment the student snaps his middle finger with 
the help of his thumb and runs his palm around his head. 

 


L. Sree-mahaa-vishnu-preetyarthe jape Viniyogah

 

Having thus installed through sankalpa the Lord in himself and having 
come under the protecting wings of the mighty lord, here is the 
declaration how he is going to employ himself in it. He is going to 
engage himself (Viniyoga) in japa (jape) of the "Thousand Names of 
Lord" ("sahasra-naama"). Now the question is: with what motive should 
be undertake this chanting? The answer is in the very statement that 
it is only for the grace (Preetyarthe) of Sree Maha Vishnu. 

 

Symbolism: After chanting this declaration in the mind, the saadhaka, 
takes a spoon of water (Teertham) in his right palm and pours it on 
the floor in front of him.

 

A true seeker is not desire-ridden for material satisfaction, and, 
therefore, he can have only one intention-the grace of lord, which 
will manifest in him as contemplative power.

 

These twelve `slogans' are chanted for invoking and installing these 
refreshing and spiritually benign ideas on the limbs of the devotee 
himself. At this juncture this makes him inspired sufficiently for 
higher meditation upon the truth as indicated and directed by the 
thousand terms in Sahasranaama.

 

This beautiful subjective ritual is known as `Installation on the 
limbs' (Anga-nyaasa). Not only that the student temporarily discovers 
a new surge of inspiration, but even beginners feel highly relieved, 
at least temporarily, from the load of his senses of `sins'. When 
this is properly performed with a right attitude and devotion, the 
student gains identification (saaroopya) with the Lord of his heart, 
at the outer levels of his personality.

 

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THE MEDITATION STANZA

 

 


 

saantaakaaram bhujaga-sayanam
padmanaabham suresam

 

"We meditate ("vande") upon the master ("naatham") of the universe 
("sarva-lokaika"), lord Vishnu, who is ever peaceful ("shaanta-
aakaaram"), who lies on the great serpent-bed ("bhujaga-shayanam"), 
from whose navel ("nabhi") springs the lotus ("padma") of the 
creative power, who is the controller ("eesham") of the gods ("sura").

 

visvaadhaaram gagana-sadrisam
megha-varnam subha-angam

 

... whose form ("aakaaram") is the entire universe ("vishwa"), and 
who is the foundation ("aadhaaram") for the universe. who is all 
pervading ("sadrusham") as the sky("gagana"), of the hue ("varnam") 
of the cloud ("megha"), of fascinating beauty ("shuba-angam"), 

 

Laksmikantam Kamalanayanam

Yogibhir-dhyaana-gamyam

 

... the lord ("kaantam") of Laksmi, the lotus ("kamala") eyed 
("nayanam"), he who dwells in the hearts ("bhir") of the yogis and 
who can be approached ("gamyam") and perceived through meditation 
("dhyaana"), 

 

vande vishnum bhava-bhaya-haram
sarva-lokaika-naatham.

 

We pray to ("vande") to Lord Vishnu, he who is the destroyer 
("haram") of the fear ("bhaya")  of samsara ("bhava") and the Lord of 
all ("sarva") the worlds ("loka").

 

This is the meditation upon the form of the lord, visualising Him 
thus in His, all-Comprehensive nature, and meditating upon Him, the 
seeker starts the vishnu-sahasranaama chanting.

 

 


(Approximate meanings: 

Whose body is of the dark ("shyamam") like the clouds ("megha"). 

He lives ("vaasam") in the pure ocean of milk ("peeta-kousheya"). 

He has Lakshmi ("sri") in his chest ("vatsangam"). )

 

 


 

["shanka" = conch, "chakram" = discus; "kireeta" = crown; "kundalam" 
= ear-rings, 

"peeta" = yellow, "vastram" = clothes; "saraseeruha-ekshanam" = lotus-
like eyes; 

"sahaara" = wide; "vakshasthala" = chest; "kaustubha" = gem stone; 

"namaami" = i pray; "sirasaa" = bow down with my head; "chatur-
bhujam" = to the four-handed one;

"chandra-aananam" = moon-faced; "baahum" = hands ]

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
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----

Stanza 1

Om visvam vishnur- vashatkaaro 
bhoota-bhavya-bhavat-prabhuh
bhoota-krit bhoota-bhith bhaavo 
bhootaatmaa bhoota-bhaavanah

 


(1) Visvam - He whose manifestation is the whole universe of forms: 
the Viraat-Purusha. The cause is always present in the effects and as 
such That Form from which the whole universe has emerged out can only 
be its own manifestation. The whole cosmos of gross forms is His own 
expression, and therefore, He is called as Viraatpurusha. `Sa eva 
Sarva- Bhootaatmaa Visvaroopo Yato-Avyayah'. The Sanskrit term Visvam 
comes from the root Vis, to enter: Thus it means He who has created 
and entered into the entire universe, as the All-Pervading Reality. 
It can also mean, That into which the entire universe has entered to 
remain therein established. In the Upanishads also we have assertions 
of similar ideas. It is only when intellectually, we view the Lord 
that we come to recognise Him as the `cause' for the universe. When 
viewed through contemplation, since the effect is nothing other than 
the cause, there can be no world other than Him. In fact, there is 
nothing other than the Supreme. In the Mandukya Upanishad we 
read `Omkaara Evedam Sarvam'. In Geeta `OM ltyekaaksharam Brahma'. 

 

(2) Vishnuh -The term Vishnu is dissolved as Veveshti Vyaapnoti iti 
Vishnuh-That which pervades everywhere is Vishnu. That which has the 
nature of pervasiveness is Vishnu. He is the one who pervades all and 
nothing ever pervades Him. `Eesaavaasyam Idam Sarvam'-All this is 
indwelt, pervaded by the Lord. This very same idea is described in 
the typical style of the Puranas, in the incarnation of the Lord as 
Vaamana, the short-boy (Vamana), who, with His three feet, measured 
the entire universe. Because of this act, the Lord got the name 
Vishnu, says Mahaabhaarata. Vishnu Purana (3-1) says: The root Vis 
means `to enter'. The entire world of things and beings is pervaded 
by Him and the Upanishad emphatically insists in its mantra `whatever 
that is there is the world of change'. Hence it means that He is not 
limited by space (Desa), time (Kaala) or substance (Vastu). 

 

(3) Vashatkaarah - ln the ritualistic portion of the Vedas we find 
many mantras ending with `vashat' and they are used in pouring 
devoted and dedicated oblations. Thus the term Vashatkaara means: He 
who is invoked, and for propitiating whom, the oblations are poured 
in Vedic ritualism, using mantras ending with vashat. 

Also Vashatkaara can mean yajna in its association and thus the term 
in its suggestion can signify `He who is of the form of the Yajna'. 
In the Upanishads also we find this meaning endorsed when the 
Upanishad mantra says: "Yajno vai Vishnuh" - Yajna itself is Vishnu. 

 

(4) Bhoota-bhavya-bhavat-prabhuh  - He who is the Lord (Prabhu) of 
the Past (Bhooita), the Future (Bhavya) and the Present (Bhavat). 
Time is the concept of the intellect; it expresses itself in the 
interval between experiences. Experiences are registered as thoughts 
and thoughts are ever changing. This very change is known and 
experienced by us. The knower of the change must be something other 
than the change. Thus, He who is the Illuminator of all changes, 
meaning the Consciousness (Aatman) is the Lord Vishnu. He is the One 
who is not conditioned by time.

 

(5) Bhoota-krit -The Creator (Krit) of all creatures (Bhoota). This 
word can be dissolved in two ways:

(a) One who creates the creatures (Bhootaani Karoti iti Bhoota- Krit) 
or 

(b) One who annihilates all creatures (Bhootaani Krindati iti Bhoota-
krit). 

In both these cases, Brahman, the Supreme is the One Reality that 
seems to function as the Creator, Sustainer or Destroyer, when He 
functions through different gunas in the Total-Mind. Functioning 
through a preponderance in Rajoguna, He becomes the `Creator'; 
through Sattvaguna the `Sustainer', and through Tamoguna, He Himself 
expresses as the `Destroyer'.

 

Extra comments: Subjectively, the Atman functioning through my own 
mind and intellect is I, the individuality. My personality entirely 
depends upon the quality and texture of my own thoughts. I myself 
become according to the moods of my mind the creator, sustainer and 
annihilator of my world of experiences. He who manifests and 
functions, in these three aspects, is the Supreme Vishnu.

 

(6) Bhoota-bhrit -One who nurtures ("brith") and nourishes all beings 
(living creatures: "bhoota") in all their attitudes is this Great 
Reality and, therefore, He is called as the Bhoota Bhrit. In Geeta 
there is an elaborate description of this idea in the l5th Chapter 
where the Lord points out how, He, as the light in the sun, fertility 
in the earth, growth in the plants, nourishment in food, heat in 
fire, -becomes Himself the `eater', and, therefore, how He Himself 
presides over all the functions of the body and mind, and apparently 
nurtures and nourishes the creatures, who are in fact nothing other 
than Himself. 

 

(7) Bhaavah -One who `becomes' (Bhavati iti Bhaavah) Himself into the 
movable and the Immovable beings and things in the world. He is the 
Pure Existence in all the sentient organisms and the insentient 
objects in the universe. Hence He is indicated by the term Bhaavah. 

 

(8) Bhootaatmaa -He is the Aatman (soul) of all the beings 
("bhoota"): The very `Be' in the living beings. Just as the same 
universal space manifests in all rooms as the room-space, so the 
Infinite Life manifesting through any given vehicle is called the 
Aatman of the vehicle. It is well known that space everywhere is one 
and the same; so too, the One Reality sports as though different 
Aatmans. This One Universal Soul is called in Vedanta the Supreme 
Brahman (Para-Brahman) .In Bhaagavata, the Lord is addressed as "You 
are the One Self in all living creatures ever illumining all their 
experiences.'' In Kathopanishad: "The One enchanting Truth that 
revels in every form manifesting in plurality".

(9) Bhoota-bhaavanah -One who creates and multiplies the creatures; 
meaning the One, who is the cause for the birth and who is 
responsible for the growth of all living creatures.

 

Stanza 2

pootaatmaa paramaatmaa cha 
muktaanaam paramaa gatih
avyayah purushah saakshee 
kshetrajno akshara eva cha.

 


10) Poota-atmaa -One with an extremely Pure (Pootam) Essence; One who 
is not affected the least by the impurities of Maayaa. The Self is 
beyond all vaasanaas and, therefore, He cannot be affected by anyone 
of the manifestations of Maayaa such as thoughts of the intellect, 
emotions of the mind or the perceptions of the body. Immaculate is 
ever the Self, and so He is termed as the Pure Self (Poota-Aatmaa). 

 

(11) Parama-atmaa -The Supreme, meaning that which transcends all 
limitations and imperfections of matter: in short, the Transcendental 
Reality. The Spirit is other than matter, and that in its presence, 
the vestures of matter, borrowing their dynamism from Him, play their 
parts rhythmically at all times. This has been the assertion found 
chorusly repeated in all the Upanishads and in the entire Vedantic 
literature. Sankara in Aatma Bodha points out that the Self is other 
than the three bodies and that He functions in the microcosm as a 
king in the nation. It was also said therein that matter borrows its 
energy from the Spirit and continues its activity "as the world from 
the Sun".

Kathopanishad and the Geeta guide us from the outer levels of our 
personality, stage by stage, into the inner-most sanctum, and there, 
the teachers declare, is He the Infinite, transcending all, reigning 
in His own glory. "In short, that which remains other than the cause 
and effect-Maayaa and matter-is He, the Parama Aatman. In Vishnu 
Purana this Supreme is glorified as Maha Vishnu (Paramaatmaa)"-Vishnu 
Purana 6.4.10...

 

(12) Muktaanaam paramaa gatih -He who is the final Goal ("parama 
gathi"), that is reached by all the liberated souls ("mukta"). The 
limitations and bondages lived through by man are in fact the destiny 
of the matter vestures. Through delusion of non-understanding, we 
identify with them and come to suffer the consequent sense of 
imperfections. To liberate ourselves from the thraldom of matter is 
to realize the Self. Hence the Truth is defined as the Supreme Goal 
of the emancipated. 

This `Goal' to be attained is called as `Gati' in Sanskrit, "The 
Supreme Goal" (Paramaa Gatih) would necessarily be then that Goal, 
having reached which, there is no return: 

"There where having gone, men never return, That sacred place is My 
seat"-Geeta Ch. 15. St. 6. In Geeta. (Ch. 8. St. 6)

 even more explicitly the same idea has been asserted by Sri Krishna 
when He says: 

"O Son of Kunti, having reached Me, there shall be no more any re-
birth".

Again, He defines the final Goal as "That having reached no return 
again" ? Geeta Ch. 15, st.4.

 

(13) Avyaah ?"Vyaya" means destruction; destruction cannot be without 
change; therefore, that which is "without destruction" (Avyayah) is 
the changeless. The Indestructible, and therefore, changeless, can 
never have any modifications (Parinaama). For, modification is but 
the death of a previous condition and the birth of a new condition. 
The Eternal and the Immutable (Avyayah) is the Supreme Sat-chit- 
aananda, and every other thing and being come under the hammer or 
change. The medium in which all these changes are sustained is 
Brahman, the Immutable. The Upanishads glorify Him as "Ajaro Amaro 
Avyayah"-without old age, death or change.

 

(14) Purushah -One who dwells in the Fort-city (Puri sete iti 
Purushah). Herein metaphorically the Rishis conceive our body as a 
fortress with nine gate-ways-"Nava Dvaarc Pure Dehee"-(Geeta Ch. 5, 
St. 13) -and declare the One who rules within it, like a king, is the 
Self. 

This term can also be dissolved in two more different ways giving 
more and more suggestions to the nature of the Self. Thus, Purusha 
can mean "That which was before all creatures" -Puraa Aaseet iti 
Purushah or it can be 

"One who completes and fulfils the Existence everywhere", meaning, 
without whom Existence is impossible (Poorayati iti Purushah).

This Aatman remains in the bodies of living creatures as their 
individuality (Jeeva) and in all the activities, physical, mental and 
intellectual, Aatman is not in fact involved but He is therein only 
an observer of all that is happening. This will become clear in the 
following discussion. 

 

(15) Saakshee -Witness. In every day life he is a witness who without 
any mental reservation or personal interest observes and watches what 
is happening in a given field of experience. "Saakshaad Drashtari 
Saakshee syaad-Amarakosa. "The `Knower' in every bosom is the same 
Supreme Self", says Lord Krishna (Geeta Ch. 13, St. 3). Though thus 
Consciousness illumines everything, It is only a Witness, as It knows 
no change. Just as the sun illumines every thing in the world and yet 
the Sun is not affected by the condition of the things it is 
illumining, so too Vishnu, the Supreme, illumines all, without Itself 
undergoing any change. 

 

According to Paanini Sutras the word Saakshee is derived from "Sa 
+akshi", meaning "direct perceiver". 

 

(16) Kshetrajnah -One who knows the body and all the experiences from 
within the body, is the Knower-of-the- field, Kshetrajnah. As 
Brahmapurana would put it: Bodies are `fields' and the Atman 
illumines them all without an effort, and therefore, is called Knower-
of-the-field, Kshetrajnah". 

 

(17) Aksharah -lndestructible: things which are finite are 
necessarily conditioned by time and space; the Infinite is 
unconditioned, and so It is Aksharah. Since It is Indestructible, It 
cannot come under the methods of universal destruction arising from 
nature or through the wilful actions of man. "It cannot be cleaved by 
instruments of destruction, nor can fire burn It, nor water drench 
It, nor air dry It"-(Geeta Ch. 2, St. 23). It is also indicated that 
the Supreme Brahman is the Akshara-"Aksharam Brahma Paramam" -(Geeta 
Ch. 8, St. 3).

Please note that in the stanza there is the extra word `only' (Eva) 
used, indicating that Kshetrajnah is the Aksharah; there is no 
difference between them both: the "Knower-of-the-field" and 
the "field". 

 

Stanza 3

yogoh yoga-vidaam netaa 
pradhaana-purushesvarah
naarasimha- vapuh 
sreemaan kesavah purushottamah.


(18) Yogah -The one who is to be known or realized through yoga. By 
withdrawing the sense organs from their objects of preoccupation, 
when the mind of the seeker becomes quietened, he is lifted to a 
higher plane-of-consciousness, wherein he attains "yoga", meaning 
wherein he realizes the Reality. At such moments of equanimity and 
mental quiet "yoga" is gained: Samatvam yoga uchyate- (Geeta Ch. 2, 
St. 48). 

Since He is experienced through Yoga He is known as Yogah. 

 

(19) Yoga-vidaam netaa ?One who guides ("neta") all the activities of 
all men `who knows yoga' (Yogaviti) .To all men of realization, He 
who is the Ideal, is the Supreme Lord. Just as our activities are 
today ordered by our selfishness and individuality, the Ideal that 
commands and orders all activities in the bosom of a Man of 
Realization is his God-Consciousness. This realm of experience is 
Mahaa Vishnu. In the Geeta also we find the same idea expressed, in 
the language of emotion, when the Lord says: "Those who contemplate 
upon Me with total dedication, their daily welfare and spiritual 
progress I shall bear".

 

(20) Pradhaana-purusha-eesvarah -Lord of both Pradhaana and Parusha. 

The term Pradhaana means `maayaa'-the total cause for the entire 
universe of forms. 

The term Purusha indicates the individuality in each one of us-the 
Jeeva. 

Lord Eesvara means the Master (Eeshte iti Eesvarah). 

The Lord of Maayaa and Jeeva means the one who makes both these 
possible to exist and function. The One Infinite Reality which Itself 
manifests as Maayaa, Jeeva and Eesvara is the Essence in Vishnu.

 

(21) Naarasimha-vapuh -One whose form ("vapuh") is half human 
("nara") and half lion ("simha").This is the famous fourth 
incarnation of Lord Vishnu which He took in order to destroy the 
atheistic tyrant Hiranyakasipu and bless his devotee, Prahlaada.

 

(22) Sreemaan -One who is always with ("maan") Sree. Mother Sree is 
Mother Lakshmi. In the Puranic terminology Lakshmi stands for all 
powers, all faculties. The total manifested power potential in the 
Omnipotent is Lakshmi. These powers are ever in Him and therefore, He 
is the Sreemaan. 

 

(23) Keshavah -He who has beautiful and graceful (Va) locks of hair 
(Kesa) is familiar as in Lord Krishna's form. Or, it can also mean, 
one who destroyed ("vah") the demon Kesin who was sent to destroy the 
child-Krishna by his uncle Kamsa This interpretation is endorsed by 
the Vishnu Purana, 5.16.23. 

 

(24) Purushottamah -The constitution of the individuality, Jeeva, 
when analysed, we find that it is made up of both the perishable-
matter and the Imperishable-Spirit. The Spirit expressing through 
matter is the individuality, Jeeva. Reflected moon is the moon of the 
heavens dancing on the surface of water. Just as the moon is 
something different from its reflections and the water surfaces, so 
too the Self is, in its transcendental nature, something different 
from both matter, the perishable, and Spirit, the Imperishable, ever 
playing in matter. This Transcendental Truth is indicated by the term 
the Supreme Purusha (Purusha-uttama). 

 

Stanza 4

sarvas-sharvas-sivah sthaanur 
bhootaadir nidhir-avyayah
sambhavo bhaavano bhartaa 
prabhavah prabhur-eesvarah.


(25) Sarvah  -He who is the all. He being the One cause from which 
have sprung forth all things and beings. He himself is the all. In 
Mahabharata Udyoga Parva (70-12) we read: "As He is the origin and 
end of all, whether existent or otherwise, and as He, at all times, 
cognises all, He is called  "Sarva". All waves rise from the same 
ocean and, therefore, the ocean is the very essence in all waves. 

 

(26) Sharvah - The Auspicious One: meaning, the One who gives 
auspiciousness to those who hear of Him, to those who have a vision 
of Him, and to those who meditate upon Him. 

 

(27) Sivah -The One who is Eternally Pure. In Him can never be any 
contamination of the imperfection of Rajas and Tamas. `Non-
apprehension of Reality' is Tamas and `misapprehensions of Reality' 
constitute the Rajas. In the Reality Itself there can be neither of 
them `He is Brahman; He is Siva', so the Upanishad declares of the 
Absolute Oneness, which is Vishnu. 

 

(28) Sthaanuh: -Generally this term Sthaanuh is used for the 
permanent pillars that mark the frontiers of a country. They are 
permanent, immovable, fixed. The Truth, that remains thus firm and 
motionless, without movement, permanently established in Its own 
Realm of Purity, is called by the term Sthaanuh-the Pillar. "Eternal, 
All-Pervading, the Pillar, Motionless (is) this Ancient One," so says 
Geeta Ch. 2, 24.

 

(29) Bhootaadih - The very cause ("aadi") for the five great 
elements: Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. 

 

(30) Avyayah Nidhih -The Imperishable treasure. The term Nidhi 
means `that in which precious things are stored away or preserved 
secretly': (Nidheeyate Asmin iti Nidhih). Therefore, He who is the 
substratum-container-for the entire universe is the Nidhi. During the 
dissolution (sleep) the One into Whom all things go to lie merged 
therein temporarily, till the next projection or creation (waking), 
as this Immutable Treasure Chest-the Vishnu. Here `unchangeable' 
(Avyaya) is qualifying `Nidhi'.

 

(31) Sambhavah -One who takes up by his own free will various 
incarnations for the glory of the world is Sambhavah. In fact, He 
alone is the source of all that is created. In Harivamsa we read the 
assertion: "I am the Narayana, the Source from which all creatures 
and things spring forth".  To uphold Dharma I shall manifest again 
and again, declares the Lord in His Geeta:

 

(32) Bhaavanah -To do Bhaavana is to give: One who gives everything 
to His devotees is Bhaavanah. The Lord is One who gives both joy and 
sorrow to each one according to his deserts. In the case of humanity 
it is He again who destroys the evil and blesses the good. 

 

(33) Bhartaa -The One who `Governs' the entire living world. 
Governing includes protecting the world from all harms and serving it 
positively with progress and joy. One who does these to all creatures 
at all times is Vishnu-the great Bhartaa. 

 

(34) Prabhavah - The One who is the very womb of all the Five Great 
Elements. It is That from which even the very concepts of time and 
space have sprung from. 

 

(35) Prabhuh -The Almighty Lord. He who is the All-Powerful. He who 
has the supreme freedom to do (Kartum), not to do (Akartum), or to do 
quite differently from what He had already done (Anyathaa Kartum) is 
considered as the Prabhuh.

 

(36) Eesvarah -One who has the ability to do anything without the 
help of other beings or things is called Eesvara. 

 

Stanza 5

svayambhooh sambhur aadityah pushkaraaksho mahaasvanah
anaadi-nidhano dhaataa vidhaataa dhaaturuttamah.


(37) Svayambhooh -The one who manifests Himself from Himself is 
considered as self-made. Everything born or produced must have a 
cause. The Supreme is the cause from which all effects arise, and 
Itself has no cause. This un- caused Cause-of-all, this Ultimate 
Cause, with reference to which every thing else is considered 
as `effects' is in itself the Absolute Cause. This idea is indicated 
by the term Self-made (Svayambhooh).

 

(38) Shambhuh -He who brings Auspiciousness- both inner goodness and 
outer prosperity to His devotees. Sambhuh is one of the famous names 
of Lord Siva. By using this term in invoking Vishnu, by its 
suggestion, it declares that Vishnu and Siva are not two Divine 
Entities, but they are both manifestations of the One Essential 
Reality. 

 

(39) Aadityah-The Truth (Purusha) that glows with a golden splendour 
in the solar system is called Aadityah. There are twelve Aadityas and 
of them One is called Vishnu. 

Krishna Himself declares, `I am Vishnu among the Aadityas' -
Aadityaanaam Aham Vishnuh- (Geeta Ch. 10, St. 21). 

The word Aaditya can mean `Son of Aditi'-signifying the one who was 
born as the son of Aditi in His Vaamana incarnation. 

The term Aadityah can also mean in Sanskrit `One who is like the 
sun'. The Sun is the one who illumines all, and every living creature 
draws its nurture and nourishment directly or indirectly always from 
the sun alone. In the same way Brahman is the one Sun in the universe 
of living creatures illumining all experiences of all creatures. 

 

(40) Pushkaraakshah -One who has eyes ("akshah") like the lotus 
("pushkara"). Joy and Peace in the bosom of an individual are 
expressed in the world outside at no other point so vividly as in the 
eyes. The One, whose inner peace and joy, beaming out through His 
eyes, bring into the devoted hearts all the aesthetic beauty and 
romantic thrills of seeing a lotus dancing in the breeze, In short, 
the term indicates the Lord who with His beautiful looks, magically 
lifts all the sorrows in the devotee's heart and fills it with Peace, 
Joy and Perfection. 

 

(41) Mahaasvanah- One who possesses thundering ("mahaa") voice of 
compulsion: "Svana" means `sound'. One whose `call' is thundered in 
all hearts, familiarly known as the `compelling whisper' of the 
Higher. 

Or, Svanam can also mean `breath'; and so, the term can mean, `He 
whose great breath is the very Vedas'. "Thus, O Maitreyee, this has 
been breathed forth from this great Being what we have as Rigveda. 
Yajurveda" -Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad (4.4.10). In the Spiritual 
literature of India we often read Vedas described as His breath; He 
breathed out the Vedas (Nih-svasitam).

 

(42) Anaadi-nidhanah ?One who has neither ("an") birth (Aadi) nor 
death (Nidhanum). Thus One who is changeless is Anaadi-Nidhanam; for, 
any change should include the death of an old condition and the birth 
of newer condition. To the Immortal and the Immutable, change is 
impossible. 

 

(43) Dhaataa- One who is the Substratum for the world of names and 
forms. And who supports all fields of experiences in all. He who is 
the screen for the cinema of empirical experiences' (Visvam). 

 

(44) Vidhaataa -The One who is the Dispenser of all `fruits-of-
actions'. In the Karma-kaanda portion of the Vedas, Eesvara is 
described as the Dispenser of fruit (Karma- phala-daataa Eesvarah). 
He is the Lord who is behind this universe of scientific truths and 
rhythm. He is the One who has not only ordered the laws of the 
nature, but he is the one afraid of whom, the phenomena dare not 
disobey his laws anywhere at any time. The light of the sun, the 
heart is the fire, the sweetness in the sugar, the pains in the sin 
and the joy s in goodness, are all their `nature' and none dare ever 
disobey these laws. The one who is thus the unquestionable law behind 
the entire universe of laws is Vidhaata.

 

(45) Dhaatur-uttamah ?the fundamentals ("dhaatu") that form the 
reinforcement on any existent thing are called Dhaatu. In science of 
life, as explored by the Rishis, all corporal forms have risen form 
and exist as composed of some definite `elemental factor' called the 
Dhaatus. Of the end less varieties of Dhaatus available in existence, 
the subtlest Dhaatu, without which no existence, is ever possible, is 
the chit Dhaatu, and this is the Dhaatu-ruttamah.

Though very rarely, we do find some commentators splitting this word 
into two as Dhaatu and uttama. But in the majority of the cases we 
find it taken to form one term and explained as `the subtlest of the 
Dhaatus'. 

 

Stanza 6

aprameyo hrisheekesah padmanaabho-a- maraprabhuh
visvakarmaa manustvashtaa sthavishthah sthaviro dhruvah.


(46) Aprameyah ? He, who cannot be defined and explained in terms of 
any logical term of reference with other things should necessarily be 
inexpressible. A thing that can be directly perceived (Pratyaksha) 
can be desired, certain other things, which we may not directly 
perceive, but can be infer (anumaama) them from data available. And 
there are yet things which can be brought home to the listener by 
describing them in terms of similar other objects (Upamaa). Since the 
infinite has no `Properties'. It cannot be perceived, nor can It 
be "understood through inference." Nor even explained in terms of 
similar or dissimilar things." Hence the supreme Reality, Vishnu, is 
called as Aprameyah. We can experience him only by ending all sense 
of separativeness and becoming one with Him.

 

(47) Hrisheekesah ?In the Puranic literature the meaning of the term 
is `close-cropped' or `One who has coiled up his locks of hair' 
(Hrissheeka+Eesa). 

 

The term `Hrisheeka' is an absolute one now, and it means the "sense 
organs". The Aatman, the self as Consciousness is the one who gives 
light to all sense organs and, therefore, it is the lord of all sense 
organs. This lord is Vishnu.

 

The obsolete word Hrisheeka also means the `rays' or that which gives 
the joy'. Thus the term Hrisheekas can mean "the Lord of the rays": 
the sun and moon. This way interpreted, commentators point out that 
the term Hrisheekesah means He who has Himself becomes the Sun and 
the Moon.

 

In His manifestation as the Sun and the Moon, the Lord Himself whips 
the world to wakeful activities and sends the world to sleep and 
rest. Thus Hrisheekesa in its deeper significance, is, to all 
contemplative hearts, the Lord, who becomes Himself the world, 
exhausts Himself in His activities, and ultimately packs His toys and 
goes to rest at the time of dissolution.

 

(48) Padmanaabhah ? One from whose navel ("nabhi") springs the Lotus 
("padma"), which is the seat of the four-faced Creator, Brahmaaji. 

Lotus in Hinduism represents Truth or any of Its manifested powers. 
The creative faculties in man flow from the navel area (center: 
naabhi), and manifests as the `four-faced' inner equipment 
(Antahkarana) constituted of the mind, intellect, Chit and ego.

In the Yoga-sastras, we find a lot of details regarding this concept. 
According to them every "idea" springs from Him (Paraa), and then at 
the navel area, each of them comes to be `perceived' (Pasyantee). 

Thereafter they play in the bosom as thoughts (Madhayamaa), and at 
last they are expressed (Vaikharee) in the outer fields-of ?activity. 

In this discussion-upon the evolutionary stages through which 
every "idea" becomes an "action" ? we gather a clearer insight into 
the meaning of the symbolism of "the Creator seated on the lotus", 
which springs forth from the navel of the Lord, the Supreme Vishnu.

 

(49) Amaraprabhuh -The Lord ("prabhu") of the Immortals ("a-mara"), 
the Devas. The Denizens of the Heavens, including all the office 
bearers therein (Dikpaalakas etc.) along with Indra, are 
called `Devas', and they enjoy in their heavenly state a relative 
immortality. 

The devas live and continue functioning till the great dissolution-
the Sleep of the Creator. Compared with the short span of the 
existence of man on this globe, the aeons through which the Devas 
live can be considered as end- less or immortal. 

One who serves them with His might, giving protection and security to 
all creatures, is called, therefore, Amaraprabhuh.

 

(50) Visvakarmaa -The very creator-of the world-of-objects, of all 
equipments-of-experiences, and of all experiences in all bosom-is 
called the Visva-Karmaa. Herein the Infinite Lord is but a Witness of 
all that is happening and though the experienced world is sustained 
in Him, He is not involved in the imperfections or mortality, that 
are happening all around at all times in the Visvam. "They are in Me, 
I am not in them"-Geeta.

 

(51) Manuh -The term means One who has the ability to reflect upon 
the Higher (Mananaseelah Manuh). Manu also means mantra and so, as 
applied to the Lord, it can mean as the One who has manifested 
Himself in the form of the Vedic mantras.

 

(52) Tvashtaa -One who makes gross things of huge dimensions into 
minutest particles. At the time of the world's dissolution, the 
entire gross-world folds back into its subtler elements until at last 
pure objectless space alone comes to remain. 

 

(53) Sthavishthah -lt is the superlative degree of gross (sthoola) 
and thus `the Supremely gross' is the subtlest Reality. The 
contradiction that it contains is itself its vigour and beauty. The 
Infinite as the subtlest is All-Pervading in Its own nature. It is 
this Maha- Vishnu who has Himself become the entire universe of gross 
things and beings. Just as all waves are the ocean, the total world 
of gross things is itself the form of Vishnu. 

In His cosmic form, Narayana had manifested to Arjuna in he Geeta. 
There the words of Arjuna's chant will clearly bring home to us that 
the entire gross world is ever His own Divine form. 

 

(54) Sthaviro Dhruvah -The Ancient (Sthavirah) and the Motionless or 
firm (Dhruvah). He is called the `Ancient' because the very 
first `unit of time' itself had risen from Him. He was the progenitor 
of the very concept of Time in us. Therefore, `Time' cannot condition 
Him. Thus He becomes the most Ancient. He is the `Firm Truth'; 
nothing that happens in the phenomenal world can affect Him at any 
time. 

 

Stanza 7

agraahyah saasvatah krishno lohitaakshah pratardanah
prabhootah trikakub-dhaama pavitram mangalam param.


(55) Agraahyah  -That which cannot ("a") be perceived ("graahyah") 
through the play of the sense organs; in short, that which is not 
an `object' of perception, but which is the very `subject'-who is the 
Perceiver in all that is perceived. 

The `subject' can never become the `object', and hence Truth is 
something that the sense organs cannot apprehend, as they do any 
other sense-objects. He is the one `subject' ever-perceiving all 
objects, through all sense-organs of all living creatures, 
everywhere, at all times.

The Lord is the `subject', not only in the sense organs, but He is 
the "feeler" in the mind and the "thinker" in the intellect. 

And thus the sense organs cannot perceive It, nor the mind feel It, 
nor the intellect apprehend It; says the Upanishad, "That from which 
words retire unapproached along with the mind" is the Supreme. Hence 
He is Agraahya-Imperceptible and Incomprehensible. 

Kenopanishad is very clear and emphatic: "That which the eyes cannot 
perceive, but because of which eyes are perceiving, understand That 
to be Brahman (Maha Vishnu) and not that which you here worship."

 

(56) Saasvatah -That which remains at all times the same is the 
Permanent, That which is permanent, should remain Changeless in all 
the three periods of time. In short, He is unconditioned by time. The 
Supreme Consciousness Itself is the very Illumminator of Time, and 
the Illuminator can never be affected by what It illumines. This 
changeless reality is Vishnu.

 

(57) Krishnah -The word Krishna means in Sanskrit `the dark'. The 
Truth that is intellectually appreciated, but spiritually not 
apprehended, is considered as `veiled behind some darkness'.

 

The root Krish means Existence (Sattaa) and na means Bliss (Aananda). 
So says Vyasa in Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva 70, 5. Therefore Krishna 
(Krish+na) means Existence- Bliss (Sattaa-Aananda). Thus, the very 
name divine, `Krishna', represents the Supreme Paramaatman. 

 

Or, because of His dark-blue complexion He is called as Krishna. 
Mahabharata Santi Parva 343 says, "As My colour is dark-blue, I am 
called Krishna, O Arjuna."

 

In Mahabharata, we find Krishna explaining Himself to Arjuna `when 
the earth becomes shelled in by its hard crux I shall turn myself 
into an iron plough-share and shall plough the earth.

 

Apart from the above meaning Krishna also means the Enchanter of all 
His devotees (Aakarshana). Truth is One which irresistibly attracts 
everybody towards Itself. Commentators have interpreted this 
significance in a more attractive context. They conclude that Krishna 
means One who sweeps away the sins in the heart of those who meditate 
upon Him.

Truth has got a magnetism to attract to Itself all the ego and ego-
centric passions of the individual. In this sense viewed, we need not 
consider Krishna as a deity of the farmyard in the agricultural 
estates. The Lord ploughs the hard stupidities in us and prepares the 
heart-field, weeding out all the poisonous growths of sin, and 
cultivates therein-pure Bliss which is of the nature of Reality. 

 

(58) Lohitaakshah -Red-eyed. Very often we find descriptions in the 
Puranas, where the Lord is explained as having eyes like the red-
lotus (Hibiscus). Generally the ruddy eyes represent anger and the 
incarnations are taken for the purpose of destroying the evil and so 
His anger is towards the evil-minded materialists who live ignoring 
the higher values of life. 

 

(59) Pra-tarda-nah - The root Tarda means "destruction" and with the 
prefix Pro the root (Pra-tarda) means "supreme destruction". One who 
does this total destruction (Pratardanah) is the Lord in the form of 
Rudra at the time of the great dissolution (Pralaya). 

 

(60) Prabhootah -The term means `born full' or `ever-full'. He is 
ever-full and perfect in His Essential Nature, as the Transcendental 
Reality, or even when He manifests in the form of His various 
incarnations. Especially in His chief and glorious incarnation as 
Lord Krishna, He proved Himself to be ever full with His Omnipotency 
and Omnisciency. 

 

(61) Tri-kakub-dhaama -One who is the very foundation or support 
(Dhaama) of the three ("tri") quarters (Kakubh). We find this is 
generally commented upon and described as "all quarters, in the three 
realms above, below and middle." Viewing this from the platform of 
Vedanta, He must be considered by us as the three Planes-of -
Consciousness-the waking (Jaagrat), the dream (Svapna) and the deep-
sleep (Sushupti) conditions. The fourth Plane-of-Consciousness 
(Tureeya) is the Substratum for all the other three planes. 

 

(62) Pavitram ?One who gives purity to the heart. To the seekers who 
are meditating upon Him, He gives inner purity, and hence He is known 
as Pavitram. 

 

Or, the term Pavi means; the weapon vajra (thunderbolt). One who 
saves ("tram") his devotees from the thunderbolt of lndra is 
Pavitram. This can also be interpreted as the "giridhara" episode 
where the lord saves his devotees from Indra's wrath. 

 

The thunderbolt is described as an instrument made out of the bone of 
sage Dadheechi. Indra is the Lord of the lndriyas. In Vedanta Indra 
signifies the mind. Mind's cross purposes, confusions, intellectual 
compromises and the consequent self- cancellation of our mental 
powers (Sankalpa-Vikalpa) can be the great thunderbolt of the mind 
with which Indra (mind) can destroy in no time all the acquired tapas 
of the saadhaka. Deep devotion, ardent meditation and firm faith in 
the Lord Vishnu save the saadhaka from all such mental storms and, 
therefore, the Lord acquires the significant name Pavitram 

 

(63) Param Mangalam -Mangalam is that which not only removes the dark 
pains of evil, but brings the bright joys of merit. Param Mangalam is 
Supreme Mangalam, and It can be none other than He, by whose mere 
remembrance all inauspiciousness gets lifted up and all 
Auspiciousness comes to flood our hearts The Upanishad declares. "May 
That Brahman-who removes all inauspiciousness in man and gives man 
all auspiciousness, by a mere remembrance of Him -give us all 
auspiciousness.

 

Stanza 8

eesaanah praanadah praano jyeshthah sreshthah prajaapatih
hiranya-garbho bhoo-garbho maodharo madhu-soodanah.


(64) Eesaanah ?"The Controller of all the five Great Elements". When 
this term is used, Eesvara becomes the Administrator of His own Law 
in the phenomenal world of plurality. The executive function of His 
Infinite Will, when manifested through Him, the Lord. Eesvara, is 
said to function as Eesaanah. Or, the term can also mean One who is 
the Supreme Eesvara-the Paramesvara.

 

(65) Praanadah -One who gives (Dadaati) the Praanas to all. The term 
Praanas used in philosophy indicated "all manifestations of Life in a 
living body". The Source of Life from which all dynamic activities in 
the living organisms of the world flow out, meaning, That from which 
all activities emerge out is Praanadah. 

Taittireeya Upanishad (2- 7) exclaims: "Who could then live. who 
could breath" if He be not every- where."

 

(66) Praanah -That which sustains is Praana and that which has got 
Praana functioning in it is called a Praanee. Since the Lord is 
termed as this very same Praana, it means by its suggestion that He 
is One who ever lives. The Immortal and the Eternal is Praanah.

 

The term can also mean that which gives Life-impulse even to the air; 
the capacity to sustain life in the atmosphere flows from Him alone. 

 

In the Kenopanishad we read the Supreme `Defined' as the "Praana of 
Praanas" (Praanasya Praanah).

 

(67) Jyeshthah -Older than all. The Infinite is That which was even 
before the very concept of space (Aakaasa) came into existence. The 
term is the superlative degree of the Aged. In short, the import of 
this term is the same as the more familiar term used in our sastras, 
the Ancient (Sanaatanah).

(68) Sreshthah -The most Glorious One: Here again it is the 
superlative degree of glorious, Sreyah.

(69) Prajaapatih -The Lord (Pati) of all living creatures 
(Prajaah) .The term Prajas means `Children'. Therefore Prajaapati 
means the Great Father, to whom all beings in the living kingdom are 
His own children, In this sense, the term connotes One, who, as the 
Creator, creates all creatures.

(70) Hiranyagarbhah -One who dwells in the womb (garbha) of the world 
(Hiranya). The Upanishad declares: "All these are in-dwelt by the 
Lord." The "Golden Universe" is an idiom in Sanskrit where `gold' 
means "objects of fulfilment and joy". One who dwells in them all is 
Hiranyagarbhah. The term can also mean as He who, having become first 
the Creator, has come to he considered as the womb of all objects.

(71) Bhoogarbhah -One who is the very womb of the world (Bhooh) The 
One from whom the world has emerged out. In the Cosmic Form of the 
Lord, this world occupies an insignificant though sacred portion, 
just as the foetus in the womb, constantly and lovingly nurtured and 
nourished by the very Essence in the mother. Or, Bhooh = the earth: 
the divine consort of Hari: Garbha = Protector.

(72) Maadhavah -The Lord of Maayaa, Spouse of Mahaalakshmee. Or, the 
term can signify the One who is ultimately experienced through a 
diligent practice of "Madhu technique": the very famous Madhu Vidyaa 
of the Chandogya Upanishad. The term Maadhavah can also mean One who 
is the Silent (Mauni); who is ever the Non-interfering Observer, the 
Silent Witness of the physical, mental and intellectual activities in 
the realm of change. To put it in one word, He is the One whom the 
seeker experiences when he has stilled his mind which has been 
purified by Yoga practices.

(73) Madhusoodanah  -One who destroyed the great demon Madhu. The 
story of Vishnu destroying these two demons, Madhu and Kaitabha, is a 
story of secret suggestions in Mahabharata. Madhu also means in Veda 
(Madhu=honey) as the fruits of actions (Karma-phala). Actions leave 
impressions and these sensuous Vaasanaas are destroyed by meditations 
on the Reality and so the Supreme gathers to Itself the name 
Madhusoodanah: "the Destroyer of Vaasanaas."

 

Stanza 9

eesvaro vikramee dhanvee medhaavee vikramah kramah
anuttamo duraadharshah kritajnah kritir-aatmavaan.


(74) Eesvarah -One who is Omnipotent, and so has all powers in Him to 
the full. The manifested powers of Life express themselves in every 
intelligent man as the power of action in the body (Kriyaa Sakti), 
the power of desire in the mind (Icchaa Sakti) and the power of 
knowledge in the intellect (Jnaana Sakti). All these three powers are 
manifestations of Him, and since He is the One everywhere, He is the 
total mighty power-the Great Vishnu.

(75) Vikramee -One full of prowess (Vikrama), courage, daring. Or, it 
can be One who has "Special foot steps". This term commemorates how 
the Lord, as Vamana, measured with His tiny three steps all the three 
worlds.

(76) Dhanvee -Lord Vishnu's Divine Bow is called `Saarnga' and it is 
described as the mightiest among the weapons. One who is having this 
Mighty Bow at all times is Dhanvee. It can also remind us of His 
incarnation as Sree Ramachandraji, when, in order to protect the 
world from the mighty Raakshasas of Lanka, He had to dedicate a 
substantial part of His life almost constantly wielding his bow: 
hence Sri Rama came to be known as Dhanushpaani; in His attitude of 
protection He is known as Kodandaraama. Thus, the term Dhanvee, the 
Wielder of the bow, is quite appropriate for Vishnu. "I am Sri Rama 
among the Wielders of the bow" ?Geeta Ch.l0, St. 31.

(77) Medhaavee -Supremely intelligent; One who is capable of 
understanding everything. One who has the capacity to comprehend 
intellectually all that is happening around is called Medhaavee. 
Since Consciousness is the One Light in all living creatures, which 
illumines all intellects, and since Vishnu is this Infinite 
Consciousness, He is the One Knower, knowing all things, at all 
times, at once. Hence Sarasvati, the Goddess of Learning and 
Knowledge is described as the very tongue of Vishnu.

(78) Vikramah -While describing the term Vikramee (75) we had already 
explained the meaning contents of Vikrama, and thus Vikrama is an 
appellation that had come to Vishnu as a result of His Supernatural 
Act of measuring the universe with three steps. 

Also, Vi means the "king-of-birds", the white-necked eagle; Krama 
means steps and, therefore, `movement or travel'. In this sense 
Vikrama can mean: "One who rides on the white- eagle (mind) is 
Vishnu"-who is described as having Garuda for His vehicle (Vaahanam).

(79) Kramah -He who is All-Pervading is Kramah. Because of His All-
Pervasiveness, the Infinite is called as Vishnu. That which goes 
beyond the frontiers of the known is the Supreme, and, therefore, in 
the description of Him, who has manifested as the Cosmos, we have in 
Purushasookta an indication that He not only pervades all that is 
known but "extends even beyond by ten digits" (Atyatishthat 
Dasaangulam).

(80) Anuttamah -One who is `incomparably Great' in glory-Anuttamah. 
In the Sanskrit construction of the word, it means something more 
than what we have said; it means: `He is one, beyond whom there 
exists none who is greater than He (unexcelled). The Upanishad itself 
describes Him: In Geeta (XI-43) we read: "For Thy equal exists not, 
whence another superior to Thee?" In Sri Narayana Upanishad (12) we 
again read, "There is nothing above or below, equal to Him".

(81) Duraadharshah -One who cannot be attacked, stormed or 
beleaguered successfully. In short, He is All-Powerful. In the 
Puranas, we find Daityas and Asuras and others, mighty and powerful 
ones, become themselves helpless victims of His Power and come under 
His sway. To one who has realized the Infinite, the lower nature of 
the mind (Daityas) and the enchantments of the senses (Raakshasas) , 
are all helpless to overwhelm Him. "Rasopyasya Param Drishtvaa 
Nivartate" -Geeta Ch. 2, St. 59.

(82) Kritajnah -He who knows all that is done by all: the One Knower 
who knows all physical activities, all emotional feelings, and all 
intellectual thoughts and motives. He illumines them all, in all, at 
all times. Hence He is called Kritajna. Vishnu is the One who knows 
clearly the exact depth of sincerity, the true ardency of devotion, 
the real amount of purity in the bosom of all his devotees, and, 
accordingly, brings joy and bliss to their hearts. 

(83) Kritih -The One, who is the very dynamism behind all activities. 
He is the Inevitability behind the result of actions. He is called 
Kritih because it is He who visits to bless the good and to punish 
the evil; in short; He is the One who rewards all our actions.

(84) Aatmavaan  -One who is the Self in all beings. In the Chandogya 
Upanishad (7.24.1) when the disciple asks, "Where does the Lord, the 
Infinite, stand established?" the Sruti answers, "In Its own glory 
established ever is the Self"-(Sve Mahimni Pratishthitah).

 

Stanza 10

suresah saranam sarma visva-retaah prajaa-bhavah
ahah samvatsaro vyaalah pratyayah sarvadarsanah.


(85) Suresah -The denizens of the Heavens are called in the Puranas 
as Suras. Eesa means the Lord; Suresa, therefore, indicates the God 
of gods, the Lord of the Suras. The gods are called as Suras because 
they are capable of blessing their devotees with a fulfilment of 
their desires. Therefore, Suresah means One who is the best among 
those who fulfil all the demands of their devotees (Suras). In short, 
He is the One who gives the Supreme State of Beatitude and the 
consequent total liberation from all desires of the ego.

(86) Saranam -The Refuge for all who are suffering from the thraldom 
of imperfection in life. According to the Sanskrit Lexicon 
(Amarakosa), the term Saranam means `Protector' and also `home'. 
Since the Lord is the Ultimate Goal, Saranam, He is also 
the "Destination", the `Harbour'. The One Who realizes Him comes to 
live in Him.

He is the home to which the prodigal son (jeeva) ultimately returns. 
Not only for the men of Realization is He the Home, but for all 
creatures, movables and immovables, He is the Home, to which they all 
disappear to rest and to revive during Pralaya (Sleep). 

(87) Sarma -One who is Himself the Infinite Bliss. Transcending the 
mind lie the shores of Bliss, beyond the waters of agitations. The 
Infinite is described in our Upanishads as the "Sacchidaananda", ever 
of the same nature-"Saantam Sivam Sundaram". 

(88) Visvaretaah -Retas means `seed'; the term connotes that He is 
the seed from which the tree of life has sprung forth. He who is the 
very cause for the entire play of experience in the world of 
pluralistic objects (Sarva- Prapancha-Kaaranabhootah) is called 
Visvaretaah. 

(89) Prajaabhavah -He from whom all living creatures (Prajaa) spring 
forth (Bhava) is known as Prajaabhavah. 

(90) Ahah -Ahan has got two meanings: the 24-hour-day or the 12-hour 
day-time. He is of the nature of `day-time' means "He is the One, 
ever effulgent and bright"; as bright as the daylight that illumines 
all objects around. In case we accept the other meaning, "the 24-hour-
day", then, a day being a unit of time, the term Ahan can also 
mean, "One who is of the nature of Time itself". Also He is one who 
does not (a) ever destroy (han) the devotees who have surrendered 
themselves to Him. 

(91) Samvatsarah -One who is of the nature of year-meaning One who is 
the Lord of Time; He, from whom the very `concept of Time' rises. 

(92) Vyaalah -One who is unapproachable. Vyaala also means `Serpent'; 
to those who have no devotion or understanding, God or Truth is as 
horrible and terrible as a `serpent'. Moreover, it is so difficult to 
grasp in our understanding that It is like a serpent: ever eluding, 
always slippery. 

(93) Pratyayah  -One whose very nature is Knowledge. That the Supreme 
is Knowledge Absolute is very well known. It is in the light of 
Consciousness that all `know- ledges' are possible. `Knowledge of a 
thing' is the Awareness of its nature. Awareness is Knowledge. Since 
the Supreme is the One Awareness everywhere, all `Knowledges' spring 
from the Self. Hence, He is called "the Pure 
Knowledge". "Consciousness is Brahman" is one of the Mahaavaakyas.

(94) Sarvadarsanah -This term, "All-seeing" is very appropriate in as 
much as the Supreme Consciousness has been defined and indicated in 
the Kenopanishad as, "That which the eyes cannot see, but because of 
which the eyes see". It is the Seer in the eyes, the Hearer in the 
ears, the Speaker, the Feeler and the Thinker". And since this 
Principle of Consciousness is One everywhere, as expressed through 
the equipments, It is indeed the One Seer in all `seeing', by 
everyone, everywhere. The Upanishad says:  and the Geeta indicates 
Him as "One who has eyes and heads everywhere".

 

Stanza 11

ajah sarvesvarah siddhah siddhih sarvaadir achyutah
vrishaakapir ameyaatmaa sarva-yoga- vinissritah.


(95) Ajah -Unborn. Birth implies a modification; birth cannot be 
without the death of its previous condition. Since the Eternal and 
the Infinite, is ever Changeless there can be in It neither birth nor 
death. That which is born must necessarily die: -(Geeta Ch. 2, St. 
27) and so, that which is unborn should be deathless (Amritah). 

Rig Veda (1-81-5): "He was neither born nor is He going to be born." 

(96) Sarvesvarah -God of all gods or the Supreme Controller of all. 
In a sense it means the Almighty, the All-powerful. "He is the Lord 
of all," says Brihad Upanishad (6-4-2). 

(97) Siddhah  -One who has achieved all that has to be achieved, as 
He Himself is the Final Goal for all. Or the term can also mean "the 
most famous". 

(98) Siddhih -He who is available for recognition (Siddha) everywhere 
at all points in His nature as Pure Consciousness. Again, Siddhi also 
means the `fruit of action', and in the context here this would-
mean, "He who gives the Infinite fruit of Kaivalya, Moksha." All 
other karmas can acquire for us only relative joys of the heavens, 
but in realizing the Self the seeker gains an `Infinite State from 
which there is no return', so describes Geeta. 

(99) Sarvaadih -One who is the very beginning (Aadi) of all; one who 
was in existence earlier than everything else. Even before effects 
arise, the Cause. The Infinite which was before creation and from 
which the created beings had emerged out, as an effect, is naturally 
the Primary Cause (Moola-Kaarana). 

(100) Achyutah -Chyutah= Fallen; Achy utah: One who has never fallen: 
the Ever-Pure Reality which is never fallen into the misconceptions 
of Samsar: the Pure Knowledge in which ignorance has never come to 
pollute Its purity. Lord Himself says in Bhagavata, "I have never 
ever before fallen from my Real Nature; therefore, I am Achyutah".

(101) Vrishaakapih -There is a lot of controversy among pundits upon 
the exact meaning of this term. But all controversies become 
meaningless when we read Bhagavan's own words, "Since Kapi has a 
meaning the `boar', and since vrisha has the meaning of `Dharma' the 
great Kasyapa Prajapati says I am Vrishaakapih". 

In Sanskrit the term Kapi has a meaning: `that which saves one from 
drowning'. Lord in the form of the Great Boar, (Varaaha) in that 
incarnation, had lifted the world from the waters at the end of the 
deluge; the term vrisha means `Dharma'. One who thus lifts the world 
drowned in Adharma to the sunny fields of Dharma is vrishaakapih 

(102) Ameyaatmaa -One who has His manifestations (Aatmaa) in Infinite 
varieties, almost unaccountable (Ameya), The Viraat Purusha of the 
Form of All-Lord of the Cosmic Form is suggested here. As all forms 
have risen from Him, exist in Him, and dissolve into Him alone, all 
forms are His own different forms.

(103) Sarva-yoga-vinissritah -Yoga is from Yuj `to join'; `to 
attach', One who is totally free (vinissritah) from all contacts or 
attachments. Attachment to a thing is possible only when the object-
of-attachment is other than the subject, In the One Infinite Reality 
there cannot be any attachment with anything, mainly because there is 
nothing here that is not the Infinite Itself. The Infinite is a Mass 
of Love; there is no attachment in It; for, attachment is Love with 
possessiveness and desire for gratification, "This Purusha is, 
indeed, unattached", roars Brihad Upanishad (6-3-15), Lastly, the 
term, Sarva- Yoga- Vinissritah can also mean that He is beyond the 
reach of the various systems of Yogas taught in the Sastras. These 
systems are to quieten the mind, to end the misapprehensions-of- 
Truth, to annihilate the Maayaa, What is there left over in the 
seeker's bosom is the Self-the Great Vishnu, 

 

Stanza 12

vasur-vasumanaah satyah samaatmaa sammitah samah
amoghah pundareekaaksho vrishakarmaa vrishaakritih.


(104) Vasuh -The One who is the very support of all elements, and the 
One who Himself is the very Essence of the elements, This is 
something like the dream made up of our own mind; and the very same 
dream-world plays itself out, all the time sustained in the very same 
mind. Similarly, the Self indwells all and all dwell in the Self. In 
the Geeta we are told by the Lord, "I am among the Vasus the 
Paavakah"-(Geeta. Ch. 10, St. 23). Therefore, the Self exists like 
air-allowing everything to remain in it and sustaining everything by 
it. 

(105) Vasumanaah -One who has a mind which is Supremely Pure; meaning 
a mind that 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.

(106) Satyah -He is the Real. The term Satyam used in philosophy has 
a special connotation. That which remains the same in all the three 
periods of time is called Satyam. That which seemingly exists, but 
which never was nor shall ever be, is considered as a false delusion, 
A-satya. He who remains the same, before the creation, during the 
existence and even after the dissolution, is the Infinite Truth, 
Satyah. The Taittireeya Upanishad thunders that the Eternal Truth 
is "Truth, Knowledge, Bliss": "Satyam, Jnaanam, Anantam Brahma" - 
Taittireeya Upanishad: 2-1. 

We may here mention a couple of other meanings that are generally 
given to this term "The best among good people is Satyam. Again, the 
word Satyam is made up of three sounds -Sat-ti-yam -and, herein, 
according to the Upanishad itself, "Sat means praana, ti means food, 
Yam means sun;" therefore, Sat yam is the Law which orders the food 
to sustain the praana when both are blessed by the sources of all 
gross energies in the cosmos, the Sun.

(107) Samaatmaa -He wbo is equally in all. In Kathopanishad we read 
the declaration of Lord Death to Nachiketas how the same Truth has 
come to express itself differently from form to form. To visualize 
the Paramesvara who revels equally ill all, among the perishables and 
imperishables, is the Vision Divine. Kauseshika Upanishad (3-9) 
says, "One should understand that the Self is the same-in-all". In 
the Geeta also is the declaration "I am the Seer in all the fields-of-
experiences everywhere" -Geeta Ch. 13, St. 3). 

(108) Sammitah -The term Sammatam means `acceptable'. The One. Truth, 
which has been proved and accepted by the Rishis In the Upanishads 
through subtle logic and philosophical reasoning, is called Sammatah. 
This is the most direct and very appealing meaning. But there are 
some who would interpret this portion of the Thousand Names of Lord 
Vishnu by combining Samaatmaa (107) and Sammitah (108) to form 
together a single `Name', wherein the compound word would read 
Samaatma-asammitah. Here the term Asammitah then would come to 
mean "One who is incomparable, Inimitable (Atulya) who has none to 
equal Him". 

(109) Samah -Equal; the same. Truth remains the same. One Infinite 
Reality plays the game of plurality. As has been said in the 
Kathopanishad, "The One Principle of Fire having entered this world 
burns itself out differently according to the equipments upon which 
it is manifested", so the One Truth manifests as the many Jeevas. 
Hence He is called the Samah. Also it can mean as One who is ever 
united, with (Sa) Lakshmi (Maa). 

(110) Amoghah -Moghah means "useless fellow" (Nishphalah), "a 
disappointing power". Amogha is the opposite of it: "Ever 
Useful", "Ever the Fulfiller" of all the wishes and demands of His 
devotees. Chandogya Upanishad (8-1-5) declares: "Truthful is His 
wish, and Truth is His resolve". 

(111) Pundareekaakshah -One who can be contacted and fully 
experienced in the Heart Space (Pundareekam). In the Narayana 
Upanishad (10) we find the same term employed: "In the core of the 
body, in the Heart Space, dwells the Supreme." In the `Heart', the 
meditator can experience the Reality more readily and very clearly, 
and so the All- Pervading Reality is described as "dwelling in the 
Heart-cave". 

(112) Vrishakarmaa -Vrisha means Dharma. One whose every activity is 
righteous and who acts only to establish righteousness. "For the sake 
of establishing Dharma, I am born in every age", says Lord -(Geeta 
Ch. 4, St. 8). 

(113) Vrishaakritih -One who is of the form (Aakriti) of Dharma 
(Vrisha). It is not only that His actions are righteous but He is 
Himself Righteousness. It can also mean as One who takes different 
forms during His Divine Incarnations-all for maintaining the Rule of 
Dharma in the world. 

 

Stanza 13

Rudro bahu-siraa babhrur visvayonis-suchi-sravaah-
amritah saasvatah-sthaanur- varaaroho mahaatapaah.


(114) Rudrah -One who makes all people weep, At the time of death or 
during the total dissolution, the One who makes all weep is Rudrah. 
>From a devotee's standpoint the same term is interpreted as the One 
who liquidated all sorrows is Rudrah. Bhagavan declares Himself to 
be "Among the Rudras, I am Sankara ?(Geeta Ch. 10, St. 23). According 
to the Vedic terminology there are 11 Rudras; this eleventh "Rudra" 
is called as Sankara: Sam-karoti-iti = Sankarah - "One who blesses 
all with Auspiciousness (Sam)." 

(115) Bahusiraah -One who has many heads. The Purushasooktam of the 
Rig Veda describes the Cosmic Form of the Lord with a narration, "The 
Purusha of thousand heads, thousand eyes and thousand feet??."  In 
Geeta a similar description of the Universal Form of the Lord is 
found in Chapter XI. Again in the Geeta Chapter XIII when the Lord 
was describing the Infinite Goal to be known (Jneyam), He describes 
It as "Everywhere legs, everywhere hands, every- where eyes, 
everywhere His face". 

Thus, He whose personal manifestations constitute the universe is 
known as "One who has many heads." 

(116) Babhruh -One who rules over the worlds. "Like a King" -
Atmabodham gives this analogy .He in whose presence all the 
instruments of perception, feeling and knowing continue their 
coordinated activity is the Self, the Atman, who is Great Lord 
Vishnu. 

(117) Visvayonih -One who is the Total Cause from which alone the 
entire world of experiences (visvam) has emerged out. The womb (yoni) 
from which thoughts and actions had risen is called Visvayonih. 

(118) Suchisravaah  -One who has beautiful and efficient ears 
(Sravas): "Everywhere are His ears"-(Geeta Ch. 13, St. 13) meaning 
thereby He is the Hearer in all ears. The term Sravas not only means 
ears, but it also means "names" -so Suchisravas can mean `One who has 
Divine and Sacred names'. Thus, the devotee can invoke Him with 
thousands of His names when He can readily listen in and rightly 
understand the exact purity and the real depth of devotion in the 
devotee. Also the term can be used to indicate the One whose "names" 
are worthy of being heard by seekers. 

(119) Amritah -One who is Immortal and Immutable. Mritam = dead. The 
Infinite is Ajarah, Amarah and Avyayah. It can also mean as One who 
is of the nature of Nectar (Amritam) -a sure cure for those who are 
suffering from malady of ignorance. Amritah also means Moksha; and 
thus it is indicated, He is the ever-liberated-the Pure State of 
Being.

(120) Saasvata-sthaanuh -One who is both permanent (Saasvatah) and 
irremovable (Sthaanuh). He is the One who remains Changeless, because 
Immortal; who remains the same in all periods of time, because 
permanent (Saasvatah); and who remains changeless in His nature or 
Consciousness (Sthaanuh). This is a single term (Saasvata-sthaanuh) 
and, therefore, we must add the meanings together- Permanent and 
Changeless; Permanently Changeless Factor in lire is Vishnu. 

(121) Vararohah - He who is the most Glorious (Vara) Destination 
(Aaroha). The Seat of the Self is the most Glorious because the 
imperfections of the world-of-matter (Prakriti) are not there in the 
Spirit (Purusha). Liberation from the thraldom of matter is the 
arrival of the Infinitude of the Self. "He never returns", thunders 
the Chandogya Upanishad (8-15-1) three times in one and the same 
breath, assuring us that one who has reached the Seat of Vishnu, 
beyond the frontiers of the intellect, there is for him no more any 
return ever into the ego-centric life of tensions of sorrows. 

(122) Mahaatapaah -One of great Tapas. The term tapas in Sanskrit has 
three meanings: `Knowledge' (Jnaana), `Prosperity' (Aisvarya) and 
also `Might' (Prataapa). It is in the presence of Consciousness that 
we come to know all our experiences. `Conscious of' a thing or an 
idea is the `Knowledge of' the thing or the idea. That about which I 
am not conscious of, I have really no knowledge of it. All 
knowledges, of all bosoms, in all living creatures, everywhere, at 
all times, cannot be without the play of Consciousness upon the 
respective objects of knowledge, and hence this Consciousness is 
indicated in the Upanishads as Pure Knowledge, in the light of which 
alone all knowledges are possible. All achievements and prosperity 
(Aisvarya), all might and power of the living creatures can express 
themselves through them only when they are alive. This great truth is 
Maha Vishnu. "Whose Tapas is of the nature of Knowledge" (Mundaka- 
Upanishad. 1-1-9). 

 

Stanza 14

sarvagah sarvavid-bhaanuh- vishvak-sena janaardanah
veda vedavid-avyango vedaanga vedavit kavih.


(123) Sarvagah ?"He who has gone everywhere", meaning "One who 
pervades everything". The cause pervades its effect: gold in all 
ornaments; ocean in all waves; cotton in all cloth. The Infinite 
Consciousness Itself expresses as both world-of-matter (Kshetra) and 
the Knower-of-the-field (Kshetrajna). Vishnu, the Infinite is beyond 
these two (Uttamah Purushah) in whom there is no expression of matter 
and, there- fore, no `Knower'-hood. He is the All-Pervading Self, 
Maha Vishnu. 

(124) Sarvavid-bhaanuh -One who is All- Knowing (Sarvavit) and 
Effulgent (Bhaanuh) .The Light of Consciousness is the "Light that 
illumines all lights" and it is again Consciousness that "illumines 
even darkness" -Geeta Ch.13, St.17. In the Mundaka Upanishad (4.10) 
also we read:  "By its Light alone it illumines all other 
experiences." Sarvavit-Bhaanuh is one term: meaning that all Knowing 
Effulgent Consciousness. 

(125) Vishvaksenah -He, while facing whom, even the mighty army of 
the gods retreat and scatter away, is called as Vishvaksenah. He is 
the Almighty and All-Powerful, and no army can stand against Him. 

(126) Janaardanah -The term Ardayati is a verb meaning both `giving 
sorrow' or `giving joy'. Thus, One who gives sorrow and disaster to 
the vicious, and who blesses with joy and peace to the good people is 
called Janaardanah. 

(127) Vedah ?The term Veda comes from the root vid: `to know'. Since 
Veda gives knowledge, the Lord is termed as Vedah, in the sense, that 
He is the One who gives the Knowledge of the Reality, because He is 
the very Reality. In Mahabharata, Vyasa says: "Krishna alone is All-
vedas, All-sciences, All-techniques and All-dedicated Actions". In 
the Bhagavad Geeta (Ch. 10, St.2) Lord says: "Out of mere compassion 
for them, I, abiding in their Self, destroy the darkness born of 
ignorance, by the luminous lamp of wisdom". 

(128) Vedavit ?`One who knows the veda'. The Lord alone is the One 
Experience without which the Vedas cannot be fully realized. The 
surest and the most exhaustive commentary of the Vedas is to be found 
only in a stilled mind, which is in communion with Vishnu, the 
Supreme Reality. Geeta (Ch. 15, St. 15) says, "I am the author of the 
Vedanta, as well as the Knower of the Vedas." 

(129) Avyangah -He who has no imperfections (Vyanga) anywhere in him- 
The All-Perfect. The term Vyanga also means person, and so A vyanga 
means One who cannot be known by anyone in any `personal-form'. Geeta 
plainly says "This great Reality is Imperceptible, Unthinkable, 
without any modifications". -Geeta. Ch. 2, St. 25

(130) Vedaangah ?One whose very limbs are the vedas. In Kenopanishad 
in the closing stanzas, the teacher insists that all knowledges are 
Its limbs.

(131) Vedavit ?`One who contemplates upon the Veda is Vedavit': 
(Vedam Vichaarayati=Vedavit). Mere word meaning cannot give us the 
true concept of the subtle theme discussed in the Vedas. Continuous 
reflection upon their declarations alone can reach us to the peaks of 
their imports. In the Geeta, Bhagavan Himself declares that He is not 
only the very Revealer of Vedas but He is at once the Knower of the 
Veda -Geeta Ch. 15, St. 15.

It is absolutely necessary that the student of the Vedas should try 
to understand the meaning of their declaration. To repeat the mantras 
parrot-like is not of any consequence: `He who has studied the Vedas 
but has not understood the meaning, but carries a load, as the `road-
rest' on the roadside.' Thus He who constantly reflects upon the 
Veda, and naturally lives up to it, is the Great Lord. 

(132) Kavih -The term Kavi in the Vedas means the `Seer'. One who 
experiences something more than the ordinary is called a Kavi. In the 
Isavasyopanishad (8) we read: -"The Seer, the Intelligent...."  In 
the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (5-7-23) we read: "There is no Seer 
except Him." 

In the Glory of the Lord, He confesses, in the Geeta, "among the 
Poets, I am Usanas, Sukra-Aachaarya".

 

Stanza 15

lokaadhyakshah suraadhyaksho dharmaadhyakshah krita-akritah
chaturaatmaa chaturvyoohas-chatur-damshtras-chatur-bhujah.


(133) Lokaadhyakshah ?One who presides over all fields of 
experiences -all lokas. President is one who is responsible for the 
conduct of the assembly; he guides the discussion in a disciplined 
manner, and ultimately at the end of it all, he dissolves the 
meeting. All through the discussions he never interferes with the 
freedom of speech and action of the members, if they act within the 
agenda of the day. Similarly, the Lord presides over all the fields 
of activities, never interfering with the freedom of the individuals 
to act. "The Supreme Purusha in this body is also called the 
spectator, the permitter, the supporter, the enjoyer, the great Lord, 
and the Supreme Self." From the Puranic standpoint the Lord in His 
Vaamana manifestation was installed as the king of the three worlds 
and, therefore, this name, say the Pauraanikas. 

(134) Suraadhyakshah -The President of the Heavens to whom the Devas 
run for protection when they are threatened by their constant 
enemies -the Daityas and the Asuras. When in the Heaven of our bosom, 
the thought-angels are threatened by the negative tendencies and 
criminal purposes, He to whom the good in us surrender totally for 
sure protection and safety is Vishnu, the President within the bosom. 

(135) Dharmaadhyakshah -Presiding over the activities of the living 
organisms, Consciousness revels, illumining both the good and the 
evil therein. The One Sacred factor that constantly thus illumines 
all the nature and functions (Dharma) of the body, mind and intellect 
is the Dharmaa- dhyakshah, Lord Vishnu. 

(136) Kritaakritah -Kritam = that which is done = that which is 
manifested or created Akritam, therefore, is that which has not 
manifested or become. The former (Kritam) indicates all the "effects" 
manifested out of the Creator's activities, and the latter (Akritam) 
is the "cause" from which no manifestation has yet emerged -it is 
still unmanifest. The Self, the Atman, is the `Post' -in the ghost-in-
the-post example -upon which the cause and the effect, the unmanifest 
and the manifest, like the "ghost" apparently come to play (Kritam = 
Vyaktam, A-Kritam = A-Vyaktam). 

(137) Chaturaatmaa -The Self is described as four-fold when we 
consider the Atman as the Glory (Vibhooti) of the Self. Thus, the 
Essential factors, with which alone the endless play of creation, 
sustenance and destruction can continue, are the glories of the Self 
(Aatma-Vibhooti). In Vishnu Purana, four distinct vibhooties of the 
Lord -when He functions as the creator, sustainer and destroyer -are 
found enumerated. From the standpoint of a Vedantic student, since in 
the Non-dual Reality there cannot be anything other than It- self, 
all the plays of the gross, the subtle and causal bodies, in the 
microcosm and in the macrocosm, are the glories (vibhooties) of the 
One Self. In the Absolute, in the Eternal, all these are transcended; 
these- the water, dreamer, deep-sleeper, the Tureeya -are all Its 
Glories. The Possessor of these Glories is the One that transcends 
even "Tureeya"; He is called as the Tureeyaateetah. 

(138) Chaturvyoohah  -One who manifests into the four mighty powers 
(Vyooha). The Truth, that plays thus Himself in these four levels 
having apparently created the world of experiences, is Vishnu, the 
All-Pervading. According to the Vaishnava literature, for the purpose 
of creation, Maha Vishnu Himself became four mighty powers (Vyooha) 
and they were called Vaasudeva, Samkarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. 
One who has Himself these four mighty powers, necessary for the 
conduct of plurality, is the Great Self, Maha Vishnu.

(139) Chatur-Damshtrah -The canine teeth fully developed in the upper 
and the lower rows, as in the case of carnivorous animals, are called 
in Sanskrit as Damshtraa. This is reminiscent of the Powerful 
Damshtraa of the Lord when He took the form of Nara-Simha to protect 
Prahlaada. 

Also in the Puranas we find that the Great white Elephant of Indra, " 
Airaavata," has four tusks -He whose glory is the four-tusked 
Airaavata is Maha- Vishnu. To the student of the Upanishad, it is 
indeed very clear that these four `tusks' or `teeth' are nothing 
other than the four paadas which Mandukya thunders -"Chatushpaada". 
The manifestation of the Might and Glory of the Supreme are the play 
of the waking, dream and deep-sleep conditions. With reference to 
these three, transcending them all, is the fourth plane-of-
consciousness the Springboard for all these three. He, whose Glory 
are all these four grinding, crushing, fearful experiences of 
duality, is the One Non-dual Self, the Great Maha Vishnu. 

(140) Chaturbhujah ?"One who has four hands". It is famous that Maha 
Vishnu has four hands and they carry the Conch, the Discus, the Mace, 
and the Lotus. According to the Puranas, these four are used by the 
Lord in maintaining Dharma among mankind. The `Conch' calls man to 
the righteous path that directly leads to Peace and Perfection, the 
Divine Vishnupada. Very many of us in the enchantment of the 
immediate sense-joys refuse to listen to the small inner voice of 
conscience, the sound of the Paanchajanya-conch, and so He wields 
the `Mace' and we come to suffer small calamities and tragic jerks in 
our smooth existence -communal, social or national. If still the 
individual is not listening to the call of the `Conch', the wheel-of-
time, Chakra annihilates the entire. The call and the punishment are 
all only to take man towards his Ultimate Goal, represented by 
the "Lotus" in His hand. 

Subjectively Vishnu is the Self within, who manifests as the four-
armed `subtle-body' to serve as the Eesa of the gross physical 
structure, in all its actions and protect it with existence. 
The "Subtle-body" as the inner-equipment (Antah-Karana) functions as 
four mighty powers -mind, intellect, chit and ego. Chit is 
the `Lotus', intellect is the `Conch', ego is the `Mace', and mind is 
the `Discus'. All these four are wielded by the One Infinite Blue-
bodied Narayana, clothed in His `yellow garb', manifesting to 
maintain and sustain the world of good and evil. Since the Self 
functions thus in a four-fold pattern, Vishnu has the 
appellation, "the four-armed Lord." 

 

Stanza 16

bhraajishnur-bhojanam bhoktaa sahishnur- jagadaadijah
anagho vijayo jetaa visvayonih punarvasuh.


(141) Bhraajishnuh -Self-Effulgent Consciousness illumines 
everything; and it is not borrowing Its Light from any other 
source. "It is the Light of lights that illumines even darkness"-
(Geeta Ch. 13, St.18). And the Upanishad is equally vehement and 
declares: "There the sun has no light nor the stars nor these 
lightnings; how little then can this fire! By its Light alone all 
these are illumined.

(142) Bhojanam -The immediate meaning of the term is food, viz. 
eatables. In philosophy it has a wider implication and the 
term "food" cannotes the entire field-of-objects experienced or 
enjoyed by the sense-organs. The world-of-objects projected by the 
sense-organs, the inner psychological play and this world-of-matter 
constituting the field-of-plurality, all together is comprehended by 
the term Maayaa. Thus cathodox commentators reduce this 
term `Bhojanam' to the contents and functions of Maayaa. Taittireeya 
Upanishad (2-7) says: "He is indeed the Essence (Rasa)".

(143) Bhoktaa -The "Experiencer" Not only the world-of-objects is 
essentially nothing but the Spirit, Lord Vishnu, but even the very 
instruments-of -experiences and their ultimate joys and sorrows, are 
all illumined for us by the Lord- of-Lakshmi. The Pure Self, 
expressing through the gross, the subtle and the causal bodies, 
becomes the waker, dreamer and deep-sleeper, experiencing all 
happenings, good and bad, as the individuality in that living person. 
Consciousness, Purusha, identifying with and functioning through 
matter (Prakriti), comes to experience the endless modifications that 
are born out of Prakriti. The Self in Its Infinite nature is 
actionless and yet in Maayaa seems to function and becomes the 
Enjoyer or Sufferer of the actions of matter.

(144) Sahishnuh -One who is capable of patiently suffering, in his 
perfect detachment, all that is happening around, is a sahishnuh. 
Whatever happens to the reflections of the Sun, the Sun in the cosmos 
is unaffected by them, and with reference to his reflections we can 
call him a Sahishnuh, the Sun is a mere "witness" of his own endless 
reflections. 

The term has also got two more meanings in Sanskrit as `Forgiver' 
or `Conqueror'. Vishnu is one who forgives us readily all our 
trespasses, and conquers for us all the inimical forces in our inner 
personality. 

(145) Jagadaadijah -One who had born (Jah) in the very beginning 
(aadi) of the world (jagat) is called Jagadaadijah. At the time of 
dissolution (Pralaya) when the entire gross and subtle bodies go to 
lie absorbed in the Total Causal-body, the world, in Pralaya, lies 
merged in Eesvara. Before the gross world-of-plurality emerges out 
there should be a condition of subtle manifestation of it in the form 
of thoughts. Thoughts constitute the mind-intellect; when the 
Infinite functions through this Total Mind-intellect, It is called as 
Hiranyagarba the womb of all objects, it is from the Hiranya garba-
state, the manifestation of the gross world emerges out, when the 
lord comes to play as a Virat Aatmaa. Maha Vishnu is the one who was 
born before the world of gross bodies, therefore it is indicated here 
that he is the "Womb-of all- objects" in the world, the Hiranyagarba-
the very creator.

(146) Anaghah -Agham means sin (Paapa), impurities (mala); and 
therefore, Anaghah means One who has no imperfections and who is not 
affected by the good and bad Vaasanaas left over in the personality 
as a result of the wilful actions. He is the Uncontaminated 
(Aliptah) .The Light of Consciousness is the Illuminator of the mind, 
and so the peace of virtue or the agitations of the sin cannot affect 
the Illuminator -the Illuminator being always different from the 
illuminated. Chandogya Upanishad (8-1-5) says: "He is free from Sin". 

(147) Vijayah ?"The Victorious". One who realizes the Self can 
thereafter stand apart from the thraldom of matter, Victorious over 
the tyrannies of the flesh, feelings or facts. Thus, the Seat of Self 
is the Seat of Victory over matter. The Peace and harmony of the Self 
can never be assailed by the noisy hordes of the world of plurality. 
Vijaya is the name also of Arjuna and the Lord Himself says, "Among 
the Pandavas, I am Arjuna" - Geeta Ch. 10, St. 37. 

(148) Jetaa ?"Ever Successful". In all undertakings He alone wins; 
One who never knows any defeat or failure. Upanishad says: "Truth 
alone wins, never falsehood". 

(149) Visvayonih -It can be interpreted in two ways as (a) He who is 
the Cause of the universe or (b) He who has the world as His Cause. 
The former is clear to those who have so far followed the commentary, 
and to them the latter may be a very confusing statement. From the 
standpoint of the Puranas, it is logical. The Self has manifested as 
the various Incarnations from time to time because of the condition 
of the world, and therefore, Visvam is the cause for His 
manifestations. 

(150) Punarvasuh -One who comes to live again and again in various 
equipments of living organisms is Punarvasuh: 

 

Stanza 17

upendro vaamanah praamsur-amoghah suchir-oorjitah
ateendrah samgrahah sargo dhritaatmaa niyamo yamah.


(151) Upendrah -The younger brother of Indra. In His Incarnation as 
Vaamana, He was born to Aditi, who was the mother of Indra, and 
hence, the Lord is known as the "Younger brother of Indra". In 
Sanskrit the prefix upa denotes `Above' in the sense of `superior 
to'; therefore, Upendra may also mean "One who is superior to Indra", 
the king of gods. Such an explanation we find in the Harivamsa (76-
47).

Indra, the king of the sense-organs, is the mind and the 
Consciousness, which is the Self, is the One factor that dynamises 
the mind. Since life is that which controls even the mind, certainly 
It is superior to the mind and this Self is the Maha Vishnu. 

(152) Vaamanah -Of the ten great incarnations, the fifth one is 
Vaamana; and the very name indicates `One who has a small body'. It 
was in the form of a child (vatuh =A child student in a gurukula) 
that Vaamana approached the divinely righteous Emperor Mahaabali to 
beg of him a little land, of the length of his tiny three steps-and 
the Lord measured in His three steps all the three worlds and thus 
conquered Mahaabali. He checked (Vamayati) the rising pride of 
possession in Bali, hence He, in that incarnation as a Vatu, is 
called Vaamana. 

The term Vaamana also means `worshipful': "Him, the Dwarf, sitting in 
the middle of the heart, all gods adore", so we read in the 
Kathopanishad (5-3). However, here the emphasis should be upon the 
meaning "short statured" because of the contrast it makes with the 
following name. 

(153) Praamsuh -One whose body is vast is called Praamsuh. Vaamana, 
when He got the promise from the righteous King, and when He started 
measuring, the Lord took His Cosmic Form, and with each step measured 
the earth, the interspace, and the heaven. In Harivamsa (262-263) 
there is a beautiful description of the little Vaamana growing into 
His Total Form. The rate of His expansion is described with reference 
to two fixed factors the Sun and the Moon. When He took the form, the 
Sun and the Moon were His eyes; as He measured the earth, they came 
to His bosom; as He was measuring the space, the Sun was at His navel 
and as He lifted His feet to measure the Heaven, the Sun and the Moon 
were just below His knees.

(154) Amoghah -One whose activities are ever a fulfilment of some 
great purpose. Even insignificant actions, which, ordinarily, people 
would think are empty and purposeless, are never really so, when they 
spring from Him. Even when He punishes, it is only for inaugurating a 
greater evolutionary blessing. 

(155) Suchih -One who is spotlessly `clean', and therefore, Ever-
Pure. Impurities in a substance are things other than itself; when 
dust is on the cloth, the cloth is impure, unclean. Since the Self, 
the Aatman, is the Non- Dual Reality, having nothing other than 
Itself in It, Ever-pure alone must It always be. And Suchih is One 
who gives this purity to those who contemplate upon Him constantly. 

(156) Oorjitah -One who has infinite strength and vitality. Wherever, 
in the organism, we meet with any strength and vitality they are all 
the strength and vitality of the Self. The Infinite Vishnu is the One 
All-Pervading Self, and therefore, He is the very springhead for all 
strength.

(157) Ateendrah  -One who is beyond Indra in knowledge, glory and 
strength. Since Indra represents the `mind-intellect' equipment, 
Aatman, the Self is denoted here as that which transcends the mind. 

(158) Samgrahah -One who holds the entire world of beings-and-things 
together in an indissoluble embrace unto Himself. Just as the hub of 
a wheel holds the rim unto itself by its endless spokes, so too the 
Aatman, the Self within, lends Its vitality to every cell in the body 
and to every thought in the inner-equipments. 

In none can anything happen which is not a glory borrowed from Him. 
And, the Self, being the same everywhere, in all existence, in both 
the movables and immovables, gross and subtle -in the manifest as 
well as in the unmanifest - He certainly is the One who holds the 
world of phenomena unto Himself in a vast embrace of Love and 
Oneness. 

(159) Sargah -One who has created out of Him- self the whole world. 
It therefore must also connote One, who has the whole created world 
as His own form, since the creation is His own manifestation as the 
Subtle and the Gross. 

(160) Dhritaatmaa -One who supports Himself by Himself. In the 
previous epithet Samgrahah, He was shown as the Cohesion of Love in 
the world of matter and energy, and in Sargah, He, as the One 
material and efficient cause of creation, was shown as also the very 
supporter of the manifested world. But who supports Him? He is 
Dhritaatmaa - He is established in Himself. 

(161) Niyamah -The Appointing Authority: It is He, who orders all the 
mighty forces of nature and prescribes for each the Laws of their 
conduct, the ways of their behaviour and the methods of their 
functions. The Sun, Moon, Air, Waters, Dik-Paalakas, Death etc. are 
all appointed and ordered by the Lord. 

(162) Yamah -One who is the mighty Power that administers all the 
forces of Nature under His Law. Everything in nature strictly obeys 
ever all His Laws.

 

 

Stanza 18

vedyo vaidyah sadaa-yogee 
veerahaa maadhavo madhuh
ati-indriyo mahaamaayo mahotsaaho mahaabalah.


(163) Vedyah -That which is to be known; in the language of the 
Geeta, it is Jneyam. That final knowledge, knowing which every-thing 
becomes known. "Kasmin nu bhagavo vijnaate sarvamidam vijnaatam 
bhavati iti"-(Mundaka. 1-3).

All sciences are investigations into Truth After observing the nature 
and behaviour of things and beings when the investigator moves ahead 
seeking the ONE Harmonious Chord of Reality that holds all phenomena 
in its inescapable love-web, the scientist of Truth-comes to reject 
first the gross, and soon thereafter the subtle realms, and 
ultimately even the causal factors, and thus-comes to apprehend this 
harmony, which he is seeking as the very subjective core of his own 
Self. This final Goal to be realized, "having known which everything 
else becomes known," the One Consummate Knowledge to be gained 
(Vedyah), is the Self, the Great Vishnu.

(164) Vaidyah -The One Supreme Doctor who alone can minister to the 
world suffering from ego and egocentric misconceptions. One who is a 
master of all knowledge (Vidyaa) is also termed as Vaidvah 

(165) Sadaa Yogee -To the confused and the deluded to detach 
themselves from the false vestures-of-matter and to seek their 
identity with the ETERNAL Self is called Yoga. All attempts in 
attaining an at-one-ment with the Self is called Yoga. The Goal, the 
Self, therefore, in the language of the seeker must be Sadaayoga-ever-
in yoga. 

(166) Veerahaa ?"He who destroys the mighty heroes". The powerful men 
of strength and valour when they grow in their audacity to become 
tyrants, the Lord manifests to destroy such Raakshasas and thus 
protects the Dharma and the Good. 

(167) Maadhavah -Earlier this term was used (72) where we interpreted 
the term as the "Lord of Lakshmi." Maa means not only "Lakshmi," but 
she is also "Vidyaa" (Knowledge). The Lord (Dhava) of all Knowledge 
(Maa) is Maadhava.

He who helps introspection and meditation in the seeker is 
Maadhava. "To become conscious of the existence of a thing" is called 
the knowledge of the thing, The Aatman, the Self is Existence (Sat) 
and Consciousness (Sphurana) and, therefore, Lord Vishnu, the Self is 
the source of all knowledge and as such the Master of all Vidyaas: 
(Maa-dhava), Harivamsa says" "O Hari, You are the Lord (Dhava) of 
Knowledge (Maa), and hence You are called as Maadhava, the Master of 
Maa." 

(168) Madhuh -The term Madhuh familiarly stands for "honey". It is 
also a term to indicate "nectar." One who generates Nectarine Bliss 
in the hearts of His devotees is called Madhuh. The springtime in 
India is called as Madhumaasa since spring is the season of flowers; 
full of honey for the bees, and joy for man. The month called Madhu 
(March- April) is the Chaitra month which is considered specially 
auspicious for prayers, and meditation. One who is of the nature of 
the Maadhava-maasa, the month of Maadhava (April-May) can also be the 
suggestion in this term. Vaisaakha (April-May) is considered as the 
most auspicious time of the year for the worship of Vishnu by all 
Vaishnavites. 

(169) Ateendriyah -One who is beyond the sense-organs not only in the 
sense, that the sense-organs cannot perceive Him as their `object' 
but also in the sense that He is other than the sense-organs and 
their functions. Lending to them, all their very vitality, is His 
mere presence! He is the very `subject' in the perceiver, and, 
therefore, the instruments of perceptions, emotions, and thoughts 
cannot experience Him: this Source of All-life is Maha Vishnu. 
Kathopanishad (3-15) says: "He is soundless, untouched, formless, 
immutable, so without taste, eternal, smell-less. 

(170) Mahaamaayah -One who is the Supreme Master of all Maayaa. He is 
the very Substratum upon which all the plurality spring up and play 
their infinite enchantments, constantly basking in the Light of the 
Supreme Consciousness. Aatman, the Self, is untouched by the play of 
Maayaa, and yet the Maayaa-play is sustained only by the exuberant 
warmth of His Divine presence. The Sun is the Master of all clouds, 
inasmuch as, in its presence, borrowing its heat, water by its own 
nature gets evaporated, and the water, vapour again, because of its 
own nature of a lesser density than the atmospheric air, rises to the 
higher altitudes and gathers there as clouds. It is, again, the 
nature of the atmosphere that at higher altitudes it is cooler and 
the water-vapour so cooled becomes water again, and due to the higher 
density of water it descends as rain. In this example the Sun can be 
called as the "Creator" of all clouds and the "Cause for the rams," 
and consequently the sun is also the " Master of the Seasons." And 
yet, the Sun is uncontaminated by all these phenomena that are 
happening in its presence. 

In the same fashion the Infinite Reality, Vishnu, is indicated here 
as the Great Magician, who has the magic of Maayaa at His command. 
Krishna Himself confesses in the Geeta: "Very difficult indeed it is 
to cross over My Maayaa" -(Geeta Ch. 7 St. 14). 

(171) Mahotsaahah -The Great Enthusiast; the Ever-Dynamic 
Accomplisher. The Powers of creation, of sustenance and of 
annihilation-in their totality is the world of birth and death that 
we live in. This wonderful world cannot be sustained without the 
endless enthusiasm of this Mighty Power. Looking at the ocean, 
through the waves, we come to recognise the ocean as the "Sleepless 
Agitator"; similarly, looking at Vishnu, "through the ephimeral 
kaleidoscopic changes in the patterns of life available to us in our 
experience today, we call Him as the "Dynamic accomplisher" 
(Mahotsaahah). The term employed here, the Enthusiastic Accomplisher, 
is indeed one of the most appropriate names for Maha Vishnu. 

(172) Mahaabalah -One who has Supreme Strength. He, being Omnipotent, 
is the Source of all Strength that we see in each individual organism 
in life. His Vitality reflected in each of us, is our individual 
strength; naturally He is the Infinitely Strong, Mahaabalah.

 

Stanza 19

mahaabuddhir-mahaa- veeryo mahaa-saktir mahaa-dyutih
anirdesya-vapuh sreemaan ameyaatmaa mahaadri-dhrik.


(173) Mahaabuddhih-In the previous term, we were told He is 
Omnipotent. Here He is indicated as Omniscient. The Supreme, 
functioning through the intellect, is the intelligence. The quality 
and quantity of the intelligence will depend upon the condition of 
the "intellect' through which the Infinite comes to play. The 
intelligence in a mathematician, poet or an artist, scientist or 
politician-all are the different play-patterns of energies invoked 
from the one Supreme Intelligence, and therefore, Mahavishnu, the 
Self, is called here as Mahaabuddhih, the Reservoir of all 
Intelligence.

(174) Mahaaveeryah -One who is the Supreme Essence. "Veerya" is the 
Essence behind all the creative urges. Since the Divine is the very 
source, from which alone the dynamism for creation can manifest, the 
Supreme Divinity is termed here as the Mahaaveerya. 

(175) Mahaasaktih -All-Powerful. Power here means efficiency. He-
whose manifestations are the power-of-action, the power-of-desire and 
the power-of-knowledge saktees-must necessarily be the most powerful, 
in as much as a play of these three powers is the total play of the 
world. 

(176) Mahaadyutih -Of Splendorous Light. Dyuti means `Glow', Sobhaa. 
The Pure Consciousness is the illuminator of all, including all other 
material sources of light in the world-Sun, Moon, stars, fire etc.-
but this is not all; He is also the One, who is Himself Self-
Effulgent. This is Mahavishnu-the Supreme Self. In the 
Mundakopanishad (4-9) Lord is described as the "Light of lights". 
Brihadaaranya- kopanishad (6-3-9) declares: "He is Self-effulgent". 

(177) Anirdesyavapuh -One whose form is indefinable, indescribable, 
inexplicable (Anirdesyam). Ordinary things can be defined, described 
or explained because they come within our experience. Our objective 
experiences can be satisfactorily expressed in words. Vishnu is that 
Truth which is the Subjective Essence in all of us; He is 
that `Knowledge', in the light of which, all other knowledges are 
rendered possible. As such no "sources of knowledge" (Pramaanas such 
as Direct perception, Inference etc.) can be employed successfully in 
exploring the realm of the Self. Subjective experiences of `Be', the 
Maha Vishnu, is possible; but It can never become an `idea' to 
express, nor can It become an `emotion' to feel, nor can It ever 
become an `object' to be described. 

(178) Sreemaan -Sree means Glory (Aisvarya). Vishnu is permanently 
wedded to Mother Glory; He, who is constantly courted by all glories, 
is Sreemaan, Lord Vishnu. 

(179) Ameyaatmaa -He whose Essence (Aatmaa) is inestimable and 
immeasurable (Ameya). As Aatman (Kshetrajna) He, the One, expresses 
Himself everywhere in every equipment (Kshetra), as the `knower' in 
each `field'. Since these equipments are infinite in number, as the 
individuality (jeeva) in each one of the created beings, His own 
Glory expresses in endless manifestations. 

(180) Mahaadridhrik -One who supports the great Mountain. In the 
Puranas, we find two instances, wherein the Lord has been described 
as the uplifter of or as having lifted and supported the mountains. 
While churning the milky ocean with the Mandara mountain we are told 
that the "churning-stick" sunk into the bottom and the Lord had to 
manifest in the form of the Great Tortoise (Koorma) and support it, 
while the Gods and Demons continued the churning, until they gathered 
the nectar (Amritam). 

Again, the Supreme, as Lord Krishna, in order to protect the cows had 
to lift the Govardhana Mountain. Because of these two stories in the 
Puranas, Lord, the Protector of the mind in Saadhanaa, is called as 
Mahaadridhrik. 

Vishnu is the Divine, that supports the mind-intellect of the 
Saadhaka while he is churning, through study (sravana) and reflection 
(manana), his own Milk-like pure heart-of devotion in order to gain 
the experience of Immortality (Amritam).

 

Stanza 20

maheshvaaso maheebhartaa sreenivaasah sataam gatih
aniruddhah suraanando govindo govindaam-patih.


(181) Maheshvaasah -One who wears or wields the Great Bow called 
Saarnga.

(182) Maheebhartaa -The husband of Mother Earth. The Sanskrit term 
for husband is Bhartaa and the term denotes `Supporter'. In the 
Puranic language we have the description of how the Lord, as the 
Great Boar uplifted the earth from the "waters of Deluge." Viewed 
from the platform of philosophy, just as gold is the supporter of all 
things made of gold, the Infinite Consciousness is the Essence from 
which everything has risen. Hence He is the Lord, the Supporter, the 
Husband (Bhartaa) of Mother Earth and everything that exists in her.

(183) Sreenivaasah -The permanent abode of Sree. Mother Sree 
connotes "all Glory and power, faculties and strength, to be good and 
to perform creative acts of righteousness". She is found to remain 
never permanently in any bosom. Even saints and sages, in recorded 
history, have come to compromise the perfections in them. The only 
place, where imperfections never enter to molest the serene essence, 
is the seat of Eternal Perfection, which is the bosom of Narayana. 
Hence Maha Vishnu is indicated as Sreenivaasa ?"the Permanent Abode 
of Lakshmi". 

(184) Sataam Gatih -For the truly virtuous and for all spiritual 
seekers (Sat-People) He who is the final Goal. In the language of the 
Geeta He is the "Paraa gatih". The term gati is used to denote not 
only the goal, but the very movement, as well as the direction and 
the way. Narayana is the very Direction, Path, Progress and the Goal 
for his devotees. 

(185) Aniruddhah -One who cannot be obstructed or resisted by anyone. 
Irresistibly, the will of the Lord functions in the world of created 
things-and-beings. Just as in the world of matter, the laws of nature 
are irresistible, the Rhythm and Harmony of Truth ever march in their 
Eternal Logic of objectless Love and immaculate perfection. Time and 
tide wait for none. When the sun rises, the living creatures absorb 
energy and nothing can obstruct this process. In the presence of the 
Self, the worlds of matter must get thrilled into their own 
independent activities, and in all these welter of efforts and 
exertions, achievements and failures, joys and sorrows, the Self is 
not involved by the Irresistible Enchantment of His presence, the 
Gopis seek their own fulfilment in their own dances. In the Puranas, 
we find Bhagavan Vishnu taking up in His various Incarnations 
different manifested forms and in all of them He was victorious; ever 
irresistible (Aniruddhah) is His Might. 

(186) Suraanandah -The One who doles out happiness (Aananda) even for 
the Denizens-of-the Heavens (Suras). In the Upanishad we have the 
declaration, that the Infinite Perfection, the Lord is of the very 
nature of Absolute Bliss. In the Aanandavallee of Taittireeya 
Upanishad we find the arithmetics of Bliss. The Rishi concludes that 
all joys of the world and heavens-mental and supramental-are all but 
flickerings of the Infinite Bliss, which is the Lord Mahavishnu.

(187) Govindah -The word Go in Sanskrit has four 
meanings: `Earth', `Cows', `Speech' and `Vedas'. As the earth is the 
supporter of everything that is existing, He, who is the supporter of 
everything within the individual, is called Govinda; He, who is the 
Protector of the Cow's and played the part of Gopaala in Gokula, is 
the very controller of the animal instincts and passions in the bosom 
of man; "One, without whom, no speech can ever emerge out of any 
throat-He being the very Life in all Creatures" says Kenopanishad; 
and the Highest Speech is the declaration of Truth in the Vedas. The 
Lord Himself is the very Theme and the Author of the Vedas. This 
great Self is Mahavishnu. 

(188) Govidaam Patih -One, who is the Lord of all `seers' and "Men of 
Wisdom". We have already indicated that Go means Vedas. Govit- 
Vedavit-those, who have realized the Theme indicated in the Vedic 
declaration as the Essential Reality in their Own subjective bosom. 
They are called the Seers or Sages. To such Men-of-Wisdom the Self-
alone is the Lord and the Master.

 

Stanza 21

mareechir-damano hamsah suparno bhujagottamah
hiranyanaabhah sutapaah padmanaabhah prajaapatih.


(189) Mareechih -The term Mareechih means `Effulgence'. Consciousness 
illumines objects and therefore in terms of worldly knowledge the 
Upanishads declare that the Supreme is the Light-Infinite. In the 
Geeta we read Bhagavan, Vaasudeva declaring: "I am the Light in all 
effulgents" -(Geeta Ch. 10, St. 36).

(190) Damanah -One who restrains and controls every Raakshasic 
impulse within the bosom. In the forms of the ten incarnations, He 
had controlled the irresistible tyrannies of the vicious against the 
good. In the form of pain and agitation, sorrow and death, it is He, 
who is the Controller, Damanah, of all negative tendencies in 
everyone's Heart. 

(191) Hamsah -One of the great declarations of the Vedas is: "I am 
Brahman" (Aham Brahmaasmi). Here the term I, the first person 
singular used, denotes the supreme. Self functioning through the 
conditionings." This individual concept is called jeeva. Thus I, the 
Jeeva (Aham), once detached from the conditionings, IS essentially 
nothing other than He, the Lord (Sah). This experience that Aham is 
Sah is the very God-consciousness and therefore, Vishnu, the Supreme 
State of Realization is declared as Hamsah.

(192) Suparnah -Parna means wings; Suparna means that which has 
beautiful wings-bird. "A pair of white- winged birds extremely 
friendly sit on one and the same tree; one cats the fruits, the other 
eats not and gazes on".

Thus traditionally in the Upanishads, the Suparnas suggest the 
Jeevaatmaa and the Paramaatmaa sitting on the same tree (body): one 
(Jeeva) eats the fruits (of actions) and the other (the Self) merely 
gazes on (Saakshee). Vishnu is this All-experiencing Principle of 
consciousness.

(193) Bhujagottamah -The sacred serpent named in the puranas as 
Ananta. " Among the serpents I am Ananta," says Krishna: -(Geeta Ch. 
10, St. 29). 

(194) Hiranyanaabhah -He, who supports at His navel, the creator, 
Hiranyagarba. The meaning for this term as given by some is "the One 
who has the navel region beautiful in its golden hue" must fail, in 
the context of the thoughts in the stanza, to appeal to all seekers. 

(195) Sutapaah -One who has glorious Tapas. Consistent creative 
thinking is called tapas. For this, mental concentration is 
unavoidable. Mind cannot have consistent concentration unless it can 
have a perfect control over the sense-organs. Even when the mind is 
withdrawn from the sense-organs, it must have a consistent 
intellectual ideal to concentrate upon. In the Upanishad, we 
read: "He thought and through thought, He created all this".

(196) Padmanaabhah -One who supports at His navel the very seat of 
all creative-power. We have described this term earlier (48). 
According to Sankara, here the term may mean one who has a navel 
region which in its rounded beauty, is as charming as the lotus 
flower . 

(197) Prajaapatih -The Lord of the creatures. Since all creatures 
have emerged from Him, the living creatures are His children (Prajaa) 
and He is their Pati. The term Pati has a direct meaning: `father'. 
Thus Vishnu, as the only source from which all creatures have emerged 
out, is called as Prajaapatih. 

 

Stanza 22

amrityus-sarva-drik simhah san-dhaataa sandhimaan sthirah
ajo durmarshanah saastaa visrutaatmaa suraarihaa.


(198) Amrityuh ?One who knows no decay Birth, growth, decay, disease 
and death, are the five great modifications through which every 
finite objects must necessarily pass. Everything born must perish. 
The one who has no birth has no death. The waves die but not the 
ocean. That which is Changeless in the changing whirls of matter is 
the Infinite Vishnu. In the Bhagavad Geeta, the Lord is emphatic: "He 
who sees the Changeless amidst the changing names and forms, He alone 
sees the meaning and purpose of life."

(199) Sarvadrik -The seer and knower of everything. The Consciousness 
that illumines all motives and intentions -and the manifested 
activities that spring from them -in each individual, at all times, 
is necessarily the Witness of all, the Seer of everything, Maha 
Vishnu.

(200) Simhah -One who destroys. The Law be- hind all destruction and 
change in the Maayaa is the Mighty Lord. On transcending the Vehicles 
of the body, mind and intellect, at a time when all experiences of 
perceptions, emotions and thoughts are annihilated from us, the 
Experience left over is the Supreme. And in the Non-dual Supreme, 
there cannot be any object other than itself. Therefore, that "State" 
is called as the Total Destroyer. The State of Waking is 
the "destroyer" of the dream-world; the State of Sleep is 
the "destroyer" of the waking and the dream; the State of God 
Consciousness is the total " Annihilator" of all the known three 
planes of Consciousness. He is Simhah -a word that has been formed by 
the mutual transposition of the letters in Himsaa. 

Even taking its obvious superficial meaning Vishnu is a Lion in our 
bosom, in as much as, He is the king of the forest of Samsaar: at the 
roar of Narayana all the animal-passions flee from the jungles of the 
mind. In the Geeta while describing His own Glory, the Lord 
says, "Among the animals, I am the King of animals, Lion." -Geeta Ch. 
10, St. 30. 

(201) Sandhaataa - The Co-relator, the Regulator, the One who co-
relates the actions and their fruits. In fact, the fruit of an action 
is nothing other than the action itself; the action itself presents 
as its fruit in a different period of time, maturing under its own 
Law. This Great Law is the Lord, whom the devotee accepts as "The 
Giver of all fruits of action". 

202) Sandhimaan - The structural engineering of individuality is the 
mightiest of phenomenon available in nature. The Supreme is the Law 
and the Law-giver; and the Light of Consciousness functioning in the 
mind and intellect Itself is the individuality (Jeeva), that comes to 
suffer the good and bad results of the actions. Thus not only that it 
is He, who is the Giver of the results but It is He, again, Who is 
the enjoyer or the sufferer of the results. Hence He is called as the 
One who is apparently conditioned by the actions that emanate from 
Him, Sandhimaan, enjoyer (conditioned). In fact, He is the One 
presiding over and illumining all actions; the very Law of reaction 
Itself; the ensuing experience in all actions of all people, at all 
times. From the standpoint of our existence, with reference to our 
individual existence, the Divinity in us, for all appearances, seems 
to be conditioned; this Sandhimaan, the Jeeva in His own Pristine 
Purity is Maha Vishnu. 

(203) Sthirah  -Firm, consistent. One who is ever consistent in His 
nature and One who remains changeless, at all times.

(204) Ajah  -Unborn. Ajah is also a term denoting the Creator, 
Brahmaaji; He who, in the form of Hiranyagarbha, apparently creates 
the delusory world of plurality is Vishnu. 

(205) Durmarshanah -One who cannot be attacked and vanquished. In the 
long run, everyone in his own maturity will have to come and accept 
and walk the path of Vishnu -He is the final Goal. In the lesser 
levels of evolution, the animal-man may deny himself the peace and 
joy of living the spiritual values, and deluded by the senses and 
enchanted by the flesh, he may live a life of sense-joys and 
temporary fulfilments. But soon enough irresistibly he will be 
seeking the "feet" of Vishnu for real happiness and true achievement. 
His also is the final victory and one can stand apart from Him in a 
victory over him. 

(206) Saastaa  -One who rules over the universe, Not only that He is 
the Administrator of the laws of the Phenomenon but also He is the 
Saastaa. He is the One who, through Sastra, with firm hand, instructs 
and guides us through the righteous path, drives us along steadily to 
progress in cultural beauty and finally reaches us at the Great Goal 
of all evolutions: the Seat of Vishnu. 

(207) Visrutaatmaa  -The famous term Aatmaa, famous in all the Vedas, 
is Vishnu. This term clearly shows that all the thousand terms, used 
herein, though can be considered for the Saguna worship of Vishnu, 
represent nothing other than the Pure Self, which is the famous theme 
of the Hindu Scriptures. Through hundreds of suggestive definitions, 
this Great Self has been successfully pointed out through 
declarations of Its Transcendental Nature and through statements of 
negation indicating what He is not. 

(208) Suraarihaa -Sura="God of the Heaven", Ari="enemies", 
Ha="destroyer". The Supreme is the Destroyer of the enemies of the 
gods. The sensuous claims of the flesh, the mild assertions of the 
ego, the nocturnal devils of i desires and passions, are the common 
enemies of the higher mind aspiring to evolve. When invoked with true 
devotion, He who drives away and destroys the inimical negative 
tendencies, and helps the devotee to master himself, is Suraarihaa, 
Sri Narayana. 

 

Stanza 23

gurur-gurutamo dhaama satyas-satya-paraakramah
nimisho-a-nimishah sragvee vaachaspatir-udaara-dheeh.


(209) Guruh -The teacher, who initiates seekers into the secrets of 
the sacred scriptures is called the Guru. Since the Lord, the 
infinite alone, is the very author and knower of the Vedas, He is the 
Teacher in all spiritual study. Aatman being the Light, that 
illumines the knowledge in the teacher, his very capacity to speak 
and the very ability in the student to hear, understand and apprehend 
this great Truth, He alone is the Teacher wherever there is any 
transference of knowledge.

(210) Gurutamah -The Greatest Teacher; One who had inspired with 
knowledge and initiated the very Creator Brahmaaji into the knowledge 
of the four Vedas. The creative mind of the very first Spiritual 
Master must have received this experience of the Transcendental, 
initiated by none other than the Supreme Itself. Later on, the Man of 
Realization might come to help other seekers, and to that extent the 
following generations of disciples, can, no doubt, psychologically 
believe that the teacher guided them to Truth. But, in fact for all 
times to come, the final experience of the theme of the Vedas is 
arrived at only through the final revelation, which has nothing to do 
with the teacher or the text. Svetaasvatara Upanishad (6-18) 
says, "He who first Created the Creator (Brahmaa) and imparted him 
the Vedas." 

The Guru and the scripture, devotion to God, meditation, moral 
conduct and the religious discipline are all necessary, in as much 
as, they prepare the bosom of the seeker for the dawn of realization. 
But the final unveiling is done by the Infinite alone, and hence, 
Vishnu, the Self, is the best among the Gurus. Heaviness is called by 
the same term (Gurutvam), and in this sense the Lord is Indicated 
here as "that which is heavier than the heaviest. 

(211) Dhaama -The Goal; the Sacred destination of a pilgrimage. The 
Supreme is the Param-dhaama, the `Supreme Destination', having 
reached which, there is nothing more to reach beyond. This Absolute 
State of Perfection is called the "Peak" (Dhaama). The Sanskrit term 
Dhaama also means "Effulgence" (Tejas); the Pure Consciousness as the 
illuminator of all experiences is considered and glorified as the 
Light of all Lights etc.

(212) Satyah -One who is Himself the Truth. The difference from the 
general connotation, we have for the term "That which remains without 
a change in the past, present and future" is called Sat yam. "Truth, 
Knowledge, Infinite is Brahman", thunder the scriptures. Brihad 
Upanishad (4-1-20) says, "The Praanas are the truth, and He is the 
Truth of them." 

(213) Satyaparaakramah -Dynamic Truth. Passive truthfulness is the 
harbour of the fools, the dark den of the cowards; although it is any 
day better than suicidal un- truth and criminal dishonesty. The Lord, 
the Infinite is not only Himself the Truth but He is Dynamic in 
insisting that "Truth shall prevail, not untruth". Not only gravity 
is a law of nature, itself ever truthful, but it insists that none 
shall escape its influence or disobey sway. So too, the Infinite Law 
of Harmony and Love is an Inevitable Truth persisting with insistence 
in life. The Lord is therefore indicated by the term " 
Satyaparaakramah". 

(214) Nimishah -The condition of "the eyelids closed" is called 
Nimishah; the unwinking is called Animishah. When the eyes are open, 
the mind is extrovert; the condition of mental introvertedness is 
expressed in an unconscious closing of the eyes. When a man is deeply 
thinking, remembering, contemplating, we find him naturally closing 
his eyes. 

In a state of intense contemplation, when the intellect is turned 
away from the objects-of-experiences, the bosom experiences the One 
Divine "Subject" both within and without. The Lord is described here 
as "with eyes closed", only to indicate that He is ever rooted in 
Himself; from Him viewed, there exists nothing other than Himself to 
constitute the world- of-objects. 

(215) Animishah -One who remains unwinking. Whenever we wink both the 
eyelids close together and what we are seeing is at least technically 
veiled from the seer in the eye. The Supreme is indicated here by the 
term "unwinking", in the sense that, the consciousness is Ever-
Knowing. In Sankara's words, in Chandogya Bhaashya, "there is no 
cession of knowing in the knower". 

(216) Sragvee -A garland is called Srak and, therefore, the term 
means One who is constantly wearing a garland of undecaying flowers. 
The famous garland of Vishnu is called Vaijayantee. 

(217) Vaachaspatir-Udaaradheeh -Vaachaspati is a term given to One 
who is eloquent in cham" pioning the Supreme law of life; and Dheeh 
means the power of intelligence; and Udaaradheeh one who has a "Large-
 hearted intelligence", One who is not puritanical in his view 
points. God is not only the Declarer of the Law but He has a large-
hearted tolerance to appreciate the weakness of the devotee's heart, 
suffering under the delusion of Maayaa, and hence, has a great 
sympathy for the weakness in us This is expressed in God's Infinite 
kindness towards sinners in general. 

The laws of spiritual living can be disobeyed for a long time without 
any tyrannical onslaught, unlike the law of physical nature, which is 
blind and uncompromising. Fire knows no mercy. But Narayana, the 
Great Vishnu, is kind and considerate the while He expresses the 
Truth of Life eloquently at all times around us. In His Large-
heartedness, He has enough paternal kindness to overlook our 
trespasses. 

 

Stanza 24

agraneer-graamaneeh sreemaan nyaayo netaa sameeranah
sahasra-moordhaa visvaatmaa sahasraakshas-sahasrapaat.


(218) Agraneeh -One wh0 guides us to the end -the peak. Also the One, 
wh0 leads (Agra) the entire pilgrim- age-the Guide. He moves ahead 
and following His footsteps, keeping Him in our gaze, faithfully 
following Him, we shall reach the Goal and thus He is called as the 
leader, Vishnu. 

(219) Graamaneeh -One who controls, guides and leads 
the "Collection", the "flock" (Graama). In Sanskrit Graama means "a 
collection of many number of things". 

(220) Sreemaan -Sree means Light, Effulgence or glory. Consciousness 
has all these three, and therefore, Sreemaan means the Self, the 
Lord. 

(221) Nyaayah -The word in its direct meaning is "Justice". In the 
spiritual world, it connotes logical arguments (Tarka) and lines of 
contemplation (Yukti), which help us in arriving at the absolute 
experience indicated in the Sruti, are together called Nyaaya. 

(222) Netaa -the leader-one who protects, nurtures, nourishes and 
guides all living creatures in the world. One who is being the 
Superintendent of the machinery of life -("Jagat-Yantra Nirvaahakah")-
Sankara. 

(223) Sameeranah -One who efficiently administers all movements of 
all living creatures. In the physical body, all physiological 
activities are controlled by the five `Praanaas' and thus in the form 
of `Praanaas' He who governs all movements of all living creatures in 
the universe is Maha Vishnu. 

(224) Sahasria-Moordhaa -One who has endless number of heads. All 
living creatures are His manifestations and He Himself is the One who 
has become the many. Therefore all heads are His, just as in a 
factory the proprietor considers all the employees as his 
own `hands'. Here the term Sahasra means innumerable. 

(225) Visvaatmaa -The very Soul of the universe; the very inner 
Essence in all living creatures. 

(226) Sahasraakshah -In describing the macro- cosmic form of the Lord 
we have an endorsement of this declaration in the Bhagavad Geeta.

227. Sahasrapaat -In the Purushasookta of the Rig-Veda, the same 
terms are used in describing the Infinite Form of the Mighty Truth:  
("The Purusha is thousand-headed, thousand-eyed, and thousand-
footed.") 

The "many heads" (224), "many eyes" (226), "many legs" 

(227), together indicate that, through all these equipments of 
thinking (head), of action (leg) and of perception (eyes), the 
Thinker, the Doer and the Seer, the One Infinite Consciousness 
expresses everywhere, in all forms, at all times, and He is Lord 
Vishnu. 

 

Stanza 25

aavartano nivrittaatmaa samvritah sam-pramardanah
ahassamvartako vahnir anilo dharaneedharah.


(228) Aavartanah -One who is the Unseen Dynamism behind the ever-
whirling wheel-of time upon which play the endless drama of birth and 
death. The repetition (Aavartanam) of these changes is the experience 
of Samsaar, and the One mighty Lord, in whose presence alone the 
factors of matter start their thrilled dance of decay, is indicated 
here (Aavartanah) as "the Great Power behind the continuity of change 
in the world of phenomena". In the Geeta, Bhagavan says, "O Arjuna, 
the Lord dwells in the heart of all, and spins, through His Maayaa, 
all layers of personal ties as though the universe is a complicated 
machinery." 

(229) Nivrittaatmaa -The pure Self, which has retreated totally 
(Nivritta) from all Its identifications with matter. In short, Maha 
Vishnu is the Pure Self, ever Immaculate and totally Free from all 
the sorrows of the constant modifications taking place apparently in 
the Prakriti. 

(230) Samvritah -One who is completely veiled from the recognition of 
the "Perceiving-feeling-thinking entity", the ego (Jeeva) .The Self 
is veiled away from direct experience of all Jeevas. This 
intellectual state of non-apprehension (Aavarana) creates the 
agitation (Vikshepa) which is the cause for the misapprehensions of 
Truth as the sad and sorrowful world of imperfections. Thus veiled, 
lies the Truth today to the seeker, and that Glorious spiritual 
Centre is Vishnu. 

(231) Sampramardanah  -One who persecutes relentlessly men, who are 
sensuous, evil-minded, and so, fully extrovert in their personality 
(Raakshasas). In the form of disease, decay, disaster or death That 
which manifests to annihilate the pride, vanity and conceits of 
all "animal-men", as they live drowned in their flesh cravings, low 
emotions and materialistic values, is the Ultimate Reality-the 
Supreme Lord Vishnu. 

(232) Ahassamvartakah  -One who thrills the day (Ahas) and makes it 
function vigorously (pravartakah). The one who dynamises the day and 
lends the enchantment of joy to all living creatures is the Sun. The 
Mighty Truth, who, in the form of the Sun, gives life to all and 
lends this energy to them to act, is Vishnu. In the Geeta, Lord 
Krishna says, "Please understand that I am the Light of the Sun that 
illumines all earth; and the light and heat in the moon and fire are 
all mine only."

(233) Vahnih -Fire. One, who is worshipped at the altar as the God of 
gods, was Fire in the Vedic period. Invoking the various deities, 
oblations were poured into the Fire in Vedic ritualism and Lord Fire 
is entrusted with the duty of conveying the oblations to the 
appropriate deities Invoked by the devotee. 

In short, Vishnu is the Omniscient Lord, who conveys appropriate 
Karma-phala to the Kartaa (doer) and thus fulfils all actions of 
everybody, at all times. 

234. Anilah ?This term has four distinct meanings. All of them are 
appropriate here. (a) Air (Vaayu); living creatures; (b) "Beginning-
less" (Aadi-rahitah); that Truth, from which the concept of time 
itself has born, must have been there even before time, manifested, 
and therefore, in terms of our intellectual concept of time, we can 
only say that He is "Beginningless"; (c) `Eater' of food (Attaa); all 
experiences that satisfy the inner man is called the "food", and 
since all experiences are lived only when illumined by the 
consciousness, the Supreme, in terms of our experience is called 
the "Eater" and (d) "The Homeless" since He is All-pervading He is 
the shelter of all and He is not sheltered by anything. 

235. Dharaneedharah -One who supports (Dharah) the earth (Dharanee). 
The field of our experiences is the earth, and for all our earthly 
experiences, Consciousness is at once the very substratum and the 
very Illuminator. In the Light of Consciousness alone, the web of 
happenings around is held together to provide us with our 
experiences. 

 

Stanza 26

suprasaadah prasannaatmaa visva-dhrik- visvablluk- vibhuh
satkartaa satkritah saadhur jahnur-naaraayano narah.


236. Suprasaadah -One who is full of the Supreme Grace and who, so 
little, so easily, becomes so entirely satisfied. Even to those who 
can remember Him, even if it be in a spirit of constant and faithful 
antagonism, His Grace is readily available. In Bhaagavata we read 
Pootanaa, who tried to poison Him, Kamsa, who planned to murder Him, 
or Sisupaala, who falsely accused Him-all of them were ultimately 
rewarded by the Lord. In the Geeta, He confesses, "with a little am I 
satisfied, if it is given with sincerity, and with faithful 
consistency". 

237. Prasannaatmaa -Ever-Pure and All- Blissful Self. The Supreme is 
ever-pure because, It is untouched by the sorrows lived by matter, 
when matter is ruled over by its gunas. In Geeta we read that the 
cause for all the sorrows of the individuality (Jeeva) is the 
attachment with matter and its various imperfect conditions (Gunas). 
Since He is untouched by them He is Ever-Pure; and since no 
identification of matter is in Him, He is all-Bliss. 

238. Visvadhrik -As a Mighty Source of all existence in every thing 
and every being, He is the Supporter (Dhrik) of the total world of 
all perceptions, all emotions and all thoughts (Visva). 

Herein the Supporter and the supported being essentially one, no 
calamity comes to the Lord by the increase in population. Ocean, the 
supporter of the waves, can never feel bothered by the stormy surface 
and the consequent increase in the number of waves. 

239. Visvabhuk -The One who enjoys or swallows (Bhuk) all experiences 
(Visva). The Supreme Consciousness apparently conditioned by the mind 
and intellect is the experiencer of the joys and sorrows. 

The term also means, "the One who absorbs unto Himself all names and 
forms" at the time of the dissolution (Pralaya) .In the plane of God-
consciousness all other experiences, gathered in fields of waking, 
dream and deep- sleep, are transcended and, therefore, the State of 
Perfection can be figuratively indicated as "Visvabhuk" the One who 
swallows all other experiences of plurality". 

240. Vibhuh -One who manifests Himself in an endless variety of 
forms. Though essentially the Infinite is One, Non-Dual and All-
Pervading, the Reality, when viewed through the equipments of mind-
and-intellect (Maayaa) seems to have apparently become the 
pluralistic world. Mundakopanishad (1-6) says, "He is Eternal and 
Multiform." Based upon this idea we have in the Puranas, the 
description of the Lord's incarnations and His play in the world of 
the many. 

241. Satkartaa -One who revels and adores those who are good and 
wise. His palace is ever lit up with His hospitality and He Himself 
presides over the loving reception of the righteous.

242. Satkritah  -One who is adored by all good people, not only is He 
adored and worshipped by great men of wisdom and devotion-as the 
Sanatkumaaras, Naarada and others-but He is invoked and worshipped 
consciously by all living creatures. The Upanishad describes every 
experience of all living creatures as a Yajna in which the stimuli 
received are the `Oblations' poured at which the inner Consciousness 
flares up into brilliancy. 

243. Saadhuh -One, who functions strictly according to the righteous 
code of living is a Saadhuh Atman, the Self, is the Mighty Presence, 
which apparently lends intelligence and capacity to inert matter. The 
Supreme Saadhu is Vishnu Himself. 

244. Jahnuh -leader of men; the One who leads all creatures along the 
path of an inexorable law-the law of action and reaction, the rhythm 
of Karma. Irresistibly, the good is led, by his own subjective 
disharmony, dashes to reach a hell made by himself for himself. 

245. Naaraayanah -This simple sacred word has an endless number of 
direct and indirect meanings, imports and suggestions, and Vyasa 
seems to have explored almost all its possibilities. 

1. The Shelter (Ayanam) for man (Nara) is Naaraayana. 

2. The term Nara implies the ego-centric individuality and a large 
collection of them is called Naara and the One who is the sole refuge 
for the entire living creatures is called Naaraayanah. 

3. Nara also means Eesvara and the elements (Tattvas) born out of Him 
are called Naara; and One who is the controller, the regulator, the 
very source of all Existence. in these very Tattvas is called 
Naaraayanah.

4. Naaraah also mean "waters". According to the picture painted in 
the Puranas of the Deluge, wherein the names, and forms devolve 
themselves into their elemental waters, the Lord is objectively 
described as lying alone upon the waters, the Eternal baby, floating 
upon a banyan leaf. "Holding in His Lotus-hand His own Lotus-feet, 
and sucking His own toe with His Lotus-lips, the Lotus child resting 
playfully upon a banyan leaf, floating up on the waters of the Deluge-
I meditate."

It is in this sense, we find Manu interpreting the word "Naaraayana". 
In the great devotional classic, Bhaagavatam, we find very many 
suggestions digged out of this sacred name; such as the `Self of all 
bodies', "the Dynamic Force behind matter", "the Witness of all good 
and bad". All these indicate that Sri Narayana is nothing other than 
the Glory (Ayanam) of the Self.

246. Narah  -The Guide: One-who guides all creatures strictly 
according to their actions is none other than the Ancient (Sanaatana) 
Self. 

 

Stanza 27

asankhyeyo-aprameyaatmaa visishtah sishta-krit-suchih
siddhaarthah siddhasankalpah siddhidah siddhisaadhanah.


247. Asankhyeyah -Sankhyaa means number; Asankhya=numberless. 
Asankhyeyah is one who has numberless names and forms. The infinite 
variety of things and beings that constitute the manifested Universe 
are all His Own Form, and hence He is indeed numberless, whom He 
expresses Himself as the Universe. In the 11th Chapter of Geeta, we 
see through Arjuna's eyes the Cosmic Form of the Lord. Of boundless 
forms on every side with numberless arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes-
neither end nor middle, nor beginning do I see, O Lord of the 
Universe. 

248. Aprameya-Atmaa -Prameya=Pramaana Vishaya-anything that can be 
known through any of the "Sources-of-knowledge"-direct or indirect. 
Atman, the Self, cannot be apprehended by the intellect through any 
of the known "Sources-of-Knowledge" (Pramaana) and so He is called as 
Aprameya. One who has this nature is the Self, Aprameya-Atmaa, Sri 
Narayana. 

249. Visishtah -The One who transcends every- thing, in His Glory is 
the Supreme (Visishtah). Something that is other than the three 
bodies, something other than the five kosas, something definitely 
different from the finite world of perishable things is the Infinite 
Self-which cannot be defined in terms of either the waking or the 
dream or the sleep conditions. The Self is something other than all 
these: 

 This Supreme-most Troth is Maha Vishnu. 

250. Sishtakrit -One who governs; One who is the Law Maker and the 
Law that governs the universe. The goal of His administration is the 
protection of the good (Sishtah). Maha Vishnu is the Governor of all, 
and the Protector of the good. 

251. Suchih -One who is Pure. The immaculate Reality which is never 
contaminated by the Maayaa and its by- products is Maha Vishnu. When 
dirt (Mala) exists upon anything, it becomes unclean. In the Absolute 
Oneness there can be nothing other than itself and therefore the 
Fourth-plane-of- Consciousness (Tureeyam) is indicated in our 
Scriptures as the Transcendental Ever-Pure Self, Sri Hari. 

252. Siddhaarthah  -One who has gained all that has to be gained and 
achieved all that has to be achieved. That which has to be achieved 
in life during an individual's existence have all been classified 
under four heads and they are called as the four "aims of life" 
(Purushaartha). Theyare Righteousness in conduct, (Dharma), Wealth 
and Possession (Artha), desires and ambitions (Kaama), liberation 
from imperfections (Moksha). One who has gained all these "four" have 
nothing more to gain as there cannot be any sense of imperfection in 
Him. One who has gained (Siddhah) all that has to be gained (Arthah) 
is Siddhaartha, Lord Vishnu. 

253. Siddhasankalpah -Sankalpa means "intellectual willing and 
wishing". One who gains all that He wishes for, or One who 
immediately gains what He wills is called Siddha-sankalpah. 
Ordinarily we fail to gain what we demand because of the 
disintegration within ourselves. The Lord, the Perfect, is One who 
instantaneously gains all that He wishes; hence the Upanishads define 
Him as the Satya Sankalpavaan. This great Paramesvara of the 
Upanishads is the Maha Vishnu, the theme of the "Thousand Chants' 
(Sahasranaama). 

254. Siddhiddah -One who is the Giver of the appropriate reward for 
all actions, for those who are doing spiritual practices. Lord 
Narayana is the great Universal Power that brings about the reward 
for all actions. 

255. Siddhi-Saadhanah -One who is the very secret force which enables 
the seeker to diligently continue all efforts of his seeking. Siddhi 
ordinarily means "fulfilment", here it means all efforts at a given 
fulfilment. It is also interpreted by some as the One Mighty Reality, 
to worship at whose altar is the very means (Saadhana) for all 
achievements (Siddhi), and this is Sri Narayana. 

 

Stanza 28

vrishaahee vrishabho vishnur-vrishaparvaa vrishodarah
vardhano vardhamaanascha viviktah sruti-saagarah.


256. Vrishaahee -The term Vrishah is very familiar with the 
ritualistic portion of the Vedas and it connotes objectively the 
sacred "Left over" after the Yajna functions. Subjectively, Vrisha 
means the residual `results' gathered in the personality after each 
devoted and dedicated act of offering, during all Self-less services 
(Yajnas). Therefore, Vrishaahee means "One who is a controller of all 
actions and the dispenser of all results", in all individual, 
conscious, intelligent creatures. 

257. Vrishabhah -The term Vrisha though not very familiar now is used 
in the Vedic literature to indicate Dharma-"the essential nature of a 
thing without which the thing cannot remain as the thing" is its 
Dharma. One who showers all Dharmas is called Vrishabhah. In short, 
one who showers glowing health, burning devotion and thrilling 
silence on all sincere seekers and faithful devotees is Vrishabhah; 
and He is Sri Narayana. 

258. Vishnuh -All-Pervading: Long-Strident. We had already explained 
this term earlier (2). In Mahabharata we also read the Lord Himself 
explaining to Arjuna, "Because I stand striding across the Universe 
(Kramanaat), O Partha, I am known as Vishnu." -(Mahabharata 12-350-
43). 

In the Upanishad also we read, "Vishnu has spread Himself and 
conquered all these three worlds.

259. Vrishaparvaa -We had already explained that Vrisha means Dharma. 
The term Parvam means "Ladder", "a flight of steps" that takes us to 
the Higher floors (Hence Parvata means mountain). Thus, here, the 
term is explained as a flight of steps on the ladder of life to take 
one to the Ultimate Reality, the Eternal (Sanaatana) Dharma: "1 am 
the way". Vishnu is the One to worship at whose altar will facilitate 
the devotee's steady evolution towards the experience of the Higher 
consciousness. 

260. Vrishodarah -Vrisha, that which rains; Udara = belly. The idea 
here is the seat of all-creative thinking is resting on a psychic, 
centre, roughly indicated by the navel, and hence we find the 
description that the total Creator of the universe is sustained and 
held aloft at the navel of Maha Vishnu. During Pralaya (sleep) 
the "creative power" merges back to its source, and thereafter, upon 
waking, the creation again starts; the creative power" manifests 
itself and continues its creative activities, from the same point of 
Its merger, (Udara). This culminating point of all creation, during 
the time of the dissolution-which is also the same from wherein, 
during creation, the manifestations of names and forms spring forth 
(shower down = Vrisha)- is Vishnu, the Supreme, and hence, He is 
called as Vrishodarah, "the Showering Belly." 

261. Vardhanah -One who is the nurturer and nourisher everywhere, at 
all levels of life, both material and spiritual. In short, from the 
standpoint of the student, who is studying with devotion 
these "Thousand names of the Lord", the term indicates that Vishnu is 
the Mighty Power that supplies all spiritual growth, provides all 
well-being and ultimately blesses all His devotees with the final 
Realization. 

262 Vardhamaanah  -One who can grow Himself into any dimensions; ever-
growing. Since the names and forms of the universe are ever dynamic 
and has the unseen movement of progressive evolution everywhere, the 
Lord is indicated here as this very "dimensional movement of 
progress" (Vardhana). (The Pauraanikas attribute that this name came 
to Him because He in His Vaamana incarnation grew 

Himself to measure under His three steps the whole universe. 

263. Viviktah -Alone=solitary. Every standing apart from everything. 
With reference to the dream and the dreamer, the waker is, we knew, 
indeed, separate. Similarly the world of names and forms and its joys 
and sorrows, passions and lusts, smiles and tears, though they all 
play in the Self, the Supreme is not affected by them. 

The horrid "ghost" cannot affect the innocent "post". One who thus 
remains alone and apart, in His Own Majesty and perfection, even when 
the world-of-Maayaa is heaving about is Viviktah. In the daily 
happenings of Samsar, in its births and deaths, He remains ever 
changeless and ever unaffected. This freedom is indicated in the 
Geeta and the Lord explains: "They are in me; I am not in them

264. Srutisaagarah -The ocean for all the rivers of all scriptural 
thoughts. All scriptures, irrespective of the age, language, 
tradition and beliefs, ultimately indicate a Theme which is ever the 
same. All scriptures are rivulets of thoughts, flowing through 
different terrains of national character and historical climates, 
gushing to reach forward the ocean of Perfection, which lies beyond 
the dark sorrows of mortality. That which is the goal of all 
Scriptures is the Immortal Bliss of God-consciousness, the Maha 
Vishnu. 

 

Stanza 29

subhujo durdharo vaagmee mahendro vasudo vasuh
naika-roopo brihad-roopah sipivishtah prakaasanah.


265. Subhujah -He who has graceful arms. This need not be taken as a 
description of the physical beauty of the anatomical structure of the 
arms but since those arms are ever working in the service of His 
devotees on sheltering them (Abhaya) and in blessing them (Varada) 
they are full of grace and hence graceful. 

266. Durdharah  -One who cannot be comprehended even by Great Yogis, 
who spend long periods of time in meditation. Transcending the mind 
and intellect is the "experience" of the Supreme and, therefore, the 
mind and intellect can never comprehend It. 

267. Vaagmee -One who is eloquent of His Glory. The full sense or the 
term should embrace not only the eloquence in speech, but all 
physical capabilities in the world, all the Glories or the cosmos, 
all the beauties or the heart, the total might of the intellect-all 
are eloquent of His Glory. Through the scriptures of the world, it is 
again He, who speaks to us of our ultimate Harbour beyond the stormy 
seas; of Maayaa, in the simple words of brilliant suggestions 
declared by the Saints, Sages, Rishis, Prophets and other Divine Men. 

268. Mahendrah -One who is Lord of even Indra, the Lord or gods. In 
philosophy the "Mind" is called lndra (lndriyaanaam Raajaa) and One 
who is the Lord of even the "mind" is the Self. 

269. Vasudah -Vasu means wealth and, therefore Vasudah means One who 
enriches all, both in their outer prosperity and in their inner well-
being. Once surrendered unto Him man learns to live ever in dynamic 
success, with all the glories of the loving heart, self-controlled 
mind, and contemplative intellect. 

270. Vasuh ?The term Vasu has got three meanings: Wealth (Dhana), 
Veil (Aacchaadana) and Sun (Aaditya); thus He is the One who 
manifests Himself in the form of the external wealth, for He, as the 
very sun, nurtures and nourishes the world. He is the One, who veils 
Himself from the comprehension and understanding of the unprepared 
men of evil temperaments and who possess no true devotion. 

The term Vasu also can mean "One who lives in" (Vasati iti) all 
things and beings of the universe; or it can also mean as "One who 
allows all things and beings to exist in Himself" (Vaasayati iti). In 
Geeta and in the Upanishads we find the Infinite described as the 
very Indweller everywhere in His Eesvara status, and as the very 
substratum for the universe in the Pure Transcendental nature. 

271. Naikaroopah -One who is of Infinite forms in his manifestations; 
the single waker's mind becomes itself variegated to serve as the 
endless items of the dream-world. The One Supreme "Cause" of the 
whole Universe is Vishnu; and all "effects" are but different 
expressions of their "cause". In a very familiar chant, traditionally 
repeated by all devotees, this Idea has been brought out beautifully. 

Looking at Him through our distorting instruments of body-mind-
intellect, we see the plurality, and only on transcending this 
equipment can we "experience" the Oneness of the Absolute Reality. 

272. Brihadroopah -Vast of Infinite dimensions; pervading all. One 
whose very form (roopa) is the totality of the universe and therefore 
as vast as the universe, nay, in the description of the Supreme 
Person in the Rig Veda (Purusha- sookta) we read the Rishis declaring 
that Vishnu is not only of the total size and dimension of the 
Universe but He stands beyond it all by ten digits. ? "Atyatishthat 
Dasaangulam". 

273. Sipivishtah -Sipi is the name given to the "Sacrificial cow". 
The term denotes the One who sanctified all dedicated offerings 
poured into all fields of selfless sacrifices  (Yajna). The root Si 
has also the meaning of waters; Sipi-`that which drinks water' ?"The 
rays of the Sun".  Thus Sipivishtah would indicate the Supreme, who 
is the Presiding deity in the Sun, giving it both its energy of heat 
and light. In Geeta, the Lord confesses: "Understand that the light 
and energy that expresses themselves through the sun and moon is the 
Light and Glory essentially belonging to Me". 

274. Prakaasanah ?The One who illuminates; expressing Itself as the 
All-pervading Consciousness in every equipment. He is the knower, 
knowing everything in each bosom (Sarvavit) and knowing all things 
that are happening in the universe at one and the same time in His 
omnisciency (Sarvajnah). He is the Illuminator of all experiences. 
Just as the One sun illumines everything in the world the Reality 
illumines both the fields of experiences and the knower-of- the-field.

 

Stanza 30

ojas-tejo-dyutidharah prakaasa-aatmaa prataapanah
riddhah spashtaaksharo mantras-chandraamsur-bhaaskara- dyutih.


275. Ojas-tejo-dyutidharah  -One who is the possessor (Dharah) of 
Perfect physical virility (Ojas), all brilliancy (Tejas) and every 
beauty (dyuti). These three terms indicate perfection at three 
different levels of personality known to us at present. Ojas is 
glowing health (physical) due to perfect balance in the constituents 
(Tattvas) of the healthy body. This virility in us when conserved, 
disciplined and trained can, through meditation, be converted into 
intellectual "brilliancy" and perfect personality "integration". 

The shine of an individual, who has thus sublimated Ojas, is termed 
in our Sastras as tejas. A Yogi, through intelligent living and 
through a devoted life of continued meditation, has thus gathered to 
himself ojas and Tejas sufficiently, he, in time, grows to become an 
experienced Saint of Divine Realization, a Buddha. The enchanting 
atmosphere of irresistible peace and compassion, love and perfection, 
knowledge and strength, such a man throws around him, is called the 
aura of Divinity (Dyuti). In the lOth Chapter of the Geeta, the 
Geetacharya autobiographically confesses, "I am the Might in all 
strength; I am the Brilliancy in all that is brilliant."

Some commentators are found to take these three terms as separate 
names of the Lord. However, Sankara interprets it as one single term. 

276. Prakaasaatmaa  -The Effulgent Self. The One who is the Self in 
all hearts, who can be experienced as the Consciousness, which is the 
source of all illumination to shine upon all experiences in the three 
planes-of-consciousness, in all living creatures, at all times. This 
Universal and Absolute Self is Maha Vishnu. 

277. Prataapanah  -The One who manifests Himself as the Essential 
Thermal Energy, that lends Life Potential to the very atmosphere 
around each living creature. In the words of the Geetacharya, we find 
a confirmation to thus declaration when the Lord declares to Arjuna 
that He Himself is the Reality that manifests as the heat and light 
in the Sun and the Moon, and it is He again who warms up the crust of 
the earth and impregnates it with its fertility. (Geeta XV-12 & 13).

 278. Riddhah -One who is ever full of all prosperity. As the very 
Lord of Lakshmi, Vishnu should be one who has all glories (Aisvarya). 
When the entire universe of wealth, strength and beauty is itself a 
manifestation from Him, He Himself must be the Absolute Glory. 

279. Spashta-aksharah -Spashtam=clear. One who is clearly indicated 
by the Supreme Sound (Akshara), the famous Sound-Symbol of the 
Eternal Lord Om. In Geeta we read: "One who chants my name Om and 
leaves his body at the time of death thus remembering Me, he shall go 
to the Supreme State" In Sanskrit, Kshara means the "Perishable" and 
Akshara means the "imperishable." The world of plurality, 
the "perishable" is no doubt nothing other than the All-Perfect, the 
Immutable Truth, but due to the imperfections of the instruments-of-
perception-body, mind and intellect-the perceiving ego can experience 
only this world constituted of a plurality-sense objects, emotions 
and thoughts- The ego peeping through the vehicles can never 
experience the One co-ordinating Reality, the Divine. When the mind 
is hushed and the ego thus sublimated, the Immutable Akshara-factor 
is experienced, wherein we gain the clearest (Spashta) understanding 
of the Absolute. Since it is thus clear (Spashta) only in Its 
Immutable nature (Akshara=Kootastha), Vishnu, the Supreme Self, is 
indicated here as Spashtaaksharah).

280. Mantrah -One who is of the nature of the Mantras of the Vedas. 
The declarations of the Vedas the mantras are the vehicles that will 
take us straight into an experience of the Transcendental. The 
vehicles are often called by the nan1e of their destination. Mantra 
means that which can save us on being properly meditated upon. Only 
through the mantras of the Upanishads we ever come to experience the 
Supreme Nature of the Lord, and so He is named as Mantrah.

281. Chandraamsuh  -Rays of the moon. That the moonlight has got an 
effect upon the herbs was known to India in the Vedic period. "As the 
rays of the moon (Soma) I fill the vegetable kingdom with nutrition", 
confesses Bhagavan Vaasudeva. Thus the Lord is One who nurtures and 
nourishes all living creatures instilling into each its particular 
vitality. Though this is the deep philosophical significance, 
superficially the beauty, calm and peace that the moon suggests to 
our mind is but a reflection of the Infinite Peace of Vishnu. 

282. Bhaaskaradyutih  -The Effulgence of the Sun. Sun is the centre 
of the solar system, an eternal exchequer of energy, ever 
distributing Life and Strength to all living upon the earth; life 
would have been impossible but for the Sun. At the same time, the Sun 
stays where he is and he never interferes with life; from afar he 
blesses life. The Lord who thus from afar blesses by His mere 
presence is the true Sun of Life, the Atman, the Self- Sree Maha 
Vishnu. 

 

Stanza 31

amritaamsoodbhavo bhaanuh sasabinduh suresvarah
aushadham jagatas-setuh satya-dharma-paraakramah.


283. Amritaamsoodbhavah  -The moon who has consoling rays that gives 
the essential food value (Rasa) to the plants and fruits is called in 
Sanskrit as Amritaamsuh. In the Puranas it is described that the moon 
was first born from the milky-ocean during its churning. Since Vishnu 
is described as ever reposing upon His Ananta-bed in Ksheerasaagara, 
the Lord is Himself termed here as the Begetter of the Moon. 
Subjectively Moon (Mati) is the Presiding Deity of the intellect, and 
the discriminating intellect itself arose when our bosom started 
churning the heart by the two forces, the positive -the good (Deva) -
and the negative -Vicious (Asuras). If the Sun is the Presiding Deity 
of energy, moon represents the world of matter, and the very source 
from which the world-of-matter, Kshetra, has risen is Amritaam- 
soodbhavah. 

284. Bhaanuh -Self-Effulgent; One who expresses Himself for the 
blessing of the world in the form of the Sun and presides over the 
entire solar system. 

285. Sasabinduh -The patch in the moon looks like the silhouette of a 
rabbit for the naked eye; that which has a "beauty-spot" (Bindu) in 
the shape of a rabbit (Sasa) is called Sasabindu -the moon. Since the 
Lord is the Nourisher of all and He is Himself the entire world of 
matter, He Himself is the Moon "that nourishes with essence all plant 
kingdom".

286. Suresvarah -Sura means Deva and so the term indicates "the God 
of all gods". The word Sura also can be dissolved to mean Giver (Ra) 
of Plenty (Su); Sura therefore stands for a person of extreme 
charity .The Lord, Eesvara, who prompts and fulfils the loving 
kindness of all charitable men is Suresvarah, Lord Vishnu. 

287. Aushadham -Medicine. Narayana is the Divine Medicine for the 
immediate cure for all the burning sorrows of Samsar. Even to 
consider it more directly as the specific cure for all bodily 
ailments is not necessarily wrong, for ailments of the body are 
caused by mental disintegration, and when the inner man has 
surrendered in devotion to Him, Lord Narayana indeed becomes a 
specific cure for even all the physical diseases of His devotees. 

288. Jagatassetuh  -A reclamation bund thrown across waters 
connecting distant islands to the main land is called Setu. Sri 
Ramachandraji built one and reached Lanka. The term Jagatassetuh, 
therefore, implies that the Lord is Himself the Bridge over which one 
can safely cross over the realm of egocentric imperfections and reach 
the joyous realms of the Infinite Perfection. 

289. Satyadharmaparaakramah -One who champions heroically for Truth 
(Satya) and Righteousness (Dharma). It can also imply as One who has 
Truthfulness (Sat yam), Righteousness (Dharma) and Heroism 
(Paraakramah) .In short, Lord is One, who fights constantly against 
the false and the unrighteous to establish Truth and Purity. 

 

Stanza 32

bhoota-bhavya-bhavan-naathah pavanah paavano-analah
kaamahaa kaamakrit-kaantah kaamah kaamapradah prabhuh.


290. Bhoota-Bhavya-Bhavan-Naathah - The Lord of the three periods of 
time: the past, the present and the future. Lord of Time is the One, 
in whose presence alone, time concept is possible. "Time" is the 
interval between "thoughts" and the Awareness that illumines the rise 
and fall of thoughts is the very Lord of Time. Objectively He is the 
Lord of all those, that exist in the three periods of time; or He to 
whom all creatures conditioned by time, pray for comforts, solace and 
protection. 

291. Pavanah  -One who purifies everything. Or One who manifests as 
the life-giving atmosphere around the world and sustains the 
existence everywhere. 

292. Paavanah -In the earlier term "Pavanah" the Lord is indicated as 
the One who has, in the form of the atmospheric air, filled the 
universe. He is the One who sustains life in all living creatures as 
the life-giving atmospheric air. Here, the present term "Paavanah" 
means the One who gives this life-sustaining power to the atmospheric 
air. It is very well-known that the moving air (Breeze) purifies more 
than any other known thing in the world. This purifying power is 
acquired by the atmosphere by His Grace. In short, He is the secret 
glory that lends the atmosphere, the very life-sustaining property 
for the air, and He is the dynamism that moves the air.

293. Analah  -The term itself means Fire. So He who is in the form of 
fire, and sustains life. A certain amount of minimum thermal heat is 
necessary for life to continue, be it in the human body or be it in 
the Earth itself. This warmth of life in the world around and in the 
organism itself, without which life cannot continue. that mighty 
warmth of life is none other than the Lord, and hence, He is called 
Analah. Also the term `Ana' has the meaning of Praana, and `La' means 
to receive. Therefore, the term can also imply "One who is the very 
Self, the very Vital Factor, in the Praana". 

294. Kaamahaa -One who destroys all desires. Desires spring forth 
from the Vaasanaas. We can experience the Self only on transcending 
the vaasanaas. Just as the sun is the destroyer of night, similarly, 
the Pure consciousness, the Atman and the Vaasanaas cannot remain at 
the one and the same time. The Vaasanaas end when the Atman is 
experienced. From the devotees' stand-point, He is the One who 
fulfils all his desires. Or He who is the father of Kaama, Pradyumna, 
which again is one of the names of Vishnu. 

Desire is the source from which endless series of other sources of 
sorrows flow into the human life. When a desire arises in the mind, 
only two things are possible. Either we fulfil the desire or we do 
not. In case we get our desires fulfilled, it is natural for the 
human mind to crave for more and thus he becomes restless due to 
greed. If, on the other hand, the desire is not fulfilled, anger 
rises and when anger increases, it brings about delusion of the mind 
and makes the victim see things in others, in himself and the 
situation he is in, which are not in fact there around him. In such a 
deluded one, Wisdom slips away and, naturally, therefore, his 
discriminative power cannot function, since he cannot judge the 
present situation with reference to any standard ideal that he had in 
the past. When the rational discriminative power fades away that man 
falls completely off the dignity of mall and becomes worse than a 
brute. Geeta charters thus, a steady psychological fall in a 
spiritual being, and this entire chain of self-destruction springs 
forth from desire. A devotee, or a meditator, when he approaches this 
Great Reality, existing in the subjective Core of his own 
personality, he transcends all the realms of his desires and passions 
and, therefore, this Great Inner Self is indicated here as 
the "Destroyer of all Desires". He is the One who fulfils all desires 
in His devotees, and thus bring about a calm fullness of joy within. 

295. Kaama-krit -One who fulfils all desires. The implications have 
been indicated in the analysis of the previous term. It can also mean 
as the Very Creator of the Lord of Love-Kaama Deva. Even though 
desires spring forth from the realm of the Causal Body, constituted 
of the Vaasanaas without the thrilling touch of the Self, even 
Vaasanaas cannot express all by themselves. In that sense of the 
term, the very agitations of desire, erupt from His Grace. Hence, He 
is called the Kaama-krit. 

296. Kaantah -One who is of enchanting form. Infinite Beauty is the 
very nature of the Self, and the Upanishads define the Self as 
Saantam-Sivam-Sundaram. 

The aestheticism in man craves for harmony and where we experience 
the greatest of harmony, there we detect the presence of beauty. In 
front of beauty, the entire personality of an intelligent man becomes 
calm and peaceful, hushed in silence, transported to ecstasy. These 
are moments when the meditator has transcended his Sheaths and is in 
union with the Pure Self. Naturally therefore, the Pure personality 
of an intelligent man becomes calm and peaceful. Self is indicated 
here as Kaantah-Divine Auspicious form of Absolute Beauty. 

297. Kaamah  -One who is the beloved. Not only He is the beloved of 
the devotees, but every activity of all living creatures is an 
attempt at courting and winning bliss and happiness. The Blissful 
Self is the goal of all creatures in life. Even insignifical1t 
unicellular organisms revolt against pain, and they too seek 
happiness. Man is no exception. The Infinite Bliss which is 
experienced only on transcending the body, mind and intellect, is 
that which is constantly demanded by every organism that breathes in 
this universe. In the ignorance of this All Satisfying Goal, the 
world suffers. That Lord is the beloved of all devotees, and in fact, 
He is also the beloved of even those who deny Him and run after the 
sense- objects. The theist seeks Him through devotion or meditation. 
The atheist too seeks Him only in and through all his diligent 
pursuits of the sense-stimuli. 

298. Kaamapradah ?One who supplies the desired objects; One who 
fulfils all desires To the devotee, the Lord, is the giver of all 
desired objects, and to a man of meditation, the Lord is that state-
of-mind where all desires are fulfilled- in the sense that no more 
can any desire linger in his heart after the Experience-Divine 

299. Prabhuh -He is the Lord, the Master, the Owner, the proprietor. 
One who has all powers to do, not to do and to do otherwise is called 
the Great Lord.

 

Stanza 33

yugaadi-krit yugaavarto naikamaayo mahaasanah
adrisyo vyaktaroopascha sahasrajit anantajit.


300. Yugaadi-krit -One who is the creator of the divisions of aeons, 
described in our Puranas, as Yugas. These Yugas are four in number. 
Kritam, Tretaa, Dvaapara and Kali. In short, He is the Lord of Time. 
By the term Aadi, it must be understood to indicate all other 
divisions of Time as Centuries, Years, Months, Weeks, Days, Hours, 
Minutes and Seconds. He is not only the Lord of the Yugas, but He is 
the Light of Consciousness that illumines the duration of each 
experience and the very interval between every pair of subjective 
experiences. 

301. Yugaavartah  -In the previous term the Lord is indicated as the 
Creator of the Yugas, and here we are told that He is also the Power 
behind the wheel of time that goes on changing and repeating itself, 
i.e. not only He is the Lord of Time, but He is the Mighty 
Administrator of the performances of Time, the very Law behind the 
constant flow of the flood of time. 

302. Naikamaayah -One whose delusory forms are endless and 
variegated. According to Puranas, for the sake of sustaining the 
world and maintaining its order and rhythm, the Lord had taken 
different forms, each of His manifestations well-suited for the times 
of His arrival. Thus, we have ten in- carnations. Also, in that 
mighty manifestations of the Lord, as Krishna and Raffia, we find 
descriptions of how one and the same entity generated different 
attitudes and emotions in different types of people. In short, one 
who has realised the Self, can thereafter freely play through all his 
existing Vaasanaas and none of them can ever entangle him, because he 
has grown to be the master of his own Vaasanaas. Maayaa, otherwise 
called as Avidyaa, is constituted of the Vaasanaas in us, forming our 
Causal Body. One who has transcended this is the One who has realised 
the Infinite. Lord is therefore, one who is without Maayaa in Him. An 
individual entity, like us, is one who is under the tyrannies of 
Maayaa. The Lord is one who can wield Maayaa for His purpose without 
Himself becoming involved in it. 

303. Mahaasanah -This word can be dissolved as He who eats up 
everything. One who swallows up all perceptions, emotions and 
thoughts, created by the Vaasanaas, at the various levels of 
personality, due to our own individual Vaasanaas. At the time of 
Samaadhi when the limited ego is ended and the Supreme is experienced 
all the expressions of Vaasanaas are, as it were, swallowed by that 
Infinite Experience, and therefore, this Great Vishnu is called as 
the "Consumer of Everything." 

304. Adrisyah -Through the sense-organs, the mind and intellect at 
this moment, we are aware of the outer objects and our subjective 
emotions and thoughts. The ultimate Reality is neither the objects 
perceived by us, nor the instruments of our perception. He is the 
Subjective Core, the Eternal Essence, wherein, the perceived and the 
instruments of perceptions are all totally absent. This Subjective 
Reality must necessarily be, by Its very nature, not an object-of- 
perception, and hence, It is called as the Imperceptible meaning, He 
is the very Perceiver in all perceptions. 

305. Vyakta-roopah -He who has a form- clearly perceptible to the 
meditator in his meditation. The contradiction is so smotheringly 
apparent because of the very placing of the term. It is only just-
now, in the above term, that we are told that the Lord is 
imperceptible (Adrisyah) and the very following term declares that He 
is perceptible. Here it means that though He is not perceptible with 
the physical instruments of perceptions, yet on transcending the 
equipments, the Yogi intimately comes to experience the entire Divine 
Glory of the Self. Though, ordinarily it is not easy to see Him, in 
the devotee's heart, the Lord comes to play vividly and drives the 
devotee mad in his ecstasy. 

306. Sahasra-jit -One who vanquishes thou- sands. In all the Puranas 
everywhere, it is found that the Incarnations manifest to destroy the 
diabolically fallen (Raakshas) who approach the good in endless 
hoards to annihilate them. One who conquers over these diabolical 
forces is the Lord Vishnu. 

Subjectively the hosts of passions and lusts, greeds and jealousies 
which invade the inner bosom, and loot away the seeker's tranquillity 
and peace, are all ultimately vanquished by this Higher Consciousness 
and therefore, the Self is indicated as the one who is ever 
victorious over all the hoards of our lower impulses. 

307. Ananta-jit -Ever-victorious. The victory of the Lord is endless; 
in every Incarnation, He alone wins in the end. The victory over 
negative forces becomes complete when once the Higher Consciousness 
is experienced, and hence, the Self is indicated here as Ananta-jit. 

 

Stanza 34

ishto visishtah sishteshtah sikhandee nahusho vrishah
krodhahaa krodhakrit kartaa visvabaahur maheedharah.


308. lshtah -This term can be interpreted in two ways. One who is 
invoked through the different types of Vedic rituals (Yajnas), is 
Ishtah. Or, it can also mean, One who is loved by all. The Lord being 
the very centre of all love in everyone. The Brihadaranyakopanishad 
very clearly indicates this idea in almost unvarnished words: "The 
man loves his wife not because of the wife, but because of 
himself. ...etc." 

All love spring from our personal love for the Infinite which is the 
Self in us. 

309. Visishtah -One who is the noblest and the most sacred. Vishnu, 
the Lord, dwells in the heart of every- one. He is the sole essence 
presiding over every physical, mental and intellectual activities in 
every living creature and, therefore, He is indicated by this term. 

310. Sishta-ishtah -To all spiritually minded good people and 
therefore sincere seekers, the Lord is the greatest beloved in-as-
much as, He represents the Goal and the Destination of all devoted 
seekers. In short, He is the Supreme Beloved for all spiritually 
inclined divine hearts. 

He can also mean that the Lord is one who Himself is sincere and 
ardent lover and courtier of all devotees, sincerely and diligently 
seeking Him. There are commentators who indicate that the term can 
also mean: One who is being constantly invoked and help in adoration 
by all true devotees with their physical, mental and intellectual 
activities. 

311. Sikhandee -One who wears `Sikhanda' meaning "the peacock 
feather", Lord Krishna is described in Bhagavat as having adorned 
with the `eye' of the peacock feather, especially in his early child 
and boy-hood.

312. Nahushah -The term "Nahanmn" means bondage, therefore, the term 
stands for "One who is familiar with bondages," ln Vedanta, the 
word `Isvarah' is the Supreme Consciousness conditioned by the total- 
Causal-Body (Maayaa); at the same time, Isvara is One who has the 
Maayaa under His control, It can also be understood as "One who bind, 
all creatures of the world with the cord of Maayaa." Those who are 
students of the Puranas interpret this word as One whose glory was 
expressed in the spectacular magnificence in Nahushah, who gained the 
Office of Indra. 

313. Vrishah -There is a famous statement in the Hindu tradition from 
which we can gather that the Lord is of the nature of Dharma. Dharma 
means the essential Law of Being, that because of which an individual 
is an individual, without which the individual cannot exist, is the 
Dharma of the individual. In this sense, the essential Dharma of one 
is the Self. Thus, Vrishah is but another name to suggest that the 
Lord Vishnu is none other than the Self in us. It can also mean "One 
who showers the fulfilment of all desires in all devotees." Desires 
arise when the existing Vaasanaas get impatient and explode into 
manifestation. As the desire arises, the mind plans out and the body 
acts towards its fulfilment. All these activities are possible only 
when the vehicles are thrilled by the Self in us. Thus, ultimately, 
one who fulfils all desires is the Lord of our heart, the Atman. 

314. Krodhahaa -One who destroys anger in all sincere seekers. We 
have already found earlier that anger manifests when fulfilment of a 
deep desire is obstructed. On realising the Lord, all desires end 
and, therefore, there cannot be any anger on any occasion. Also, 
anger can come only when we recognise the world of plurality around 
us. For one who is experiencing the Self, there is nothing but the 
One Self everywhere and, therefore, there is no occasion to entertain 
this emotion of anger.

315. Krodha-krit-kartaa ?One who generates in a sincere and serious 
seeker anger against the lower tendencies when they manifest-"Krodha-
krit". Also He is the very creative impulse `Kartaa' behind the lower 
tendencies; because all things come out from Him alone. Some 
commentators consider this term as two different words, but the 
majority consider them as an integrated one. 

316. Visvabaahuh -One who has number of hands; whose hands are 
everywhere doing all activities in the universe. The life in the 
bosom as long as it exists, so long alone the hands and the legs 
function. The hands can lift and do its job only when it is in 
contact with life. Life expressing through the hand is its function. 
All hands that are doing variegater activities all over the world are 
all His hands in-as- much as, where He is not, that lifeless hand can 
perform no more any activity. Since He is thus the dynamic One 
Principle that functions through all hands at work, He is called a 
Visvabaahuh.

317. Maheedharah -One who is the Substratum and support for the 
Earth. The Lord is the very material cause for the universe and as 
such, He supports the world-just as cotton supports the cloth, mud 
supports the pot, gold supports the ornament. Since the term Mahee 
also means "the adorations sent up by the devotees," it can also 
mean `One who receives all the worship of devoted hearts.' 

 

Stanza 35

achyutuh prathitah praanah praanado vaasavaanujah
apaam nidhiradhishthaanam apramattah pratishthitah


318. Achyutah -One who has not got any modifications (Chyutam) such 
as birth, growth, decay, disease, death etc. The Eternal and 
Immutable cannot have any change and the Self being the Eternal, it 
cannot have any of the changes that are natural to all mortal and 
finite things, Upanishads themselves thunder this Truth-"Eternal, 
Auspicious and Changeless". 

319. Prathitah  -One who exists pervading all; spreading Himself 
everywhere. It can also mean "One whose glory, as described in the 
Upanishads, has spread round the world everywhere." 

320. Praanah -All manifested expressions of life are called as the 
Praana. He is the Praana in all-living creatures; meaning, it is His 
manifestations that we recognise as the endless activities in all 
living creatures in this dynamic world. Also it can mean that "He is 
the One who in the form of vital-air, sustains life in all 
creatures." 

321 Praanadah ?One who gives strength (Praana) to everywhere The 
root `da' has a meaning of destruction and, therefore, the term 
comprehends also the power of destruction everywhere According to the 
Puranas, therefore, He is the One who gives the strength and glory 
for Devas, and again, He is the One who supplies special strength to 
them to win over the brutal forces of the diabolically wicked, the 
Asuras Subjectively, it is the Self that supplies the mental strength 
for cultivating the higher values of life, and it is the same Source 
Divine that floods the seekers heart with the courage to annihilate 
the lower impulses that come to destroy his peace and tranquillity 
within 

322. Vaasavaanujah -the brother of the Indra. This name has been 
acquired by lord Vishnu because of  his incarnation as the Adorable 
Dwarf-(Vaamana). At that time, the Lord had to take birth in the womb 
of Aditi and manifest as the younger brother of Indra. In the 
subjective science of Vedanta, the king of the gods (Indra) is the 
Lord of the sense organs and so he is the Mind. The spiritual urge 
that dawns in us as a younger brother of the Mind, ultimately comes 
to measure away and win over the three worlds of waking, dream and 
deep-sleep, and thus comes to conquer over the entire kingdom of 
Indra in more sense than one. 

323. Apaam-nidhih  -Treasure of waters, meaning the ocean. The very 
glory and might of the oceans are all but a reflection of Sri 
Narayana's own glory divine. In the Geeta, Bhagavan Himself 
says, "among the collections of waters, I am the Ocean." 

324. Adhishthaanam - the substratum for the entire universe. The 
delusory misconceptions can be projected only upon something that is 
real and this permanent `post' is called the `substratum' for the 
desulory `Gost'-Vision.

325. Apramattah -One who has no Pramaada, meaning, `One who never 
commits a mistake in judgement." The Lord is the Law behind all 
happenings in the universe. The results of the actions are always 
strictly according to the quality of the actions. In administering 
this Law of Karma, One who never makes any mistake is Apramattah. We 
are full of Pramaada -we make the mistake of misunderstanding 
ourselves to be the matter equipment around us and due to this 
Pramaada, we project in ourselves the false concept of an Ego The 
Supreme is ever the Pure Consciousness and, therefore, He is without 
such wrong self-judgement.

326. Pratishthitah -Everything in the world depends upon something 
else to serve as its cause. Since all things that we perceive and 
experience in the world are all effects, they have their own causes, 
and the effects must necessarily depend upon the cause for their very 
existence. The Supreme Lord is the One uncaused Cause with reference 
to whom everything is only an effect. Since He is thus the ultimate 
Cause, He is not depending upon anything other than Himself. This 
self-established Reality is indicated by the term Pratishthitah. 

 

Stanza 36

skandah skanda-dharo dhuryo varado vaaryuvaahanah
vasudevo brihat bhaanur aadidevah purandarah.


327. Skandah -This is one of the names of the youngest son of Lord 
Siva, Subrahmanya, who is described in the Purana as Commanander-in-
Chief of the righteous army. Therefore, Skanda means "the Lord, whose 
glory is expressed, through Subrahmanya", In order to realise the 
Self, it is a prerequisite condition that the different personality 
layers in the seeker should be completely integrated. 

328. Skanda-dharah ?"One who upholds the withering righteousness." 
Or, "One who fathered Lord Subrahmanya", meaning One who is in the 
form of Paramesvara.

329. Dhuryah -One who carries the Lord. The Lord is the One who 
carries the responsibilities of creation, sustenance and annihilation 
of the entire world of plurality. One who carries out these functions 
systematically without any hitch round millenniums is Sree Narayana 
and He is therefore Dhuryah.

330. Varadah -One who blesses all true devotees and fulfils their 
request for boons. It can also mean "One who gives the best (Varam) 
in life to those who seek Him with perfect detachment and sharpened 
discrimination. 

331. Vaayuvaahanah ?"The One who controls, regulates and moves the 
great winds". In the Sanskrit literature, the movement of air in the 
atmosphere has been classified under seven types and they are called 
the `Sapta Marutah'.

In short, the inconceivable might and power of the winds and their 
life-sustaining abilities are all lent out to the air by His own 
munificence and, therefore, He is called as Vaayuvaahanah. 

332. Vaasudevah ?"One who is at once both Vaasu and Deva. Vaasu 
means "One who dwells in the physical equipments of all living 
creatures as its indweller (Jeeva); Deva means "One who revels or One 
who illumines". Thus, Vaasudevah means "One who lives in the physical 
equipment as though conditioned by them, and yet, who is the Vital 
Consciousness in the light of which every experience is illumined. 
The Lord is the One who dwells in all things of the universe and He 
is at once the Supporter of the entire world.

Also, directly, it can be taken to mean, One who is born as the Son 
of Sri Vasudeva in the Jail of Kamsa, the Blue-Boy of Brindaavana. He 
is called Vaasu as He veils Himself with His own Maayaa; Deva 
means "He who sports, wishes to conquer, conducts, shines, creates 
and moves". In the Udyoga Parva of Mahabharata, we read, "Like the 
Sun with his rays I am covering (Deva) in all beings and hence, I am 
called Vaasudeva". 

Vishnupurana says, ``as He resides everywhere in and through all 
things, He is termed Vaasudevah. " All beings remain in the Supreme, 
and He in all being and hence, the Omnipresent is called the 
Vaasudeva.

333. Brihat-bhaanuh -Possessed of endless rays, meaning "One who 
illumines the world with the rays of the Sun and the Moon." 

Mahabharata says, "He whose great rays are in the Sun, Moon and 
others and He who illumines the universe through them is called the 
Possessor of great rays.

334. Aadidevah ?"One who is the Primary source for everything," 
meaning the Lord. He is the First Cause, and hence the first Deity. 

335. Purandarah ?"The destroyer of the cities." City is the well-
equipped field for gathering endless experiences. The three cities 
through which we generally move about gathering our experiences in 
this world are the waking, dream and deep-sleep, On transcending the 
Gross, Subtle and Causal Bodies, one experiences the Self, and at 
such a moment these three cities are burned down or pillaged or 
blasted, The same ideal is explained in the Shiva-purana also; 
accordingly, we can say that He is One who as Mahesvara, performed 
the destruction of the three cities.

 

Stanza 37

asokastaaranastaarah soorah saurih-janesvarah
anukoolah sataavarttah padmee padmanibhekshanah.


336. Asokah ?"One who has no sorrows." Sorrow is a condition 
experienced when the mind is agitated and extremely disturbed. The 
agitations of the mind come from desires, greed, etc. Therefore, the 
term Asokah indicates, "One who has none of these negative tendencies 
that create in their turn more and more mental disturbances". This is 
a true appalation, because, the Lord, as the Self, transcends the 
realm of the thought-disturbances constituted by the mind-intellect- 
equipment. 

337. Taaranah ?"One who enables others to cross." The ego suffering 
the constant agitations of the equipments is saved by the Self. The 
ego (jeeva), when it discovers its identity with the Self, 
automatically moves away from the sorrows of the vehicles. In short, 
as Vishnubhaagavata says, "who is there other than You that can save 
us from the wheel of birth and death."

338. Taarah ?"One who saves is called Taarah, One who saves from the 
fear of re-birth and also One who is a constant protector of the 
devotees and, therefore, the devotees themselves call Him as the 
Saviour (Taarah).

These three terms indicate how Vishnu is the Absolute Protector of 
His devotees. He saves us from the afflictions (Asoka) of the body 
and so Subjective-sorrows (Adhyaatma). He enables us to cross the 
ocean of Samsaara (Taaranah) and, therefore, He saves us from all 
Cosmic pains (Adhibhootah). He saves us from the elements (Taarah), 
and so, He is the Saviour from all sorrows of birth and death; this 
indicates all trans-Cosmic tragedies (Aadhidaivika), meaning that 
Narayana can save us from all sorrows contributed by the hand God. 

339. Soorah ?"The Valiant". All sources of strength and courage 
spring from the Life in us and, therefore, the Lord of the universe 
is called here as the Valiant-capable of crushing all unrighteous 
forces, however well-trenched they may be in the world. 

340. Saurih ?Soorasena was the father of Vasudeva, and we have 
already found that Vasudeva's son is Vaasudeva. Therefore, the Lord 
had taken His incarnation in the family of Soora and so He is termed 
as `Saurih'.

341. Janesvarah -The Lord of the people (jana). Those who are born 
are called Jana. Therefore the term indicates that He is the Lord of 
all creatures born the universe. 

342. Anukoolah ?"A hearty well-wisher, or friend of everyone". Since 
the Lord is the Essential Life in everyone, He is the friend and ally 
of every individual in as much as, nobody spends his life except in 
concurrence with his own subjective intentions and purposes. Thus, 
the Lord is a friend fulfilling the intentions of a murderer, and He 
is again the friend of another helping Him to serve the mankind, if 
that be his intention. Thus, He is a friend and a devoted ally to 
everyone since He is the mighty power behind all Vaasanaas expressing 
through all creatures. 

343. Sataavarttah -Sata means "hundred", and here it is used 
as "innumerable". Thus the term' Sataavarttah' means "One who takes 
infinite varieties of forms". All forms in the universe are but His 
own, inasmuch as, His manifestation is the universe. Again, He takes 
innumerable incarnations in order to maintain the taw of the cosmos 
and also the law of evolution. It can also mean "One who, as Praana, 
moves in the innumerable Naadees in the body". 

344. Padmee ?"One who has the lotus in his hand". The lotus is the 
national flower in Bharat as it symbolises in our culture, the Goal 
of our Spiritual life. It is to offer this "Knowledge", that the Lord 
blows His conch, and if people are not listening to this silent call 
of the Higher from within, He uses His gadaa (mace) to give merciful 
knocks in life. Still, if an individual or a generation is not 
listening to His kindly warnings, He has the Discus (Chakra) in His 
hand. He annihilates totally the existing forms and re-creates. 

345. Padma-nibhekshanah ?"One whose eyes are as beautiful as the 
Lotus." In short, `lotus-eyed.' 

 

Stanza 38

padmanaabho-arvindaakshah padmagarbhah sareerabhrit
maharddhi-riddhah uriddhaatmaa mahaakshah gantdadhvajah.


346. Padmanaabhah ?"One who has the lotus in his navel". This is not 
to be taken literally. Navel (Naabhi) is the psychic centre where all 
un-manifest thoughts first spring forth into our recognition 
(Pasyantee). The seedless state of all thoughts is called in the Yoga 
Sastra, as Paraa. It therefore means "one in whose bosom lies, in 
potential, all the possibilities of the universe of expression." It 
can also mean "One who manifests Himself in the lotus of the heart of 
his devotee. Some translate as "He who is seated in the pericarp of 
the lotus." 

347. Aravindaakshah ?"One who has eyes as beautiful as the lotus". 
The lotus opens at sun-rise and closes in the night. The Lord opens 
His beauty and grace in the  presence of the devotees and the flood 
of His grace, as it were, drys up in the presence of the dark 
sensuality of the ignorant. 

348. Padmagarbhah ?"One who is being meditated upon in the centre of 
the lotus-of-the-heart." 

349. Sareerabhrit ?"One who sustains nourishes all bodies". Or, it 
can mean "One who is form of food and praana, becomes the very cause 
for the sustenance of the body". It is a fact very well known that 
even though a body can continue existing without visibly decaying for 
50 years, once Life has ebbed away, the deadbody cannot maintain its 
form and it does not exist even for 48 hours intact. He who while 
presiding over the body nourishes and maintains it, and in whose 
absence the body decays and nourishes, He is the One who is the 
Sustainer of the body (Dehahhrit).

350. Maharddhih ?"One who has great riddhi, meaning, prosperity and 
power". These two-prosperity and power-together is called glory 
(Aisvarya). Thus the term means, "One who has by His very nature 
glory ever with Him." 

351. Riddhah  -"One who has expanded Himself to be the universe." In 
short, "One who has manifested Himself as the entire world of 
plurality, constituted of the finite things of the Cosmos."

352. Vriddhaatmaa ?"The ancient Self." In the Self there is no 
concept of Time, It being beyond the intellect. But here, by the term 
Vriddhaatmaa, it only means that He was the Self before all creation. 
It is only after the creation of Time that we are capable of saying 
and indicating Him as the Self of the various living creatures. He is 
the first Self, meaning, He is the Self whose manifestations are the 
world of plurality. 

353. Mahaakshah ?"The Great-eyed", meaning, the eyes that can see not 
only the world-of-objects, but also X-ray through them and see all 
that are happening deep within the bosom of all creatures. He is 
the "Great Eye" seeing all, at all times, as He is the Consciousness 
that illumines everything at all times, in all bosoms. 

354. Garuda-dhvajah ?"One who has the (Garuda) as his insignia on his 
flag. The eagle is consider as the vehicle of the Lord; most probably 
Because this bird ever soars high and from above sees even the 
minutest speck of dirt in the world. The eagle after spying the 
carrion, swoops down and takes it away, thus purifying the 
atmosphere. Similarly, the Lord never allows any negative thought to 
come into the heart of His devotees, and hence, the eagle is 
considered as His vehicle. 

 

Stanza 39

atulah sarabhah bheemah samayajno havirharih 
sarvalakshanalakshanyah lakshmeevaan samitinjayah.


355. Atulah ?"Incomparable." For him whose name is the glory of the 
universe, there is no licence." Again, Bhagavat Geeta says, "For Thy 
equal exists not, where is another superior to Thee in the three 
worlds ?" In short, there is nothing like Him, since He does not fall 
under the categories of the things perceived by the body or the 
emotions felt by the mind or the thoughts entertained by the 
intellect: nothing that we know of can be comparable with Him. 

356. Sarabhah ?"One who dwells and shines forth through the bodies." 
Bodies are called Sara because they are perishable. The life that 
presides over the perishable body, whose glory is the individuality, 
is the Self, the Lord. It can also mean, "Lord, who is of the nature 
of Paramesvara," for, Lord Siva had once taken the incarnation of 
Sarabha, a creature with eight legs, capable of killing even the 
lions. 

357. Bheemah ?"The All-inspiring, the Terrible," meaning, One who is 
a mighty and terrible phenomena to those who are cruel and sensuous 
in the world. To the bad, the Lord is always a frightful power of 
vengeance, to follow them relentlessly as their doom. 

Some commentators, due to the position of this word in the stanza, 
read it as a-bheemah, meaning thereby, "He who is the shelter" to 
those who are good. 

358. Samayajnah ?"Knower of all six systems of philosophy," or it can 
mean "One who knows the exact time (samaya) for creation, 
preservation and destruction." Or, it can also mean "One whose 
worship (Yajna) is nothing more than keeping an equal vision of the 
mind by the devotee" The great devotee Prahalada says, "to be equal 
in all conditions, is the worship of Achyuta." 

359. Havir-harih ?"The receiver of all oblation." He is the Lord of 
all Yajnas and as such, He is the One to whom the devotee offers his 
oblations, and He is the One who receives them in all dedicated 
activities. Bhagavat Geeta says, "I am indeed the enjoyer and also 
the Lord of all sacrifices." The Lord is called Havis as He is 
worshipped through oblation. 

Some commentators recognise in this term two different names of the 
Lord: `Havih' and `Harih'. In this case, the former term, `Havih' 
means "He who is invoked by everyone who performs the Yajnas." The 
term Harih means "One who loots away all Vaasanaas (Paapa)," and 
consequently, "One who wipes away all expressions of Vaasanaas." 

360. Sarva-lakshana-lakshanyah ?"Known through all methods of 
proofs," meaning "He is the One Self that is ultimately proved by all 
scientific investigations and philosophical enquiries." Whether it be 
through dualistic (dvaita) or through non-dualistic (advaita) 
philosophy, the Ultimate Truth experienced by the realised seeker, is 
this Great Vishnu. 

361. Lakshmeevan ?"The consort of Lakshmi." He is the Spirit 
(Purusha) that thrills the entire world- of-matter (Prakriti). Matter 
thrilled with the spirit is the dynamic world that we see around. 
Thus, the manifested Lord is ever wedded to Lakshmi. Lakshmi also 
means Effulgent, and therefore, the Lord who is Ever-effulgent, 
meaning the Pure Consciousness, that illumines everything, is indeed 
Lakshmeevan. 

362. Samitinjayah ?"Ever-Victorious." In the Puranas, we find the 
Lord ultimately wins in His battle with the unrighteous forces. He is 
the destroyer of all pains in the individuality of the devotees. 
Samiti as a word, has got the meaning-"Battle". 

Stanza 40

viksharo rohito maargo hetur daamodarah sahah
maheedharo mahaabhaago vegavaan-amitaasanah.


363. Viksharah -Ksharah means "decaying," "that which is perishing", 
and so Viksharah means "Imperishable". Those who are meditating upon 
the Lord in His un-manifested State of Glory, this term is very often 
used. All material things are conditioned by time and all objects 
are, therefore, perishable. The Lord, the Self, is the Subject and 
is, therefore, ever Unchanging and always Imperishable. 

364. Rohitah -The term `Rohita' means fish, and this name has come to 
indicate Lord Vishnu because of His first incarnation as the Fish. 
When the entire world was submerged in the waters of the deluge, the 
only living creatures that were available at that time could only be 
fishes. Lord could incarnate at that time only in the form of the 
Fish. Therefore, here the term means "One who had manifested to serve 
the living creatures as the Fish among the fishes." 

365. Maargah ?"The Path." In order to realise the Highest which is 
the Nameless and Formless, human mind will have to first hold on to a 
divine form, and that is Lord Vishnu. He is the Way and the Goal. In 
short, "He is the One whom seekers of the Highest meditate upon in 
order to reach the Supreme." 

366. Hetuh ?"The Cause". One who is the cause for the whole universe. 
He is at once the material-cause (Upaadaana Kaarana), the 
instrumental-cause (Nimitta Kaarana) and He who alone is also the 
efficient-cause in the creation of this universe. Hence, He is called 
The Cause. 

367. Daamodarah ?This term has come to indicate the Lord because, He 
is One who is known through a mind which is purified (Udara) by means 
of self-control (dama) and such other qualities. According to 
Mahabharata, "We call Him as Daamodara as He is known by means of 
Dama."

Brahmapurana re-capitulates the incident in the early childhood of 
the Lord when He was tied with a cord (daama) round His waste 
(udara). This term can also mean "One in whose bosom rests the whole 
universe."

368. Sahah ?"All enduring". The Lord is One who has patience at 
everything, and is One who readily forgives all the defaults of His 
sincere devotees. 

369. Maheedharah ?"The Supporter or the Bearer of the Earth". Since 
He is the very essence in the universe as its material-cause, He is 
the One who supports all forms in the universe. The Lord supports the 
world, just as gold `supports' the ornaments, the cotton `supports' 
the cloth, the ocean `supports' the waves. 

370. Mahaa-bhaagah -He who has extreme beauty in all His limbs, or He 
who is ever fortunate, or fie who gets the greatest share (Bhaaga) in 
every Yajna. 

371. Vegavaan ?"He who is swift"; One who is the fastest in reaching 
the devotee the moment his loving heart remembers Him. By import it 
means that He is All- pervading, therefore, He is the fastest, 
inasmuch as "nothing can ever overtake Him."

In the Isavasyopanishad He is indicated as swifter than the mind- 
(Manasojaveeyah). 

372. Amitaasanah ?"Of endless appetite." This should not be taken 
literally, but it only means that the entire world of plurality 
projected by the mind, merges back when the mind is transcended at 
the time of the experience of the Self. Just as we can say that the 
waker swallows the dreamer, the Higher Consciousness, with an 
infinite appetite, as it were, swallows the Infinite Cosmos; hence 
figuratively, He is considered as `the Great Consumer' of the whole 
world of plurality during involution (Pralaya).

 

Stanza 41

udbhavah kshubhano devah sreegarbhah paramesvarah
karanam kaaranam kartaa vikartaa gahano guhah.


373 Udbhavah ?"The Originator" The Lord is the material-cause from 
which the entire universe arises and, therefore, He is the origin for 
the Cosmos, or it can mean to indicate, "One who is again and again 
born as the endless jivas under the urge of their individual 
vaasanaas".

374 Kshobhanah ?"The Agitator" If the Self were not in the 
equipments, the equipments will not get agitated -will not pursue 
their functions The Atman, the Pure Consciousness is that which 
thrills and agitates both the matter (Prakriti) and energy (Purusha), 
and causes the manifestation of the living entities (jives), who, 
with their actions, constitute the dynamic aspect of the world. If 
the Self is not there, there can be no movement or expression of 
life; everything would have remained completely inert and insentient. 
He is the Lord who thrills the world and makes it so beautifully 
palpitating with life. Hence, He is called as the Agitator 
(Kshobhanah).

375 Devah ?"One who revels is Deva. This term `Deevyati' in Sanskrit 
also means `to conquer', `to shine' and `to praise' Therefore, Lord 
Vishnu is rightly called as Derah because He sports through His play-
the great Creation-Sustenance-Destruction-play, He functions in all 
Beings as He shines as the Universal Consciousness; and He is praised 
by all the devotees Svetasratara Upanishad indicates "there is only 
one Deva".

376 Sree-garbhah -"Containing all glories within; One in whom are all 
glories (Aisvarya)" The glory of the Lord is the universe and this 
universe resides in Him, and therefore, all powers and glories that 
are manifested in the universe are also ever in Him. 

377. Paramesvarah -The Supreme (Parama) Lord (Isvara). The fanatics 
generally interpret the word to mean as "the only Lord", in the sense 
that all other concepts of God are wrong. The large-hearted, tolerant 
Rishis of old, could have never meant such a meaning. It could only 
mean "that He is the Supreme Consciousness whose expressions are all 
the deities". The term Isvara indicates both might and glory. 
Therefore, Paramesvara means "One who is Omnipotent and All-
glorious." 

378. Karanam ?"The Instrument." That which is most useful in 
fulfilling any piece of work is called the tool or the instrument. 
For the creation of the world He is the instrumental-cause (Nimitta 
Kaarana). 

379. Kaaranam ?"The Cause." By the earlier term it was indicated that 
He is the instrumental-cause (Nimi- tta Kaarana) for the whole 
universe. Here now, by this term, it is indicated that He is the very 
material-cause (Upaadaana Kaarana) of the universe. Since the term 
directly means only "the cause", it can mean not only the material 
cause, but also it can suggest the instrumental-cause. In the former 
case it would mean "He from whom the whole universe arises", and in 
the latter sense, the term is interpreted by some commentators as "He 
who causes the universe to emerge out". 

380. Kartaa ?"The Doer". He is the One in whose presence alone all 
activities are possible, and hence by a transferred epithet, though 
the doings all belong to the equipments, the Self is called as 
the "Doer". One who can freely perform all the functions of creation, 
sustenance and destruction, is the "Doer". 

381. Vi-kartaa ?"One who creates the infinite varieties that 
constitute the universe." It can also mean, "One who has created out 
of Himself, the endless self-manifestations of incarnations." 

382. Gahanah ?"The Un-knowable". One who cannot be comprehended by 
any of the known instruments of knowledge; One who is not an object 
of perception, but is the very subject and the perceiver in all sense-
organs. 

383. Guhah ?"One who dwells in the cave of the heart" meaning "One 
who is the very core of every living creature." He is concealed 
within the equipments and hence, He is described in our Scriptures 
as "One who dwells in the cave of the heart". The Smriti describes 
Him as "This Lord, the Great Purusha, the Witness who dwells in the 
cave most secretively." Mundakopanishad describes the Self 
as `Nihitam Guhaayaam'. Again, the Lord Himself says, "I am not 
readily perceivable by all as I am veiled by my own Maayaa ". 

 

Stanza 42.

vyavasaayo vyavasthaanah samsthaanah sthaanado-dhruvah 
pararddhih paramaspashtah-tushtah pushtah subhekshanah.

384. Vyavasaayah  -"Resolute." Being of the nature of Pure Wisdom, 
there is no vacillation in Him; all irresolution is at the level of 
the doubting mind and the unprepared intellect. The 
term `Vyavasaayah' also means "Yoga." In this sense, the term is used 
in the Geeta, "The intellect of one who is practising Yoga is single-
pointed without vacillation." Again, in the same chapter criticising 
those who are running after enjoyment and power, Krishna says, "those 
who are revelling in sensuality and consequently disturbing the poise 
of their intellect, cannot have a steady mind and consistent pursuit 
of Yoga."

To work persistently until the Goal is reached is resolution. "To 
steadily apply ourselves in continuously withdrawing ourselves from 
our identifications with the not-Self, until we come to apprehend and 
experience the Self", is Yoga. Hence, commentators 
interpret `Vyavasaaya' as "Yoga." 

385. Vyavasthaanah ?"The Basis or the Substratum." The one who is the 
very Substratum for the entire pluralistic world; the One who orders 
the laws of the cosmos and administers those laws.

386. Samsthaanah ?"The Ultimate Authority, State or Goal." He who 
absorbs unto Himself all the multiplicities of names and forms during 
the time of deluge. The One Source into which all perceptions, 
emotions and thoughts retire and merge at the time of deep-sleep. In 
short, it means "the One who integrates the plurality and absorbs it 
all unto Himself when the projections are ended at that time of 
transcendence. 

387. Sthaanadah ?"One who confers the right abode." Each living 
organism, "according to his actions and thoughts" gathers to himself 
vaasanaas and according to the vaasanaas, each individual takes his 
birth. Thus, the One who gives (dada) the appropriate abode (sthaana) 
to each individual (jeeva) is called Sthaanadah. In short, the Lord 
is the distributor of the fruits-of-actions.

388. Dhruvah ?"The stable; the Firm." That which remains "the 
Changeless in the midst of changes", "that which is Imperishable in 
the midst of all perishing". The body, the mind and the intellect and 
the worlds interpreted by them are all variables and changeable. The 
Consciousness, which illumines all of them and makes us aware of them 
is, indeed, the "Changeless." 

389. Pararddhih ?"One who has Supreme Manifestations (Riddhi)". The 
glory (vibhooti) of the Lord is expressed in His manifestations and 
there manifestations are indeed divine as the Geeta thunders, "the 
glories of the Self are indeed divine". 

390. Parama-spashtah ?"The extremely vivid." He who is extremely 
clear to those who have conquered the agitations and all disturbing 
thought-currents of the mind through a successful pursuit of the 
practice of meditation. He being the very Self, nothing in fact is 
so `clear', meaning, so self-evident, as the Pure Consciousness is in 
us. No experience in the outer world or in our subjective bosom would 
have been possible had it not been for the Light of the Self. Even 
the sense of individuality in us is but an image of this Awareness, 
which is the very Self in every living creature. It being thus the 
Absolute Subjective essence. It is described as "the most Vivid." 

391. Tushtah ?"The ever-Contented," meaning "the One who is happy at 
the minimum offering of a devotee." "I accept even if you offer some 
leaf or flower, or fruit or spoon of water, happily, if it is offered 
in love," confesses Lord Krishna in the Geeta. 

The Self being beyond body, mind and intellect, it cannot have any of 
the sense of imperfections or incompleteness and as such, the All-
full Self must be at all times, complete in Himself. Naturally 
therefore He is All-Blissful. Consequently, His Nature must ever be 
Supreme contentment. 

392. Pushtah ?"One who is ever-full." The Supreme Consciousness being 
All-pervading, He is Infinitely Full- nothing can we take out of It, 
nor can we add to It. It is Ever- full and, therefore, even when the 
manifestations emerge out from It, It is not less for it.

393. Subh-ekshanah ?"All auspicious gaze." One whose very gaze brings 
streams of auspiciousness to the devotee. The Self-being beyond 
vaasanaas, one who realises the Self, goes beyond all sins. A devotee 
walking the very path and moving towards the spiritual contents, 
purifies himself from all sins, since he will be living a life not 
identifying with his body, mind and intellect. 

 

Stanza 43

raamo viraamo virajo maargo neyo nayo-anayah
veerah saktimataam-sreshthah dharmo dharmaviduttamah.


394. Raamah ?"That which revels in every form or that in which all 
Yogins in their meditation revel. In Padmapurana, it is clearly 
defined, "in Him, who is Eternal Bliss, Pure Consciousness, and 
Endless, the Yogins revel."  Therefore, by the term `Raamah', the 
Supreme Self is indicated. The term can also mean "One who has a 
compelling charm about Himself. He who is the most Handsome." 

395. Vi-raamah ?"He in whom the creatures rest; The Abode of perfect 
rest", having reached which, there is no return into the realms of 
experiences. That state is called Viraamah. Some commentators 
recognise in this term a meaning as, "He (Isvara) in whom the world 
of plurality merges during the deluge." 

396. Virajah ?"Passionless." "One who is not associated with the 
agitations (Rajas) of the mind." The mind gets agitated when it 
identifies with the sense-objects of the world outside. The Atman, 
the Self, in its Pure Nature, has no such identifications, and, 
therefore, He is recognised as `passionless.' 

397. Maargah ?"The path." There is no other way to know Him. For 
complete liberation, there is no way other than realising the Self, 
Sree Narayana. 

398. Neyah ?"The Guide", the "Conductor." He who guides and 
ultimately takes the seeker to the Reality is Lord Narayana, the 
Saguna Brahman. Through surrender to Narayana, the devotee develops 
the integration within and when fully integrated, he becomes the 
meditator and through meditation, the Highest is achieved. Therefore, 
Vishnu is indicated here as the "Conductor." 

The term can also mean "One who is fit to be conducted to the 
Highest." The individual-ego .is that which tries to realise its own 
real nature, the self. The very individuality (Jiva) who is fit to be 
led towards the gateway to the Higher Consciousness is the One that 
has removed its false attachments and is held in animated joy, in 
meditation. In essence, such a jiva is nothing other than the 
Supreme, and, therefore, the Supreme is thus called as the Jiva.

399. Nayah ?"One who leads." When such a true devotee slowly and 
steadily gains his detachments from the outer world he moves himself 
more and more into the Higher and Subtler states of Consciousness. 
The one who leads such a seeker is again the grace of the same Self-
Atmabala. 

400. A-nayah -If the ego is led by the Lord (as Naya) to the Highest, 
then when once the Supreme State is reached, It has none to lead or 
guide It. The Lord guides all, but there is none to guide Him. This 
is because He is All- pervading and, therefore, He needs no guide to 
lead Him to Himself, as He is everywhere at all times. 

401. Veerah ?"The Valiant." One who, by His prowess; creates the fear 
in the minds of the Rakshasas. 

402. Saktimataam-sreshthah ?"The best among those who have power." 
All powers that are available, have been classified under three 
types: the power-of -Knowledge (Jnaana-Sakti), the power-of-Desire 
(Icchaa-Sakti) and the power-of-Action (Kriyaa-Sakti). All these 
powers are expression of the Self in the intellect, in the sub-
conscious mind and in the physical body, respectively. Naturally the 
Self is the best among all other kinds of powers inasmuch as, all 
powers are expressions of this Great Self. 

403. Dharmah -This term is used in Hinduism in thousands of different 
shades that, to the early student, the meaning of this term is lost 
in confusion. Dharma of a thing is that because of which the thing 
is, without which the thing is not." This term, Dharma, has, 
therefore, been translated as "the Law of Being" -the Dharma of the 
Sun is light; the Dharma of the Fire is heat, the Dharma of Sugar is 
sweetness. What then is the Dharma of the individual? The essential 
Dharma of the individual can only be the self, because, without which 
is the individual cannot exist, and the individual's expressions, 
physical mental and intellectual, are all expressions of the self 
through the equipment in Him. Thus "Dharma" means the only self in 
all individuals.

This is essential Dharma in anything is that which supports the 
things and, therefore, the self which is essence everywhere, is 
considered as the very one which supports everything.

404. Dharma-vid-uttamah ?"One who is the highest among men of 
realisation." All those who know the Reality are knower among all 
knowers of the self.  

 

Stanza 44

vasikunthah purushah praanah praanadah pranavah prithuh
hiranyagarbhah satrughno vyaapto vaayuradhokshajah.


405. Vaikunthah ?"One who prevents men from going astray into wrong 
paths (Vikunthah)." In Mahabharatha it is mentioned, "I united the 
Earth with Water, Space with Air with Fire, hence, the 
name `Vaikunthah' has come to Me.

406. Purushah ?"One who dwells in all bodies (Puris)." In 
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (3-4-1) it is said, "because He as the first 
(Poorva) of all of them consumed (Aushad) by fire all sins, 
therefore, He is called Purushah." In short, He is the One Self which 
thrills all living creatures everywhere at all times.

407. Paanah ?"One who is the form of `Praana' exits in the body, 
propels all sense organs to act in their appointed fields, it is the 
Lord Vishnu that activates the body as the 5 praanas, is found in the 
Vishnupurana. As Praana, He causes movements.

408. Praanadah ?this can mean "One who gives `Praana' or as one who 
takes away `Praana', because, the root `da' has both the 
meanings, `to give' and to break.' Therefore, Vishnu is the supreme 
who gives Praana to all creatures in the beginning of the creation, 
and He alone is again the one who destroys all the Praanaas 
(movements) at the time of the dissolution.

409. Pranavah ?"That which is praised or adorned by even the gods." 
There is a declaration of Sanatkumara, "because it is being 
worshipped and adorned by the gods, the self is called as Pranavah. 
This great reality is indicated in Vedas by the symbol Om and, 
therefore `Omkaara' is called as Pranava.  Thus the supreme 
self, `Omkaara' is Vishnu.

410. Prithuh ?"The expanded." He whose expanse is expressed as the 
world of infinite forms. In short, "He who All-pervasive." Looking at 
the world, through Puranas, it suggests, "the one who is born as the 
king Prithuh, the son of the king vena ?for bringing prosperity to 
the country, is Lord Narayana."

411. Hiranyagarbhah ?it is the term used in the Vedanta for 
the "creator". He is the expression of the creative urge of the lord 
Narayana. "The Golden-egg" means here that from which all the 
objective world had emerged out, indicating the creator."  The term 
thereby suggest that the entire creative power of the creator is but 
the expression of the Self, Narayana.

412. Satru-ghnah ?"the destroyer off he enemies." The lord is the one 
who annihilates all the enemies of the gods, meaning, He is the one 
who destroys all the negative tendencies in all serious seekers 
totally devoted to Him.

413. Vyaaptah ?"The Pervader." The effects can never remain without 
the Cause; the Cause is concurrent and inherent in it, effects. And 
thus, the world that has risen from the Infinite, should be pervaded 
by the Infinite. He who thus pervades everything is Narayana. 

414. Vaayuh ?"One who in the form of the atmospheric air, sustains 
all life everywhere." He is not the air, but He is the life-giving 
rower in the air.

415. Adhokshajah -Mahabharata says, "at no time My vitality flows 
downwards, and hence, I am called, Adhokshajah'. The term can also 
mean, "One who is not available for the powers of the sense organs to 
perceive." Or, it can also mean, "He who remains under both the 
atmosphere and the earth as the Supporter of the entire universe." 

Stanza 45

rituh sudarsanah kaalah parameshthee parigrahah
ugrah samvatsaro daksho visraamo visva-dakshinah.


416. Rituh ?"Seasons"-Here it means. the Lord of Time, who governs 
the seasons. 

417. Sudarsanah  -"One who is easy to be perceived if the seeker has 
sufficient devotion," or "He whose meeting is auspicious inasmuch as 
it removes the seeker's worldly worries." 

418. Kaalah ?"One who measures the merits and defects in each 
individual, and who doles out the appropriate results." Bhagavat 
Geeta says, "I am the Time of counting." Kaalah is also the name of 
Lord Death, and in this sense, it can mean "the Lord, who is Death or 
Annihilation- personified to all His enemies." 

419 Parameshthee ?"One who is centred in His own infinite glory." Or, 
it can also mean "One who is readily available for experience in the 
Supreme cave of the heart." 

420 Parigrahah ?"The Receiver" He who receives from His devotees even 
insignificant things as a leaf or a flower, with all satisfaction" 
Some commentators stretch the suggestion of the word and find a 
meaning in this term as "One who has been accepted as the Sole Refuge 
by all devotees." 

421. Ugrah ?"The Terrible." The One who gives fear to those who are 
diabolically evil", or, as the Upanishad declares, "For fear of Him 
the fire burns; for fear of Him shines the sun; For fear of Him 
Indra, Vaayu and Death proceed with their respective functions,"-
therefore He is the Terrible 

422. Samvatsarah ?"The Year," which is the abode of all living 
creatures. Time is spread in which creatures exist and gather their 
experiences. 

423 Dakshah ?"The Smart" One who undertakes the creation, sustenance 
and destruction of the Whole Cosmos with ease and efficiency, 
diligence and promptitude, 

424. Visraamah ?"The resting place;" "the Quiet." That State wherein 
people who suffer in Samsar, can discover a perfect rest and quietude 
is the consciousness Supreme, Sree Narayana. 

425. Visva-dakshinah ?"The most skilful and efficient." All 
efficiency and skill that we find in the universe among the dynamic 
living creatures are all His expressions alone, and, therefore, He is 
the source of all skill and efficiency. Again, He is the One who is 
the very Creator and Preserver of the whole universe and He must be 
the most efficient Manager and Administrator among the living 
creatures. 

 

Stanza 46

vistaarah sthaavarah sthaanuh pramaanam beejamavyayam
artho anartho mahaakoso mahaabhogo mahaadhanah.


426. Vistaarah -The extension. The Lord is named thus because in the 
time of Pralaya, in Him the entire universe of names and forms comes 
to reside with ample accommodation for all of them. The term 
Vistaarah can also mean "manifestation;" since the Lord manifests in 
Himself all the universe. 

427. Sthaavarah-sthaanuh ?"The firm and the motionless." The Firm 
(achanchala) indicates that He has no movements, because He is All-
pervading. Sthaanuh (motionless) means that He is fixed like "the 
pillars that denote the frontiers of a country" (Sthaanuh) .The terms 
here used are as one- word because the Lord is both these at one and 
the same time. He is not only All-pervading, and, therefore, no 
movements in Him (Sthaavarah), but he is also without any locomotion 
(Sthaanuh). Both these terms indicate the All-pervasiveness of Lord 
Vishnu. 

428. Pramaanam -The proof. He is the underlying principle of all 
intellectual arguments and for all scientific methodology, since He 
is the very Consciousness behind all discussions. Lord Narayana is 
the very authority behind all Dharmas and hence He becomes the 
essential Reality behind all (pramaana). 

429. Beejamavyayam ?"The Immutable Seed." Since the whole world has 
sprung from Him, He is the indestructible and changeless cause of the 
world. It can also mean "that without which the world can never be." 
Hence He is the undecaying root of all things. 

430. Arthah -One who is worshipped by all; invoked by everyone. Lord 
Narayana is desired by all as He is the Paramaatman who is of the 
nature of bliss. Even the sensuous man running after the sense-
objects is seeking the Lord in as much as he is searching for bliss 
which is the nature of the Self. 

431. Anarthah -One to whom there is nothing that is yet to be 
fulfilled. This means one who has no desires, as He has fulfilled all 
His desires. So long as vaasanaas exist desires manifest. Where 
vaasanaas have ended there cannot be any desires and that state is 
the State of Self-realization. 

432. Mahaakosah -One who has got around him great sheaths. The Self 
in us functions through the five- sheaths such as the food-sheath, 
etc. Sri Narayana is one who, as the Lord of the universe 
(Jagadeesvarah), is conditioned by the macrocosmic sheaths of the 
universe, and therefore, the great Isvara is here indicated as 
Mahaakosah. 

433. Mahaabhogah -One who is of the nature of enjoyment (bhogah), He 
being of the nature of bliss. Also He is the one from whom the 
greatest bliss (bhogah) can be gained by the seekers. In short, the 
term indicates Him as one who gives the greatest happiness to all 
those who are devoted to Him. 

434. Mahaadhanah -One who is supremely rich with the wealth of bliss 
which he can give to His devotees. Vishnu is one from whom His 
devotees gain great wealth. 

 

Stanza 47

anirvinnah sthavishtho-abhoordharma-yoopo mahaa-makhah 
nakshatranemir nakshatree kshamah kshaamahsameehanah.


435. Anirvinnah -One who has no nirveda. This term nirveda means "the 
sense of disinterestedness that comes to the bosom of one who could 
not fulfil his passionate desires in life." The Lord is one who is 
griefless as He has no desires to fulfil. In His fullness and 
perfection, He has no more any desires to fulfil, and therefore, Sri 
Hari has no occasion to suffer from the sense of nirveda. 

436 Sthavishthah ?One who is supremely gross. The entire cosmos being 
His form. He Himself is the universe, and as such in His total 
manifestation, He is supremely gross, Geeta says (Chapter XI-20) that 
the Lord spreads Himself covering the whole world and the atmosphere 
The Upanishad (Mundaka 1-4) also says how "the sky form' His head, 
the sun and the moon are His eyes."

437. A-bhooh -One who has no birth, or the one, baying realised whom, 
the seeker will no more have births Some people dissolve the line 
Sthavishthah + Bhooh. In that case instead of A-bhooh they give the 
Lord the name, `Bhooh', meaning `earth.' Just as the earth is the 
stage upon which the entire drama of life is being played, Sri 
Narayana is the substratum upon which the entire world of experiences 
is playing about. 

438. Dharma-yoopah -Yoopah is the name given to the post to which the 
sacrificial animal is tied in a yaaga The Lord is the very Post to 
which all Dharmas (righteousness) ace tied to This means He is the 
very essence behind all righteousness. 

439. Mahaa-makhah -The Great Sacrificer. Because the sacrifices 
dedicated to Him confer total liberation -(Nirvaana). Also in the 
Geeta we were told, "offer is Brahman, what is offered is Brahman, 
the fire is Brahman, the offerer is Brahman and the goal reached is 
also Brahman." 

440. Nakshatranemih -The Nave of the stars. One who is the nave 
around which all the star and the planets including the sun, moon and 
other planets always move around. For this brilliant glowing wheel of 
Light, Sri Narayana is the very Axle 

441. Nakshatree -One who is the Lord of the stars. Lord of the stars 
is the moon. Geeta says, "among the stars I am the moon." 

442. Kshamah -One who is supremely efficient in all undertakings. One 
who has extreme patience with all the stupidities of his devotees. 

443. Kshaamah -One who ever remains without any scarcity- (kshaama). 
During the final deluge all things in the world dissolve and perish 
away but even then the Lord remains untouched by all distinction and 
hence He is called kshaamah. 

444. Sameehanah -One whose desires are suspicious. The Lord is 
considered as "Well-desiring" in as much as he desires the well-being 
of all His creatures at all times. He knows how to control and 
regulate His power of desiring (Icchaa-sakti) and thus He is 
extremely efficient in His creative activity. 

 

Stanza 48

yajnah ijyo mahejyashcha kratuh satram sataam gatih
sarvadarshee vimuktaatmaa sarvajno jnaanamuttamam.


445. Yajnah -One who is of the nature of yajna. All sacrifices are 
His own forms. He exists as sacrifice in order to satisfy men and 
gods. Sruti says that all yajnas are of the nature of Vishnu (Yajno 
Vai Vishnuh). 

446. Ijyah -One who is fit to be invoked through yajnas. Lord 
Narayana is the only one who is being invoked in all yajnas, even 
when the devotee particularly invokes any other deity. He, being the 
Infinite, all gods are expressions of His own glory and therefore, 
irrespective of the deity invoked, all yajnas are worship of Vishnu. 
In Harivamsa we read a declaration which openly reveals this 
truth: "They who worship through holy sacrifices, the devas or the 
pitris, they worship indeed the Vishnu, the Self, through the Self." 

447. Mahejyah -One who is to be most worshipped. One who most 
certainly is to be invoked in every ritual because all other devataas 
invoked during the yajnas can each fulfil the seeker's desires; but 
to invoke Sri Narayana is to invoke the only Power that can supply 
complete liberation for the devotee. Therefore, He is the object of 
great sacrifice. 

448. Kratuh  -It is a kind of yaaga wherein there is a pillar to 
which the sacrificial animal is tied. Since all sacrifices are 
offered to Him-the Lord, even Kratuh, a sacrifice with violence 
inherent in it is also Vishnu. 

449. Satram -The Lord who protects the good (Sat). In continuation 
with the previous Kratuh, when we read this it can also be considered 
as indicating a particular kind of yajna described as Satram in our 
Vedic literature. 

450. Sataam gatih -One who is the refuge (for the good people). One 
who is worshipped and invoked by those who wish to liberate 
themselves from all limitations in life. Gatih in Sanskrit means both 
the path and the goal. Thus, through surrendering to the Narayana 
alone does one reach Sri Narayana. 

451. Sarvadarshee ?"As He is the pure Consciousness in all living 
creatures, all knowledge in all beings is illumined by Him. Just as 
the sun is "the eye of the universe," so the Consciousness is the 
Illuminator of every- thing. 

452. Vimuktaatmaa ?"The ever-liberated Self." The Supreme, though He 
expresses Himself through the equipments, He is never conditioned by 
the matter envelopments through which He apparently expresses 
Himself. Just as the waves rise, exist and dissolve in the ocean, the 
equipments of experiences rise, play and dissolve themselves in Him. 

He is ever-liberated, never-shackled by gross matter. This great 
principle of Paraatmaa is Sri Narayana. -Sruti says (Kathopanishad 5-
1). 

453. Sarvajnah ?"Omniscient." He is the Principle of Consciousness 
and, therefore, He is the Illuminator of all thoughts, all 
intentions, motives, emotions and all sense perceptions in an 
individual. The meaning is the same as in Sarvadarsee. 

454. Jnaanamuttamam ?"The Supreme Knowledge of all other knowledges." 
The Self is the Supreme Knowledge, for, without the Consciousness, no 
knowledge is possible. Taittireeyopanishad indicates the Self 
as. "Satyam Jnaanam, Anantam Brahma" 

 

Stanza 49

suvratah sumukhah sookshmah sughoshah sukhadah suhrit
manoharo jita-krodho veerabaahurvidaaranah.


455. Suvratah ?"The one who is ever performing the pure vow." It is a 
sacred vow of the Lord that He has to give shelter and protection to 
all those who totally surrender themselves into him-says Sri 
Ramachandraji: "To give shelter to all living creatures-this is my 
vow." This term can also refer to Him who had done tapas for a long 
number of years on the mount of Nara-Narayana in Badrinath. 

456. Sumukhah -One who has an enchanting face. Truth is beauty and 
Beauty truth. In all conditions the Lord is ever cheerful and brings 
to His face the dignified beauty of calm repose. When the devotees 
come and surrender at His sacred feet Narayana is the one of Infinite 
mercy who beams with joy at the devotion of the surrender. 

457. Sookshmah -One who is subtler than the subtlest. In Vedanta 
terminology subtlety indicates pervasiveness. Therefore, the term 
means All-Pervasive. The Upanishad says the Lord is All-Pervading, 
subtler than the subtlest (Sarvagatam susookshmam). 

458. Sughoshah ?"Of auspicious sound." This is the name of the conch 
that Krishna blew in the opening of the Mahabharata war. The sound of 
Vishnu is the essence of all Vedas as all the four Vedas have come 
from Him, the Supreme. Hence the term "of auspicious sound."

459. Sukhadah ?"One who confers happiness." It can also mean in 
Sanskrit one who is the destroyer of joy (Da-to destroy). Here, of 
course, it means that One who gives joy to His devotees and takes 
away joy from those who are undivine. 

460. Suhrit ?"The friend of all living creatures." A true friend is 
one who gives all that he possesses without expecting any return. 

461. Manoharah -One who is the looter of the mind; or charming. Not 
only is the Lord Beauty Incarnate, but He compels the attention of 
the devotee to come away from all other sense objects to dwell upon 
His enchanting form. Thus Vishnu is one who generates an irresistible 
joy in the mind of His devotees and compels them to spend their time 
in constant worship. 

462. Jita-krodhah -One who has conquered anger. By the one term here, 
anger, we should consider all the six inner enemies Kaama, Krodha, 
Lobha, Moha, Mada and Maatsarya. These six constitute the types of 
thoughts in man; the six categories into which all his mental 
activities fall. One who has conquered all these means one who is 
beyond the mind-the Self. 

463. Veerabaahuh -One having mighty, valiant arms. From time to time 
He has to incarnate in order to put down the wicked and thereby 
protect the good. 

464. Vidaaranah -One who splits asunder; destroys. In the man-lion 
form, Narasimha, Lord Vishnu appears to tear open and kill 
Hiranyakasipu. Again, in order to destroy Hiranyaaksha and to lift 
the earth from the ocean, Sri Narayana had to take the form of the 
great boar (Varaaha). Accordingly in the Sanskrit vocabulary, bhoo-
daarah is a synonym for boar (Varaaha). Dara means to split or to 
tear open. Thus the meaning of the divine Boar can be squeezed out 
from the term Vidaaranah used here. 

 

Stanza 50

svaapanah svavaso vyaapee naikaatmaa naikakarmakrit
vatsaro vatsalo vatsee ratnagarbho dhanesvarah.


465. Svaapanah ?One who puts people to sleep; stupefying. Lord Vishnu 
as Isvara has for Himself the total Vaasanaa (Maayaa) as an equipment 
for His self-expression as Eesvara (Narayana). He, through His 
Maayaa, veils each individual and renders them ignorant of their own 
divine nature. This "veiling-power" (Aavarana Sakti) creates many 
agitations (Vikshepa), due to which individuals rush out for sense-
gratification. Since Isvara, thus, with His Maayaa-power deludes 
everybody, He gathers to Himself this epithet Svaapanah meaning "the 
mighty stupefying force." 

466. Svavasah - The One who has everything under His own personal 
control; the totally independent. Since He is the Supreme 
Consciousness, all living creatures and phenomenal powers are 
functioning by His grace, drawing their capacities to exist and act 
from Him only. If He withdraws His patronage everything in this 
Universe must stop functioning immediately. He is supremely 
independent inasmuch as, though the world-of-objects needs Him, He is 
entirely self-sufficient and needs no world for His Existence. Thus 
He is totally free. The waves need the ocean, but the ocean is 
totally independent of the waves' existence. 

467. Vyaapee -All-pervading. Pervasiveness in philosophy indicates 
subtlety. Thus All-pervading means that which is "subtler than the 
subtlest." This concept is again sustained by the physical 
observations in the world. The cause always pervades all the effects; 
the gold pervades all ornaments. The entire universe is an effect and 
He being the Cause, He pervades all and everything at all times. Thus 
the All-pervading, in its suggestion, indicates that He is the 
Ultimate-cause and Himself in His pervasiveness is ever-present 
everywhere and in everything, presiding over all behaviours, actions 
and work, everywhere in the universe. 

468. Naikaatmaa -Many-souled. Lord, the Infinite, though ever the 
one, expresses Himself as the many, while manifesting Himself, in the 
form of the universe. It is He, the One Great Consciousness, that 
expresses Himself as the creator, sustainer and destroyer-in order to 
maintain the play of the eternal dance, among the phenomenal things 
and deeds. He who becomes the Trinity is the great Vishnu Tattva. 

469. Naika-karma-krit -The one does many actions, as He is the one 
Lord of all evolution, preservation, and involation of the universe. 
where he is not presiding over, no activity can ever take place.

470. Vatsarah -The Abode of the Lord. Not only Lord is living in each 
one of us our inner-Soul (Antaryaamee) but He is at once, the All-
prevading Essence in which, the entire universe exists, and as such, 
He alone is the Abode of the creatures, He is the endless `time' and 
the infinite `space' at once. for, in the time-space field alone do 
things exist. the term "Vatsa," in sanskrit also means "calf." the 
world under discussion, therefore, can also mean "one who gives away 
claves." this has reference to krishna who returned to Gopas all the 
calves, when they were taken away by the enemy.

471. Vatsalah -The supremely affectionate. One who loves his devotees 
extremely. Narayana is one who has got more affection towards his 
devotees that all the paternal and maternal love in the world put 
together. Supreme love is the meaning of the world `Vatsalah;' Lord 
Narayana is Love Incarnate.

472. Vatsee -The Father. One who has infinite number of children; 
Lord considers the entire living kingdom as His own children; and 
nurses and nourishes them. It can also be interpreted as one who 
trains and protects the calves in the herd. 

473. Ratnagarbhah -The Jewel-wombed. Like the ocean, One who has rich 
wealth concealed in Himself.

On the whole, the term Ratna-garbhah only means that the Lord is 
quick in His bestowing all the desired objects on His devotees. 

474. Dhanesvarah -The Lord of wealth. Here the term "Wealth" means 
all the good things in the universe- all objects of happiness. He is 
described in the Puranas as the Lord of the Goddess Lakshmi 
(Lakshmipati) and as such He is ever the Master-of-all-wealth. The 
greatest of wealth is, of course, the liberation, and Lord Narayana 
is the Isvara of this great wealth, He blesses the true devotees with 
the experience of complete liberation from the entanglements and 
sorrows of the vestures of matter around us. 

 

Stanza 51

dharmagub dharmakrit dharmee sadasatksharamaksharam
avijnaataa sahasraamsur vidhaataa kritalakshanah.


475. Dharmagup -One who protects the Dharma. In the Bhagavad Geeta 
the Lord says: "In every cycle I shall manifest for re-establishing 
Dharma." 

476. Dharma-krit -One who acts Dharma. Though He, as the Absolute 
Consciousness that illuminates everything, is beyond all Dharma and 
Adharma, Sri Narayana exemplifies what is the righteousness by His 
own conduct. He is, therefore, called as Dharma-Pravartaka. In the 
various incarnations, the Lord has exemplified how the generation 
should live under the ever-changing kaleidoscopic pattern of 
circumstances that play around us at all times. 

477. Dharmee -The Supporter of Dharma; meaning the very Seat of all 
Dharma. Just as the waves exist in the ocean; just as the cotton 
supports the cloth; just as all the ornaments exist in gold-so Sri 
Narayana, the Infinite Truth is the very essence and support of the 
entire universe. Narayana is the Throne at which all righteousness 
take their refuge. Without direct reference to Him and His Glory, 
righteousness has no meaning; just as law books of a country are 
empty pages when the Government falls. 

478. Sat -The Existence in all things and beings is the same ever, 
and it is All-pervading. The sun exists; the space between the sun 
and the earth exists; the ocean and the creatures therein exist; the 
physiological organs and their functions, mind and its activities, 
the intellect and its agitations -all exist. This Ever-present 
Principle of Existence is Sri Narayana. That which remains the same 
without any change in and through all changes, unaffected ever, same 
in the past, present and the future is called in Vedanta as `Satya.' 
One who has all these natures is called Sat-Purusha. In the 
Upanishads, the Supreme Brahman is indicated as `Satya' ?"This, O 
Child, indeed was Sat." In the Geeta while describing the Changeless 
Factor behind the eternally changing matter, Bhagavan says: "That 
which is the All-pervading in this world, that alone is 
indestructible and no one can destroy it."

479. A-Sat -The Conditioned; Limited; the One who appears at this 
moment as the limited, conditioned, and therefore confined only to 
the world of plurality. That which actually is not, but apparently 
seems to be there, is called a delusion and this is indicated by the 
word " A-Sat." In the Vedantic terminology, higher-Self (Param) is 
ever Immutable and Eternal, while the lower-Self (A-param) 
constituted of all the universe of manifested things and beings, is 
mutable and ephemeral. Sri Narayana Himself is, in His Apara nature, 
expressing as the world of the many that we today recognise around 
us. Bhagavan Sri Krishna confesses to Arjuna in the Bhagavad 
Geeta: "Arjuna, I am at once immortality and mortality. I am both 
existence and non-existence."

480. Ksharam -The Perishing. One who is the very Immutable Self in 
all things, that appears to suffer from constant mutation: The 
changeless-core in the midst of all the changes. All the changeable 
and variable things and beings of the Universe play in Him who is the 
only Substratum and, therefore, the Immutable Eternal Reality is 
called here as the Mutable; the changing and the dying waves are all 
ever nothing but the changeless ocean indeed. 

481. A-ksharam -Imperishable. In order to recognize the change, there 
must be a changeless entity knowing it. If one ornament is to become 
another, there must be indeed the changeless consistent gold 
permanently supporting it all the time. In the same way, there must 
be a Changeless Factor which must be the essential core, that holds 
together the pattern of the constant changes, which together 
constitute the play of the universe. This Changeless Factor is called 
Narayana. Krishna says in Bhagavat Geeta: "all creatures together 
constitute the Kshara-purusha and the Changeless in an creatures is 
the A-kshara-purusha."

482. Avijnaataa -The Non-knower. Here we must carefully understand 
the term `knower.' The "knower" of the emotions and thoughts is the 
Self, imprisoned in the body, mind and the intellect, and, therefore, 
functioning as the perceiver, feeler, thinker-called in the Vedanta 
Sastra as the "Jeeva," This individualised personality is the `doer' 
and the `enjoyer', in the calamitous world of activities. Sri 
Narayana is the Pure-Self, who has not been contaminated by the 
matter- vestures and their agitated-nature, and the consequent 
sorrows. Therefore, `Vishnu,' the Pure-Self, is indicated here as Non-
 Knower (A-vijnaataa), meaning the "Jeeva." 

483. Sahasra-amsuh -The thousand-rayed. As the Pure Consciousness, He 
is effulgent, and in the Upanishads we read that even the sun, moon 
and stars gain their effulgence from Him alone. In fact the 
Upanishads conclude that all living creatures are resplendent after 
His effulgence alone. Or, we can say that it means Sri Narayana, in 
the form of the Sun, illumines and nourishes the world of living 
creatures; because the name of the Sun in Sanskrit is `Sahasraamsuh.' 
In praising the Lord Sun it is usual to sing of him 
as `Sooryanaaraayana.' 

484. Vidhaataa -All-supporter .As the final sub- stratum for 
everything, the Lord supports the entire universe of living 
creatures, and nobody supports Him, He alone is His own support. The 
Lord is at once the material, instrumental and the efficient causes 
for the universe of forms. 

485. Krita-lakshanah -One who is famous because of six qualities, 
such as glory, righteousness, fame, wealth, knowledge and detachment. 
Again following the Puranic literature, Sri Narayana is the one who 
made on His own bosom the great mark of the feet of Maharshi Bhrigu. 
In fact from the standpoint of pure Vedanta, the term indicates the 
Ever-existing Pure Consciousness which is the very goal (Lakshana) to 
be ultimately achieved for liberation. Lakshana also means the 
scriptural textbooks and, therefore, the term also can mean He who is 
the author (Krita) of the Scriptures (Lakshana). 

 

Stanza 52

gabhastinemih sattvasthah simho bhootamahesvarah
aadidevo mahaadevo deveso devabhrit guruh.


486. Gabhastinemih -The Centre of the Supreme planetary system. The 
Sanskrit term `Gabhasti' means `rays', and the term `nemih' means 
the `spokes.' Therefore, the term indicates "One who is the hub of 
the wheel-of-light in which the spokes are His own rays of 
brilliancy." Astronomically, we can consider this as the sun, the 
centre of the planetary system. Subjectively, He is the Atman, the 
Self-the Effulgent Consciousness-beaming out Himself to the whirls of 
matter (the five koshas). 

487. Sattvasthah -Abiding in Sattva. Maayaa is constituted of the 
three gunas: unactivity (sattva), activity (rajas) and inactivity 
(tamas). When the Maayaa is predominantly constituted of Sattva, it 
becomes the vehicle for the Supreme Brahman to express as God, Sri 
Narayana. The Lord is essentially constituted of the "Sattva Guna" 
and, therefore, He is pure truthfulness in nature (Suddha Satya 
Svaroopa). It can also mean that He who remains (Stha) in all beings 
(Sattva).

488. Simhah ?The Lion Due to His great exploits in fighting the 
negative forces during His various incarnations, He is indicated as 
the Lion among beings in the universe Also in Sanskrit "any part of a 
name can indicate the full name" Thus Bheema means `Bheema Sena' 
or `Bhaamaa' means `Satya-Bhaamaa' Similarly, `Simha' here might mean 
a part of the Lord's name as `Narasimha'; Narayana had taken the form 
of the Man-Lion in order to end the tyranny of Hiranyakasipu, and 
bless his God-devoted son Prahlaada 

489. Bhoota-Mahevarah -The Great Lord of Beings One who is the Lord 
who orders, commands, regulates and presides over all activities of 
all living creatures, and hence is ever the Ruler of All creature. 

490. Aadidevah -The first Deity. Or it can also mean as one who is 
First (Aadi) and one who is resplendent (Deva); further we can also 
take it to mean that He is the First Deva, meaning, He is the God of 
all gods. The term `Aadi' also means "one who eats;" the term' Deva' 
can mean `one who evolves': thus the term can mean "one who evolves 
in eating up," by consuming the names and forms. This implies that to 
the extent one withdraws himself from his false occupations with the 
perceived names and forms, he moves deeper and deeper into the 
experiences of the divine Lord in himself; with this idea in mind, 
Lord is described by this term, "One who evolves in consuming the 
names and forms." 

491. Mahaadevah -The Great Deity, He is the Source of all 
Consciousness, and from Him have risen all further deities and 
beings, therefore, it is right to consider Him as the Supreme Lord. 

492. Devesah -The Lord of all Devas. He is the very Consciousness in 
the gods themselves; therefore, in His unquestionable prominence, He 
is addressed here as "God of all gods." 

493. Deva-bhrid-guruh ?"One who is the king of gods"-Indra -(Deva 
Bhrit) and one who is the teacher (Guruh). In short, He is the 
protector and advisor of the very Indra, who is the king of gods. 

 

Stanza 53

uttaro gopatirgoptaa jnaanagamyah puraatanah
sareera bhootabhritbhoktaa kapeendro bhooridakshinah.


494. Uttarah -One who helps to lift us from (Uttarah) the ocean of 
Samsar. It also conveys the most excellent meaning of "One who is 
greater and nobler than all other deities." Rigveda declares: "He is 
the most excellent of all." 

495. Gopatih -The shepherd-As one who played the part of a cowherd in 
His Krishna-incarnation. The term `Go' in Sanskrit has got four 
meanings: the cattle, the earth, the speech and the vedas. In all 
these meanings He is the Lord (Pati): Lord of the cattle; Lord of 
Earth; Lord of speech; the Lord about whom all the Vedas speak of as 
the very Goal. 

496. Goptaa -The protector He is the Protector of all living 
creatures in as much as, if He were not there, the creatures could 
not exist He is the very Existence in the living Kingdom.

497. Jnaanagamyah -The One who is to be attained only through the 
subtle perception of Jnaana He is not attained either by actions, or 
by progeny or by wealth Only through a ("JnaanaPrasaadena") 
pure `knowledge' alone He is experienced Here the word knowledge does 
not mean the ordinary knowledge-of-thing. The experience of Truth is 
gained only on transcending the intellect. Thus crossing the barriers 
of the non-apprehension (Avidyaa) the meditator comes to apprehend 
the Reality; this subjective first-hand apprehension is called True 
Knowledge (Jnaana); by this one process alone can one attain the 
Infinite; hence this term. 

498. Puraatanah -He who was even before Time. That from which even 
the concept-of- Time itself rose up is the Infinite Truth and. 
therefore. Truth cannot be measured in terms of Time. Therefore, he 
is called the Ancient, for, he transcends Time. 

499. Sareera-bhoota-bhrit -One who nurses and nourishes the very 
element from which the bodies are constituted. The Lord is the 
controller of the very five elements. 

500. Bhoktaa -The Enjoyer or the Protector. The term " Bhoktaa" can 
be dissolved in two ways. In (a) it would mean the `Protector' and in 
(b) it would mean as the `Enjoyer'. According to Vedanta, Lord in His 
transcendental glory, as the Atman, is neither the `Doer' nor 
the `Enjoyer' and yet, here, the Lord is taken as the `Enjoyer' only 
in the sense that the experiencer `ego,' the Jeeva, is also nothing 
other than the Supreme in Its final Essence. 

501. Kapeendrah -One who is the Lord of the Monkeys-Sri 
Ramachandraji. ` Kapih' also can mean the Boar-incarnation (Varaaha).

502. Bhoori-dakshinah -He who gives away large gifts (Dakshinaa), as 
presents distributed at the end of the Sacrifices. When the body, 
mind and the intellect of man make sacrifices, man does Karmas. Lord 
Narayana is the One who gives the results for all actions: (Karma 
Phala Daataa); hence this term to indicate the Lord. 

 

Stanza 54

somapo-amritapah somah purujit purusattamah
vinayo jayah satyasandho daasaarhah saatvataam patih.


503. Somapah -One who drinks the Soma-juice in the Yajnas, in the 
form of the deity that has been invoked by the householder. In short, 
Narayana is the Lord that receives all the offerings, in all rituals, 
which we may offer, because He is the One invoked, who plays as the 
various hierarchy of deties.

504. Amritapah -One who drinks the nectar. As the Infinite Truth He 
at all times enjoys the blissful immortality (Amritatvam). Also, it 
may have the echo of the puranic story of the churning of the Ocean-
of-milk (Ksheeraabdhi) until they got the Nectar, which was 
confiscated by the Asuras, and when they ran away, it was Sri 
Narayana, who, in the form of the irresistible Mohinee, a beautiful 
enchanting damsel, recovered the Nectar from them and distributed it 
to the gods. He had partaken the Nectar along with the gods. 

505. Somah -One who in the form of the moon- light (Soma) nourishes 
all the plant-kingdom with their respective essential sap. It is very 
well known in the Hindu literature that the moonlight is that which 
enriches the food value in the fruits and grains. In the Geeta, 
Bhagavan says: "I in the form of the moon-light, enrich all the plant-
kingdom," The term can also mean Siva, in which case it would mean 
as "One who is ever consorted by Umaa." 

506. Purujit -One who has won over numerous enemies. The word Puru 
means `many'. 

507. Puru-sattamah -One who is Greater among the great. Here the word 
Puru means `great'. In some readings we find instead of this 
term "Puru-sattamah" the term "Purushottamah" is used, in which case 
the meaning is the Omnipresent (Purusha) and the Best (Uttamah)-the 
Absolute Reality. 

508. Vinayah -In direct meaning, of course, it means "He who shows 
the supreme humility." But the term also means "One who humiliates 
those who are unrighteous." The Lord is one who leads well (Vi-Naya) 
the seekers steadily through the path of truth and righteousness. 

509. Jayah -The Victorious. One who has conquered all the matter. It 
connotes that in order to experience the `Self' we have to conquer 
all the lower matter-realms and their by-products. Realizing the 
Self, the seeker himself becomes the Self. At that time he has 
conquered all. 

510. Satya-sandhah -Of truthful resolution (Sankalpa). The Lord is 
One, who in His perfection, has so completely integrated, that His 
resolve, His thoughts, feelings, words and action are always 
truthful. There would he no com- promise in them, and as such, every 
resolve of His becomes fruitful "Heavens might fall down, the earth 
might tumble down, the Himalayas might be crushed, the ocean might 
become dry, but My word uttered shall never be in vain." (Purana). 

511. Daasaarhah ?It is a name of Lord Krishna since He was born in 
the Dasaarha race (Yaadava-kula). It can also mean "One who is fully 
competent to receive all devoted offerings made in the ritualistic 
sacrifices." 

512 Saatvataam-patih -The Lord of the Saatvat-people Those who are 
followers of the Tantra named Saatvata-scriptures essentially 
Saattvic in nature- are called Saatvatas, and their Lord is Sri 
Narayana. The essential path of the Saatvatas is single-pointed 
meditation upon the form of Lord Vishnu with utter devotion 

 

Stanza 55

jeeva vinayitaa-saakshee mukundo-amitavikramah 
ambhanidhiranantaatmaa mahadadhisayo-antakah.


513. Jeevah -One who remains as the limited ego (jeevah), who in its 
sense of separateness comes to experience the endless joys and 
sorrows in the fields of life. One who functions as the Experiencer-
of-the-Field (Kshetrajna), as described in the Bhagavat Geeta.

514. Vinayitaa-saakshee -The Witness of modesty. He is the one 
Consciousness that illumines the very sense of humility in His 
devotee's heart. It can also mean that as Pure Consciousness, He is 
one without a second, and, therefore, from His state of Universal 
Oneness He sees nothing other than Himself everywhere. In this 
Absolute Nature He does not see the world of finitude constituted of 
the ego and its deluded devilry. 

515. Mukundah -One who gives liberation. To those who are trying to 
free themselves from the imperfections of the matter-conditionings, 
and who are struggling hard to end their delusions, Sri Narayana, 
being the very Goal, ultimately gives complete liberation for all 
devotees who reach Him in the true spirit of total surrender. 

516. Amita-vikramah -Of immeasurable Prowess or One whose step 
(Vikramah) is immeasurable (Amita). The Lord in his Vamana-
incarnation measured the three worlds by His three steps, and, 
therefore, He gained the title of `Trivikramaha'. Since the Lord's 
steps are so vast, they are, indeed, immeasurable-" Amita"- Vikramah. 

517. Ambho-nidhih -The direct meaning of the word is "ocean" and the 
Lord Himself in the Bhagavat Geeta has declared, "Of the lakes I am 
the ocean". According to the Taittireeya Braahmana: "These are the 
four Ambhas: viz. the Devas, Men, Manes and the Asuras." Therefore, 
the term Ambhonidhih should mean "One who is the substratum for all 
the four types of creatures. 

518. Ananta-atmaa -The Infinite Self. He is undefeated by time, 
space, or substance, and, therefore, in His own unconditioned nature 
He is the Infinite One Self. Or it can also mean One who manifests 
Himself as the endless varieties of entities constituting the 
universe. Ananta also means "end-less" and, therefore, the Endless 
Self, which means the Paramaatman, the Supreme Self. 

519. Mahodadhisayah -One who rests on the great ocean. According to 
the description of Vishnupurana, Lord Narayana reclines upon the 
Aadisesha in the Milky-ocean of Vaikuntha. It can also mean, "One who 
remains on a fig-leaf, upon the waters of the deluge, when all names 
and forms have been dissolved into the unmanifest. 

520. Antakah -The Death. As Time, He is the One who brings about 
constant changes in the world, without which no evolution or creative 
development is ever possible. 

 

Stanza 56

ajo mahaarhah svaabhaavyo jitaamitrah pramodanah
aanando nandano nandah satyadharmaa trivikramah.


521. Ajah -Unborn. As the changeless and deathless Reality, He has 
neither birth nor any decay, `Unborn' in philosophy means undying; 
therefore, Eternal, Changeless, "Born to Lord Vishnu" is yet another 
meaning, and according to this interpretation, the term can 
suggest "Pradyumna," son of Vishnu, who is considered to be in our 
Purana as an Incarnation of the Lord of Love.

522, Mahaarhah ?"One who deserves the highest worship." Arhaa 
means `poojaa': `worship'. 

523. Svaabhaavyah -Ever-rooted in the nature of His own Self. One who 
is the Uncaused Cause, the God. 

524. Jitaamitrah -One who has conquered all his enemies both within 
and without. Within, He has conquered all enemies such as desires, 
hope, etc., and externally, has conquered enemies like Ravana, 
Hiranyakasipu and others.

525. Pramodanah ?`Ever-blissful'. One who is constantly enjoying His 
own Eternal, Blissful nature. The term indicates `Vishnu' because Sri 
Narayana is the One that causes bliss in the heart of those who 
meditate upon Him. 

526. Aanandah -A mass of Pure Bliss. Bliss is His pure nature. The 
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says: "Of this happiness, all other beings 
enjoy only a part." 

527. Nandanah ?"One who makes others blissful." Since the Lord is the 
very source of the happiness of the devotees who reach the divine 
plane of Pure Consciousness, it is in Him they get themselves 
intoxicated with the endless drunkenness of thus unceasing Bliss. 

528. Nandah -One who is freed from all limited worldly pleasures. 
Worldly pleasures come through contact with the objects of the sense-
organs. The term means One who has no contact with the world of 
senses, as He dwells in transcendence of all the equipments of 
pleasure-the body, mind and intellect. Chandogya Upanishad 
says, "That which is immensity is felicity; there is no felicity in 
littleness." 

529. Satyadharmaa -One who has in Him- self all the true Dharmas. 
Kindness, non-injury, charity etc. are considered as the noble 
Dharmas. Sri Narayana is One in whom we find all these Dharmas to the 
maximum. In short, He is the embodiment of Yoga (Yogesvara). It also 
means that One who is rich in the experience of the Supreme Self; 
for, the Upanishad says: "This alone is the Supreme Dharma which is 
to experience the Self through yoga"... 

530. Trivikramah ?"One who has taken the three steps". One who has, 
in three steps, conquered the three worlds in his Vamana-incarnation. 
The spiritual seeker has only to take three steps to reach the Centre 
of the Self in him- self. Once he has stepped across the fields-of-
experiences in the waking, dream and deep-sleep conditions, he has 
reached the Infinite Consciousness, the Atman. The very term `Tri' in 
Sanskrit means `the three-worlds.' "The greatest men of reflection 
have declared the three fields-of-experiences (Loka) by the simple 
term `Tri,"-(Harivamsa).

 

Stanza 57

maharshih kapilaachaaryah kritajno medineepatih
tripadastridasaadhyaksho mahaasringah kritaantakrit.


531. Maharshih Kapilaachaaryah - One who has manifested as the 
teacher Kapila, the great sage. "Rishi", the sage, is one who has 
mastered a portion of the Veda, and one who has mastered the entire 
Vedas is called "Maharshi" in the Hindu tradition. The preceptor 
Kapila, who is a great master of the entire Vedic literature, is the 
propounder of the Saankhya philosophy. The glory of kapilaachaarya is 
endorsed by Lord. Krishna Himself in the Geeta when He declares, "Of 
the perfected-ones, I am sage Kapila." 

532. Kritajnah -The created and the knower of the creation. Kritam 
means "the universe that has been created." Jna means "the knower of 
all the objects." The Supreme Self is the material cause for 
the "knower" ego (Jna), and the effects constitute the world of 
things and beings (Kritam). He who is the very substratum for both 
cause and effect is the Absolute Self, the Lord. He is unconditioned 
by the outer matter vestures such as body etc. and thus Lord Sri 
Narayana is the Absolute Reality. Nowadays, this word (Kritajna) has 
come to mean "gratitude" or "thanks-giving". It is a cheap 
application of this deep meaning. To express to my benefactor that "I 
have known (Jna) what he had done (Kritam) to help me" is 
thanksgiving, and hence, this usage is today very popular in our 
vernacular. 

533. Medineepatih -The Lord of the Earth, Sri Narayana. The Preserver 
Vishnu as the husband of the inert matter, Earth, is a concept at 
once immensely beautiful and deep, philosophic and poetic. 

534. Tripadah ?"The One who has taken the three steps." This 
indicates, the Vamana-incarnation, and how He measured, in just three 
steps, the entire universe. The jeeva, the limited ego, meaning the 
seeker, has also to take three steps forward, to reach across the 
delusion of the three worlds of sleep, dream and waking. The 
meditator can measure these three "worlds" in three steps and arrive 
at his own original Real Nature in his inner mystic experience. 

535. Tridasaadhyakshah ?"The Lord of the three steps"-the `three 
steps' are waking, dream and deep-sleep. One who is the Witness of 
the `three steps' is the Self. It can also mean that One who assumes, 
in His play, the three qualities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas-and yet, 
Himself, is not affected by anyone of them. 

536. Mahaasringah ?"The Great-Horned." The term indicates how the 
Lord in the Fish-incarnation tied the ship to his great horn and 
sported in the waters of the deluge. 

537. Kritaantakrit -He is the destroyer of the "creation." He is the 
Creator, in our subjective life, of the inactive (taamasa) and 
positive (saattvic and raajasa) vaasanaas- the sins and the merits. 
When the merits are more, the Lord provides a heaven for them to 
exist and when the sins are more, they move into the lower wombs, 
where sin-vaasanaas, too, get exhausted. An individual seeker when he 
exhausts all the above vaasanaas, rises to the realm of the Self and 
gets totally identified with the Self. Therefore, Sri Narayana is 
that State Divine, wherein all created vaasanaas (Krita) get 
destroyed (Anta). Thus, the end (Anta) of the vaasanaas (Krita) is 
called "total liberation" (Kritaantam). He who is the giver of the' 
krita', Him- self is the giver of "total liberation" (Kritaanta-krit)
?. We find it also interpreted to mean that the Lord is one who has 
destroyed (Krindanam) Lord Death (Kritaanta) himself. One who is the 
destroyer' Kritaanta', in this sense we can take this term as meaning 
the Lord who has taken the form of Rudra, the Destroyer-Lord Siva. 

 

Stanza 58

mahaavaraaho govindah sushenah kanakaangade
guhyo gabheero gahano guptaschakragadaadharah.


538. Mahaa-Varaahah -One who had manifested as the Great Boar. In 
order to heave up the world from the slush that formed naturally when 
the waters of the deluge receded. This is the third of the Lord's 
incarnations. 

539. Govindah -One who is to be known (Vid) through the declarations 
of the Vedanta (Go). In Vishnu Tilaka we read: 

Here, "Gobhih" means the statements and declarations of the 
Upanishads.

540. Sushenah -He who has a charming army. The army of Vishnu is 
called as His Ganas. They are mainly constituted of the great sages 
and hence, their compelling enchantment. 

541. Kanakaangadee -The bright-as-gold armlets. Armlets are ornaments 
worn on the upper arm covering the shoulder and the top portion of 
the arm. 

542. Guhyah -The mysterious; the Profound. Due to the profound nature 
of the Truth even in the upanishads the essential theme is 
mysteriously secretive. Therefore, the entire Upanishadic literature 
is called as "the secret literature." Vishnu is to be realised in the 
secret chambers of the heart, so He is called as the Supreme "Secret" 
(Guhya). 

543. Gabheerah ?"The Unfathomable." Even the Upanishads declare that 
He is unknown. The limited human intellect cannot apprehend or 
visualise, or plumb the depth of, or unravel the mystery of His 
Wisdom, Power, Strength or Purity. 

544. Gahanah -He is impenetrable; Imponderable. We cannot dash into 
the domain of His Nature Divine. Through surrender alone can we reach 
the realm of the Self.

545. Guptah -The Well-concealed. He is not easily revealed by words. 
Nor can the sense organs ever recognise Him. All the Upanishads 
repeatedly declare that the Self-being the very "subject," the 
instruments of the body, mind and intellect can never apprehend Him. 
He can only be apprehended by a steady mind that has been purified by 
continuous meditation "Being the hidden nature of all beings he is 
not manifested." 

546. Chakra-gadaa-dharah -One who is the bearer of the Discus and the 
Mace. His Chakra is called Sudarsana; His Gadaa is called Kaumodakee. 
The ancient Acharyas have declared that the Discus represents the 
Mind and the Mace represents the Intellect.

 

Stanza 59

vedhaah svaangojitah krishno dridhah sankarshanochyutah
varuno vaaruno vrikshah pushkaraaksho mahaamanaah.


547. Vedhaah -One who is the Creator of the whole universe, the 
Supreme who is expressing Himself for the apparent function of 
creating the world of plurality. The Infinite Truth functioning 
through the Total-Mind is the Creator-Hiranyagarbha. According to 
Amarakosha, `Creator' is called as Srashtaa, Prajaapatih or Vedhaah. 

548. Svaangah -It is commented upon by some, as one who is beautiful, 
who has well proportioned limbs. This meaning emphasises the glory 
and beauty of the form of the enchanting Vishnu. The same term can 
also be interpreted as "Self-instrumental." For the projection of the 
pluralistic phenomenal world, He has no instrument other than 
Himself. The Lord not only creates everything from Himself but He, 
Himself, is the instrumental cause for the world. We have already 
indicated earlier that in the making of anything, three causes must 
come into play, the "material-cause" (mud), the "instrumental-cause" 
(the pot-maker's wheel) and the "efficient- cause" (the intelligent 
pot maker). In the case of the creation of the universe all these 
three causes are intrinsically the Lord alone. Thus, He is the 
material, from which He creates the world by Himself. This idea is 
expressed here when the compelling beauty of the Lord's form is being 
indicated by the precious term "Self-instrumental." 

549. A -Jitah -One who is vanquished by none- unconquered-and 
therefore, the unconquerable in any of His incarnations. We never 
meet Him as vanquished in any of his confrontations with mighty evil. 

550. Krishnah ?One who incarnated in the Yaadava tribe as the son of 
Vasudeva and Devakee. It is commented upon as `one who served the 
Hindu Spiritual World in the form of Krishna Dvaipaayana' which is 
the full name of Vyasa, the author of the Puranas. However, Krishna 
also means `The Dark'; the one great Infinite Consciousness that 
plays in us constantly, because of which we are aware of our 
experiences, and yet, never can we directly apprehend this Source of 
All- life within ourselves. The Krishna is the "unknown factor" that 
expresses through us-whose manifestations are all our physical, 
mental and intellectual capabilities. He is, therefore, called as 
the' Unknown', the `Dark'-Krishna. 

551. Dridhah -"The Firm." One who is firm in His convictions, 
judgements, love and mercy. It is in this sense that the Bhakti Marga 
describes the Lord often as `A-Dridhah', especially when a sinner 
prostrates before Him; meaning that in full repentance were a 
criminal to surrender himself to the Lord's Feet, the Infinite 
Justice even wavers and becomes anxious to help the sinner out of his 
mistaken notions and his consequent ugly actions. The Lord is ever 
vigilant to re-establish such a one in his own wisdom, which is his 
real nature. 

552. Sankarshano-achyutah -During the great dissolution of the entire 
universe of names and forms, He, being the one who merges the entire 
plurality into His own essence-He is called `Sankarshanah.' When an 
individual sleeps, his entire world of experiences get absorbed into 
himself and they all remain in seed condition in the `Causal-body' as 
mere vaasanaas. One who never falls away from His own essential 
nature is called `Achyutah' -one who knows no fall (Chyutih). The one 
expression used here for the Lord is the combination of both these 
terms. The Lord Narayana who absorbs the whole world into Himself at 
the time of the deluge, and He who never falls away from His own Real 
Nature. 

553. Varunah -Since, in the evening, the sun reaches the western 
horizon (Varuna-Dik), the sun is called Varunah. Also after his day's 
functioning in the world, in the dusk he gathers his scorching rays 
unto himself and disappears. Like the setting sun, the Lord withdraws 
all the pluralistic world unto Himself. The Eternal Reality, 
functioning through the sun as the sun's energy and light, is 
described in the Upanishads as the `Golden One', and hence the 
appropriateness of using this term Varunah for Narayana. The 
designation Soorya- Narayana is very familiar to the students of 
Purana. 

554. Vaarunah -The son of Varunah is called Vaarunah. Both Vasishtha 
and Agastya are traditionally considered as sons of Varunah. 
Therefore, the term indicates the Lord, who manifested himself as 
Vasishtha or Agastya. Where-ever there is an explosive expression of 
any spectacular glory of stupendous achievement, "understand them all 
as coming out of my glory," says Krishna in the Bhagavad Geeta. 

The term can also be read in some manuscripts as A - Vaarunah-
meaning, according to some commentators, "one whose nature is never 
subject to veiling." 

555. Vrikshah -In the Upanishads the world emerging out of the 
Supreme Brahman is described metaphorically as a `Tree'; in the 
Kathopanishad and in the Geeta, we read of the Samsaara- Vriksha-the 
Tree of Life-exhaustively described. In the Puranas, again we find, 
in more than 3 or 4 places, exhaustive descriptions of the world 
manifested from the Lord as a `Tree.' 

556. Pushkaraakshah -One who has eyes (Aksha) as beautiful as the 
lotus flowers (Pushkara); the descriptive epithet: `Lotus-eyed.' The 
Sanskrit term `Pushkara' also means the Universal-Space, thus, it 
also has the interpretation, "one who is ever pervading all space." 

557. Mahaamanaah ?"One who has a great mind." Narayana as the Lord 
(Eesvara) is the Supreme Consciousness functioning through the Total-
Mind, and He, with His Mind, creates, sustains and destroys, 
fulfilling the great game of Samsar, continuously. 

 

Stanza 60

bhagavaan bhagahaanandee vanamaalee halaayudhah
aadityo jyotiraadityah sahishnurgatisattamah.


558. Bhagavaan -The word `Bhaga', according to the Great Vishnu 
Purana means, "One who has all the Six Great Glories-Wealth, Power, 
Dharma, Fame, Character, Knowledge and Dispassion-is 
called `Bhagavaan'." Again, Vishnu Purana says: "He is named 
Bhagavaan who knows (a) the beginning and the end, (b) the arrival 
and departure of beings, and also (c) Vidyaa and Avidyaa." one who 
has all the six glorious in himself alone in Bhagavan and these great 
mighty power atomically come to Him, because his equipment is the 
Total-mind.

559. Bhagahaa -One who destroys, during the deluge, the six glories 
just mentioned. At this time, the lord absorbs everything unto 
himself, and in this sense the term, "destroyer of all great glories. 
When thus the total -mind rest from its self-willed projections, the 
world of plurality appears have to been absorbed by the lord unto 
himself.

560. Aanandee ?"The one who gives delight." the lord is himself 
Absolute Bliss, and those devotees who move towards him in pure 
surrender, come to share his divine nature of All-bliss. There is a 
version wherein we read this term as `Nandee'. Here, too, there is no 
difference in meaning. also this term indicates: "Son of Nandagopal"-
lord krishna-who was natured and tended by Yasodaa and Nandagopal 
throughout his childhood.

561. Vanamaalee -One who wears always a garland of leavers and 
flowers named Vaijantee. Vaishnavas declare this to represent the 
subtle aspect of very fine elements themselves, (Bhoota-tanmaatraas).

562. Halayudhah ?"One who has the plough as his weapon." he is 
brother of lord Krishna, Balaabhadra, who is considered as the eight 
incarnation of lord Vishnu. Even today in our country the farmer 
repeat Bala-rama's name while ploughing for a successful cultivation 
and profitable harvest.

563. Aadityah -One who was born as the son of Adhiti and Kasyapa as 
Vaamana, who begged of Emperor Bali three steps of ground and got all 
the three worlds.

564. Jyotir-aadityah ?"The supreme who is the resplendence in the 
Sun." the Atman expressing as the glorious light and energy in the 
sun is meditated upon as lord Vishnu. "One must meditate upon Vishnu 
who is adorned fully, holding in his hands the conch and Discus, 
sitting in padmasana, enveloped in golden hue, in the centre of the 
orb of the sun." the Deity residing in the disc of the sun is 
Narayana Himself. "Aat" -'from Vishnu'; "ityah" -'to be obtained and 
so He is called as Aaditya. This interpretation gives us an insight 
into the meaning of the word Sun, in Sanskrit-`Aaditya': "One from 
whom all creatures have to receive"! The great-grand-giver is the Sun.

565. Sahishnuh -One who calmly endures the pairs of opposites. One 
who is above them, and thus is never influenced by these experiences 
of the physical and mental realms.

566. Gatisattamah -The ultimate refuge for all devotees; the best 
(Highest) destination and at once the noblest path. Lord 
Narayana. "Gati" means both the goal and the path. In short, One who 
is himself the very essence of the spiritual liberation.

 

Stanza 61

sudhanvaa khandaparasurdaaruno dravinnapradhah
divah-sprik sarvadrik vyaaso vaachaspatirayonijah.


567. Sudhanvaa -One who has his glorious bow-called "Saarga." 
Acoording to some, it represents the sense organs and their 
activities.

568. Khanda-parasuh -One who has the axe- weapon-called "Parasu." The 
Lord used this weapon in His Incarnation as Parasuraama, the son of 
Jamadagni. It is endowed with terrible prowess in cutting down the 
unholy enemies of the nobler life and so it is called as the "Khanda-
Parasu." As such it means `one who wields the invincible Parasu.' 

569. Daarunah ?"The one who is merciless towards the unrighteous." Up 
to a point the Lord is All-mercy- but when He finds that no other 
method can save the individual, like a surgeon at the operation 
theatre, He appears to be relentless-merciless. 

570. Dravina-pradah -One who lavishly gives wealth asked for by His 
devotees. According to Vyasa, Lord Vishnu gives to his true devotees 
the wealth of the Sastra knowledge-the deeper and clearer 
understanding of the Science of Reality. 

571. Divah-sprik ?"The Sky-reaching." The Lord who revealed His 
Universal Form to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Geeta. 

572. Sarva-drik-vyaasah: -When considered as one word it means: "One 
who creates many omniscient men of wisdom." One who encourages the 
spread of knowledge and thus turns out many men of wisdom and clearer 
understanding of life and the world. Or taken as two words its 
interpretation can mean: "One who is Omniscient and Vyasa." This 
would mean, "The Lord who has expressed Him- self as Sri Veda Vyasa." 
Vyasa is the poet-philosopher who codified, compiled and edited the 
Vedas and published them in four volumes-Rig Veda, with its 21 
branches; Yajur Veda, with its 101 branches: Saama Veda, with its 
1000 branches and the Atharvana Veda, with its 9 branches (or 
Saakhaas). He is the one who gave us the 18 Puranas and the 
Brahmasootras. Hence he is called: "The Omniscient Vyasa." 

573. Vaachaspatir-ayonijah -One who is a master of all knowledge 
(Vidyaas) and who is unborn through a mother's womb. 

 

Stanza 62

trisaamaa saamagah .Saama nirvaanam bheshajam bhishak
samnyaasakrit-sanaah saanto nishthaa saantih paraayanam.


574. Trisaamaa ?"One who has been glorified by the three 
Saamas." `Saama' means divine songs-hence, Veda. The one who has been 
praised by the singers of the Saama-Veda, those called as the Devas, 
the Vratas and the Saamans. 

575. Saamagah ?"The singer of the Saaman songs." One who performs the 
actions prescribed in the Saama Veda and who invokes the Lord is 
called, in Vedic terminology, the' Udgaataa'. 

576. Saama -The Lord is the Saama Veda. This is to indicate the 
sacredness of the very Book. Lord Krishna has confessed in the 
Geeta: "Of Vedas lam the Saama Veda." 

577. Nirvaanam -The Lord is of the very nature of "Ever-liberated, 
Ever-free." There is no trace of imperfection and sorrow in Him whose 
nature is, All-Bliss. 

578. Bheshajam ?`Bheshajam' means `medicine.' Hence, He who is the 
very specific cure for the disease of Samsar (change, becoming). 

579. Bhishak -One who is the `Physician,' who is the `cure' for the 
disease of Samsar. Or it can also mean that the Lord manifested 
during the "churning of the Milky Ocean " as the Deity of Medicine, 
holding the pot of Amrita in His hand- The Lord Dhanvantari. In 
Indian systems of Medicines, He is considered as the presiding Deity 
of the Medical Sciences. Vishnu manifested as this Lord of Doctors, 
where upon this name for Him: "Doctor" (Bhishak). 

580. Samnyaasa-krit -Lord is the institutor of the fourth stage of 
life (Aasrama) called `Samnyaasa' which is meant for those who walk 
the path of total renunciation. The One who, in His Infinite Grace, 
gives the needed qualifications unavoidable for Samnyaasa. 

581. Samah ?"The Calm." One who exists without the mind running out 
into the passions of the sense-organs. " In Samnyaasa, He teaches the 
life of calmness and quietude and in the accumulated inner peace, the 
final experience is gained. The Smriti prescribes the duties of the 
four stages as: "The duty of the `Brahmachari' is service; for 
the `House- holder', charity; for the `Forest-dweller' is the duty of 
restraint, and for the `Samnyaasin' `Calmness'. Samnyaasa without 
Sama is inconceivable and this `Calmness' is His nature. 

582. Saantah -One who is quiet within, as in Him the sense-organs are 
perfectly controlled. The Upanishads glorify the Supreme State as 
actionless, partless, peaceful. This is a declaration from 
Svetaasvatara Upanishad.

583. Nishthaa -The Abode of all beings, not only while living, but 
during the Pralaya (deluge). During this Cosmic dissolution, the 
entire living creatures merge back into their Vaasanaas, (seed-form), 
and remain in Him. Therefore, He is called, "The Abode of the 
Universe." 

584. Saantih ?"One whose very nature is Peace." Agitations are caused 
by desires and the consequent temptations to strive for, acquire and 
indulge in them. In the All-Full, there is no desire, hence He need 
not seek His fulfilment among the perishable objects of the universe, 
and so He is Peace. 

585. Paraayanam -The Supreme Goal is Narayana. After reaching Him 
there is no return In short, the term indicates that Narayana is the 
way to the Supreme Liberation (Moksha). 

 

Stanza 63

subhaangah saantidah srashtaa kumudah kuvalesayah
gohito gopatir goptaa vrishabhaaksho vrishapriyah.


586. Subhaangah -One who has the most beautiful form. That one who is 
enchanting, most handsome. 

587. Saantidah -Narayana dispenses that Peace which puts an end to 
likes and dislikes (Raaga-Dvesha). He is the One who cleanses the 
mind of His devotees and gives to each the inner Peace and Joy. 

588. Srashtaa ?"The Creator of all beings." In the beginning, He has 
created all from Himself as the Great Five Elements: (Viranchi). 

589. Kumudah -The reveller in the Earth. The term `Ku' means Earth. 
Therefore, the term means "He who delights in the Earth." 

590. Kuvalesayah -He who reclines in the waters (Kuvala). Waters 
surround the earth, thus it is called as Kuvala. The term can also 
mean the `Crawler'-meaning ser- pent. In this sense it indicates-" 
Sarpa-Saaye": "One who reclines upon the Great Sesha"-the 
Divine "Sesha-Saaye." 

591. Go-hitah -One who does the Cow-welfare-work, always. Sree 
Krishna, through many incidents, helps to develop and conserve the 
sacred animal, Cow, for, the very existence of Bharat's dispensation 
depends upon the Cow; the agriculture being essentially Cow-
centred. `Go' also means Earth. Thus: "One who saved the world" from 
the materialists and their designs of excesses and imperfect vision. 
One who protects against the irresponsible havoc, for example, of 
Ravana and others; all inimical to the genius of the natural 
Bhaarateeya Samskriti. 

592. Go-patih ?"The husband of the Earth." Or, One who is the Lord 
protecting all those who are weary of their samsaaric life of 
passions and desires. Such ones, exhausted by grazing in the pastures 
of dissipation' and enervated from the world of happenings, are 
comparable to cows. Hence Narayana is called here as the "Lord of the 
Cows", -`Gopaala.' `Go' also may be interpreted as `sense-organs'. In 
this way the term suggests "Lord of the Sense-Organs," Sri Narayana, 
the Self. 

593. Goptaa -The root `Gup' has two meanings: to protect; to veil. 
Thus `Goptaa' can imply "One who protects the universe" or "One who, 
by His Maayaa, veils the glory of the Divine Self within. 

594. Vrishabhaakshah -One whose eyes rain fulfilment of all desires 
of His devotees. He sees the un- expressed desires of His devotees 
and fulfils them easily. Or it can be taken that Sri Narayana is "One 
whose eyes are Dharma Itself"; meaning, One who sees righteousness 
clearly and continuously. If one wants to see clearly righteousness, 
he must cultivate and develop the Narayana vision. 

595. Vrisha-priyah: -Vishnu delights in Dharma. `Vrisha' means' 
Dharma,' so the term can be dissolved as "One who delights in 
Dharma". Or it can signify, "One who is beloved of the virtuous, the 
Good." 

 

Stanza 64

anivartee nivrittaatmaa samksheptaa kshemakrit-sivah
sreevatsavakshaah sreevaasah sreepatih sreemataam varah.


596. Anivartee ?"One who never knows retreat." During the clashes 
between the Good (Devas) and the Bad (Asuras), Narayana never 
retreats. He is One Who never turns back from Dharma; for He is its 
friend and protector. 

597. Nivritta-atmaa -One who is fully restrained from all sense 
indulgences. So long as the equipments of our experiences-the Body, 
Mind and Intellect-are roaming about in their pleasures-among 
objects, emotions and thoughts-our attention is dissipated and is not 
available for the contemplation of the Higher, the Self. Narayana is 
the Atman in all, and to reach Him we have to retire from the fields 
of our indulgences. Hence, He is indicated as the "Restrained-Self." 

598. Samksheptaa -The One who absorbs unto Himself the entire 
universe of multiplicity during the dissolution-the "Involver." 
Narayana presides over not only the evolution but also is the 
controller at the involution. In some readings, we find this term 
as " Asamksheptaa"-meaning "One who never abandons His devotees." 

599. Kshema-krit ?"The doer of Good"; One who protects and guides the 
devotees. "Kshema" signifies protecting what has been gained, and it 
includes " Yoga" also, meaning "acquiring things not yet gained." In 
Geeta, Lord Krishna promises that "I shall govern both your' Yoga' 
and  `Kshema' when you are a true devotee." 

600. Sivah -Lord Narayana is adored here as Sivah and, at the same 
time, all Vaishnavites repeat Vishnu- sahasranaama. Human prejudices 
have no logic or reason. Sri Narayana is Siva (auspiciousness) and 
there is no difference between the two. "I am the dweller of 
Vaikuntha, Vishnu. Between us there is no difference," so says Lord 
Siva Himself. Vishnu is the "Purifier" (Siva), as His names, when 
chanted, and His form-divine, when meditated upon, become a means of 
quietening the mind and sharpening our perceptions of the subtler and 
the transcendental. 

601. Sreevatsa-vakshaah -One who has the mark, Sreevatsa, upon His 
divine and sacred chest. 

602. Sree-vaasah -The Abode of Sree; the dwelling place of Mother 
Lakshmi. This term is dissolved as  "Sree"-all glory and riches-ever 
dwell in His bosom of love and beauty. 

603. Sree-patih -The Lord of Goddess Lakshmi. During the great 
churning of the Ocean of Milk, holding a lotus in hand, there rose 
Lakshmi from it, and She chose, among all gods, Lord Vishnu as Her 
Beloved Husband. Hence Narayana is Sree-Patih, the Lord of Sree. The 
Svetasvatara upanishad says: "The Supreme Sakti of Him is declared to 
be various." Sree represents the Energy (Paraa Sakti) in the 
universe. Lord Narayana is the One Vital Truth that functions through 
the Paraa Sakti and gives Her the dynamism to act and to accomplish. 

604. Sreemataam-varah: -The best among those who have glory-in-life, 
(Sree), is Narayana. Taittireeya Braahmana says, "The Rig, Yajus and 
Saaman are the imperishable wealth of the wise", so Sree has been 
interpreted here to mean the Vedas. Lord Narayana is the One who is 
the Best among those who know the `Books'; He being the very Infinite 
Reality that is the one theme of all the Vedas. Also Varah can 
mean "One Who blesses" and thus the term under discussion yields the 
meaning, "Vishnu, Who is the Lord That blesses all great students of 
the Vedas." 

 

Stanza 65

sreedah sreesah sreenivaasah sreenidhih sreevibhaavanah
sreedharah sreekarah sreyah sreemaan-lokatrayaasrayah.


605. Sree-dah -One who gives Sree to all His sincere and dedicated 
devotees. Narayana provides wealth, for all His ardent devotees. He 
is the River of Knowledge and Joy for all devoted hearts which are 
surrendered to Him. 

606. Sreesah -The Lord of the Goddess of Wealth, Sree-Mahalakshmi. 
Her wealth is `the ability to nourish.' Thus She gives to the 
striving devotee, the mighty and noble virtues, his inner wealth. 

607. Sree-nivaasah -One who dwells and manifests in the good people. 
Here the word Sree is to be understood as "those who have Sree in 
them." The One Who abides in purified hearts-wherein the passions and 
lusts have been removed and peace, joy, devotion and understanding 
have arrived. In such people the Self comes to shine all by Itself. 

608. Sree-nidhih -One Who is the treasure- house (Nidhih) of Sree. 
Vishnu, being the All-Full and Perfect, all glories draw themselves 
from Him alone. Even Sree-Maayaa --can play Her games only when She 
draws Her vitality from Narayana, the Self. 

609. Sree-bibhaavanah ?"One Who is a Distributor of Sree." Vishnu 
provides each, according to his merit, the wealth, both inner and 
outer. Sree Narayana is the Law behind actions and so He is the 
Dispenser of the fruits- of-actions. 

610. Sree-dharah -Lord always carries Sree in His bosom. In short, 
Atman, the Self, is never divorced from Its omnipotence and All-
Fullness. 

611. Sree-karah -One Who confers Sree upon His devotees who remember 
Him continuously, reflect upon His nature and meditate upon His 
Glories. 

612. Sreyah -Narayana is Moksha-Liberation. He is the Way and the 
Goal. He gives to His devotees the total liberation from all their 
physical passions, emotional agitations and intellectual 
restlessnesses. 

613. Sreemaan ?One Who possesses all Glories, Riches, Capacities and 
Beauties. He who is the owner of all Sree; the abode of all Its 
Splendour. 

614. Lokatraya-asrayah -The Shelter for the three worlds. The 
Substratum for the three worlds-of-experiences (waking, dream and 
deep-sleep). If the Self, the Consciousness, were not in us, no 
experience would ever be ours. Narayana is this "objectless 
awareness." 

 

Stanza 66

svakshah svangah sataanando nandirjyotirganesvarah
vijitaatmaa vidheyaatmaa salkeertischhinnasamsayah.


615. Svakshah -Brilliantly "Beautiful-Eyed". is Vishnu. 

616. Svangah ?"Beautiful-Limbed." Most hand- some form, captivating 
the hearts of all His loving devotees. 

617. Sataanandah -One who divides Himself into the infinite Jeevas, 
manifesting through the different equipments and experiences in all 
of them. "Of infinite varieties of Joys": gained through the 
individual equipments from each one's appointed field of things and 
beings. 

618. Nandih ?"Infinite Bliss" is the nature or Vishnu as the Supreme 
Self. Thus by this term, Nandih, He is called. 

619. Jyotir-ganesvarah -The Lord of the luminaries in the Cosmos is 
Narayana. He, as the Self, gives light to al! brilliant things in 
life. The Sun, itself, receives its light borrowed from the Infinite, 
Ever-Effulgent Self. Kathopanishad describing the Self as the Light 
or Consciousness declares, "When He shines all else shines after 
Him." 

620. Vijitaatmaa -One who has conquered the sense-organs. That 
devotee who is no more a slave to his sense-organs comes to 
experience the necessary mental quiet with which Narayana, the Self, 
can be apprehended. 

621. Vidheyaatmaa -One who has come to live under the command of the 
Higher Self or One Who is ever available for devotees to command in 
love. Some read this as "A- Vidheya-Atmaa" -in which case it declare$ 
that Narayana is "One Who is of Unfathomable Nature-Divine." One who 
obeys none, but all obey His Will is " A- Vidheyaatmaa." 

622. Sat-keertih -Of Pure Fame is Narayana. He is the husband of Sree 
and therefore He is famous. 

623. Chhinnasamsayah -One, whose doubts are ever at rest, or solved. 
Doubts regarding the Supreme can be only so long as we try to 
experience and comprehend Him with our Intellect. He is the very 
subjective vitality in the Intellect. So, on transcending the 
Intellect, the seeker can "become" the Self in a non-mediate 
experience, intimate and immediate. Once having become the Self, 
there cannot be any spiritual doubts. Therefore Narayana, the Self, 
is known as "The One in whom all doubts are resolved." In Geeta, 
Arjuna admits that all his doubts were cleared. 

 

Stanza 67

udeernah sarvataschakshuraneesah saasvatasthirah
bhoosayo bhooshano bhootirvisokah sokanaasanah.


624. Udeernah ?"The Great Transcendent." He is the Infinite beyond 
all finitude, beyond all limitations and change, and therefore, 
beyond decay. Transcending all equipments of our experiences, as the 
Self in all, Sri Narayana revels as the Immutable Transcendental 
Reality, the sole substratum for the entire universe of forms and 
actions. 

625. Sarvatah-chakshuh ?"One Who has eyes everywhere." Geeta declares 
Truth, the Pure Consciousness, as "Hands and legs everywhere, eyes-
face-mouth everywhere." Vishnu, as the Consciousness, is the One Self 
That sees through all eyes in the world, hence He, through all eyes, 
sees everywhere at all times. If He is not, the eyes are blind; when 
He is the indweller. The eyes then see-therefore, all eyes are only 
His. 

626. Aneesah ?"One Who has none to lord over Him." The Supreme Lord 
is He. Mahanarayana upanishad says, "None rules over Him." 

627. Saasvata-sthirah ?"One Who is ever Eternal and Stable"-never 
changing, thus permanent (Eternal) and ever-the-same (Stable). The 
body changes, the mind modifies, the intellect grows into new 
dimensions-but the Consciousness that illumines them all with Its 
Light of Knowledge is ever-the-same through childhood, through youth, 
in middle years and old-age. It is the Changeless throughout, hence 
Eternal and ever-the-same with- out any change. 

628. Bhoosayah ?"Resting on the Earth" is the word-meaning of this 
term, so it may signify One Who rested on the shores of the ocean, on 
His Way to Lanka- referring to Sri Ramachandraji. Or, one who slept 
(on) the Earth-meaning the Lord is Bhoo-Pati, the Husband of the 
Mother Earth. Or, its intention may also be: "One in whom the world 
rests" at the time of dissolution. 

629. Bhooshanah ?"One Who adorns the world": physically with the 
infinite beauties of His Creation; emotionally He gives love and 
other finer instincts, and intellectually He is the One behind all 
great, noble and beautiful thoughts which have enriched human life, 
history and culture. Lord Narayana, in His various Incarnations, has 
also glorified the world. 

630. Bhootih -One who is the Pure "BE"-ness or Existence. " Bhooti" 
also means Glories (Aisvarya), so He is One Who is the treasure-house 
of all Glories. 

631. Visokah -Narayana is sorrow-less; grief- less. He is the Self, 
transcending all matter vestures. At the body-mind-intellect level 
there are agitations and so there are sorrows. He is beyond them all, 
so He, as the Absolute Reality, is indicated as All-Blissful. 
Disturbances of sorrow or grief can never molest His nature of 
Infinite Bliss--ever contented, ever desire-less. 

632. Soka-naasanah -The destroyer of all sorrows for His devotees. 
One who lifts the suffering ego- sense out of its meaningless 
identification with the changing, pain-breeding, equipments and gives 
it the true wisdom of Its Divine Nature. To those who truly 
worship "To them I shall be, err long, a Saviour from the Ocean of 
Samsar", promises Lord Krishna in the Bhagavat Geeta. 

 

Stanza 68

archishmaanarchitah kumbho visuddhaatmaa visodhanah
aniruddhoapratirathah pradyumnoamitavikramah.


633. Archishmaan ?"The Effulgent." As Pure Consciousness, Narayana is 
the Source of all Light. The Kathopanishad confirms this when it 
declares, "There, neither the sun nor the moon, nor the stars nor the 
lightning, has any effulgence; how then can this Fire-light illumine 
It? By Its Light alone, all else in the world is illumined." 

634. Architah -One who is constantly worshipped by His devotees. Even 
Brahmaaji (The Creator) and Siva (The Destroyer) are worshipping Sri 
Narayana (The Preserver). Hence this term, "The Worshipped" for Lord 
Vishnu. 

635. Kumbhah ?"The pot." The Lord, the Self, is called as "the pot" 
because just as things are contained within a pot, so the whole 
universe rests within Him, the "Container" and "Sustainer." 
Everything and every happening is within Him alone. 

636. Visuddha-atmaa ?"One Who has the purest Soul." When the Self is 
cleansed of all passions and thought agitations, in that 
uncontaminated purity It is realised. Therefore, the Lord, the Self, 
is called the Pure Atman, completely bereft of all equipments and 
their passions, all disturbances from desire. One who is beyond 
the "Three Gunas," Trigunaateetah, meaning one who transcends all the 
Vaasanaas that generate the three moods constituting the entire 
phenomenon, Maayaa. 

637. Visodhanah ?"The Great Purifier." The One, meditating upon whom 
all vaasanaas get exhausted and the personality purified from these 
desires, becomes free of all its accustomed, existent agitations. He 
who is the very Source of Purity; who lends purity even to the sacred-
places. By remembering Him, the human heart becomes cleansed of its 
sins, immaculately swept of all consequent feelings of restlessness. 

638. Aniruddhah -Of the four manitestations (Vyoohas) of Vishnu, the 
Aniruddha manifestation is indicated here. The four Vyoohas are: (I) 
Vaasudevah; (2) Samkarshanah; (3) Pradyumnah; and (4) Aniruddhah. The 
term can also mean "He Who is invincible by any of His enemies." 

639. Apratirathah  -One who is never challenged by any enemies and 
who has no enemies to even threaten Him. Sri Narayana is without 
enemies; in His loving Presence they are vanquished. 

640. Pradyumnah ?"Very Rich." Lord is Lakshmi-Pati and, in His 
benevolence, He gives riches and mighty glory to His devotees. 
Pradyumnah can also be the third of His four manifestations as 
Vyoohas. 

641. Amita-vikramah -Of immeasurable Prowess is Sri Narayana. The 
Self, the Supreme, is Omnipotent and none can stand against Him. It 
can also mean, "One who has un-measurable steps" exhibited in His 
Divine performance in His Vamana Incarnation. 

 

 

Stanza 69

kaalaneminihaa veerah saurih soorajanesvarah
trilokaatmaa trilokesah kesavah kesihaa harih.


642. Kaalaneminihaa -The slayer of the Asura, Kaalanemi. "Kaala" 
means `Time.' The Self is the `destroyer of time' as It is beyond the 
intellect and `time' is but a concept of the intellect only. 

643. Veerah ?"The Heroic Victor." One who is ever victorious. 

644. Saurih -Born in the Soorasena-clan, in Jagannaath-which, in the 
Puranas, is called the Utkala country. Also, Sauri can indicate the 
One who has invincible prowess always. 

645. Soorajanesvarah ?"The Lord of the valiant." Sri Narayana, the 
fountain-head of irresistible might. He is invoked by the victorious, 
and is the Source of strength from which even lndra and others draw 
their vigour. 

646. Triloka-atmaa ?"The Reality, the Self of the three worlds." 
The `three-worlds' are the three `fields of experiences': the waking, 
the dream and the deep-sleep. As the Pure Consciousness, in the Light 
of which the waker-dreamer- sleeper comes to experience all 
the `three-worlds,' the Self, Sri Narayana is called "The Atman of 
the three-worlds." 

647. Triloka-eesah ?"The Lord of the three-worlds." Lord is One in 
whose presence all activities take place; in Whose absence all 
activities cease. He is called the Lord, the Great Proprietor. When 
life, the Self, manifests in a body, all experiences take place; when 
life is extinct, all activities cease. Hence Lord Narayana is the 
Self, the spark of Existence in all creatures. 

648. Kesavah -Generally it is meant to describe Lord Krishna as "One 
Who has long hairs." But Kesas are the rays of the Lord that illumine 
the Sun, Moon and such other effulgent things of the Cosmos. "The 
rays of mine that illumine (the Sun, etc.) are called Kesas. 
Therefore. the wise Brahmins call Me, Kesava." Also' Ka' means 
Brahmaa, the Creator and `Eesa' means Siva, the Destroyer. Both of 
them have sprung from Vishnu, the Preserver, hence He is called 
Kesavah. 

649. Kesihaa -One Who destroyed the Asura called Kesi. 

650. Harih -The Lord is called "The Destroyer." He, it is, who 
destroys the false values and the inner conflicts created by man in 
his own life and in his consequent discordant contact with the world 
around him. These confusions and sorrows created by man, for man in 
life, due to his own ignorance of his own divine nature, is called 
Samsaara. Lord Narayana is the Destroyer of this Samsara-sorrows in 
His devotees. 

 

Stanza 70

kaamadevah kaamapaalah kaamee kaantah kritaagamah
anirdesyavapurvishnurveeroananto dhananjayah.


651. Kaamadevah ?"The Beloved Lord." One who is a seeker must 
necessarily get charmed by the Glory of Sree Narayana, and by the 
influence of this captivating love He is to be worshipped. Thus One 
Who is to be loved and worshipped by the seekers who strive for the 
four "aspirations-in-life"-Purushaarthas. There is also this meaning 
for the term: "The One Who is Pradyumnah"-since Pradyumna- form is an 
incarnation of Kaama (Love). 

652. Kaamapaalah ?"The Fulfiller of Desires of all His true 
devotees." Those who in their sincere attitude and love for Him alone 
are surrendered unto Him, their hearts' inner longings are satisfied 
by Him. The same idea finds similar but varied interpretation in that 
Koomapaalah can imply "One Who had taken the incarnation of 
Balarama," for Balarama is called as the "Wielder-of-the-plough" 
(Hala-ayudhah) or as Kaamapaalah. Thus it can also mean "Protector 
(Paalah) of His devotees" (Kaama, meaning the `Desired Ones'). 

653. Kaamee -One who has fulfilled all His desires. Desire is an 
expression of an inherent sense of in- completeness-and this 
insufficiency unto oneself is called ignorance of the Self. The non-
apprehension of Reality gives rise to endless misapprehensions of the 
same. Sree Narayana is the Self, the Reality, and so all non-
apprehensions must end in Him, then no desires can ever remain in Him 
demanding fulfilment. He is "One of fulfilled desires" ...Some 
commentators give just the opposite explanation, since the term 
Kaamee in Sanskrit can also mean "One who has desires." Here it would 
mean that Lord Vishnu is the Supreme Reality who "desired to create" 
the world of plurality. The Upanishads roar: "He desired" (Sah 
akaamayata). The creative urge in the Supreme is that which expressed 
as the apparent illusion of a playful creation of multiplicity and 
the endless varieties in them. 

654. Kaantah ?"Of Enchanting-Form;" "Supremely-Handsome;" the "Beauty 
of Beauty itseIf." In all His Incarnations we find Him described as 
extremely charming with His Grace and Beauty. In Sanskrit the term 
Kah means the Creator, Brahmaaji. In this sense, therefore, Kaantah 
can suggest "One Who destroys even the Creator during the 
dissolution." 

655. Kritaagamah -The author of the Scriptures (Aagamas). Sruti and 
Smriti form the Aagamas. Or in perfect harmony with the preceding 
term where Lord is termed as the destroyer of even the Creator at the 
time of deluge, some commentators have again interpreted this term 
as "The One Who is the inaugurator of the Krita-Yuga." This means the 
Lord is One into Whom the world dissolves and from Whom the world 
rises up again. 

656. Anirdesya-vapuh ?"Of Indescribable Form;" "Of Indefinable 
Nature." Since the Lord transcends the Elements and is the very cause 
for the three Gunas- as the pure Self, expressing Itself through the 
body, mind and intellect of man-it becomes impossible to describe or 
define His Form. 

657. Vishuh ?"All-Pervading." One who pervades the entire Visvam. In 
His Visvaroopa-Form in Geeta XI we have from Arjuna a description of 
the dazzling wonderment of Him as " All-pervading." 

658. Veerah ?"The Valiant;" "The Courageous- the One of heroic 
exploits." The root' `Vi' often means creation, radiance existence, 
involution or motion. One who has a1l these powers is called Veerah. 

659. Anantah -"Infinite; Endless." That which is unconditioned by 
Time-Space-Substance is `Infinite.' None can discover the end or such 
a Truth. Conditioned things will all have an end-a change from one 
condition to another. The Infinite is totally unconditioned, so 
unlimited, and naturally, therefore, changeless. Hence Narayana is 
Infinite. 

660. Dhananjayah -One who had gained through his conquest and his 
prowess vast wealth for the enrichment of his country. From his 
various campaigns, Arjuna had brought great wealth to the land. In 
Geeta, Lord Krishna says: "I am Dhananjaya, among the sons of Pandu. 

 

Stanza 71

brahmanyo brahmakrit brahmaa brahma brahmavivardhanah
brahmavid braahmano brahmee brahmajno braahmanapriyah.


661. Brahmanyah -One who is a great friend of Brahman. The term 
Brahman includes in its connotation the Sastra, Tapas, Vedas, Truth, 
Knowledge, etc. Sree Narayana is a protector and friend of all these. 
Here Brahman means Jeeva-a friend of all individuals. 

662. Brahma-krit -The One Who performs the Brahman-meaning the one 
who lives in Truth, who abides in Tapas, etc. He is the author of 
Brahman as enumerated in the explanation of the preceding term. 

663. Brahmaa ?"Creator." As the total Creative- power, it is Narayana 
Who functions as Creator through Brahmnaji.

664. Brahma ?"The Biggest, the Vastest, the An- Pervading." 
Upanishads thunderingly declare the Brahman to be "Existence-
Knowledge Infinite." The Knowledge which lifts all false perceptions 
of differences, pure in all its aspects, ever beyond the grasp of the 
senses, and that which can be experienced only in one's own Self, is 
called Brahman." 

665. Brahma-vivardhanah ?"One who increases the Brahman." Here, of 
course, the term Brahman means "Austerities, Vedas, Truth, 
Knowledge." These are increased in one who has earned the Grace of 
Sree Narayana through total surrender and constant devotion. 

666. Brahma-vit ?"One Who knows Brahman." The meaning here is one who 
has intuited the Vedas and their full commentaries. In Geeta (XV) we 
listen to the Lord declaring that: "I alone am the Author of the 
Vedas and the Knower of the Vedas." Brahman alone can "know" Brahman 
just as the "dreamer" can never survive to know the "waker." The 
knower-of-the-waker is the "Waker" alone. Similarly, the 
individualised ego conditioned by the equipments of Body, Mind and 
Intellect experiences the Brahman only when it has transcended the 
entanglements of matter-and then the ego is no more a Jeeva 
but "becomes Brahman." Thus the Higher is experienced only by the 
Higher. Sree Narayana is the Brahman-and therefore, He alone is the 
Knower of Brahman. 

667. Braahmanah -One who has realised that the pluralistic world is a 
mere superimposition upon the Brahman caused by an error of 
judgement, and who experiences the Supreme Consciousness of the One 
Reality is a Braahmanah. His duty is to convey this knowledge to 
others with a pure missionary zeal and a higher proselytising 
enthusiasm. By mere accident of birth one does not become a 
Braahmanah. Visvamitra and others through their Tapas and Divine 
Experience had reached the status of Brahmin-hood, so we read in the 
Puranas. Narayana manifests as such mighty men of realisation, 
serving their generations through their teachings. 

668. Brahmee ?"One Who is with Brahma." The term Brahma meaning as 
before ?"Austerities, Vedas, Truth and Knowledge-divine."

669. Brahma-jnah -One who lives ever in Brahman, and so "knows" the 
nature of the Brahman. He, the Lord, being the very Brahman, no one 
knows His nature as He Himself can. The "waker" alone knows the 
waking- the "dreamer" and "sleeper" can never realise and experience 
the waking-state until they "become" the "waker." 

670. Braahmana-priyah -One who is the beloved or and One Who is the 
lover of true men of full realisation, the Braahmanas. Not the caste, 
but the men of supreme experience-divine. The Lord is dear to them, 
and they too are dear to Him. 

 

Stanza 72

mahaakramo mahaakarmaa mahaatejaah mahoragah
mahaakraturmahaayajvaa mahaayajno mahaahavih.


671, Mahaakramah ?"Of Great-Step." Directly we are reminded of the 
Vamana-Incarnation when the Lord measured the three worlds by His 
three steps. It also indicates the root meaning of the term, Vishnu-
"The one who has the long stride-meaning, " All-pervading." Since He 
is All-pervading, He reaches everywhere earlier than all others. 

672. Mahaakarmaa ?"One Who performs great deeds." The creation, the 
dissolution, the protection and the spread of the Knowledge-of- 
Truth, all these are indeed great undertakings. He alone performs 
them, through Maha- Purushas who have surrendered themselves unto Him-
those who, in total surrender, have indeed become one with the Lord 
in love and being. 

673. Mahaatejaah ?"Of Great Resplendence." The Upanishads glorify Him 
in that even the Sun, Moon, the stars and fire have no light of their 
own. By Him they shine, the Giver of Light to all. In the Geeta, the 
Lord insists that "The Supreme is the Light of all lights, beyond all 
darkness" and again He asserts, "Understand that Light in the Sun by 
which the whole world is illumined, and that Light in the Moon and in 
the fire to be My own Light." Here the Light of Consciousness, the 
Self, is indicated. 

674. Mahoragah ?"The Great Serpent." Uraga means serpent In Geeta, 
Bhagavan says (Among the nagas, the many-hooded serpents, I am 
Ananta.) Ananta is the five-headed Great Serpent also called Sesha, 
upon which the Lord Vishnu reclines. Again in Geeta the Lord says 
(Among the serpents I am Vasuki), Mythologically, this is the serpent 
adorning Lord Siva's ring finger, Though so small as to become a ring 
for the Lord, it was this Vaasuki who offered himself as the great 
rope in churning the milky ocean. This paradox reminds us of the 
Upanishadic declaration (Smaller than the smallest and greater than 
the greatest). 

675. Mahaakratuh ?"The Great Sacrifice." The Supreme cannot be 
experienced without the greatest sacrifice, the total sacrifice of 
the Ego, the jeeva-Bhaava. The Great Sacrifice indicates 
traditionally the Asvamedha Yaaga. There- fore, some commentators 
explain this term "as one who is of the very form of Asvamedha 
Yaaga." 

676. Mahaayajvaa ?"One Who had performed Great Yajnas." In the Rama-
Incarnation, He had performed Asvamedha- Yaaga. He is the One, by 
Whose Grace, all "Sacrifices" are fulfilled successfully. One who 
performs sacrifice properly and faithfully is called Yajvaa. 

677. Mahaayajnah ?"The Great Yajna," In Bhagavat Geeta, the Lord in 
describing His Immanence in the world says to Arjuna: "I am among the 
Yajnas, the Japa- Yajna." Lord Narayana Himself is the greatest Yajna-
 therefore, in devotion approach Him and gain His Grace. The Japa 
Yajna is glorified by the Lord as the greatest sacrifice because it 
is both the essential means of all other Yajnas and transcends them 
all as an end in itself, by maintaining a constant stream of the same 
divine thoughts in the mind. 

678. Mahaa-havih ?"The Great Offering." The yajna is He; the very 
things offered to the sacred fire, the Havis, are also He. Geeta 
tells us, "We offer to Brahman that which is Brahman, in the fire 
which is Brahman, and the act of offering is also Brahman." 

 

Stanza 73

stavyah stavapriyah stotram stutih stotaa ranapriyah
poornah poorayitaa punyah punyakeertiranaamayah.


679. Stavyah ?"One Who is the object of all praise"-meaning, One Who 
deserves all our praise but One who has none top praise, he is 
praised by all and he praises none. The jeeva invokes him; the self, 
the atman, never invokes the ignorant jeeva.

680. Stava-priyah ?One who is invoked through the loving chants of 
the devoted hearts. When a devoted seeker melts away in singing the 
praise of the lord, his physical, mental and intellectual 
preoccupations with objects, emotions and thoughts silently roll away 
from him. In such quiet moments they rise above their present nature 
and explode into the realms of experiences of the higher state of 
divine consciousness ? Sree Narayana.

681. Stotram ?"The hymn." A glorious hymn, that describes the lords 
divine nature, itself is he, as the words lift the singer into the 
experience of the supreme nature of the truth. It is infallible if 
the singer of the Hymn has full devotion and ardent aspiration to 
realise him. "Naama" and "Naamee" are one and the same in experience.

682. Stutih ?"The act of praise." The very noble, divine "act of 
invoking the lord" is by his grace alone.

683. stotaa ?"One who adores or praises." The true devotee, singing 
the divine hymns is also of the nature of supreme peace, love, 
beauty, goodness- the divine qualities attributed to the lord in whom 
he dissolves through his songful identification. Such a devotee in 
this at?one?ment with Him, the lord praises again and again as "He is 
the one dear to Me."

684. Rana-priyah ?"Lover of Battles." Hence we see sree Narayana ever 
carrying his mace and discuss in order to destroy the vulgar and thus 
protect the decent. Here "battle" is the constant struggle for 
evolution.

685. Poornah ?"The Full." The infinite is ever the same. Though 
things are apparently emerging out of it, still the supreme remains 
irreducible and without a change. Lord Narayana is Ever-Full with is 
own glories and powers; One who is full with all the wealth, inner 
and outer, the supreme lakshmi-pati.

686. Poorayitaa ?"The Fulfiller." Lord Hari fulfils, surely, all the 
desires and demands of his true devotees.

687. Punyah ?"The truly?Holy." When the devotee's heart is filled 
with remembrance of the glorious from divine and infinite nature and 
supreme of the lord Vishnu, he then, in that very moment, removes all 
sin from his devotee's heart. The lord is Auspiciousness itself, so 
where he is invoked, all inauspiciousness must immediately retire.

688. Punya-keertih ?"Of Holy frame." He is gloriously renowned as the 
holy one. Whoever glorifies him becomes himself holy. All the unholy 
animal passions in the devotee are routed and beaten back when his 
heart is wholly in tune with the lord's Glory and Form.

689. Anaamayah ?One who has neither the mental or physical diseases. 
Of pure unstained divine essence is his nature. He is not involved in 
karmas, thus the resultant of the karmas which visit us in terms of 
mental restlessness or physical pangs, never touch Him.

 

Stanza 74

manojavasteerthakaro vasurtaah vasurpradah
vasuprado vaasudevo vasurvasumanaah havih.


690. Manojavah ?Fleet as the mind is the Lord's movement. He is 
anxious to run and reach the devotee to remove his suffering and 
ignorance. All-pervading is the lord, thus he is faster than all 
those who run after him ? and wherever they reach, the supreme, He, 
in the form of existence, is already there.

691 Teerthakarah ?"The Teacher of the Teerthas" The term, Teertha" 
means vidyaas. Sree Narayana is the author of the Vidyaa, or 
auxiliary Sciences Therefore, "One Who is the most ancient Teacher of 
all Vidyaas and Tantras." 

692 Vasuretaah ?"He Whose Essence is Golden." In the beginning of 
Creation were the primeval waters Into this One Ocean the Lord 
dropped His Essence and it became a Golden Egg from which Brahmaa, 
the Creator, first arose Thus Lord, as the womb of all Creation is 
mentioned in the Puranas as "Hiranyagarbha," the Golden Womb 

693 Vasupradah ?"The Free-Giver of Wealth" Inn this context, Vasu 
means "Worldly-Wealth"- money, property, grains, possessions, progeny 
Lord Vishnu who nourishes and maintains all beings with the wealth of 
His consort, Sree Laksmi, distributes and patronises His devotees 
very liberally 

694. Vasupradah -Again, the same term as we read above, but here if 
means "The Giver of Salvation" Liberation (Moksa) is the greatest 
wealth-whom He chooses, Moksha is gained by him alone. 

695. Vaasudevah ?"The son of Vasudeva," Lord Krishna. Or "One Who is 
Vaasu and Deva" "Vaasu" means "One who dwells in all creatures as 
their ego-centric individuality (Jeeva-raopa)." `Deva' means "One who 
revels" Therefore, this name for Lord Krishna has the appropriate 
meaning "One who revels in every living creature as the Jeeva-entity 
in each". 

696 Vasuh ?"The Refuge for all." The One Who dwells within, veiled 
behind Maayaa, the mind The mind projects this play of things, 
beings, emotions and thoughts. The world is the shadow-show round the 
Pure Consciousness Lord declares in Geeta: "I am the beginning, the 
middle and also the end of all beings." Thus He alone is the Refuge, 
for there is no other existence. "All have emerged out from Me, exist 
in Me and must come back to Me." 

697. Vasumanaah -One who is attentive to, and, therefore, concerned 
with every object and being in this world: "Omnipresent." 

698. Havih ?"The Oblation." That which we offer unto Him is also 
permeated by Him-there is nothing other than He, Himself, the same 
everywhere, in all places, at all times. In Geeta, Lord insists that 
the "oblations" are nothing but Brahman." 

Stanza 75

sadgatih satkritih sattaa sadbhootih satparaayanah
sooraseno yadusreshthah sannivaasah suyaamunah.


699. Sadgatih ?"The goal of good and noble seekers." Lord Narayana is 
the Spiritual Goal to be reached. "The Good" here means those who 
know the existence of Brahman, for the Upanishad says: "If a person 
knows `Brahmaji exists,' then the wise call him `good."

700. Sat-kritih ?"One Who is full of Good Actions." Lord Hari is the 
One Who maintains the rhythm of creation and the logic of its 
preservation. Even through His destructive activities, there is 
creation only for the sake of the individual and for the good of the 
world. All His actions are totally in harmony for the establishment 
of Peace. 

701. Sattaa -The Lord is the "One without a second," and, therefore, 
remains ever the same, without any differences of genus, species or 
in Itself." 

702. Sad-bhootih ?"One Who has Rich Glories." The term `Glories' 
means wealth, power, happiness Or "One who has taken different kinds 
of Incarnations," exhibiting in all of them the glories of the 
Supreme. So immeasurable are the Lord's Glories that even all these 
splendours scarcely reveal His Divine Might. Him, whom even the Devas 
know not; only the Yogis in meditation come to perceive His Eternal 
Glory. 

703 Sat-paraayanah ?The Supreme Goal for the "Good" who pursue the 
path of Truth. Here the "Good" means those who are the Knowers of 
Brahman. 

704 Soora-senah ?"One who has heroic and valiant armies" The 
Incarnations as Rama and Krishna are indicated here in whose armies 
there were valiant people like Hanuman and Lakshmana, Arjuna, Bheema 
and others. 

705. Yadusreshthah ?"The Best among the Yadava clan." The Glory of 
the Yadavas-Lord Krishna, Who was an Incarnation of Sree Hari. 

706. Sannivaasah ?"The Abode of the Good." The great souls of 
realisation come to live in Him, the Self; drowned in God-
Consciousness, they beam out from that Abode their divinity all 
around. Bhagavan in Geeta says: "My devotee thus knowing (realising 
the Truth, the jneyam, seated in the heart of all) enters into My 
Being."

707. Suyaamunah -One who is attended by the righteous Yaamunas-
meaning Gopas who live on the Yamuna banks. In a metaphysical sense, 
these Gopas are not the keepers of `cows,' but the keepers of the 
sacred milk of Knowledge-Upanishads. 

 

Stanza 76

bhootaavaaso vaasudevah sarvaasunilayo-analah
darpahaa darpado dripto durdharo-athaaparaajitah.


708. Bhootaavaasah ?"The very dwelling place of the Great 
Elements." "Since the Beings (Elements) dwell in You, You are 
called `Bhootaavaasa,' " so says Harivamsa. Bhagavaan Himself says in 
the Geeta: "I am the Source of all Creation."  Therefore He is also 
called the `Bhootayoni.' 

709. Vaasu-devah -One who envelops the world with His Maayaa-powers 
of veiling and agitations. The Lord discloses: "I pervade the whole 
world with My Glory, as the Sun with its rays." 

710. Sarvaasu-nilayah ?"The Abode of all Life-Energies." One who is 
the very Substratum for the life and existence of all creatures. He 
is the Self, the Life in all of us-therefore, He is the very support 
for the Praana in each living creature. 

711. Analah ?"One who is unlimited wealth, power and Glory." There is 
no boundary for his Glories ? there is no limit for his greatness, 
and All-pervasive. `Of my Divine Glories there is no end', Bhagavan 
Himself reveals to Arjuna.

712. Darpahaa ?"The Destroyer of the pride in evil-minded people." 
Easily He curbed the pride of Indra and others by lifting the 
mountain and protecting the cows of the Yamuna banks.

713. Darpadah ?"One who gives pride to the righteous,"- meaning, one 
who creates in the Good an Anxious urge to be the best among the 
righteous and virtuous. This pride is their protection from 
compromising in even in a small way in any act. This is a 
positive `pride' of the higher order. There is also a reading of A-
darpadah when the meaning would be: "One who never allows his 
devotees to become proud." In this way, devotees would totally 
surrender unto him all their virtues, acting on purely as His agents, 
are feed by him from bondage of spiritual pride. For such pride, 
resulting from a preponderance of Sattva guna and sense of doership, 
would make them vain-glorious of their goodness.

714. Driptah ?One who is ever drunk with the infinite Bliss of his 
own essential nature as Sat-chit-Ananda.

715. Durdharah ?the object of contemplation which is indeed very 
difficult to attain: -the one who is realized by yogis through radios 
process of intense, single pointed contemplation. Lord Krishna in 
Bhagavad Geeta admits: "Greater in their trouble whose minds are set 
on the unmanifest; for the goal, the unmanifested, is very hard for 
the embodied to reach."

716. A-paraa-jitah ?"The Unvanquished." "Never-Conquered" is the 
Glory of the self, for, conquering is of `objects'; the `subject' can 
be conquered. This, being the reality in all, the senses, mind, etc., 
including the faculties (Devas) can never reach or conquer him. Even 
when the mighty senses and the terrible Asuras fight against it, 
still this over whelming powers of desires and passions can never 
vanquish the self, the divine Narayana.

Stanza 77

visvamoortirmahaamoortirdeeptamoortiramoorimaan
anekamoortiravyaktah satamoortih sataananah.


717. Visvamoortih ?"Of the form of the entire universe." Lord as the 
total ? created, so his form is called Visvaroopa. The total gross 
form of the universe to be gather represents his gross-form-divine.

718. Mahaa-moortih ?the great form divine of the lord as he reclines 
upon the sesha couch as the very support for the creator to bring 
into existence the universe of the forms and plurality. The entire 
universe and the creator of the universe are but an aspect of Sree 
Narayana, the Supreme Self.

719. Deepta-moortih ?"Of the Resplendent Form." As Consciousness, He 
is never bright and fully effulgent illuming all experiences at all 
times. Sanjaya reports: "If the splendour of a thousand Suns were to 
blaze out at once in the sky, that would be like the splendour of 
that Mighty Being."

720. A-Moortimaan ?"Having no Form." Though He is described above as 
Deepta-moorti: "of the resplendent Form"; Mahaa-moorti: "of great 
form"; Visva-moorti: "of the universal-Form" ? He has, in 
reality, "No-Form"; A-moortimaan. He pervades all, but nothing limits 
Him. The limited alone has a form-the unlimited, like  `Space', has 
no form. The Infinite Brahman being so subtle. "Subtler than the 
subtlest." Sree Narayana as the Self-in-all, allows everything to 
remain in Him, but He is not conditioned by anyone of them. ever. 

721. Aneka-moortih ?"Multi-Formed": One Who Himself has become the 
world of varieties of Forms -Who has Himself taken the various 
Incarnations in order to help the world of beings to evolve quicker 
and fuller. 

722. Avyaktah ?"Unmanifest." Things are called manifest when they can 
be perceived by the sense- organs. As the Self. The Consciousness in 
us. Sree Hari is the very faculty of seeing. Hearing, smelling, 
tasting and touching in the five sense-organs. He being, thus, the 
very subject. He cannot at the same time be the object of the sense-
organs. Hence. He cannot be defined or described. 

723. Sata-moortih ?"Of Myriad-Forms": even though Consciousness, like 
Light, has no form of its own, all thought and the thought-projected 
world of infinite forms are all illumined by the Supreme. Therefore, 
the Self, functioning through the fluctuations of the restless 
mind "creates" the illusion of forms-all those forms as His, just as 
all dream- forms are created by the waker's mind only. 

724, Sataananah ?"Many-Faced": because He is of the Universal-Form, 
all faces are His only. "Hands and feet everywhere, with heads and 
mouths everywhere, His ears everywhere, stands (The Lord). enveloping 
all" 

 

Stanza 78

eko naikah savah kah kim yattatpadamanuttamam
lokabandhurlokanaatho maadhavo bhaktavatsalah.


725. Ekah ?"The One. The One-without-a second." As the Infinite is 
without any of the three distinctions, He, Sree Narayana, the 
Brahman, can only be the One without any otherness. 

726. Naikah  -"The Many." One who, though the One, yet plays in the 
bosom of all the living creatures. Just as we are one entity, but our 
thoughts are many, the Supreme Consciousness, Sree Narayana, though 
One, His reflections as `Jeevas' play in all mind-intellect-
equipments. Because He is thus seen to be manifested in the world of 
plurality, He is "Not One." Again, "The One" is a definition, a 
quality. The Lord is Indefinable, quality-less (unqualified). Hence 
after making the student grasp that He is "The One," where the 
pluralities are all merged, the teacher is immediately pointing out 
that He is "Not even One" For, to conceive "The One" is to conceive 
the Truth with our intellect-He is to be experienced on transcending 
the intellect. "The One" has a meaning only with reference to the 
many. "The One" is a relative statement. To show that the Infinite is 
to be "experienced" by the "becoming" and not by "knowing," the 
teacher has negated "Not even One." Sruti says "The Lord sports with 
many forms by His Maayaa."

 

727. Savah  -"He Who is of the nature of the Sava-Sacrifice." The 
sacrifice in which the Soma juice is squeezed out is called Sava. 

728. Kah ?"Happiness." One who is of the Nature of Bliss. Since He 
transcends the body-mind-intellect-equipments, which are the seats of 
sorrow, in Him there can be only Bliss. Or Kah means a question: He 
Who is ever a "question without an answer" to the human intellect-He 
who can be experienced only on transcending the intellect and not 
apprehended through intellection. 

729 Kim ?"What." Since the Lord is the final Goal to be reached, Ho 
is the On, Who is to be enquired into or diligently sought through 
constant questioning upon What is His Nature Also because the Truth 
is realised through this process of enquiry and discrimination-the 
final Goal of all "What" enquiring-the Lord, is termed here 
a, "What," (Kim).

730 Yat ?"Which." The pronoun "Yat" means "that which is self-
existent" Hence in the Upanishad, we find the usage of this term 
frequently. It may also be noted that the pronoun "Which" (Yat) 
denotes an already existing object Thus the Self-existence of the 
Supreme Reality, independent of the existence and non-existence of 
things in the world is indicated when Lord Sree Hari is termed 
as "Which." 

731 Tat ?"That." The Supreme is indicated by this term in all the 
Upanishadic literature, and one of the Mahaavaakya is "That Thou Art" 
Here "That" means the Truth that is not comprehended now, but is to 
be apprehended through listening to the Teacher (Sravana), 
reflections upon what you have heard (Manana) and meditation 
(Nididhyaasanaa). In Geeta, Bhagavan says "Om Tat Sat" are the three 
designations of Brahman" Or again, the term Tat can mean, "That which 
expands all the world of plurality:" 

732 Padam Anuttamam -"The Un-equalled Stare of perfection The Supreme 
State of Truth." Lord Vishnu is the Way and the Goal and the very 
pilgrimage. "He than whom there is no Higher." 

733. Loka-bandhuh ?"Friend of the World." Everyone is inextricably 
bound to Him in His Love Infinite, and He is the Father to all. Since 
there is no well-wisher or friend dearer than one's own Father, He is 
the One unfailing sure Friend of the world of beings and things. The 
Lord serves for the uplift of the world whenever the creatures come 
to suffer sorrows created by their own immoral negative ways. 

734. Loka-naathah ?"One Who is the "Lord" of the World," or "One Who 
is `solicited' by the world of beings for the fulfilment of all their 
desires and needs. Or it also means, "One Who `adds glory' to the 
world. There are also interpretations for the term `Naath' which 
express " shines, praised by or loved by": in all these different 
meanings, Sree Hari is described as the Lord of the World Lokanaatha. 

735. Maadhavah ?"One Who was born in the family of Madhu." The 
Vaisaakha-month is called Maadhava- month because the Lord is the 
Spirit of Beauty behind the Spring and its regal lush. 

736. Bhakta-vatsalah ?"One Whose Love for the devotees knows no 
bounds." He is ever merciful and endlessly kind towards His devotees. 

 

Stanza 79

suvarnavarno hemaango varaangaschandanaangadee
veerahaa vishamah soonyo ghritaaseerachalaschalah.


737. Suvarna-varnah ?"Golden Coloured" is Sree Narayana for He is, in 
the devotee, the pure Self; and in all, He is the very All-Illumining 
Pure Awareness. Mundaka Upanishad declares: "When the Seer sees Him 
of Golden- hue." Upon witnessing the Self-Effulgent (Golden) Being, 
the seer's realization is completely transforming, and "then that 
wise one, shaking off all deeds of merits and demerits, becomes 
stainless, and attains the supreme State of Equipoise." 

738. Hemaangah ?"One who has limbs of Gold." The description of the 
Lord functioning through the orb of the Sun is well-known: Hiranmaya-
"of pure-golden- form." Sruti mentions it: "This Golden Person seen 
in the disc of the Sun"?  This same Upanishad insists further 
that "Mind is Brahman" and the "Sun is Brahman." Lord Hari, as the 
Infinite Brahman, plays in the Sun (Soorya-Narayana)- thus the term 
is most appropriate. 

739. Varaangah ?"With beautiful limbs." Also, Vara can take the 
meaning "lovable," therefore, Sree Narayana is described here as "One 
whose form (limbs) is supremely "lovable" to the yogi-of-devotion." 

740. Chandanaangadee -This is made up of two terms, "Joy-giving" 
(Chandana) and "armlets" (Angada). Thus the phrase means "One who has 
attractive armlets." It can also be used as describing "One Who is 
smeared with the sandal." 

741. Veerahaa ?"The destroyer of the valiant heroes"-in order to 
uphold righteousness, Lord Hari takes His Incarnations and destroys 
the intrepid and daring Asuras in battle. Again, it may be 
interpreted as One Who destroys the powerful and mighty forces of 
likes and dislikes-Dvandva -pairs of opposites, the hosts of our own 
negativities in our hearts. 

742. Vishamah ?"Unequalled." Arjuna, in Bhagavad Geeta, estimates his 
experience of the Lord's Cosmic Form and says: "None there exists who 
is equal to You; how can there be then another superior to You in the 
three worlds, O Being of unequalled power?" 

743. Soonyah ?"The Void." Here Void means the total absence of (a) 
the equipments-of-experiences-the body-mind-intellect; (b) the fields-
of-experiences-the objects- emotions-thoughts; (c) the experiencer-
attitudes-the perceiver-feeler-thinker personality. In Brahman, the 
Pure Consciousness, all these three (a, b and c) are totally absent 
as the devotee of Hari transcends them all. So the Lord, in His 
Infinite Nature, is `without attributes;' seemingly then, He is 
the "Void." This is not "non-existence" of the Buddhists. This is 
Pure Existence without the object-emotion-thought world-the Self, 
Sree Narayana. 

744. Ghritaaseeh ?"One Who has no need for any good wishes from 
anyone." The Infinite Lord, perfect and transcendental, has no need 
for any of the objects of the world to make Him complete since the 
state of incompleteness is indeed the springboard for all desires to 
gush forth. It can also mean one who has eaten away the ghee stolen 
from the cow-herds' store-rooms in Brindavan. 

745. Achalah ?"The non-moving." Either it can signify One Who never 
falls and therefore does not move away from His own Infinite nature, 
or it may mean that since the Lord is All-Pervading, He cannot move 
as there is no place where, at any time, He is not. He is Ever-
Present everywhere.

746. Chalah ?"Moving." By the juxtaposition of these two opposite 
qualities, we are reminded that the apparent world of plurality that 
constitutes the realm of change is also nothing other than the 
immovable Atman interpreted through our personal equipments of 
experiences. Unconditioned by the body, mind and intellect, the Lord 
in His Infinitude is motionless, but as conditioned by the vehicles 
He apparently seems to move. We have already explained this 
relationship earlier. It is something like a traveller, though 
himself sleeping, is able to travel all the night since he is 
conditioned by the vehicle which carries him. 

 

Stanza 80

amaanee maanado maanyo lokasvaamee trilokadhrik
sumedhaa medhajo dhanyah satyamedhah dharaadharah.


747. Amaanee ?"One who has no false vanity." Since He knows His own 
real divine nature, He has no false identifications with the 
equipments of not-Self such as the flesh, the emotions or the 
thoughts.

748. Maanadah -"One who gives, or causes, by His Maayaa the false 
identification with the body." The Sanskrit term `maana' can also 
mean `honour,' and therefore, `maanadah' can mean One who honours all 
His true devotees. The root `da' in Sanskrit means `blasting', and 
therefore, the same term can also mean one who blasts all false 
notions from the bosom of his devotees. 

749. Maanyah ?"One Who is to be honoured." He is the most worshipful 
as He is the very material Cause for the world of plurality. Bhagavan 
Sankara says: "If he, who has realised the Supreme, is so blessed and 
to be honoured in this world," how much more worshipful is the Lord 
who is the very substratum and support of the whole universe and by 
whom all are blessed and inspired to gain their experiences in the 
world of things and beings! 

750. Lokasvaamee ?"Lord of the Universe." Here the word `loka' in 
Sanskrit means `field-of-experience.' The One Who is the Controller, 
Director, Who is the Lord and Governor of all fields-of-experiences 
of all living creatures, at all times, everywhere, is the 
Consciousness that illumines matter. Therefore, the term Loka-svaamee 
is extremely appropriate. 

751. Thriloka-dhrik ?"One Who is the support of all the three 
worlds." Apart from the usual concept of the three worlds: heaven, 
earth and hell, there is a deeper import of the term `loka'. It 
should mean the three fields of experience constituted of waking, 
dream and deep sleep. Atman, the Self, as Consciousness, is the One 
that supports all these three states inasmuch as, without this 
kindling support of life in the bosom, it would be impossible for us 
to have any experience. 

752. Sumedhaah ?"One who has Pure Intelligence." In fact, the term 
may denote a special power in the human intellect which is the 
capacity to remember and repeat what has been once experienced 
before. As such, the term indicates that the very nature of the Self 
is not a knowledge newly gained, but it is only a remembrance of the 
seeker's own real nature, which the seeker in his earlier confusion 
had forgotten. So long as we have not invoked this great power of 
memory of our real nature, we shall continue to grope in our sorrows 
created by our misconception. On realising the Self, it is not that 
we gain anything new, but we re-discover our own essential Self. 
Naturally, therefore, with reference to our present forgetfulness, 
the ultimate goal is indicated by the pregnant term `Divine Memory 
Power. 

753. Medha-jah ?"Born out of sacrifices." `Medha' means sacrifices 
like Asvamedha Yajna. In such a sincere and great ritual, He is 
invoked and in His Pure Presence there in the sacrifice, we can say 
He is born. The Geeta meaning of `sacrifices' (Yajna) is "a co-
operative endeavor wherein: -we offer our capacity into a field of 
chosen work invoking in It the unmanifested Lord Who pours forth His 
blessings in terms of profit." In this sense, when all the 
personality layers are offered in an act of total surrender, the 
spiritual experience of the Self is born. To the student of Vedanta, 
the term is rich in its suggestiveness. 

754. Dhanyah ?"Fortunate." As He has no objects yet to be fulfilled, 
or any of His wishes not already fulfilled, He is indeed one who is 
utterly fulfilled. The state of the Self is an eternal state of total 
contentment. 

755. Satyamedhah ?"One whose intelligence never fails." He is the 
supreme Power of Discrimination, never deluded by the finite world of 
appearances, but is, in all circumstances, ever rooted in the Truth 
that He alone is the world of multiplicity. 

756. Dharaadharah ?"The sole support of the earth." The earth here 
stands for matter; and the very essence from which matter has come to 
express itself, both in its gross and subtle forms, is the Self, 
Narayana, and therefore, He is considered as the very substratum for 
the play of matter (earth). Geographically, the earth is supported by 
water. Water is supported by the atmospheric air and the atmospheric 
air by the space. The daring enquirer may still continue the question 
and investigate into the source of space. We know that the space is a 
concept which we experience in our intellect. All experiences of the 
intellect are established in Conscious- ness and, therefore, the 
ultimate support for the entire `world' is the Supreme Narayana. 

 

Stanza 81

tejovrisho dyutidharah sarvasastrabhritaam varah
pragraho nigraho vyagro naikasringo gadaagrajah.


757. Tejo-vrishah ?"One Who showers Radiance." In the outer cosmos 
the Sun gives out heat and light, and because of this, rain and 
cultivation are possible-not directly because of the Sun, but due to 
the sum-total-result of an endless chain of cause-effect links. In 
the same way, He Who by His mere presence illumines the experiences 
of all living creatures with His Light, is Sree Narayana, the Self. 

758. Dyutidharah -The term `Dyuti' indicates the glow of beauty and 
strength in a form; thus the term means "One Who bears an Effulgent 
Form." The expression also discloses that the seat of Pure 
Consciousness is described as "the Bearer of Radiance" for it is in 
the light of the Atman that creatures become aware of all their 
perceptions, emotions and thoughts. 

759. Sarva-sastra-bhritaam-varah -"The best among those who wield 
weapons." Since Sree Narayana is described in the Puranas as wielding 
the Discus (Sudarsana), it, being the greatest of all weapons, 
justifies this term. Also, the Lord never uses His weapon of 
annihilation indiscriminately-for He is ever supremely just. It is 
also significant that all destructions in nature are 
always `constructive destructions', therefore the Lord's Discus is 
itself called "the auspicious vision" (Sudarsana). In the maturity of 
one's evolution when one becomes fit for one's own inner unfoldment, 
slowly, but irresistibly the seeker can ever detect a secret hand 
that diligently cuts off all his connections with the outer world, 
and compels him to lean more and more on the higher. Our Puranic 
literature is replete with instances, and, without exception, in all 
of them Sree Narayana is described as using His weapon to destroy the 
devilish-and to give him Moksha! ?"the Auspicious Vision": Su-
darsana. Others, when they employ their weapons of destruction, the 
result invariably end in a sad `destructive destruction', and, 
therefore, to invoke Him as "the best among those who wield weapons" 
is most significant for a seeker. 

760. Pragrahah  -One who is the sole receiver of all the worship of 
every devotee, irrespective of his creed or race, or his location in 
the world, at all times. The devotee may invoke the spiritual 
presence in various institutions, using different symbols, believing 
in his own creed and scripture, but, whoever he be, when he comes to 
transcend his vehicles of perception, feeling and thinking, the 
experience of the Self (God) should be universally one and the same-
as God is All-Pervading and Changeless. This great factor-
transcendental IS the Self, Sree Narayana, and therefore, He is the 
ultimate, sole Receiver of all prayers that rise consciously or 
unconsciously in every heart, be it from a plant, an animal or a man. 

The term `Pragrahah' is used in Sanskrit to mean the reins with which 
horses are controlled and their movements regulated. In this sense 
when we reflect, the metaphor of the chariot In the Upanishad 
suddenly comes in front of us. In this famous scriptural metaphor, 
mind is the rein by which the steeds of the sense-organs are 
controlled and regulated. Here Lord Sree Narayana Himself is invoked 
as `Pragrahah' because when the mind has turned in devotion to His 
feet, the devotee need not strive to control his sense-organs, but 
the Lord's own glory shall imperceptibly do the job for His beloved 
seeker. There- fore, a truly devoted heart in its utter surrender, 
calls the Lord ``as the very controller of his sense-organs." 

761. Nigrahah ?"The killer." An uninitiated student may get shocked 
when he finds that the Lord is invoked as a murderer! But it is true. 
The only difference is that He is only the destroyer of the ego-just 
as a doctor is a `murderer' of diseases; just as the sun is the 
destroyer of the night; as summer is the annihilator of winter. 
Similarly, the Lord is the destroyer of ego and ego-centric 
limitations in the devotee. In Sanskrit this word also indicates "One 
who absorbs the devotee unto Himself." Once an individual withdraws 
himself even a wee bit from his total pre-occupation with the world 
and turns his attention to the spiritual centre in himself, the Lord 
fascinates and enchants the seeker's attention more and more to His 
own Infinite Glory, and ultimately "absorbs (Ni-grahah) the 
individual totally into the state of Pure-Consciousness. 

762. Vyagrah ?"One Who is ever engaged in fulfilling the devotee's 
desires." Desire arises in the human mind due to a sense of 
imperfection in oneself. In the absolute sense of bliss and peace, 
which is the true nature of Sree Narayana, there cannot arise any 
desire and, therefore, He is described as "the fulfiller of all 
desires." 

763. Naika-sringah ?"One Who has many (na-eka=Naika) horns." To a 
modern student it would look fantastic and even foolish should one 
worship his Lord, the God, as One with many horns. This mental shock 
can even stun him when he understands also that his Lord has three 
legs: "Chatvaarah Sringaah Trayo Asya Paadaah," says the Maha 
Upanishad. If the literal translation shocks the student, the very 
jolt prods him to a more vigorous enquiry. The four horns mean the 
four States of Consciousness-the waking, dream, deep-sleep and the 
fourth plane of consciousness, the Pure Awareness. The three feet 
(paada) indicate the three states of consciousness in which we now 
revel in our gross, subtle and causal bodies respectively. 

764. Gadaagrajah  -"The elder brother of Gada." Lord Krishna had a 
younger brother whose name was Gada. The term Gada has also the 
meaning in Sanskrit of `mantra.' Mantra are chanted and therefore 
Gada can indicate `mantra, -"Gadyate iti gadah." A commentator 
insists that Ni-gada means mantra, but the prefix Ni gets dropped, so 
Gada means mantra. Naturally, "Gadaagraja" would mean One who 
manifests or is invoked through mantras. 

 

Stanza 82

chaturmoortischaturbaahuschaturvyoohaschaturgatih
chaturaatmaa chaturbhaavaschaturvedavidekapaat.


765. Chatur-moortih ?"Four-Formed." The Lord, the Infinite is 
considered as having four forms-meaning that He, in His 
manifestations in the world, takes these four forms. 

The Puranas have declared that the incarnations of the Lord in the 
various Yuga, were of different colours: white in Krita Yuga, red in 
Tretaa Yuga, yellow in Dvaapara Yuga and dark (black) in the Kali 
Yuga. But according to Vedanta, the Lord, the Self, has four distinct 
expressions in the subjective life of each individual: the Waker, the 
Dreamer, the Deep- sleeper and the Pure Self. In the microcosm these 
are called as Virata, Taijasa, Prajna and Tureeya, and in the 
macrocosm, the Lord's complete expression, in the total gross, subtle 
and causal bodies, is called as Viraat, Hiranyagarbha, Eesvara- and, 
beyond all bodies as the Eternal Paramaatman. 

766. Chatur-baahuh -Lord Narayana is represented as having four 
hands. These represent the four factors that together constitute the 
inner equipments in man- mind (Manas); intellect (Buddhi); thought 
flow towards objects (Chitta) and ego (Ahamkaara). These are the four 
agents by which all the physical activities are controlled, regulated 
and constantly commanded from within the body. 

767. Chatur-vyoohah ?"One Who expresses himself as the dynamic centre 
in the four Vyoohas. A "Vyooha" is a whirlpool of activities made by 
a large number of imperfected forms, commanded by a pivotal person 
who remains in the centre of the whirlpool-just as a battalion 
functions under the orders of its commander. It is shown in this 
analogy that the Lord, the central Source of all activities, is 
manifest as the universal Force which blesses every engagement and 
contact of a living man with his outer world. In the Aitareya 
Upanishad, the four Vyoohas (or persons) are mentioned: the person in 
the body, the person in the Chhandas (Vedic mantra), the person in 
the Vedas and the Great Person. 

768. Chatur-gatih ?"The ultimate goal of all the four." Though their 
means and purposes appear divergent, Sree Narayana alone is the 
inevitable goal of all activities of the four types (Varnas) of men: 
Thinkers (Braahmanas), Rulers and Leaders (Kashatriyas), Men of 
Commerce (Vaisyas) and Workers (Soodras). The Lord, also, is the 
consummate goal to be achieved by the four stages (Aasramas) of life: 
the Age of Study (Brahmacharya), the Householder (Grihastha), the 
Retirement (Vaanaprastha) and the Stage of Renunciation (Samnyaasa). 

769. Chatur-aatmaa -There is also a reading as Chatvaraatmaa. In the 
former reading, the definition suggests "the clear-minded"-meaning 
the Lord is one who is completely free from desires, passions, 
vanities, in short, free from all maladies of ego in His essential 
Nature. In the latter term, the meaning signifies that Sree Narayana 
is the one Infinite Effulgence which expresses Itself as the four 
aspects of our inner equipment (Antahkarana Chatushtaya). 

770. Chatur-bhaavah ?"The Source of the four." One who is the Source 
for the four types (varna), for the four stages-of-life (Aasrama) and 
the four human aspirations (purushaartha). The human aspirations as 
codified by the Sanaatana Dharma are again four in number. 
Righteousness (Dharma), Wealth (Artha), Pleasure (Kaama) and 
Spiritual Liberation (Moksha). Lord Krishna reveals in the Bhagavad 
Geeta: " All the four types in creation have come from Me." 

771. Chatur-veda-vit ?"Knower of all the four Vedas." The Lord is the 
very theme discussed and expounded in the four vedas. The student of 
the vedas when he realises the Lord, then only he fulfils his study 
of them. In this sense of the term, Bhagavan proclaims in the 
Fifteenth Chapter of Geeta: "I am verily that which has to be known 
in all the Vedas: I am indeed the author of the Vedas and 
the "knower" of the Vedas am I." 

772. Eka-paat ?"The one-footed." The term `paada' in Sanskrit has two 
meanings: a `part' and a `foot." The Lord, in Bhagavad Geeta, uses 
the first meaning to describe His mighty Glory: "The whole universe' 
is supported by one part of Myself." There is a reference in the 
Taittireeya Aaranyaka which clarifies the latter meaning: "All beings 
are His foot." The significance here is the ~me as in Geeta-wherein 
even the totality of all universes cannot be compared to Him, the 
Infinite Absolute Existence. 

 

Stanza 83

samaavarto-anivrittaatmaa durjayo duratikramah
durlabho durgamo durgo duraavaaso duraarihaa.


773. Samaavartah ?"The efficient turner' -of the wheel-of-life. ` 
Aavarta' is to turn. The wheel-of-life- and-death, the samsar, is 
constantly being churned by the Law, which is none other than the 
Lord. The Law and the Law-Giver are one and the same in this universe-
Sree Narayana. 

774 Nivrittaatmaa ?"One whose mind is turned away from all sense 
indulgences." The famous `two birds' of the Mundaka Upanishad strike 
a simile here. "Two birds bound one to the other in close friendship, 
perch on the selfsame tree. One of them eats the fruits of the tree 
with relish, while the other looks on without eating," The latter is 
the Nivrittaatmaa, Some commentators have taken the word as' A-
nivrittaatmaa' in which case the meaning would be: "One who never 
turns away from anything, but enters into every- thing." as the very 
Self is every thing and every being-that Supreme One, Lord Narayana. 

775. Dur-jayah ?"The Invincible"-One who cannot be conquered by 
anyone else. Even though, in the majority of us, there is a 
preponderance of the lower urges, in the patient grinding of time, 
the evolutionary goal ultimately wins and irresistibly pushes each 
one of us towards the altar of the Self. Battles may be lost but the 
war in the end is won by the Lord of our heart. 

776 Durati-kramah ?"One who is difficult to be disobeyed:' This term 
declares a truth which is proven upon observation of this 
scientifically precise world where no object or being dares to 
disobey the Lord, the Cosmos The Rishi in Kathopanishad says "through 
fear of Him the Fire burns, through fear of Him shines the Sun, 
through fear of Him functions Indra, Vaayu, Lord of the Wind, and 
Death itself is the fifth"-as though He is behind each one with 
uplifted thunderbolt. The term `Atikromah' means `going beyond', 
therefore the term, as it stands, indicates "a state beyond which no 
one can go"-meaning Sree Narayana is the final and the absolute 
destination of all evolution He is the transcendental Reality and 
other than He there is no more a beyond to he achieved 

777. Dur-Labhah ?"One who is obtained with consummate effort." The 
final destination of all evolution is He, the spiritual perfection. 
Therefore, He is only gained after millenniums of slow evolutions, 
from the insignificant unicellular existence to the status of man, 
and the fulfilment of man's evolved, rational life is the state of 
Godhood. The reward for all the slow and steady efforts of evolution 
is bestowed when an organism reaches the height of the rational human 
being; and, thereafter, through selfless, dedicated service, deep and 
individual devotion, and sincere and serious study of the scriptures, 
man learns to remove his mind from all his worldly pre-occupations 
and brings himself to finally realise his divine Godhood. Indeed, the 
state of Narayana- Consciousness is an experience that is to be 
obtained with consummate effort. 

778. Dur-Gamah ?"One Who is realised with great difficulty." In 
Bhagavata there is a statement that the Lord is easily obtained (A-
dur-gamah). For those who have not already developed extreme 
meditative abilities in their devoted hearts, the processes of self 
development, when studied from a book or heard from a teacher, the 
immediate reaction in the bosom of such students will be that it is 
very difficult. But as he marches forward in his saadhanaa he gains 
the further guidance and inspiration to `go-forward.' More bounteous 
aspects on him beam and the `kindly light' leads him safely to the 
goal through all obstacles. A candle or torch can at best light up 
only ten or fifteen yards in front of a traveller. It can never 
illumine the whole path of one or two miles at a stretch. He has to 
start and proceed as far as he can see and as he marches ahead the 
forward stretches will be illumined. 

779. Dur-Gah ?"Not easy to storm into." The term is used in Sanskrit 
to indicate a fortress; therefore the suggestion is that the essence 
of the Lord, Sree Narayana, is fortressed around by the matter 
vestures and their objects of fascination. Attracted by them, our 
attention is always distracted towards the joy contents in them. This 
seducing power of the matter vestures is itself the mighty Maayaa, 
which only very rare, courageous and blessed ones are able to cross 
over.  

Bhagavan Himself says: "Mama My Duratyayaa?." The Upanishads say that 
the truth, Narayana, cannot be perceived by the senses, imagined by 
the mind or thought of by the intellect. These being the only source 
of our knowing, it almost impossible to realize the Truth. It is only 
an all-out suicidal attack that enables some rare ones to storm the 
fort and reach the Goal. Hence to an extrovert man, the seat of 
Consciousness apparently seems to be impenetrably fortified. The 
direct meaning here indicates the great Lord seated in our heart who 
is "not easily realized."

687. Punyah ?"The truly?Holy." When the devotee's heart is filled 
with remembrance of the glorious from divine and infinite nature and 
supreme of the lord Vishnu, he then, in that very moment, removes all 
sin from his devotee's heart. The lord is Auspiciousness itself, so 
where he is invoked, all inauspiciousness must immediately retire.

688. Punya-keertih ?"Of Holy frame." He is gloriously renowned as the 
holy one. Whoever glorifies him becomes himself holy. All the unholy 
animal passions in the devotee are routed and beaten back when his 
heart is wholly in tune with the lord's Glory and Form.

689. Anaamayah ?One who has neither the mental or physical diseases. 
Of pure unstained divine essence is his nature. He is not involved in 
karmas, thus the resultant of the karmas which visit us in terms of 
mental restlessness or physical pangs, never touch Him.

 

Stanza 84

manojavasteerthakaro vasurtaah vasurpradah
vasuprado vaasudevo vasurvasumanaah havih.

 

690. Manojavah ?Fleet as the mind is the Lord's movement. He is 
anxious to run and reach the devotee to remove his suffering and 
ignorance. All-pervading is the lord, thus he is faster than all 
those who run after him ? and wherever they reach, the supreme, He, 
in the form of existence, is already there.

691 Teerthakarah ?"The Teacher of the Teerthas" The term, Teertha" 
means vidyaas. Sree Narayana is the author of the Vidyaa, or 
auxiliary Sciences Therefore, "One Who is the most ancient Teacher of 
all Vidyaas and Tantras." 

692 Vasuretaah ?"He Whose Essence is Golden." In the beginning of 
Creation were the primeval waters Into this One Ocean the Lord 
dropped His Essence and it became a Golden Egg from which Brahmaa, 
the Creator, first arose Thus Lord, as the womb of all Creation is 
mentioned in the Puranas as "Hiranyagarbha," the Golden Womb 

693 Vasupradah ?"The Free-Giver of Wealth" Inn this context, Vasu 
means "Worldly-Wealth"- money, property, grains, possessions, progeny 
Lord Vishnu who nourishes and maintains all beings with the wealth of 
His consort, Sree Laksmi, distributes and patronises His devotees 
very liberally 

694. Vasupradah -Again, the same term as we read above, but here if 
means "The Giver of Salvation" Liberation (Moksa) is the greatest 
wealth-whom He chooses, Moksha is gained by him alone. 

695. Vaasudevah ?"The son of Vasudeva," Lord Krishna. Or "One Who is 
Vaasu and Deva" "Vaasu" means "One who dwells in all creatures as 
their ego-centric individuality (Jeeva-raopa)." `Deva' means "One who 
revels" Therefore, this name for Lord Krishna has the appropriate 
meaning "One who revels in every living creature as the Jeeva-entity 
in each". 

696 Vasuh ?"The Refuge for all." The One Who dwells within, veiled 
behind Maayaa, the mind The mind projects this play of things, 
beings, emotions and thoughts. The world is the shadow-show round the 
Pure Consciousness Lord declares in Geeta: "I am the beginning, the 
middle and also the end of all beings." Thus He alone is the Refuge, 
for there is no other existence. "All have emerged out from Me, exist 
in Me and must come back to Me." 

697. Vasumanaah -One who is attentive to, and, therefore, concerned 
with every object and being in this world: "Omnipresent." 

698. Havih ?"The Oblation." That which we offer unto Him is also 
permeated by Him-there is nothing other than He, Himself, the same 
everywhere, in all places, at all times. In Geeta, Lord insists that 
the "oblations" are nothing but Brahman." 

 

Stanza 85

sadgatih satkritih sattaa sadbhootih satparaayanah
sooraseno yadusreshthah sannivaasah suyaamunah.

 

699. Sadgatih ?"The goal of good and noble seekers." Lord Narayana is 
the Spiritual Goal to be reached. "The Good" here means those who 
know the existence of Brahman, for the Upanishad says: "If a person 
knows `Brahmaji exists,' then the wise call him `good."

700. Sat-kritih ?"One Who is full of Good Actions." Lord Hari is the 
One Who maintains the rhythm of creation and the logic of its 
preservation. Even through His destructive activities, there is 
creation only for the sake of the individual and for the good of the 
world. All His actions are totally in harmony for the establishment 
of Peace. 

701. Sattaa -The Lord is the "One without a second," and, therefore, 
remains ever the same, without any differences of genus, species or 
in Itself." 

702. Sad-bhootih ?"One Who has Rich Glories." The term `Glories' 
means wealth, power, happiness Or "One who has taken different kinds 
of Incarnations," exhibiting in all of them the glories of the 
Supreme. So immeasurable are the Lord's Glories that even all these 
splendours scarcely reveal His Divine Might. Him, whom even the Devas 
know not; only the Yogis in meditation come to perceive His Eternal 
Glory. 

703 Sat-paraayanah ?The Supreme Goal for the "Good" who pursue the 
path of Truth. Here the "Good" means those who are the Knowers of 
Brahman. 

704 Soora-senah ?"One who has heroic and valiant armies" The 
Incarnations as Rama and Krishna are indicated here in whose armies 
there were valiant people like Hanuman and Lakshmana, Arjuna, Bheema 
and others. 

705. Yadusreshthah ?"The Best among the Yadava clan." The Glory of 
the Yadavas-Lord Krishna, Who was an Incarnation of Sree Hari. 

706. Sannivaasah ?"The Abode of the Good." The great souls of 
realisation come to live in Him, the Self; drowned in God-
Consciousness, they beam out from that Abode their divinity all 
around. Bhagavan in Geeta says: "My devotee thus knowing (realising 
the Truth, the jneyam, seated in the heart of all) enters into My 
Being."

707. Suyaamunah -One who is attended by the righteous Yaamunas-
meaning Gopas who live on the Yamuna banks. In a metaphysical sense, 
these Gopas are not the keepers of `cows,' but the keepers of the 
sacred milk of Knowledge-Upanishads. 

 

Stanza 86

bhootaavaaso vaasudevah sarvaasunilayo-analah
darpahaa darpado dripto durdharo-athaaparaajitah.

 

708. Bhootaavaasah ?"The very dwelling place of the Great 
Elements." "Since the Beings (Elements) dwell in You, You are 
called `Bhootaavaasa,' " so says Harivamsa. Bhagavaan Himself says in 
the Geeta: "I am the Source of all Creation."  Therefore He is also 
called the `Bhootayoni.' 

709. Vaasu-devah -One who envelops the world with His Maayaa-powers 
of veiling and agitations. The Lord discloses: "I pervade the whole 
world with My Glory, as the Sun with its rays." 

710. Sarvaasu-nilayah ?"The Abode of all Life-Energies." One who is 
the very Substratum for the life and existence of all creatures. He 
is the Self, the Life in all of us-therefore, He is the very support 
for the Praana in each living creature. 

780. Dur-aavaasah ?"Not easy to lodge" ?within the heart steadily for 
even great seekers who are diligent in their consistent pursuit. To 
withdraw the mind from the objects of pleasure and to steadily 
contemplate upon the great seat of Life is not an easy 
accomplishment. Therefore, even yogins, in their persevering 
meditation, find it not easy to contemplate steadily upon Sree 
Narayana, hence this name.  "This Yoga of equanimity, taught by Thee, 
O slayer of Madhu, I see not its enduring continuity, because of the 
restlessness (of the mind)," cries Arjuna in the Geeta. Bhagavan also 
adds in the same Chapter that the meditation should be "As a lamp 
placed in a windless place does not flicker."

781. Duraarihaa ? "One Who is the slayer of the devilish Asuras." 
Even in those among us who are not steadily good, the Lord, when 
invoked, out of His compassion destroys the devilishness and redeems 
our personality from its sad consequences. The asuric tendencies are 
in the bosom of every seeker and devoted invocation of the Lord in 
our bosom can cleanse the heart of all its negative tendencies. 
Therefore, it is indeed appropriate that He is significantly 
indicated as `Duraarihaa.'' 

 

Stanza 84

subhaango lokasaarangah sutantustantuvardhanah
indrakarmaa mahaakarmaa kritakarmaa kritaagamah.


782. Subhaangah ?"One with enchanting limbs of perfect beauty." The 
Beauty of all beauty is the Lord, and His captivating form and the 
rhythm of His shape are the theme of meditation for the devotees. In 
the Upanishads the Infinite Lord, the Self, is described as Peace-
Auspiciousness-Beauty (Saantam-Sivam-Sundaram). Thus the devotees of 
the Lord, remembering the auspicious beauty of His sacred limbs, 
prostrate at His altar in their deep reverence and mounting joy of 
devotion. 

783. Lokasaarangah ?"One who has enquired into or understood the 
Essence behind the universe of names and forms" Or, Lokasaarangah can 
mean the essence, or the source, of the world which is the great 
Pranava, `OM.' So the term means the State of Supreme Consciousness 
that is gained or reached through the contemplation upon the 
significance of OM. 

784. Sutantuh ?"Beautifully expanded." Just as the thread is drawn 
out in different counts from cotton which is later employed as the 
warp and woof in the creation of infinite varieties of cloth, so too, 
from the Narayana-Consciousness, the endless variety of beings and 
things gets projected to constitute the enchanting tapestry of His 
mighty universe. As the thread is the substratum for all the various 
fabrics, the Narayana is the beautiful thread, the-substratum, for 
all this wonderful universe. The Lord Himself says: "There is nothing 
whatsoever higher than I, O Dhananjaya. All this is strung on Me, as 
clusters of gems on a string.  

785. Tantu-vardhanah ?"One who sustains the continuity of the drive 
for the family." The family is maintained by the virility of the 
members and this potency in the individual is an expression of 
vitality which Life imparts to the living organism. Thus, the grace 
of the Self is that which is manifested in the fertility of the seed 
(Ojas). Generally in India, among the Hindus, it is customary to 
attribute the continuity of the family to the Grace of Narayana.  

786. Indrakarmaa ?"One who always performs gloriously auspicious 
actions" The root `Id' is used in the sense of Supreme 
Auspiciousness, Parama-aisvarya. 

787. Mahaa-karmaa ?"One Who accomplishes Great Activities."  To 
create a cosmos so scientifically precise and perfect out of the five 
great elements, and to sustain them all with an iron hand of 
efficiency, all the time constantly presiding over the acts of 
destruction without which the world of change cannot be maintained, 
is, in itself, a colossal achievement of an Absolute Intelligence.  

788. Krita-karmaa ?"One Who has fulfilled all His activities." There 
is nothing more for Him to achieve. He is the Goal. He is the 
Destination. In His Eternal Perfection there is nothing more for Him 
yet to achieve. This sense of complete fulfilment is described in all 
the scriptures as the State of Blissful Perfection-the Self.  

789. Kritaagamah ?"One who is the author of the Vedas." The vedic 
mantras are called Aagamah. The mantras were revealed to the great 
Rishis during moments when they were not identified with the Body-
Mind- Intellect and, therefore, they were not, at those inspired 
moments, limited individual egos. Where the ego is thus ended, the 
Self-alone comes to manifest. In this sense of the term, all 
scriptures have burst forth from prophets and seers when they 
transcended their limited existence to experience their oneness with 
the Eternal, Sree Narayana, In Bhagavad Geeta also, Lord Krishna 
confesses, "I am the author of all the Vedas; I alone am the knower 
of the Veda."  

 

Stanza 85

udbhavah sundarah sundo ratnanaabhah sulochanah
arko vaajasanah sringee jayantah sarvavij-jayee.


790. Udbhavah ?"The ultimate source"- the very spring of Creation. In 
the Puranic view of the term, it may mean One Who has by His own free-
will manifested Himself by Himself for the service of mankind, or, it 
may designate subjectively, the Self, Sree Narayana, as the one 
dynamic Witness in Whose Presence alone the vital activities of life 
gush forth into expression. 

791. Sundarah ?"Of unrivalled beauty." In almost all religions the 
Infinite Lord is described as one having the most enchanting beauty. 
When we experience beauty in the world, we are moved to consider its 
beauty either by the pro- portion or the symmetry, or th~ tender 
charm in the object of observation. Within the mind of the observer, 
there reflects for a moment the rhythmic grace in the proportion, the 
smooth peace in the symmetry, or the joy of ecstasy which ripples out 
from the object into the contemplative eye. In all these conditions, 
the observer's mind, sensitive to the aestheticism in him, quietens, 
and, it is at such moments of supreme inner satisfaction, the flashes 
of "beauty-experiences" floods the bosom. Remember, beauty is not in 
the object nor is it in the mind. The enchanting occasion silences 
the mind that is now available for the aesthetic reaction which 
resultingly fills the observer- and this is nothing but the 
manifestation of That which is behind the mind, Sree Narayana. Hence, 
the Infinite Reality is glorified in the Upanishads as "Peace-
Auspiciousness-Beauty'. ( Saantam-Sivam-Sundaram} . 

792. Sundah ?"Of Great Mercy." Whatever be the amount of vaasanaas 
hoarded in our personality, due to our ego-centric, extroverted 
activities, once a devotee turns unto Him in total surrender, all the 
vaasanaas are purified and he comes to move more and more towards Him-
as though, in infinite mercy, He forgives all sins that a man might 
commit in his innocent ignorance (Avidyaa). 

793. Ratnanaabhah ?"Of beautiful navel." Text books of Bhakti-cult 
advise devotees that they should meditate upon the Lord's navel-
point, as a flashy, brilliant jewel (Ratna). This point of 
concentration is not without significance. The mystics of India long 
ago explored the percentage of human action that is grossly manifest 
at the physical level. Today also, psychologists confess that they 
have no other knowledge beyond the obvious fact that thoughts express 
themselves as actions. But deeply meditative mystic enquirers delved 
deeper to detect and chart the story of actions. In their adventurous 
explorations, they discovered that in seed form all thoughts are with 
the Infinite (Para) before manifestation. From this womb they become 
manifest and an individual becomes dimly aware of thoughts in their 
embryo form-vague and still incompletely un-formed (Pasyantee). 
Thereafter, the thoughts get translated into expressions (Madhyamaa) 
and in their last full stage of manifestation they come to express 
themselves as actions in the outer world (Vaikharee). 

In this chain of processes when thoughts become manifest for the 
thinker, it is said the seat of Pasyantee-stage is the navel region. 
This brilliant seat of nascent manifestation of all thoughts is 
indicated here as "the jewel of his navel." Generally, the 
intelligent student would readily jump to the conclusion that this 
truth is merely a poetic exaggeration, but there is a deep 
significance in it indeed. 

794. Sulochunuh ?"One Who has the most enchanting eyes." The term 
indicates the beauty of the Lord's eyes for those devotees who turn 
to the Lord's form. To the deeper students of contemplation, the eyes 
are great not be- cause of their form, colour or expression, but 
because of their ability to see constantly the infinite purpose and 
goal of the entire creation. Therefore, the term means. "One who has 
the wisdom of the Self."

795. Arkah  -"One Who is in the form of the Sun." The Sun is 
worshipped as a Vedic deity, even by the Creator Himself-hence, the 
term suggests `most worshipful.' The Sun-centre of the solar system-
is the one source of light and energy illumining and nourishing 
everything. The Infinite Consciousness, Sree Narayana, is the Sun by 
Whose Splendour the experiences of all people are illumined, at all 
places and at all times. He, as the One Life, thrills all living 
creatures and presides over, in and through their nurture and 
nourishment. Once He has left from therein, that body cannot be 
maintained -though we witness today the experiments of medical 
science to do so. 

796. vaajasanah ?"The giver of food." The one Vital Force that 
ultimately sustains, supports and nourishes all living creatures in 
the Universe is the Supreme. and Its Nature is not really different 
from the Lord, Sree Narayana. In the Bhagavad Geeta the Lord 
describes Himself as manifesting through the sun as the sunlight 
which penetrates the earth to fertilise it. The fertility of the 
soil, in turn, becomes the plant on the surface into which the Lord 
transfuses the food value of the vegetable world by the essence of 
moon- light from the moon. Further, in the Upanishads, we find 
indicative declarations that offerings, given in the worship of Fire 
themselves come down as a reward in the form of rain and plenty for 
the society. 

Again, it is a law of life that each individual is supplied with the 
exact type of `equipments for experiences' and each one also finds 
himself in the precise environmental circumstances for their 
expression according to the texture and type of vaasanaas in him. 
Thus, in the larger sense, the entire world of `emotions-feelings-and-
thoughts' constitute the total food (Annam) for the experiences of 
the body, mind and intellect. 

797. Sringee  -"The horned one." This is generally commented upon as 
reminiscent of the Lord's Incarnation as a Fish. It would have been 
happier had it been reminiscent of the Boar-Incarnation which Sree 
Narayana took to lift up the world from its slushy condition to the 
plane of dry-surfaced earth. 

798. Jayantah ?"The conqueror of all enemies." No force could ever 
vanquish Him who is `the Source of all energy and strength'-the 
Almighty. Sree Narayana is acclaimed as the conqueror, because it is 
by His Grace and direct help that the gods always win against 
the `diabolically bad' (the Asuras). In our bosom it is the grace of 
the mind and intellect, in attunement with the Self, that helps us to 
conquer our lower impulses, our endless desires for the sensuous-and 
our craving for the cruel pleasures of indulgence. 

799. Sarvavij-jayee ?"One Who is at once Omniscient (Sarvavit) and 
victorious (Jayee)." The term, however, is not two words and, 
therefore, as a single expression, we can also understand it to 
mean, `One who is victorious over all men of wisdom.' Prattlers of 
wisdom, however eloquent in their discussions, must become utterly 
silent in their moments of Samaadhi, in the presence of the Self, 
Sree Narayana. 

 

Stanza 86

suvarnabindurakshobh yah sarvavaageesvaresvarah
mahaahrado mahaagarto mahaabhooto mahaanidhih.


800. Suvarna-binduh ?"With limbs radiant like gold." Chhandogya 
Upanishad declares: "He, having a golden body, even to the tip of his 
nails." The great name of the Lord in the Vedic literature is `OM' 
which consists of the sounds `A', `U', and the bindu `M.' 

801. Akshobhyah ?"One Who is ever unruffled." Ordinarily an 
individual gets disturbed, subjectively, by the presence of desires, 
anger, passions, etc., and objectively an average man is constantly 
stormed by the enchanting dance of beautiful sense-objects all around 
him. Lord, the Self, is a state of existence wherein neither the 
subjective disturbances of the mind, nor the objective persecutions 
of the sense-organs can ever reach to ruffle the quietude and 
peaceful grace of His perfection. In describing the state of the 
Sthitaprajna, Bhagavan says in the Geeta that such a one will be 
Akshobhya like the ocean: "He attains Peace into whom all desires 
enter as waters enter the ocean, which filled from all sides, remains 
unmoved; but not the `desirer-of-desires." 

802. Sarva-vaageesvaresvarah ?"The very Lord of the Lord of Speech." 
In the Kenopanishad it has been made amply clear that it is not the 
instruments of actions and perceptions that act by themselves as they 
are all made up of inert matter. The immediate animation to the 
equipment is given by the `inner instruments.' Therefore, for all the 
sense-organs, the mind-intellect-equipment is their immediate Lord. 
But these subtle instruments themselves get their dynamism to act 
only in the presence of Sree Narayana, the Consciousness. Therefore, 
it is most appropriate to invoke Him as the Lord of Lords in all 
living creatures. 

The term Vaageesvara (Lord of Speech) is often used in the language 
to indicate poets, writers and orators. Therefore, the term can also 
be interpreted as `the Lord from whose altar all ordinary speakers 
draw their powers. Theologically, some commentators have spun a 
meaning out of this term indicating that Sree Narayana, as the 
Absolute Reality, is the `Lord' of even the Creator . 

803. Mahaa-hradah ?"One Who is like a great refreshing swimming 
pool." In the hot summer season, plunging into the cool crystal 
waters of a. pool holds the swimmer in a refreshing cool embrace on 
all sides. Similarly, the plane of Narayana-Consciousness revives, 
refreshes and en- thralls all meditators when they plunge into its 
reviving quietude. The Yogins often plunge into It from the 
springboard of their devotion, and after a time emerge out of It-
cool, clean and refreshed. Sree Narayana is metaphorically addressed 
as the great (Mahaa) pond (Hradah). 

804. Mahaa-gartah ?"The great chasm." Here the `chasm' means the 
Lord's maayaa which He Himself describes, in the Bhagavad Geeta 
as "My Maayaa (non-apprehension and the consequent misapprehension) 
is very difficult to cross over." The industrious lexicographers 
enter here and additionally press out of this word garta the 
meaning, `chariot,' and, therefore, the term can also mean that He is 
a `mahaaratha' (Great Chariot). 

805. Mahaabhootah ?"The Great Being." He is the Source from which 
even the Great Elements spring forth into existence and, therefore, 
in His Infinitude and Pervasiveness, Lord Narayana is 
called `Mahaabhootah.' The entire play of birth and death, of 
integration (sanghaata) and disintegration (vighaata) are taking 
place in Him Who is the mighty substratum and, therefore, it is very 
appropriate that the Lord, the God, is considered by the devotees as 
the "Great Being.' 

806. Mahaa-nidhih ?"The Great Abode." "The Eternal Source from which 
everything springs forth and the Infinite substratum upon which the 
entire play of the finite is held in animated suspension." The 
term `nidhi' means `treasure' and, therefore, its indication here is 
that Sree Narayana is the richest treasure of all His devotees-to 
loot at will! 

 

Stanza 87

kumudah kundarah kundah parjanyah paavano-anilah
amritaaso-amritavapuh sarvajnah sarvatomukhah.


807. Kumudah ?"One Who gladdens the earth," or "one who gets 
gladdened by the earth." Earth here should be understood as the 
entire cosmos ever so dynamic and scientifically precise. The world 
of plurality is Narayana's joyous expression of His infinite 
potentialities. It is the fulfilment of the Omnipotent. 

808. Kundarah ?"The one who tore the earth in His Incarnation as the 
Boar in order to destroy the mighty tyrant, Hiranyaaksha. It can also 
mean: Darah(one who wears); Kum (the earth). The term is further 
commented upon as "One who bestows rewards as beautiful as the Kunda 
flowers." 

809. Kundah -Here we read it as `Kunda flower.' In this context the 
term means "One who is as comely and attractive as the kunda 
flowers." In Harivamsa it is said that the Lord, as Parasuraama, in 
order to atone for the battles he had fought, gave (do) gifts of this 
earth (kum) to Rishi Kasyapa. ` Ku' also has the meaning of 
the "rulers of the earth," and `do' means "slaying." In this way the 
term indicates the "one who had taken the Incarnation of Parasuraama 
to destroy the unreasonably vicious tyrants of the land." 

810. Parjanyah ?"He who is similar to the rain-bearing clouds." Lord 
Krishna has been described as being so gloriously hued. Again, 
agriculturists and all living creatures are extremely happy when they 
see these clouds-the harbingers of comfort and prosperity. To the 
devotees, the Lord is a total fulfilment, as the clouds are for the 
parched earth. 

811. Paavanah ?"One Who ever purifies." The impurities of a 
personality are gathered when the mind and intellect, in a natural 
impulse of animal voluptuousness, rush towards the sense-objects with 
ego-centric passion. To I retrieve the mind from the sense-objects 
and to peacefully let it settle in contemplation of the divine nature 
and the eternal J glory of Sree Narayana, the Self, is to exhaust all 
the existing vaasanaas, which are the personality-impurities within. 

812. Anilah -Like the atmospheric air the Lord is the life-giver 
everywhere, and also He is All-pervading. Nilah also means `to slip'-
into a condition of non-apprehension: thus, one who is ignorant 
(avidya). When the symbol of negation, `a', is added to it, `A-nilah' 
comes to indicate "One who slips not, but is ever of the nature of 
Consciousness." Hence it means "Omniscient." 

813. Amritaasah -Since `amrita' has both the meanings of `nectar' 
and `immortality,' the term is interpreted to mean "One whose desires 
are never fruitless," as well as "One whose greatest desire is for 
the State of Immortality." 

814. Amrita-vapuh ?"He Whose Form is Immortal." He, the Eternal 
Reality, is unconditioned by time. This principle of Consciousness, 
functioning as the flame of life in every bosom, by its mere presence 
has in Itself neither the physical, subtle nor causal bodies-which 
alone are the perishable. Transcending them all-unconditioned by 
time, and, therefore, never undergoing any of the natural 
modifications of mortality, Sree Narayana revels in His Absolute 
Glory. 

815. Sarvajnah ?"Omniscient." It is only when the light of Awareness 
illumines the happenings that living creatures can become conscious 
of their experiences. To know the outer and the inner world of 
happenings, they must be lighted up by the principle of 
Consciousness. This seat of Sree Narayana is, therefore, called the 
Pure Knowledge- the Principle, because of which all other knowledge 
is possible in every being. 

816. Sarvato-mukhah ?"One Who has His face turned everywhere"-just as 
the light in the sun, or the light of a lamp. In the Bhagavad Geeta 
He is described as having eyes, heads and faces on all sides. 

 

Stanza 88

sulabhah suvratah siddhah satrujit satrutaapanah
nyagrodhodumbaro-asvatthaschaanooraandhra-nishoo-danah.


817. Sulabhah ?"One who is readily available" and, therefore, easily 
attainable for those who have true devotion and the heroism to put 
forth the right effort in unveiling Him from the miserable pits of 
matter. To the mind in contemplation, the Reality is self-evident; 
all saadhanaas are only to render the mind contemplative. 

818. Suvratah ?"He Who has taken the most auspicious Forms"-to 
destroy the evil and to protect the good is the motive behind all His 
manifestations. The seeker himself is one of the Lord's own 
manifestations; thus, every spiritual/ student will ultimately 
realise that to destroy the ego in himself and finally gain back the 
very state from which he apparently manifested is re-discovery of the 
Self. 

819. Siddhah ?"One Who is Perfection"-not one who has attained 
perfection. Sree Narayana, the Absolute State of Perfection, can 
never, even when He is playing as the Incarnation, forget His real 
nature of Eternal, Unbroken, Unchanging Perfection. 

820. Satrujit ?"One Who is ever victorious over His hosts of 
enemies." In the bosom of man, his enemies are none other than 
consciousness of his body and the con- sequent passions of the flesh-
both objective and subjective. The seeker feels that these urges in 
him constitute a very powerful team of belligerent forces, and 
against their concerted onslaught he feels helpless. But when such an 
alert seeker turns himself towards the Truth, the Lord Who is in his 
own heart, all obstacles whither away. It is natural then that Sree 
Narayana is invoked here as the "Supreme Conqueror of all Enemies." 

821. Satrutaapanah ?"The Scorcher of enemies."  When the devotee 
offers himself at the altar of His Feet, He burns down all the 
negative tendencies polluting the devotee's heart. 

822. Nyagrodhah ?"The One who, while controlling all beings, veils 
Himself behind this Maayaa." The Consciousness constantly functions 
within us, but due to the Vaasanaas, our attention is constantly 
distracted to the perception of objects outside and not to the 
Effulgent Being which is the core in us. At the same time Sree 
Narayana, the Self, is the very Life which has made possible the 
entire manifestation of the world. Still, by His own playful 
inscrutability we recognize Him not. Interpreted in another sense, 
the term can also mean, "He who is above all.' The nobler, the 
mightier power which controls and regulates any organised set of 
activities, when it is conceived by human intellect, it is always 
expressed as something higher or above. Therefore, the significance 
of this term must be clear to the students. 

823. Udumbarah ?"He Who is the Nourisher of all living creatures"-
supplying each with its appropriate food. The term also 
suggests: "one who transcends even Aakaasa, the subtlest of the 
manifested elements." Sree Narayana, the Source out of which all 
creatures have emerged, He alone must also be the Great Cause from 
which even the subtlest element, Aakaasa, (space) has sprung forth. 
The cause is subtler than the effect, therefore, the essential 
principle, Narayana, transcends even the concept of space. 

824. Asvatthah -In the Upanishad, (Kathopanishad) and in the Bhagavad 
Geeta (Chapter XV), Lord Narayana is indicated as the great "Tree of 
Life," the Asvattha. Ficus Religiosa is a perennial tree, seemingly 
relatively immortal, as compared with the quickly-perishing mankind 
that comes in waves, generation after generation, to play under its 
shade, to make love at its base; to grow old in its breeze. Even when 
they are dead, their bodies are carried in moonlit procession to the 
burial ground, where under the tree's dancing leaves, a play of light 
and shade splashes a wizardly pattern upon each lifeless face. The 
children of each departed one, in their turn, repeat the unending 
cycle of life under the shade of the same old tree whose nodding 
grimace mocks the procession of fleeting joys and sorrows. This tree 
has been chosen to represent the finite play of the Infinite and the 
Tree itself has been named: A-svattham meaning: "That which will not 
remain the same tomorrow.".. 

825. Chaanooraandhranishoodanah - "The slayer of Chaanoora, the great 
wrestler. Andhra means wrestler." 

 

Stanza 89

sahasraarchih saptajihvah saptaidhaah saptavaahanah
amoortiranagho-achintyo bhayakrit bhayanaasanah.


826. Sahasra-archih ?"He Who in His Effulgence has thousands of 
rays." The Self, Sree Narayana, the Pure Consciousness which 
illumines all experiences, is considered in our scriptures as 
the `Light of all Lights,' and, in the Geeta's famous description of 
this mighty Effulgence of Reality we read: "If the Splendour of a 
thousand suns were to rise up together and at one and the same time 
blaze forth. In the sky, that would be like the Splendour of the 
Mighty Being." 

827. Sapta-jihvah ?"He Who expresses Himself as the `seven tongues' 
(flame)." `Jihvaa' means tongue; here it is used as the `tongues-of-
flame.' These seven flames of different properties are enumerated in 
the Mundakopanishad. It sets forth the idea that the Light of 
Consciousness beams out through seven points in the face of a living 
entity-two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth. As intelligent 
beings, powers of perception metaphorically flame out through each 
one of them, illumining the world for us. The one in our heart, Sree 
Narayana, Who totally manifests as the seven distinct tongues-of-
flame is classified here by the scientific-poets, the Rishis, in the 
language of lyrical service as Sapta-jihvaah. 

828. Sapta-edhaah ?"The Seven Effulgent flames." The earlier term 
invoked Him as the "Seven tongues- of-flame." Here the emphasis seems 
to be for the Effulgence in those flames. 

829. Sapta-vaahanah ?"One Who has the vehicle of seven horses." Lord 
Sun is described by the poet-seers of the Vedas as riding in a 
chariot drawn by seven horses, representing the seven days of the 
week. 

830. A-moortih ?"One Who is formless." `Form' implies a thing that is 
limited by other factors. The All-Pervading cannot have a form-just 
as space has no particular form. All things having a form are 
perishable. Narayana who is Infinite and Eternal is thus ever 
Formless. 

831. Anaghah -The Sanskrit term Aghah means sin or sorrow. Therefore 
the term means one who is sinless or sorrowless. Lord Paramesvara, 
the Self, is Immaculate-untouched and uncontaminated by the 
Vaasanaas. He is Eternal Bliss-beyond all traces of sorrow. 

832. Achintyah ?"One Who cannot be comprehended by man's mind and 
intellect." Not only the Lord is Formless, and consequently 
Imperceptible, but He is also unavailable as an object for our 
emotional experience, or for our intellectual appreciation. He is the 
Pure Conscious- ness in Whose Light all our perceptions, feelings and 
thoughts are illuminated. In Geeta, this "Nourisher of All" is 
compared with the changeless white screen upon which all the 
perishing scenes of life are focused. 

833. Bhaya-krit -Lord is the "Giver of fear." He is a terror to the 
evil-minded. In all His Incarnations, He gives fear to the evil-
hearted, that they may ultimately be swayed to the path of Dharma. 

834. Bhayanaasanah ?"Destroyer of all fear," is the Supreme Lord. The 
Upanishads repeatedly -declare the State of Self-Knowledge to be the 
only state of absolute fearlessness. From a sense of otherness or 
plurality alone can fear spring forth. In the One Reality, where 
there is no other, how can there be fear? Sree Narayana alone is the 
only harbour from all fears. 

 

Stanza 90

anurbrihat krisah sthoolo gunabhrinnirguno mahaan
adhritah svadhritah svaasyah praagvamso vamsavardhanah.


835. Anuh ?"The Subtlest; the All-pervading." Sree Narayana is the 
subtle flame-of-life in our bosom, the Essence from which all life's 
activities spring forth. He is called as Anuh because He is in the 
centre of even the Subtlest. Bhagavan Himself says: "I am seated in 
the heart of all-as the core or Essence in all." 

836. Brihat -At the same time He is Greater than the Greatest in 
dimension, He being the All-pervading. These two may seem paradoxical 
but the apparent contradiction dissolves into an illumining 
experience for the contemplative mind. The Upanishad daringly 
combines these two terms to give the students a vague comprehension 
of the All-pervading Infinitude of the Self.

837. Krisah ?"One Who is lean; subtle; delicate." Again, this 
description will be opposed by the next following one, for herein is 
a deliberate use of contradictions. The Rishis made an art of 
effectively employing terms of contradiction in order to bring the 
incomprehensible within the cognition of the students of 
contemplation. 

838. Sthoolah ?"One Who is the fattest; the grossest; roughest." 
These two terms are indicating opposites. Here it is to be understood 
that the Lord, in His state as Pure Consciousness, is the subtlest, 
and He is the grossest in the form of the Universe (Viraat).

839. Gunabhrit ?"One Who supports"- maintains and expresses through 
the three Gunas. Through rajas He creates; through Sattva He 
preserves and through tamas He annihilates. He, as Consciousness, 
expresses Him- self through these three textures of vaasanaas. 

840. Nirgunah-"Without-any-properties." That which has property is 
matter-perishable, changeable, finite. The Imperishable, the 
Changeless, the Infinite is property-less; it is the Consciousness 
that illumines all properties (Gunas). With the matter equipments, in 
His Incarnations He manifests as having `form' (Guna-bhrit), and in 
His Absolute Nature He is `form-less'-the Non-dual Self. 

841. Mahaan ?"The Great; the Glorious; the Mighty." "One who is not 
conditioned by the five Elements- nor by Time and Space. Quite on the 
other hand, it is He Who is the very Existence in everything. 

842. Adhritah -None supports Him, but He supports all. Just as the 
cotton in cloth, gold in ornaments, mud in pots, He is the supporter 
of the entire universe. To the devotee who feels the Lord is far away 
from him, to contemplate upon Sree Narayana as his very own support 
will open his heart to the certainty and plenitude of faith. 

843. Svadhritah ?"Self-supported." When from the previous term we 
hear that the Self is he ultimate support of the Universe, the 
question automatically rises in a rational intellect: `what supports 
the Self?' The Lord is "supported" by nothing else other than His own 
Glory. In the Upanishad, in answer to a question where the Mighty One 
abides, the teacher declares, "He abides in His own Glory." 

844. Svaasyah ?"One Who has an Effulgent Face." Because He gives to 
the Vedas their beauty and charm, He is conceived as brilliantly 
beautiful, enchantingly fascinating, hauntingly charming. 

845. Praag-vamsah ?"One Who has the most ancient ancestry." The 
Infinite, the Cause for the universe and Time itself, is indicated as 
the `Most Ancient'. The term can also mean the accommodation reserved 
during a Yaaga meeting where the invitees and guests may rest. 
Generally built on the eastern courtyard of the house~ this 
accommodation is called `Praagvamsah.' Since everything connected 
with a Yajna or Yaaga is considered as sacred, the `Praag-vamsah' has 
been used here as a name to indicate Sree Narayana. 

846. Vamsa-vardhanah ?"He who multiplies His family of descendents." 
The Lord's family is the whole Universe of things and beings. Or it 
can also imply just the opposite as the root Vardh means `the 
annihilator.' Narayana is the sacred factor in us, to Whose Feet we 
turn in all love and undivided attention, in Whom the world of 
perceptions, emotions and thoughts merge as a dream merges into the 
mind of the waker. 

 

Stanza 91

bhaarabhritkathito yogee yogeesah sarvakaamadah
aasramah sramanah kshaamah suparno vaayuvaahanah.


847. Bhaara-bhrit ?"One Who carries the load of the Universe." This 
carrying is not as a man would carry a load-something other than 
himself. The Self Itself has become the world so here it means only 
that Narayana is the very material Cause of the Universe. 

848. Kathitah ?"One Who is glorified in the Vedas and other spiritual 
text books." Narayana-essence is the theme of all scriptures in the 
world. 

849. Yogee ?"One Who can be realised through Yoga:" "One Who is the 
greatest Yogee." The term Yoga is defined in the Sastra as `stopping 
all thought flow.' One who has no thought agitations-who has totally 
conquered the mind( Maayaa) and lives in His own Effulgent Self-
nature is the greatest Yogee. 

850. Yogeesah ?"The King of Yogees." "One who realises the Self, 
becomes the Self," is an Upanishadic declaration. Therefore, Self 
alone is the perfect Yogee and Sree Narayana, the Self, is the King 
of all Yogees. The sense of agency-in-action and the sense of 
enjoyership-in- experience is the ego (Jeeva-bhaavanaa). To end this 
ego-personality is to rise to the awareness of the Universal 
Consciousness, the Self. Sree Narayana, the Absolute Reality, alone 
can be free-entirely and fully-from any involvement while being ever 
in the midst of Samsar and its seething activities. Hence He is 
glorified as the best among Yogees. 

851. Sarvakaamadah ?"One Who fulfils all desires of all true 
devotees." Such devotees have no other desire but to reach, meet and 
merge in Him. In this way the term would also indicate that He 
destroys the chances of fulfilment of all unholy, sensuous and lusty 
desires in the faithless. 

852. Aasramah -Sree Narayana is the harbour, the sequestered haven 
for all who are tossed about in the storms of life without and 
within. For each one, the source of all strains is attributable 
entirely to his functioning as a body-mind-intellect equipment. To 
remain as the Self-the essential real nature of man-is to experience 
the end of all stresses and strains. This state of Peace and Joy, of 
Quiet and Bliss is Sree Narayana, the Lord of the heart. 

853. Sramanah ?"One Who persecutes the worldly people"-who, driven by 
their hungers and passions, seek sense-gratifications. By the very 
nature of the ephemeral sense-objects and the ever-changing 
instruments of experience in us, the life of gratifications can only 
yield exhausting fatigue and weary disappointments. This is the `Law' 
and Sree Narayana is the `Law-Giver.' The Law and the Law-Giver are 
but one in theology. 

854. Kshaamah ?"One Who destroys everything during the final deluge"-
He who prunes our agitations and shrinks our desire-prompted world-
projections. 

855. Suparnah ?"The Golden Leaf." In Bhagavad Geeta the world is 
pictured as the Asvattha tree and its leaves are declared to be the 
Vedas. The theme of the Vedas is none other than the Self, making the 
term extremely en- chanting with its springs of suggestions. 

856. Vaayu-vaahanah ?"The mover of the winds." From fear of Him Fire 
burns, Sun and Moon function, earth rotates, the Wind 
moves....declares the Upanishad. 

 

Stanza 92

dhanurdharo dhanurvedo dando damayitaa damah
aparaajitah sarvasaho niyantaa niyamo yamah.


857. Dhanurdharah  -"The wielder of the Bow." In His Incarnation as 
Sree Rama, He drew the great Bow as no one else ever could. Also in 
the Upanishad there is the famous metaphor of the Bow with which the 
arrow of the individuality is to be shot to strike and sink into the 
goal. The Rishi of the Mundakopanishad explains that the `Bow' is the 
OM (Pranava mantra). (The significance is clear.) 

858. Dhanurvedah ?"One Who declared the Science of Archery." The One 
Who propounded the unfailing technique of OM -meditation for 
realisation of the Self. 

859. Dandah ?"One who punishes the wicked." In Geeta, Bhagavan 
declares Himself to be the policeman of the Universe. The term can 
also mean the `Sceptre'-the insignia of king-ship. Sree Narayana, the 
King of kings in the entire, limitless universe, holds the Sceptre of 
total royalty. 

860. Damayitaa ?"The Controller." One who punishes the wicked, 
destroys the sinners and thus regulates and cultivates life in the 
universe, making it a garden for the blossoms of spiritual beauties. 

861. Damah -That which is ultimately gained by the worldly 
punishments-the final experience of Beatitude in the Self. 

862. Aparaajitah ?"The Invincible; One who cannot be defeated." The 
Self ultimately asserts within every bosom from wherein the spiritual 
values finally emerge victorious. The Self alone remains when all 
else has been destroyed. 

863. Sarvasahah ?"One Who carries the entire Universe." The One Who 
meets heroically all the enemical impulses of unspiritual lusts. He 
carries the entire Universe as its very material Cause: as mud in 
pots. 

864. Aniyantaa ?"One Who has none above Him to control Him." He is 
the One Who has appointed all other controllers of the phenomenal 
forces as the Sun, the Moon, Air and Waters. 

865. Aniyamah ?"One Who is not under the laws of anyone else." He is 
the Law and the only Law- Giver. It is His hand that governs the 
inscrutable and un- relenting laws of nature. 

866. Ayamah ?"One Who knows no death." He is the Eternal: how can He 
know death? - the principle of death cannot act in Him. Within Time 
alone there is change or death. The Pure Consciousness is That which 
illumines the sense of time and so is beyond Time-beyond death. 

 

Stanza 93

sattvavaan saattvikah satyah satyadharmaparaayanah
abhipraayah priyaarho-arhah priyakrit-preetivardhanah.


867. Sattvavaan ?"One Who is full of exploits and courage." Supremely 
adventurous, daring and heroic is Narayana-as witnessed in all His 
actions during all His Incarnations. 

868. Saattvikah ?"One Who is full of Saattvic qualities." Quietude, 
tranquillity, peace-these are some of the saattvic qualities. Sattva 
is the creative-pause of the mind before it launches out into a burst 
of creative thoughts and action. Full of inspiration and meditative-
poise is the Total-Mind, Sree Narayana. 

869. Satyah ?"Truth." That which remains the same in the past, 
present and future is Truth. Self knows no change. It is ever in Its 
own Nature in all the three periods Time. 

870. Satya-dharma-paraayanah - Who is the very abode of Truth and 
Righteousness." Satyam (Truth) is `truthfulness in thought, speech 
and action. Dharma (Righteousness) is the injunctions regarding what 
is and what is not the duty to be fulfilled.

871. Abhipraayah ?"One Who is faced by all seekers marching to the 
Infinite." Or it can mean, "One who merges the entire world of 
plurality into Himself." 

872. Priyaarhah ?"One Who deserves all our love." Priya also expands 
its meaning into: "things we are supremely fond of," therefore, the 
term, as it stands, may be read: "One Who deserves to be worshipped 
by His devotees with all that they are supremely fond of." As an 
expression of our devotion we do offer to the Lord that which we love 
the most in life. 

873. Arhah -Narayana is the One Who de to be worshipped by all 
devotees. He, being our very own self is the treasure-source of all 
our devotion. Thus He does from us all our surrender, love and 
reverence. 

874. Priya-krit ?"One who is ever-obliging in fulfilling our wishes" -
One Who is anxiously eager for the well-being of all devotees. But 
the term can also yield just opposite meaning ?"One who- destroys the 
wishes or disturbs the well-being of the wicked and the faithless." 

875. Preeti-vardhanah -The sense of drunken joy that arises in one's 
bosom when one loves deeply and truly is called Preeti. "One who 
increases Preeti in the devotee's heart" is Sree Narayana. The more 
He is contemplated upon, the more His glories are appreciated, 
thereby the more 

 

Stanza 94

vihaayasagatirjyotih suruchirhutabhug vibhuh
ravirvirochanah sooryah savitaa ravilochanah.


876. Vihaayasa-gatih -The term Vihaayasa means pertaining to, 
depending on, the space-aerial. Gatih means one who moves. Therefore, 
in its totality, this name describes: "One who travels in space-
having the nature of the Sun, Soorya-Narayana." 

877. Jyotih ?"Effulgent with His own inherent Light." The Lord as 
Consciousness is the `Light of all lights.' "By Its Light all are 
brilliant: by Its Light all are illumined." Sree Narayana is the Self-
effulgent Atman, the Self. 

878. Su-ruchih -The suffix `Su' indicates Auspiciousness (sobhana): 
the term `Ruchi' is Glory or Desire. The Glory of Lord Narayana is 
this world: it is His `desire' (sankalpa) that manifests as the 
universe. 

The Supreme Brahman, the Infinite Reality, functioning through 
the `Total- Vaasanaas,' meaning the `Total-Causal- Body' (Maayaa), is 
Lord, the Eesvara. So we are given the irrefutable scientific truth 
in the Sruti-declaration that the universe is the `will' or `desire' 
of Lord Narayana. 

879. Huta-bhuk ?"One Who receives and enjoys all that is offered into 
the sacred fire during the Vedic Rituals- Yajnas and Yaagas." The 
faithful may offer oblations invoking his own special Deity, but it 
is the One Lord, Narayana Who receives them all, manifesting as the 
particular Deity invoked. 

880. Vibhuh ?"All-pervading." Lord Narayana, the Self, is 
unconditioned by time or space for He is the Eternal, the 
Omnipresent. In His Absolute Nature, He is All-pervading as He is 
unlimited by any conditionings. 

881. Ravih ?"One Who absorbs the vapour (Rasa) from everything." As 
the Soorya-Narayana, Sree dries up everything in the universe. 

882. Virochanah ?"One Who shines in different forms." Whatever form 
the devotee chooses for contemplation upon Him, the Lord manifests in 
that very Form for the sake and joy of the devotee. Additionally it 
may be interpreted as "One Who Himself manifests as the Sun and the 
Moon and all other resplendent spheres in the Consmos." 

883. Sooryah -The term etymologically means the One Source from which 
all things have been born or out of which they have been delivered. 
The Lord as the First Cause is the Womb of the Universe. On the 
surface of the world it is the Sun that nurtures and nourishes all 
living creatures. It must be noted that many of the Lord's names 
indicate or are associated with the sun ?as he is like the sun in the 
solar System: the Centre around which the entire system revolves and 
by Whose benign rays, as the `Orb-of-all Energies', He thrilling to 
life the infinitude of creatures. 

884. Savitaa ?the one who brings forth, from Himself, the me Self 
functioning through the sun is called savitaa. 

885. Ravi-lochanah ?"One Whose Eyes are the Sun." In the Upanishad 
and the Geeta, the Viraat Form of the Lord (the Cosmic-Form) is 
described as having for His eyes the Sun and the Moon.

 

Stanza 95

ananto hutbhugbhoktaa sukhado naikajoagrajah
anirvinnah sadaamarshee lokaadhishthaanamadbhutah.


886. Anantah ?"Endless." One who is not conditioned by time and place 
is Self. In His All-pervading nature He is immortal, and thus 
Immutable. 

887. Huta-bhuk ?"One who accepts the things devotedly poured as 
oblation into the sacred Fire." These oblations which may be in the 
name or any devataa, are all received by Narayana in the form of that 
devataa because He is the One Infinite Self Who plays in and through 
all forms, worldly and heavenly. 

888. Bhoktaa ?The One Who enjoys the world of objects-emotions-
thoughts, through the equipments of body- mind-intellect is none 
other than the Self expressing through these `instruments-of-
experiences' as the individuality-constituted of the perceiver-feeler-
thinker-ego. 

The term Bhoktaa also means "One Who Protects" (the Universe)-as He 
is the very material Cause for the entire world of names and forms. 

889. Sukha-dah  -"One Who gives the experience of Eternal Bliss to 
the devotees at their final spiritual destination-Moksha. As the term 
stands in the verse, some would read it-' A-sukha-da' in which case 
the nominative would mean: "One Who removes all the discomforts and 
pains of the devotees." 

890. Naikajah -Na-'not'; Eka-'once'; Ja ,-born.' One who is born not 
only once, but many times, in many Forms, to serve the devotees in 
His different Incarnations. In fact, all births are all His 
manifestations alone as he is the Spark-of-Existence in the Universe 
of inert matter. Through all equipments He alone is the One 
Consciousness that dances Its Infinite Glories. 

891. Agra-jah ?"The One Who was First-Born." Naturally, everything 
came from Him alone; this Primordial First Cause is the concept of 
God. That from which everything comes, in which everything exists and 
into which all things can again finally merge-'That' is conceived as 
God. 

892. Anirvinnah ?"One Who feels no disappointments"-Who has no chance 
to feel disappointment as He is ever the totally fulfilled. The 
agonising disgust with things that comes to a bosom when a burning 
desire is unfulfilled is called Nirveda. One who has no Nirveda is 
called Anirvinnah. He, being "Ever-full" and "Perfect," has no 
desires yet unfulfilled or something yet to be fulfilled in the 
future. Bhagavan declares this in Geeta: "There is neither anything 
that I have not gained nor anything I have yet to gain."

893. Sadaa-marshee ?"One who ever forgives the trespasses of all His 
devotees" -One who is infinitely merciful and kind. 

894. Loka-adhishthaanam -The one sole substratum for the entire 
Universe of things and beings." 

895. Adbhutah ?"Wonder is He." The Geeta roars of this 'wonder,' and 
the Upanishads assert that He and the teacher who teaches of Him, and 
even the student who grasps Him are all `wonders.' " Wonder" is an 
experience that comes to one whose mind and intellect are stunned by 
the overwhelming experience of any given moment. The experience has 
made the mind stagger, the intellect to halt-so that no feelings or 
thoughts emanate from them. That moment of realisation is a moment of 
total transcendence of the "inner- equipments,' so this term "Wonder" 
is often used in our scriptures to point out the condition within at 
the time of our Experience Infinite. 

 

Stanza 96

sanaat sanaatanatamah kapilah kapirapyayah
svastidah svastikrit svasti svastibhuk svastidakshinah.


896. Sanaat ?"The Beginningless and the Endless factor is He." Time 
cannot condition Him. He, the Consciousness, illumines the very 
concept of Time and Space. He was, is and shall ever be-He being 
Changeless, Immutable. 

897. Sanaatanatamah ?"The most Ancient." It is from Him that the very 
intellect springs forth and thereafter one of the concepts of the 
intellect is Time. Therefore, He is the most' Ancient,' inasmuch as 
He was already there to be aware of even the first experience of the 
beginning of Time. 

898. Kapilah -The Lord Himself, manifested as the great Rishi Kapila, 
propounded the Saamkhya philosophy. In the Geeta, Bhagavan Sree 
Krishna declaring His own Glory, describes Himself: "I am Kapila 
among the great ones."

899. Kapih ?"One Who drinks water" -by one's rays. The Sun it is that 
dries up everything, evaporating the water-content contained on the 
surface of the earth. 

900. Apyayah ?"The One in whom the entire Universe merges"-during the 
great deluge when the Total- mind-the Creator-rests. The Supreme 
Atman functioning through the Total-mind is the Creator, Brahmaaji-
each mind being ruled by its own vaasanaas. The Total-vaasanaas in 
the Universe (Causal-Body) is Maayaa and the Supreme Self expressing 
through Maayaa (the Total-Causal-Body) is Eesvara. Therefore, Sree 
Narayana, as Eesvara, is the One into Whom the total world of 
experiences merges when the Total-mind rests during the `pause' 
between two busy cycles of Creation and involvement in the projected 
world of thoughts-feelings-objects. 

In the north this term is read as Avyayah where the meaning is 
clear: "Immutable": and needs no explanation. 

901. Svasti-dah ?"One Who gives Svasti to all His sincere devotees." 
A true devotee is one who has discovered his fulfilment in seeking 
and gaining the Infinite Bliss that is Sree Hari. Naturally, he comes 
to turn away from the realms of inauspiciousness. To the extent he is 
able to move into the Hari-Consciousness, he is to that degree in the 
Bliss- Experience. Therefore, the Lord is termed as the `Giver-of- 
Auspiciousness.  

902. Svasti-krit -As in many earlier terms which were preceded by the 
suffix ` Krit,' here also, it expands into two meanings: "One Who 
brings Auspiciousness" -or "One who robs all Auspiciousness." To the 
seeker who is moving towards the Narayana-Consciousness, his 
experience is of added joy and peace in life, but the one who seeks 
only sense-gratification and so moves away from the Reality, to him 
the experience is more and more sorrow, agitations, tears and 
tragedies-total inauspiciousness. The indeclinable (Avyaya) Sanskrit 
word `Svasti' means Auspiciousness. 

903. Svasti ?"One Who is the Source of all Auspiciousness" -as He is 
Himself the Auspicious. In essence His Nature is Sat-Chit-Aananda so 
there can be no cause for inauspiciousness therein. The individual 
functions within the powers of His avidyaa and so is under the 
infatuation of Maayaa, while the Lord rules over Maayaa and plays out 
through Maayaa.

904. Svasti-bhuk  -"One who constantly lives in His Experience a 
perpetual sense of holy Auspiciousness"-as it is His very nature-
divine. It can also be interpreted as "One Who showers Grace and 
makes His devotees constantly experience Auspiciousness in their 
loving Narayana- centred hearts." 

905. Svasti-dakshinah -Lord is ever engaged in smartly distributing 
Auspiciousness. The word  `Dakshinaa' has, apart from the meaning 
of `gift,' also a meaning: "One who is efficient and quick." 
Therefore, the term indicates that Sree Narayana quickly and 
efficiently will reach His sincere seekers to give them the 
experience of Auspiciousness which is the Lord's very nature. 

 

Stanza 97

araudrah kundalee chakree vikramyoorjitasaasanah
sabdaatigah sabdasahah sisirah sarvareekarah.


906. Araudrah ?"One who has none of the negative terrible urges and 
emotions." The State of Perfection is a condition where the frailties 
of the mortal heart can never remain. The Lord is One in Whom the 
cruelties which rule the man of the world-likes, dislikes, 
hatredness, jealousy and his other imperfections-can never abide or 
even be contained. 

907. Kundalee ?"One Who wears the famous ear-ring called the Makara-
Kundala." The term Kundalee also signifies the `Serpent'-hence the 
Kundalinee-Sakti-the `Serpent-Power'-the coiled mystic-glory lying 
now inert, uninvoked at the base of the back-bone in the deep pelvic 
region. Here the `Serpent' may be taken as the thousand- tongued 
Ananta on whom Sree Narayana is described as ever reclining in His 
Yoga-rest. 

In all religions, `Serpent,' it seems, symbolises the `mind.' In 
Hinduism it is true. Whether it is in Krishna's dance on the Kaaliyan-
Serpent, or Siva wearing as ornaments the Serpents  (Bhooshana), or 
Sree Hari resting upon Ananta-the idea is always the conquest of the 
mind, the poisonous serpent. 

908. Chakree ?"He Who wears ever His Discus called Su-Darsana 
(Auspicious Vision)." The Lord destroys with the Discus only the foul 
and the low in us and the individual naturally gains the Experience 
Divine, the Self. 

909. Vikramee ?"He Who is more daring than all others." The term is 
also interpreted: "One who travels by air," as `Vi' means Bird. 
Famous is the allegory that Lord Vishnu travels on the back of the 
white-necked Eagle. 

910. Oorjita-saasanah ?"One who commands and administers with His 
Hand." His commands in the scriptures advise us firmly what is right 
to do and what are the destructive forces in each one of us. In case 
man decides to disobey His Laws, He severely punishes him on all such 
occasions. Disobedience of Laws is immediately followed by His loving 
curative punishment. It permits no exceptions; accepts no excuses; 
admits no circumstantial conditions. 

911. Sabdaatigah ?"He who transcends all words"-One who is 
Indescribable. The Vedas themselves are but indications `pointing to 
Truth' and are not explaining, describing or even defining Truth. The 
Infinite and the Eternal Truth is beyond even the Vedas, beyond all 
that can be gained through even the highest faculties of the finite 
equipments (mind and intellect). 

912. Sabda-sahah ?"One who allows Him- self to be invoked by the 
Vedic declarations." If, however, the Upanishadic declarations are 
properly reflected and sincerely meditated upon, even though the 
Vedas have failed to define Truth, their contemplative implications 
can transport us into the realms of the Infinite Experience-Divine. 

913. Sisirah -The term means winter, the cold season. In India it is 
the cool season. Therefore, by suggestion, this name indicates that 
the Lord is the `cool arbour' for those who are tortured by the heat 
of Samsar. 

914. Sarvaree-karah -The word Sarvaree means `night' or `darkness'; 
therefore, the term defines the Lord as "One Who creates darkness." 
To the men of realisation, our world of sorrows and pains, of strains 
and stresses, of worries and anxieties are unknown -while to those 
who live in their ego-sense, to them the Real is unknown. ! The 
unknown means `veiled in darkness.' The subtle meaning is clear now. 

 

Stanza 98

akroorah pesalo daksho dakshinah kshaminaam varah
vidvattamo veetabhayah punyasravanakeertanah.


915. Akroorah ?"Never-cruel." Cruelty comes from anger, and anger 
rises from `desire'--craving or lust. Sree Narayana, the Fulfilled 
and the All-Full, cannot have `desire' from which could come anger-
thus, naturally, never any cruelty. Generally this term is 
interpreted as "One who is of the form of the Yaadava, Sree Akroora." 
Akroora was a great devotee of the Lord upon whom were bestowed many 
divine powers. "Wherever, there is any special glory in anyone, know 
that to be a manifestation of a part of my Splendour," sings Lord in 
Bhagavad Geeta. Thus the term is interpreted as the Lord Whose one 
ray of glory was the Kamsa-employee, the Yaadava-Akroora. 

916. Pesalah ?"One who is supremely soft." In His Infinite Kindness 
and Mercy, His Heart-divine is ever flowing out in love and 
tenderness towards His devotees when they call out for help ardently 
and lift themselves from their body-consciousness and ego-centric 
life of sense-pursuits. 

917. Dakshah -This term stands for the quality of `promptitude.' In 
army training, the Sanskrit command Daksha is equal to "attention 
alertness, vigilance and utter preparedness to act immediately with 
supreme urgency." All these are implied in that pose of " Attention." 
The Lord is  `Daksha' in serving the world and in rushing to His 
sincere devotees. Omnipotent and divinely Efficient in His Infinite 
Smartness to reach and help all, at all times, everywhere, under 
every circumstance is echoed in the charming suggestions of this 
chosen term in the Sahasranaama of Sree Narayana, the Self in All. 

918. Dakshinah ?"One who is most liberal." The term' Dakshina' is 
popularly used for the `gift' presented to the priests after a ritual 
as their fee. This giving must be done in a spirit of large-hearted, 
liberal charity-so that very large-heartedness of mind (Daakshinya) 
itself is the Lord, as it is the opposite of selfishness and 
attachment to the wealth which one possesses. "One who has Infinite 
Kindness and Charity towards all good people and One Who is thus ever-
 ready to liberally give away His endless Benevolence" is Sree 
Narayana, the Dakshina. 

919. Kshaminaam-varah ?"One Who has the greatest amount of patience 
with the sinners and forgiveness for their sins." Sree Narayana is 
more patient than even the Earth which is generally pointed to as an 
example of highest patience (Kshamaa). He exhibits supreme patience 
with the evil-minded, with the tyrant, the foul and the fiendish. 
Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakasipu, Ravana and others of this type were given 
many fair opportunities to realise for themselves the folly of their 
baser attitudes to existing things and their immoral ways of life. It 
is only when no other method of treatment could cure them that the 
Lord destroyed them in His infinite kindness. 

920. Vidvat-tamah ?"One who has the greatest Wisdom." There are wise 
men in the world-each one also may be a master in his own subject. 
The Lord, the very Consciousness illumining all bosoms simultaneously 
everywhere, is the One Knowledge Absolute, the Knower of all 
knowledge of all wise men. Omniscient-Infinite Truth is Sree Narayana 
as He is Pure Knowledge by the Light of which all `Knowledge' is 
known. 

921. Veeta-bhayah ?"One who has lost all fears." Fear can come only 
from the sense of `other.' In Advaita Reality, there cannot be any 
fear as He is the "One- without-a-second." The state of Narayana-
Consciousness is declared in all scriptures to be' Abhaya'-the 
Fearless State. 

922. Punya-sravana-keertianah ?"One whose Glory when `heard' 
(sravana) and `sung' (keertana) causes merits (punya) to grow in the 
bosom of that devotee. This statement of fact is never investigated 
deeply by students so they generally understand its superficial and 
obvious meaning only. 

By `hearing'-with attention-to the stories of the Lord- we must get 
ourselves involved in the `listening' and thereafter we must reflect 
upon the glories of the Lord (Bhagavat Guna) and thus expose 
ourselves to those recreative thoughts. Not only is it sufficient 
thus that we imbibe the qualities spiritual, but we must learn to get 
ourselves committed to the life of God- centred activities. This is 
called true keertana-singing His Glories. It is not to be a mere 
noisy chanting of hymns, a mere muttering of mantras; we must teach 
ourselves to allow Him to express through us. Our physical 
activities, mental feelings and intellectual thoughts must all shine 
forth the awareness of His Divine Presence that is in us at every 
moment, every- where. The life of such a deyotee will itself become, 
in its dynamic beauty, love and devoted tenderness, a constant 
worship (poojaa), a continuous (akhanda) hymn chanted (keertana) in 
praise of the Lord-of-the-heart. 

 

Stanza 99

uttaarano dushkritihaa punyo duhsvapnanaasanah
veerahaa rakshanah santo jeevanah paryavasthitah.


923. Uttaaranah ?"One who lifts us out of the ocean-of-change." We, 
by identifying through our body- mind-intellect, with the changing 
whirls of matter around us, assume to ourselves the changes and these 
provide us, in their totality, the horrible sorrow of the mortal 
finitude. On lifting our attention from the giddy changes in these 
whirls of finite matter, when we fix it upon Him, the one 
Consciousness that illumines all changes in all living creatures, we 
get uplifted into a state of Immortality-Changeless, Blissful, 
Supremely Satisfying. Hence, Sree Narayana is called as the `Up-
lifter,' the `Saviour.' 

The `Taara-mantra' lifts us from the cesspool of sense living into 
the serener climes of the lit-up peaks of peace and perfection.

924. Dushkritihaa ?`Kriti' means actions; `Dush-kriti' means bad 
actions. When actions are undertaken, prompted by sensuous desires, 
they leave impressions (vaasanaas) and these always have a tendency 
to make us repeat similar actions. When one turns the mind towards 
Narayana,-the Self, he is emptied of his existing vaasanaas, so Lord 
is indicated as the `destroyer (Haa) of the sins.' 

925. Punyah ?"Supremely Pure." One who purifies the heart of His 
devotee-removing all his sensehunting vaasanaas of indulgence. Sree 
Narayana guides the pure-hearted to the portals of the final goal, 
the Higher Consciousness. 

926. Duh-svapna-naasanah ?"One who destroys all `bad dreams'." The 
worst dream is the samsar. Perception of plurality is the horrible 
dream of terrible pangs, consuming fears and drowning sorrows. Dreams 
are explosions of the suppressions stored away in the subconscious. A 
real devotee exists in utter surrender unto the Lord. When his life 
is ever-centred in Narayana-smarana, in such total and humble 
dedication he has no chance of earning these suppressions. Since his 
sub-conscious mind is not loaded with half-digested thoughts and 
unexpressed intentions, repressed desires and suppressed motives, 
immoral passions and covetous inclinations, he has no fearful dreams 
in his daily sleep. Ultimately each seeker will rise above his little 
ego and its hungers and enters into the plane of Narayana-
Consciousness. 

927. Veerahaa ?"One Who ends the passage from womb-to-womb-the wheel 
of birth and death." `Veera' means diversified ways, or one who 
functions in innumerable fields in countless ways.  

928. Rakshanah  -"One who is the Protector of the Universe." Among 
the Trinity, Vishnu is the Protector, the Sustainer of all the 
created. "For the protection of the good, the destruction of the 
wicked and the establishment of righteousness, He takes different 
Incarnations."

929. Santah -This term, used in the plural number, indicates "the 
good people." They are considered as "good" who have moral virtues, 
ethical values, spiritual purity and scriptural knowledge. By using 
the plural form here, the import is that the holy beauty of Sree 
Narayana is found expressed in the glory of such a company of good 
and saintly men. 

930. Jeevanah ?"The Life-Spark in all living creatures." The Flame-of-
Existence that warns an organism to life is the presiding 
Consciousness Supreme, the Self. This Self is Narayana. "Permeating 
the earth I support all beings by (My) energy; and having become the 
juicy Moon I nourish all herbs"-is the declaration of Bhagavan. 

931. Paryavasthitah -In all places, in all creatures, He dwells. He 
is the final Factor-Divine beyond which there is nothing, and upon 
which all else depends. 

 

Stanza 100

anantaroopo-anantasreer jitamanyur bhayaapahah
chaturasro gabheeraatmaa vidiso vyaadiso disah.


932. Ananta-roopa ?"One of the infinite forms." The endless variety 
of forms constituting the world of objects are all projections in 
him. They are in their essence nothing but himself. Just as the 
entire spread ?of ?objects in a dream is nothing but the creation of 
the single mind of the waker, and it is seen as many only in the 
dream ?plane ?of ?consciousness, so, too, the world of objects ?
emotions-and ?thoughts are all discovered as the Narayana ?
Consciousness.

933. Anantasreeh ?"One who is full of infinite Glories," "One who is 
full of Incomparable Powers," the main tree `powers' which the lord 
expresses in the world are the `Desire Power' (Icchaa-sakti). These 
are expressions of his Glory at our physical, mental and intellectual 
levels. These are three manifestations of his `powers' and their 
continuous interplay, together weave the fabric of the total dynamic 
expressions of life in the world. The self, Sree Narayana, the one 
spring ?board for all these vibrant aspects of the life ?He, the 
Omniscient, is called "One of Infinite Forms."

934. Jitamanyuh ?"One who has conquered anger" (manyuh). It cannot be 
repeated too often, thus this significance is again given in this 
term, that anger is one of the most overpowering enemies within us ?
"One who has conquered anger" is One who established in his own 
Purity. Earlier, the technique of anger was explained that when a 
desire is unfulfilled, anger rises in a man's heart towards a desire 
is unfulfilled, anger rises in a man's heart towards the obstacle 
between him and his desire. The self is All-full (Paripoorna); it 
cannot feel any need, want or desire. The Self, then Sree Narayana, 
is ever without the low and ruinous passion called `anger.' 

935. Bhayapahah ?"One who destroys or removes all fear in the 
samsaric life." Naturally, lord Narayana is the one sure harbour 
wherein the boats of life, tossed mercilessly on the high seas of 
passions, can find their calm of peace and total security.

936. Chaturasrah ?"One who deals squarely with all." The term 
Chaturasrah means a geometrical square of equal sides. Sree Narayana 
distributes the results of actions equally to all: each one can get 
only the exact reward of his own previous actions. Thus, Narayana 
bestows justly and squarely upon all.

937. Gabheeraatmaa ?"One who, in his real Nature, is too deep to be 
fathomed by the frail instrument of our mind." Depth here indicates 
the profoundness ?the supreme essence pervading the Universe is 
unfathomably profound in its significance and glory.

938. Vidisah ?"One who is unique in his giving." He is divinely 
liberal, magnificently benevolent in fulfilling the earnest desires 
of all his true devotees.

939. Vyaadisah ?"One who is unique in his Commanding ?Power." One who 
orders even the phenomenal powers, the deities and gods.

940. Disah ?"One who advises and gives knowledge." It is the self who 
is author of the Vedas, nay, the very theme and essence of the Vedas. 
Lord Narayana, in the form of the sruti-texts, gives to man the 
knowledge of the self.

 

Stanza 101

anaadirbhoorbhuvo lakahmeeh suveero ruchiraangadah
Janano janajanmaadir bheemo bheemaparaakramah.


941. Anaadih ?"One who is the first cause" ?and who is himself the 
uncaused. The eternal, the Beginingless is Sree Narayana. 

942. Bhoorbhuvah ?"the very substratum or support for the earth." 
Since the earth revolves in the space in which the universe exists 
and revolves is the supreme, Narayana.

943. Lakshmeeh ?"One who is wealthy, the richness or glory of the 
universe." If self were not, then all would have been inert, unborn, 
deed. As the one life every-where, as pure existence, all the glories 
of this dynamic Universe are in him and from him alone.

There is a reading wherein the terms 942 and 943 are coupled, in 
which case their combined meaning would be: "One who is the glory in 
the universe and in the interspace everywhere."

944. Suveerah ?"One who moves through various ways which are all 
divinely glorious."  Or, One who exhibits in all his Incarnations the 
inimitable splendour of valour in his actions and achievements.

945. Ruchiraangadah ?"One who wears resplendent shoulder-caps" ?a 
kind of ornament used by ancient Indian kings to protect their upper 
arms and shoulders from their enemies slashing swords.

946. Jananah ?"He who delivers all living creatures." Lord Sree 
Narayana is the great Father of all living beings as all the universe 
comes from him alone. He alone was before all creation; from him 
alone everything has risen; in him everything exists, is nurtured and 
nourished by his Glory. Thus, as the very progenitor of the universe, 
Sree Narayana, the Self, is the only jagat-Eesvara (Lord of the 
universe).

947. Janajanmaadih ?"One who is the sole Cause of birth for all 
living creatures in the universe." The immediate cause is, of course, 
the vaasanaas of each being, but the real and ultimate cause in the 
self, Sree Narayana.

948. Bheemah ?"One whose form is terrible and frightening to the 
sinners." "Oh, Glorious Sir, seeing yours wonderful but awesome from, 
the whole world is shuddering with fear," cried Arjuna upon beholding 
the cosmic Form of the lord. He adds: "Having seen Thy Immeasurable 
Form ? the worlds are terrified and so am I." Again, "On seeing thee 
touching the sky?my heart is stricken with dread and I find no 
courage nor peace, O Vishnu."

949. Bheemaparaakramah ?"One whose prowess is irresistible and 
fearful to his enemies."

 

Stanza 102

aadhaaranilayo-adhaata pushpahaasah prajaagarah
oordhvagah satpathaachaarah praanadah prranavah panah.


950. Aadhaaranilayah ?"One who is the fundamental sustainer" ?the 
support for all that exists. All things and all beings are supported 
by the earth which itself rests upon the lord, the self, that each 
mind projects the entire world of names and forms.

951. Adhaataa ?"Above whom there is no other to control or to 
command" ?One who is the supreme controller of all. He is the Law; 
the eternal truth is that the Law and the Law-Giver are one and the 
same.

952. Pushpahaasah ?"He who shines like an opening flower." The bud 
opens and manifests into the lord at the time of deluge existed as 
the total Unmanifest, and there after, at the maturity of the 
vaasanaas, opens up as the manifest world of things and beings, He 
came to be indicated by this term.

953. Prajaagarah ?"Ever-Awaked" ?He who knows no sleep. Sleep 
means `non-apprehension.' This `non-apprehension' of reality is 
called `Avidyaa' (nescience) which produces our `mis-apprehension' of 
I and mine, and the world of pains and shocks. Since Narayana is the 
self, He is `Ever-available" and is never asleep to his Eternal-
Divine-Nature.

954. Oordhvagah ?"One who walks the path of truth" ?a path which 
other implicitly follow to reach the Truth Inifinite. "Whatever an 
adored one does, other people will implicitly follow," warns Krishna 
in Bhagava Geeta. Lord is the standard of perfection" and all 
devotees place him as the ideal ?trying to imitate, in their own 
lives, His Absolute Goodness, Absolute Love and Absolute Peace.

956. Praanadah ?"One who gives `Praana' to all." The term `Praana' in 
our Sastras means the physiological functions, the manifestations of 
life in man. Therefore, Narayana, the self, is the Vital Source from 
which all sense organs, mind and intellect barrow their power of 
perception, capacities of feeling and their faculties of thinking and 
understanding.

957. Pranavah ?"Om-kaara is Pranava." The Infinite reality is 
indicated by `OM' in the Vedas. `OM' is the manifesting sound of the 
supreme self. Therefore, Sree Narayana is called `Pranavah': meaning 
he is of the `nature of Omkaara."

958. Panah ?"The supreme Manager of the universe." The root `Pana' 
means "to transact." By giving the exact rewards for all actions, 
Lord both orders and justly manages all activities of each 
individuals and things constituting this scientifically precise 
universe.

 

Stanza 103

pramaanam prananilayah praanabhrit praanajeevanah
tattvam tattvavidekaatmaa janmamrityujaraatigah.


959. Pramaanam ?"He whose very form is the Vedas" ?which are the 
only `proof' for the Eternal Reality. Or, we may read it: He who is 
pure Infinite Consciousness (Prajnaanam) as we have it in the great 
Commandment, "Consciousness is the Infinite Reality."

960. Praananilayah ?"He in whom all `praanas' stand established." He 
who is very substratum ?vital foundation ?for all `activities' 
manifested in a living organism.

961. Praana-brit ?"He who rules over all `Praanas' ?Sree Hari is the 
one who causes everyone to eat, digest, feel energized, act, achieve 
the fruits thereof, grow old and die. In all `activities,' the great 
One-commanding, Factor-Divine, Sree Narayana, the self, presides in 
silent detachment, and by His Presence He initiates and maintains all 
these activities in all living creatures upon the earth's surface.

962. Praana-jeevanah ?"He who maintains the life-birth in all living 
creatures." This interpretation is not a happy one as this meaning 
has just come in the preceding, endearing term. In love, of course, 
there is no rule that the lover should not repeat the same loving 
words to address his beloved. But, we can find yet a new depth of 
suggestion if we understand this term to mean "One who is the very 
life-giving divine-touch in every breath." 

963. Tattvam?"the Reality" ?that which is eternal, the essence. "That 
which one gains in subjective realization is the self," Sree Narayana.

964. Tattvavit ?"One who has realized fully the reality" ?meaning the 
original essential nature of the self. On realizing the self, the 
individual become the self  and, therefore, Sree Narayana, that very 
self, is One who has realized fully the Reality which is His Own 
Nature Divine.

965. Ekaatmaa ?"The Advaita Reality" ?Narayana is the One self, the 
Oversoul, Who expresses himself as the individualities of the 
infinite entities in the universe.

966. Janma-mrityu-jaraa-atigah ?"One who knows no change or 
modifications in Himself." Ever finite object in the world undergoes 
constant `change' and each of them is extremely painful. They are 
birth, growth, decay, and the Eternal, the changeless Self, Sree 
Narayana, Ever- the-same Supreme. Geeta thunders the nature of the 
self to be "ever-birthless and never dying," and once It has existed, 
Self never becomes non-existent.

 

Stanza 104

bhoorbhuvah svastarustaarah savitaaa prapitaamahah
yajno yajnapatiryajvaa yajnaango yajnavaahmah.


967. Bhoor-bhuvas-svas-taruh ?"One who is snap in the tree-of-life 
existing in all the universe of the higher world, our-world and the 
lower world." The famous Vedic terms bhooh Bhuvah and Svah connote 
the three worlds (lokas). The world `Loka' in Sanskrit means "a field 
of experience." Therefore, in fact, these three terms, called 
Vyaahritees, subjectively represents all our experiences in the 
walking, dream and deep-sleep states of consciousness. His constant 
Yajna to nurture and nourish the Universe. So, this epithet has been 
given to Sree Narayana, the infinite Self, the glorious Essence (Sap) 
that pervades the entire Tree-of-Life-flowering out to even embrace 
all experiences in all planes of Consciousness. Everywhere, in the 
everything at all times.

968. Tarrah ?"One who helps all to cross ?over" ?the Eternal Boat-
man, to whom, if the devotees can surrender in unswerving faith and 
true devotion, he will surely row them across the "Ocean of samsara:" 
that one is Taarah. Through exclusive, devoted meditation, alert with 
understanding, the individuality in each of us wakes up to the higher 
plane ? and there is Be-attitude to experience the Self, the eternal 
Brahman ? Sree Hari.

969. Savitaa ?"He who is the father of All" ?Who is the eternal 
father of the entire Universe.

970. Pra-pitaamahah ?"He who is the father of even the `Father of all 
Beings,' the creator, Brahmaaji, of the trinity." The creator Himself 
rose from the Absolute self. Creator is known in our scriptural 
language as Pitaamaha ?the Father.

971. Yajnah ?"One whose very nature is yajna." The term yajna 
means "work undertaken with a pure spirit of total dedication in 
complete co-operative endeavor with total selflessness, there is Sree 
Narayana in action through His creatures.

972. Yajna-patih ?"The lord of all yajnas." I am the `Enjoyer' in all 
self ?dedicated, co-operative endeavors (Yajna). These are the joyous 
words of the lord who Himself declares; "The `Enjoyer' and the `lord' 
in all yajnas am I."

973. Yajvaa ?"The one who performs Yajna according to the strict 
prescriptions laid down in Vedas" ?the one who maintains in ll his 
divine actions the true Yajna spirit.

974. Yajnaangah ?"One whose limbs are the `things' employed in 
Yajna." In Harivamsa we told that `things' are the very aspects of 
Lord Sree Narayana.

975. Yajna-vaahanah ?"One who fulfils Yajnas in complete and exact 
accord with the Vedic instructions."

 

Stanza 105

yajnabhridyajnakridyajnee yajnabhugyajnasaadhah
yajnaantakridyajnaguhyamannamannaada eva cha.


976. Yajna-bhrit ?"the ruler of the Yajnas" ?the One who helps us to 
conclude successfully all our `good, dedicated. Selfless acts of 
service to others' ?Yajnas.

977. Yajna-Krit ?"One who performs Yajna." The same term also mean 
One who destroys the yajnas. The term Yajna connotes all noble and 
divine actions of service and love undertaken in a pure sense of God 
dedication, selflessness and joy. Lord issued forth the creation as 
an act of yajna, and in the end He must also undertake the total 
dissolution of this very yajna. Sometimes this is interpreted as "One 
who `performs' the yajnas of the good people and one who `destroys' 
the Yajnas of the evil minded folk."

978. Yajnee ?"One who is constant `Enjoyer' of the perpetual Yajnas." 
In all Yajnas, because every act is Narayana ?centered-god-dedicated-
to him alone is the attribute of being the only single `Enjoyer.'

979. Yajnee ?"All that is offered into the scared Fire during a 
Yajna, though with an invocation to any of the deities, in tender 
devotion and joy. Goes to Him alone, the "One receiver of all that is 
offered," for all deities are but Narayana in different forms.

980. Yajna-saadhanah ?"One who fulfills all Yajnas." It is by his 
grace alone all noble endeavours, undertaken in an honest and true 
sincerity, gain spectacular success.

981. Yajnaantakrit ?"One who performs the last, concluding act in all 
Yajnas." The final item in a yajna is the "total ?offerings" (Poorna-
Aahuti) when Sree Narayana is reverently and earnestly invoked. 
Without this prayer-ritual. Yajna is never complete. Sree Hari, 
therefore, is of the form of Poorna-Aahuti -in the sense that 
when `total' surrender of all vehicles and their actions is 
accomplished, the transcendental experience of the Self, Narayana 
alone, comes to manifest in all His divine Splendour.

Some commentators have, however, taken the meaning of the Yajna-anta-
not as "the last item in yajna" but as `anta,' the `fruit' of the 
yajna by which they bestow the meaning that Narayana is the "One who 
gives away the `fruits' for all Hari-dedicated, selfless acts of love 
and service."

982. yagna-guhyam ?"Sree Narayana is the most profound truth to be 
realised  in all yajnas." The self is the most noble truth to be 
sought through `offerings' all the `Dravya' (objects) into 
the "consciousness" (Fire) in the "body" (kunda). This kind of 
subjective-Yajna is called in the Geeta as "Knowledge-Yajna." This is 
also called in the Vedas as Brahma-Yajna. 

983. Annam ?"One who has himself become the `food' " ?sense ?objects 
which are the `food' consumed by the sense ?organs. As a verb it can 
be used as One who "Eats" the whole universe at the time of the great 
dissolution. At that time, he is the one in whom the world remains 
absorbed in the pralaya, just as our individual world each day gets 
dissolved in our sleep. The one in whom alone the world of names and 
forms can remain in their `seed-form,' is Sree Narayana, the self.

984. Annaadah ?"One who eats the `food.' " not only the objective 
world is the projection on Narayana, but the subjective-enjoyer ?the 
individuality, the ego, that experiences-is also Narayana. The self, 
functioning through the "equipment" is the jeevaatman, the 
individuality in each of us who "experiences." Thus the self is the 
both `food' (Annam) and `eater-of-food' (Annaadah) just as our own 
waking-mind becomes the "experiencer" and the "experienced" in our 
dream-world.

 

Stanza 106

aatnayonih svayamjaato vaikhaanah saamagaayanah
devakeenandanah srashtaa kshiteesah paapanaasanah.


985. Aatma-yohin ?"One who is himself the `material cause' (Upaadaana 
Kaarana) for himself;" the self born, the uncaused cause.

986. Svayam-jaatah ?"One who, as the lord of the universe, has no 
other `Instrumental cause' (Nimitta-Kaarana) in projecting Himself."

Three cause are necessary in all `creation' in the pluralistic world: 
the Material cause' (mud), the "Instrumental cause' (wheel), and 
the `Efficient cause' (the pot maker). In sree Narayana's self-
projection, as in the dream, that all these three causes are He, 
Himself, is shown in these term.

987. Vai-Khaanah ?"The one who dug through the earth" ?cutting 
through the denseness of the gross to reach, apprehend and kill the 
subtle Hirnyaksha, the terrible and the monstrous who had tried to 
destroy the spiritual values in the world. The self has to reach us 
to destroy the ego in us and give us the `liberation' from our evil 
adherence to the body-mind-intellect.

988. saama-gaayanah ?"One who signs the Saama-songs."

989. Devakeenandhanah ?"He who appeared as born to Devakee in his 
Incarnation as Krishna." And since Devakee could only, from afar, 
see, watch and enjoy the pranks and play of her blessed child in 
Gokula, Krishna is called as the "Joy of Devakee" (Devakee-nandhana).

990. Srashtaa ?"One who creates." Even the Creator can perform his 
job only by drawing his abilities and capacities from the infinite 
self, Sree Narayana.

991. Kshiteesah ?"One who is the lord of the earth." Sree Narayana is 
the husband of mother Earth. He is her protector. Her nurtuer and 
nourisher. Her, earth may stand for all that is gross ?the entire 
maayaa-and Narayana is the Lakshmee-Pati.

992. Paapa-naasanah ?meditating upon whom, all vaasanaas (sins) are 
liquidated. When the individuals, surrendering in love to Him, acts 
and fulfils his duties, all his existing vaasanaas are destroyed and 
no new ones are created ?this is the very root in the theory of karma 
Yoga in the Vedas. Through meditation upon the self, all sins are 
dissolved and totally removed.

 

Stanza 107

Samkhabhirnnandakee chakree saarngadhanvaa gadaadharah
Rathaangapaanirakshobhyah sarvapraharanaayudhah.


993. Samkha-bhrit ?"One who has the divine conch 
named "Paanchajanya." The word meaning is this term pancha-janya 
is "that which is born of the five" (sense organs), so it stands for 
the mind. Mind being the seat of ego, the sastras declare that the 
conch in the divine hand of Sree Narayana is the ego-factor 
(Ahamkaara-Tattva) in our personality.

994. Nandakee ?The lord's sword is called Nandaka. Therefore,this 
term indicates one who holds and wields the Nandaka sword. The word 
Nanda-kam mean "that which brings bliss." The Sastras sing that the 
divine sword in the sacred hands of the lord hari represents the 
knowledge-Spiritual (Vidyaa-Tattva) with which the seeker can destroy 
all his "ignorance" of the self in him.

995. Chakree ?"one who carries the discus called Sudarsana." The term 
Su-Darsana means "that gives the auspicious vision." The sastras 
attribute to this discus-Divine the representation of the human mind.

996. Saarnga-dhanvaa ?"One who aims his unerring bow called Saarnga." 
This bow of Narayana is glorified in our texts as representing the 
Ego, as the `apex' of all the sense organs, Ahankaara-Tattva. In this 
concluding Stanza, the instruments of Blessing in sree Narayana's 
hands are remembered with reverence and devotion.

997. Gadda-dharah ?"One who holds his divine club (Mace) celebrated 
as Kaumodakee ?which generates and spreads beauty and joy." This Mace 
is described as representing the intellect in man (Buddhi-Tattva).

998. Rathanga-paanih ?"The traditional meaning is, of course, "One 
who has the `wheel of the chariot' as his weapon." This means the 
discuss which already has been mentioned in this very Stanza as 
Chakree. But, there are others who would like to interpret this term 
in other ways. In a glorification-Hymn or devotional-Chant, 
repetition is no sin; in fact, it should be quite natural.

999. Akshobhyah ?"One who cannot be exasperated by anyone, by any act 
or acts, however blasphemous they may be." One whose peace and calm 
cannot be stormed out by any happening in his outer world; Ever-
peaceful. The term suggests Infinite patience, love and kindness 
towards man and his frailties.

1000. Sarva-praharanaayudhah ?"He who has all implements for all 
kinds of assault and fight." No enemy can surprise Him. 
The `conqueror of all.' One who has weapons to meet any missile. 
However powerful.

 

 

Sree Sarva-praharanaayudhah Om Namah iti






 

[The 1000 names end here...]

 

 

Concluding Verses: 

 

1. Itidam Kirtaniyasya Keshavasya Mahatmanahah

Naamnaam Sahasram Divyaanaam Asheshena Prakeerthitham

 


1. In the above verses have been given a complete enumeration of the 
thousand divine names of the the Great Being Keshava, who is the fit 
object for all praise and prayer.

 

2. Ya Idam Srunuyaan Nityam Yaschaapi Parikeertayet

Naashubham Praapnuyaat Kinchit Somutreha Cha Maanavah

 

 


 

2. Nothing evil or inauspicious will befall a man here or hereafter 
who daily hears or repeats these names

 

 


 

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5. Bhaktimaan Yah Sadotthyaaya Suchis-tadgata Maanasahah

Sahasram Vaasudevasya Naamnaam Etat Prakeertayet


Whichever devoted man, getting up early in the morning and purifying 
himself, repeats this hymn devoted to Vaasudeva, with a mind that is 
concentrated on Him...

 

6. Yashah Prapnoti Vipulam Jnaati Praadhaanyam Eva Cha

Achalaam Sriyam Aapnoti Sreyah Praapnotyanuttamam


That man attains to great fame, leadership among his peers, wealth 
that is secure and the supreme good unsupassed by anything....

7. Na Bhayam Kvachid Aapnoti Veeryam Tejasya Vindati

Bhavatyarogo Dyutimaan Bala-roopa-gunaanvitahah


 

He will be free from all fears and be endowed with great courage and 
energy and he will be free from diseases. Beauty of form, strength of 
body and mind, and virtuous character will be natural to him.

 


 

 


 

 

 

 

10. Vaasudeva-ashrayo Martyo Vaasudeva Paraayanahah

Sarva Paapa Vishudhaatmaa Yaati Brahma Sanaatanam


 

Free from all sins, a man devoted to Vaasudeva and completely 
dependent on Him attains to the eternal status of Brahman. 

 

 

 


 

No inauspicious things can happen to a devotee of Vasudeva. The 
person will conquer the cycle of birth, death, fear and disease.


 

One who reads this hymn every day with devotion and attention attains 
peace of mind, patience, prosperity, mental stability, memory and 
reputation.

 

 


Such a person is not caught by anger, binding, jealousy, or any 
inauspicious event. Such a bhakta becomes a "punyatma" and merges 
with the Purshottama (i.e. supreme being)

 


 

 


 


 


All scriptures consider right conduct as the foremost requisite. 
Dharma is based upon right conduct, and Dharma, Achyuta is the 
master. 

 

 


 

The rishis, pitrus, the devas, the great elements and in fact all 
things moving and unmoving constituting this universe have originated 
from Naaraayana. 

 

 


The Yoga, Jnaana, Saamkya, sciences, arts, works, Vedas, scriptures, 
spiritual illumination -- all these have originated from Janaardhana. 

 


 

Mahaavishnu is the one all-comprehending being who appears as many. 
He is the essence of all brings, the consumer of the world, the 
indestructible one, and the master of all. Pervading all the three 
worlds, He enjoys all entities constituting them. 

 


 

Whoever desires advancement and happiness should repeat this 
devotional hymn on Vishnu composed by Vyaasa. 

 


Never will defeat attend on a man who adores the Lotus-eyed One, who 
is the Master of all the worlds. Who is birthless, and out of whom 
the worlds have originated, and into whom they dissolve.

 

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