MantraOnNet.com: Vishnu Sahasranaama

901. Svasti-dah ? “One Who gives Svasti

to all His sincere devotees.” A true devotee is one who has

discovered his fulfillment 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 Han-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 (A vyaya)

Sanskrit word Svasti’ means Auspiciousness.

903. Svasti ? “0ne 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 and plays out through Maayaa.

904. Svasti-bhuk – “0ne 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 Auspicious-

ness which is the Lord’s very nature.

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, hatred ness, 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

Kaaliya-Serpent, or Shiva 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 ‘VT 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 – “0ne 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 realisa

tion, our world of sorrows and pains, of strains and stress,

of worries and anxieties is unknown-while to those who live

in their ego-sense, to them the Real is unknown. The un-

known means ‘veiled in darkness.’ The subtle meaning is clear

now.

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-Gita. 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 for-

giveness 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 – “0ne 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 ‘Abhayd’-the Fearless State.

922. Punya-sravana-keertanah – 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 devotee will itself become, in its dyna-

mic beauty, love and devoted tenderness, a constant worship

(poojaa), a continuous (akhanda) hymn chanted (keertana) in

praise of the Lord-of-the-heart.

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-kritr means bad actions. When actions are undertaken,

prompted by sensuous desires, they leave impressions

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 sense hunting

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

enter into the plane of – 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 – “0ne 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 warms 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.

932. Ananta-roopah – “One of 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 one 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 One Self when the spiritual

seeker re-awakens himself to the Consciousness.

933. Anantasreeh – “0ne Who is full of

Infinite Glories,” or, “One Who is full of Incomparable

Powers.” The main three ‘powers’ which the Lord expresses

in the world are the ‘Desire-power’ (Icchaa-sakti), ‘Action-

power’ (Kriyaa-sakti) and ‘Knowledge-power’ (Jnaana-sakti).

These are expressions of His Glory at our physical, mental and

intellectual levels. These 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 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

the 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 is 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

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. Bhayaapahah – “One Who destroys or

removes all fears in 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 profoundness-the

Supreme Essence pervading the Universe is unfathomably

profound in Its significance and glory.

938. Vidisah – “0ne 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 the 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.

941. Anaadih – “0ne Who is the First – and Who is Himself the Uncaused. The Eternal, the beginning-less is Sree Narayana.

942. Bhoorbhuvah – “The very substratum or support for the Earth.” Since Earth revolves in Space we can say that He Who is both Earth and the Space in

Universe exists and revolves is the Supreme, Narayan.

943. Lakshmeeh – “0ne Who is the wealth, the

richness or glory of the Universe.” If Self were not, then all

would have been inert, unborn, dead. 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 is the Self, Sree Narayana.

948. Bheemah – “One Whose form is terrible

and frightening to the sinners.” “Oh, Glorious Sir, seeing your

wonderful but awesome form, 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, 0 Vishnu.”

949. Bheemaparaakramah – “One Whose prowess is irresistible and fearful to His enemies.”

950. Aadhaaranlayah – “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, its substratum. It is upon the Lord, the Self, that each mind projects the entire world of names and forms.