MantraOnNet.com: Vishnu Sahasranaama

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 ful-
filment of all unholy, sensuous and lusty desires in the faithless.

852. Aasramah ? Sree Narayana is the har-
bour, 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. Sramanuh – “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-Gita 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 enchanting with its springs of suggestions.

856. Vaayu-vaahanuh – “The mover of the winds.” From fear of Him Fire burns. Sun and Moon function, earth rotates, the Wind moves . . . declares the Upanishad.

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 o 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 meditation for realisation of the Self.

859. Dandah – “0ne 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. Damayifaa – “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.

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, tranquility, peace-these are
some of the sattvic 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 of Time.

870.Satya-dharma-paraayanah – “One
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 – “0ne 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 deserves
to be worshipped by all devotees. He, being our very own Self,
is the treasure-source of all our devotion. Thus He does draw
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 the
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
our Preeti in Him increases.

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 ‘5y’ 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 Self 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 vapours
(Rasa) from everything.” As the Soorya- Narayana, Sree Hari
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 Cosmos.”

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 in us 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 is
thrilling to life the infinitude of creatures.

884. Savitaa – “The One Who brings forth,
from Himself, the Universe of things and beings.” The Supreme 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.

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 – “0ne Who accepts the
things devotedly poured as oblation into the sacred Fire.”
These oblations which may be in the name of 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-con-
stituted 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 – “0ne 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 un-
fulfilled 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 for-gives the trespasses of all His devotees”-One Who is infinitely merciful and kind.

894. Loka-adhishthaanum – 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.

896. Sanaat – “The Beginning-less 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 ex-
pressing 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.