The Sri Vishnu Sahasranam

Translations

Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam Slokha 97 - 108                                                                 Page - 9 of 9

Sloka 97

a-raudrah kundali cakrI vikram_yurjita-sasanah    |     
sabdatigah sabda-sahah sisirah sarvikarah    ||

906. a-raudrah - He Who is not driven to anger easily. om a-raudraya namaH.

907. kundali - He Who is bedecked with beautiful ear-rings. om kundaline namah.

908. cakrI -  One with the Discus in His arm. om cakrine namah.

909. vikrami - a) He Who has prowess. b) He with the characteristic stride (in His tri- vikrama incarnation). c) He Who has no difference in His different  incarnations. d) He Who has a distinguishing role - that of  protection. om vikramine namah.

910. urjita-sasanah - He of inviolable commands. om urjita-sasanaya namah.

911. sabdatigah - He Who is beyond words. om sabdatigaya namah.

912. sabda-sahah - He Who shoulders the burden of the words of cry of  distress. om sabda-sahaya namah.

913. sisirah - He Who rushed to render help. om sisiraya namah.

914. sarvari-karah - a) He Who had the destructive weapons in His  hands. b) The Maker of `night' - in the form of samsara. c) The maker of night  - the time for rest. d) He Who is in the form of the cool rays of the moon  in the nights. e) He Who causes destruction of His enemies. om sarvari-karaya namah.

Sloka 98

a-kruraH pesalo daksho dakshinah kshaminam-varah     |
vidvat-tamo vita-bhayah punya-sravana-kirtanah         ||

915. a-krurah - He Who was not cruel (while rescuing gajendra). om a-kruraya namah.

916. pesalah - a) He Who is charming. b) One Who is supremely soft. om pesalaya namah.

917. dakshah - a) He Who removes evil elements very quickly (daksh - sighrarthe). b1) He Who came to the rescue of gajendra very fast (daksh - sighrarthe). b2) He Who had the Sakti - power, to arrive very fast at the scene of Gajendra's suffering. c) He Who grows into, or manifests Himself as, the Universe (daksh - to grow). d) He Who is deft in His creation, sustenance and destruction (daksha - dexterous). e) He Who destroys His enemies  (daksh - himsanayoh). om dakshaya namah.

918. dakshinah - a) He Who is pleasing and amiable. b) He Who pervades everywhere. c) He Who destroys everything (at the time of  pralaya). d) He Who is very liberal, charitable, and kind. om dakshinaya namah.

919. kshaminam-varah - a)  The foremost in bearing the burden of  protection of His devotees. b) The Foremost among those who bear the burden of  the Universes. om kshaminam-varaya namah.

920. vidvat-tamah -  The Best among those who know what to do. om vidvat-tamaya namah.

921.  vIta-bhayah - a) He because of Whom fear is dispelled. b) He Who is devoid of fear. om vIta-bhayaya namah.

922. punya-sravana-kIrtanah - He Whose nama sravanam and kirtanam are  purifying. om punya-sravana-kirtanaya namah.

Sloka 99

uttarano dushkrti-ha punyo duh-svapna-nasanah    |
vira-ha rakshanah santo jivanah paryavasthitah    ||

923. uttaranah - He Who lifts up. om uttaranaya namah.

924. dushkrti-ha - a) He Who slays the evil-doers. b) He Who destroys the sins of those who surrender to Him. om dushkrti-ghne namah.

925. punyah - The Purifier. om punyaya namah.

926. dus_svapna-nasanah - The Remover of evil dreams. om dus-svapna-nasanaya namah.

927. vIra-ha - He Who destroyed the powerful bonds that tied Gajendra  to death. om vira-ghne namah.

928. rakshanah - The Savior. om rakshanaya namah.

929. santah -  a) He Who makes those who have sought refuge in Him  prosper. b) He Who exists for His devotees. c) He Who bestows the desired benefits on His devotees. d) He Who manifests Himself in the form of holy men. e) He Who is present everywhere and permeates everything. f) He Who is worshipped. g) He Who expands the world in a controlled way. om santaya namah.

930. jivanah - The Life-Giver. om jivanaya namah.

931. paryavasthitah - He Who stands beside. om paryavasthitaya namah.

Sloka 100

940. disah - He Who commands. om disaya namah.

Sloka 101

anadir_bhur-bhuvo lakshmih su-viro rucira'ngadah |
janano jana-janmadir_bhimo bhima-parakramah ||

941. anadih - a) He Who is not realized by many because of their ignorance etc. b) He Who has no beginning. om anadaye namah.

942. bhur-bhuvah - a) He Who is the abode of those who really live (by realizing their relation to the Lord). b) He Who supports that which supports all (namely, the earth). c) He Who exists in Himself (with no other support). d) He Who is the Source of all knowledge. om bhuvo-bhuve namah.

943. lakshmih - The Wealth. om lakshmyai namah.

944. suviro - om su-viraya namah.

945. rucira'ngadah - a) He Who bestows His lovely form for His devotees to enjoy. b) He Who gives a beautiful body to those who are devoted (e.g., to the hunch-backed woman). c) He Who is adorned with beautiful shoulder ornaments (angadas). d) He Who has given elegant means for all creatures to move about. om rucira'ngadaya namah.

946. jananah - The Creator. om jananaya namah.

948. bhimah - He Who is frightful to those who do not follow dharma. om bhimaya namah.

949. bhima-parakramya - om bhima-parakramaya namah.

Sloka 102

Sloka 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.

Sloka 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."

Sloka 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.

Sloka 106

aatnayonih svayamjaato vaikhaanah saamagaayanah
devakeenandanah srashtaa kshiteesah paapanaasanah.

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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.

Sloka 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.

Sloka 108