|
 Once Adi Sankara Bhagavadpada asked his disciple to get for him the palm-leaf manuscript of 'Sahasranama'. He meant 'Lalitha Sahasranama', as he was a great devotee of 'Ambal' (the Universal Mother). His disciple, however, thought that his preceptor must have meant 'Vishnu Sahasranama' and brought it accordingly. Sankara corrected him and asked specifically for 'Lalita Sahasranama'.
Universal Mother prefers Vishnu Sahasranama
Once again, the disciple brought 'Vishnu Sahasranama'. A little annoyed, Sankara chastised the disciple and stressed again that he wanted 'Lalita Sahasranama' and not 'Vishnu Sahasranama'. For the third time, the disciple brought the 'hymnal thousand' on Lord Vishnu. When reprimanded severely by the Bhagavadpada, the disciple replied, 'Venerable Sire, I was about to pick up the 'Lalita Sahasranama' only, but there was a most
charming little girl, dazzling in her form, who commanded me, with her pointed little finger, to take the 'Vishnu Sahasranama' and not the 'Lalita Sahasranama'.
Sankara's realisation
Sankara realised that Ambal wanted him to give special importance to the 1000 hymns on Sri Narayana. That was why, it is said, he wrote a commentary on Vishnu Sahasranama, the first of all the several commentaries written by him. Apart from this commentary, the Acharya has written commentaries on the principal Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita (the Prasthana Traya - the three canonical texts; the commentator gets recognised as an Acharya only on this count), and several other 'Laghu Bashyas' (minor commentaries).
The Vishnu Sahasranama occurs in the Santhi Parva of sage Vyasa's epic the Mahabharatam. Yudhisthira, the newly-crowned emperor of Bharata Varsha, and the eldest of the Pandavas, asked of Bheeshma, the grandsire, lying on a bed of arrows, six questions, from a spiritual standpoint.
These six questions were: (1) Who is the greatest Lord (God) in this world? (2) Who is the sole refuge for everyone everywhere? (3) By worshipping whom can one attain peace and prosperity? (4) Who can confer auspiciousness on man? (5) What is the greatest dharma? (6) By meditating on whom can 'beings' transcend transmigratory existence (the cycle of endless births and deaths : 'Samsara')?
In one of the minor Upanishads more or less similar questions are asked of Creator Brahma and one gets the same reply. The reply in both cases was: 'Sri Narayana is, indisputably, the greatest of all deities, meditating on whom by repetition of His myriad names and glories one can achieve eternal liberation.'
Bheeshmacharya states most emphatically to king Yudhisthira : "Lord Vishnu is the God of Gods, Who is the sole refuge for all, Who is the most auspicious of all, Who can confer auspiciousness on all, Who sanctifies everyone, Who is the Supreme Being, by constant meditation on Whom one can transcend all bondages!"
There are one thousand and thirty one sacred names of Sri Vishnu in this hymnal composition glorified as Vishnu Sahasranama. There are many repetitions (about thirty), but scholarly commentators give varied interpretations to each of these repetitions. There are several other names which do appear as repetitions.
For the recitation of the Vishnu Sahasranama, the author sage Vyasa is to be invoked first as the 'Rishi' special. In fact, Vyasa is an incarnation of Lord Narayana Himself.
R Srinivasan
More Articles
|
