SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
In mahAbhAratham, just as SrI gIthA which was instructed by krishNa, SrI sahasranAmam which shows the greatness of krishNa is also an important part. Let us enjoy about it now.
arjuna who made bhIshma lay on an arrow of beds, as per krishNa’s orders, became very sorrowful. pANdavas became sad thinking they defeated bhIshma who was the grandsire, the eldest in the clan, having noble qualities and very devoted towards bhagavAn. krishNa consoled them saying that such occurrences are natural in a war.
Subsequently, on that night, krishNa invited yudhishtira and his brothers and told them “You go to bhIshma and learn the highest principles”. They brought krishNa along and went to bhIshma. They worshipped bhIshma and requested him to give answers for questions such as “Who is the supreme lord? Which is the ultimate goal? What is the means to attain that?”. At that time, bhIshma pointed towards krishNa who is the son of dhEvaki, and told them “krishNa is the supreme lord. The highest goal is to serve him. The best means is to recite his thousand divine names and perform japa”. Further, he explained the thousand divine names and gave joy to krishNa. pANdavas understood krishNa’s glories clearly.
AzhwArs have shown the greatness of sahasranAmam in many places.
- periyAzhwAr in his thiruppallANdu says “thoNdak kulaththiluLLIr vandhu adithozhudhu Ayira nAmam solli” (Those who are present in dhAsya kulam (clan of servitors of emperumAn)! Come to our ghOshti and invoke the lotus feet of achyutha and sing his thousand nAmas (divine names) …).
- ANdAL in her nAchchiyAr thirumozhi says “nAmam Ayiram Eththa ninRa nArAyaNA!” (nArAyaNa who remains being praised with his thousand divine names).
- nammAzhwAr in his thiruvAimozhi says “OrAyiramAy ulagEzhaLikkum pEr Ayiram koNdadhOr pIdudaiyan” (emperumAn is having thousand distinguished divine names where each one of them is protecting all chEthanas and achEthanas in thousand ways).
- thrumangai AzhwAr in his periya thirumozhi says “paLLiyil Odhi vandha than siRuvan vAyil OrAyira nAmam” (prahlAdhAzhwAn, the son of hiraNyAsuran, returned after his studies in school and came to his father, with his divine lips reciting the one thousand names of sarvESvaran).
SrI parASara bhattar has written a detailed commentary for sahasranAmam.
Essence in this incident:
- There is no need to explicitly says vishNu sahasranAmam. If we say sahasranAmam, that will imply vishNu sahasranAmam only.
- Though, in this kali yuga, thirunAma sankIrthanam (singing bhagavAn’s divine names) is said to be the best means to reach bhagavAn, SrIvaishNavas do not engage in thirunAma sankIrthanam considering it to be the means. It is done as kainkaryam only. Since bhagavAn is the only apt means matching the true nature of jIvAthmA, nothing else is accepted as the means.
Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/10/30/krishna-leela-54-tamil/
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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