Vishnu Sahasranama 140 - 148

Vishnu Sahasranama 140 - 148

140. Caturbhujaḥ चतुर्भुजः

He has four hands. Viṣṇu holds a conch, known as pāñcajanya and a bludgeon, both in His left hands. In His right hands, He holds a disc and a lotus flower. These four represent the four components of antaḥkaraṇa or inner psychic organs viz. mind, intellect, consciousness and ego. Antaḥkaraṇa is the first step in the process of evolution, through which objects are perceived. When sensory faculties are called as door, then antaḥkaraṇa means closing and opening of the door. To attain liberation, the components of antaḥkaraṇa are to be made ineffective. See nāma 142 below.

When Viṣṇu is visualized with four hands with these four objects, it is believed that the aspirant’s antaḥkaraṇa will get fine tuned to realise the Brahman in his mind.

Arjuna addresses Kṛṣṇa after seeing His Viśvarūpa form thus: “I have rejoiced in your Viśvarūpa form that was never seen before. But, at the same time, I was disturbed and frightened. O, Lord, therefore please bless me with Your magnificent divine form with four arms, with club, disc, conch and lotus and adorned with a crown. O, Lord, with thousands of arms, appear again in Your four armed form.” (Bhagavad Gītā XI. 45 & 46).

141. Bhrājiṣṇuḥ भ्राजिष्णुः

Bhrājiṣṇu means radiant. Brahman alone is Self illuminating. Brahman is Self-illuminating because He is the embodiment of every quality that prevails in the earth. He is not only the embodiment of good qualities. Evil qualities also originate from Him, as otherwise, He cannot be omnipresent. Every quality and every attribute originate from Brahman only.

Kaṭha Upaniṣad (II.ii.15), “tameva bhāntamanubhāti sarvaṁ tasya bhāsā sarvamidaṁ bibhāti तमेव भान्तमनुभाति सर्वं तस्य भासा सर्वमिदं बिभाति” This means that when Brahman shines, everything else shines. The other part of this verse is implied. When Brahman does not shine, everything else too does not shine. Therefore, the source of light is only the Brahman. It is impossible to comprehend the Brahman in His True form. That is why He is visualized in various auspicious and comprehendible forms.

142. Bhojanam भोजनम्

An object that is enjoyed is called bhojana. Brahman as Puruṣa, enjoys the actions that unfold in Prakṛti, His very own creation. Pañcadaśī, an advaita treatise says (IV.17), “Though all the objects are in themselves created by Iśvara, still by action and reflection, the jīva has converted them into his objects of enjoyment.” Another verse (IV.19) says, “In the actual creation of the objects the modifications or functions of māyā, the power of the Lord is the cause; whereas for the actual enjoyment of those objects it is the modifications or functions of the inner organs (antaḥkaraṇa) of the jīva-s that are responsible.”

This nāma says that Brahman is not only the creator but He is also an enjoyer. Here Brahman refers to His Iśvara form or saguṇa form.

143. Bhoktāभोक्त

Repetitive nāma-s at 500 and 888.

Bhoktā means enjoyer or the one who undergoes experience. A bhoktā enjoys through his organs of perception viz. ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose. The inputs from organs of perception are transferred to antaḥkaraṇa. Thus antaḥkaraṇa in close coordination with organs of perceptions makes a person an enjoyer or bhoktā.

While the previous nāma said that Prakṛti is the object of enjoyment, this nāma says that Puruṣa is the enjoyer. This is typically applicable to an individual soul. A soul or puruṣa wrongly feels that it is the doer or karta as well as enjoyer or bhoktā. Ego makes a soul think that it is both the doer and the enjoyer.

Kṛṣṇa repeatedly uses the word bhoktā in Bhagavad Gītā and the significant verse is XIII.20, where He says, “Prakṛti is responsible for evolution and the individual soul is the cause of experiencing either joy or sufferings.” Īśvara is the enjoyer at the macrocosmic level and jīva is the enjoyer at the microcosmic level.

These two nāma-s subtly convey the process of creation and evolution.

144. Sahiṣṇuḥ सहिष्णुः

Sahiṣṇu means enduring. There could be different interpretation to this nāma. He endures small deviations of His devotees from dharmic precepts. It can also be said that He endures to a certain point, the wrong doings of sinners, beyond which He does not hesitate to slay them. Or He remains as a soul and endures all the actions of the body, by neither causing an action nor partaking in an action. He merely remains as a witness.

Contextually, (the death bed of Bhīṣma) all the three appear to be appropriate.

145. Jagadādijaḥ जगदादिजः

Jagadādija refers to the first of creation. Vedānta Paribhāsā a 17th century scripture explains hiraṇyagarbha. It says “Hiraṇyagarbha is the first soul to be born.” The subtle body consisting of the five vital forces, the mind, the intellect and the ten organs is produced from the five basic elements. This paves the way for the soul to experience the result of actions or in other words it causes karma-s. The subtle body is of two kinds, superior and inferior. The superior one is the subtle body of hiraṇyagarbha and the inferior is the subtle body of living beings. The subtle body of hiraṇyagarbha is called as mahat or the cosmic intellect and the subtle body of living beings is called ego.

This nāma says that He is the first amongst the creation, which is a confirmation of His Brahmanic stature.

146. Anaghaḥ अनघः

Repetitive nāma at 831.

Anagha means sinless. Chāndogya Upaniṣad (VIII.vii.1) says, “yaḥ ātmāpahatapāpma” which means that Self is free from sin. Even in the case of a soul, it is not affected with sins, as it remains only as a witness.

147. Vijayaḥ विजयः

Vijaya means victory. He remains victorious. He remains victorious because He is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, omnifarious, etc.

It can also be said that He remains victorious in conquering the hearts of His devotees.

148. Jetā जेता

He is always successful. This nāma is an extension of the previous nāma. He always remains victorious because, He is always successful or He is always successful because He is always victorious.

Words such as always, perpetual, infinite, eternal are used to explicate the Brahman.