After the names
The closing verses
Closing Verses
अर्जुन उवाचarjuna uvāca Arjuna
पद्मपत्रविशालाक्ष पद्मनाभ सुरोत्तम।padmapatraviśālākṣa padmanābha surōttama|
भक्तानामनुरक्तानां त्राता भव जनार्दन॥ १ ॥bhaktānāmanuraktānāṃ trātā bhava janārdana|| 1 ||
Arjuna prays: O Lord whose eyes are broad as lotus petals, from whose navel the lotus rises, foremost of the gods, Janārdana: be the protector of Your devotees, of those who love You.
Bhāvam
Arjuna asks nothing here for himself; his plea is for all who love the Lord, that He be their protector. The names he calls Him by, lotus-eyed and lotus-navelled, are tender ones, and the whole plea rests on the single word trātā, protector.
श्रीभगवानुवाचśrībhagavānuvāca Kṛṣṇa
यो मां नामसहस्रेण स्तोतुमिच्छति पाण्डव।yō māṃ nāmasahasrēṇa stōtumicchati pāṇḍava|
सोहऽमेकेन श्लोकेन स्तुत एव न संशयः॥ २ ॥sōha’mēkēna ślōkēna stuta ēva na saṃśayaḥ|| 2 ||
The Lord answers Arjuna: 'Whoever wishes to praise Me with the thousand names, O son of Pāṇḍu: by him I am praised indeed, even with a single verse. Of this there is no doubt.'
Bhāvam
The Lord's answer lowers the threshold for everyone who comes to Him: it is the wish to praise Him that He looks to, and one verse is received as the whole hymn. He adds that there is no doubt, so that no one who brings a short offering need fear it falls short.
स्तुत एव न संशय ओं नम इति॥stuta ēva na saṃśaya ōṃ nama iti||
'Praised indeed; there is no doubt.' Ōṃ, homage: with these words the Lord's promise is sealed.
व्यास उवाचvyāsa uvāca Vyāsa
वासनाद्वासुदेवस्य वासितं ते जगत्त्रयम्।vāsanādvāsudēvasya vāsitaṃ tē jagattrayam|
सर्वभूतनिवासोऽसि वासुदेव नमोऽस्तु ते॥ ३ ॥sarvabhūtanivāsō’si vāsudēva namō’stu tē|| 3 ||
Vyāsa says: By the indwelling of Vāsudēva the three worlds, which are Yours, are pervaded and enfolded. You are the dwelling-place of every being; O Vāsudēva, homage to You.
Bhāvam
The verse plays on the root vas, to dwell: the indwelling, Vāsudēva, the pervaded worlds, the dwelling-place of all. It gives the name its own reason: He dwells in the worlds, and every being has its home in Him, so that homage to Him is homage to the home of all.
In this verseViṣṇuVāsudēva, the supreme form
श्रीवासुदेव नमोऽस्तु त ओं नम इति॥śrīvāsudēva namō’stu ta ōṃ nama iti||
'O Śrī Vāsudēva, homage be to You.' Ōṃ, homage: so Vyāsa's offering is sealed.
In this verseViṣṇuVāsudēva, the supreme form
पार्वत्युवाचpārvatyuvāca Pārvatī
केनोपायेन लघुना विष्णोर्नामसहस्रकम्।kēnōpāyēna laghunā viṣṇōrnāmasahasrakam|
पठ्यते पण्डितैर्नित्यं श्रोतुमिच्छाम्यहं प्रभो॥ ४ ॥paṭhyatē paṇḍitairnityaṃ śrōtumicchāmyahaṃ prabhō|| 4 ||
Pārvatī asks: By what light and easy means do the learned recite the thousand names of Viṣṇu every day? That I wish to hear, O Lord.
Bhāvam
Her question turns on the word laghu, light. The learned recite the thousand names every day, and she asks what lighter way they keep for it. The next verse gives the answer.
In this verseViṣṇu
ईश्वर उवाचīśvara uvāca Śiva
श्रीराम राम रामेति रमे रामे मनोरमे।śrīrāma rāma rāmēti ramē rāmē manōramē|
सहस्रनामतत्तुल्यं रामनाम वरानने॥ ५ ॥sahasranāmatattulyaṃ rāmanāma varānanē|| 5 ||
Īśvara answers: 'With the words Śrī Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, I rejoice in Rāma, who delights the mind. The name of Rāma, O fair-faced one, is equal to that hymn of the thousand names.'
Bhāvam
The answer to the question about a lighter way is a name already on every lip, and the verse is built on its sound: the root ram, to rejoice, runs through ramē, rāmē and manōramē, so that saying the name is itself the delight it speaks of. The measure it gives is plain: this one name weighs as much as the thousand.
In this verseRāma
श्रीरामनाम वरानन ओं नम इति॥śrīrāmanāma varānana ōṃ nama iti||
'The name of Śrī Rāma, O fair-faced one.' Ōṃ, homage: so Īśvara's verse is sealed.
In this verseRāma
ब्रह्मोवाचbrahmōvāca Brahmā
नमोऽस्त्वनन्ताय सहस्रमूर्तये सहस्रपादाक्षिशिरोरुबाहवे।namō’stvanantāya sahasramūrtayē sahasrapādākṣiśirōrubāhavē|
सहस्रनाम्ने पुरुषाय शाश्वते सहस्रकोटीयुगधारिणे नमः॥ ६ ॥sahasranāmnē puruṣāya śāśvatē sahasrakōṭīyugadhāriṇē namaḥ|| 6 ||
Brahmā offers homage: 'Homage be to the Endless One, of a thousand forms, whose feet, eyes, heads, thighs and arms are a thousand; to the One of a thousand names, the Supreme Person, the Eternal, who bears a thousand crores of ages. Homage!'
Bhāvam
Four times the verse says sahasra, a thousand: forms, limbs, names, ages. It counts the Lord in thousands as a way of saying that He is beyond counting, and the thousand heads, eyes and feet recall the Person whom the Vēdas picture so. The homage opens and closes with the word namaḥ, so that the whole is held within a bow.
In this verseViṣṇu
सहस्रकोटीयुगधारिण ओं नम इति॥sahasrakōṭīyugadhāriṇa ōṃ nama iti||
'To Him who bears a thousand crores of ages.' Ōṃ, homage: so Brahmā's verse is sealed.
In this verseViṣṇu
सञ्जय उवाचsañjaya uvāca Sañjaya
यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पार्थो धनुर्धरः।yatra yōgēśvaraḥ kṛṣṇō yatra pārthō dhanurdharaḥ|
तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम॥ ७ ॥tatra śrīrvijayō bhūtirdhruvā nītirmatirmama|| 7 ||
Sañjaya declares: 'Where Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of yōga, is, and where Arjuna, the bearer of the bow, is, there are Śrī, victory, prosperity and unshaken right conduct. This is my conviction.'
Bhāvam
These are the words with which Sañjaya closes the Bhagavad Gītā, set here at the close of the hymn to the same Kṛṣṇa. He names two, the Lord and the devotee who stands beside Him, and says that where they are, fortune, victory, prosperity and right conduct are also. Fortune is named first, and Śrī is never apart from the Lord whose presence the verse speaks of.
श्रीभगवानुवाचśrībhagavānuvāca Kṛṣṇa
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते।ananyāścintayantō māṃ yē janāḥ paryupāsatē|
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम्॥ ८ ॥tēṣāṃ nityābhiyuktānāṃ yōgakṣēmaṃ vahāmyaham|| 8 ||
The Lord says: 'Those people who think of Me and of no other, and who wait upon Me in worship, ever steadfast: for them I Myself carry the gaining of what they lack and the keeping of what they have.'
Bhāvam
The Lord speaks of the one who holds to Him alone, and promises to carry what such a one needs, both the getting and the keeping. The verb is vahāmi, I carry: the burden passes from the devotee to the Lord.
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्।paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṃ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām|
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय संभवामि युगे युगे॥ ९ ॥dharmasaṃsthāpanārthāya saṃbhavāmi yugē yugē|| 9 ||
The Lord says: 'To protect the good, to destroy evildoers, and to set dharma firmly in its place, I come into being in age after age.'
Bhāvam
The Lord gives three purposes for His coming, and the protection of the good stands first: He comes above all for those who are His. Many of the hymn's names recall such comings, each a deed of this one promise.
आर्ता विषण्णाः शिथिलाश्च भीताः घोरेषु च व्याधिषु वर्तमानाः।ārtā viṣaṇṇāḥ śithilāśca bhītāḥ ghōrēṣu ca vyādhiṣu vartamānāḥ|
सङ्कीर्त्य नारायणशब्दमात्रं विमुक्तदुःखाः सुखिनो भवन्ति॥ १० ॥saṅkīrtya nārāyaṇaśabdamātraṃ vimuktaduḥkhāḥ sukhinō bhavanti|| 10 ||
The afflicted, the despondent, the exhausted and the frightened, and those caught in dreadful diseases, become free from sorrow and happy once they have called aloud the word Nārāyaṇa alone.
Bhāvam
The verse speaks to those with least strength to give: the distressed, the discouraged, the weak, the afraid and the ill. What it asks of them is the smallest thing, a single word, and what it promises is the greatest, release from sorrow and a happy heart.
In this verseViṣṇu
कायेन वाचा मनसेन्द्रियैर्वा बुद्ध्याऽऽत्मना वा प्रकृतेः स्वभावात्।kāyēna vācā manasēndriyairvā buddhyā’’tmanā vā prakṛtēḥ svabhāvāt|
करोमि यद्यत् सकलं परस्मै नारायणायेति समर्पयामि॥ ११ ॥karōmi yadyat sakalaṃ parasmai nārāyaṇāyēti samarpayāmi|| 11 ||
Whatever I do, with body or speech, with mind or senses, with intellect or with my very self, or from the bent of my own nature, all of it I offer up to the Supreme, to Nārāyaṇa.
Bhāvam
The verse names every channel through which a person acts, and then the nature beneath them, so that no part of a life is left out; one line gathers it all into a single offering. It is the prayer of one who gives the doing, and the doer, to Nārāyaṇa, the Lord whom Śrī never leaves.
In this verseViṣṇu
॥ इति श्री विष्णुसहस्रनामस्तोत्रं समाप्तम्॥|| iti śrī viṣṇusahasranāmastōtraṃ samāptam||
Thus the sacred hymn of the thousand names of Viṣṇu is complete.
In this verseViṣṇu
Text: prapatti.com, Śrīmad Āṇḍavan Āśramam edition prepared by Sunder Kidāmbi. Sources.