Vishnu Sahasranama - Thousand Ways To The Transcendental

[meera]

Hari Om..

481. अक्षरम – Aksharam = Imperishable

Bhagawan is that substratum upon which the changing movie screen of life is being projected. If it wasn’t for this changeless substratum, the changes we see, know, experience, cannot be see, known or experienced.

But as truth goes, it is this Aksharam that we do not see, cannot see, but which we may know by looking beyond the Kshara front. For example when we see a beautiful bangle we are so enraptured by its beauty that we get involved in its outward appearance, not noticing the gold that holds it together. When we meet a difficult human, we get so irritated by some seemingly difficult traits of his upadhis (which are Kshara) not noticing Brahman who enlivens him. When we see a successful project completed, we proudly post it on our website with the tag, ‘My recent achievement/accomplishment’, forgetting to see the Akshara purusha behind, who enabled the success by providing all that was necessary.

This manifest world is the creation of Bhagawan but it is dependent on other things that are changing all the time. As a result, the world too is changing. Since the world depends on other things for its existence, it is Kshara. But inherent in the world is Bhagawan as the Aksharam, which causes the changes. So climatic changes, political changes, population changes, peace changes, war changes, changes in prosperity, food, water... all these happen against the Akshara Bhagawan. Thus while things change, there is a factor that supports the goings on of change, an entity that cognizes the change. This entity is Narayana, Akshara.

There is a verse in the Isavasya Upanishad:

tadEjati tannaijati taddUrE tadvantikE |
tadantarasya sarvasya tadu sarvasyAsya bAhyataH || 5 ||

The meaning is: It moves; It does not move;
It is far; It is near too;
It is within everything. It is outside everything!

A pot immersed in the ocean, has water within and outside it. The water inside is called pot water, the water outside is ocean water. Now if the pot breaks, nothing will happen to the water. It does not break when the pot breaks. Further there cannot be separated pot water and ocean water as two entities. This is what this verse points to. While it also points to the Akshara Purusha as the support of all things Kshara. These are typically names and forms of the Akshara Himself. In and through all this, Akshara aspect remains unchanging, unchanged, sthirah, constant. Just as pot water is a naam-roop, bangle, chain is naam roop of gold, and so on. But if the gold is removed, there will be no bangle, sadly. If we understand Kshara like this, we will understand Akshara.

Om Aksharaay Namah!
ॐ अक्षराय नमः
SALUTATIONS TO THE CHANGELESS ONE

[murugans61]

Hari OM

482) Avijnaataa - The Non-knower.

pranams

[meera]

Hari Om..

482. अविज्ञाता – Avigyaata = The Non-Knower

Vijnata is one who is aware, who understands. The jiva, as the BMI, considers himself the doer, the enjoyer, the thinker. This is the state as long as he believes he is the doer and this is his ignorance. The jiva is thus a vijnata, because he is conscious that he is the doer. He carries a keen sense of doership.

Meanwhile, Bhagawan is the Consciousness that enlivens the jiva and in His presence it is that the jiva acts. Bhagawan is not the doer and He also knows so. He knows He is the consciousness in the BMI vestments of the jiva.

Bhagwan is saakshi maatra; the witness principle who is the Knower.

But the jiva because he is ignorant of who is the real Doer, thinks he is the doer. This makes him vijnata. This is simple knowledge, not real knowledge. It is based on what the senses perceive and is not based on relaisation. But when the jiva realises, attains Realisation, he comes to understand who is the Doer. Once this knowledge sets in, once his ignorance drops, he becomes Avijnata .

But Bhagawan always knows who is the doer. But He is not contaminated by upadhis, by matter vestments. He is Pure Consciousness, whereas the knowing of doership happens in the BMI. He does not see Himself as Perceiver Feeler Thinker. But the jiva does.

Since Bhagawan does not carry any distorted knowledge of doership, hence He is Avijnata.


Om Avignatre Namah.
ॐ अविज्ञात्रे नमः
SALUTATIONS TO THE ONE WHO IS WITHOUT THE
ATTRIBUTES OF A JIVA (LIKE PERCEIVER, FEELER,
THINKER, ETC)

[murugans61]

Hari OM

483) Sahasra-amsuh - The thousand-rayed.

pranams

[meera]

Hari Om..

483. सहस्रांशु: - sahasramshu = The thousand rayed

The Sun is called Sahasraamshuh in Sanskrit. And ‘like' the sun, Bhagawan is personified as having thousand rays or thousands of rays.

The derived meaning of Rays can be to illuminate as well as to radiate. To illuminate would be to throw light on a thing and make it be seen, known; or to nourish another thing with one’s light. Therefore to be a source of light too. To radiate is to exude light from one self so as to make oneself known, visible, understood.

In Naam 141, we met Bhagawan as the Effulgent One, Bhrajishnuh. The One owing to whose ‘presence’ other things are known. Which intends to say that mere physical eyes (golaka) are not enough; the Presence of the Illuminator is needed.

The real import of this naam is that while the literal illumination in the form of light is shared into bodies like the Sun, Moon, Stars... the figurative illumination being expressed here is of One who makes things known. For knowledge is light. So Gurudev gives us the Mundakopanishad II-ii-10 to say that tameva bhaantamanubhaati sarvam tasya bhaasaa sarvamidam vibhaati

Which means: no thing or light can reveal Consciousness, for it is Consciousness that reveals all things. Even scriptures and shaastras cannot reveal Bhagawan/Consciousness, why, it is Consciousness that reveals even the scriptures!

This thousand rayed One is He who will make Himself known to us via His own effulgence which He radiates off Him. But I am blinded by my own desires and definitions of ‘I’ so that even when the Effulgent One shines forth I see Him not. Point being, right now, ‘I’ is my body, mind, intellect and I worship these desire generating machines. When I have shed the darkness causing desires, when I come to see that ‘I’ am not the BMI at all, the night will end because the Effulgent One would have risen with His thousand rays in me. Then I will see that I stand revealed.

So Bhagawan as Sahasramshuh in fact reveals not Himself, but our ignorance. And when our own ignorance is revealed to us, then we come to admit that ‘I’ am in fact, not B or M or I. That this BMI complex is just a vahana that I am travelling in, how did I think I am the car, the fuel system and the carburettor? Once I realise that I am ignorant, that I am not the matter vestures, simultaneously is seen that which I am in fact, Brahman.

So Sahasramshuh is He who reveals (my) vikshepa (misapprehension, misunderstanding, hence ignorance) by showing that that which I am has been concealed all along (avarna, veiling). Both need illumination and self radiation. That is Bhagawan. So we see that we don;t need to know God; we only need to know that what we think we are, we are not....that knowing needs the Thousand Rays.


Om sahasrAmSave namah
ॐ सहस्रांशवे नमः
SALUTATIONS TO THE ONE WHO HAS A
THOUSAND RAYS (LORD SURYANARAYANA)

[murugans61]

Hari OM

484) Vidhaataa- All supporter. The Lord is at once the material, instrumental and the effficient causes for the universe of forms.

pranams

[meera]

Hari Om..

484. विधाता – Vidhaata = The final, essential substratum for everything, support of everything.

We know Bhagawan is the Cause of everything, the creator, the sustainer. As creator He is both Ksharam and Aksharam, He is Sat and Asat. All these things emerge out of Him, as His form and name, as His expressions, applying themselves to different experiences.

He that supports all things in creation is Vidhaata.
In naam 44, we met Bhagawan as Vidhaata, and then we said He is the giver of the karmaphala to devotees, to people. Dispenser of the fruits of all actions. No one else can don this role. Likewise He fulfils all the desires of people (vividhah). Then again, He provides a variety of experiences to people to help exhaust their vasanas.

So His role is that of a care giver, provider, a Father. At the physical level, He knows our needs, He fulfils them. At the mental level He knows our weaknesses, He provides us the experiences to destroy the weak aspects of the mind. And in parallel, He watches over the slow dissolution of the mind through this process of experiences, Knowledge and lessons so that gradually the jiva learns what is unreal, asat, mithya and drops these, thereby adopting Satya. He is that One who endures our errors, bad behaviours, our regrets, our penance (paschataap), our bhakti, our tapas, our frustrations and as the ever dear Agranee, leads us towards the Goal.

Om Vidhaatre Namah!

At the intellectual level He tolerates our logic and reasoning in trying to decode Him, in understanding Bhagawan. He works with us and negates all those false ideations that are obstacles in trying to understand the Lord.

At a spiritual level He as Agranee helps us bear our sadhana failures, our frustrations, our lack of faith, vishwas, shraddhha and keeps providing us the support so that our sadhana gets stronger. He is truly Vidhaata! Only other jivas see failure as a negative, sin as a bad thing. For the Lord, all these are thorns and stones on which we have to hurt our feet so that we slow down on the path of moh-maya and samsara, which gives us the time to lick our wounds and ponder over our foolishness.

He is Vidhaatr, giver. He gives us disappointments and sorrow as scrubbers to obtain chitta shuddhi and wash off our sins, while also giving us joy and happiness in between as rewards, breaks.

He supports the earth physically as Adi Sesa and subsequently as the sun, moon etc that nourish plant kingdom. He supports the collective mind Hiranyagarbha. He supports all creation by creating Laws that will help all creation live in orderly manner.

He is Vidhaata.

Om Vidhaatre Namah!

ॐ विधात्रे नमः
SALUTATIONS TO THE SUPPORTER OF THE UNIVERSE

[murugans61]

HariOM

485) Krita-lakshanah - One who is famous because of six-qualities , such as glory,righteousness,fame,wealth,knowledge, and detachment.

Pranams

[meera]

Hari Om..

485. कृतलक्षण: - Kritalakshana = Maker of the Goal to be achieved.

Krita of the Lakshana.

There is a path we are on. We got onto it (began) with a good intention (shubbecchha) and we expect this path to reach us to our destination.

This destination is the Home that the Lord made for us. To which we belong. Where He wishes for us to return. To enable which, He is ever present in us as our Parameshthi (naam 419, One readily available for experience in the Supreme Cave of the Heart!)

Bhagawan has put us through samsara to be rid of samsara. Like you set a thief to catch a thief or cut a diamond with a diamond. But in and through all this, He is with us.

The path to Him is made by Him.
The desire to get onto the path is also His grace.
The experiences on this Path, are also His lila.
The failures on this path are also His kindness.
The joys on this path are out of His regrets that we suffer. (Like a mother who hugs her child after punishing him..., unable to bear his sadness at being punished.)

He is thus Parigrahah (naam 420 – the Receiver of our offerings) and the Ugrah (naam 421 – the Terrible One who gives fear to the evil). Both have to coexist while we walk this Path.

The ribbon finish, the Goal, is where He waits for us. This goal cannot be a stand alone. It is not a point in time or space. It is the outcome of the shubbechha, the experiences, the path and the effort we apply to walk this path. All these are the Goal. That is how He resides in our hearts, the hearts of the shubbhechhu शुभेच्छु | He rises as the desire (shubha icchha), sustains it with a variety of experiences in each of which He manifests as teacher and mother/parent, guides us along the way as Agranee, and leads us to the Goal He has for us.

He made these. This goal was/is designed by Him. Let us stay assured.

He made these clear lakshanas (marks, goals) with which we may understand the Lord. These are laid out in the Shaastras, in the Vedas. It is the pramaana for our sadhana. It is the Word that assures us about the path we are on. He is Kritalakshana because He taught these to Arjuna, revealed these to Brahma, rescued these (from Hayagriva).

Another meaning attributed to Kritalakshana is from the Puranas, where it is said that the great mark of Maharshi Bhrigu’s feet are on the Lord’s chest, a mark He left there as a means for us to visualise the Lord.

Om Kritalakshanaay Namah!
ॐ कृतलक्षणाय नमः
SALUTATIONS TO THE ONE WHO GAVE OUT THE
LAKSHANAS OR SASTRAS

stanza meaning will be posted by end of day or late night

[meera]

Hari Om..

Stanza 51

धर्मंगुब्धर्मकृत धर्मी सद्सत्क्षर मक्षरम |
अविज्ञाता सहस्रांशु विधाता कृतलक्षण: || ५१||

Dharmagubdharmakrit dharmee sadasatksharamaksharam|
Avigyaata sahasraamshurvidhaata kritalakshana || 51||

This stanza dissects keenly the aspects of knowing, knowledge, the known and the knower; in fact also the one seeking to know, but then it soon concludes that the seeker of knowledge is the Known. All the naams here point towards all these and hence Bhagawan as the superset of all these. Just as (say) when we are held upfront close to a huge elephant and cannot get a distance view, we say the ears are like that of an elephant, the skin is like that of an elephant, the body is huge like an elephant’s,,, and eventually we say, Oh but this IS an elephant... likewise the knowing, the known, the one seeking to know, the knowledge.. are all different ‘views’ of Bhagawan. When Bhagawan tries to know, He is me the seeker; what I try to know is He; the methods I adopt to know Him, is He...and so on.

So this stanza negates, affirms, convinces, and finally concludes that what we all seek to know is the One of six glories, the very Goal where we are/were being led to anyway by our dear Agranee! So, what we seek is where we land and the path of Knowledge that leads up to there is governed by the Lord.

And this Lord is everything. He makes the Law, is the Law, He supports the Law. He is all things existing, He is all things unreal, He is all things perishable and all things imperishable.... Yet the Law that He has created to govern this creation cannot be known easily. The jiva grapples with Asat and Ksharam to reach the Sat and Aksharam to reach the Vidhaata.

The Lord is Dharma. This is the fundamental axis on which the jiva is hoisted and led onward. Every aspect of Creation works on the pivot of Dharma. Everything in Creation has a Law that is core to its existence. Like the wetness of water. The jiva too has his dharma. But he knows it not. This human life has been given to him to unravel his dharma, adhere to it and doing so, reach Brahman. But the law is concealed (Dharmagup). This dharma lies concealed by the very nature of things.

Yet this Dharma has been made by Bhagawan (Dharmakrit). Every item in creation must have its own law by which it must abide, this is the bigger plan of the Lord. Even in the yagna theory of Ch 4 of Gita, we come to realise that it is in abiding by my nature that I do best towards a yagna.

Both these make Him Dharmee, the supporter of Dharma, the owner of the Law. To know the Lord, to reach Him, we need to understand His law. This is actually a very important aspect to understand. To attain Bhagawan we have to first align our life with His dharma, with the dharma that He has ascribed to us, by which we have to abide. Without that, nothing else has meaning.

So the components of this Dharma are Sat, Asat, Ksharam and Aksharam. The Supreme Consciousness, Bhagawan, manifests as all things created, the world we may say. That is how we come to understand the existence principle, as in when we say, I am, the table is. But in understanding the Law, we come to see that I myself am made up of Sat and asat, Ksharam and Aksharam. The body is perishable, yet I am. Bhagawan as Consciousness enlivens my matter equipment and thus I say I am. But I need to go beyond the manifested (Asat) and know the Existence that never perishes (Sat). He is the unchanging substratum upon which all creation rises and falls as waves do in the Ocean. The fall of the wave does not reduce the Ocean or its identity. Like the wave is a form of the water in the ocean, so is the jiva.

Beyond the manifested is Bhagawan as the power driver. When the body falls, He still is. Both Sat and Asat are He. The body is He and the life force is He.

But the law of creation has been so designed that what is manifested is perishable (Ksharam). Some perish soon, some perish at the end of a kalpa. If we probe deeper, we will see that Bhagawan manifests as creation and takes on the quality of suffering from mutation. What appears to perish is nothing but the changeless Brahman appearing to mutate.

But beyond the seeming perishable is the imperishable, immutable, ever Existent Consciousness, Brahman. Aksharam. It is this unchanging, never changing, non-changeable Essence that allows the cognition of the changing. Like if I change from a blue t-shirt to a yellow t-shirt, you can say that X has changed her t-shirt. You are able to attribute that change to X because behind the clothes is the essential X. Likewise we see trees flowering, fruit ripening, and come autumn we see the fall of all leaves and the tree go barren...all this is change upon the unchanging Creation, the unchanging wearer of these clothes.

The jiva may say he knows all this. May develop an intellectual understanding of these laws and hence seemingly of Bhagawan. But this knowledge cannot take one to Bhagawan. Even if He is the owner of these laws, maker of these laws, these laws itself, one cannot attain the Lord by knowing all this; but only by Grace. So even if the jiva experiences doership, the knowing of doership happens in the BMI. Bhagawan is the Consciousness behind this doership, but he does experience the PFT or carry any distorted knowledge of doership, hence He is Avijnata.

Knowledge is light or light is what reveals knowledge. All that we seek to know about the Lord are if a 1000 rays. These are revealed to us through the light (Sahasraamsuh) that replaces the darkness of ignorance in us. This sahasramsuh reveals to us our ignorance as well as reveals to us the knowledge that lies in the dark in us.

The receiving of Knowledge, the grace that reveals Knowledge is a karmaphala that Bhagawan as Vidhaata gives us. He is the vidhaatra who (as he shepherds us towards the Goal) gives us the grace of knowing.

For, that Goal also is His, created by Him. Kritalakshanah. The experiences that we need to flush out our vaasanas are also created /designed by Him. The shubbheccha that rises in us urging us to give up all this to find out all That, is also His creation and design. In toto, all these are created by Him with a view to attaining the Goal. Kritalakshanah.

So we saw the components of Knowledge, how they can be roadblocks and how they were designed to ensure we purge our vaasanas, develop shubbhechha and receive the Grace of Knowing Him.


Hari Om..

[murugans61]

Hari OM

Stanza 52

gabhastinemih sattvasthah simho bhootamahesvarah
aadidevo mahaadevo deveso devabhrit guruh.

486) Gabhastinemih - The Centre of the Supreme planetary system.

pranams

[murugans61]

Hari OM

487) Sattvasthah - Abiding in Sattva

Pranams

[meera]

Hari Om..

486. गभस्तिनेमिः – Gabhastinemih = The Center of the Supreme Planetary System,


--- the hub that casts light upon all else.

So if we visualise a central light giving source, we will see light rays emitting from it. This light source at the center is called Nemi and the rays that pour out like the spokes of a wheel, are called Gabhasti.

If Bhagawan is called Gabhastinemih, then it means He is the source or hub of light and the rays that emit therefore, forming a fabulous glowing aura. This reconciles with His definition as Sahasramshuh (483), One with a 1000 rays of light of Knowledge. Naturally then we can see that He is the source of Knowledge, the hub, the nemih, and this Light is radiated all round so that we come ‘to know’, ‘to see’, ‘to perceive’, ‘to feel’, ‘to understand’, ‘to hear’...

At a physical level, as Sahasramshuh, the Sun, He is at the center of the planetary system and it is around Him that the entire planetary (and solar) system works. Hence we also glorify Him as Suryanarayana...the One who remains in the center of all the planetary bodies.

At our individual level, Gabhastinemih is the Atman, the soul, the inner Consciousness that enlivens all our matter vestments, our five sheaths or kosha-s and our three states of awareness. It is the inner Sun that causes us to become aware of the outer world via our BMI. The Consciousness it is that activates the BMI. Like the physical sun, Consciousness too is at the hub of our life. It is the Consciousness at the center that enlives the jiva, who like the planetary system derives his actions, thoughts etc thanks to the enlivener at the center, at the core, the wheel of life.

At a deeper level, the knowing of a thing has at its core Bhagawan as Gabhastinemih, the One who makes things knowable and known. The golaka (physical sense and limb apparatus) cannot perform their dharma if not enabled, powered by Consciousness. So He is thus the Eye of the eye and so on, as the Kenopanishad says:

Not that which the eye can see, but that whereby the eye can see:
Not that which the ear can hear, but that whereby the ear can hear:
Not that which speech can illuminate, but that by which speech can be illuminated:
Not that which the mind can think, but that whereby the mind can think:
He is The One Power that illumines everything and every one ....

.... the known, the knower, the knowledge and the process of knowing...the Great Illuminator..

Om Gabhastinemaye namah!
ॐ गभस्तिनेमये नमः
SALUTATIONS TO THE ONE WHO ENLIGHTENS EVERYTHING BY HIS EFFULGENCE (ALSO SUN)

[meera]

Hari Om..

487. सत्त्वस्थः – sattvasthah = Found in Sattvah, abiding in Sattvah

Sattva + sthah , where sthah means ‘to abide’, ‘to reside’, ‘to be’, ‘to remain’....Sattva thus has many meanings and they have to be examined.

Sattva is a guna that is a state of unactivity (as defined in the Gita) which is desirelessness for action, for results therefore. Sattva is also defined as goodness, purity (from sinfulness) and so on. The idea then is that where Bhagawan is there has to be Sattva because evil or sin or impurity or dishonesty cannot tolerate the presence of the Lord.

Hence He is Sattvasthah because He is available in Sattva, rather, where He is, where He abides, where He remains, there is sattva. Also, sattva as a quality is so beautiful to see, to feel, to experience, to know...such beauty, such purity is only Bhagawan’s. Hence too He is sattvasthah.

Also, we are being told time and again that Bhagawan as the shepherd, as Agranee is all the time trying to lead us Home. Our willingness to follow Him, to abide in Him are all geared to hearing the music of His flute, the chime of His bells.....if we nurture sattva.

Then again, every jiva has Bhagawan in Him as the Consciousness Principle that enlivens, makes his matter vestments sentient. So no matter what one’s vasanas or prarabdas, everyone has sattva in him which he must consider his asset and employ to eradicate the Tamas and channelize the Rajas.

But specifically speaking, we say a true bhakta has Bhagawan residing in his heart because by the strength of his bhakti he has captured Bhagawan and brought him to reside within....built an altar for Him. When Lord Rama asked Hanumanji what boon he wished for from Him, for all the seva he performed right through the war etc, Hanuman ji requested that the Lord sit in his heart with His weapons.

Bhagawan was taken aback. To Hanuman ji He said, ‘why weapons? Looks so bad! I am there na, why weapons?’ And Hanumanji replied, “This mind can never be trusted. When it will slip, who knows? So if You are present with weapons, You can destroy the weaknesses as they arise!’

In such a pure heart as Hanuman ji’s, where can there be even a shadow of sin? Bhagawan as Sattvasthah resides in Hanumanji’s heart.

Another meaning of Sattav is ‘all beings’. So invoking that same Supreme enlivening Consciousness explanation, we may say, Sattvasthah is He who remains (sthah) in all beings (Sattva).

Om Sattvasthaay Namah!
ॐ सत्त्वस्थाय नमः
SALUTATIONS TO THE ONE WHO DWELLS SPECIALLY IN SATTVA GUNA

[murugans61]

Hari OM

488 ) Simhah - The Lion. Narasimha, who annihilated negative forces.

Pranams

[murugans61]

Hari OM

489) Bhoota- Mahesvarah - The Great Lord of Beings.

pranams

[meera]

Hari Om..

488. सिंह – Simha = The Lion

The reference could be either to Bhagawan’s most inspiring avatar as Narasimha or to His Lordship over everything, like the lion lords over the forest kingdom.

Gurudev also adds that in Sanskrit it is common to use a part of a name to refer to the whole, so that simply saying Bhaama can refer to Satyabhaama. Hence Simha here refers to Bhagawan as Narasimha.

Hiranyakasipu, an asura king performed all kinds of penance to gain total power over others. As a result he chose to declare himself god and oppressed those who would not worship him. His own son Prahlad was a victim of Hiranyakashipu’s obsession with his power, so that the father brought great atrocity upon his son to rid him of his devotion to Bhagawan. As Prahlad prayed steadfastly, Bhagawan assumed the form of half man-half lion and emerged from a pillar in the palace in response to an arrogant question from Hiranyakasipu, “Is your God in this stone pillar?” Emerge He did and destroyed Hiranyakasipu.

This is a manifestation of the Lord to restore Dharma where it was eroding fast to the detriment of society, and to comfort the good Prahlad (paritraanaaya sadunaam).

To my mind, one must see this more as Bhagawan’s protection of His devotee’s sadhana by removing the obstacle in the way of his worship, devotion. Hiranyakashipu the obstacle was removed from Prahlaad’s life and will be removed from other lives when purushaartha is exerted more and more to excel one’s sadhana.

When shraddha and bhakti take form in us, Bhagawan will scare away all obstacles so that our race to the Goal is made speedier, successful and joyous.

This is the real Agranee role...think of simple sheep being shepherded and the wolves preying upon them and Bhagawan the Lion scares the wolves away. In the face of the King of the world, no aspect of creation can obstruct a true devotee. Thus Simha is a metaphor to denote Bhagawan’s Lordship and tyranny over the evil, bad forces.

Om Simhaaya Namah!

ॐ सिंहाय नमः

SALUTATIONS TO THE ONE WHO HAS IRRESISTABLE POWER LIKE THE LION

[murugans61]

HariOM

490) Aadidevah - The first Deity.

Pranams

[meera]

Hari Om..

489. भूतमहेश्वरः – Great Lord of all Beings

Bhuta + maha+ishvara = Beings + great + lord

The status that this naam defines is obvious by now. He is Bhutamaheshwara, the Great Lord of all beings. For He created us, created the world of experiences for us, created the Law that will govern the world, the beings, the flora and the fauna. Bhagawan it is who presides over the actions of all beings by being present in them, residing in them as the enlivening force, the prime witness of everything.

But we are also told that He is the Lord of the devatas. Brahma, Indra, Varuna etc, to whom or in whom He has vested the powers and law so that they may help lesser mortals.

The Bhagvad Gita endorses this Lordship over all beings in chapter 9, where Bhagawan says,
avajānanti māḿ mūḍhā
mānuṣīḿ tanum āśritam
paraḿ bhāvam ajānanto
mama bhūta-maheśvaram

where the last 2 lines mean to convey, ‘I am the Supreme Controller of all living entities.’ This we may expand to understand that the body is made of the panchamaha bhutas, an those are the primary building blocks of creation. The Lord created these and it is with these that every other thing in creation is crafted.
As bhutamaheshwarah, He is not attached to His creation or even the form He assumes from time to time. (Even the panchamahabhutas are He) but these are just forms He takes—recall we met Him as Kshara and Akshara, Sat and Asat. Therefore He assumes form or manifests, as well as He is available without form. Since everything is He, the original cause, and everything is born from Him, He also designs the path of every creature and their duration until being liberated.

This is the Supreme Lord of all things in Creation, our salutations to this Mahabhuteshwara!

Om Bhootamashewaraay Namah!
ॐ भूतमहेश्वराय नमः
SALUTATIONS TO THE SUPREME LORD OF ALL BEINGS

[meera]

Hari Om..

490. आदिदेवः – Aadidevah = The first Deity

All indications in thuis verse point towards describing Bhagawan as the source, the cause, the hub, the origin, the first.

A wheel has a hub, spokes and a rim that holds the spokes on the outside. All the spokes we see, come out of the hub at the center and head outwards and collectively form the rim’s support, on which the wheel rides.

But if there is no hub, the spokes will be a bunch of aluminium wires serving no purpose.

This hub is Bhagawan and He is called Aadidevah. The first. From Him pour forth all else, like rays, like the spokes, that run with the wheel of samsara, as components of samasara.

The Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.6, says

Within the lotus of the heart he dwells, where the nerves meet like the
spokes of a wheel at its hub. Meditate on him as OM. Easily may you
cross the sea of darkness.

This describes the above. We may elaborate on this with the visualisation of all nerves meet the Lord in the cave of the heart, offer their obeisances, receive His energy and run the life of the body.

We met Bhagawan as Aadidevah in naam 334. There we explained, Deva as deriving from ‘div’ – hence diivya, is to be bright or dyotate is to shine; Deva is also defined as one who is a giver of plenty. Naturally since Bhagawan has allocated all the organisation responsibilities to various devatas each and the concomitant powers as well, so that a devata has abundant and infinite amounts of that glory or power. Therefore Bhagawan is the cause of the devas, the suras, the deities who give us our needs.

That they are all subservient to Him is another aspect of His being the Aadidevah. Hence the Taittiriya Up in the Anandavalli says: Out of fear for Him the wind blows, through fear of Him the Sun rises, through fear of Him Agni and Indra, and Death, the fifth, speed!

Thus driving home His Supremacy, Power and Lordship.


ॐ आदिदेवाय नमः

SALUTATIONS TO THE ONE WHO IS THE FIRST OF
ALL BEINGS

PS: There seems to be another explanation that examines Aadi as One who eats etc. I could not understand this. If anyone else knows, kindly explain.