365. viksharah
367. mArgah
368. hetuh
369. dAmodarah
370. sahah
371. mahIdharah
372. mahI-bhAgah
373. vegavAn
374. amitASanah
om viksharAya namahom rohitAya namahom mArgAya namahom hetave namahom dAmodarAya namahom sahAya namahom mahI-dharAya namahom mahA-bhAgAya namahom vegavate namahom amitASanAya namah
He who never wanes.om viksharAya namahSrI Sankara bhAshyam is "vigatah ksharah (nASo) yasya asau viksharah" - Onewho has no decay. SrI BhaTTar gives the interpretation that bhagavAn's lovefor His devotees never diminishes, and He is vikshara by this reason.366. rohitah - He who is of red complexion.om rohitAya namah.kamala garbhAbatvAt rohitah - He who has the red color of the inside of alotus. SrI v.v.rAmAnujan gives reference to tiruvAimozhi - 8.4.7: "tirucceyya kamalak kaNNum Sev-vAyum SevvaDiyum Seyya kaiyum tiruc-ceyya kamalaundiyum Seyya kamala mArbum". Seyya here means reddish colored, kamalameans lotus.rohita also refers to a species of fish, and SrI Sankara has given thealternate interpretation that it can refer to His matsya incarnation, in theform of a reddish hued fish.SrI satyadevo vAsishTha derives the meaning from the root ruh - bIja janmaniprAdurbhAve ca - to grow, to increase, to rise, to reach, and gives theinterpretation "prAdurbhavati iti rohitah - One who expresses Himself or Onewho causes all beings to express themselves is rohitah.
He who is sought after.om mArgAya namah.mArgyate iti mArgah - He is mArgah because He is always sought after by Hisworshippers. SrI v.v.rAmAnujan gives reference to tiruvAi mozhi nURRandAdi91 - "tAL aDaindAr ta~ngatku tAnE vazhit-tuNaiyAm kALa-megattai" - Heaccompanies and shows the way to those who have surrendered to Him. SrISankara gives an additional intepretation - He is mArga because He shows theway for the attainment of Supreme Bliss. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri givesanother aspect - After the Universe disappears at the time of praLaya, it isHe who is the way for the world's re-appearance.
The Cause.om hetave namah.He is the cause for the realization of the desires of His devotees. SriSankara gives the interpretation that He is both the instrumental andmaterial cause of the Universe.The dharma cakram writer nicely distinguishes between bhagavAn the Cause,and bhagavAn the effects. He points out that in general we see the effects,but we don't see the cause behind the effects as easily. This is true inthe different aspects of life - we use the Universe, but we don't understandbhagavAn who is the Cause of the Universe. We see the body, but we don'tsee the five elements which are the constituents of this body. He isvisible only to the yogi-s and the j~nAni-s as the Cause of the Universe.
1) He who has the worlds in His belly.2) One who was tied around His waist by ropes by YaSodA3) One who has happiness for His devotees4) One who is attained by observances such as damA.om dAmodarAya namah.The word dAma can refer to a rope, the worlds, happiness, etc. The wordudaram means belly. Based on these, there are different interpretations.1) udare dAmAni asya iti dAmodarah - One who has all the worlds in Hisbelly. This interpretation is supported by vyAsa's words: "dAmAni loka nAmAni tAni yasya udara antare | tena dAmodaro devah SrIdharah Sri-samASritah || (attributed tovyAsa but no reference given)2) dAmnA udare baddha iti dAmodarah - One who was tied around His waist witha cord. The support for this interpretation is from brahma purANa: "tayor madhya-gatam baddham dAmnA gADham tayodare | tataSca dAmodaratAm sa yayau dAma bandhanAt || (brahmapuRaNa 76.14)(Note: The reference to the above is given differently in the differentvyAkhyAna-s as stanzas 5.6.20, 184.41, and 76.14. Since I do not have acopy of brahma purANa with me, I could not verify the correct reference. Ifany of our readers have the original source, please verify the correctreference and let me know. I would sincerely appreciate it).SrI v.v.rAmAnujan refers us to divya prabandham - veNNei vizhu~nga veguNDuAicci kaNNik kayiRRinAl kaTTat tAn kaTTuNDirundAn - mUnRAm tiruvantAdi.SrI A. SrInivAsa rAghavAcArya svAmi in his interpretation in tamizh in SrInRsimha priyA points out that the act of bhagavAn willingly getting Himselftied around with a rope just demonstrates that He becomes abhakta-para-tantran i.e., He subjects Himself to His devotees' wishes. Inthis case, He subjected Himself to yaSodA's wish that He be constrained bythe rope. He even shed tears when He was tied in order to please her.3) SrI BhaTTar gives an additional interpretation based on "devAnAm sukhasamSitvAt dAmAt dAmodaram viduh" (udyoga parva 71.9)- They know Him asdAmodara because He has "dAma" or joy, indicating happiness for the gods.4) SrI Sankara has given the additional interpretation - damAdi sAdhanenaudarA (utkRshTA) matih (yA tayA gamyata) iti dAmodarah - One who is knownthrough the mind which is purified (udarA or utkRshTA) by means ofself-control (dama) and other qualities. He gives the support frommahAbhArata - damAt dAmodaro viduh (udyoga parva 5.69.8).The dharma cakram writer very nicely remarks that the One who was tied bythe rope can be known only by "tieing" or controlling the pa~nca indriya-sand directing them towards Him and His service. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstripoints out that this nAma has the greatness that at the same time it showsthe greatness of bhagavAn in having the whole Universe inside Him and thesimplicity of being tied by a rope and contained by His devotee.
He who has patience.om sahAya namah.sahate iti sahah. SrI BhaTTar links this nAma to the previous one bypointing that He patiently accepted being tied by the rope as dAmodara.nammAzhvAr sings this patience of Lord kRshNa - ettitRam! uralinODuiNaindirundu E~ngiya eLivE (tiruvAimozhi 1.3.1) - referenced by SrIv.v.rAmAnujan. SrI Sankara vyAkhyAna is that He forgives the lapses of Hisdevotees - sahate sarvAn abhibhavati iti sahah. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstripoints out that He bears the burden of the Universe for the sake of thewelfare of the creatures in the Universe. The dharma cakram writer pointsout that He patiently waits till we attain the maturity needed to reach Himand be united with Him. He also refers to the incident where He put up withSiSupAla's abusive words more than a hundred times and had given word toSiSupAla's mother to that effect.
The Supporter of the Earth.om mahIdharAya namah.This nAma occurred earlier as nAma 319. There the meanings given were thatHe supports the earth by ridding it of evil-doers, or that He accepts thepUjA from the devotees.Under the current nAma, SrI Sankara gives the interpretation that He bearsthe Earth in the shape of mountains. He gives reference to vishNu purANa -vanAni vishNur girayo diSaSca - 2.12.37) - The forests, mountains, anddirections are all vishNu. He bears the earth by propping it up in the formof mountains. SrI v.v.rAmAnujan refers to His bearing the Earth between Histeeth in His varAha incarnation - eyiRRu iDai maN koNDa endai - periyAzhvArtirumozhi 5.2.3.
He who is extremely Fortunate.om mahA-bhAgAya namah.SrI BhaTTar explains that Lord kRshNa has the good fortune (mahA bhAgya) ofbeing chosen for service as their Lord by the cowherdess nILa, sixteenthousand celestial damsels, rukmiNi, satyabhAmA, jAmbavati, and others. SrIv.v.rAmAnujan refers us to tiruvAomozhi - vaDivu iNai illA malar-magaLmaRRum maN-magaL piDikkum mel-aDiyAn - 9.2.10.SrI Sankara gives the vyAkhyAna that He is fortunate in being able to takeany form He likes, or He who gets the best of everything in Hisincarnations.SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri points out that He is mahAbhAgah because He gets themajor (mahA)portion (bhAga) of any offering as He likes. He refers us tothe incident of the offering by the gopa-s to the govardhana giri instead ofto indra at the insistance of kRshNa. Lord kRshNa appeared at the top ofthe govaradhana mountain and accepted all the offerings.
He who is quick.om vegavate namah.SrI BhaTTar points out that even when He was child kRshNa, His actions weredisplaying His irresistible supremacy and Lordship. SrI v.v.rAmAnujanrefers us to theincident of pUtanA, SakaTAsura, lifting of govardhana giri at the tip of thefinger, etc. tiruvAi mozhi 6.4 is full of these incidents. SrIrAdhAkRshNa SAstri points to the incident of rukmiNi svayamvaram as anexample of the quickness of action that He displays. SrI cinmayAnanda givesthe interpretation that He reaches His devotees fast the moment they thinkof Him because He is everywhere and all-pervading.SrI Sankara interprets the nAma in terms of the ISopanishad declaration (4)"anejadekam manso javIyah - He is unmoving, but at the same time faster thanthe mind". The context here is that He is inside us, but no amount ofreasoning with our mind can decipher Him and figure Him out. He cannot beunderstood by reason and logic alone, since even a lifetime of reasoningwith the mind that is faster than anything that is known will not result inrealizing Him.
a) The voracious Eater.b) He who gives unlimited supply of food to His creations.om amiTaSanAya namah.amitam aSnAti iti amitASanah - One who eats huge quantities. SrI BhaTTarpoints out that Lord kRshNa displayed His greatness, among other acts, byswallowing the unlimited quantity of food offered to govardhana giri, makingthe cowherds exclaim in wonder - "devo vA dAnavo vA tvam" - "Who are you - adeva or an asura?" - vishNu purANam 5.13.121. SrI v.v.rAmAnujan refers usto divya prabandham - aTTuk-kuruvi SORRup-paruppadamum tayir vAviyumneyyaLarum aDa~ngap poTTattuRRu - One who in a fraction of a second consumeda huge amount of rice heaped like a mountain, a huge amount of curd thatlooked like a canal, ghee that was poured like a big puddle, plenty ofvegetables, etc. (periyAzhvAr tirumozhi 3.5.1), and to "kArEzh kaDalEzhmalai Ezhulagu uNDum ArA vayiRRAn - tiruvAi mozhi 10.9.2. This nAma issimilar to nAma 304 - mahASanah.SrI Sankara interprets the nAma in terms of His swallowing the wholeUniverse at the time of praLaya. SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri points out thatthere is nothing that He cannot digest, since He is the jATarAgni thatdigests the food that every being consumes - aham vaiSvAnaro bhUtvA ....pacAmyannam caturvidham (gItA 15.14). The dharma cakram writer points outthat we can neither live and grow without eating, nor live without digestingthe food we eat, and both are made possible by Him, and this is siginifiedby this nAma.SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives the above interpretation, as well as analternate interpretation - amitAn prANinah ASayati = bhojayati itiamitASanah - He is amitASanah because He gives unlimited supply of food toHis creation, which is itself immeasurable.
-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan