Vishnu Sahasranaam

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Parama Aatman. In Vishnu Purana this Supreme is glorified as Maha Vishnu

(Paramaatmaa)”-Vishnu Purana 6.4.10... (12) Muktaanaam paramaa gatih -He who

is the final Goal, that is reached by all the liberated souls. The limitations

and bondages lived through by man are in fact the destiny of the matter

vestures. Through delusion of un-understanding, we identify with them and come

to suffer the consequent sense of imperfections. To liberate ourselves from the

thraldom of matter is to realize the Self. Hence the Truth is defined as the

Supreme Goal of the emancipated. This ‘Goal’ to be attained is called as

‘Gati’ in Sanskrit, “The Supreme Goal” (Paramaa Gatih) would necessarily be

then that Goal, having reached which, there is no return: “There where having

gone, men never return, That sacred place is My seat”-Geeta Ch. 15. St. 6. In

Geeta. (Ch. 8. St. 6) even more explicitly the same

idea has been asserted by Sri Krishna when He says: “O Son of Kunti, having

reached Me, there shall be no more any re-birth”. Again, He defines the final

Goal as “That having reached no return again” – Geeta Ch. 15, st.4. (13)

Avyaah –“Vyaya” means destruction; destruction cannot be without change;

therefore, that which is “without destruction” (Avyayah) is the changeless. The

Indestructible, and therefore, changeless, can never have any modifications

(Parinaama). For, modification is but the death of a previous condition and the

birth of a new condition. The Eternal and the Immutable (Avyayah) is the Supreme

Sat-chit- aananda, and every other thing and being come under the hammer or

change. The medium in which all these changes are sustained is Brahman, the

Immutable. The Upanishads glorify Him as “Ajaro Amaro Avyayah”-without old age,

death or change. (14) Purushah

-One who dwells in the Fort-city (Puri sete iti Purushah). Herein metaphorically

the Rishis conceive our body as a fortress with nine gate-ways-“Nava Dvaarc Pure

Dehee”-(Geeta Ch. 5, St. 13) -and declare the One who rules within it, like a

king, is the Self. This term can also be dissolved in two more different ways

giving more and more suggestions to the nature of the Self. Thus, Purusha can

mean “That which was before all creatures” -Puraa Aaseet iti Purushah or it can

be “One who completes and fulfils the Existence everywhere”, meaning, without

whom Existence is impossible (Poorayati iti Purushah). This Aatman remains in

the bodies of living creatures as their individuality (Jeeva) and in all the

activities, physical, mental and intellectual, Aatman is not in fact involved

but He is therein only an observer of all that is happening. This will become

clear in the following discussion. (15)

Saakshee -Witness. In every day life he is a witness who without any mental

reservation or personal interest observes and watches what is happening in a

given field of experience. “Saakshaad Drashtari Saakshee syaad-Amarakosa. “The

‘Knower’ in every bosom is the same Supreme Self”, says Lord Krishna (Geeta Ch.

13, St. 3). Though thus Consciousness illumines everything, It is only a

Witness, as It knows no change. Just as the sun illumines every thing in the

world and yet the Sun is not affected by the condition of the things it is

illumining, so too Vishnu, the Supreme, illumines all, without Itself

undergoing any change. According to Paanini Sutras the word Saakshee is

derived from “Sa +akshi”, meaning “direct perceiver”. (16) Kshetrajnah -One

who knows the body and all the experiences from within the body, is the

Knower-of-the- field, Kshetrajnah. As Brahmapurana would put it: Bodies are

‘fields’

and the Atman illumines them all without an effort, and therefore, is called

Knower-of-the-field, Kshetrajnah”. (17) Aksharah -lndestructible: things

which are finite are necessarily conditioned by time and space; the Infinite is

unconditioned, and so It is Aksharah. Since It is Indestructible, It cannot come

under the methods of universal destruction arising from nature or through the

wilful actions of man. “It cannot be cleaved by instruments of destruction, nor

can fire burn It, nor water drench It, nor air dry It”-(Geeta Ch. 2, St. 23). It

is also indicated that the Supreme Brahman is the Akshara-“Aksharam Brahma

Paramam” -(Geeta Ch. 8, St. 3). Please note that in the stanza there is the

extra word ‘only’ (Eva) used, indicating that Kshetrajnah is the Aksharah;

there is no difference between them both: the “Knower-of-the-field” and the

“field”. http://groups.msn.com/