8. Ishwara and Oxygen:
We saw earlier, while discussing AUM, that the oukaara and Makaara could indeed be a tribute to Oxygen and Carbon. We also saw many of the names of the thousand which could really be an attribute to many of the now known scientific facts in Physics and biology, and the primordial creation of this universe and the release of the elemental Hydrogen.
We also have some names which could be thought of as addressing the life-sustaining oxygen and the clever party-animal, carbon. Let us see:

8.1 The name Ishwara, either alone or with adjectives gets mentioned eight times in Sri Vishnusahasranamam, eight being the atomic number of Oxygen. These are:

(1) Pradhaana Purusheswarah: (Sloka 3, Nama 20) The lord of the Universe of Purusha and Prakriti, the union between Laxmi and Lord, Oxygen and Hydrogen.

(2) Ishwaraha: (Sloka 4, Nama 36 and Sloka 9 and Nama 74) One who rules over
everything or has control over creation and destruction.

(3) Sureswara: (Sloka 31, Nama 286) Leader of all those who bestow goodness, the
leading role of Oxygen in the entire Life cycle.

(4) Janeswara: ( Sloka 37, Nama 341) Leader of all those who are born- from the time
one starts breathing, one requires oxygen.

(5) Parameswara: (Sloka 41, Nama 377) Excellent administrator- Parameswara is the
screen (Oxygen) who himself remains unaffected but provides
apparent life and consciousness to the Prakriti to which it is attached.

(6) Dhaneswara: ( Sloka 50, Nama 474) The ocean containing valuable jewels. Indeed,
Laxmi, the Oukara of AUM and Oxygen are part of the ocean which is
the resort of all jewels.

(7) Bhutamaheswara: (Sloka 52, Nama 489) First among all gods.

(8) Sarvavaageeswareswara: (Sloka 86, Nama 802) He is above all gods who have the
power of speech.








8.2 Thus, the Vishnu Sahasranamam praises Lord and pays obeisance to Him in His different forms, keeping all the time the elemental Oxygen which is a part of Him represented by Goddess Laxmi in mind.

9. Chatur and Carbon

9.1 The Namas starting with “Chatur” get chanted twelve times in Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam. Twelve is the atomic number of Carbon. “Chatur” can be interpreted to mean four and also clever. Carbon, the party animal, plays four roles in different combinations and is also very clever. Let us see.

(1) Chaturaatmaa: (Sloka 25, Nama 137) Four manifestations or may also mean
clever and intelligent Atman.

(2) Chaturvyuha: (Sloka 25, Nama 138) Four forms of marshalling the four arms
of the army, Parasarabhattar interprets the name as Sage Vyasa
appearing as Aniruddha in the waking state (Jagrat), as
Pradyumna in the dream state (swapna), Sangarshana in the deep
sleep state (Sushupti) and Vasudeva in the fourth state (Turiya).

(3) Chaturdamshtra: (Sloka 25, Nama 139) One with four canine teeth as in
Narasimha Avataar.

(4) Chaturbhujah: (Sloka 25, Nama 140) One with four shoulders.

(5) Chaturmoortaye: (Sloka 82, Nama 765) Four appearances, Viraat, Sootraatmaa,
Avyaakrutam and Turiyam are the four appearances or four colours namely white, red, green and black.

(6) Chaturbaahu: ( Sloka 82, Nama 766) With four hands.

(7) Chaturvyuhah: (Sloka 82, Nama 767) Marshalling in four Vyuha, described here
as sareera purusha, chanda purusha, veda purusha and mahaa
purusha.

(8) Chaturgataye: (Sloka 82, Nama 768) One who acts as the sanctuary for those who
follow the Dharma of the four varnaas and four ashramas.

(9) Chaturaatmane: (Sloka 82, Nama 769) Appearing in four forms, namely, body,
mind, intellect and chitta, or in the four states, namely, jagrat,
swapna, sushupti and turiya with four different appearances.

(10) Chaturbhaavaaya: (Sloka 82, Nama 770) The cause for the four purushaartaas,
namely Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha.

(11) Chaturvedavite: (Sloka 82, Nama 771) One who understands the meaning of
all the four Vedas.

(12) Chaturasra: (Sloka 100, Nama 936) Bestowing the Karma phala to the individuals

in a just manner.







9.2 Let us see the relation to Carbon and the number four and the adjective “Clever”. Carbon has four shoulders and four arms. In association with Oxygen, in association with Hydrogen, in association with Nitrogen and Oxygen and in association with Hydrogen and Nitrogen are the four shoulders in which Carbon rests. Yet, it stands away from all of them in its pure form.

9.3 Carbon, under low temperature and pressure and anaerobic conditions, exists as coal by the decay of vegetable matter over a long period of time. Carbon under high temperature and pressure, gets metamorphosed to graphite. Yet, under very high temperatures and pressures and with sudden release of pressure and temperature while upwelling from deep within the crust, Carbon occurs sometimes in Kimberlite pipes as diamond, the hardest mineral known. That is pure Carbon.

9.4 What are its four arms and four forms ?

(1) In organic chemistry, Carbon and Hydrogen combine together to form the whole of hydro carbon chain, oil and natural gas, the entire chain of petrochemicals like poly-acralamides, plastics, polyesters and whatever we have in life today without which we cannot literally exist. It also occurs in four phases (faces), solids, liquids, gas and pressure related conversion from liquid to gas or vice-versa known as condensate. (Turiya State?)

(2) In biochemistry, Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen combine together to form the amino acids, proteins and the cells. Proteins constitute every part of the body either directly or indirectly.

(3) In inorganic chemistry, Carbon and Oxygen combine together to form Carbon-monoxide, Carbon di Oxide etc which are considered to cause damage to the global climate and environment. On the other hand, they combine with other elements to maintain a balance of carbon cycle in the world. The excess carbon is removed by sea living creatures which form their chitinous shells with molecules of other elements such as Calcium and Oxygen (which incidentally protect these animals) and when they and other smaller creatures like diatoms die, they settle down at the bottom of the sea forming lime stone and thus maintain a delicate balance of Carbon and Oxygen in the atmosphere. The phenomenon of photosynthesis is well known to bear repetition here. These natural balances protect the environment.

(4) In combination with Hydrogen and the inert Nitrogen, Carbon forms Hydrocyanic Acid, the deadliest poison known, but Cyanides also have many useful functions as a chemical.

9.5 The above four forms with the shoulders of the different branches of chemistry and resting on the four outstretched arms of four Ps’ namely, PROTEIN, PETROCHEMICALS, PROTECTION AND POISON, can indeed act like the gnawing four canine teeth in the Narasimha Avataar, to protect or kill an individual in accordance with his Karma Phala. Carbon is one of the most common useful elements in variety of forms, whether alone or in combination with other elements. It takes care of the Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha (Chaturbhaavaye) needs of life.

9.6 After all, Carbon is very clever to play either its own individual pure role or combine with the lightest element Hydrogen and two other elements in two adjacent houses in the periodic table, namely, Nitrogen and Oxygen either singly or in combination of more than one element, either to create the world and the life in it or to kill them. What a glorious way of worshipping the fundamental and manifested nature of the Lord !

9.7 Human civilization evolved from time immemorial, from being a hunter to an agricultural society. From then on, with the advent of any new material that had the effect of transferring the technology of a large part of the population, the civilization further evolved from the Stone Age to Bronze Age to the Iron Age. With the discovery of oil, the 20th Century may be called the Century of oil as the raw material and plastics as the technology, though silicon is also a favourite of the last and current century. With each one of these technologies, civilization has changed so drastically that it is difficult to imagine how people lived without it earlier, or how people will live hereafter.

9.8 The fastest, albeit negative, effect of all this has been that, though temperature and atmospheric carbon have risen and fallen together in every geological time scale, the humans are adding carbon to the atmosphere at least 100 times faster than any known precedent and transforming the earth exponentially.

9.9 Carbon is the reason why 187 nations assembled in Dec 2007 in Bali, to discuss the climate change and steps necessary to mitigate. Carbon tax has been imposed in Sweden since 1991 and Carbon Credit trading system has been introduced in OECD countries during the last decade. Carbon got the Nobel prize to be shared by a thousand and odd scientists and to the former vice-president of the USA in the year 2007.

9.10 But atoms and molecules do not obey politicians or the doomsdayers among scientists. Carbon is considered as the new age material of the 21st century and as with every discovery, its knowledge is also developing exponentially. For instance, in addition to the well-known elemental form of carbon, namely graphite and diamond, a third form, known as fullerene is also known. It had not attracted importance earlier because it is unstable in presence of air and hence uncommon.

9.11 Fullerene is a hollow cluster of carbon atoms that resemble a geodesic dome, made by architect R. Buckminster Fuller and was first postulated to exist in 1985. Its existence was confirmed in 1990. The most studied form, known as Buckminster Fullerene or Bucky Ball, has 60 carbon atoms, arranged in a 5-sided or 6-sided geometry to resemble a soccer ball. It is useful as a lubricant, superconductor, radio – active shield, etc. Through experiments, scientists have concluded that Fullerene exists in interstellar space, and in soot from the burning of certain gases under controlled conditions, on earth. In 1992, Fullerene was found for the first time in a rock sediment of more than 600 million years of age. This zero dimensional bucky ball will be a commonly sought after material in the present century. Studies are in progress on Nitrogen radio frequency plasma processing of C-60, in the formation and relative stability of Fullerene.

Similarly, the uni-dimensional carbon nano-tubes can be constructed to stretch from earth to the moon, and it would still be a single molecule! The carbon nano-tubes are extremely strong, 60 times stronger than steel in a microscopic scale, and yet extremely light weight. It is electrically far more conductive than copper. At present, at a fictional level, one imagines a carbon nanotube space elevator, by which we can simply climb a ribbon of carbon and reach space!

9.13 The Enlightenment : If a cursory study of nearly about 150 Namas of Lord Vishnu could give so much of collaborative evidence from modern science of physics and biology , one could easily guess the extent of enlightenment one can obtain from interpreting each one of the names in the Naamaavali in terms of modern science. Suffice it to mention that this book-let is only intended to serve as a motivator for a modern young intellectual too busy with his/her worldly, daily duties and hence having no time to engage oneself in spiritual pursuits and yet genuinely eager to know what our spiritual texts have really to say and uplift an individual. One wonders how Hydrogen, Oxygen and Carbon play such important role in the universe and are represented in the manifested form by the 1000 names of Lord Vishnu and, when this is understood, gets represented by the mono/Tri syllable OM, or AUM, the Pranava Mantra.