1. Prologue

1. 1 Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram is credited to have been composed by Sanaka and other Rishies. Later, when Bhishma, the grand sire of the Pandavas and Kauravas, was in his last stage, on a bed of arrows, Lord Krishna adviced Yudishtira to seek upadesa, the words of wisdom from the senior most of the Kuru dynasty, Bhishma. Lord Krishna further added that, at this stage of his life, whatever words come from Bhisma, they will stay in the world like nectar extracted from the Vedas. Bhishma agreed.

1.2 After hearing Bhishma on various Dharmas, the ethical codes of conduct and duties, Yudishtra asked him six questions, in an order as occurred in his mind:-

(a) Who is the Supreme Almighty?

(b) What should be one’s goal, according to scriptures?

(c) Whom should the people worship to attain that goal?

(d) Chanting and praying whose name, will people attain exalted places?

(e) What is the best path of Dharma to follow, according to you?

(f) Which hymn should one chant to attain liberation from worldly life of bondage of birth, death and this cycle?

Yudishtira asks six questions regarding the supreme almighty and what hymn one should chant to attain liberation.

Bhishma replies that THAT CHANGELESS BEING IS to be constantly worshipped by chanting His thousand namas.

He also promises to tell of the origin of all that is created and where everything goes to rest at the end of each yuga.

1.3 The Anusasanika Parva of Mahabharata is considered as the heart for a deterministic statement of all the ethical codes and duties (Dharma) and their secrets and these questions, their answers by Bhishma and the subsequent compilation of the thousand names (Sahasranama) by Sage Vyasa through the words of Bhishma find the most important place in Anusasanika Parva of Mahabharata towards the end.

1.4 Bhishma answered the six questions in the order he thought necessary to be addressed. Yudishtra raised, “Kim Japan Muchyate Jantu Janma Samsara Bhandanat” as the sixth question. Bhishma hastened to answer that first. “ The Lord of the universe, the God among Gods, the infinite, that grandest of personage, is to be praised on his thousand names ceaselessly”. Then, he answers the fourth question. He reiterates his previous answer. “Chanting, meditating and worshipping that changeless being with devotion, is the only answer”. “ It will be relevant here to see that Bhishma straight away hits the nail on the head by referring to that “ Changeless being” (Avyayam). Management Gurus are familiar with the famous saying that “ the only permanent thing in the world is “CHANGE”. Therefore, Bhishma directly refers to that CHANGELESS BEING, which is beyond all the perceptible and perishable which the Upanishads reveal as “Atma”, the indestructible.

1.5 Then he answers the third question. “The one without beginning or end, the first among all, the one who overviews the entire world, by praying constantly to that Vishnu, one conquers all suffering. The sufferings are classified as three types:-

(a) Adhyatmikam-bodily suffering.

(b) Adhidaivikam-Natural Calamities.

(c) Adhibhowdikam- inflicted by animals, insects etc.

1.6 He then responds to the fifth question. “Yesha me Sarvadharmaanaam Dharmodhikathamo matah”- If a person worships by meditation and chanting constantly the names of the lotus-eyed God, that is the surest way for liberation from the cycle of birth and death. (This is further strengthened by a quotation from Vishnu Puranam, which states that the same results as obtained by meditation in Kruta yuga or by yoga/sacrifice in Tretaa yuga, and by Archana/prayers in Dwaapara yuga, are obtained by mere nama sankeertanam, repetetive chanting of the names of Lord in Kaliyuga (A yuga is equivalent to a geological era, at the end of which major geological changes including major extinctions of animals and species have been observed like Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. Comparatively smaller changes have been observed at the end of different ages within these eras, like Cambrian age or Ordovician age of the Paleozoic era, Triassic age of the Mesozoic era etc. In scriptures, it is defined as Pralaya or Deluge).

1.7 Bhishma then addresses the second question in the next five verses from “Paramam yo Mahat tejaha………….. to yaani naamani Gaunaani ……………”. Bhishma tells “ I will tell you about the origin of all that is created at the beginning of every yuga and where every thing goes to rest at the end of every yuga, Listen to this thousand names of Lord Vishnu, describing his wonderful attributes ………”.

1.8 The answer to the first question “Who is the Supreme Almighty, is obvious and explained in the previous five responses themselves. It is significant that Bhishma did not respond to the first question directly. It is clear that, if one has understood the answer to the remaining five questions, one would have come to one’s own conclusion about the answer to the first question.

1.9 It will also be worth while to dwelve a little into the history of that period. The Samkhya Philosophy was the prevalent religion of the Mahabharata period. There are extensive references to the Samkhya philosophy in Bhagwat Geeta. The Samkhya Philosophy and the name of the principal sage who wrote the Sutra (code & conduct) for it, namely Sage Kapila, find a mention in the Vishnu Sahasranamam itself. Sage Kapila is believed to have been born around 3000 BCE to the illustrious sage Kardama and his wife Devahuti. His concept on transformation of Energy and profound commentaries on Atma, Non-Atma and the subtle elements of the Cosmos places him in a class, to be recognized as the father of Cosmology. The Samkhya Philosophy explains the 24 Prakriti Tatwas (Dealt with a little later in the article) and also about the Purusha (Atma) as distinct from them but does not talk about Saguna Brahman or Eswara as the unifying factor between Prakriti (Primal matter) and Purusha (Ultimate Soul). It does not talk about the methods of activating the Purusha or intellect to interact with the otherwise inert Prakriti, to produce outstanding results by procedures like Karma (action), Bhakti (devotion), surrender, intellectual search etc. Perhaps, Bhishma was aware of the gap, even while following the Samkhya Philosophy and that is why he did not answer the first question of Yudishtra directly. He may have thought that a person, doing Atma Vichara (self-search) should be able to identify that unifying force between the Purusha and Prakriti, as the Supreme.

Samkhya Philosophy, the prevalent religion of the Mahabharata period.

Principal gap in Samkhya Philosophy which does not talk about Saguna Brahman or Iswara as the unifying factor between Purusha and Prakriti and how this inter action produces astounding results.

All six attributes of a prayer are addressed and satisfied in Vishnu Sahasranama.

1.10 It is a folk lore that Adishankara, before he wrote his commentary on “ Brahma Sutra” wanted to write first on some other scriptures. Asked to bring the Bhoja-Patra book-let of any scripture, his disciple repeatedly brought only Vishnu Sahasranama. He was probably interested in Lalita Sahasranama and was therefore, exasperated. He was then ordered by Goddess Saraswati to write his first commentary on Vishnu Sahasranama. It is likely that, in a world dominated by the Samkhya Philosophy, supplemented by Nyaya and Meemamsa sastras and tribes of Charuvaakaas and Kaapalikaas ruling the roost, Goddess Saraswati wanted Shankara to establish the single unifying factor between Purusha and Prakriti and thus the Adwaita Philosophy and sanaatana dharma. There is perhaps no single, simpler and greater scripture than Vishnu Sahasranama to achieve this target. Adisankara understook the responsibility.
This response of Bhishma would at once make it clear that Vishnu sahasranaamam, while chanting the thousand names of Lord Vishnu, many of them apparently repetitive or apparently with similar meaning, imports verily the creation of this universe from the largest of the large to the smallest of the small bodies, their sustenance, self generation and self destruction and interdependence of and independence from each other. Science suffers because of its unforgiving nature of belief that a fact is not a fact until the scientists have tried and failed repeatedly to disprove it, over a long period of time. It is because of this belief that many Nobel Prizes and recognitions have been awarded many decades after a discovery. On the other hand, Scriptures believe that “ Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”. Scriptures believe that Vedic Universe passes through repeated time cycles of Creation, Preservation and Destruction. During the annihilation of the Universe, Energy is conserved to manifest again in the new creation ( Sri Aurobindo). Problems came up when the Greeks and Christianity converted this cyclic phenomenon to a linearity from Point A to Point B, never returning again. Thus, the philosophic revelations of an earlier period, which were lost temporarily, had to be proved again by scientific discoveries much later, during the last two centuries. It is the endeavour of this article to see some of these hidden meanings and perceptions (and certainly not all) and the wedding of the religious thoughts to the later day scientific revelations.

1.11 There are six attributes given to a Stotra or prayer, namely:

(a) Namaskaaram or obeisance

(b) Convey blessing.

(c) Explain the philosophy/ facts/conviction.

(d) Praise the glory.

(e) Mention the strengths of the Supreme, and

(f) Prayer.

1.12 The Purva Bhaaga and Uttara Bhaaga, (the prologue and epilogue) of Shri Vishnu Sahasranaama contain ample proof of (b) and (f) above, while the Archana, by adding Aum and Namaha to every name or naamaavali, takes care of (a) above. The main body of the Vishnu Sahasranaama Stotram composed of 108 Slokas or verses embellishes the Philosophy, fact, conviction, glory and strength, of the Supreme Lord in the 1000 names and many scientific facts (known to-day) revealed already to the saints of lore.

1.13. Great commentaries have been written of Vishnu Sahasranaama by Adi Sankara, Madhvaacharya and Paraasara Bhattar. More recently, Late Mukkur Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Acharyar has created a Magnum opus by his series of lectures, and has seen Lakshmi Narasimha Avatar being praised by the succinct meanings of the Vishnu Sahasranaama. “ Anna” on behalf of Raama Krishna Mutt, Chennai, has compiled in 1959, an exhaustive commentary, by giving additional references to Bhagwat Geeta, Viveka Choodamani, different Upanishads, Bhaagavatam and Vishnu Puraanam.

1.14 This book-let is merely a small supplement to these excellent spiritual commentaries, by adding a few scientific facts known subsequent to the period of Mahabharata revealed by subsequent scientific studies, as has been admirably summed up by Bill Bryson (A short history of nearly everything), Matt Ridley (Genome) and a few others. This article quotes extensively from Bill Bryson, Matt Ridley, V S Ramachandran, Anna’s, commentary, “Bhagwat Geeta” commentary by Swami Chidbhavaananda, “Vivekachoodamani” commentary by Swami Chinmayananda, “Deivathin Kural” collated lectures of Sri Chandrsekarendra Swami of Kaanchi Mutt, “Kurai onrumillai” talks by Mukkur Lashmi Narasimha Acharyar, Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad,Pancheekaranam of Adisankara and the Vartika on it by Sureswaracharya, commentary on Mandukya Upanishad by Swami Lokeswarananda and Swami Gambhirananda with Gaudapada’s Karika, innumerable cross references in the imternet, besides other references. Therefore, separate references are not made for each of these quotes. Whenever the number of the naamaavali is mentioned, Adisankara’s classification of the naamaavali, as mentioned by Anna and Swami Tapasyananda in Ramakrishna Mutt publication is followed. The allusions of the Naamas to scientific correlations are my own and I am alone responsible for any mistakes in understanding or even stupidity. Different spellings are used for the same Sanskrit words at different places, partly to cater to the correct pronounciation to a nonsanskrit knowing reader and also to follow the more accepted spellings for a Sanskrit knowing individual.