Vishnu Sahasranāma | Verses 91-100

Text 91

Lord Kṛṣṇa maintains and protects His devotees (bhārabhūt), and those who are learned say that by His glance, touch, or remembrance, the entire world become auspicious (kathita).

Simply by His wish, unlimited millions of devotees are maintained (yogī), He is the master of the four Kumāras, and all other yogīs, and He grants the spiritual attainments for which they aspire (yogīśa).

To those who take up the path of yogī, but later fall down because of materialism, He grants residence in the upper planetary systems, where the fallen yogīs can enjoy the sense-gratification for which they aspired (sarva-kāmada).

After enjoying for some time on the heavenly planets, such fallen yogīs take birth in family of devotees who follow the varṇāśrama system

and in this way, Lord Kṛṣṇa gives these yogis a chance to make further advancement in spiritual life (āśrama), Lord Kṛṣṇa arranges that such fallen yogīs become again attracted to the principles of spiritual life (śramaṇa).

Lord Kṛṣṇa thus helps such fallen yogīs to attain spiritual perfection (kṣāma).

He prefers the decoration of a tulasī leaf to many valuable golden ornaments (suparṇa), and He is carried by Garuda at a speed faster than the wind (vāyu-vāhana).

Note:

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa quotes Lord Kṛṣṇa's description of the fallen yogī's fate (Bhagavad-gītā 6.40-44):

prāpya puṇyakṛtāṁ lokānuṣitvā śāśvatīḥ samāḥ |
śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yogabhraṣṭo'bhijāyate ||

athavā yogināmeva kule bhavati dhīmatām

"The unsuccessful yogī, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.

Or he takes his birth in a family of transcendentalists who are surely great in wisdom."

tatra taṁ buddhisaṁyogaṁ labhate paurvadehikam |

"On taking such a birth, he again revives the divine consciousness of his previous life."

na hi kalyāṇakṛtkaścid durgatiṁ tāta gacchati ||

"O Son of Pṛthu, a transcendentalist engaged in auspicious activities does not meet with destruction either in this world or the spiritual world;

one who does good, My friend, is never overcome by evil."

Text 92

Entering the svayamvara assembly of Lakṣmaṇa-devī, He carried a bow (dhanurdharā), He is the most expert archer (dhanurveda), With Arjuna's help He easily subdued all the princes who tried to prevent Him from taking the hand of Lakṣmaṇa (daṇḍa).

In another svayamvara contest, Lord Kṛṣṇa subdued seven very fierce bulls (damayitā), In this way He tamed the bulls which no one had formerly been able to control (adama).

When Rukmī and His army tried to defeat Kṛṣṇa, they became spectacularly unsuccessful (aparājita).

Lord Kṛṣṇa tolerantly excused all the blasphemous insults spoken by His brother-in-Law Rukmī (sarvasaha), although He soon retaliated by binding Rukmī with ropes, and humiliating him by partly shaving his head, leaving some patches of hair here and there (niyantā).

Lord Kṛṣṇa defeated Jāmbavān (niyama), and thus won both Jāmbavatī and the Syamantaka gem (yama).

Note:

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa quotes the following description of the name dhanurveda found in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.):

partho yatto 'sṛjad baṇaṁ
nacchinat paspṛśe param
bhagavān dhanura adaya
sajjī-kṛtya ca līlaya

tasmin sandhaya viśikhaṁ
matsyam vīkṣya sakṛj jale
chitveśunapatayat tam
muhūrte 'bhijit sthite

"At Lakṣmaṇa’s svayamvara, the contestants
had to pierce with an arrow, a concealed fish,
which was only visible in its reflection in a pot of water.

With great caution, Arjuṇa
traced out the location of the fish and shot an arrow,
but he did not pierce the fish in the right spot.

At last Lord Kṛṣṇa took up the bow,
and was able to tie the bowstring very easily,
just as a child plays with a toy.

He placed the arrow, and looking only once
at the reflection of the fish in the water,
He shot the arrow, and the pierced fish immediately fell down.

This victory of Lord Kṛṣṇa was accomplished at noon,
during the moment called Abhijit,
which is astronomically calculated as auspicious."

Text 93

Lord Kṛṣṇa is submissive to His wife Satyabhāmā (sattvavān), and His physical and intellectual strength is unsurpassed (sāttvika).

He is the dear husband of Satyabhāmā (satya), He is the shelter of the truthful devotees, and the devoted Husband of Satyabhāmā (satya-dharma-parāyaṇa).

The devotees attain Him by developing pure love for Him (abhiprāya),

He is the benefactor of the pure devotees, who know His actual eternal personal nature, who are full of love for Him, and disregard the petty opulences of material existence (priyārha).

He is worshipped by the pure devotees who have given up everything for His sake (arha), and he accepts such devotees as His personal associates (priyakṛt).

He is most pleased by those devotees who approach Him out of love, and not to attain some petty material benediction (pritivardhana).

Note:

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa quotes Lord Kṛṣṇa's own explanation (Bhagavad-gītā 7.16-17) of the name pritivardhana:

caturvidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛtino'rjuna |
ārto jijñāsurarthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha ||

teṣāṁ jñānī nityayukta ekabhaktirviśiṣyate |
priyo hi jñānino'tyarthamahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ ||

"O best among the Bhāratas (Arjuna),
four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me -
- the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive,
and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.
Of these, the wise one, who is in full knowledge
in union with Me through pure devotional service is the best.
For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me."

Text 94

Lord Kṛṣṇa enables His devotees to enter the eternal spiritual world (vihāyasagati), and those who leave the body in a condition of spiritual enlightenment attain his association in the spiritual realm (jyoti).

By His mercy it is light in the daytime (suruci), and He is like a splendid full moon which dispels all the darkness within the devotees' hearts (hutabhug-vibhu).

By His mercy the sun moves in the north (ravi) and by His mercy the sun travels in its orbit every year (virocana). By His mercy the sun travels in the wind (sūrya), and by His order the sun-god Āditya directs the sun-planet's movement (savitā).

By His mercy, the sun and the moon travel in their orbits (ravi-locana).

Text 95

By Lord Kṛṣṇa's mercy, the devotees become free from the bondage of repeated material existence, and enter the eternal spiritual world (ananta).

He protects the devotees (hutabhug-bhoktā),

and He delights them by freeing them from the subtle body of mind intelligence and false-ego, which is the cause of repeated acceptance of gross material bodies in the cycle of birth and death and granting them eternal spiritual forms of His associates in the spiritual world (sukhada).

He does not give only one or two gifts to His devotee, but He showers them with innumerable benedictions, and He even gives Himself to His devotee to become the devotee's property (naikada).

All beauty and opulence emanates from Him and cannot be separated from Him at any time (agraja). His devotees endeavour with great earnestness to attain His lotus feet, and they are never lazy in this regard (anirviṇṇa and sadāmarṣī).

He gives shelter to the devotees who approach Him (lokādhiṣṭhānam), and He astonishes the devotees by showing His wonderful, and ever-fresh beautiful form, qualities and pastimes (adbhutam).

Note:

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa quotes Lord Kṛṣṇa's description of the name hutabhug-bhoktā (Bhagavad-gītā 12.7):

teṣāmahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyusaṁsārasāgarāt |

"I swiftly deliver the devotees from the ocean of birth and death."

The name sukhada is explained by the Lord Himself in the following quote from the Varaha Purāṇa:

nayāmi paramam sthānam
arcir ādigataṁ vinā
garuḍa-skandham āropya
yatheccham anivāritaḥ

"Riding on Garuda's shoulder,
I carry my devotee back to the spiritual world,
and nothing will hinder or stop Me from this,
for I wish to rescue My devotees."

Text 96

Lord Kṛṣṇa relishes the foodstuffs, incense and other substances offered to Him by His devotees (sanāt).

Manifesting His eternal ever-fresh transcendental form, He eternally attracts the eternally liberated souls (sanātanatama), and all their desires become fulfilled in Him (Kapilā).

He supplies the water and other paraphernalia the devotees use to worship Him, and He also gives the transcendental happiness the devotees experience by engaging in His service (kapi).

He eternally remains in the assembly of devotees, and never leaves them (avyaya).

He grants all auspiciousness to the devotees (svastida), and he removes all auspiciousness from the atheists and non-devotees (svastikṛt).

He is the supreme auspiciousness (svasti), He protects the auspicious condition of the devotees who continually remember Him, and He Himself enjoys the great auspiciousness as He performs transcendental pastimes in the spiritual worlds (svastibhuk).

He gives entrance into His spiritual realm, and well as many other auspicious gifts to those who become the performers of the Vedic sacrifice which is His devotional service (svastidakṣiṇa).

Text 97

Because Lord Kṛṣṇa is always full of transcendental bliss, He never becomes angry, but is always, gentle and beneficent (araudra). He is decorated with shark- shaped earrings, a crown, necklaces, and many other ornaments (kunḍalī).

He is the general of a limitless army which can never be defeated (cakrī), and his immeasurable strength can destroy any number of the most powerful demons (vikramī).

Brahmā, Śiva and all devas never transgress His orders (ūrjita-śāsana), and neither the thousand-headed Lord Ananta dēva, nor Sarasvatī-devī, the goddess of learning, can fully describe His unlimited glories (śabdātiga).

Lord Kṛṣṇa felt compassionate upon the Pāṇḍavas when He heard Draupadī's appeal for protection from the possible wrath of Durvāsā (śabdasaha).

He protected the Pāṇḍavas from repeated calamity (śiśira), and by taking in His hand a little vegetable from Draupadī's pot, He mercifully protected the Pāṇḍavas (śarvarīkara).

Note:

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa quotes the explanation of the name araudra found in the Smṛti-śāstra:

aroṣaṇo hy asau devaḥ

"Śrīman Nārāyaṇa is very gentle,
and not inclined to become angry or violent."

Text 98

Because Lord Kṛṣṇa is always very much inclined towards the brāhmaṇas, he did not violently stop Durvāsā from the possible harm He would have committed to the Pāṇḍavas, (akrūra).

He expertly protected the Pāṇḍavas by allaying the hunger of Durvāsā and his disciples (peśalā), and He immediately appeared before Draupadī as soon as He heard her appeal for protection (dakṣa).

He expertly thwarted all the attempts of Duryodhana (dakṣiṇā), and He mercifully forgave Durvāsā for the offense he was about to commit towards the Pāṇḍavas (kṣamiṇāṁbara).

He expertly protected the surrendered devotee Gajendra from an impending catastrophe (vidvattama), and He removed all of Gajendra's fears (vītabhaya).

Simply by hearing and chanting His glories, Gajendra and many others also, became free from all sins (puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana).

Note:

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa quotes the description of the name vītabhaya found in the Smṛti-śāstra:

grāha-grastaṁ gajendraṁ ca
tam grāhaṁ ca jalāśayāt
ujjahārāprameyātmā
tarasā madhusūdanaḥ

"Lord Madhusudana, the unlimited Personality of Godhead,
quickly rescued Gajendra who was attacked by a crocodile within the water."

The following explanation of the name puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana is found in the Smṛti-śāstra:

śrutenāhi kuruśreṣṭha
smṛtena kathitena vā
gajendra-mokṣaṇānenaiva
sadyaḥ pāpāt pramucyate

"O best of the Kurus, simply by hearing, remembering,
or describing the story of Gajendra's deliverance,
one becomes immediately freed from all sins."

Text 99

Lord Kṛṣṇa rescued Gajendra by lifting him out of the lake where he was trapped by the crocodile (uttāraṇa), and he killed the crocodile to protect His devotee (duṣkṛtihā),

He purifies all who hear the account of Gajendra's deliverance (puṇya), and He rescues from bad dreams those who remember the story of Gajendra (duḥśvapa-nāśana).

He killed the powerful crocodile (vīrahā), and by touching Gajendra delivered Him from the imprisonment in the body of an elephant (rakṣaṇa).

In this way He granted auspiciousness to Gajendra (santa).

And He also brought the Gandharva Hūhū back to life, freeing him from the body of a crocodile which had been imposed upon him by the curse of Devala Muni (jīvana).

After hearing Gajendra's prayers, the Lord became greatly pleased and full of love for His devotee (paryavasthita).

Note:

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa quotes the explanation of the name duṣkṛtihā found in the Smṛti-śāstra:

sthalasthaṁ dārayām āsa
grāhaṁ cakreṇa mādhavaḥ
mocayām āsa nāgendram
pāśebhaḥ śaraṇāgatam

"Using His Sudarśana-cakra, Lord Mādhava killed the crocodile
and rescued Gajendra, who had fully taken shelter of the Lord.

The name duḥśvapa-nāśana is described in the following verses from the Smṛti-śāstra:

tad aham śrotum icchāmi
nṛṇāṁ duḥsvapa-nāṣanam

"I wish to hear how one may become free from bad dreams."

duḥsvapna-darśanam ghoram
āvekṣya bharatarśabha
prayātaḥ kiṁ japej jāpyaṁ
vibudhaḥ kim anusmaret

"O best of the Bhāratas,
what mantra should one chant,
or whom should one meditate upon and remember
to become free from bad dreams?"

Lord Nārāyaṇa answered this question in the following words:

ye māṁ tvam ca saraś caiva
grahasya ca vimokṣaṇam

ye smariśyanti manujāḥ
prayatāḥ sthira-buddhayaḥ
duḥsvapno naśyate teśāṁ
susvapnaś ca bhaviśyati

"Those sincere devotees who attentively remember
the history of how I delivered Gajendra from the crocodile,
will become free from the influence of bad dreams.
Their dreams at night will always be peaceful and auspicious."

The following verse from the Smṛti-śāstra describes the name rakṣaṇa:

evam uktvā mahārāja
gajendram madhusūdanaḥ
sparśayām āsa hastena
gajam gandharvam eva ca

"O King, after speaking these words, Lord Madhusudana touched
both Gajendra and the crocodile with his lotus-hand."

This verse from the Smṛti-śāstra describes the jīvana:

sa hi devala-śāpena
hūhūr gandharva-sattamaḥ
grāhatvam agamat Kṛṣṇād
vadhaṁ prāpya divam gataḥ

"Because the crocodile was killed by the Lord,
he became free from Devala Muni's curse.
He regained his original form as the Gandharva Hūhū,
and returned to his home on the heavenly planets."

The Smṛti-śāstra explains the name paryavasthita:

bhaktim tasya tu sañcintya
nāgasyāmogha-saṁstavāt
prītimān bhagavān rājan
śrutvā cakra-gadādharam

ārūhya garuḍam Viṣṇur
ājagāma surottamaḥ
sannidhyam kalpayām āsa
tasmin sarasi loka-dhṛk

"O King, when Lord Nārāyaṇa heard
the pure and perfect prayers of Gajendra,
He could understand how advanced Gajendra was
in the path of pure devotional service,
and He became greatly pleased and full of love for His devotee.

In this way Lord Viṣṇu the master of devas
and maintainer of all the planets,
travelled to this lake, carried by Garuda,
and gave His audience to the elephant Gajendra."

Text 100

When Brahma stole the calves and cowherd boys, Lord Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself into innumerable forms just like those of the stolen calves and boys (ananta-rūpa), and thus manifested His unlimited power and opulence (ananta-śrīḥ).

Even though Brahma tried to create mischief by stealing Kṛṣṇa's associates, magnanimous Kṛṣṇa did not become angry with him (jitamanyu), and when frightened Brahma begged for forgiveness, Lord Kṛṣṇa removed all his fears (bhayāpaha).

When Lord Kṛṣṇa expanded into many forms to replace His stolen friends, He immediately accepted each of the elderly gopīs as His mother (catur-aśra),

Lord Kṛṣṇa's thoughts and intentions are so unlimitedly profound and inscrutable, that even Lord Brahma, after offering prayers and apologies, could not understand whether Kṛṣṇa had accepted his apologies, or remained dissatisfied with him (gabhīrātmā).

Because Brahma had interrupted Kṛṣṇa's pastimes with His friends, Kṛṣṇa became displeased with him and asked him to leave the area of Gokula, so the activities of Vrāja bhūmi could continue undisturbed (avidiśa).

On many different occasions Lord Kṛṣṇa entrusted Brahma with various responsibilities in the management of the universe, and gave him specific instructions in this regard (vyādiśa).

Because Lord Kṛṣṇa is Śrīman Nārāyaṇa and ultimate controller of everything, He does not have to follow anyone's order (adiśa).

Note:

Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa quotes the explanation of the name ananta-rūpa found in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.13.19):

yāvad vatsapa-vatsakālpaka-vapur yāvat karāṅghry-ādikaṁ
yāvad yaṣṭi-viṣāṇa-veṇu-dala-śig yāvad vibhūṣāmbaram
yāvac chīla-guṇābhidhākṛti-vayo yāvad vihārādikaṁ
sarvaṁ viṣṇumayaṁ giro’ṅga-vad ajaḥ sarva-svarūpo babhau

"By His Vāsudeva feature, Kṛṣṇa simultaneously expanded Himself into the exact number of missing cowherd boys and calves,

with their exact bodily features, their particular types of hands, legs and other limbs, their sticks, bugles, and flutes, their lunch bags,

their particular types of dress and ornaments, placed in various ways, their names, ages and forms, and their special activities and characteristics.

By expanding Himself in this way, beautiful Kṛṣṇa proved the statement

samagram jagad Viṣṇumayaṁ: Lord Viṣṇu is all-pervading."

The name adiśa is described in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.7):

tam īśvarāṇām paramam maheśvaram
tam devatānām paramam ca daivatam
patim patīnām paramam parastād
vidāma devam bhuvaneśam īḍyam

"The Supreme Lord is the controller of all other controllers, and he is the greatest of all the diverse planetary leaders. Everyone is under His control.

All entities are delegated with particular power only by the Supreme Lord: they are not supreme themselves.

He is also worshipable by all devas and is the supreme director of all directors.

Therefore, He is transcendental to all kinds of material leaders and controllers, and is worshipable by all. There is no one greater than Him, and He is the supreme cause of all causes."

The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.2.21) further explains:

svayaṁ tv asāmyātiśayas tryadhīśaḥ
svārājya-lakṣmy-āpta-samasta-kāmaḥ
baliṁ haradbhiś cira-loka-pālaiḥ
kirīṭa-koṭyeḍita-pāda-pīṭhaḥ

"Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Lord of all kinds of threes,
and is independently supreme by achievement of all kinds of fortune.
He is worshiped by the eternal maintainers of the creation,
who offer Him the paraphernalia of worship
by touching their millions of helmets to His feet."