[Advaita-l] Interesting tidbits in the Vishnu Sahasranama

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Namaste
Thank you for the excellent post.
Om


On Sun 25 Mar, 2018, 7:22 AM S Jayanarayanan via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Happy Sri Rama Navami!
>
>
> Some curiosities from the Vishnu Sahasranama (of the Mahabharata):
>
>
> 1) The names that recur most often (four times each) are:
>
>   shrImAn.h (Name # 22, 178, 220, 613)
>   praaNadaH (Name # 65, 321, 408, 956)
>
>
> 2) Pair of consecutive names that occur together twice in the same order:
>
>   Names # 161-162 and # 865-866: niyamo-yamaH
>   Names # 320-321 and # 407-408: prANaH-prANadaH
>   Names # 495-496 and # 592-593: gopatir-goptaa
>
> The second pair above occurs also in the reverse order:
>
>   Names # 65-66: prANadaH-prANaH
>
>
> 3) Exactly 3 lines of the Shlokas begin with the syllable "tri", where
> each of the line numbers are also divisible by the number 3!
>
>   tripadastridashaadhyaksho mahaashR^iN^gaH kR^itaantakR^it.h .. (Line
> #114, Second line of Shloka 57)
>
>   trisaamaa saamagaH saama nirvaaNaM bheshhajaM bhishhak.h . (Line #123,
> First line of Shloka 62)
>
>   trilokaatmaa trilokeshaH keshavaH keshihaa hariH .. (Line #138, Second
> line of Shloka 69)
>
>
> 4) The three main "saMyuktaakShara-s" (Conjoined Consonants) in Sanskrit
> are: kSha, tra, j~na.
>
> They come together in the name "kShetraj~naH" (Name # 16).
>
>
> 5) The five names with the longest commentaries by Adi Sankara are (in
> order of appearance):
>
>   Name # 1. vishvaM
>   Name # 245. naaraayaNaH
>   Name # 332. vaasudevaH
>   Name # 974. yaj~naaN^gaH
>   Name # 1000. sarvapraharaNaayudhaH
>
> The first and last names probably have lengthy comments due to their
> presence at the beginning and the end of the Sahasranama.
> The commentary on "yaj~naaN^gaH" mostly consists of one long quote from
> the Harivamsa, with little extra added on.
>
> This leaves two names: Narayana and Vasudeva, which must have been chosen
> by the Commentator because of special significance.
> * The two most popular Vaishnava Mantras are: "OM namo naaraayaNaaya" and
> "OM namo bhagavate vaasudevaaya".
> * The very first word of the Mahabharata is "naaraayaNaM".
> * An important phrase in the Bhagavad Gita is "vaasudevaH sarvamiti"
> (Everything is Vasudeva).
>
>
> 6) One of the earliers commentators on the Vishnu Sahasranama, Adi
> Sankara, was undoubtedly a non-sectarian advaitin who identified Shiva with
> Vishnu.
>
> This is revealed by his commentary on the following names, where the
> Deities are stated to be the same, with a quote from the Shiva Purana!
>
>   Name # 27: shiva .
>   Commentary: “In light of this non-difference between Shiva and Vishnu,
> it is Vishnu Himself who is exalted by the worship of Shiva.”
>
>   Name # 114: rudra .
>   Commentary: “As the Shiva Purana says, "ru" means sorrow, and the person
> who destroys it is Rudra.”
>
>
> 7) Today being Rama Navami, here are a couple of names where Adi Sankara
> has quoted the Ramayana:
>
>   Name # 442: kShamaH . (Patience)
>   Comentary: “As Valmiki Ramayana says, "Rama is equal to the earth in
> patience".”
>
>   Name # 455: suvrataH . (The Good Vow)
>   Commentary: “Sri Rama says in the Ramayana, "He who takes Refuge in Me,
> saying 'Yours am I', I grant him protection. This is my Vow!"”
>
>
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