Vishṇu Sahasranāma in the Mahābhārata

The Vishṇu Sahasranāma of the Mahābhārata is the thousand names of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as Purushottama and Nārāyaṇa. Bhīshma recited it from his bed of arrows (śaraśayyā) to Yudhishṭhira. He gave it in answer to four questions: who is the one deva, what is the highest refuge, what is the paramadharma (the highest duty), and what japa (quiet repetition of a name or mantra) frees a being from saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death).

It is found in the Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, chapter 149. The names are arranged in ten śatakas (hundreds). The list opens with Viśvam and closes with Sarvapraharaṇāyudhaḥ. In this form the names come with a detailed commentary on the meaning of each name, which the chapter’s own colophon credits to Śrī Śaṅkarācārya. The Garuḍa Purāṇa has a different Vishṇu Sahasranāma, which Bhagavān Vishṇu taught to Bhagavān Śiva.

The setting

The chapter opens just after Yudhishṭhira has heard, without remainder, all the dharmas and purifying topics that Bhīshma had been teaching from his bed of arrows. These came in the Dānadharma Parva of the Anuśāsana Parva, and they include the long conversation between Umā and Maheśvara in chapters 140 to 148. After all this, Yudhishṭhira turns to Bhīshma once more with four questions.

Who is the one deva (eko devaḥ) in this world?
Who is the paramā gati, the highest refuge, for all beings?
By praising and worshipping whom do human beings gain what is auspicious?
What is the paramadharma among all dharmas, and by the japa of what does a being become free from saṃsāra?

Bhīshma’s opening words

Before he gives a single name, Bhīshma answers in a long devotional opening. One should praise Śrīmannārāyaṇa without a break, he says. He is the master of the worlds, the Deva of the devas, Purushottama. One should praise him through his thousand names and stay ever alert. One should worship, meditate on, praise, bow to and offer yajña to that undying Purusha with bhakti (loving devotion).

Bhīshma describes him in these words. He is unborn and undying, and he pervades all. He is the Maheśvara of all worlds and their overseer (adhyaksha). The one who praises this Paramapurusha crosses over every sorrow. He holds Brahman perfectly within himself. He knows all dharma, he increases the glory of the worlds, and he rules the worlds. He is of the nature of Mahat-tattva. He is even the birthplace of Brahmā, who creates all beings.

Then Bhīshma gives his own considered view (mama matam). The highest dharma among all dharmas is for a human being to worship Puṇḍarīkāksha without a break, with bhakti and with stotras, at all times.

Bhīshma says that Nārāyaṇa-Vishṇu is the greatest tejas (radiance) and the greatest tapas (austerity). He is the supreme Mahābrahma and the supreme goal. He is the purest of the pure and the most auspicious of the auspicious. He is the Deva of the devas and the imperishable father of all beings. At the beginning of the yuga he brought all beings into being. When the span of the age is complete, all beings dissolve in him again. He is Lokapradhāna and Jagannātha.

Bhīshma then announces that he will speak the collection of this Vishṇu’s thousand names, which destroys even the fear of pāpa (sin). He speaks it for the sake of jñāna (knowledge). He gathers names that are already famed, that belong to Vishṇu’s own guṇas (qualities), and that ṛshis have sung well.

The commentary of Śaṅkarācārya

A note at the very opening of the chapter says that the meaning of each name’s etymology is to be understood according to the bhāshya (commentary) of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Bhagavatpāda. The closing colophon of the chapter agrees. It credits the whole commentary to Śrīmat-Paramahaṃsa-Parivrājakācārya Śrī Śaṅkarācārya. So the recitation in the epic is given here together with this commentary woven through it.

Structure of the Sahasranāma

The thousand names are given as one running list. Each name is in bold. After it come one or more Sanskrit derivations (vyutpatti). Often a single name has two to four different derivations. Each derivation has an explanation that draws on śruti, smṛti, the Bhagavad Gītā, the Purāṇas and the Harivaṃśa as proof-texts.

The names fall into ten śatakas of one hundred names each. A colophon marks the end of each hundred. For example, the close of the ninth śataka is marked before the tenth begins.

The first name is Viśvam. The commentary explains it in six ways.

It is the cause of the jagat (the world), and so it is Brahman itself.
In the state of Truth, it is not different from Paramātmā.
It means “that which enters” (viśati) the universe it creates.
It means that into which all beings dissolve at the time of saṃhāra (dissolution).
It is Oṃkāra itself.
It means the one agent of the creation, upkeep and dissolution of the universe.

The thousandth and last name is Sarvapraharaṇāyudhaḥ. The list closes with the word namaḥ said again and the syllable Oṃ, for what is auspicious.

The sections below give examples of the groups of names that recur in the list.

Names that hold the deeds of the avatāras

Some names fold the deeds of an avatāra (a descent of Bhagavān Vishṇu) into their meaning.

Nārasiṃhavapuḥ. The limbs of nṛ (man) and siṃha (lion) make up his body. This is explained to mean that the limbs of all beings exist within his own body. The name ties to the Narasiṃha avatāra.
Vaikhānaḥ. Among the names of the Mahāvarāha group. It means “he who dug especially”. The explanation gives the Purāṇa account of Vishṇu taking the form of Varāha and digging deep into the earth to kill Hiraṇyāksha, who lived in Pātāla.
Kshitīśaḥ. It means “master of kshiti, the earth”. The text itself explains it as “Daśarathātmajaḥ”, that is, Rāma.
Devakīnandanaḥ. It means “son of Devakī”. It is explained with a direct quotation from the Mahābhārata. All the brilliant lights of the world, the three lokas, the lokapālas, the three Vedas, the three sacred fires and the five vyāhṛtis, all the devas together, are none other than Devakī’s son, that is, Kṛshṇa.
Prāṇadaḥ. It means “giver of life-breath”. It is explained by the reviving of Parīkshit and others who had died. This links directly to the Mahābhārata’s own account of Kṛshṇa reviving Parīkshit.

Names of weapons and attributes near the end

A group of names near the close of the Sahasranāma describes Vishṇu through his chief weapons and attributes.

Śaṅkhabhṛt. The bearer of the conch named Pāñcajanya. The conch is said to be of the nature of ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”) in its form as bhūtādi.
Nandakī. The bearer of the sword named Nandaka, which is of the nature of vidyā (knowledge).
Cakrī. This has two derivations. One is the bearer of the discus named Sudarśana, which is of the nature of the mind. The other is the one by whose command the wheel of saṃsāra itself turns.
Śārṅgadhanvā. The bearer of the bow named Śārṅga, which is of the nature of the ahaṃkāra of the indriyas (senses).
Gadādharaḥ. The bearer of the mace named Kaumodakī, which is of the nature of buddhi (the discerning mind).
Rathāṅgapāṇiḥ. The one in whose hand the wheel (rathāṅga) rests.
Akshobhyaḥ. The one who cannot be provoked or shaken, because the discus rests ever in his hand.

This group leads to the last name of the Sahasranāma, Sarvapraharaṇāyudhaḥ. It means “he for whom all things whatever serve as weapons, even those not usually counted as weapons, such as claws and nails for monkeys”. The commentary reads this name as showing, at the very end, that this Being is Satyasaṃkalpa (whose will always comes true) and Sarveśvara (master of all), as the śruti says, esha sarveśvaraḥ.

Names of the cosmos and of philosophy

Several names place the Sahasranāma within the categories of Sāṅkhya, Yoga and Vedānta.

Pradhānapurusheśvaraḥ. The Īśvara of both Pradhāna (Prakṛti, or Māyā) and Purusha (the jīva, the living being). He drives both into their own work.
Kshetrajñaḥ. The one who knows, through the power of knowledge (jñānaśakti), the body (kshetra) that is the seat of awareness.
Yogaḥ. The state of yoga itself. It is the union of Kshetrajña and Paramātmā, reached by holding all the jñānendriyas (senses of knowing) together with the mind on a single point.
Yogavidāṃ netā. The one who leads forward those who know yoga and inquire into it.

Other names identify Vishṇu with the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. Others identify him with the vyāhṛtis Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ, seen as a cosmic tree. Others identify him with Praṇava (Oṃkāra), the syllable that names him.

The yajña names and the Yajña-Varāha in the Harivaṃśa

A dense group of names ties Vishṇu to yajña itself.

Yajñam. He who is known through the very nature of yajña.
Yajñapatiḥ. Protector and master of all yajñas. The commentary gives the Gītā’s own words: ahaṃ hi sarvayajñānāṃ bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca (“I alone am the enjoyer and master of all yajñas”).
Yajvā. He who stands in the form of the yajamāna, the one who performs the yajña.
Yajñāṅgaḥ. He for whom yajñas themselves are limbs. This name is explained specially as the Yajña-Varāha-mūrti.
Yajñavāhanaḥ. He who carries forward the yajñas that cause their fruits.
Yajñabhṛt. Protector and sustainer of yajña.
Yajñakṛt. He who performs yajña at the beginning of the world and dissolves it at the end.
Yajñī. The master (śeshī) of the yajñas and of those who worship through them.
Yajñabhuk. He who takes part in yajña and governs it.
Yajñasādhanaḥ. He for whom yajñas are the very means of reaching the goal.
Yajñāntakṛt. He who brings yajña to its completion, where it bears fruit. The commentary adds that he brings the homa (fire offering) to its full close when the Vaishṇavī ṛk is recited at the final pūrṇāhuti (closing offering).
Yajñaguhyam. Brahman itself as the secret (guhya) among yajñas. This is jñānayajña, the yajña done without wanting any fruit.

Under the name Yajñāṅgaḥ, the commentary gives a long comparison drawn from the Harivaṃśa. It sets the whole body of Yajña-Varāha beside the parts of the yajña ritual.

The Vedas are his feet. The sāmagāna (chanting of the Sāma Veda) is his roar.
The yūpa posts are his tusks. Krama and vikrama (the right order of the rite and the doing of higher deeds) are his right conduct.
The kratus are his hands. The prāyaścittas (rites of atonement) are his claws.
The citis (sacrificial altars) are his face. The yajñapaśus (animals of the yajña) are his knees.
The agnis (sacred fires) are his tongues. The udgātā (the Sāma Veda priest) is his intestines.
Brahmā is his head. The homa is his liṅga.
Day and night (ahorātra) are his two eyes. The bīja-oshadhis (seeds and herbs) are his testes.
The Vedāntas are his ear ornaments. Vāyu is his inner self (antarātmā).
The ājya (clarified ghee) is his nose. The mantra is his hips.
The sruva (offering ladle) is his snout. The somarasa (Soma juice) is his blood.
The yajñavedi (altar of the yajña) is his shoulder. The havis (offering) is his fragrance.
The havya and kavya offerings are his great swiftness. The prāgvaṃśa is his forebody.
The dakshiṇās (gifts to the priests) are his heart. The upākarmas are his lips and teeth.
The pravargyas are his hair-follicles. The many chandas (Vedic metres), with their gaits and ornaments, are his paths.
The secret Upanishads are his seat. His own chāyā (shadow) is his consort.

The text describes this Yajña-Varāha, put together in this way, as a mahātapasvī (great one of tapas), divine and most worthy of worship. He is shining and fearsome, mighty-armed and luminous. He is honoured through dīkshās (initiations for yajña). He is yogic in form, a mahāsattra (great yajña session), of vast form and valorous. He towers like the peak of Meru.

Keśava and the three devas

The name Keśavaḥ comes twice in the Sahasranāma, and each time it has different derivations.

At its first place it is explained in three ways.

“He who has very beautiful hair (keśa).”
It is made of kā (Brahmā), a (Vishṇu) and īśa (Rudra). He is the one in whom all three are under his own control.
“He who killed the asura Keśī” (Keśivadhāt Keśavaḥ).

At its second place, later in the text, it is explained again. In one account his “hairs” are, by a special use of the word, the rays that stream out as the Sun and other lights. In a longer account his “hairs” are the three śaktis (powers) named Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva. In both places the name ties to the teaching that the three devas of the Trimūrti are all held and ruled by the one Purushottama.

The phalaśruti

The phalaśruti (the statement of what reciting gives) closes the chapter, and it carries great weight in the text. It comes right after the thousandth name, Sarvapraharaṇāyudhaḥ, and its closing namaḥ said twice with the auspicious syllable Oṃ.

What a bow to Kṛshṇa gives

The commentary says that one praṇāma (bow) made rightly to Kṛshṇa is equal to the avabhṛtha bath (the closing bath of purification) of ten Aśvamedha yajñas. Those who perform ten Aśvamedhas may still be born again. The one who bows to Kṛshṇa is never born again.

Even a slight bow of the head to Śrīkṛshṇa Paramātmā destroys at once the pāpa gathered over thousands of past births and kalpas. He is described here in yellow silk garments, with a complexion like the atasī flower. He is the master of the three lokas, of unequalled power, all-capable, and the sustainer.

The word “iti idam”

A note explains that the words iti idam (“thus, this”) show that the Sahasranāma has been recited exactly. No name is added and none is left out. The thousand names are complete as a thousand. Bhīshma says directly that he has told Yudhishṭhira, without remainder, the divine thousand names of the glorious and praiseworthy Keśava.

Japa in three forms

The opening question asked “by the japa of what does one become free”. So the word japa is understood to include all three of its forms. These are ucca-japa (aloud), upāṃśu-japa (whispered) and mānasa-japa (in the mind). This teaching is understood to cover all three.

The fruit that is never lost

The text then draws a clear line. Other puṇyas can still be lost, even after a being has reached the other world (amutra, paraloka). The text names Yayāti and Nahusha as beings who fell from svarga after reaching it, in spite of their stored puṇya. The fruit of the japa of the Sahasranāma, by contrast, is never lost in this way.

The fruits promised

Hearing and kīrtana (singing) of this thousand-name collection every day brings not the slightest ill fortune, in this world or the next.
Fruits for each varṇa: the brāhmaṇa gains knowledge of Vedānta. The kshatriya gains victory. The vaiśya gains great wealth. The śūdra gains happiness.
Those who seek dharma obtain dharma. Those who seek artha obtain artha. Those who seek kāma obtain kāma. Those who seek children obtain santāna.
Those who recite gain wide fame, first place among their kin, steady and lasting wealth, and the highest śreyas (good).
One gains fearlessness, vīrya (valour), tejas, freedom from disease, dhṛti (steadiness), strength and a radiant form.
The sick are freed from disease, the bound from bondage, the fearful from fear, and one struck by calamity is freed from that calamity.
The one who is devoted with bhakti and praises Purushottama without a break through this thousand-name collection crosses over difficulties that cannot otherwise be crossed.
The one who takes refuge in Vāsudeva, and holds Vāsudeva alone as his parāyaṇa (final goal), is freed from all pāpa. He gains a purified ātman and reaches the eternal (sanātana) Brahman.
Devotees of Vāsudeva never meet misfortune anywhere or at any time. The fear of birth, death, old age and disease does not rise in them at all.
The one who studies this stava with śraddhā (faith) and bhakti gains ātma-sukha (happiness of the self), kshānti (patience), sampad (prosperity), dhairya (courage), smṛti (memory) and kīrti (fame) together.
Those whose bhakti toward Purushottama is deep and firm do not feel krodha (anger), mātsarya (envy), lobha (greed) or aśubha-mati (an ill-willed mind).

A note stresses that these fruits are to be taken as literally true. They are not mere arthavāda (praise that points to nothing real).

What the commentary affirms

After the phalaśruti, the commentary sets out a series of statements about how Vāsudeva pervades the universe. It presents them as plain fact, not as devotional exaggeration.

The moon, the sun, the stars, the sky, the directions, the earth and the great ocean are all held in their places only by the vīrya of the mahātmā Vāsudeva.
Devas, asuras, gandharvas, yakshas, nāgas, rākshasas and this whole moving and unmoving world act wholly under Kṛshṇa’s control.
The jñānendriyas, the karmendriyas (senses of action), mind, buddhi, sattva, tejas, bala (strength), dhṛti, kshetra and kshetrajña are all, the wise say, of Vāsudeva’s own nature.
The right to follow any dharma belongs only to the one who keeps right ācāra (conduct). Ācāra was set at the very foundation of all the Vedas. Dharma arises from ācāra. Acyuta is the master of dharma itself.
Ṛshis, pitṛs (the ancestors), devas, the mahābhūtas (great elements), the seven dhātus (bodily tissues) and all that stands still or moves (sthāvara-jaṅgama) have arisen from Nārāyaṇa alone. So has this whole world.
Yoga, jñāna, sāṅkhya, the vidyās, śilpa (crafts) and other kriyās (works), the Vedas, the śāstras and vijñāna all arise from Janārdana alone.
Vishṇu alone is the Mahābhūta. He pervades the three lokas in many ways. He exists as Bhūtātmā, Viśvabhuk and Avyaya.
Bhagavān Kṛshṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa knew the thousand branches of the Veda fully, and he is himself none other than Nārāyaṇa. He composed this stotra, so all should study it with respect and care.

The closing verses say that the one who wants śreyas and śubha (what is good and auspicious) should recite this stotra of Vishṇu, sung by Bhagavān Vyāsa. They say that devotees of Puṇḍarīkāksha never suffer parābhava (defeat). He is the Īśvara of the whole universe, unborn, the deva, and the cause of the world’s rising and dissolving.

Two more verses close the chapter proper. The first is a saying credited to Vyāsa. Just as a person praises a rich man out of the wish for wealth, so one who praises with respect Bhagavān Vishṇu, the maker of the universe cannot fail to be freed from bondage. The second says that when lapses happen in a yajña and its fruit is in danger of being lost through pramāda (carelessness), the mere remembering of Vishṇu (Vishṇu-smaraṇa) is enough, as the śruti says, to make that yajña complete.

Colophon

The chapter ends with these words: “This is the one hundred and forty-ninth chapter, Vishṇusahasranāma-kathanam, in the Dānadharma Parva of the Anuśāsana Parva of the Śrī Mahābhārata.” Its last line adds its own closing credit: “This bhāshya of the Vishṇusahasranāma, composed by Śrīmat-Paramahaṃsa-Parivrājakācārya Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, is concluded.”

Sources

Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Dānadharma Parva, chapter 149 (Vishṇusahasranāma-kathanam), with the bhāshya credited to Śrī Śaṅkarācārya
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, chapters 140–148 (the conversation of Umā and Maheśvara), as the setting of the chapter
Harivaṃśa, for the Yajña-Varāha comparison given in the commentary
Bhagavad Gītā, for the words quoted under Yajñapatiḥ

Vishṇu Sahasranāma (Mahābhārata)