Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Parayanam

**********Recitation by H.H.Tridandi Chinna Srimannarayana Ramanuja Jeeyar Swamiji***********

Vishnu Sahasra Namam weighs more than Bhagavad Geetha! Want to know Why and How?

Sri Krushna wanted to preach Bhagavad Geetha in order to benefit everyone, but it took so long to find the right time and right person. He had to wait more than 90 years of his age! After all the efforts, it was clear that Arjuna failed to understand the essence of it. This was evident when Arjuna demanded Krishna to get down from the chariot to open the door for Him after the war ended. Krushna pushed Arjuna down, and then He got down. As soon as Krushna got down, the chariot burnt into flames. Krushna told him that the strength of arrows from Kowravas on Arjuna’s chariot was so high that if He wasn’t on it, the chariot would have become pieces long back. It was Krushna’s presence that made Arjuna stand in the battle field. Arjuna did not realise Krushna’s power or who He was in entirety. His arrogance took over and he remained as is even after listening to Bhagavad Geetha.

While that was the situation with Arjuna – Bheeshma immersed himself in God so much that he separated himself from the pains of arrows from the war!! Krushna wanted to make sure people hear from Bheeshma about what is the best way to come out of any pain. He knew by now that his efforts to do the same were futile.

The sweetness of jaggery is best experienced by tasting it or hearing it from someone who has tasted it, not when jaggery itself speaks out – right?

Imagine yourself walking towards jaggery, and it jumps up to tell you how sweet and tasty it is J – you will want to stay away from it. But, if someone tells you that the jaggery is so tasty and that they would share it with you through a dessert dish, you would be more than happy to taste it.

Similarly, God’s power and qualities are best explained by rushis who meditated in love for Him. As they meditated, they experienced God and the words that come out of them have become the descriptions of God. These rushis are called madhurya drastas!

Vishnu Sahasra Namam was not only accepted by thrimathacharyas, (Sankara, Ramanuja, Madva) but also learnt with love by all of them who wrote bhashyams, the divine interpretations / explanations on it.

Veda Vyasa collected all of experiences from several rushis and had always kept them with him! After a long time, he preached those to Bheeshma. So, imagine the core strength of knowledge and power this Vishnu Sahasra Namam has!! Veda Vyasa achieved in him so much strength that he could do an amazing literary work based on Vedas, be it writing Classification of Vedas, Vishnu Puranam, Bharatham, Bhagavatham, bashyam on Bramha Sutras and more! Bheeshma’s strength seems obvious because he was able to dictate his departure time from that body with Yama!

Also, it is considered an anupanam, Anupanam means something that you take the medication along with. For example: an ayurvedic medicine is asked to be taken with honey, or with warm water, or with ginger juice etc. Historic Ayurvedic doctors believed that those medicines be taken with Vishnu Sahasra Namam as anupanam. It therefore not only has benefits in spiritual arena, but also physical arena!

–  From the discourse of Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swami on Bheeshma Ekadasi, 24th Jan 2018