Vishnu Sahasra Naamam-Vol III-RR-edit.pub - Ibiblio

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He makes us believe in Him and His vedic injunctions; then He makes us obey
these injunctions with pleasure; after this, He bestows knowledge and
devotion, and generates deep faith in Him; ultimately He makes us attain Him.
Even though this takes several births in the cases of most of us, He keeps at
it till He gets us to Him. SrI BhaTTar quotes the following in support:
janmAntara sahasreshu tapo dhyAna samAdhibhih |
narANAm kshINa pApAnAm kRshNe bhaktih prajAyate ||
106
(laghuatrismRti)
"The sins of human beings get annihilated over a period of several births by
means of austerities, meditation, and contemplation on Him, and devotion to
Lord kRshNa results in the end".
ahUnAm janmanAm ante j~nAnavAn mAm prapadyate
"It is only at the end of many births that a wise man resorts to Me".
AbhyAsa yogena tato mAm icchAptum dhana'njaya |
"O Arjuna! Strive to attain Me by constant practice of meditation".
SrI v. v. rAmAnujan gives related reference from divya prabandham:
(gItA 7. 19)
(gItA 8. 8)
"ARRa nalla vagai kATTum ammAn" (tiruvAi. 4. 5. 5), and "neRi vASal tAneyAi
ninRAnai…" (mudal tiruvantAdi 4)
SrI v. n. vedAnta deSikan in his tamizh vyAkhyAnam for the first reference
brings out the point that bhagavAn shows this path to arjuna step by step,
gradually, and not all at once. Doing so all at once would have only confused
arjuna profusely. The second reference stresses that it is only by His Grace
that the step-by-step path will be revealed, and not otherwise; Siva tried his
best to realize Him by controlling all his indriya-s, and could not find Him.
b) SrI Samkara interprets the nAma as referring to His tri-vikrama
incarnation - mahAntah kramAh pAda-vikshepA asya iti mahA-kramah. He
gives reference totaittirIya Upanishad in support - Sanno vishNur-uru-kramah