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

mediate on them or recite their names, just as His nAma purifies them.
2) He is the Originator of yoga, j~nAna, sAmkhya (science, craft and other
arts, Vedas, SAstra-s, and music) - yogo j~nAnam tathA sAmkhyam…(mahA
bhArata, Anu. 150. 141).
3) He, Who is deep like an unreachable ocean, but makes it possible for the
devotees to reach Him through a series of incarnations that are like steps to
reach Him.
In dayA Satakam, svAmi deSikan prostrates to the AcArya paramparA as the
steps that make it possible to have access to Him who is otherwise
inaccessible like the deep ocean (Slokam 2 - vigAhe tIrtha bahulAm. SitalAm
guru-santatim…). One is reminded of the sAmyam of AcArya-s with bhagavAn
that svAmi deSikan refers to in nyAsa vimSati Slokam 2. I feel that, along the
lines of SrI BhaTTar's third interpretation above, bhagavAn is tIrtha-karah
also in the sense that He has provided this great AcArya paramparA starting
with Him, followed by pirATTi, vishvakesenar, etc., all the way down to our
current AcArya in order to enable us to reach Him.
b) SrI Samkara uses the meaning "vidyA" for tIrtham, and gives the
interpretation - caturdaSa vidyAnAm bAhya-vidyA-samayAnAm ca praNetA
pravaktA ca iti tIrtha-karah - He is the Teacher of the fourteen vidyA-s and
the auxiliary sciences, and so He is called tIrtha-karah. These include the
veda-s and other vidyA-s which He taught to brahma and the deva-s, as well
the other sciences that are contradictory to the vedic teachings that He gave
to the asura-s to deceive them.
SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri refers to the 14 or 18 vidyA-s or the "ghats of
knowledge - kalvit tuRaigaL" - the four veda-s, the six vedA'ngga-s (SikshA,
vyAkaraNa, chandas, niruktam, jyotisham, kalpam), the two darSana-s
(mImAmsA, nyAaya), dharma SAstra, and purANa-s, and the four additional
ones - Ayurveda, dhanurveda, gAndharva, artha SAstra. Among the vidyA
divisions that are non-vedic in nature and meant for misleading those who are
Asuric are the bauddha, jaina, etc. branches.
147
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