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

are engaged in intense tapas on Him, by giving His darSanam to them.
nAma 717. dpRha darpa darpa-hA darpa hA
The Destroyer of pride.
darpaghnAya namah.
The root from which the word darpa is derived is dRp - harsha mohanayoh - to
be glad, to be proud; hA is derived from the root han - to kill. So the nAma
darpa-hA means "He Who kills or destroys the pride in those who are afflicted
with pride".
SrI BhaTTar gives the above interpretation, and points out instances of
bhagavAn destroying the pride of the deva-s and asura-s without destroying
the deva-s or asura-s themselves. He gives as examples the instance of
BhagavAn lifting up the govardhana mountain against the lashing rains caused
by indra, the carrying away of the pArijAta tree from the garden of indra,
chopping off the grove-like arms of bANAsura, etc.
SrI Samkara explains the nAma as referring to bhagavAn repressing the pride
of those that stray from the path of dharma.
SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri points out that darpam refers to acts that are
undertaken when one becomes ecstatic without knowing one's own position
(relative to bhagavAn), and starts indulging in actions that are not consistent
with dharma. This applies to those who do not follow the path of dharma, as
well as to those who follow dharma but momentarily get carried away from the
success of their dhArmic acts and start feeling pride in their
accomplishments. In these later cases, bhagavAn imparts a lesson to these
people by temporarily posing some obstacle.
The dharma cakram writer gives a similar explanation, and describes darpa as
the act performed by us when we do not realize that the self is different
from the body, and falsely feel ownership for our action. BhagavAn creates
obstacles as needed under these circumstances, and strives to remove this
pride.
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