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

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the affix lac after the word vatsa gives it the meaning “love” – vatsa
amsAbhyAmkAma bale. Thus, the word vatsala means kAmavat, snehavat, etc. –
one who is in love, one who is friendly. Bhakta vatsalan in thus One Who is
affectionate towards His devotees.
a) SrI BhaTTar’s anubhavam is that this nAma brings out the special attitude
of BhagavAn towards His devotees, who are eager to cultivate the relationship
with Him as Master and kinsman (i.e., as bhakta-s towards Him). SrI BhaTTar
comments that His joy of having attained His bhakta-s is so great, that He
forgets all other desires – tal-lAbha sambhrama vismRta anya-kAmah.
SrI v.v.rAmAnujan elaborates on the term vatsalah, or vAtsalyam of BhagavAn
towards His devotees. As mention earlier, vatsa refers to a calf. Vatsalah also
refers to affection, of the kind that a cow shows towards its calf. The cow
licks and removes any dirt or other material that may be found on the body of
the calf, on in other words, it treats even the blemishes on its calf as bhogyam
for itself. BhagavAn’s love towards His devotees is similarly one of ignoring
their faults, and enjoying their devotion instead. SrI rAmAnujan gives two
examples.
1. When Vidura was offering worship to kRshNa at his house, he was
totally immersed in looking at Lord kRshNa with devotion and affection,
and he was peeling off the outer layer of the banana, and giving the
peeled skin to kRshNa for eating instead of giving the peeled fruit by
mistake. Lord kRshNa was so immersed in His devotee that He did not
also realize that the skin was what He was being given, and He also ate
the skin as a bhogya vastu, because it had been offered with the
utmost devotion.
2. When BhIshma was lying on the death-bed of arrows and meditating on
Lord kRshNa, the Lord just informed the fellow pANDava-s: “The Lion
of men is lying there, just thinking of Me and meditating on Me”, and
having said that, He Himself was lost on the thought of His bhakta and
forgot Himself and His surroundings.
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