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

d) He Who leads the jIva-s to moksha by showing them the right path.
e) He Who provides different ways for His creations to move around.
f) He Who is accompanied by garuDa and vAyu when destroying the asura-s.
g) He Who ends the various paths that go from birth to birth.
vIraghne namaH.
We have delved into the anubhavam of this nAma earlier (nAma 168 - Slokam
18), and we will see the nAma again in Slokam 99 - nAma 927). The term vIra is
traditionally used to refer to the attribute of a person who is heroic and
exhibits valor towards his enemies in war. Based on amara koSa vyAkhyAnam:
viruddhAn rAti hanti iti vIrah (rA - dAne, chedane ca) - One who destroys his
enemies; vIrayati iti vA vIrah (vIr - vikrAntau - to display valor) - He who
displays valor. So the nAma ‘vIra-hA’ literally means "He Who destroys the
vIra-s".
Based on the attribute of bhagavAn described here, namely that He is One
Who destroys ‘vIra-s’, some interpreters have given the meaning to the term
"vIra” itself, with a negative connotation (instead of the meaning ‘brave’, they
interpret the term as referring to ‘those who violate dharma’, based on the
root Ir – gatau – to go, or, Ir – kshepe – to move, to throw, to cast off, to
discard). In this interpretation, those who discard the path of dharma are
being referred to as ‘vIra-s’, or those who go in the wrong path are called
‘vIra-s’ (see the interpretations of SrI vAsishTha and SrI kRshNa datta
bhAradvAj below).
To understand the interpretation of the nAma with the positive meaning
‘brave’ for ‘vIra’, we should remember that all vIra-s are not followers of
dharma. In this nAma, bhagavAn's guNa of destroying the vIra-s who resort to
a-dharma is what is addressed. SrI satyadevo vAsishTha elaborates that it is
only where vishNu is that victory is, and it is not necessarily where a vIra is.
Victory is where dharma is. A person who has the strength, but who tortures
the innocent, is called an "aparAdhI" or one who has committed an aparAdham.
It is these people that are destroyed by bhagavAn in the end without a trace.
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