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

"He became the messenger to the pANDava kings, and let Himself be referred
to as "so-and-so's messenger", even though He is the Supreme Lord".
ANDAL describes Him in Her nAcciyAr tirumozhi 11.8 as "One Who is willing to
become mAna ilAp panRi":
pASi tUrttuk kiDaNda pAr magaTkup paNDoru nAL mASu uDambil nIr vArA
mAnamilAp panRiyAm...
"He shamelessly took the Form of a varAha, with a dirty body and water
dripping all over, just for the sake of retrieving bhU devi who was lying under
the Ocean with fungus growing all over Her..".
nammAzhvAr refers to Him as "nADuDai mannarkkut tUdu Sel nambi" in
tiruvAimozhi 6.6.4.
b) SrI Sa'nkara's interpretation is that He is called a-mAnI because He has no
mistaken notions of Atman in things that are not Atman - anAtma
vastushuAtmAbhimAno na asti asya iti a-mAnI.
c) SrI satyadevo vAsishTha gives an additional interpretation using the root
mA - mAne - to measure, to compare with, and gives the meaning "One Who
cannot be measured (with regard to strength, power, or any of the other
auspicious qualities)". The sense conveyed here is that bhagavAn is a-prameya-
Beyond the scope of definition.
nAma 754. mand> mAna mAna-dah mAna dah
a) He Who honors others.
b) He Who confers rewards on His devotees, or denies rewards for the
unrighteous (Sa'nkara)
c) He Who removes the false understanding of Atman in true seekers, or
induces a false sense of Atman in non-seekers (Sa'nkara)
d) He Who gives spiritual enlightenment to His devotees.
e) He Who gives a measure and dimension to everything in the Universe.
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