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

artha, kAma, and moksha.
b) An alternate interpretation, given by SrI aNNa’ngarAcArya and a few
others, is that, depending on the merit of the upAsaka, bhagavAn takes the
upAsaka to one of the four goals: the position of indra, brahmA, kaivalyam, or
moksham.
c) In SrImad rAmAyaNam, hanuman describes Lord rAma to sItA pirATTi with
the name catur-gatih (sundara kANDam 35.20 – catur-daSasamadvandvaScatur-damshTraS-catur-gatih).
This is traditionally translated using the
meaning “gait” for the word “gatih”, giving the meaning to the nAma as “One
Who has the four kinds of gaits”. SrI v.v. rAmAnujan refers us to the
ARAyirap paDi vyAkhyAnam for tiruppAvai pASuram 23 – "mArI
malaimuzha’ngil”, for the part “un koil ninRu I’nganE pOndu aruLi”. emperumAn’s
naDai is enjoyed in four different ways in SrI ra’ngam utsavam-s. These are
the:
1. Rshabha gati (the walk of a bull, characterized by pride and exultation),
2. matta gaja gati (the gait of an infatuated elephant, characterized by
majesty),
3. the vyAghra gati (associated with the anger of an angry tiger), and
4. simha gati (the walk of lordliness associated with its position as the
king of the four-legged species and by its ability to overpower and
conquer the other four-legged species).
In SrImad rAmAyaNam we have the reference to the beauty of Lord rAma’s
gait – gaja simha gatI vIrau SardUla vRshabhaupamau, referring to the four
gaits described above.
d) SrI Sa’nkara uses the meaning “goal” (the ultimate end) for the word gati,
and gives the interpretation that the nAma means “He Who is the Goal of the
four varNa-s and ASrama-s” – ASramANAm varNAnAm caturNAmyathoktakAriNAm
gatih catur-gatih – He is the goal of the four stages of life or
ASrama-s (brahmacarya, gRhasta, vAnaprastha and sannyAsa), and the four
castes (brAhmaNa, kshatriya, vaiSya, and Sudra), when their respective codes
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