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

h) He Who created the fit being - the four-faced brahmA (catura = kuSala,
fit)
i) He Who manifest Himself in four kinds of AtmA-s: jIva, antarAtmA,
paramAtmA, j~nAnAtmA.
catur-Atmane namah.
We dealt with this nAma in Slokam 15 (nAma 139). The term Atman usually
refers to the individual soul, but is also used refer to the Supreme Self
(ParamAtman), one’s essential essence or nature, Form, image etc. (VAman
Apte’s dictionary). The nAma-s catur-mUrtih (nAma 771 in the current
Slokam), catur-AtmA (nAma 139 in Slokam 15, and the current nAma), and
catur-vyUhah (nAma 140 in Slokam 15, and the previous nAma in the current
Slokam have interpretations that are some what related. So I am re-visiting all
the above nAma-s here.
It has been pointed out in many places before, that a unique feature of SrI
BhaTTar’s bhAshyam is that he sees a connection between groups of nAma-s in
SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam, and has grouped the 1000 nAma-s into 44 groups,
like 44 petals of a lotus flower. So in SrI BhaTTar’s bhAshyam, we will see the
interpretation that is most appropriate to the form of bhagavAn that he is
dealing with for any instance of a given nAma. For instance, he interprets:
1. the nAma-s 123 to 146 in terms of His vyUha incarnations (vAsudeva,
samkarshNa, pradyumna and aniruddha), and nAma-s 697 to 786 in
terms of the vibhava incarnation of bhagavAn as Lord kRshNa.
2. the occurrence of catur-AtmA and catur-vyUhah as nAma-s 139 and
140 in terms of the vyUha incarnation, and the occurrence of the same
nAma-s catur-AtmA and catur-vyUhahas nAma-s 775 and 773, in terms
of His kRshNa incarnations.
Thus, he uses the meaning “Emanation” or vyUha incarnation in the former
instance of the term vyUha, and refers to His four vyUha incarnations for the
nAma 139, and deals with why He took these forms, for nAma 140.
When interpreting the series of nAma-sunder the kRshNa incarnation, he
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