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

The first line above refers to the vastness of prakRti, the second refers to
the vastness of the j~nAna of the Atman, and the third line refers to His
vastness. When the term Brahman refers to the Supreme Being, it is qualified
by both cit and acit, or has both conscious and unconscious entities as His
body; when it refers to prakRti, it is qualified by only acit or insentiency; and
when it refers to Atman, it is qualified by only cit or consciousness.
b) SrI Samkara interprets the term brahma in this nAma as referring
collectively to penance, veda-s, brAhmaN-s well-versed in scripture, and
wisdom - tapovedASca viprASca, j~nAnam ca brahma sam~jnitam, and gives
the interpretation to the nAma that because He is beneficent to them all, He
is called brahmaNyah.
SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri gives examples of this: bhagavAn retrieved the
veda-s from the asura by name hayagrIva in His matsya incarnation; He showed
the path of penance in His nara-nArAyaNa incarnation; He gave us the
knowledge of the veda-s through His teaching of the gItA; He takes several
incarnations to protect the brAhmaNa-s (vipra-s) in their times of distress.
As examples of bhagavAn being beneficent to the brAhmaNa-s, SrI kRshNa
dattabhAradvAj gives the example of Lord kRshNa doing pAda pUjA for all
the brAhmaNa-s who came for the rAjasUya yAga performed by yudhisThira,
and SrI baladeva vidyAbhUshan gives the example of Lord kRshNa retrieving
the son of His guru from yama loka.
SrI satyadevo vAsishTha observes that He is called brahmaNyah because He
is big, and He makes His devotees big, by giving them all the things to enjoy,
and by supporting them and protecting them.
nAma 668. äük«t! äüa brahma brahma-kRt
brahma kRt-brahmA
kRt brahmA
The Creator Who created brahmA, the creator of big things.
brahma-kRt-brahmaNe namah.
SrI BhaTTar explains this nAma again using the generic meaning “big” for the
word brahman. The creator of the world, the four-faced brahmA, is brahma-
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