O King! Listen to me

The Vishnu Sahasranama is also revered as intuited through Divine Grace. It occurs in the Anushasanika Parva of the Mahabharata. Bhishma lies on his chosen bed of arrows waiting to give up his breath at the auspicious time of Uttarayan (January 13-14). Lord Krishna tells Yudhishthira to sit by the grandsire and learn “all dharmas”. At the end, the Pandava prince, now king, asks six questions, of which two are: “Who is the Supreme Lord?” and “How may a person free himself of worldly ties?” Bhishma answers: “Vishnu!” to the first and to the second, “Singing His praise will carry man across the ocean of existence”. This is the prologue to the Vishnu Sahasranama, followed by the Thousand Names sung by past saints, which Bhishma elaborates. Then comes the ‘phalashruti’ or epilogue of merits so gained.

Many commentaries exist on the Names, but I love this story about Adi Shankara. Wanting to write on the Lalita Sahasranamam, Shankara asks his disciple to fetch the text. But the shishya hands him the Vishnu Sahasranamam instead. Shankara sends him back for the right one, but the same thing happens. When rebuked, the shishya explains that each time he was directed by a dazzling feminine form to pick up the Vishnu text. Shankara reads this a signal from Adi Parashakti, the Supreme Goddess herself, to comment first on the Vishnu Sahasranamam. We still hear the Grandsire’s thrilling words across the aeons: Tasya lokapradhaanasya/ jagannathasya bhupathe/vishnor-namasahasram me/shrunu paapa-bhayaapaham. ‘O King! Listen to me give forth the thousand Names of Vishnu, the Lord of the Universe, the Greatest One: these Names take away sin and fear’.