Drinking Alcohol is Uncool!

A friend's dad recently passed away due to a smoking related disease. Most of the guys in the previous generation thought smoking was cool and are now paying the price. In the same way, the present generation thinks drinking alcohol is being cool and a teetotaler is considered uncool and a "pazham". Well, please know that drinking alcohol is totally uncool. If you think otherwise, all you would be doing by continuing to drink alcohol is you will make your spouse and children immensely suffer in a decade or two. So stop drinking!

And if you happen to have a friend who's a teetotaler and you're on your way pestering him to drink, please stop doing it. You are doing no good to him; you're not being a friend.

I am lucky that way. During my college days, there is probably not a bar in Mangalore that I had not visited with friends. Yet, not once have my friends suggested that I should taste alcohol. Once, an acquaintance asked me to drink and all my friends were pretty pissed off at him for asking me to drink. I am so proud of my friends that I keep telling about them to everyone.

Friendship is not just about enjoying and having a good time together. It is about ensuring that your friend always goes a step ahead in life. It is fine if you cannot help him or her; at least don't shove him down the rabbit hole.

Vishnu Sahasranamam: Sloka 6: Yasya Smarana Maathrena

Sloka 6: Text

yasya smaraṇamātreṇa janmasaṁsārabaṁdhanāt |

vimucyate namastasmai viṣṇave prabhaviṣṇave || 6 ||

ōṁ namō viṣṇave prabhaviṣṇave ||

Meaning

Bow I before Him,

The all-powerful Vishnu,

The mere thought of whom.

Releases one forever,

Of the ties of birth and life.

Bow I before the all powerful Vishnu.

(Swami Krishnanda)

"My salutation to that all powerful deity, Visnu the mere contemplation of whose name frees all persons from the bonds of samsara, the terrific cycle of birth and death." (link)

Comment

Yasya: to be endeavoured

smaraṇa: the act of remembering

mātreṇa: merely

smaraṇamātreṇa: the mere contemplation

janma: birth

samsāra: cycle of birth and death

bandhanāt: from the material bondage

The term bandhanāt also appears in Canto 3 verse 23.57 of Srimad Bhagavadam where it is stated:

sāhaṁ bhagavato nūnaṁ

vañcitā māyayā dṛḍham

yat tvāṁ vimuktidaṁ prāpya

na mumukṣeya bandhanāt

which means: "My lord, surely I have been solidly cheated by the insurmountable illusory energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for in spite of having obtained your association, which gives liberation from material bondage, I did not seek such liberation."

vimucyate: becomes freed/ liberated

namastasmai: Salutations to him

viṣṇave: All-pervading Lord Vishnu

prabhaviṣṇave: to Lord Viṣṇu, the most powerful

ōṁ namō viṣṇave prabhaviṣṇave: I bow before the all powerful Lord Vishnu

This is the last sloka of the Purvabhagam which does not figure out in Mahabharata. As said in the previous post, this sloka is also a salutation to Lord Vishnu. The previous sloka speaks of the nature of the Lord while this one is about why contemplation of the Lord's name is necessary: it releases one from the bonds of birth and death (samsara).

Vishnu Sahasranamam: Sloka 5: Avikaaraaya Shuddhaaya Nityaaya

Sloka 5: Text

avikārāya śuddhāya nityāya paramātmane |
sadaikarūparūpāya viṣṇave sarvajiṣṇave || 5 ||

Meaning

Bow I before Vishnu
Who is pure,
Who is not affected,
Who is permanent,
Who is the ultimate truth.
And He who wins over,
All the mortals in this world.

(Swami Krishnanda)

Poetic Meaning

Salutation to Lord Vishnu who is immutable (unchangeable, not subject to any variation), who is inherently pure and eternal, the Supreme soul who has a consistent undiversified form in all times and ages and is the conqueror of one and all. 

(link)

Comment

The fifth and the sixth slokas of the Purva Bhagham (of the Vishnu Sahasranamam) are salutations to Vishnu. Each word of the sloka is significant and is explained below:

avikārāya: one who does not undergo material transformation or unchangeable. 

The word avikārāya is also used in Canto 10 of Srimad Bhagavadam, Verse 16:40 which reads:

jñāna-vijñāna-nīdhaye
brahmaṇe ’nanta-śaktaye
aguṇāyāvikārāya 
namas te prākṛtāya ca 

(emphasis supplied)

The above Sloka translates as follows:

"Obeisances unto You, the Absolute Truth, who are the reservoir of all transcendental consciousness and potency and the possessor of unlimited energies. Although completely free of material qualities and transformations, You are the prime mover of material nature." (link).

śuddhāya: pure/ unadulterated.

Again, this word has several references in Srimad Bhagavadam. For instance, verse 49.13 of the 10th Canto, which reads:

namaḥ kṛṣṇāya śuddhāya
 brahmaṇe paramātmane
yogeśvarāya yogāya

 tvām ahaṁ śaraṇaṁ gatā 

(emphasis supplied)

The verse translated reads as below:

"I offer my obeisances unto You, Kṛṣṇa, the supreme pure, the Absolute Truth and the Supersoul, the Lord of pure devotional service and the source of all knowledge. I have come to You for shelter." (link)

nityāya: permanent/ eternal

paramātmane: one who is the supreme person (paramātma)

sadaikarūparūpāya: one who is consistent

viṣṇave: the all-pervading Vishnu

sarvajiṣṇave: jiṣṇu is the root of this compound word whose meaning is all conquering.

Thus, Sloka five of the Vishnu Sahasranamam explains in brief the qualities of Lord Vishnu: The Lord  is eternal, pure, consistent, without end, all conquering and supreme. An English and a Tamil translation of this sloka in the form of a video is available here.