Slokam 12: Vishnu Sahasranamam: Anaadhinidhanam

Introduction

In the last post, we saw that Yudhishtra raises six questions and Bhishma answers those questions one by one. We also discussed the eleventh sloka. In this post, we discuss the twelfth sloka.

Sloka 12

Sloka 12 is in reply to Slokas 8 and 9, which are questions posed by Yudhishtra. Slokas 8 and 9 are:

In reply, Bhishma answers these in the twelfth sloka which is given below:

Transliteration

anādinidhanaṁ viṣṇuṁ sarvalōkamaheśvaram |

lōkādhyakṣaṁ stuvannityaṁ sarvaduḥkhātigō bhavet || 12 ||

Meaning

one who is ever engaged in praising the Lord who is without beginning and end, the All pervading- One, the Ruler of the Universe, the Supervisor of the worlds, the One Who is to be known from the Vedas, Who is Himself the Knower of all Dharmas, the One Who is constantly engaged in the Universal Welfare, Lord of the Universe, and the Cause of all beings — such a devotee transcends over all the sorrows of this material world.

(Pandit U.Ve. Sri Rama Ramanuja Achari)

Comment

As stated above in the 8th and 9th Sloka, Yudhishtra asks six questions to Bhishma. Of these, the last two are: 

5. Which is the greatest Dharma?

6. Which is the means that will bring about release from Bondage?

Bhishma says that the greatest Dharma is ever praising or chanting the name of Vishnu. He also says such a devotee (who is engaged in chanting the name of Vishnu) transcends all sorrows of the material world and that such chanting will release him from Bondage. 

Prof. A Srinivasa Raghavan (ASR), in his preface to the English translation of the commentary of Sri Parasara Bhattar on the Sahasranama, argues that the 12th sloka is the answer to the fifth question noted above. According to Prof. ASR, Bhishma answers the sixth question (noted above) through the tenth Sloka, whose meaning is: "The chanting of the names of Sri Krishna , who is the Supreme Deity and Purushottama, should be done for obtaining release from bondage." [ASR, p. III].  It is to be noted that even the 12th sloka speaks of going beyond ("atigo bhavet"). On the other hand, there is a view, predominant, that the 12th Sloka is in answer to the third question: Which is the deity that is to be worshipped?

[Note: Edited after posting. See post on Slokam 13]

The word by word meaning of the 12th Sloka is:

Anaadhinidhanam: Without beginning/ existing from eternity or end/ annihilation/ destruction.

Vishnum: Vishnu

Sarvaloka: All the worlds

Maheshwaram: The Supreme Lord

lokaa dhyakshaM: knower of all worlds or knower of all Dharmas

Stuvan: chants 

nityam: daily or always

sarva duHkha: All sorrows

atigo bhavet: Go beyond

[Sources: 

1) M Monier Williams, A Sanskrit English Dictionary, 17th Reprint: 2020: Motilal Banarasidass; 

2) Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam Word-to-word translation

3) http://sanskritdictionary.com/]

Note that the phrase Anaadhinidhanam is also found in Sloka 34, Chapter 10 of Canto 2 of the Srimad Bhaghavatam, which states:

ataḥ paraṁ sūkṣmatamam

avyaktaṁ nirviśeṣaṇam

anādi-madhya-nidhanaṁ

nityaṁ vāṅ-manasaḥ param

The sloka's meaning is: "Therefore beyond this [gross manifestation] is a transcendental manifestation finer than the finest form. It has no beginning, no intermediate stage and no end; therefore it is beyond the limits of expression or mental speculation and is distinct from the material conception."[Source: https://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/2/10/34?d=1]

Book Review: The War that Made R&AW by Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket (Westland)

Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket, The War That Made R&AW, Westland (April 2021)

Indian writing has come a long way. The trick is that like a racy screenplay in films, the writing should be catchy and racy. This is true especially in non-fiction. The recently released book, the War that made R&AW, is about the founding of the Research and Analysis Wing and its working in the Indo-Pak War of 1971. R&AW is the foreign intelligence agency of India, while its domestic counterpart is the Intelligence Bureau.

The book discusses how R&AW was founded by RN Kao, how he selected his team, how the Prime Minister supported establishment and functioning of R&AW, how Sankaran Nair helped RN Kao in running the R&AW, and how India helped in the formation of Bangladesh. Such books are rare to come by. Well researched, compact (~187 pages), and written like a racy film, the book is a must read for those interested in political non-fiction and about Indian polity. 

The authors, Anusha Nandakumar, and Sandeep Saket are not political journalists. They're basically film makers and first time authors. Given these, the book is mind-blowing and the authors are to be congratulated for writing this wonderful book.

On the flipside, the book does not talk about post-1971 developments of R&AW. Given the title "The War that Made R&AW", this is not a 'defect' as such. However, a ten page chapter covering some landmark events post 1971 would have been helpful.

Another problem with the book is that it  presents the book from an Indian perspective. The American,  British, Chinese and Pakistani perspectives on the war are nowhere to be seen. 

Even so, this is an excellent read. 

Links to the some of the book reviews of this book are provided here: The Indian Express, The Scroll (with excerpts from the book), The Print,

Other books on R&AW are RN Kao are given in the bibliography of the book.