Vishnu Sahasranama - Yudhishthira's Questions to Bhisma

 

The Viśṇu Ṣahasranāma, which consists of a thousand names in praise of the Lord, is located within the Mahābhārata. This great epic is presented as a dialogue between Ugraśravas and a group of Mahāriṣis, led by Śaunaka. These r̥śis were performing a yāga over many years in the Naimiśaraṇya forest. When Ugraśravas came to visit them, they requested that he share any knowledge from his travels that might be useful. In response, he narrated the Mahābhārata, which he had heard from Sage Vaiśampāyana. The Mahābhārata is famously a story within a story; Sage Vaiśampāyana had received it from Sage Veda Vyāsa himself while reciting it to King Janamejaya. As the narrative of the Mahābhārata unfolds, it brings forth the dialogue between Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma, which is the very source of this Viśṇu Ṣahasranāma. We shall now see this dialogue between Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma as related by Sage Vaiśampāyana.

श्रीवैशम्पायन उवाच ---

श्रुत्वा धर्मानशेषेण पावनानि च सर्वशः ।

युधिष्ठिरः शान्तनवं पुनरेवाभ्यभाषत ॥ ७॥

Śrī Vaiśampāyana said — Having heard the various dharmas without exception, as well as the purifying acts in all their forms, Yudhiṣṭhira once more addressed Bhīṣma, the son of Śāntanu.

Having received the exhaustive exposition of dharmas and karmas—those yielding results in this world and the next, as well as those leading to the ultimate goal of mokṣa—Yudhiṣṭhira had gained an understanding of the actions enjoined and prohibited for the attainment of life's purposes. He was further enlightened on the nature of atoning karmas designed to purify one in every aspect. Such Vaidika dharmas, comprising diverse rituals and prayers, serve to cleanse the mind from the binding influence of likes and dislikes and to neutralize the effects of adharma.

Nevertheless, Yudhiṣṭhira sensed that some profound truth remained undisclosed. He sought a sādhana capable of encompassing all human aspirations—a path that was easy to practice, inherently enjoyable, and requiring minimal physical exertion, yet capable of bestowing a great result. Therefore, he once more questioned Bhīṣma, the son of Śāntanu.

     युधिष्ठिर उवाच ---

किमेकं दैवतं लोके किं वाप्येकं परायणम् ।

स्तुवन्तः कं कमर्चन्तः प्राप्नुयुर्मानवाः शुभम् ॥ ८॥

Yudhiṣṭhira said — Who is the one supreme deity in the world spoken of in all the śāstras? What is the one ultimate goal/refuge? By praising whom, and worshipping whom do human beings attain auspiciousness?

Yudhiṣṭhira addresses six profound inquiries to Bhīṣma. To each of these six questions, Bhīṣma reveals Lord Viṣṇu as the singular resolution, subsequently reciting the thousand-fold names of the Lord. Though distinct in their expression, all six inquiries are essentially interconnected. 

His first question is loke kim ekam daivatam-  who is the one Lord that is spoken of in all the shastras, by whose order alone all the other devatas function? He the word loke refers to the shastras. 

The second inquiry is loke kim ekam parāyaṇam?—What is the parama-ayanam, the ultimate refuge spoken of in all the śāstras? What is the one end to be accomplished by all, and gaining which there remains nothing more to be achieved. What is that knowing which the knots of the heart are broken, all doubts are resolved, and all one’s karmas are destroyed, bringing an end to the cycle of rebirth? What is that knowing which mokṣa, characterized by limitless happiness, is attained and where there is no more fear, for there is no second thing? What is that entering which there is no coming back, and knowing which one becomes that very reality? What is that path leaving which there is no other for a human being? That can only be one thing: Brahman, for the Upaniṣads declare, "Brahmavit Brahmaiva bhavati"—the knower of Brahman becomes Brahman itself. Thus, the ultimate goal of human existence is addressed through this second question.

Who is that one supreme deity in this world? By knowing and understanding whom, by praising whose infinite glories, and by seeking and worshipping whom, do human beings attain total auspiciousness, encompassing both svarga and the ultimate liberation of mokṣa?

को धर्मः सर्वधर्माणां भवतः परमो मतः ।

किं जपन्मुच्यते जन्तुर्जन्मसंसारबन्धनात् ॥ ९॥

Among all the dharmas, which dharma is, in your view, the highest? By chanting what does a jīva gain liberation from the bondage of saṃsāra, which is fraught with repeated births? 

 sarva-dharmānām- Among all the dharmas that you have told me, which according to your view is the parama dharma, the highest means, by which one can accomplish the ultimate goal?

Kim japan - Chanting and repeating which mantra, jantu -the jiva born of ignorance, janma- samsara-bandhanāt mucyate -would accomplish the end, which is a release from the bonds of samsara, a release from this life of becoming. Janma - birth stands for all the effects of ignorance. So what japa would release a person from ignorance and the bondages caused by its effects.

Although Yudhiṣṭhira specifically inquired after the means for release from the bondage of saṃsāra, Śaṅkara clarifies that the chanting of the Viśṇu Ṣahasranāma is also efficacious for gaining one’s welfare within saṃsāra, attained as an auspicious result of this pious recitation.

We will see Bhiśma's replies to these six questions in the next post.

Om

Vishnu Sahasranama - Your Relationship To Ishvara and Meaning of Bhagavan

 

We saw in the last post that Īśvara is The Conscious Being. Let us understand the relationship between Īśvara and you.

You are also a conscious being. The consciousness that you are is self-evident and self-revealing. As consciousness both you and Īśvara, are identical. There is no difference. However, Īśvara has all-knowledge, whereas you have limited knowledge. Īśvara has all-power, whereas no matter how powerful you are, you still have limited power. It like the wave and ocean – as water they are both identical. Yet wave is but a part of the ocean. The biggest wave is still not as big and as powerful as the ocean. Associated with your body-mind complex, you have no separate existence from Īśvara, just as wave has no separate existence from the ocean. Associated with the body-mind-complex, you can invoke Īśvara’s all-knowledge, all-power through prayer and develop Īśvara’s different śaktis coursing through your body-mind complex, making meaningful contribution to Īśvara’s universe. You can also choose to study vedānta and in due course own up your identity with Īśvara  and recognize your innate divinity and fullness.

Another meaningful name for Īśvara is Bhagavān.  In Viśnu Purāṇa 6.5.74,  Bhagavān is described as :-

ऐश्वर्यस्य समग्रस्य वीर्यस्य यशसः श्रियः।

ज्ञान-वैराग्ययोश्चैव षण्णां भग इतीरणा॥

The one who is endowed in absolute measure with ‘bhaga’,  the six-fold virtues of aiśvarya - overlordship, jñāna -knowledge, vairagya-dispassion, vīrya -the capacity to create, sustain and resolve, yaśas -fame, śrī -wealth, is called as Bhagavān.

Just as the one who has bala (strength) is called as balavān,  the one who has dhana (wealth) is called as dhanavān, so too, the one who is endowed with 

1. total overlordship 

2. total knowledge

3. absolute discrimination, 

4. absolute power, the capacity to create, sustain and resolve in total measure, 

5. total fame, 

6. total wealth, 

the six-fold bhaga is called Bhagavān. 

The interesting thing about Bhagavān having total knowledge is that Bhagavān  does not require a mind, nor does Bhagavān require senses, nor any other means of knowledge to know. We, as individuals, however, do require a mind to know.  So our knowledge is always limited by our mind. Bhagavān  on the other hand, being in the form of all-knowledge, simultaneously knows everything about everything in the universe. Isn’t that mind-boggling!

Total vairāgya refers to absolute dispassion, indicating an absence of longing or insecurity. While limited dispassion implies a need for something external to feel complete—leading to the fear of not obtaining it or losing it—Bhagavān is entirely free from such needs. Consequently, Bhagavān, is totally free of insecurity. An individual on the other hand, has got limited vairāgya. My Guruji used to give this example of how we eat the banana and discard the peel. We have vairāgya towards the peel! We don't harbor likes or dislikes towards the peel. So we have vairāgya towards the banana peel, yet we certainly do not have total while vairāgya.

Vīrya also refers to total power, absolute power. Unlike we individuals, Bhagavān, has absolute power to create, to sustain and to resolve the creation. Just imagine, every moment, simultaneously, the powers of creating, sustaining and resolving are manifesting, throughout the universe.

Since Bhagavān is in the form of the whole universe along with all its amazing glories, total fame or samagram yaśas  belongs to Him. Every talent that we possess, every śakti,  we possess belongs to Bhagavān. If there are other living beings, in other planets, possessing different powers, all of those too belong to Bhagavān

The śrī, wealth  of the entire universe belongs to Bhagavān. All that is here belongs to Bhagavān.  The individual is only a trustee for all that is entrusted to him or her. The individual is never a owner of anything in this universe, not even his or her body, he/she is just  a trustee for the body that he or she is endowed with. As my Guruji would say, our family, our home, any real estate, anything that we think we possess, including one’s capacity to earn, is all wealth and it is all given, it is all  bhagavat prasāda.  It does not belong to us. 

Aiśvarya signifies Bhagavān's absolute capacity for mastery and control over everything in the universe. Bhagavān possesses total aiśvarya, meaning no one rules over him, and he is not subject to any external laws. In contrast, individuals possess only limited aiśvarya, which we experience in small opportunities, as when we choose to water a dying plant or help an ant struggling in a pool. My Guruji often highlighted these small acts as moments where we exercise our own limited mastery and control.

Thus Bhagavān or Īśvara,  is defined as one who has these six-fold virus in total measure.  And we we saw from our earlier posts, Īśvara is everything that is here now, that was there in the past and that will be there in the future.  All that is here is but a form of Īśvara,  the cause.  All forms are manifestations of Īśvara alone.  They have no independent existence from Īśvara.  In fact they are Īśvara. And all these forms have names. So these names are nothing but names for Īśvara.  The forms being countless, the names are also countless. So Īśvara has infinite names and only a thousand are given in the Viśṇu Ṣahasranāma!

 In the next post we will look at the dialogue between Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma,  which results in Bhīṣma reciting the Viśṇu Ṣahasranāma.

Om Tat Sat

Bhagavad-Gītā Verse 21 Contd.

 I was busy with travel and being ill and so could not continue. 

Now continuing from Verse 21 Last post  where we saw Purvapakshi has one more argument  that I can accept that atma is changeless and therefore akarta, and atma is not a knower. However, the wise person being a knower of atma, must be subject to change, because he cannot know without undergoing a knowing process. Any knower has to be associated with a knowing process. And the knowing process is associated with change. So knower of atma must also  be associated with change and so the knower of atma is a changing entity and not a changeless entity, so he cannot be akarta, he must be a karta. And since he is a karta he must combine knowledge with karma. The Purvapakshi or ooponent wants to establish that the wise man has to perform karma, just like the ignoramt person. 

Shankarcharya write in the Bhashya यथा बुद्ध्याद्याहृतस्य शब्दाद्यर्थस्य अविक्रिय एव सन् बुद्धिवृत्त्यविवेकविज्ञानेन अविद्यया उपलब्धा आत्मा कल्प्यते एवमेव आत्मानात्मविवेकज्ञानेन बुद्धिवृत्त्या विद्यया असत्यरूपयैव परमार्थतः अविक्रिय एव आत्मा विद्वानुच्यते। It is from the empirical standpoint that उपलब्धा आत्मा कल्प्यते we assume that  atma is a knower. कल्प्यते indicates, assumed/accepted. Here उपलब्धा indicates the knower. So here from an empirical standpoint ie vyavaharika drshti, we are accepting knower-ship for atma.  Knower of sense-objects etc शब्दाद्यर्थस्य. So we assume that atma is the knower of the five-fold sense-objects from an empirical stand-point. And the instrument for atma to be a knower is the buddhi -बुद्ध्याद्याहृतस्य. So atma alone is the knower (from an empirical stand-point) of whatever the sense-objects are grasped by the intellect and the sense-organs. What kind of knower is atma? An as though knower because it is अविक्रिय एव सन् - remaining changeless it as though becomes  a knower. 

How can atma be changeless and yet be a knower? After all to be a knower, means atma has to be associated with the process of knowing. And to be associated with the process of knowing means to be undergoing change - so how can you say atma knower is avikriyah, changeless? 

Because the knower status is not satya, it is mithya - merely an assumed status ...कल्प्यते. So atma is not affected or changed by the assumed status of knower-hood... atma remains changeless. अविक्रिय एव सन् आत्मा उपलब्धा  कल्प्यते - The wise person knows this knower-hood to be unreal, yet the ignoramt person takes this knower-hood to be real knower-hood. अविद्यया - because of ignorance, बुद्धिवृत्त्यविवेकविज्ञानेन because of false knowledge - meaning because of false knowledge in the intellect owing to ignorance, the knower-hood is taken to be real, by the ignorant person.

Because of ignorance atma's knower-hood status is taken as real b y the ignorant. Because of knowledge (of the truth of atma being changeless), the knower-hood status of atma is understood to be mithya (false). So both the ignorant person as well as the wise person will say atma is the knower - however the  for the wise person the status of being a knower is mithya - ie knower-hood is recognized to be superimposed on atma. 

एवमेव - as in the case of sensory knowledge talked about in previous paragraph, in the case of Vedantic knowledge also आत्मानात्मविवेकज्ञानेन - by gaining the discriminative knowledge of atma and anatma, for which the instrument is also the buddhi बुद्धिवृत्त्या  विद्यया through the knowledge  which is in the form of a thought (the' I am Brahman' thought)असत्यरूपयैव - which is but a vyavaharika vritti , a mithya vritti (all vrittis being not real like atma). Ok so I gained knowledge through a mithya vritti using a mithya instrument - the what is the cahnge that I undergo? परमार्थतः अविक्रिय एव- In reality remaining the same, changeless alone आत्मा विद्वानुच्यते - I gain a new status as though of being a brahmajnani. 

So I the brahmajnanai am the same as brahman meaning there is no difference between atma and atma-jnani. 

This elaborate bhasya was for refuting the purvapakshi. Let us rememebr what the purvapakshi was saying.... he said that in 19 verse you said atma is changless, in 20th verse you said therefore atma is akarta, and in 21st verse Krishna is saying atmajnani is akarta. By establishing in verse 19 and 20 that atma is akarta, how do you say in Verse 21 that atmajnani is akarta? Is atma akarta or is atmajnani akarta?

Shankaracharya pointed out that there is no contradiction because atmajnani is akarta because atma alone is having the status of atmajnani in vyvahara not in reality.  So there is no difference between atma and atmajnani.

My namaskaram to Swami Paramarthanandaji ... to whom I owe this article. 

Vishnu Sahasranama - Ishvara is everything

 

In the previous post we saw that Īśvara is the creator as well as the created. In fact, all that is here is only names which in reality reveal  Īśvara alone. Just like the name pot reveals its truth, its cause, clay. Pot is only a name, its truth, its substance, being clay. When we take a more complex thing like a kurta, we find that kurta is name for the cotton fabric that is its truth. And cotton fabric is a name for the cotton yarn that is its truth. Cotton yarn is also but a name for the fibres of which it is made. Fibres are but a name for molecules, and molecules but a name for atoms and atoms but a name for particles. And particles are considered as concepts. Concepts are not separate from the Consciousness that one is. Concepts or Knowledge a name for  Consciousness and Consciousness that illumines knowledge is the Ultimate Source. Knowledge resting in the Conscious  Being, is what manifests as this universe. 

Total knowledge is the material cause as well as the creator of the Universe. Īśvara is the maker as well as the material of this universe. 

In most human creations the maker and the material are different. Here we are saying that Īśvara is both the maker and the material. To help us assimilate this, our scriptures gives us two examples. The first one is that of the spider and its web. The spider is unique because it both the maker (nimitta kāraṇa )and the material cause ( upādana kāraṇa) of the web.  As the efficient cause or nimitta kāraṇa the spider is the architect  as it were, who designs and directs the creation of the web. And as the upādana kāraṇa it produces the substance of the web from its own body. Thus the universe is not made out of nothing or out of some external matter. The universe is a manifestation of Īśvara’s Being.  

Another example that the scriptures use to help us understand how Īśvara is both the efficient cause as well as the material cause of the universe, is that of our everyday example of dream. In a dream you are the creator of the entire dream world. Your mind literally designs the whole dream. It has the power to create anything it desires in the dream. In the dream you alone,  are manifest as the mountains, rivers, oceans, flora, fauna, people and relationships, the entire plot of the dream. Just as your samskaras effortlessly manifests the dream to its dream existence, Īśvara  is the nimitta kāraṇa, the Conscious intelligence that manifests/ projects this whole universe, effortlessly.  The dream example is even more profound than the spider example. What you understand from the dream example, is that NO EXTERNAL MATTER whatsoever is required– for the dream mountain you don’t go out and buy some clay to build it.  In fact you don’t use any material outside of yourself. The substance that the dream mountain is made of is you own mind. The people in your dream are also made out of your own mind. 

What the dream example shows us is that Īśvara does not use anything ‘external’ to manifest this universe. Īśvara is the very substance, the upādana kāraṇa  of the universe. Every bit of this universe is Īśvara. The universe has no existence independent of Īśvara. Īśvara  is all-knowledge and all power, which is manifest in the form space, air, fire, water, earth, plants, food and this body. The physical body, the organs of knowledge and action, the mind which constitute the individual, as well the rest of the universe, all of these are Īśvara’s manifestations. 

So it is not that Īśvara is everywhere, it is that everything is Īśvara. Space is Īśvara. Time is Īśvara.  Air is Īśvara,  fire is Īśvara,  water is Īśvara,  body is Īśvara,  prāṇa is Īśvara.  All that is here is Īśvara. 

In the next post we will see the meaning of the word 'bhagavān'.

Vishnu Sahasranama - The Maker and Material - 2

 In the last post we saw that īśvara, is the ultimate Giver, of this creation which includes time, space and our body-mind-sense complex.

To make a simple fruit-salad you need not only the raw-material like fruits, nuts etc, you also need the one who makes the fruit salad, who has knowledge of how to make the fruit salad. So too, to create this universe īśvara, needs both knowledge of the Universe, as well as the material to create. Since the creation is yet to manifest, the only substance which can be the material of the universe is īśvara, as īśvara, alone is existent.

Our scriptures the Veda, declares that everything comes from īśvara. In the taittirīya upaniṣad, we see īśvara defined as :-

यतो वा इमानि भूतानि जायन्ते । येन जातानि जीवन्ति ।

यत् प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्ति ।

‘That from which all these have come, that by which all these are sustained and unto whom all these go back,’ that is īśvara. The material of which this universe is made is īśvara.

Let’s look at a simple example of a clay pot. To make the clay pot, you need clay and you need the potter who shapes the clay into a pot. When we look at the pot and analyse it, we find that actually it is clay – the substance of the pot is clay. ‘Pot’ is only a name for a form of clay. Suppose you have a clay tumbler, a clay saucer, a few more different sized pots. When we analyse them, we find that as far as the substance is concerned there is only clay there. In fact, pot, tumbler, saucer are but different names for different forms of clay. If the pot is broken, what remains is clay. If the tumbler is broken what remains is clay. If the saucer is broken, what remains is clay.

In terms of our understanding of reality then, the pot is not as real as the clay, because pot is only a form of clay and when pot is broken, the pot disappears, but the clay persists. Pot is a dependent reality, whereas clay is independent of the pot. Clay is the satya, the truth, the persisting reality of the pot, which is not destroyed when the pot is destroyed. And the pot being an existent reality (till it is broken) is nevertheless a dependent reality, dependent on clay. In samskr̥t, we have a terminology for that which is a temporary, dependent reality and that is mithyā.

Coming back to our discussion on īśvara, since īśvara is the material cause of the is universe, like clay is the material cause of the pot, īśvara is satya, the independent truth of the Universe, and the universe is but name and form ( nāma rūpa ) of īśvara. The universe has a dependent, temporary existence – in terms of reality it is mithyā.

The whole universe is but nāma rūpa (names and forms) of īśvara. That is why īśvara has so many different names as we see in the Viśṇu ṣahasranāma.

More on īśvara’s nature in the next post.

Vishnu Sahasranama - Who is the Lord - 1

 

Continuing the posts on the meanings of the names of Lord Viśṇu

Viśṇu ṣahasranāma means the thousand names of the Lord. Why should we chant the thousand names of the Lord? Is it possible that Lord can have a thousand names? These kinds of questions are answered when we understand who is the Lord.

The Lord is the Giver – the giver of our body-mind-sense complex, the world around us, the universe. The Lord is Ishvara is the one who protects, sustains and who is ever the source of all blessings.

Let us understand, why we call Ishvara as the Giver. We are individuals, placed in this universe, which is in time and space and which is the total. This universe consists of sentient and insentient beings, the forces of nature, the man-made forces, all causes and their effects which includes actions and their results. – Everything here, in this universe is interconnected.

Our body-mind-sense complex is an assembly of many different types of cells and organs which are inter-connected, intelligently put together. Similarly, the world external to the body is also an assembly of different parts, interconnected, intelligently put together.

Look at a simple seed and you can understand the intelligence that blessed it with enough nourishment to bring forth a huge redwood tree. Look at the working of the different organs in your body, and see how they intricately interact with each other to serve the needs of the body as a whole.

Anything can be intelligently put together only when there is knowledge of how to do so. For example, the eye is the organ of sight, that is composed of photo receptor cells, retinal nerve cells, support and structural cells and focusing and colour cells. These have all been intelligently put-together to create the eye.

Knowledge precedes their being put-together. And knowledge must rest in a conscious being.

Whatever is intelligently put-together is what is this universe and there must be a conscious being behind it, who has the necessary knowledge to put it together.

Naturally this knowledge must be all-knowledge, or total knowledge because we are looking at the whole universe.

Thus, this whole universe is GIVEN and it includes our individual body-mind-complex. The various laws of cause and effect that governs this universe is also GIVEN. Individually and totally all that is here is intelligently put-together. And the one who has the prior (prior to the universe’s manifestation) knowledge of this universe is called īśvara, the GIVER of all that is here. Naturally īśvara has total skill to create.

People think that īśvara is sitting somewhere in heaven. But the question is where was īśvara before heaven was created? Heaven is also in time and space, being created. Creation includes time and space and everything that is there in it. īśvara, the creator of this entire universe, which includes time and space, cannot sit in the universe and create.

So somebody replies, ok , then īśvara must be outside the universe and from there He created this universe? However, the concept ‘outside’ is also within space! So īśvara cannot be ‘outside’ space, nor can īśvara be ‘inside’ space and time. Then we can only say that this universe which includes space and time is īśvara.

More on the nature of īśvara, the GIVER, in the next post

Vishnu Sahasranama - Verse traditionally chanted before chanting the Sahasranama

 

These verses are traditionally chanted before chanting the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma. As we go along, I will try to fill in few details of the great sages mentioned in these verses.

व्यासं वसिष्ठनप्तारं शक्तेः पौत्रमकल्मषम् ।

पराशरात्मजं वन्दे शुकतातं तपोनिधिम् ॥

I salute Sage Vyāsa, the great grandson of Sage Vasiṣṭha and the grandson of Sage Śakti, the son of Parāśara and the father of Sage Śuka, and who is by himself an abode of austerity and who is free of all blemishes.

Sage Vyāsa refers to Sage Veda Vyāsa, who is the legendary complier of the four Vedās, the author of the Purānās and the Māhābhārata. The festival of Guru Pūrṇima which is also known as Vyāsa Pūrṇima is dedicated to him.

Sage Vasiṣṭha the great-grandfather of Sage Vyāsa, is highly revered in Sanatana Dharma. He was one of the sons (mānas-putra) of Lord Brahma.

Sage Śakti was a revered Vedic rishi, the eldest son of Sage Vasiśṭha and Arundhati, and the father of Sage Parāśara. Known for his profound knowledge, he was a key figure in the lineage of sages mentioned in the Mahābhārata and Purāṇas.

Sage Parāśara is a revered Vedic sage, recognized as the author of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, the foundational Brhat Parāshara Hora Śāstra (Vedic astrology), and a Smr̥ti text. He is the grandson of Sage Vasiśṭha, son of Sage Śaktii, and the father of Sage Vyāsa. 

व्यासाय विष्णुरूपाय व्यासरूपाय विष्णवे ।

नमो वै ब्रह्मनिधये वासिष्ठाय नमो नमः ॥ ४॥

Salutations to Vyāsa who is in the form of Viṣṇu and salutations to Viṣṇu who is in the form of Vyāsa. Salutations again and again to him, who is an abode of the Vedas and who is of the lineage of Vasiṣṭha.

अविकाराय शुद्धाय नित्याय परमात्मने ।

सदैकरूपरूपाय विष्णवे सर्वजिष्णवे ॥ ५॥

(Prostrations) to Lord Viṣṇu, who is the Supreme Lord, changeless, pure, timeless, always of the same nature and ever victorious. 

यस्य स्मरणमात्रेण जन्मसंसारबन्धनात् ।

विमुच्यते नमस्तस्मै विष्णवे प्रभविष्णवे ॥ ६॥

Salutations to Lord Viṣṇu, who is almighty and by remembering whom, one is freed from the cycle of birth and death.