Vishnusahasranama-Vishvam

Vedanta

oi-Staff

By Super Admin

Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 16:09

The name of the Lord mentioned after Om in the garland of thousand names is Vishvam. The definition of the word Vishvam is 'Vishati iti Vishvam' – that which has the power to enter into everything in this universe or that into which this universe enters into is called Vishvam. Lord Vishnu represents that divine principle which has entered through and through into every object of this universe from its very inception.

Here, it is important to understand the concept of 'Ishvara' in Indian spiritual traditions in contrast to the Abrahamic concept of a God who is outside the world and rules over it. The concept of Ishvara is not the same as this external God of the Abrahamic religions. The Upanishads make it very clear that this whole universe is but a projection of Brahman, we do not use the word 'creation' as meaning an entity that is separate from the creator. The universe, Vishvam in substance is of the same essence as its creator.

The Upanishads give the analogy of a spider and its web. The spider weaves its web out of the secretions which emanate from its own body. So, the entire web is nothing but a projection of the spider's body. Similarly, Vishvam, the universe has emanated from Brahman (here, he is referred to in his saguna form as Vishnu), remains in Brahman and dissolved into Brahman. There is nothing outside or inside, geographically speaking.

To appreciate this concept further, look at your own body. Imagine, let's say a cell in your body is thinking – 'Who has created this vast universe? Who gives intelligence to all the red blood cells and white blood cells to function in the way they do? What power keeps the liver, the stomach and the heart in their place without collapsing?" Similarly, if you can conceive of a supreme being in whom the whole universe is contained, you are beginning to approach the idea of Ishvara.

Therefore, we consider all objects of this universe to be pervaded and suffused with divinity, for all this is nothing but an emanation of that divine principle. This is the reason why the Hindus worship all objects, for they perceive divinity in every object. When we worship what the westerners call an 'idol,' it is not the idol we worship, the so-called idol is but a symbolic representation of Ishvara. When we show profound respect to all living beings through the practice of ahimsa, it is not because we are pacifists or vegetarians but because we perceive this core of divinity again in all living beings. "Isha vasyam idam sarvam," declares the Isha Upanishad – everything is suffused with That. If you understand this principle with clarity, you have understood the essence of Vedanta.

In the eleventh chapter of the Gita, when Bhagavan Krishna reveals his 'Vishvarupa' to Arjuna, he is revealing his 'universal' form as Vishvam. It doesn't mean literally that Krishna appeared to Arjuna with thousands of heads and hands (Sahasrabahu). What it means is that Krishna reveals himself as that divine power which manifests as this universe of names and forms. When we worship the Vishvarupa, we worship the whole universe as a form of the Lord.

Let us meditate on this universal form of the Lord – Om Vishvaya Namaha.