सर्वः शर्वः शिवः स्थाणु: भूतादि: निधि: अव्ययः ।
संभवो भावनो भर्ता प्रभवः प्रभु: ईश्वरः ।। 4 ।।
25. सर्वः (Sarvah)
Meaning
Bhagavan is the origin and end of all beings . He has complete knowledge of all beings that too at all times. He resides inside every one of His creation. Swamy Chinmayananda once said, “All waves arise from the same ocean and so the ocean is the essence in all the waves.”
Story
We can recollect the story of Draupadi and Akshaya Paatram to remember the meaning of this nAmA. Surya Bhagavan had once given the pandavas the Akshaya PAtram. He blessed them that with the help of the Akshaya PAtram they will never go hungry. It will keep supplying good food in required quantity until Draupadi partakes her food. So Yudishthira was now able to take care of his family and even atithis (guests). Once Duryodana and his uncle Shakuni, in a bid to cause trouble to their cousins PAndavas, asked sage DurvAsa to visit Yudishthira’s ashram in the forest. He sent the rishi to the ashram right after Draupadi had also finished partaking her food. After Draupadi finishes her dinner, akshaya pAtra will not provide food until the next morning. This way the pAndavas will not be able to offer food to their guest Rishi DurvAsa. This will make DurvAsa very angry and curse pandAvas. This was Duryodana’s plan. BhagavAn SriKrishna the all knowing , understood the ugly plan and reached Pandava’s ashram. When He arrived Draupadi anxiously told Him her concern. She was worried that the Akshaya PAtram is not going to provide any food, but DurvAsa and his disciples will be back from the river any moment after performing ablutions. They will all be hungry and she does not have anything to offer them. BhagavAn SriKrishna then inspected the vessel and found a morsel of cooked food that was stuck in it. Draupadi had not noticed it when she washed the vessel. Krishna immediately took that single morsel of rice and ate it. As soon as He did that, all the living beings felt a strange sense of satisfaction. Their hunger was quenched suddenly. Even rishi DurvAsa and his disciples felt as if they had just completed a full course meal. If someone as much as mentioned food to them they would throw up. The good rishi not realising what happened , did not want to cause disappointment to Yudishthira and Draupadi, quietly sneaked out of the forest and thus the PAndavas were protected again from another major hurdle during their time in exile. So BhagavAn is Sarvaha. He is the essence in all beings.
Essence and Phalam
Chant
26. शर्वः (Sharvah)
Meaning
The one who removes the inauspicious qualities from all creations.
Story
Once when Shiva plucked Bramha’s one head out of the 5 heads he had, it got stuck to his palm and would not come off. Shiva tried all possible means to get rid off it but nothing worked. Bramha gave him a relief suggestion. He directed Shiva to seek Bhiksha from everyone and when the Head ( kapaala) gets filled it will fall off his hands. But no matter how much grain fell into the kapaala it all got siphoned out. Nothing stayed in it . Finally when Lord Vishnu along with Mahalakshmi offered Bhiksha to him the kapaala filled and it fell off Shiva’s palm. Bhagavan is Sharvaha. He removes all our impurities and inauspiciousness.
Essence and Phalam
More good things will happen in the house.
Chant
27. शिव: (Shivah)
Meaning
The one who confers auspiciousness to all the beings.
Story
By the previous nAmA He removes the impurities. By this nAmA He bestows all that is desired by His bhaktas. Shiva means Mangalam ( auspicious). Narayana Upanishad says, SAsvatam Sivamachutam. BhagavAn is Eternal, Auspicious and He never allows His devotees to fall. It also says, “स ब्रह्मा स शिव सेन्द्र सो क्षर परमः स्वरत् (Sa Bramha sa siva sendra so kshara paramah svarAt)”. He is Bramha, He is Siva and He is Indra, He is Eternal He is Supreme He is the Lord of All. Cosmic sound is filled with this sound.
Essence and Phalam
Freedom from uncertainty. Gives mangalam in our brain.
Chant
28. स्थाणु: (Sthanuh)
Meaning
This nAmA refers to the one who is firm in giving anugraha to his devotees. The derivation of this word makes it easy to understand the meaning.
Story
sthANuh is derived from the word tisThati indicating steadiness or firmness. BhagavAn’s anugraha or blessing is very firm in its effect on His devotees. It is far beyond what other lesser acts can bestow. Nothing can affect BhagavAn’s determination to protect His devotees. He remains untouched by Kulam, Gotram, Gender or even growth and decay. He is neither impacted by changes in time , place etc. If the bhakta surrenders unconditionally to BhagavAn, HE is ready to shower his blessings irrespective of who the Bhakta is. HE is firm in His decision. This is obvious from the story of Raja Ambareesha. This Raja was a staunch devotee . He followed his dharma very meticulously. On a Dwadasi day, he was performing his puja and was about to partake his prasada. The practice is, on Ekadasi day a bhakta has to abstain from food completely and the next day that is on dwadasi, puja has to be performed early and prasadam also has to have partaken early as compared to other days. This is dharma. Raja Ambareesha was trying to follow his dharma but as fate would have it, Rishi Durvasa arrived there right on time. Raja offered his obeisance and offered prasadam to the Rishi. But the Rishi told him to wait until he gets back after taking a dip in the river. Raja waited and waited the Rishi was taking a long time. Now Raja Ambareesha was worried because it would mean that he had broken the fasting rule if he does not partake prasadam before noon. But at the same time he cannot eat before his atithi has eaten. Not knowing what to do, he arrived at a simple solution of drinking a little water and ending his fast. That way the king thought that he would not be disrespecting the Rishi. But when DurvAsa came to know that the king had consumed water before offering him prasadam, he became very angry and was about to curse the king. Ambareesha pleaded to the Rishi. He said, ”Oh rishi !! you know all the shastras, I have not done anything wrong please do not be angry with me. Kindly accept my humble prasadam..” But angry DurvAsa was not in a mood to listen. He was about to curse Ambareesha, at that moment with a thunderous noise, BhagavAn’s Sudharshana Chakra came whirling towards Rishi DurvAsa aiming at his neck. Shocked by this sudden attack the Rishi started running to save his life. He shouted out to other Rishis, he ran to other kings, but no one was ready to help him when they realized that DurvAsa was chased by none other than Sudharshana Chakra itself. No one wanted to get in between the sharp spokes that are waiting to slice off the heads of those who go against BhagavAn and most importantly those who try to hurt bhAgavatAs ( bhaktas). Not even Bramha and Shiva were ready to help Rishi DurvAsa. The Rishi was so dejected and scared for his life that he went to Vaikunta and prayed to Lord Vishnu to take back His Chakrayuda. But BhagavAn refused to help in this case. DurvAsa had insulted and hurt one of His foremost of bhaktas for no good reason. And that BhagavAn has taken an oath to protect His devotees at all cost. Now even though DurvAsa is a great Sage, most revered of all Rishis, still BhagavAn denied asylum to him. He told DurvAsa the only way out of it was to fall at the feet of His bhakta and seek pardon. Finally, DurvAsa Rishi did the same and was saved from being beheaded. From the above incident, it becomes very clear that BhagavAn is determined to protect the interests of His true devotee and nothing distracts Him from doing so. He is sthANuhu.
Essence and Phalam
Children will become good.
Chant
Om sthAnavE namah
29. भूतादि: (Bhootadih)
Meaning
This nAmA refers to The one who has the characteristics that is loved by all. The one who is sought after by all beings.
Story
What best example for this than Krishna leela in Gokulam. All the Gopikas were longing to be with Krishna. They could not take their eyes off Him. They were thinking of Krishna all the time. Everything was Krishna Krishna and only Krishna for them. Such is the quality of BhagavAn. He is the one that every being seeks.
Essence and Phalam
Chanting this brings all your people connect with you. Our relationship with everyone is maintained.
Chant
30. निधि: अव्ययः (nidhir avayayah)
Meaning
To a true devotee, to a bhakta, BhagavAn is a treasure. Not just any treasure but the one that never diminishes. BhagavAn is The Inexhaustible Treasure. He is always present and makes Himself available to the bhaktas at the time of distress. He is that hidden treasure which great Rishis and scholars have tried and found. And because of this quality, He is called by the name Nidhiravvyayaha.
Story
Essence and Phalam
By Chanting this nAmA our wealth will never diminish and it will remain with us forever.
Chant
31. संभव: (sambhavah)
Meaning
Though a Hidden Treasure, HE is unreachable. HE is that Hidden treasure that shows itself up whenever His bhaktas are in distress and are calling out to Him.
Story
A very interesting example for this is the Story of Prahalada. No matter how many times his father Hiranyakashipu tortured him and forced him to forget NArayana nAmA, the child kept chanting OM NARAYANAYA NAMAHA..!! This angered his father more. As a final resort he wanted to meet this NArayana in person. When Prahlada did not have a choice, pointing at a pillar he called out to Sriman NArayana. Without any delay Lord Narayana broke the pillar and came out in Nara Hari form and killed Hiranyakashipu instantly. It was as if He was hiding in the pillar and was just waiting for Prahalada to call Him. BhagavAn is called Sambhavahah because He makes Himself available to His bhaktas completely, unconditionally and without delay.
Essence and Phalam
Needless to say that , By chanting this nAmA help will come in some form or the other. Mostly in an unexpected way. But help is sure to come when we are in distress.
Chant
32.भावन: (bhavanah)
Meaning
Though a Hidden Treasure, HE is unreachable. HE is that Hidden treasure that shows itself up whenever His bhaktas are in distress and are calling out to Him.
Story
After destroying the demon king Hiranyakashipu, BhagavAn’s anger subsided when he saw bhakta Prahalada standing next to Him, hands folded, eyes fixed on the Nara Hari form of BhagavAn, which even other devatAs and Rishis were frightened to look at. Prahalada had pure bhakti in his heart towards MahAvishnu and therefore he could clearly see His kindness hidden in that fierce appearance of Lord Narasimha . To keep the word of His bhakta, BhagavAn emerged from a mere pillar to destroy evil. And after that He blessed His bhakta Prahalada with all prosperity and made him King. He even promised not to kill any of Prahalada’s descendants. So we know that BhagavAn not only presents Himself at our time of distress, but also nurtures us through His never ceasing kindness.
Essence and Phalam
By chanting this nAmA all our hurdles and obstacles will be removed by Krishna’s grace.
Chant
33. भर्ता (bhartA)
Meaning
By this nAmA we understand that, BhagavAn does the act of nurturing the jEvatmas by giving Himself to us.
Story
We all know that there are several devatas who are appointed by BhagavAn to carryout His orders. But when it comes to protection of His property which is Us the jeevatmas, He does not wait for anyone or anything. In our own lives we see, small work is delegated. But when it comes to things like handling valuables and precious things we don’t just ask some one else to do. To be double sure about the safety and security,we do the work ourselves. We handle our bank lockers ourselves. We do not send our servants to do that, do we! Same way, Bhagavan comes down from His high abode to this earth (avatAram) to protect us who are His precious property. Therefore He is called BhartA.
Essence and Phalam
By chanting this nAmA we will get good people to do our work and a more valuable phalam seems to be that we will also get chances to do good work for the benefit of others.
Chant
34. प्रभवः (prabhavah)
Meaning
Past few nAmAs we have been seeing that BhagavAn comes down to earth leaving His High abode for the sake of His bhaktas. He manifests Himself into an appropriate form at His will, to destroy evil and protect the good. This is called avatAram. Such a birth of BhagavAn is of great excellence. It is of a high degree of purity. As BhagavAn takes such a birth which is sublime in nature He is called Prabhavah.
Story
Essence and Phalam
By meditating upon this nAmA or chanting it, the phalam we get is a healthy life. Not just for us but also for our kith and kin.
Chant
35. प्रभु: (prabhuh)
Meaning
Prabhu means a master, a lord, a king, or someone who is most powerful and rich in every way. BhagavAn is Prabhu of everything in the world and in other worlds as He is the sole creator and protector and destroyer. We are all His property. He is the master and all the elements and beings are controlled by Him. Nothing can go against Him and nothing can disobey His orders. Imagine if such a person is on our side then what else do we need to succeed.
Story
Remember the story of MahabhArata, where both Arjuna and Duryodhana were waiting to meet Lord Krishna to ask for His support in the kurukshetra war. But what happened, Duryodhana got Krishna’s army whereas Arjuna got Krishna Himself. It was not by chance. It was Duryodhana’s ignorance which made him choose Krishna’s army as he thought that was very valuable. But Arjuna on the contrary had clearly understood that Krishna is none other than Lord Vishnu Himself and that He is The Prabhu of all beings. If He orders entire nature has to listen. So he asked for Krishna and only Krishna to be on pandavas side for support. That was an intelligent choice and therefore they won the kurukshetra war. We have heard that , “ When God is with you who can be against you”. True for a true bhakta He is Prabhu as He can bestow upon us fruits such as enjoyment as a result of actions connected to worldly affairs or He can even grant us Moksha which none other can do.
Essence and Phalam
By constantly chanting this nAmA we will get what we want. Just remember to ask the right thing.
Chant
36. ईश्वरः (ishwarah)
Meaning
By this nAmA we understand that, He can do the undo-able for the sake of His bhaktas.
Story
Let us recollect the story of Krishna’s guru rishi Sandipani. With him Krishna learnt all the 64 categories of skills. On the day He was to finish His gurukul and head back home, He offered to pay to His guru for the education . But guru was humble enough to decline. But guru patni had a problem. Their son was lost in the ocean long time ago when he went swimming. And as she understood that SriKrishna is the real Prabhu, she asked Him to get her son back. Having promised, Krishna went to the ocean king and demanded for the child to be returned safely. But the ocean king said, that the boy died and is now in the custody of Yamaraja. Lord Krishna reached Yamaloka in a jiffy and ordered him to return the child. Yamaraja felt privileged to have Lord Krishna’s feet touch his lokam. As soon as he heard his master’s order, as an obedient servant, he gave back the child hale and healthy. Krishna brought the child and handed him over to his guru and gurupatni. They were awestruck by the feat of Krishna who was a mere student a while ago. He is called Ishvara as He can perform unthinkable, unimaginable acts. He is the one to whom impossible is possible.
