624. Udīrṇaḥ उदीर्णः

Because of His Self-illuminating nature, He is far superior to all others. This is the quality of the Brahman, from whom everything originates. Hence He is considered as superior.

625. Sarvataścakṣuḥ सर्वतश्चक्षुः

Sarvata means all sided and cakṣu means eyes. This nāma conveys His omnipresence. Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (III.3) says, viśvataścakṣuḥ which means all eyes are His. The same meaning is conveyed in Puruṣasūktam, “sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ| sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt| सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः। सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात्।”. He has thousands of heads and eyes, where thousand stands for infinite.

626. Anīśaḥ अनीशः

Anīśa means no superior. Since Brahman controls every activity of the universe, there cannot be anyone to control Him.

Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (1.10) says, “na tasyeśe kaścana tasya nāma mahadhyaśaḥ न तस्येशे कश्चन तस्य नाम महध्यशः” which means ‘His name is great glory as no one limits His nature by definition.

627. Śāśvatasthiraḥ  शाश्वतस्थिरः

Śāśvata means eternal, perpetual, etc and sthira means certainly and undoubtedly. This nāma can be explained in two ways.

Brahman does not undergo any changes or modifications. This is the unique quality of the Brahman. All other beings undergo changes and ultimately perish. His creation is the material world, which manifests through the power of His Māyā. A person born in this world, due to spiritual ignorance gets attached to the materialistic world through the power of His Māyā and in the process he fails to realize the Brahman within. Instead of searching Him within, an ignorant aspirant goes everywhere to find Him in vain. In spite of the modifications in the gross body of the aspirant, the Soul within does not change. Soul merely acts as a witness to all the actions of the gross body, which is guided by one’s mind, intellect and ego.

In dualistic philosophy, He always remains, without even undergoing a tiny change through trillions and trillions of years. When the balance between virtues and sins tilt towards sin, where sinners drive away the virtuous ones, He annihilates the entire universe by causing a deluge. Even while consuming entire cosmic water, He continues to be the same. He does not undergo any change.

The next three nāma-s begin with Bhū.

628. Bhūśayaḥ भूशयः

Bhūśaya means dwelling on the earth. This nāma refers to His various incarnations in the form of human beings like Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, etc.

By incarnating Himself in various forms, He has established the principles of virtuousness and auspiciousness as laid down by the precepts of dharma śāstra-s.

Dharma śāstra-s should be followed by everyone, till such time he gains advanced spiritual knowledge.

629. Bhūṣaṇaḥ भूषणः

Bhūṣaṇa means adorned or decorated with. His decorations are of two types. During His incarnations, He was adored with precious ornaments. But the intended meaning of this nāma is different form this gross interpretation.

Because of having Lakṣmī, who is the embodiment of all the wealth and auspiciousness, in His chest, He is adored as Bhūṣaṇa. Alternatively, it can be explained that all those who have merged into Him are described as ornaments.

Bhīṣma was a very knowledgeable and was lying on his death bed. He would have known that he would merge into Him and probably could have visualized his place in His body. Since Bhīṣma was completely over powered by devotion and he could have thought of this  explanation which seems to be appropriate.

630. Bhūtiḥ भूतिः

Bhūti means welfare personified often refers to Lakṣmī. Viṣṇu is full of compassion and welfare for His devotees. With Lakṣmī in His chest, as discussed in the previous nāma, His compassion becomes multi fold, as She is worshipped as the Supreme Mother of the entire universe.

It also means the essence of everything. He is like a tiny seed of a huge banyan tree. Seed is the essence of the tree. Without the tiny seed, the huge tree cannot exist. In the same way, without His presence, nothing can exist in the universe. He is the core of everything and subtly dwells in everyone beyond gross, subtle and causal bodies as the Soul.

631. Viśokaḥ विशोकः

Viśoka means no traces of sorrow. Every being born in this earth has traces of sorrow at some point of time in their lives.  However, the intensity varies from person to person or being to being, depending upon his/her karmic account. Accrual of karma ceases only if one surrenders to Him. However, the accrued karmas are to be spent through the gross body, as He governs the universe based on one single law, the Law of Karma.

He is said to be without sorrow because He is Pure Consciousness. When one’s mind is pervaded by His consciousness, he is called Yogī. For him there is no alternate state of mind. He always remains in the state of happiness and joy which is called Bliss. He does not have trace of sorrow.

632. Śakanāśanaḥ शकनाशनः

By remaining without traces of sorrow, He removes sorrows of His devotees, who perpetually contemplate Him. For such devotees, after their total surrender unto Him, He removes their sorrow the moment they think of Him.

Removal of sorrow by Him is directly related to the depth of one’s devotion for Him and is subjected to the Law of Karma.

633. Arciṣmān अर्चिष्मान्

Arci means effulgent rays. The One who gives Light to the universe is Arciṣmān. Brahman alone is Self-radiating. From Him alone, all the luminaries derive their source of Light. Brahman is always Prakāśa. He alone manifests as the universe.