867. Sattvavān सत्त्ववान्

Sattva is one of the three guṇa-s of Prakṛiti. Apart from referring to the guṇa, this nāma also means several important aspects of life such as soul, consciousness, mind, prāṇa, purity, etc. It also means the real essence of the entire universe. He is often addressed as essence because, from the essence alone, the manifestation of the universe takes place.

868. Sāttvikaḥ सात्त्विकः

This nāma refers to the predominance of sattva guṇa in Him. All the three guṇa-s originate from Him, yet He is permeated by sattva guṇa. His sattva guṇa can be realized in the form of Bliss, when one wholeheartedly contemplates on Him. Bliss is pure happiness that manifests on its own when He pervades one’s mind.

869. Satyaḥ सत्यः

Repetitive nāma-s 106 and 212.

He is in the form of truth, that has been repeatedly ascertained through various Upaniṣad-s. Contextually this nāma says that His existence itself is the Truth and from which alone the universe manifested. He is Truth because He alone does not undergo changes along with time. His eternity is the Truth.

870. Satya-dharma-parāyaṇaḥ सत्य-धर्म-परायणः

Satya is truth; dharma is righteousness and parāyaṇa means the most elevated, the highest order, the destination, etc. Brahman has two primary qualities – truthfulness and righteousness. These two qualities are said to be divine qualities. These two qualities, the ingredients of sattva guṇa, are needed to attain Him. Reaching Him is the final destination of one’s spiritual journey and without these two qualities one’s spiritual journey cannot be accomplished.

871. Abhiprāyaḥ अभिप्रायः

Abhiprāya means purpose, intention, idea, opinion, etc. The purpose or intention of one’s life is to get liberated by attaining Him, as He alone can offer liberation. Liberation is not attained by mere prayers. Liberation can be attained only through one’s mind. A pure mind alone can be His Abode. Pure mind is the one, where all other thought processes are relegated paving for His pervasion into the mind. It is not generally possible to eradicate all the thoughts. Some traces of thought processes will remain in the mind as impressions. It is extremely difficult to remove embedded thoughts. In order to avoid this, one has to contemplate on Him all the time. During contemplation, other thoughts try to enter the mind. By using one’s free will, material thoughts can be relegated to the background and these thoughts lose their potency and do not get embedded in the mind. If thoughts are allowed to stay put in the mind for a long time, such as attachments, desires, etc, such thoughts get embedded in the mind and over a period of time, they percolate into the subconscious mind causing karmic impressions. If one continues to accrue karmas in this birth, liberation gets postponed. If one’s abhiprāya is strong enough, he can understand the reality and keep his mind cleansed so that He can pervade his mind, taking the aspirant forward in his spiritual journey.

872. Priyārhaḥ प्रियार्हः

He is the One who deserves love. Love for Him is more powerful than devotion in attaining Him. Since He is so compassionate, He deserves love of His devotees.

Difference between love for Him and devotion for Him is very significant. In love, He is not adored by keeping Him in a pedestal. In love, there exists a personal touch. But in the case of devotion, there exists a gap between the worshipper and the worshipped. Unless this gap is closed, reaching Him is difficult. Based on this principle, it is said that Love is God. When the love becomes too intent, one gets emotionally charged, which makes Him to pervade one’s mind, which ultimately leads to emancipation.

Bhagavad Gītā (VII.17) says, “I am extremely dear to the wise man and he is extremely dear to Me.” His love for us is also known as Grace. When we love Him, He showers His Grace.

873. Arhaḥ अर्हः

He becomes worthy of worship purely because of His qualities, which have been conveyed through the previous nāma-s. His primary qualities are purity of consciousness, Self-illuminating, compassionate, truth, knowledge and more than anything else, He does not violate His law book known as Law of Karma. He cannot be influenced or coerced. He always goes by the established principle that what one sows, so he reaps. This clearly implies that one’s thoughts and actions in this birth and karmic embedment made during previous lives alone delineate the quality of one’s life in this birth. The only way to avoid this is to surrender unto Him through one’s mind.

874. Priyakṛt प्रियकृत्

Priyakṛt means a friend. It also means the one who performs to please everybody.

This nāma explains further on the previous two nāma-s. If the meaning of this nāma is taken to mean a friend, then it emphasises love for Him. This also goes to say that He should not be adored by keeping Him in a higher plane than that of the worshipper, as this leads to respect and fear. He should be loved by holding Him at the same plane as that of the worshipper. For example, two friends are always on the same plane.

Pleasing all can be explained as Bliss. When the bondage with Him is on a firm footing, the resultant love can be realized in the form Bliss, an emotionally charged state of inexplicable happiness and joy. If a person is pleased, his mental state becomes joyful and this is what is explained in this nāma. At the end of Bliss, He is realized and later attained.

875. Prītivardhanaḥ प्रीतिवर्धनः

He augments the quality of love for Him amongst His devotees. This happens only when He is loved.

Kṛṣṇa explains this in Bhagavad Gītā (X.10), “Of those ever united with Me with love, I confer the yoga of wisdom through which they come to Me.” Yoga of wisdom means the annihilation of dualism caused by māyā.

876. Vihāyasagatiḥ विहायसगतिः

Vihāyasa refers to the sky or ākāśa and gati mean moving around. This nāma says that He is moving around the sky, which could mean the sun, who derives Light from Him and nourishes the earth. Sun or any other luminaries do not have self-illuminating power. They draw the Light from Him and perform their respective acts. Kaṭha Upaniṣad confirms this.

This also could refer to the following mediation. In this meditation, one has to fix his consciousness within the body and gradually lift this consciousness upwards through brahmarandra, an orifice at the top of the skull. Once the consciousness is out of the body, one has to contemplate that he is leaving the atmosphere of the earth, moving towards the moon and reaching closer to the moon. At some point during this stage, he can visualize that he enters His Abode. After walking through His Abode, he has to visualize that he is blessed to have His vision. This is the highest point of meditation and if the practice is perfect, without his knowledge, tears will roll down his eyes as a result of His Grace showered on him during this rendezvous. This meditation should not be practiced in a locked room, amidst huge noise and with people around. During this meditation, his body should not be touched. This is a very dangerous type of meditation and should not be practiced without a Guru’s personal guidance. He should also inform someone that he is practicing this meditation. The maximum time permissible under this meditation is an hour. This meditation vastly helps in purifying the mind by destroying all thought processes. At some point during this meditation, voluntary system of the body ceases to operate and only involuntary system alone functions. Therefore, it is advisable to practice this meditation with support around.

877. Jyotiḥ ज्योतिः

This nāma speaks about His exclusive quality of Self-illumination. Both Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (II.ii.10) and Kaṭha Upaniṣad (II.ii.15) quote the same verse “na tatra sūryo…”. This verse says that in His presence none of the luminaries shine and only when He shines, they follow Him. This means that He alone is the original source of Light and only from this Light everything else shines, including the sun, moon, fire, etc.

Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (XIII.4) makes a specific reference to Nārāyaṇa while confirming the saying of the above two Upaniṣad-s. This verse says, “nārāyaṇaḥ paro jyotirātmā nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ नारायणः परो ज्योतिरात्मा नारायणः परः” which means “Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Light (described in the two Upaniṣad-s, referred in this nāma) and Nārāyaṇa is infinite.”

The Light of the Self can be seen at ājñā cakra and above during intent stages of meditation.

878. Suruciḥ सुरुचिः

Suruci means great delight. When He is contemplated properly, His vision causes enthralment in the mind of the aspirant and this manifests as Bliss. When the state of Bliss is achieved, attaining Him is not far off.

879. Hutabhuk हुतभुक्

Repetitive nāma 887.

Viṣṇu presides over all fire rituals and without invoking Him, no fire ritual yields desired results. This nāma says that He consumes the food offered in the fire oblations, irrespective of to whom the oblation is performed.

Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (IX.24), “I am the enjoyer and also the Lord of all sacrifices...”

This nāma subtly conveys that instead of worshipping different gods and goddesses, worship Him in order to attain liberation, as ultimately, offerings made to other gods and goddesses only reach Him. Such devotees are not subjected to rebirths says Kṛṣṇa.

880. Vibhuḥ विभुः

Repetitive nāma 240.

He is all pervading. He is everywhere and He omnipresent. Without Him pervading everywhere, life cannot be sustained, as everything depends upon His presence.

Nārāyaṇa Sūktaṁ, which forms part of Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (XVIII.5) says, ‘antarbahiśca tatsarvaṁ vyāpya nārāyaṇaḥ sthitaḥ अन्तर्बहिश्च तत्सर्वं व्याप्य नारायणः स्थितः’, which means that Nārāyaṇa pervades both internally and externally indicating His omnipresence.  He pervades as both internal Spirit and external objects also known as the manifested universe.