807. Kumudaḥ कुमुदः

Kumuda means excitement or joy. He is the source of happiness. When one thinks about Him, he gets into the state of Bliss.

When mere thinking about Him can cause excitement and joy, meditating on Him can lead to the state of spiritual ecstasy.  He alone can cause this ecstasy.

808. Kundaraḥ कुन्दरः

During His boar incarnation, He pierced the earth. It is also an epithet of Viṣṇu.

This is explained in Nārāyaṇīyam (XII.10) thus: “You have sportively assumed the form of Boar, rising from the ocean holding the earth on Your tusk, as if it were the root of a tiny grass that You had pulled up.”

Kundara also refers to a type of grass.

809. Kundaḥ कुन्दः

Kunda means jasmine flower. Jasmine is known not only for its fragrance but also for spotless white.

It also subtly conveys His incarnation as Paraśurāma. During this incarnation, He gifted the earth to sage Kāśyapa.

It is also explained to mean that He bestows His Grace to those who entered the spiritual path by attaining knowledge and pursuing non-attachment.

810. Parjanyaḥ पर्जन्यः

Parjanya means rain bearing clouds. Water is the basic necessity to sustain living beings. Taittirīya Upaniṣad says that earth originated from water.

Bhagavad Gītā (III.14) uses the word parjanya to mean rain. It says, “Production of food depends upon rain and rain originates from sacrifice.” Sacrifice does not merely mean ritualistic oblations. It also means all actions done with good intentions for the welfare of others. Personal fulfillments though is a necessity, does not amount to sacrifice mentioned here. Many of the karmas can be decimated by living for others too. Particularly if one satiates one’s hunger (man or animal or bird), it causes huge amount of good karmas and as a result of which all his miseries get annihilated during this birth itself.

811. Pāvanaḥ पावनः

Repetitive nāma 292.

Pavana means purifier. He is the embodiment of purity and when one thinks about Him, his mind gets purified paving way for His permeation of the mind. Spiritual progression can happen only if He completely pervades one’s mind. He can permeate one’s mind provided the mind becomes devoid of other thoughts.

There are two types of thoughts. One is the normal thought that is essential to make a living. The other one is very strong and can leave impressions in the mind which leads to desires, attachments, anger and lust. These four sprout from thoughts that are capable of manifesting to gigantic proportions and if they manifest, the character of the person undergoes a total transformation for the worse. Therefore, thought processes themselves are not bad, but how far one is associated with his thoughts are significant in one’s spiritual life.

812. Anilaḥ अनिलः

Anila means wind. After referring about water, one of the five principle elements in nāma 810, this nāma says that He is in the form of wind. Without air in the form of prāṇa, life cannot be sustained. The air is the second subtlest element next only to ākāśa. This confirms His omnipresence.

Nila means impenetrable or understanding with difficulty. This means that in order to realize Him, one has to traverse through the toughest path, known as sādhana, the effective practice. Knowledge and practice are the two important aspects of spiritual path.

813. Amṛtāśaḥ अमृताशः

This nāma can be interpreted in several ways.

Amṛt means nectar, immortal, spirituous liquor ambrosia, emancipation; and āśa means eating, reaching, obtaining, food.

During meditation, He causes the secretion of spiritual ambrosia from sahasrāra and if consumed, causes immortality.

Ambrosia is His food and He lives only on that.

By consuming the spiritual ambrosia, one attains emancipation to become one with Him.

The state of spiritual ecstasy is conveyed here indirectly. The greatest movements of one life will be the experience of spiritual ecstasy and rapturous visions.

814. Amṛtavapuḥ अमृतवपुः

Vapu means a beautiful form and Amṛtavapu refers to His imperishable form. Birth and death are related to mortals. Brahman does not have modifications, as He is beyond shapes and forms. Immortality is His exclusive domain.

Brahman cannot be simply explained as He does not have a form. But, everything originates from Him and everything dissolves unto Him. Between creation and dissolution, He prevails everywhere and hence He is ubiquitous.

815. Sarvajñaḥ सर्वज्ञः

Repetitive nāma 453.

He is omniscient.  Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (IX.26), “I know all beings, past, present and future.”

Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (I.i.9) also explains thus: “Brahman is all knowing, who knows everything and whose austerity is knowledge.”

From that Supreme Brahman, also known as Parabrahman originate aparābrahman (second in hierarchy, next to Parabrahman), which is known as hiraṇyagarbha or saguṇabrahman. Parabrahman is also known as Nirguṇabrahman or without attributes. Material world originates from Saguṇabrahman. Cessation from transmigration happens after an individual soul merges with the Nirguṇabrahman. For this one has to attain the highest level of spiritual knowledge.

816. Sarvatomukhaḥ सर्वतोमुखः

He has infinite faces. Omnipresence is described Sarvatomukha.

Bhagavad Gītā (XIII. xiii) explains this. “He has hands and feet on all sides, eyes, head and mouth in all directions and earls all round. He stands pervading all in the universe.”

Nārāyaṇasūktam begins by saying “sahasraśīrṣaṁ devaṁ viśvākṣaṁ” which means that He has thousands of heads, illuminating and watching everything.

Puruṣasūktam also begins with the same meaning. It says that He has thousands of heads, thousands of eyes, thousands of feet. Thousand contextually means infinite.

817. Sulabhaḥ सुलभः

He can be attained easily. He alone comes without a price tag! What one needs is the mindset to contemplate Him all the time.

Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (VIII.14), “Whosoever constantly thinks of Me with undivided mind, for that Yogī ever absorbed in Me, I am easily attainable.”

Here comes the necessity of the spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge leads a devotee to Him directly. A person with worldly knowledge goes around from place to place seeking Him in various places of worship. A spiritually ignorant person tries to wash his sins by taking bath in holy rivers, failing to understand that he is governed by the Law of Karma, also known as the Law of the Lord. This person has to be born repeatedly till he understands Him as omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. He is not outside our body, but within our body. Few minutes of proper meditation contemplating Him, leads to liberation. Thus, one saves precious time of his life and also money. Such a person is called Yogī, which means uniting individual self with the Supreme Self.

818. Suvrataḥ सुव्रतः

Suvrata means the one who meticulously observes virtuous vows. His has three vows. One is His creation, sustenance and annihilation. The second one is reigning on the universe under the Law of Karma. The third one is to liberate those who have attained perfection in spiritual knowledge. Liberation is subject to two conditions. First, there should be no balance in his or her karmic account. Two, one should have mentally surrendered unto Him.

819. Siddhaḥ सिद्धः

Repetitive nāma 97.  

He is perfection personified.  There is no perfection beyond this. Hence, He is addressed as the Supreme. Nobody knows, how He has come, how He is and how He would be. That is why it has been repeatedly emphasized that He can be attained only through a perfected mind. Perfected mind means relegation of quotidian thought processes. When the mind is pure, it becomes His perfect Abode. When He is contemplated with such a purified mind, He pervades the entire mind. Such an aspirant becomes a Yogī and later a jīvanmukta (liberated during the existence of body) and upon death, he becomes one with Him. This is the process of liberation.