919. Kṣamiṇāṁ varaḥ क्षमिणां वरः

Kṣamitṛ means patient and vara means the best amongst the patient ones. He is an embodiment of patience. He tolerates the sinners and is patient with their activities till a particular point. Before annihilating them, He gives them enough opportunities to mend themselves. Annihilating the sinners is His last weapon.

Mother Earth is worshipped as the most patient one, as She continues to carry the earth, irrespective of the activities that happen on the surface of the earth. This nāma says that He is more patient than Mother Earth, also known as Bhūmādevi, another Consort of Viṣṇu.

During His incarnation as Lord Śrī Rāma, He set an example for patience.

920. Vidvattamaḥ विद्वत्तमः

Vidvattama means extremely wise. Only the wise will have the kind of patience referred to in the previous nāma. Because He is Vidvattama, He is worshiped as omniscient. Because of this explicit quality, He is adored as Supreme. His supremacy is not only on account of His actions, but also based on His omniscience.

Since He is an embodiment of pure knowledge, He can be attained only through the same knowledge.

921. Vītabhayaḥ वीतभयः

Vītabhaya means fearless. Fear arises due to desires and attachments. He is eternal purity and no afflictions could ever affect Him. Hence He is fearless. Another common cause for fear is death. Fear of death is due to insufficient knowledge about karmic theory. Death is unavoidable to all those who are born in this world, as all the living beings undergo constant growth. If one surrenders to Him, the fear of death will never worry him, as he knows that after his death, he will reach higher planes to ultimately merge with Him.

Brahman is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent and hence He is Supreme. Even when the whole universe is annihilated, He still remains with the same qualities. Hence He is fearless.

922. Puṇya śravaṇa kīrtaṇaḥ पुण्यश्रवणकीर्तणः

Recitations of verses in His praise or listening to hymns in His praise are considered as virtuous acts. When such verses are either recited or listened, it makes the mind devoid of other thoughts and during such times, one can enjoy Bliss.

Mere recitation of His nāma-s is capable of transforming one’s mind into the state of purity and consequent bliss.

923. Uttāraṇaḥ उत्तारणः

Uttāraṇa means rescuing. He rescues all those who surrender unto Him from the pains of transmigration. Karmas cease to operate after one surrenders to Him through his mind and after experiencing all the karmas he is liberated from the pains of transmigration.

Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (XII.7), “I give relief to those who fix their mind on Me by offering relief from transmigration.” Fixing mind on Me means surrender unto Him.

924. Duṣkṛtihā दुष्कृतिहा

He is the destroyer of evil actions or He destroys all those who perform evil actions. Duṣkṛti means an evil doer and hā means to remove and therefore, this nāma says that He annihilates all those who continue to indulge in evil actions.

925. Puṇyaḥ पुण्यः

Repetitive nāma 687.

Apart from what is explained in nāma 687, puṇya also means holy Basil, where His Consort Mahālakṣmī resides. This nāma says that He is fond of wearing garlands made out of Basil leaves, which subtly conveys their inseparableness. 

926. Duḥsvapnanāśanaḥ दुःस्वप्ननाशनः

Dreams arise before the deep sleep state. Dreams arise when the subconscious mind becomes active. There are several impressions embedded in the subconscious mind, not only belonging to the present life, but also of the past lives. Impressions of subconscious mind appear as dreams and also get manifest in the form of actions due to karmic unfoldment. Sometimes, dreams appear as omens for the impending danger which could cause disruption of mental peace of His devotees. This nāma says that He annihilates such dreams in order to keep the minds of His devotees peaceful all the time so that they continue to remain as sthitaprajña-s.

The manifestation of karmas can never be stopped. Further accrual of karmas can be stopped after surrendering unto Him through mental affirmations. But the existing karmas have to be experienced either in this birth or in the subsequent births.

927. Vīraḥ वीरः

Repetitive nāma-s 166 and 741.

This nāma can be explained to mean asunder as Vīr means asunder. Asunder means wide separation in space, referring indirectly to the creation of various galaxies, where different planets are posited in such a way that they do not collide due to the gravitational force. Our galaxy is known as Milky Way. His act of creation covers the entire universe, not just one galaxy.

928. Rakṣaṇaḥ रक्षणः

Rakṣaṇa means protector. He protects all in the way they deserve to be protected. But as far as sthitaprajña-s are concerned, He ensures maximum protection to them as they are ripe enough to go to the next stage of jīvanmukta.

It is said that amongst the entire human race, only a few thousands become sthitaprajña-s and amongst sthitaprajña-s, only a handful attain the state of jīvanmukta. Since He is so compassionate, He takes special care of sthitaprajña-s to ensure that they progress further to ultimately become one with Him. He is always ready to offer liberation and when a devotee puts one step forward towards Him, He moves several steps closer to that devotee in the state of sthitaprajña.

929. Santaḥ सन्तः

Those who follow the dictums of dharma śāstra-s are called noble men. He Himself incarnates in the form of sages and saints who are considered as highly virtuous personalities. He does so to make others follow the path of dharma śāstra-s.

Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (VII.17 and 18), “The best is the man of wisdom, ever established in Me and possessed of exclusive devotion. For, I am extremely dear to him and he is extremely dear to Me.... The man of wisdom is My very Self....”

The word san means bestow. Then it means that He bestows higher spiritual knowledge to His devotees and also bestow on them prosperity. When a person pursues true spiritual path, he loses his awareness on the material world, which results in his poverty. As he has surrendered to Him, it becomes His duty to nourish him with good health, which is important to maintain a perfect physical body. Such a jñānin knows fully well that He resides within his physical body beyond gross, subtle and causal bodies as the Soul. Therefore, it is imperative that one should maintain a perfect and pure physical body. It is said that the body is the temple and jīva (individual soul) is Brahman.

देहो देवालयः प्रोक्तो जीवो देवः सनातनः deho devālayaḥ prokto jīvo devaḥ sanātanaḥ

930. Jīvanaḥ जीवनः

Jīva means the causal body made of prāṇa or the vital air. Jīvātman means the soul encased by prāṇa, the causal body. Without these two, life is not possible. He is not only the cause of this body, but also sustains the body. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (VII.9), “I am the life in all beings.”

Individual soul is only a miniscule of the Supreme Soul and both are realized on different planes. Individual soul is realized in the microcosmic plane and the Supreme Soul is realized in the macrocosmic plane. Realisation of macrocosmic plane, also known as cosmic plane is not possible unless the microcosmic plane is fully realized. Except for one’s consciousness, there is no difference between microcosm and macrocosm, where the former is the miniature model of latter.

The affirmation “I am Brahman” is complete only when one realizes that the whole universe is Brahman. If someone claims that he is a Self-realized person, the truth can be ascertained by his statements and actions. Truly realised persons always live by concealing their true identities.

931. Paryavasthitaḥ पर्यवस्थितः

Paryavasthā means to pervade. This nāma talks about His omnipresence. He pervades the entire universe. Without His absolute permeation, the universe cannot function as it functions today and He exists in the cosmos as God Particle, the term given by Science.

932. Anantarūpaḥ अनन्तरूपः

This nāma explains the previous nāma to its logical conclusion. The previous nāma said that He pervades the entire universe and this nāma says that because of His pervasion, various beings exist in the universe in different shapes and forms.

It can also be said that He manifests in various shapes and forms of all the beings that exist in the universe.

933. Anantaśrīḥ अनन्तश्रीः

Apart from meaning wealth, prosperity and auspiciousness, śrī also means diffusing light of radiance, where radiance refers to His Supreme Light. Only because of this Light, the universe shines. Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (VI.7) says, “He rules the universe and is the soul object of worship in the world…” which clearly underlines His Supremacy.

Kaṭha Upaniṣad (II.ii.15) says, “In the presence of Brahman neither luminaries nor fire shine…By His light alone all these are illuminated.”

934. Jitamanyuḥ जितमन्युः

Jita means conquering and manyu means anger and therefore, jitamanyu means that He has conquered His anger. Jitamanas as a single word means the one who has subdued his heart (probably referring to His eternal Love). Both these interpretations are applicable to Him. He becomes ferocious on seeing the perpetual sinners and He does not hesitate to suppress His anger and proceeds to eliminate them. At the same time, if He comes across a sthitaprajña, He immediately controls His anger.

If this nāma is interpreted as jitamanas, it means that He always keeps His mind subdued and leaves the results of their prayers to Him to the respective individual’s karmic account.

935. Bhayāpahaḥ भयापहः

He eradicates unfounded fear in the minds of His devotees. Devotees here mean higher class of devotees who perpetually stay connected with Him through their minds.  Fear arises due to desires and attachments. Fear is the natural byproduct of materialistic life. If one reposes absolute faith in Him, there is no place for fear in his life. If the faith in Him is not absolute, one is bound to have several types of fear.

The main fear of mankind is the fear of death. This fear arises due to insufficient knowledge about Him. Everyone is governed by the Law of Karma. The rule is that what one sows, so he reaps. When one physically or verbally hurts others, obviously he can expect the same thing to happen to him at a later date, whether in this birth or in later births. Having injured others, one cannot expect that only good things will happen to him. If one has this thought, it is purely out of ignorance. Because of this ignorance, he continues to cause mental and physical injuries to others. For such person, He never removes any of his fears.

936. Caturaśraḥ चतुरश्रः

Caturaśra means a square. He has created a square where dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa are placed in the four corners, which represent four different goals of human life.

Dharma is righteousness; artha is wealth; kāma is desire and mokṣa is liberation. These four are known as caturviddha puruṣārtha. A man is placed inside a square with an option to choose any one of these four puruṣārtha-s and it is up to the person concerned to seek whichever is the best for Him. But as a rule, all the four are solicited, a clear expression of our ignorance.  A wise man will seek only mokṣa, as this alone can stop the pains of transmigrations.

This nāma says that He is the One, who conducts this test.

937. Gabhīrātmā गभीरात्मा

Gabhīra means mysterious and ātma here refers to Brahman. This nāma says that He cannot be understood that easily. This is because, He is formless and the subtlest of all and hence, realizing Him is difficult. Hence He is addressed as mysterious.

938. Vidiśaḥ विदिशः

This nāma is an extension of nāma 936. He bestows His Grace depending upon the seeker. He gives wealth when it is sought by His true devotees. He gives mokṣa when it asked for.  He showers His Grace depending upon what is sought.

Brahman always remains as a witness to all the actions and naturally He does not confer anything directly to His devotees. Brahman has two aspects - nirguṇa and saguṇa (without attributes and with attributes). It is only the nirguṇa Brahman who always remains as a witness, whereas saguṇa Brahman is full of activities and it is He, who answers the prayers of His devotees. Nirguṇa Brahman is without attributes and saguṇa Brahman is full of attributes. This can be compared to Brahman and His Power of delusion, māyā.

939. Vyādiśaḥ व्यादिशः

Vyādiś means to command. He being the Supreme Power gives commands to all other gods. He does not act directly; He always acts through various gods and goddesses for various activities that happen in the universe. For example, fire related subjects are dealt by Agni, air related issues are dealt by Vāyu, death related subjects are dealt by Yama, etc.

940. Diśaḥ दिशः

He is in the form of Vedas. When He is prayed, it means that prayers are made to Vedas. Vedas contain a number of prayers and if Vedic rituals are performed as per the dictums of Vedas, He ensures such prayers are answered favourably.