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shian
11 October 2012, 08:53 PM
Vanakkam,

i have listen, read and sing Hari Ashtakam,
there is a greatnes and benefit of HARI name.
Then we also know many text talk about Rama name.

But i never know what text says about VISHNU name, i mean the word VISHNU, just like His another name ( RAMA, HARI etc ) who have any benefit ect.

But we use VISHNU to call VAISHNAVA, the one of Trimurti is VISHNU, then many people use this name.

Anyone will share anything about the greatness of VISHNU name ? better if from the text.

Thank you

Anirudh
11 October 2012, 09:58 PM
Anyone will share anything about the greatness of VISHNU name ? better if from the text.

Dear Shian,

Not sure I have answered you, but these are my findings...

What is the meaning of the name vishnu? (http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090612004702AAPd1SP)

Also in the same thread found this link (http://www.answers.com/topic/vishnu)

Omkara
11 October 2012, 10:26 PM
Vishnu means he who pervades (vish) every atom(anu) of the universe.

shian
12 October 2012, 02:41 AM
thank you OMKARA

i also love your library, a lot of knowledge

then what text says about VISHNU name ?
why text only talk about Hari , Rama name ?

SanathanaDharma
12 October 2012, 07:52 AM
Dear Friend,

"Anyone will share anything about the greatness of VISHNU name ?"

The question you have asked cannot be completely answered even if one keeps on writing for years....so with that in mind here is a very humble effort to describe that "Sarva Vyaaptha"....

One of the main Sanskrit meanings of the term "Vishnu" is as follows
"veveshti vyaapnoti iti Vishnuh" [very rough translation]..One who pervades or is presents everywhere is Vishnu...

He who is in everything as everything..He who is everything and beyond everything...He who is everywhere...He
who is in everyone...He who is the One and only One...is Sri Maha Vishnu... Sarva Vyaaptha

so He who is everywhere is Vishnu...and who else other than Parabramha is everywhere...

"then what text says about VISHNU name ? "

There are so many texts which beautifully describe His name.....one of the main scriptures which actually has His name as the title is the "Vishnu Purana"...which is one of the earliest written Puranas as it was narrated by that great sage Sri Parashara who is the father of Sri Veda Vyasa [Krishna Dwaipayana]...

The Vishnu purana gives complete description of Sri Maha Vishnu, His leelas, His Avatars, His divine forms....The first part of the purana and the part where creation is explained talks in length regarding Vishnu as Parabramha Swaroopa...

It explains the term very beautifully as to how He is present in atoms as sub atomic particles and in Universe as the One in whom this Universe exists....It also explains that He who is Vishnu is Hari, Krishna, Rama, Narasimha......

In this age of Kali, when one is talking about Vishnu, its inevitable to mention the following points....
[Anushasana Parva of Mahabharatha]

After the war of Mahabharatha, after Pandavas won the battle over Kauravas by the grace of Sri Vaasudeva, before Bheeshma was ready to leave his materialistic body, Yudhistira asked Bheeshma the following six questions...

Kimékam daivatham loke kim vápyekam parăyanam
Sthuvantha kam kamarchanda prapnuyur mănavă shubam
Ko dharma sarva dharmănam bhavatha paramo mathaha
Kim japan muchyathé janthur janma samsăra bandhanăth

[very rough translation]...
- Who is the Supreme Divine One in this Universe?
- Who is the the final aim, goal or refuge of everyone?
- By glorifying, talking about whom can man reach the Divine auspiciousness?
- By worshipping whom can a man reach auspiciousness?
- What is, in your opinion, the Greatest Dharma?
- By whom[grace] can creatures go beyond, get liberated from the bonds of lifecycle?

To which that great Bheeshma answers each question and to summarize the meaning of Parabramha, he states the divine Sri Vishnu Sahasranama [Thousand divine names of Sri Maha Vishnu]...
starting with
"Vishwam Vishnu Vashatkara....."
He is this Universe...everything this is present
He is the one who pervades everywhere in everything
......

All the three great Aacharyas[Shankara, Ramaanuja and Madhwa] of Kali Yuga have written commentaries on Vishnu Sahasranama which explains the term Vishnu beautifully...

Vishnu is also mentioned in quite a number of hymns in Rig Veda....one of the most notable one is the
Vishnu Suktha which is in both Taitthiriya Samhithi: 1.2.27 & Rig Veda 1.154.1 starts with
"Om vishnornukam veeryaani pravocham..."
This entire Suktha clearly glorifies and defines the great deeds of Purushottama...
Many sacred hymns in Rig Veda are dedicated to Sri Maha Vishnu...

[There are some modern Vedic interpreters with a very baseless claim that just because the number of hymns dedicated to Agni, Indra, Vayu, etc are more than those dedicated to Vishnu in Rig Veda, the Vishnu that is mentioned is actually another Deva...the fact that these are totally baseless is that the hymns regarding Vishnu have content which gives a real learned reader the features which actually describe Sri Maha Vishnu who is Parabramha swaroopa..anyway i shall not divert into some baseless theories which are based on quantity and not quality of the content]...

One thing that we must observe here is that the name Vishnu is also present among-st the 12 Adityas ,the sons of Aditi and sage Kashyapa, who are the celestial Solar Bodies...and Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita also very clearly states that
Bhagavad Gita 10.21

adityanam aham vishnur
I am Vishnu amongst the Adityas...

One interpretation is that amongst all the celestial solar bodies, He is Vishnu or the One who actually is covering everything...the energy called "Light"

Another interpretation is that actually Sri Maha Vishnu takes the Avatar of Trivikrama, where His father and mother are sage Kashyapa and his wife Aditi...
The hymns of Rig vedas very clearly praise Vishnu as all pervading one and the One who has set His foot on all the three planetary systems...which was exactly what Sri Trivikrama did....so there are some links missing as today we are left with quite few scripts alone...

The Rig Veda glorifies Vishnu in many other hymns and some of the notable ones are 1.154.5, 3.54.15, 3.55.10, 7.99.1 these hymns are used in most of the Temples, Yagnas even today....

As i mentioned at the very beginning, one can keep on writing about Vishnu...but the fact is that it is not possible to describe Him
in words....

yajvan
12 October 2012, 02:17 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté


viṣṇu is rooted in viṣ which means all-pervader; It is a beautiful notion of Him being all pervading, continuous, without break or pause.


If we look to the ṛg ved we find about 45 mantra-s involving viṣṇu. Yet there are 6 that are very insightful ( as I see it); they are 1.22.16 to 1.22.21. I wish to call out just the 1st line of 1.22.20 śloka:

tad viṣṇoḥ paramam padam sadā paṣayati paśyanti sūryaḥ


This says,
That (tad) all pervading (viṣṇu) brahman (parama) , step (pada) continuiously (sadā) touch or bind (paṣayati) sun (sūryaḥ)

What is key for me without really getting deeper into each word permuation is 'tad' or That ( brahman, parama) is all-pervading, continuous.

Hence the notion of all-pervading (viṣṇu) is synonymous with that (tad, brahman) and comes to be known as the same. This is a very fine point to apprecaite that brahman and its quality of all-pervading-ness has come to be known as viṣṇu.

praṇām

shian
15 October 2012, 11:00 PM
Hari Om

Thank you all , i dont know how express it in words
i get much divine knowledge from all of answer