The Uniqueness of Sri Venkateshwara Sahasranama
Venkatadri samam sthanam Brahmande Nasti kinchana |
Venkatesa samo devo na bhootho na bhavishyati ||
The above widely known sloka appears in the Brahmanda Purana which negates beyond any doubt the existence of any place equivalent to Tirumala in the whole universe and similarly negates the existence of any god equivalent to Lord Venkatesa anytime in the past as well as in the future.
Apart from the Brahmanda Purana, eleven other Puranas among the famous set of eighteen Puranas speak highly of Venkatachala. The antiquity of the holy range of hills, Venkatachala also known as Tirumala, is such that even the foremost authority of ‘Sanathana Dharma’, the Rig Veda renders a verse in praise of Tirumala and prods people to visit the shrine and be blessed.
For the liberation of mankind, people are bestowed with a lot of means to engage themselves in the blissful devotion towards God and the best among the means in this Yuga is said to be ‘Namasankeerthanam’, which is chanting or singing or reciting or just listening to different names of God.
This is facilitated by Sahasranama, a collection of thousand names.
There are many Sahasranamas in Bhakti literature; in general, the very name signifies Sri Vishnu Sahasranama.
Besides, there are many like
- Lalitha Sahasranama,
- Rama Sahasranama,
- Lakshmi Sahasranama,
- Lakshmi Narasimha Sahasranama and
- Sri Venkateshwara Sahasranama.
It is widely known that Srimannarayana manifests Himself in five different celestial abodes namely
- Para [in Sri Vaikunta],
- Vyuha [in Ksheerabdhi],
- Vibhava [descend to the earth as ‘avatara’ like Rama and Krishna]
- Antaryami pervades everything in the universe and Archa is a tangible and
- visible ‘vigraha moorthi’ in the temples.
Among the many Sahasranamas that exist, Sri Venkateshwara Sahasranama is unique as it is attributed to the ‘Archa vigraha moorthi’ of Lord Venkatesa in Tirumala. In contrast, other Sahasranamas are in praise of ‘Vibhava Moorthis’ called ‘avatars.
Sri Venkateshwara Sahasranama was originally sung by Lord Bramha and His ‘Manasaputra’ Narada happened to listen. He persuades Lord Bramha to educate him on this sthotra. Lord Bramha readily does the ‘upadesa’ and Narada in turn passes the sthotra as ‘upadesa’ to ‘rishi’ Vasishta, another ‘Manasaputra’ of Lord Brahma.
This is cited elaborately in the Brahmanda Purana.
We attempt to give concise and traditional meanings with relevant explanations for Lord Venkatesa’s names in the Sthotra on the other page.
A thousand names are spread across 159 slokas with a prologue containing thirteen slokas setting the context and necessary rituals for the recital and an epilogue containing another thirteen slokas detailing the fruits of reciting the Sri Venkateshwara Sahasranama.
Purva Peetika
Sri Venkatesa Sahasranama begins with a ‘Purva Peetika’ section containing ten slokas. Rishi Vasishta gets curious about the rituals employed by ‘rishi’ Narada in his prayers and seeks to know what kind of names are being recited.
Narada elaborates on the categories of the names of Lord Venkatesa like those derived or based on His attributes, His glorious deeds, and those that allude to His resplendent nature, and also emphasizes the names are infinite.
Further Narada expounds about the efficacy of reciting these names in clearing one’s sins without a trace.
Dhyanam
The next section, ‘Dhyanam’ consisting of three slokas, is about setting our minds upon the core subject of the sthotra which is Lord Venkatesa. It also depicts a clear description of His supernal appearance with divine weapons or ornaments like Panchajanya and Sudarsana Chakra and their positions in His celestial hands.
