Srimathe Sri Lakshminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Beyond Words!
We have seen that Sri Vishnu Sahasranaamam is not a mere
catalogue of the Lords names, but a delightful compendium of
His auspicious attributes as well. All the thousand names are
based on the Parama Purushas wonderful qualities, as the
prelude to the Stotram indicatesyaani naamaani gounaani. And
these traits are innumerable, says Sri Bhashyakaraasankhyeya
Kalyaana Guna ganougha mahaarnavam. Just as the waters of the
ocean are endless, so too, are the Lords characteristics
innumerable. This being so, a complete catalogue of these
auspicious attributes is impossible of assembly, however gifted be
the author. However, for this reason, we cannot also abandon the
urge to present as many as possible of the Lords glorious
attributes at one place. The Vishnu Sahasranaamam was born
thus, in an attempt to provide at least a thousand of the Lords
traits in the form of a eulogy, capable of recitation in a short time
and serving as a scintillating summary of the vast numbers.
However, since each of the naamaas is capable of infinite
interpretations, the qualities enumerated in the Sahasra nama
Stotram are not merely a thousand, but may be considered to be
practically endless.
It is one of these haloed names, associated with the concept of
infinity of the Lords attributes, that we are about to analyze here.

Sabdaatiga: is the 914th Tirunamam in the Stotram and

provides a wonderful insight into the nature of the Lords glories.
Very simply put, the word refers to one who is beyond words-Sabdam atigacchati, vaacham atikramya vartate, iti Sabdaatiga:
It means that the Lord is beyond description, oral or written. Is
this possible, we wonder! When we visit the Sannidhi, we find

Emperuman attired in specific clothes, a limited number of jewels,

adorned with a specific and limited number of weapons, etc. As
such, would we not be able to trot out a description of Him in a
few pages?
Similarly, any entity can have only a limited number of attributes:
if you take me for instance, my admirers may (perhaps)
remember my patience and good (!) nature, while my detractors
might find a much longer list of lacunae in me. The point,
however, is that both the lists, of good qualities and the bad ones,
would be fairly short. Given that the Lord is bigger and greater
than any of us, we may expect that a similar list of traits drawn up
in respect of Him would be commensurately big, but not beyond
enumeration. It stands to reason (or so we think) that if there is
an entity, he or she would have a specific number of attributes.
The fallacy in this line of thinking lies in considering an aspect of
equality between ourselves and the Lord. We forget that He is
infinitely greater than us in any respect. What applies to mundane
mortals with faulty faculties would definitely not apply to the
Perfect Paramaathma, who is eternal and endless. When His forms
are endless (giving Him the sobriquet Ananta :), by a laymans
logic, so too have to be His names, His qualities, etc. Since this is
well documented by the Shruti, Smritis, Itihasas, etc. we may
accept the proposition that the Lords qualities are indeed beyond
enumeration.
We are confronted by a reasonable question here: Can we really
say that the Lords virtues are beyond words? To our limited
intellects, the Lords glories may be beyond count, but what about
Sri Mahalakshmi, who is in every way equal to Emperuman, be it
in wisdom, intellect or anything else? Since She too is the
repository of all wisdom, would She not be able to correctly count
and catalogue the Lords qualities? And if She is unable to do so,
would it not be a reflection on Her omniscience? And since Her

attributes too are touted to be infinite, wouldnt the all-knowing

Lord be able to take a true measure of Her grandeur?
Sri Koorattazhwan, emphasizing the boundlessness of Piraattis
splendour, tells us that even the Lord Himself has no idea of the
true extent of the same
Devi! Tvat mahimaavadhi: na Harinaa naapi tvayaa gyaayate
Since He doesnt know the extent of His Consorts greatness,
would it cast a slur on the Lords omniscience? Not at all, says
Azhwan, telling us that it is no deficiency not to know what is not
knowable. When something is really endless, how can its extent
be known? For instance, if you consider the mathematical concept
of infinity, could a mathematician be blamed for not knowing its
exact measure? It is simply not knowable and if someone were to
claim having discovered the measure of infinity, we would just
label him mad. If someone were to confirm having seen a lotus
blooming in the sky, we would not acclaim him for sighting a rare
phenomenon, but would consider him crazy and susceptible to
illusions, since we know for sure that lotuses dont exist in the sky.
So too, when the Lords glories (or those of His Consort) do not
have a limit at all, none can claim to have the true measure of the
same, says Azhwan
Yadyapevam athaapi naiva yuvayo: sarvagyataa heeyate
Yat naastyeva tat agyataam .sarvagyataayaa vidu:
Vyomaambhojam idantaya kila vidan bhrantoyam ityuchyate.
The infinite nature of Emperumans glory is such that even if He
Himself were to attempt measuring it and putting it into words,
He would fail: for, even for Him, it would be an exercise akin to an
attempt to drain the mighty oceans waters with a woefully small
cup. Sri Nammazhwar tells us that it would be futile for anyone to
attempt cataloguing the infinite glories of Emperuman: Even if all
the inhabitants of all the universes joined in a massive rally aimed

at eulogizing the Lord and even if such a colossal gathering were

to be led by none other than the omnipotent Lord Himself, any bid
to find the true measure of His magnificence and fully tap the
grand reservoir of His glories, would be doomed to failure ab initio

Yaanum etthi, ezhulagum muttrum etthi, pinnum

taanum etthilum tannai etha etha engu aidum
tenum paalum kannalum amudum aagi tittippa
yaanum Empiraanaye etthinen yaan uyvaane
Azhwar reiterates this elsewhere too, emphasizing the
immeasurability of Emperuman in any parameter, using any
yardstick
Tan mudivu ondrillaada tantuzhaai maalayanai
Sol mudivu kaanen naan, solluvadu en solleere
An ignoramus like me asks Azhwarif it is such an impossible
exercise, why indeed do you even attempt to eulogize the Lord,
when you wont be able to find words to describe even an
infinitesimal part of His splendour? Yaan uyvaane replies Azhwar,
indicating that despite the impossibility of the task, even an
attempt is immensely pleasurable and behooving of an ardent
admirer.
We may think that the Lord is beyond description by mundane
words like yours and mine or even those with the most versatile
of vocabularies. What about the Shruti, which is held out to be
adept at describing whatever cannot be perceived by our human
faculties? When it comes to taking the true measure of even a
single attribute of the Lord, viz., His bliss or Aanandam, we find
that even the versatile words of the Vedas find themselves
unequal to the task, and return vanquished. This is chronicled by
none other than the Shruti itself, which appears to pride itself for
having even engaged in the exercise, despite its abject failure to

fathom the true measure of divine blissyato vaacho nivartante,

apraapya manasaa saha.
Putting an end to all arguments about anyones capability to
describe Emperuman, Sri Bhattar says in his glorious commentary
on the Tirunamam: Adisesha with his innumerable heads and
tongues, also credited with omniscience, the endless Vedas with
their innumerable branches and the Goddess of Learning
Saraswathieven if all these exalted entities were to try, they
would fail miserably at finding a measure to the Lord and His
magnificenceAnanta jihvena Anantena, ananta shaakhai:
Aamnaayai: saakshaat Sarasvatyaa cha durooha mahima,
Sabdaatiga:
We thus find that the Lord is indeed beyond description, with
words, making Him Sabdaatiga:
Another thought strikes us: He may be beyond words, written and
spoken, but can He not be captured with our minds? The Mind, as
we know, is an extremely potent faculty, capable of traversing
thousands of miles in a nano-second, imagining the most
unimaginable of things, etc. Even if our limited faculties may not
be equal to the task, would at least Yogis, with their pure hearts
fixed forever on the Paramaathma, be able to capture His true
form and glory with their minds? Not possible, says Sri Alavandar,
putting the Lord, in His entirety, beyond the reach of even the
purest and most versatile of mindsnamo namo vaangmanasaati
bhoomaye. Following his mentors footsteps closely, Sri Ramanuja
confirms this in his Gadyamparama yogi vaang manasaa
aparicchedya svarupa svabhaava!
The following slokas from the Aditya Purana summarise the
incapability of even infinitely wise and powerful entities, like Sri
Mahalakshmi, the four-headed Brahma, Indra the chief of
celestials or the thousand-headed Adisesha, to fully fathom the
Lords glories:

Anantaan suviseshaanscha pasyantee Sri: nirantaram

Stotu kaamaa aksheena deekshaa harshaat aascharya saagare
Gahane gaahamaanaa abhoot ananta shruti agochare
Tvayaa upadishta: ya: putra vaatsalyaat Chaturaanana:
Tvat gunaanaam cha gananaat aanandam atulam bhajan
Na adyaapi viraraamaasou gananaat Devaraat api
Sahasra vadana: Sesha: asesha vedaarttha kovida:
Naaham jaane iti broote yat nakhaagrya vaibhavam
Sri Sankara too explains Sabdaatiga: on similar lines, defining the
Lord as one who transcends speech, not being of a species that
can be described by wordsSabda pravritti hetoonaam
jaatyaadeenaam asambhavaat sabdena vaktum asakyatvaat
Sabdaatiga:
However, we feel entirely dissatisfied with such a state of affairs:
how indeed do we pay obeisance to a Lord who is beyond
description? The Upanishad tells us a waythe only way you can
understand Him is to understand that He is beyond
comprehensionavigyaatam
vijaanataam,
vigyaatam
avijaanataam. One who realizes that Emperuman is so great as to
defy description, knows Him truly: one who thinks that the Lord
and His glories can be contained in the insufficient words of
inadequate beings, knows Him not at all, says the Upanishad.
It would appear that not only the Lord, but all things associated
with Him are also beyond accurate definition, description or
depiction. We have seen above that the glories of the Divine
Consort Sri Mahalakshmi too are entirely beyond enumeration. So
too is His abode Sri Vaikunttam, says Sri Bhashyakara. Giving us a
pen portrait of its magnificence in the Vaikuntta Gadyam,
Ramanuja says that the permanent residence of the Lord defies
description: no true measure of its dimensions, bounties and
nature is possible, avers the Acharyaiyat parimaanam, iyat
ishvaryam, eedrusa svabhaavam iti paricchettum ayogye. This is
based on what Sri Ramanujas favourite Puranam, the Vishnu

Puranam, says about the Lords abode being beyond wordsna

sabda gochara: yasya yogi dhyeyam param padam .
When the Jitanta Stotram tells us that the Lord has neither
attributes nor a form, but assumes these to enthrall devotees (na
te roopam, na cha aakaara: naayudhaani, na cha aaspadam), this
is again to emphasize that the Lords attributes, form, person and
everything about Him are so amazing, wonderful, enchanting and
splendorous, as to be totally beyond description. Like a dog
slaking its thirst with a few drops of the expansive Ganga waters,
we too can at best delight ourselves with one, or at best a few,
particular aspects of Emperuman, but can never hope to fathom
His glory in full: but believe me, even a single one of these
delightful sobriquets of the Lord is enough to enthrall us for a
lifetime- Orondru taane amayaado taaraniyil vaazhvaarkku
vaanera pomalavum vaazhvu.
Srimathe Srivan Satakopa Sri Ranganatha Yatindra Mahadesikaya
nama: