701. Sattā सत्ता

Sattā means existence, excellence, etc. Here it means existence without difference. He remains as the soul in all the beings, irrespective of differentiation in the gross forms. Without Him, nothing can exist.

Chāndogya Upaniṣad (VI.ii.1) says, “Before this world was manifest, there was only existence, one without a second…..I shall be many, I shall be born…”

This nāma says that the essence of all the beings is the same Self. Without the Self, there cannot be any existence. Creation begins from the soul and the causal body; then subtle body is formed and finally gross body is formed. Therefore, the origin of any existence is the soul. This can be compared to a car tyre. The outer rubber portion is the gross body; the inner tube is the subtle body and the air within the tube is the causal body. When the tube is deflated, the air inside escapes, as a result of which, the car cannot run. In the same way, if the soul escapes from the body, the body cannot function and the death is caused. Air is the soul in this comparison, which is discussed in nāma 710. Without air, the tyre is of no use and in the same way without the soul the three bodies are of no use. 

Please refer the chart in nāma 710.

702. Sadbhūtiḥ सद्भूतिः

Sadbhūta means one who is good and true. This nāma can be considered as an extension of the previous nāma. Previous nāma referred Him as existence without difference. This nāma describes the One without difference as good and true. He is good and true because, though He is present as a catalyst, He does not partake in any of the actions of the beings, nor does cause any actions in the beings. He is present in the form of Cit or consciousness, as the Self-illuminating soul.

Generally, Brahman is described as sat-cit- ānanda. This nāma says that He is sat and cit. Sat is existence and cit means consciousness.

703. Satparāyaṇaḥ सत्परायणः

He is the ultimate resort. A spiritual aspirant can first become a yogī, which itself is an advanced state. The ultimate aim of a yogī is to become one with Him. This nāma says that He is that parāyaṇa, the ultimate Abode. Once His Abode is reached, the yogī is liberated from further births. Liberation is possible beyond all the five stages of consciousness – active, dream, deep sleep, turya and turyātīta.

704. Śūrasenaḥ शूरसेनः

He has an army of great warriors, like Hanuman, etc.

This nāma subtly conveys that the wrong doers who inflict injuries to those who follow the virtuous path will be annihilated by His warriors. Here warriors mean the different energies that act at His command.

For example, fire, water, air cause natural calamities. Mass destruction during natural calamities is based on the principle of group karma. The group contains both good and bad beings. During the operation of group karma, evil doers are killed and good souls are liberated. Good thoughts and actions cause good karmas and bad thoughts and vicious actions cause bad karmas. Bad thoughts are more dangerous than evil actions and cause huge amount of bad karmas. By surrendering unto Him, through one’s mind and carrying out all actions on His behalf does not cause any karmas.

705. Yaduśreṣṭhaḥ यदुश्रेष्ठः

Yadu is a clan and is named so because of king Yadu. Kṛṣṇa was born in this clan. Śreṣṭha means most excellent. Since Kṛṣṇa was the most eminent person in Yadu clan, this nāma adores Him so.

706. Sannivāsaḥ सन्निवासः

It is one of the proper names of Viṣṇu, which means staying with good. He can be realized among the good ones, such as sages and saints. He is the ultimate Abode of all yogī-s. The good ones stay with Him for some period of time and ultimately become one with Him. The ultimate state is called kaivalya.  Kṛṣṇa explains this in Bhagavad Gītā (XIII.18), “My devotees enter into My being.”

{Further reading: Kaivalya is the final stage of life of a living being. Nobody is there with that being during that time. He is all alone without any help around and he has to achieve on his own. This is the final stage of one’s evolution. The soul is about to leave its present body and getting ready to merge with the Brahman. Kaivalya is liberation or salvation and hence it is called the final stage. This final stage can be reached in two ways. One is the mundane stage associated with desires and attachments where soul gets ready for rebirth. The other stage is the stage of samādi, where the soul gets ready for its union with the Brahman not to be born again. This is kaivalya. 

There are four stages: sālokya, sarūpa, samībha and sāyujya. Beyond this is kaivalya. Sālokya is the stage where one performs ritual worship, worshipping idols or portraits of gods. In sarūpa he leaves idol worship and does not differentiate himself from god. In samībha he goes near the god and in sāyujya stage he merges with god. These are the stages of one’s consciousness that finally lead to kaivalya. One has to progress from one stage to another and this progression happens depending upon the level of spirituality. By being spiritual does not mean one has to be religious. Spirituality transcends religious affinities, though religion forms the foundation of spirituality.

To attain kaivalya stage one has to progress from ritual worship to mental worship (meditation). By making sufficient progress in meditation, one has to search for the Brahman within. Once the Brahman is located and realized within, the practitioner moves to the stage of kaivalya, by detaching himself from worldly affinities by staying connected with his Creator. His soul is now under preparation to merge with Him, for final liberation. Finally, he gets liberated with no further transmigration for that soul.}

707. Suyāmunaḥ सुयामुनः

This is also one of the proper names of Viṣṇu. He is surrounded by illustrious men and women who lived in the banks of Yamuna during His incarnation as Kṛṣṇa.

There is a story associated with Kṛṣṇa and gopika-s (cowherdesses). Some consider these cowherdesses as celestial damsels and others consider them as ordinary women who had highest devotion for Kṛṣṇa. They used to play with Kṛṣṇa. Their devotion turned into Love for Him. Almost, they have become one with Kṛṣṇa (even when they are alive). Kṛṣṇa wanted to test their depth of devotion. When they were bathing in the river Yamuna, He took away their robes and refused to give them back. They cried and prayed to Kṛṣṇa, but He never relented. Finally, they had to come to the banks of the river to collect their robes from Him. There are two aspects to this incident. It explains what the total surrender and complete faith is, which has been discussed in the previous nāma. Second, as a result of this total surrender and faith, Kṛṣṇa personally approves and accepts their devotion by saying (Śrīmad Bhāgavata X.25, 26 “Your desire O chaste girls, your keenness to worship Me is already known to Me and approved (devotion) by Me. Those who are devoted to Me are like the fried grains that cannot germinate. You stand accomplished your purpose (liberation discussed in the previous nāma).” Gopika-s never looked at Kṛṣṇa as someone different from them.  Hence they were able to have His Grace. His Grace alone will lead to liberation. He showers His Grace on those who do not see Him as someone different from them, the states of samībha and sāyujya discussed in the previous nāma.

708. Bhūtāvāsaḥ भूतावासः

This nāma can be explained in several ways. Bhūta means mixed with, purified, any living being, etc. He is the final Abode of all the beings and beyond this point nothing exists, not even śūnya or void. It can also be explained that He purified all the beings before causing the merger with Him. This is based on the fact that merger can take place only between two known equals. For example, only water can merge with water, irrespective of the nature of the merging water; water cannot merge with fire. Unless, one’s mind is purified, union with Him is not possible. Any amount of external cleanliness, rituals, vows, fasting, etc will not help to attain His Grace, if the minds of these aspirants are not pure.

If jīvātama has to merge with Paramātama, there should be no traces of karma in the subtle body. Karma first sprouts in the subconscious mind, later moves to the mind, which in turn causes actions through jñānendriya-s and karmendriya-s.  Therefore, any traces of karma, both good and bad will prevent emancipation.  

709. Vāsudevaḥ वासुदेवः

Repetitive nāma-s 332 and 695.

He conceals His true nature through the effects of His own power known as māyā or illusion. Transcending this illusion is the path of Self-realization.

The power of Śiva is known as Śaktī, who in turn causes māyā and the power of Viṣṇu is straight away known as māyā.

The one who disgraces the name of Vāsudeva is known as vāsudevaka. 

710. Sarvāsunilayaḥ सर्वासुनिलयः

Sarva means all and asu means breath. This refers to prāṇa, the life sustaining energy. He is in the form of prāṇa in all the beings.

Taittirīya Upaniṣad (II.ii.2) says, “Different from the food sheath, known as kośa of food, prāṇamayaḥ, i.e. in the form of prāṇa is Ātma.”

There are five types of sheaths in the body and they together form gross, subtle and causal bodies. The following chart will explain this. This nāma says that He is in the form of prāṇa.