748. Mānadaḥ मानदः

Mānada means the destroyer of ego. Unless one’s ego is destroyed, spiritual attainment is not possible. He is always ready to offer liberation, but the devotees bound by His māyā get identified with their physical bodies. As long as one identifies himself with the physical body, his ego will be preponderating. At the same time, one cannot live without ego. Balancing between the necessitated ego and overriding ego is important in spirituality. Even if there is a minor tilt towards overriding ego, realization cannot happen.

This nāma says that He destroys one’s unwanted ego, provided the aspirant chooses to surrender unto Him. Non-surrendering and ego cannot exist concurrently.

749. Mānyaḥ मान्यः

He is worthy of worship. The reasons for this are given in the succeeding nāma-s.

750. Lokasvāmī लोकस्वामी

He is the Lord of the universe. Universe (loka) does not mean the planet earth or the galaxy Milkyway. Loka here means all the galaxies put together and this is known as the universe.

Loka also means fourteen worlds explained in mythology. These mythical worlds, in reality express the fourteen states of human consciousness – seven lower level of consciousness and seven higher level of consciousness.

751. Trilokadhṛk त्रिलोकधृक्

He nurtures the three mythical worlds – earth, heaven and hell. These three worlds actually refer to the three states of normal human consciousness – active, dream and deep sleep states. By remaining as the Self within, He controls these three states of consciousness. Now a question arises whether He literally controls these states of consciousness, as He remains only as a witness all the time. Yes, He does not either influence or modify these states of consciousness. The consciousness itself cannot exist without Him, as He is the cause of the body. The level of consciousness is related to one’s mind and He only remains as the witness to all his actions unfolding due to his karmas.

752. Sumedhāḥ सुमेधाः

He has great intelligence or He is intelligence personified. When Bhīṣma was on his death bed, Kṛṣṇa was personally present and as Bhīṣma knew the intelligence of Kṛṣṇa, Bhīṣma adored Kṛṣṇa as Sumedhā.

753. Medhajaḥ मेधजः

Medhaja means born out of sacrifice. Contextually, birth means invocation. As Viṣṇu presides over all yajña-s, He is invoked while performing yajña-s. Invocating Him is called as birth in this nāma.

Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad Gītā (III.15), “All pervading Infinite is always present in sacrifice.”

754. Dhanyaḥ धन्यः

Dhanya means happy, fortunate, auspicious, etc.

He is fortunate because, His true devotees try to attain Him, the embodiment of auspiciousness, through the path of realization. He is happy, as He finds more and more of His devotees are making efforts in someway (rituals, meditation, etc) or other to attain Him.

755. Satyamedhāḥ सत्यमेधाः

Satyamedhas means true intelligence. The intelligence, not affected by māyā is true intelligence. True intelligence can be explained as the knowledge about the Brahman who pervades the whole universe. All that exist in the universe are nothing but His reflection. Ultimately, He alone prevails everywhere; hence, the word omnipresence is used to mean Him. This is known as true knowledge.

Spiritual knowledge is different from material knowledge. Spiritual knowledge gives liberation and material knowledge gives wealth and ego; yet there are exceptions.

756. Dharādharaḥ धराधरः

He supports the world, meaning Mother Earth. Earth is the grossest matter of all. It occupies the last of all tattva-s or principles. Since He is omnipresent, He prevails in all the tattva-s, from the highest to the lowest or from the subtlest to the grossest.

757. Tejovṛṣaḥ तेजोवृषः

Tejas means splendour and vṛṣ means pour down and hence, this nāma says that He pours down His splendour. Because of this splendour, everything else flows such as light, prāṇa, etc that get converted into energy due to various interactions and permutations and combinations. Without His splendour, no existence is possible in the universe.

758. Dyutidharaḥ द्युतिधरः

Dyuti also means splendour. Previous nāma spoke about the Light, without which existence is not possible and this Light originates from Him. This nāma explains consciousness as splendour. Without consciousness, human existence is not possible and only if the illuminating consciousness is realized, one is released from the clutches of transmigration. Pure Consciousness is always Self-illuminating. Realization of Pure Consciousness is Self-realization. Purity of consciousness is the state of mind where no other thoughts exist except contemplating on Him.

759. Sarvaśastrbhṛtām varaḥ सर्वशस्त्र्भृताम् वरः

Sarvaśastrin means provided with all kinds of weapons; bhṛt means possessing and vara means most excellent. This nāma says that He is the most excellent amongst those who carry any kinds of weapons. This means that He has the best weapons.

Weapons are used by Him to annihilate evil doers, who act against the precepts of dharma. Dharma śāstra-s laid down guidelines to live such as upholding human values and universal brotherhood by maintaining peace and harmony. Those who seriously violate the precepts are annihilated to maintain the harmony and other violators are punished either physically or mentally.

760. Pragrahaḥ प्रग्रहः

Pragraha means accepting. He accepts the offerings made by His devotees. Apart from meaning naivedya, offerings also mean worshipping Him through hymns, rituals, etc. When one becomes thorough in reciting hymns or performing rituals, He showers His Grace on him and makes him to pursue the right path to attain Him. Due to His Grace, he becomes a jīvanmukta and finally merges with Him. Jīvanmukta is the one, who gets liberated in this birth and still holds on to his body to spend the remnants of his karma. After death, he becomes one with Him.

761. Nigrahaḥ निग्रहः

Nigraha means restraining. He restrains his devotees by not allowing them to go against the precepts of dharma. If someone is not listening to His messages, he is annihilated, setting  examples to others.

762. Vyagraḥ व्यग्रः

Vyagra means eagerly occupied. He is happily occupied in fulfilling the desires of His devotees. At times, He assumes the form of a Guru and guides His devotees. The typical example is Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.

When an aspirant advances in spirituality, either he gets a Guru or Viṣṇu Himself takes the form of a Guru and takes him towards the path of liberation. Such Gurus may also appear for a few moments and say a few words to the aspirants and then disappear. One can invariably experience this at some point of time in his spiritual life, if the pursued path is right, coupled with dedication and sincerity.

763. Naikaśṛṅgaḥ  नैकशृङ्गः

Naika means many (not one, but more than one) and śṛṅga means horn of an animal. Going by the literal meaning of naika, then it could mean four states of human consciousness – active, dream, deep sleep and turya. Or it could also mean the four Vedas or three guṇa-s – sattvic, rajasic and tamasic.

Horn also means self reliance. As Brahman, there is no need for Him to rely on anyone. On the contrary everyone relies on Him.

There is a reference in Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (XII.10) about horns and the verse is well known and recited during fire oblations, particularly while invoking god Agni.

चत्वारि शृङ्गा त्रयो अस्य पादाद्वशीर्षे सप्त हस्तासो अस्य।
त्रिधा बद्धो वृषभो रो रवीति महो देवो मत्र्यार्आविवेश॥

catvāri śṛṅgā trayo asya pādādvaśīrṣe sapta hastāso asya |
tridhā baddho vṛṣabho ro ravīti maho devo matryārāviveśa || (Rig Veda IV.58.3)

 “The syllable ॐ is contemplated in this verse as the one with four horns, three feet, two heads and seven hands. This bull is connected in a threefold manner declares the Supreme, which enters all the mortals,”

The four horns described here is the four modifications of sound parā, paśyantī, madhyamā and vaikarī. Three feet represent the three states of consciousness.  Two heads mean two stages of Prakṛti (higher (spiritual) and lower (material) as described in Bhagavad Gītā VII.4 and 5. Seven hands are the seven worlds (could be indicating the seven stages of turya). Three feet are the three types of fire and two heads mean the one who performs the sacrificial rites, yajamāna and his wife.

If one goes by this verse of the Upaniṣad, then it means that He is Brahman, as OM is called Brahman by Taittirīya Upaniṣad (I.viii), “Om iti Brahma (meaning Brahman).”

764. Gadāgrajaḥ गदाग्रजः

Elder brother of Gada is Kṛṣṇa. Gada also means series of sentences, possibly indicating here about mantras. Then, this nāma says that He can be attained through mantras.