Sri Vishnu SahasranAmam - the forms of the Lord

The Vishnu SahasranAmam describes the 1000 names of Lord Vishnu. Some of them describe the Lord, some his attributes and some his powers. As many spiritual masters have said, there is no difference between the name of the Lord and the Lord Himself. Sri Ramakrishna said, “There is infinite glory in God’s Name. The Name is the seed; the Name is the tree; and the Name is the fruit. God dwells in His own Name.” 

The Srimad Bhagavatam (1:1:14) states, "By resorting to His name, be it even in a mood of distress and helplessness, one entangled in the cycle of births and deaths would at once get release."

There are over a hundred names that describe the Lord in the Vishnu SahasranAmam.

His vastness and His subtlety

Vishnu is वामनः (152), the One who has a small body and प्रांशुः(153), One whose body is vast. He is ब्रह्म(664), the biggest, the vastest and the all-pervading and अणुः(835), the subtlest and the all-pervading. He is बृहत् (836), the greatest in dimension. He is also अनिर्देश्यवपुः(177), One whose form is indefinable, indescribable and inexplicable. He is स्थविष्टः(436), One of huge proportions - Agni is His head, the sun and moon are His eyes. He is दिविस्पृक्(571), One who touches the sky (in His Viswarupa). He is called व्यक्तरूपः(305) because His gross form as universe can be clearly perceived; He is विश्वमूर्तिः(717)of the form of the entire universe.

His Effulgence

He is महाद्युतिः(176) - intensely brilliant within and without and श्रीमान् (220) One more resplendent than anything. He is ओजस्तेजोध्युतिधरः (275) - One who is the possessor of Ojas(inherent vitality), Tejas(all brilliance) and Dhyuti(radiance) and प्रकाशात्मा(276), One whose form is radiant. He is भास्करध्युति(282), One who is likened to the light of the sun and is भानुः(284), One who is self-effulgent. He is बृहद्भानु:(333), the great brilliance - possessed of endless rays and is सहस्रांशु:(483), One with a thousand (or innumerable) rays i.e. the sun. He is विष्णुः(657), One whose brilliance has spread over the sky and earth and दीप्तमूर्तिः(719) One with a luminous form of knowledge. He is अर्चिष्मान्(633), the effulgent One by whose rays of light the sun, moon and other bodies are endowed with light. He is सहस्रार्चि(826), One who in His effulgence has innumerable rays. He is ज्योतिः(877), One who is effulgent with His own inherent light. He is सुरुचिः(878), the lord whose brilliance (or will) is of an attractive nature. He is विरोचनः(882), One who shines in different forms and सुवीरः(944), One who has many brilliant forms of manifestation.

His Form

He is महामूर्तिः(718), the great divine form of the Lord as he reclines on Ananta and गरुडध्वजः (354) as He has Garuda as His insignia on His flag. He is श्रीमान् (178), the One endowed with greatness of every kind and श्रीगर्भ: (376), One in whom are all glories.

Vishnu is सुन्दरः(791), of unrivaled beauty and अव्यङ्गः(129) - One who has no imperfections anywhere in Him. He is शुभाङ्गह्(586), One who has the most beautiful form that is enchanting and most handsome. He is कान्तः(296, 654), One who is extremely beautiful and of enchanting form - the beauty of beauty itself. He is रामः(394), One who has a compelling charm about Himself - He who is the most handsome. He is सुवर्णवर्णः(737), One who has the color of gold. He is पर्जन्यः(810), One who is similar to a rain-bearing cloud. Vishnu is पेशाल:(916), One who is handsome in regard to His actions, mind, word and body.

He is आनन्दः(526), One whose form is Ananda or bliss; शुभाङ्गः(782), One whose form is very auspicious to meditate upon and अमृतवपुः(814), One whose form is immortal and undecaying. He is स्वस्ति (903), One whose auspicious form is characterized by supreme bliss. He is पुष्पहासः(952), He who shines like a blossoming flower.

He is मधुः(168), who generates nectarine bliss in the hearts of devotees and is प्रमोदनः(525), One who is always joyous as He is absorbed in immortal bliss.

His face

He is सुमुख:(456), One who has an enchanting face and सर्वतोमुख:(816), One who has faces everywhere(Gita 13:13). He is स्वास्यः(844), One whose face is beautiful and slightly red, like the inside of a lotus flower.

His head

He has many heads - बहुशिराः(115) and सहस्रमूर्धा(224), the One with a thousand, i.e. innumerable number of heads.

His Avataras

He is महाशृङ्गः(536), the great-horned One (in His Matsya avatara), नैकशृङ्ग: (763), One with four horns representing waking, dream, deep sleep and pure Awareness and शृङ्गी(797), One who at the time of Pralaya assumed the form of a fish having prominent antenna. He is महावराहः(538), One who manifested as the great Cosmic Boar. He is नारसिंहवपुः (21), One whose form is half-human and half-lion and is चतुर्दंष्ट्रः(139) - the One with four fangs (in his incarnation as Narasimha). He is हलायुधः (562), One who in His avatara as Balabhadra, Sri Krishna’s brother, has the ploughshare as His weapon.

He is भूशयः(628), One who in his incarnation as Sri Rama, while seeking the means to cross over to Lanka, had to sleep on the ground, धनुर्धरः(857), One who as Rama wielded the great bow and धनुर्वेदः(858), He who as Rama was the master of the science of archery.

He is कृष्णः(57), the enchanter of all His devotees, शिखण्डी (311), who wears the peacock feather and वनमाली(561), One who always wears a garland of leaves and flowers named Vaijayanti which represent the five elements. He is केशवः(654) - Lord Krishna - One who has long hair. He is महाद्रिध्रक्(180), the One who supports the great mountain(in His Krishna avatara) and He is गोहितः(591), One who protected the cows by uplifting the mount Govardhana in His incarnation as Sri Krishna.

He is सप्तवाहनः(829), the Lord, who in his form as Surya, has a vehicle of seven horses.

His Ears

Vishnu is शुचिश्रवाः (118) - One who has beautiful and efficient ears. He is कुण्डली(907), One who wears the famous ear-rings Makara-Kundala or one who has Yoga and Samkhya as his ear ornaments.

His Hair

He is केशवः(23), One who has beautiful and graceful locks of hair. He is also हृषीकेशः(47), One who has coiled up his locks of hair.

His Navel

Vishnu is पद्मनाभः(48), One from whose navel springs the lotus which is the seat of Brahma. He is हिरण्यनाभः(194), One whose navel is auspicious like HiraNya(gold). He is also पद्मनाभः(196), One who navel is beautifully shaped like a lotus and He is रत्ननाभः (793), One who navel is very beautiful.

His Eyes

The eyes are often described as a window to the soul, so it is no surprise that there are a number of epithets of the Lord that describe His eyes. The most common comparison is to compare His eyes to the beauty of the lotus flower: पुष्कराक्षः (40, 556), पद्मनिभेक्षणः (345), सुदर्शनः (417), पुष्कराक्षः(556), स्वक्षः (615)

He is लोहिताक्षः(68), red-eyed.

He is निमिषः (214) - one whose eyes are closed in Yoga-Nidra as well as अनिमिषः(215) - one who is ever awake or unwinking.

He is सहस्राक्षः(226) - one who has innumerable eyes and He is महाक्षः (353) - one who has many glorious eyes. He is सुलोचनः (794), the One with brilliant eyes and रविलोचनः (885) - One having the sun as the eye.

His Chest

श्रीनिवासः (183)On His chest, the Goddess Shri, eternal in nature, dwells. He is लक्ष्मीवान्(361), One on whose chest the Goddess Lakshmi is always residing. He is श्रीवासः(602), One on whose chest Sridevi always resides and श्रीधरः(610), One who bears on His chest, Shri, who is the mother of all.

He is श्रीवत्सवक्षाः(601), One who has the mark Shrivatsa upon His divine and sacred chest.

His Limbs

Srimad Bhagavatam states (1:3:3): "It is in the limbs of the cosmic form, which is pure and powerful because of being formed of pure Sattva without the least stain of Rajas and Tamas, that the fourteen Lokas or spheres are located." 

He is स्वङ्गः(616), One whose limbs are beautiful and His very limbs are the Vedas - वेदाङ्गः(130). He is हेमाङ्गः(738), One who has limbs of gold and वराङ्गः(739) with beautiful limbs which are brilliant. He is सुवर्णबिन्दुः(800), One whose limbs are radiant like gold and कुन्दः(809), One who has limbs as beautiful as jasmine. He is यज्ञाङ्ग: (974), all the parts of His body are identified with the parts of a Yajna.

His Hands

He is चतुर्भुजः - the One with four hands(with lotus, mace, conch and discus) and is सुभुजः (265), One who has graceful arms that protect the world. He is चतुर्बाहुः(766), One with four arms that represent manas, buddhi, chitta and ahamkaarah

He is पद्मी(344), One who holds the lotus in His hands. He is कनकाङ्गदी(541), One who has armlets made of gold and चक्रगदाधरः(546), One who is the bearer of the discus, Sudarshana which represents the mind and the mace KaumOdaki which represents the intellect. He is चक्री(908), One who sports in His hand the discus named Sudarshana. He is चन्दनाङ्गदि(740), One who is adorned with armlets that generate joy. He is रुचिराङ्गदः(945), One who wears resplendent armlets.

He is शङ्खभृत्(993), One who has the divine conch Panchajanya.

His Legs

He is सहस्रपात्(227), the One with a thousand, i,e, innumerable, legs.

His Voice

He is सुघोषः(458), One whose auspicious sound is the Veda, or One who has a deep and sonorous sound like the clouds.

His Weapons

Vishnu is महेष्वासः(181), One who wears or wields the great bow शार्ङ्ग: and is सुधन्वा(567), One who has as His weapon the bow शार्ङ्ग: of great excellence. He is खण्डपरशुः(568), One who has the axe as His weapon. He is नन्दकी(994) One who has in His hand the sword Nandaki, शार्ङ्गधन्वा(996), One who the bow known as शार्ङ्ग: He is गदाधरः(997), One who holds the divine mace Kaumodaki. He is रताङ्गपाणि: (998), One in whose hand is a wheel. He is सर्वप्रहरणायुधः(1000), He who has all weapons - no enemy can surprise Him, the conqueror of all.