Vishnu - Name

Name

The traditional explanation of the name Vishnu involves the root viś, meaning "to settle" (cognate with Latin vicus, English -wich "village," Slavic: vas -ves), or also (in the Rigveda) "to enter into, to pervade," glossing the name as "the All-Pervading One". Yaska, an early commentator on the Vedas, in his Nirukta, (etymological interpretation), defines Vishnu as vishnu vishateh "one who enters everywhere". He also writes, yad vishito bhavati tad vishnurbhavati, "that which is free from fetters and bondages is Vishnu". Vishnu also known as Shiva and widely worshipped by another sect of hinduism known as Shaivism. Both are the same Being known as the Parabrahman only named different by humans society . Vishnu also known as Parabrahman or Cosmic Man or Lord of the Universe.

Shiva itself is the twenty-seventh and the six hundredth name in the Vishnu Sahasranama, the thousand names of Vishnu. Adi Sankara in his commentary on the Sahasranama states derivation from viś, with a meaning "presence everywhere" ("As he pervades everything, vevesti, he is called Vishnu"). Adi Sankara states (regarding Vishnu Purana, 3.1.45): "The Power of the Supreme Being has entered within the universe. The root viś means 'enter into'." Swami Chinmayananda, in his translation of Vishnu Sahasranama further elaborates on that verse: "The root vis means to enter. The entire world of things and beings is pervaded by Him and the Upanishad emphatically insists in its mantra 'whatever that is there is the world of change.' Hence, it means that He is not limited by space, time or substance. Chinmayananda states that that which pervades everything is Vishnu."

Read more about this topic:  Vishnu

Famous quotes containing the word name:

    What is it? a learned man
    Could give it a clumsy name.
    Let him name it who can,
    The beauty would be the same.
    Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)

    Name any name and then remember everybody you ever knew who bore than name. Are they all alike. I think so.
    Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)