विष्णुसहस्रनामViṣṇu Sahasranāma

Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva 149

विष्णुसहस्रनामViṣṇu Sahasranāma

The Thousand Names of Viṣṇu. On a bed of arrows, Bhīṣma answers six questions with a thousand names of Viṣṇu. Each name chanted, and explained as Ādi Śaṅkara read it.

Begin with श्रवण · The thousand names, chanted →

Your path

Three stages, in order. Each step fills in as you complete it: listened to the end, or read through.

  1. श्रवण Śravaṇa · Hear

    Listen first. Let the sound of the verses reach you before their meaning does. Follow the words as they light up, and don't worry yet about understanding.

    1. The thousand names, chanted
    2. Bhīṣma's preface, chanted
    3. The phalaśruti, chanted
  2. मनन Manana · Reflect

    Now take it apart. Go verse by verse and word by word: what each word means, how the sentence turns, what the ṛṣi is asking.

    1. Where it comes from
    2. The six questions
    3. Bhīṣma's answer
    4. Names 1–94
    5. Names 95–188
    6. Names 189–282
    7. Names 283–372
    8. Names 373–474
    9. Names 475–566
    10. Names 567–660
    11. Names 661–756
    12. Names 757–846
    13. Names 847–940
    14. Names 941–1000
    15. The fruits of reciting
    16. All from one Being
    17. One verse, one name
    18. Key words
  3. निदिध्यासन Nididhyāsana · Absorb

    Let it settle. Hear the ideas behind the verses, sit with their questions, and see what has stayed with you.

    1. How Śaṅkara reads a name
    2. Making it a practice
    3. Questions to sit with
    4. Check your understanding

Take it with you

Save every page and recording of this course on this device, to listen with no connection: on a train, in a temple, in a village.

What it is

The Viṣṇu Sahasranāma is a hymn of a thousand names (sahasra, a thousand; nāma, name) of Viṣṇu. It is one of the most loved prayers in India, chanted every day in homes and temples, at dawn, in hospitals and at the bedside of the dying.

It is not a list made up at random. It is the answer to a question. At the end of the Mahābhārata war, Yudhiṣṭhira, now king, goes to his grandsire Bhīṣma, who lies on a bed of arrows waiting for the hour of his death. After days of teaching, Yudhiṣṭhira asks six simple questions: Who is the one God? What is the highest refuge? What should a person recite to be free? Bhīṣma answers with a thousand names, while Kṛṣṇa, the one being named, stands beside them.

Where it comes from

The hymn is in the Anuśāsana Parva, the Book of Instruction, the thirteenth of the eighteen books of the Mahābhārata (chapter 149 in the common recension). Its ṛṣi is Vyāsa, the seer of the Mahābhārata, its metre is anuṣṭubh, and its deity is Viṣṇu, the one who pervades all.

It has three parts:

  • The preface (pūrvabhāga). The setting, Yudhiṣṭhira’s questions and Bhīṣma’s answer.
  • The thousand names. 107 ślokas holding exactly a thousand names, with a closing prayer as the 108th.
  • The phalaśruti. The ‘hearing of the fruits’: what reciting the names brings, ending with the famous verses on a single śloka and a single name.

Ādi Śaṅkara wrote a commentary (bhāṣya) on every one of the thousand names. The tradition remembers it as one of his first works. The meanings in this course follow his reading.

How to use this course

The course follows the three steps of learning named in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (2.4.5): śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsana: hearing, reflecting, and absorbing.

  • Śravaṇa (hear). Listen to the thousand names chanted in Sanskrit, each name lighting up as it is sung. The preface and the phalaśruti have their own recitations.
  • Manana (reflect). Learn where the hymn comes from, then go through it ten ślokas at a time. Each śloka is chanted, then every name in it is explained; every word can be tapped for its meaning. Each group ends with a reflection.
  • Nididhyāsana (absorb). Hear the whole story told as one narrated reading, see how Śaṅkara reads a name, make the names a daily practice, sit with some questions, and check what has stayed with you.

There is a lot here. You do not have to take it in one sitting. Each page you open is ticked off, so you can always pick up where you left off: a group of names a day takes you through the thousand in under three weeks.

Key understandings

  1. An answer to six questions

    Yudhiṣṭhira asks who the one God is, what the highest refuge is, and what to recite to be free. Bhīṣma answers, last question first, with a thousand names.

  2. Every name is a quality

    The names are gauṇa: each one says something true about the Lord, which is why Śaṅkara stops to explain every one of them.

  3. Vast and near at once

    The same hymn calls him Viśvam, the whole universe, and Suhṛt, the friend; the self of all beings and the one who loves his devotees.

  4. A dharma open to all

    Śaṅkara says reciting the names harms no one, needs no money or helper, and has no rules of place or time. Yudhiṣṭhira asks what any living being can recite.

  5. The fruits, and the real fruit

    The phalaśruti promises health, courage and freedom from fear, then turns to the vision of one Being holding sky, stars, senses and self.

  6. A thousand folded into one

    Kṛṣṇa says one verse is enough; Śiva says the name Rāma is equal to the thousand. The many names lead to the one.