Hinduism: Details about 'Sahasranama'
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The word Sahasra-nāma in Sanskrit means '1000 names'. Sahasra-nāma-stotra stands for a poem or a succession of verses (shlokas,) which contain thousand names of God.
Four expressions of Bhakti of modern relevanceAmong the Nine Expressions of Bhakti, usually elaborated in Hindu tradition, four have contemporary relevance: namely, shravana, i.e., listening to recitals of names and glories of God, nāma-sankīrtana, i.e., reciting the names of God either set to music or not, smarana, i.e., recalling Him and His deeds and archanā, i.e., worshipping Him with ritual repetition of His names. Central cord of Hindu religious worshipAll the four rest on the glory of the Lord's name and the majesty of His deeds. The prop of God's names to turn the mind inward is used in every religion. In Hinduism, it is the central cord that unmistakably vibrates throughout its vast tradition, literature and culture. It is in this context Hinduism is indebted to Vyasa (pronounced Vyāsa), the author of the Mahabharata (pronounced Mahābhārata) and the whole host of Puranas and Upa-puranas for interpolating in the narrative parts of all his writings innumerable stotras (poems of praise). These have served all through the centuries as texts for recitations and repetitions of God's names and glories. Some of them are Sahasra-nāma-stotras. There are plenty of these, at least one for each deity of the Hindu pantheon. There are also innumerable smaller stotras, called ashtottara-shata-nāma stotras, which have only 108 names. These invariably constitute a daily routine in any formal worship either at home or in the temples. Three well-known SahasranāmasThe most well-known and often in use are three:Vishnu sahasranama,Shiva sahasranama, both from the Mahabharata and Lalitha sahasranama, occurring in the Brahmānda Purana. Believe it or notEach one of these is a matchless long streamlined poem densely packed with meaning and seemingly endless recital of the Lord's names, glories and splendours, coupled with poetic elegance and grace. The rhythmic sound effects and the elevating moods that these stotras can produce must be heard and experienced to be believed. Worship through a Sahasra-nāma-archanāIn many parts of India, particularly the southern, whenever any collective religious worship is planned or intended one practice is to repeat the names from a Sahasra-nāma and do flower offerings to either a temple deity or a specially invoked deity for this purpose. This is the most sanctified way in which the Sahasra-nāmas are used. Each name is taken in the dative case, prefixed by the mystic syllable AUM and suffixed by the word NAMAH: thus, (in the case of the Vishnu-sahasra-nāma) Aum Vishvasmai namah;Aum Vishnave namah; .. and so on.It means:Prostrations to Vishvam;Prostrations to Vishnu; .. and so on . This way all the names in the sahasra-nāma are repeated to make up 1008 prostrations to the deity. Such a regimen is called a Sahasra-nāma archanā. This method of worship is very popular both at homes and certainly in all Hindu temples. 'Lakshārchanā'A more intensive version of the Sahasra-nāma-archanā is for several people to sit together, perform the archanā in chorus and fin ish in a prefixed time duration -- usually several days, each day for a certain number of hours --one hundred such Sahasra-nāma-archanās, counting the number of the archanās according to the multiplicity of the people who joined in the chorus. This composite programme is called a Lakshārchanā (laksha), in Sanskrit, means one hundred thousand. Note that the recital of the different participants for the several days adds up to 100,000 repetitions of God's names. We do not count the extra eight in each Sahasra-nāma archanā. There are occasions when a Koti archanā is also performed to the deity by counting up to 100 Lakshārchanās. Koti (crore, in English) is one hundred lakshas; that is, ten million. Such elaborate archanās usually mean a good deal of expense and so they are usually done in temples or public organizations which can canvass the necessary sponsorship. Spiritual torch kept aliveIt is such massive repetitions of God's names that has been one of the soundest traditions which have kept up the torch of spiritual fervour alive through the ages. See also
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