Vishnu Sahasranamam was composed by Vedavyasa. This is revealed in the Mahabharata.
The Context
Krishna wanted Yudhisthira to meet Bhishma before he passed aways so that he could receive all the wisdom and knowledge that Bhishma had garnered all these years and that would provide guidance to Yudhisthira on the art of ruling the world, and most importantly the art of preparing oneself for the after – life. Along with Krishna the brothers & Yudishtra approached Bhishma who was lying on a bed of arrows awaiting the sacred hour for his departure. It was Magha Shukla Ekadasi also called as Bheeshma Ekadasi.
Six Questions from Yudhishtra
Kimekam Daivatam Loke Kim Vap Yekam Parayanam
Stuvantah Kam Ka Marchantah Prapnuyur Manavah Shubham
Ko Dharmah Sarva Dharmanam Bhavatah Paramo Matah
Kim Japanmuchyate Janthur Janma Samsara Bandhanat
- Who is the greatest Lord in the world.
- Who is the One refuge for all
- By glorifying whom can man reach the auspiciousness (peace & prosperity)
- By worshipping whom can man reach the auspiciousness ( peace & prosperity)
- What is in thy opinion the greatest Dharma
- By doing Japa of what can creatures (Jantu) go beyond the bonds of samsara
Bhishma answer to all questions points to Vishnu the eternal father – the One God. After answering all his questions Bhishma says – ‘I will now advise you on His thousand names. Please listen to them with all attention.’
Are there exactly 1000 names in the Vishnu Sahasranamam
There are 1031 single names of the Lord in the Vishnu Sahasranamam. The extra 31 names are to be considered as an adjective qualifying the immediate following noun. There are 20 double names in the first 500 names and 11 double names in the second half of the chant.
90 names are repeated in this hymn, of them 74 are repeated twice, 14 are repeated thrice and 2 of them repeated 4 times.
What was the test given to Adi Shankara before he commenced his journey as a missionary.
At the end of his short but intense study , Shankara went to seek the blessings of his teacher Govindapadacharya, before commencing his journey. Acharya Govindapada tested Shankara by asking him to write an exhaustive commentary on the Vishnu Sahasranamam. He accomplished this great task – His is one of the commentaries on the Vishnu Sahasranamam. Govindapada satisfied with the proficiency , blessed him and set him on the road to service & action.
The Supreme cannot be defined so how do we have a thousand names.
The Supreme cannot be denominated by any name or defined in any language or expressed even vaguely in any literary form. He is beyond the known & the unknown. He is the illuminating principal of Consciousness that illuminates all experiences.
Yet he has many manifestations. Therefore he can have infinite names in terms of His manifestations. These thousand names of the Lord have been coined and given out by the Rishis. They were collected and strung together into a joyous hymn in the Anushtup Chanda metre to Vishnu, a garland of devotion and reverence by Vyasa.
Kanchi Maha Periyava on how Vishnu Sahasranama came to us.
Back in the 1940s or 50s, someone was interviewing Maha Periyavaa Kanchi Paramacharya Sri Chandrashekara Saraswathi Swamiji. That man recorded the interview using a tape recorder.Periyavaa then posed a question.
“Does anyone know which is the oldest known tape recorder?” Nobody was able to answer. Then Maha Periyavaa asked another question.
“How did Vishnu Sahasranamam come to us?”
Someone said Bheeshma gave it to us. All agreed.
Then Maha Periyavaa posed another query.
“When all were listening to Bheeshma on the battlefield, who took notes at Kurukshetra?”
Again silence.
Maha Periyavaa explained.
When Bheeshma was glorifying Krishna with Sahasranamam everyone was looking at him including Krishna and Vyasa. After he finished the 1000 Namas all opened their eyes.
The first to react was Yudhishthira. He said, ‘Pithamaha has chanted 1000 glorious names of Vasudeva.
All of us listened but none of us have noted it down. The sequence is lost’.
Then all turned to Krishna and asked for His help.
As usual, He said, ‘I also was listening like the rest of you. What can we do?’
Then all beseeched Krishna to help them recover the precious rendition.
Then Krishna said, ‘It can only be done by Sahadeva and Vyasa will write it down.’
Everyone wanted to know how Sahadeva could do it. Krishna replied,
‘Sahadeva is the only one amongst us wearing SHUDHHA SPATIKAM. If he prays to Shiva and does dhyanam he can convert the SPATIKA into waves of sound and Vyasa can write it down. Then, both Sahadeva and Vyasa, sat in the same place, under Bheeshma, where he had recited ‘Sahasranamam’.
Sahadeva started the dhyanam to recover the sound waves from the Spatika.
The nature of Spatika is that it will capture sounds in a calm environment which can be got back with proper dhyanam of Maheswara who is Swethambara and SPATIKA.
So, the world’s earliest tape recorder is this SPATIKA which gave us the wonderful Vishnu Sahasranamam. When Maha Periyavaar explained this all were stunned… From the Spatika recording, the grantha came to us through Vyasa.
A Few Good Things 
Thank you for this insightful post. The story of capabilities of Sphatika is exciting.
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Wow. Superb article. Highly insightful. Thanks for sharing.
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