Verse 20

 

महेष्वासो महीभर्ता श्रीनिवासः सतां गतिः ।

अनिरुद्धः सुरानंदो गोविंदो गोविदां-पतिः ।। 20 ।।

Mahe-shvaso mahee-bharta shreeniva satamgatih |

Aniruddha sura-nando govindo govidam patih ||

 

181.Maheshvasho

Maha + ishvaso

Ishvashu means Dhanush or bow.

It refers to great archers, the one who hold the Dhanush like, Lord Rama, and Lord Krishna, who annihilated the evil to protects the dharma.

Also,

Mahan ishvasa yesha asti maheshwasah

This talks about ‘Ekagrata’ or concentration, where the ‘Manas’ or mind is concentrated towards a single goal. He has created the world with complete concentration.

Also,

Target or goal is referred as ‘luk’ which is the root word for Lakshmi. Here we are referring to the Lord’s first consort – Sridevi.

 

182. Mahibharta

Bharta means the one who takes responsibility.

Mahi means bhoomi - not only the earth, but the entire universe.

He takes responsibility and sustains his entire creation.

Bhoomi or bhu is also the Lord’s second consort -Bhudevi’s

 

183. Srinivasa

Nivasa means to reside

The one who has Sridevi and Bhudevi both residing in his heart.

He carries both the creation and sustenance energies in his heart.

 

184. Satam gatih

Sat means that which is manifested and is the shakti roopa

Sat refers to the creation potential .

Gatih means direction or path.

He is the one who gives ‘gatih’ or shows the path towards him to the jnanis and bhatktas.

He is the jnana or knowledge, he is the path and he himself shows that path.

 

 

185. Aniruddha

We have seen that the mention of Aniruddh as a Vyuha or formation.  

Aniruddha indicates sustenance potential. It is Stithi karaka .

The vyuha which does not have opposition is Aniruddha

There are laws to run the universe. We cannot go against it. He creates the laws and protects us that shakti is Aniruddha. For eg. We cannot go against the laws of nature.

In the Aniruddha vyuha, the two gunas that are manifested are Shakti and Tejas. This vyuha represents the ‘jagruta’ state and represents the ‘Aham’ tattva.[SS1] 

 

186. Suranand

Sura means the devatas or Gods. They bestow their goodness on the universe.

Su + ra – good + give

Suran anandayati suranandah

He not only bestows us with goodness but also makes the suras bestow us with goodness.

 

187. Govindah

This is one of the many names of Lord Krishna which means protector of the cows.

Go means cows. And the cows are indicative of knowledge or jnana.

As Govinda or Gopala he is the protector of cows or in other words the protector of knowledge.

We may wonder why only cows have been given the high place of worship.

The Padma purana says that there are 84 lakhs ‘jeeva’ or life forms on earth. All creatures have varying gestation periods but the gestation period is same only for two jeevas - cows and humans which is approximately 280 days. Hence cows are the closest to humans

Krishna avatar gave the highest importance to knowledge, its spreading and protection.

Krishna himself is called acharya. An acharya is not just the one who teaches, but also follows what he teaches.  

He insisted that Bheeshma part with his knowledge before he gave up his mortal body because knowledge must be given away.  

He himself gave knowledge of Gita to Uddhava before he gave up his mortal body.

There are other meanings too.

Gava vindah govindah

One whom we can praise in all aspects

Gam avindat

When the earth was submerged in water, he came in Matsya avatar to protect it.

If you have heard the Venkatesha suprabhaata, the lyric used to wake up the lord is as follows ‘uthista uthista govinda’

We are not waking up the Lord, rather we are asking him to awaken the agna chakra or third eye in us that is associated with learning or knowledge. 

 

188. Govidaam  pati

Go means knowledge

Pati means protector

He is the protector of all knowledge.

Jai Shri Krishna!