Introduction -- Sri Vishnu Sahasranama - English Rendering by Srirangam Mohanarangan

Some days back when I presented my Tamil rendering of the Thousand Names of Sri Vishnu, I did not expect that people will take to it with such interest. Many felt that it was satisfactory and timely. But it was in Tamil. So only Tamil knowing people will be convenient with that. Now to cater to people of other languages and modern youth I am now presenting my rendering in English. If my mother and father would have been alive now they would have felt so happy. My father, R Venugopal was so fond of Sri Vishnu Sahasranama. My mother Mrs Jayam was so pious and infusing bhakti and good attitudes even in childhood. Of course no way to match what they gave. But a meek gesture I am doing now by naming my rendering with a combined name of my parents. -- 'Jayam Venugopalam'. My wish is perhaps while you chant you will add them to your prayers. 

The principles adopted here are nearly the same as what I did in Tamil rendering. Referring the famous commentaries of Sri Adisankara and Sri Parasara Bhatta  has been the modus operandi here also. But I think I have gone into mystic dimensions in more than one name (of course very few when compared to the total thousand). For doing so, my studies in Sastras, world mysticism and Sri Aurobindo and Sri Ramakrishna have stood me in good stead. 

This is done purely with a purpose of spreading divine consciousness through the silent hours of the readers. If you want you can also join in. It is not that I am writing and you are reading. All of us are reading the time-honoured text, been chanted even before Vyasa and He just compiled them for our benefit. And I am doing my little help in the process. 

If you receive some spiritual instructions from a guru or come to know of a path you have to follow, first you know about the way. Then comes the stage of putting the teaching to practice. First knowledge and then practice. This is so with any path you may choose. But the speciality of Bhagavan Nama, Divine Name, is that there is no succession of stages like that. The moment you read the teaching you are chanting. The moment somebody asks you to chant divine names, both that person and you, even if you say yes or no are practicing. There is no difference of time between 'dharmopadesam' and 'anushtanam'.

The picture is so deep -- the Supreme Paramatma was standing there as Sri Krishna, hearing this all the while. As if a great cycle is completed. Perfect. 'Nami' (named person) reading His own 'Namas' (names). Bhishma was in an agony to convey this exactly. The beyond is standing there with a bewitching smile. But anybody understood that? People would have been seeing their relative, their friend, others, a chief of a land. But the Transcendent Reality just over there, palpable and tangible... Bhishma would have suffered much more on this count. Trying to convey the abstract truth and sometimes even if you are able to express clearly, no takers for that. Out of politeness they may not say you are not normal. Yea that was biting much more than the sharp edges of arrows.

To think of you reading through these gives a unique pleasantness. Yea Sri Krishna Chaitanya was right. The 'Nami' may be distant. But the 'Name' is greater than 'Nami'. Sri Pillai Lokacharya says, 'Even if Bhagavan is far away, this, the Divine Name comes near you, into you, and protects you with all warmth'. Tulsidas used to say, 'Light the Dipa of Divine Name on your tongue. That will brighten both your outward and inward life.' 

Best wishes to everybody and thanks. 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

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