KṢARAḤ (क्षर:)
Kṣara (क्षर) refers to that which is perishable, ephemeral, destructible, and has a definite beginning and end. A tangential meaning could also include “the process of destruction.” It may sound a little strange, that one of the nāmas of Viṣṇu refers to him as someone who too is subject to the vicissitudes[1] of Saṃsāra.[2] particularly when it occurs immediately before a nāma where he is called the “indestructible one” and after asserting through several nāmas that the supreme being Maha Viṣṇu is beyond the clutches of Kālá.
This very thought must have played in Bhīṣma’s mind as well, for he smiled inwardly. The smile struggled to make it to his face and ended up merely as a feeble twitching of the lips that immediately made him wince and grimace in pain – several weeks of exposure to the hot sun had turned his face a deep chocolate-brown and the harsh heat had cracked his lips. The pain from the several wounds that he suffered during the ten days of battle and the forest of arrows from Arjuna’s bow that had finally felled him still ate into his flesh – this often made him bite his lips to suppress the involuntary moan that escaped his lips – the bite marks too had left deep bleeding furrows on his lips…
Yudhiṣṭhira who noticed this, immediately rushed to his grandfather’s side, with a cool wet cloth and gently wiped the old warrior’s lips and face. This brought another smile to Bhīṣma’s face and then he turned to look at Kṛṣṇa – the Puruṣottama, the one who was in reality speaking these magnificent words through the instrumentality of Bhīṣma – he reflected on the strange nature of life, of how even that Puruṣottama when born in a human form was subject to the same frailties and vicissitudes of all other beings born on earth – broadly the six stages in the life of all men, women, and beings – birth, growth, disease, old age, decay, and death. Bhīṣma saw this play out in his mind’s eye – the ebbs and flows of his life and now impending death – how he had lived, the strength he had possessed, how the world had been at his feet and now here he was lying on that very earth supported by a bed of arrows even as the last drop of blood and sap oozed away from his body. It was then that the true meaning of this nāma, Kṣaraḥ started to make sense to him, and he saw that Kṛṣṇa too had realized that he had understood, and they both smiled at each other – in that bond of common knowledge that bind those that have arrived at the secret of life.
Śaṅkara, in his usual pithy and straightforward manner interprets this nāma simply as “all beings” or “all beings who are subject to change” For him, it is a given that all things on earth are limited, ephemeral, and subject to change – the purpose of life is to go beyond these apparent realities and reach the ultimate reality that shines as the supreme truth – that the ātman and the Paramātman are one, the latter knows it while the former does not and therefore struggles.
Parāsara Battar being the Bhakta perhaps cannot bring himself to see his beloved Nārāyaṇa as Kṣara and therefore qualifies the nāma by adding a prefix and treats this nāma as AsatKṣaraḥ and interprets it as “he who moves away from that which is untrue, impermanent, and perishable.”
Sri Radhakrishna Shastri in his Tamizh commentary on the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma compares the ephemeral nature of life with that of a mound of dry sand which gets blow away and scattered by a strong gust of wind – so also is life, he says – up and down, growing and decaying, and finally death – however, one cannot forget that within each being is that spark of the divine that animates them – the physical is Kṣara, the divine is Akṣara. Radhakrishna Shastri also cites the Bhagavad-gītā, chapter-15, verse-16 in this context:
द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरश्चाक्षर एव च |
क्षर: सर्वाणि भूतानि कूटस्थोऽक्षर उच्यते ||15-16||[3]dvāv imau puruṣhau loke kṣharaśh chākṣhara eva cha
kṣharaḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭa-stho ’kṣhara uchyateThere are in the world two types of people – people here refers to the two adjuncts or (limiting) factors that define all people in the world – that part which is perishable and that part which is imperishable – the perishable is kṣharaḥ whereas the imperishable is akṣharaḥ. The mutable/perishable consists of all beings (sarvāṇi bhūtāni) – the sum total of all “created” things, which are in turn expressing that which is false (kūṭa), veiling as it were, that which is “Real”
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī (CE 1540–1640) in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā says that the term kūṭa must be seen as synonymous with the veiling power of Bhagavān – Māya.
It is also important to read verse-15 (the previous verse) of this chapter along with this verse:
सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो
मत्त: स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च |
वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो
वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम् || 15||[4]sarvasya chāhaṁ hṛidi sanniviṣhṭo
mattaḥ smṛitir jñānam apohanaṁ cha
vedaiśh cha sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛid veda-vid eva chāham
I am seated (as the supreme self) in the hearts of all. It is from me that memory and wisdom flow as also their loss accompanied by forgetfulness and ignorance (of that which is real). I am the originator and author of Vedanta, the knower of the Vedas and that which is to be known through the authority of the Vedas.
As the indwelling Self, he is Akṣara who is the “knower of the field” i.e., the body which in turn is Kṣara.
Bannanje Govindācārya in his Kannada translation of the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma, says that Viṣṇu is the landlord and master of “death”. He uses the Kannada term “ಒಡೆಯ” to refer to this aspect of Bhagavān. He further adds: “To whomsoever we are subordinate and dependent upon” he is called “Kṣaram“. He uses the word “ಅಧೀನಾ” to refer to our dependence on and subordination to the supreme being. He says that we could also see the word as us, perishable beings taking shelter under that supreme being whose “Śaraṇ” (Śaraṇāgati) i.e., benevolent protection we all need.
This nāma Kṣaraḥ, gives us pause and encourages us to reflect on our lives and how we lead it, given how limited and short-lived it is. Why is it that despite knowing that we all come with an “expiry-date” we tend to live as if we are here forever?
References and further reading:
- Vicissitudes: changes in fortune and/or circumstances, the alternating ebb and flow of life
- Saṃsāra: The cycle of life: birth-death-birth
- Available at: https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/15/verse/16. Last Accessed: March 26, 2023.
- Available at: https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/15/verse/15. Last Accessed: March 26, 2023.
Ramesh Venkatraman 