The twelve-name shield/cage

Partha Desikan

The devotee sits facing East and builds for himself a shield/cage with the twelve sacred names, mentally placing them in twelve significant locations. The slokas run thus:

1. May Kesava, wielding the chakra and shining as if made of gold, protect me from my front. May Narayana, conch-bearing and resembling a blue cloud, look after me from behind.
2. May Madhava, dark like the petal of an indivara flower (blue lotus) and wielding the gadaa mace, save me from harm, from above me. May Govinda, glowing like the moon, wielding the bow, protect me from the Southern side.
3. May Vishnu, bearing the hala (plough), comforting like the petals of a lotus, care for me from the North. In Agni's direction (South-east), may Madhusudana, grand like a glowing lotus and wielding a musala club, protect me.
4. May Trivikrama, sword in hand and resplendent like flaming fire, offer me safety, from Nirruti's South-western direction. In Vayu's North-west, may Vamana, armed with vajra, and bright like the burning Sun, give me protection.
5. In Ishanya's North-east, may Sridhara, with the splendour of the pundarika flower (red lotus) and wielding the pattasa weapon, look after me. Flashing like lightning, may Hrishikesa, armed with the mudgara mallet protect me comprehensively from outside.
6. Seated in the lotus of my heart, may Padmanabha, with the luster of a thousand Suns, fully armed, full of energy of every description, all-knowing, and fully aware of all directions, thus facing all of them at the same time, be my comprehensive inner Saviour.
7. Roaring like Indra's furious thunder, armed with a snaring noose, may the totally invincible Damodara pervade my body both outside and inside and stay as my protector.
8. Thus I seem to have entered and find myself encased in the shield-cage of Bhagavan's twelve sacred names. Henceforward, I can never again have any fear whatsoever.

In a simple and common self cleansing procedure called Achamana, Hindus about to take part in any religious ritual, take three sips of water from their right palms, chanting three names of Bhagavan Hari, namely Achyuta, the infallible, Ananta, the infinite and Govinda, the Lord of the People. They then use their several fingers as prescribed to touch allocated portions of their body in a somewhat symmetrical sequence, while chanting the above twelve shield names of Bhagavan, in a nyasa procedure. They believe that this nyasa protects them from harm of every description and enables safe conduct of the ritual intended.

Srivaishanavas from some regions of India, who wear the pundra mark with watery pastes of white Tirumann compacted powder and red/saffron/yellow Srichoorna powder., wear the same mark on twelve allocated portions of their bodies too, while chanting the above twelve panjara names, thus assuring themselves of safe passage through the rituals and other karmas of the day.

On Janmashtami Day, it is heartwarming to realize that the two names Damodara and Govinda in the panjara list were first earned by Bhagavan Hari  during his Sri Krishna avatara, first when Krishna's foster mother bound his waist (stomach, udara) with a rope, and the second when he became the Lord of all cows and cowherds, by protecting them from rainstorm by lifting the Govardhana hill with his little finger. But these names have stuck with Bhagavan Hari beyond their limited contextual significance. It is significant to remember too that the five pre-Dasavatara names of Bhagavan Narayana from the panjara list, namely Kesava, Madhava, Madhusudana, Sridhara and Hrishikesa were used freely by Sri Krishna's contemporaries to address him during his advent, as we can find from passages in the Mahabharata and the puranas. These persons were definitely aware that they were in the presence of a Purnavatara of Bhagavan Narayana.

The two names Vamana and Trivikrama, not referring to Sri Krishna, once again refer to a Purnavatara, an avatara during the brief tenure of which, Bhagavan started his leela with a dwarf-stature and quickly transformed himself to a size capable of measuring the entire created Universe with his lotus feet.

Srivaishnavites also enjoy the use of four sacred vyuha names of Bhagavan Vishnu, namely Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, in association with Bhagavan's manifestation in Sri Krishna, his brother, son and grandson respectively.

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written by narensomu, 2008-08-28 12:34:21

Boring? Dear Partha,That was much needed info.
I have heard grandmothers say Achyutannu pai pottu ..when they get ready to lie down after a long day.
They recall different names and surrender themselves to God and sleep like babies.
Helps in any way I guess.
Regards
ns

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written by Dr. Pradip Gangopadh, 2008-08-27 15:05:05

Dear Partha,
Thank you for an informative article!

Regards

Pradip

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4!
written by P. Desikan, 2008-08-27 10:18:05

Dear Dwai,
There are two Agamas prescribing mores for Vishnu worship, used substantially in the worship of Vishnu's archa forms in temples. They derived however from days in which temples were very few and in distant regions. These two agamas were called Vaikhanasa and Pancharatra.
According to the latter doctrine Bhagavan Vishnu divided himself into 4 vyuhas when the time came for avatara for sadhu protection and dushta-destruction. These are called Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha and are normally identified with Krishna, Balarama, Krishna's son Pradyumna and Krishna's grandson Aniruddha. But it is emphasized that these four vyuhas had been available ever since creation and had descended on earth whenever a reason arose. A very early Vasudeva cited, for instance is Kapilavasudeva. It is of course a coincidence that Krishna Vasudeva is the son of King Vasudeva, appropriately.
In Vishnu meditations, such as the one Bhishma had before reciting the sahasranama, Bhagavan is seen reclining on Ananta-sesha in the milky ocean holding in his four hands, ari (chakra discus), nalina (lotus), gadaa and sankha respectively. It is easy to see that, if he chose, Bhagavan can stand up and shift these around in his four hands to get into various formats, having a different abhayahasta every time with the lotus slid between two fingers and on the ready for dushtanigraha with two hands holding the weapons chakra and gadaa and the third the martial conch. The four factorial forms can be seen to be twenty-four. Apart from the four vyuhas there are twelve meant for continuous protection of every Atma and eight more for supplementary functions including emergencies. The vyuhas divided threefold each to form the twelve primary vyuhantaras, then divided again twofold to form the miscellaneous eight vyuhantaras.
Vasudeva formed Kesava, Narayana and Madhava and so on to form the twelve Raksha-Vyuhantaras. You already know their names. The names of the eight miscellaneous vyuhantaras are Purushottama, Adhokshaja, Nrisimha, Achyuta, Janardana,Upendra, Hari and Krishna. The identity with avatara or vibhavamurtis is fortuitous as in their primary aspect, these represent only standing Vishnu murtis with different arrangements of discus, conch and mace and the lotus bearing abhayahasta. But often, in similarly named avataras/vibhavas, devotees would experience or visualize the vyuhantara qualities.
I hope I have not been too boring.
Regards. Partha

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12 names
written by dwai, 2008-08-26 23:28:20

Dear Partha,

I didn't mean to derail your train of thought/discussion.
Please explain why those 12 names have been chosen.

Best,

Dwai

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Krishnavatara
written by P. Desikan, 2008-08-26 12:21:04

Dear Friends,
One discussion-point which I hoped to introduce through this article is about the selection of the twelve names of Hari.
Even if we do not consider this special stotra which is an adjunct to Sri Vishnu Sahasranama parayana, the universally pracised Hindu cleansing ritual of Achamana deserves to be looked into. And in Achamana,one takes the three sips and one does the twelve nyasas.
Valmiki Ramayana also mentions Achamana, though not spelling out the names used. The legendary story of Bhagavan's tricking Emperor Bali by appearing as a dwarf first and then growing into viratpurusha visvarupa must have been available even during Valmiki's time and if you will, the Rama rule period. It is only the Govinda nama and the Damodara nama, whose occurrence in the procedure requires to be understood, if Achamana existed with the same names before Sri Krishnavatara.
The name Govinda does have other meanings than just a guardian of cows. No problem about it. It means also the Lord of the people. Damodara has to be translated to mean an ascetic being, a damita udara, one whose hungers are totally controlled, rather than the infant krishna bound by Yasoda using a rope.
Regards. Partha.

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Atmaraksha
written by P. Desikan, 2008-08-26 12:00:34

Dear Dwai and Narensomu,
The ultimate aim of spiritual seeking is likely to be strengthened if distractions are reduced to a certain extent, minimized optimally if possible,and totally eliminated if at all possible. Breathing exercises, which emphasize awareness of the breathing modes during the exercises take the mind away from distractions, naamajapas do the same. Dwelling on the naamas before the japa to give them directional positions, seems to make the space around a person full of divinity and thus less prone to distracting influences. Associating parts of the body while reciting the Lord's name and actually touching them while reciting the name keeps the mind dwelling on the divine names rather than anything else. When you feel not up to stilling the mind and body functions otherwise, divine association does the second best. Distractions do take a back seat and the Atma certainly receives some protection. The kavacha or panjara thus protects not just the body and the mind, but the soul.
Warm regards.Partha

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written by narensomu, 2008-08-26 06:48:03

Dear Partha
All is his names are beautiful.
Thank you for the article.
But the name Narayana makes the mula mantra is it?
I have seen a tantri from Kerala do something similar to what you describe here-Seen that in an Ayyapa temple in Adyar,Chennai.
Do you think it is also a kind of symbolic kavacha?Is it something well beyond physical protection?
Their rituals seemed very different from the ones we are used to seeing in temples-the tantri seemed completely self absorbed.

Regards
ns

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Kavacha for protection
written by Dwai, 2008-08-25 22:11:13

Dear Partha,

I've seen our local priest put on a Kavacha that he creates using Mantras and hand gestures (especially while performing homas like Chandi Homa).

I wonder if the deeper knowledge behind why this is done (from an esoteric value) still does exist? Or has it become merely repetition of ritual by rote?

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Nama
written by P. Desikan, 2008-08-24 20:26:20

Friends,
The pundra, some of you would know, is called nama in Tamil, precisely because of the correspondence between Dvadasa Nama and Dvadasapundra.
Regards. Partha.

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