Sri Vishnu-sahasra-nama the thousand names of Lord Vishnu. According to the Mahabharata, these names were handed down to King Yudhishthir by the famous warrior Bhishma when Bhishma was dying after the battle of Kurukshetra. At that time, Yudhishthir asked Bhishma the following questions:
• Who is the one Lord of all?
• Who is the greatest refuge for all?
• Who is that one Divinity whom when praised bestows all good on humanity?
• What is the highest form of dharma?
• What sound, when uttered by any living being, will deliver him or her from the cycle of birth and death?
Bhishma answers that all beings can free themselves from any sorrow by chanting the Vishnu-sahasra-nama, the thousand names of the all-pervading Supreme Being, master of the worlds, supreme Lord over the demigods, and nondifferent from Brahman.
Download the prayer as a pdf.
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