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| Lord Vishnu |
The word Vishnu has been derived from the word ' Vish ' which means all pervading. The second God of the Hindu triad of Brahma Vishnu and Maheswar or Lord Shiva. He is the manifestation of the solar energy and has been described as striding through seven regions of the universe in three steps. These three steps as described by the commentators are the three manifestations of light that involves fire, lightning and sun. In the Vedas he is sometimes associated with Indra. He has little in common with the Vishnu of the later times. In the Maha - Varata and in the puranas he is depicted as the second member of the triad an embodiment of Satwa - guna, the quality of mercy and goodness. He is pictorially represented in a human form slumbering on the serpent Sesha and floating on the waters. In the epic Maha - Varata and the Purana he is the supreme God and has three Avasthas or condition :- (a) That of Brahma the active creator which is represented as springing from a lotus which grew from vishnu's navel. (b) Vishnu himself the preserver in an incarnate form as Lord Krishna. (c) Lord Shiva the destructive power who according to Mahavarata sprang from his forehead. Vishnu has been manifested in a variety of forms knows as ' Avataras ' on earth, but more precisely described as ' incarnations ' in which a part of his divine essence was embodied in a human form with superhuman powers. These avataras decended on earth for rectifying some great evil or bringing in some great good to the world. They are ten in number. All the ten Avataras are honoured but the seventh and the eighth one i.e. Rama and Krishna are greatly honoured as great mortal heroes and are worshipped as gods. But Lord Krishna more looked upon as a full manifestation of Vishnu and as one with Vishnu himself. The holy river Ganges is said to spring from the feet of Vishnu. He is one of the most popular deity and has a thousand names the repetition of which is a meritorious act of devotion. His consort is laksmi or goddess of fortune and his heaven is ' Vaikuntha ' and his vehicle is the bird ' Garuda ' He has a calm outlook and dark blue in colour. He has four hands one holds the Shanka or the Conch shell, another the Sudarshana Chakra, the third holds the ' Gada ' or club called Kaumodaki and the fourth a Padma or the Lotus. He has a bow known as ' Srnga ' and a sword called Nandaka. On his breast is a mark or curl called Srivatsa, the jewel called ' Kaustaba ' and on his wrist is another jewel ' Syamantaka '. Vishnu is sometimes represented seated on a lotus with Laksmi beside him or reclining on the serpent ' Sesha ' and at times riding on his ' Vahan ' the huge gigantic bird the Garuda. Of the thousand names some of the most common are Achyuta i.e. imperishable, Ananta i.e. endless, Ananta - Sayana i.e. one who sleeps on the serpent Ananta, Chatur - vuja i.e. four armed Damodara i.e. bound round the belly with a rope, Govinda or Gopala, Hari, Hrisikesa i.e. Lord of sence organs, Janarddna i.e. whom men worship, Kesav i.e. the hairy or radiant, Laksmipati i.e. Lord of Laksmi, Madhusudana etc. The Vishnu Purana states that the world exists in him and he is the world. It glorifies the unchangable holy eternal supreme Lord who is Hiranyagarbha (Brahma), (Hari) Vishnu and Sankara (Siva) the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of the world. The bhagvata Purana states that once some holy sages were performing a sacrifice on the banks of Saraswati but a dispute arose as to which of the three Gods is the greatest and sent Bhrigu the son of Brahma to ascertain this point. He first went to the heaven of Brahma then to Maheswara or ' Siva ' and last of all to Vishnu where he was highly moved overwhelmed and affected by the words of the Lord and on narrating the events to the saints their doubts were immediately dispelled and accepted vishnu to be the greatest since he was exempt from impatience and passion. Lord Siva is presented as admitting the superiority of Visnu himself in Padma Purana. He tells his wife Visnu in truth is Narayana the Supreme Spirit and ' Parambrahma ' without any begining or end. The ' Varaha Purana ' describes Visnu as the preserver. In pictures Lord Vishnu is presented as a black person with four arms:- in one hand he holds the club, the other a conch shell, the third one holds a chakra for slewing enemies and the fourth one a lotus. He is seen riding upon the bird Garuda and is dressed in yellow robes. The Mahavarata gives a vivid description of the heaven of Vishnu known as ' Vaikuntha '. It is eighty thousand miles in circumference and consists entirely of gold and all other buildings are made of precious jewels. The pillars and ornaments of the building are made of precious stones. The crystal clear water of the Ganges after flowing through the higher heaven falls on the head of the seven Rishis and then forms the holy river. There are five pools which contains blue red and white lotuses. Lord Vishnu sits on a white lotus like a meridian sun and on his right is Laksmi from whose body fragrance of lotus extends eight hundred miles. Lord Vishnu is said to appear on earth in human form as Avatara to rid the world of evils or wickedness of the inhabitants when the Lord feels that it has become an unbearable nuisance to Gods themself. Ten is the usual number believed that the lord came to this world but some Puranas mention twentyfour and some mentions innumerable. The Rig - Veda tells us Lord Vishnu has established the heavens and the earth and containing all the world in his stride and his greatness has no limits.
