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“Sarvadeva
namaskaraya Keshavam pratigachchathi: Prayers to all deities
ultimately reach lord Vishnu”
Vishnu can easily be
described as the most important lord of the Hindu Trinity. Look to
north India and you have Meera, the woman saint singing soulfully to
her lord, Hari tum haro man ke pid. She invokes Vishnu by the
name of Hari. O hari, the remover of all sorrow, come bless me, she
sings. A devotee similar to her in South India called Andal sings
the thirupavai again in praise of Lord Vishnu as Narayana.
Kabir, the weaver poet, surrendered to the Lord while Tulsidas wrote
volumes about the same lord. Thayagaraja gave body to a whole genre
of music composed in praise of this god and Jayadeva gave a form of
classical dance its lyrics and mood, all centering around the very
same lord. Can we forget Valmiki the father of Sanskrit poetry who
wrote the Ramayana, the story of Lord Rama? Or can we forget Vyasa
who describes the wisdom of Lord Krishna in whose incarnation Vishnu
appears? The story of Vishnu and his many incarnations, is all
pervading. In fact the word Vishnu is said to mean, all pervading,
deriving from the root word vis which in Sanskrit means to
enter.
A long time ago when the
world was very young, a small child lay on a banyan leaf and wondered
as most of us keep doing, what his purpose in life was, “Who am
I? Who created me? Why? What have I to perform?” True the
baby was rather young for thoughts so profound but that was because
the baby was none other than Lord Vishnu Himself. Lord Vishnu was
then reminded of his all pervading powers, the foremost attribute of
which was purity. His was the duty to preserve, to bring back purity
into the world when it was being threatened. Brahma created while
Siva, destroyed. The Puranas are very clear on one aspect: none of
the three are superior to the other. To prove their equality stories
abound and the versions are often confusing.
The Vedic Vishnu is
believed to be a personification of the sun, Aditya. In this aspect
he traverses the universe and pervades all. In yet another branch of
religious literature, Narayana is the cosmic Purusha, in whose model
the universe has been created, who is synonymous with sacrifice.
There are many who offer different interpretations to the attributes
of Vishnu as described in the Vedas, but the supremacy of Vishnu is
undisputed. He stands above all, above even the king of the heavens.
It is his pleasure that is the highest blessing that one can attain.
All through literature,
whether it be amongst the Vaishnavites of Bengal or those of Tamil
Nadu, Vishnu, the supreme stands handsome towering above all else.
He is believed to be dark as the black cloud, the blue gem, the sea,
the kayampu flower (memecylon Malabaricum) and the anjana
(collyrium) His chest and shoulders are compared to the mountains, so
vast and so strong. And he is very tall. He carries the magnificent
chakra (discus) in his right hand and the shankha
(conch) in the other.
Vishnu spells
magnificence and grandeur. He is not like Shiva who wears ashes on
his body and ties a leopard skin around his waist, wearing snakes for
necklaces. Vishnu to is handsome as handsome can be, he is, however,
more sophisticated. He wears a golden silk garment, pitambara
as it is called. And he is adorned with ornaments, gems and garlands
of gold and beads decorate his broad chest. Has anybody seem him,
one wonders for all the texts says his face is like a lotus in bloom,
his feet like the lotus itself, his eyes the shape of a lotus petal.
Vishnu resides not on hill tops or caves but in the celestial city of
Vaikunta. It is said to be 80000 miles in circumference and is
entirely made of gold. All its buildings are made of jewels, There
are five pools containing blue, red and white lotuses. On a seat as
glorious as the meridian sun, sits Vishnu. Beside him is his
consort, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.
Vaishnavites believe
Vishnu is the unparalleled one. No wonder then that almost every
incarnation of his has a following of its own! A temple of its own
and a special significance too. Folklore that is partial to
Vaishnavism is forever working to establish its supremacy over
Saivism (the worship of Siva). Many tales tell of how Vishnu saves
Siva from destruction.
Vishnu is purity and so
there is balance in every aspect of him. He is slow to chide and
swift to bless. His foremost attribute is sattva that is
goodness. Siva’s foremost attribute is tamasa or inertia
while Brahma’s is rajasa or activity. True to his
purpose, Vishnu appeared each time there was need to revive goodness
in the world. Some puranas or ancient texts describe twenty
four incarnations of Lord Vishnu, more commonly ten of then are
mentioned.
The first one is called
the matsya avatar or the incarnation in the form of a fish.
In this form, Vishnu saved the world from floods and brought back the
sacred scriptures, the Vedas which had been stolen by a demon named
Hayagriva. As kurma avatar or as the incarnation in the form
of a tortoise, Lord Vishnu is said to have supported the mountain
mandara which was being used to churn the ocean. Mythology
says the churning of the ocean was undertaken to obtain the life
giving elixir for the devas or the gods. Mandara, the mountain
could not stand in the waters, it seemed to be sinking. To prevent
this from happening, the tortoise lent its back for mandara to stand
on. The third avatar was in the form of a boar. The earth tormented
by a demon named Hiranyaksha had sunk into the waters. Lord Vishnu
slew the demon and assuming the form of a boar brought up the earth
on its horn once again in the varaha avatar. In the Narasimha
avatar, the Lord appears as half man-half lion. This is the first
time the man figure is introduced in the story of the descent of the
lord Vishnu. Narasimha comes to slay yet another demon called
Hiranyakahsyapu who was causing havoc in the world. As vamana,
Lord Vishnu appears in the form of a dwarf. A dwarf that gradually
grows in size to cover the entire universe. Story goes that he asks
a boon of a king and the king had exhausted all his riches. The
dwarf asks for but three steps and as each step grows larger than the
other, the dwarf, in his form as Vishnu brings the end of the king
Bali who aspired to be the king of heavens. As the sixth avatar,
Lord Vishnu comes as Parasurama. Here there is lot of debate on
whether Parasurama is really an incarnation or not. Parasurama was
the son of sage Jamadagni. The more important incarnation is the one
to follow: as Rama. The story of Rama has caught many people’s
fancy and across the entire South Asia, you can see its impact. Some
deify Rama, others treat it as literature, but Rama remains the ideal
man. Poets have been inspired by his story and literature and the
arts relies heavily on his for inspiration. In fact this is even
truer of the following incarnation where he appeared as Krishna. The
eighth incarnation where he appeared as Krishna. The eighth
incarnation is that of Krishna. Krishna symbolizes many aspects of
life and as a composite figure represents the past, present and the
future. He forms the motif for dance, drama, and many other forms of
art. Both Krishna and Rama have been so deeply adored by the people
that they have acquired kaleidoscopic dimensions over time. As Rama,
Vishnu took the form of a mortal. As Krishna, he was still divine in
some aspects.
The ninth incarnation, is
again under great debate. Some say it is Buddha and others says
before the Krishna avatar came that of Balarama, the elder brother of
Krishna. The tenth incarnation is yet to take place and here Lord
Vishnu is believed will come riding on a white horse and save the
world once again from deluge.
Here the incarnations
have just been mentioned. Volumes are written about a single
incarnation because it is seen at the physical level as the story of
evolution, at the emotional level as the victory of goodness and at
the metaphysical as the fountainhead of symbolism. Each act has so
many lessons to teach, so many perspectives to lend to the human mind
and between these three aspects, all manifestations of nature are
found to derive from Vishnu himself, directly or indirectly.
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