Vishnu

Vishnu is an aspect of God, or Brahman, whom Hindus pray to. He is the second God of the Trimurti (also called the Hindu Trinity), along with Brahma and Shiva. Known as the Preserver, he is most famously identified with his avatars, or incarnations of God, most especially Krishna and Rama.

• Unlike Christianity, and Shaivism, the other denomination of Hinduism, Vaishnavism believes that God incarnates many times whenever there is a decline of righteousness and rise of evil (from the Bhagavad Gita). Lord Krishna, avatar of Vishnu, famously said in the Gita: “For the protection of the good, for destruction of evil, and for the establishment of righteousness, I come into being from age to age.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, verse 8.)

• Alternatively, He is God in his form as Preserver of the Universe.

Aspects of God such as Vishnu or Shiva are simple personal attributes of the impersonal Brahman, God without attributes, the type of God similar in Semitic religions such as Islam or Judaism.(without personal characteristics)

• Hindus also worship Vishnu as an abstract form (i.e., God without form) as a saligrama. Use of the saligrama is similar as the lingam is used for Shiva

• The term Hindu god should not be equated with Vishnu and is confused with Deva and Devas.
• Devas or demigods, are celestial beings similar to angels as discussed in Judaeo-Christian traditions.

Theological attributes and more

Vishnu is the all-inclusive deity, known as purusha or mahä purusha, paramätma [Supreme Soul] antaryämi [In-dweller] and He is the shèshin [Totality] in whom all souls are contained. He is Bhagavat where bhâga is Divine Glory,

Vishnu possesses six such divine glories, namely,

• jñäna [Omniscient]
• aishvarya [Sovereign]
• shakti [Potent]
• bala [Energetic]
• vërya [Immutable]
• tèjas [Resplendent]

Relations with other Deities

Vishnu's consort is Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth. Shakti is the samvit (the primary intelligence) of God, while the other five attributes emerge from this samvid and hence Shakti is God's ahamata (personality and activity.) Thus this Shakti of God is personified in mythological lore and is called Shri or Lakshmi, and She is said to manifest herself in, 1) kriyäshakti, (Creative Activity) and 2) bhütishakti (Creation) of God. Hence Vishnu cannot part with His own personality or creativity i.e., ahamta, which in its feminine form is called Sri or Lakshmi. He therefore needs his consort Goddess Lakshmi to be with Him always, untouched by any. Thus Lakshmi has to accompany Vishnu in all His incarnations.

His mount is Garuda, the eagle. He, along with the rishis, helped broker the truce between Vritra and Indra.

Depiction

Vishnu is usually depicted as a four-armed humanoid with blue skin, often sitting or resting on a lotus flower. He also has a shapeless, omnipresent form called Hari.

Worship

• Vishnu is the Supreme God of Vaishnavism, or Vishnu monotheism.

• It is believed that he manifested himself as a human being in ten Avatars. He is frequently worshipped in the form of these avatars.

It is not clearly known when or how the worship of Vishnu began. In the Vedas, and the information on Aryan beliefs, Vishnu is listed as a lesser god, strongly associated with Indra. It was only later in Hindu history that he became a member of the Trimurti and one of the most important deities of the religion.

• Om Namo Narayana, a mantra
• Vishnu sahasranama, a hymn describing the 1000 names of Vishnu.

Names

Like all Hindu deities, Vishnu has a number of names, perhaps more than any other, collected in the Vishnu sahasranama ("Vishnu's thousand names"), which occurs in the Mahabharata. In Vishnu Sahasranama, however, Vishnu is praised as the Supreme God.

The names are generally derived from the supposed anantakalyanagunas (infinite auspicious attributes) of the Lord. Fourteen of Vishnu's names have a special status:

• Achyuta
• Ananta
• Kesava
• Narayana
• Madhava
• Govinda
• Vishnu
• Madhusudana
• Trivikrama
• Vamana
• Aridhara
• Hrshikesha
• Padmanabha
• Damodara

Other important names:

• Gopala
• Vasudeva
• Anantasayana
• Srinivasa (specifically refering to his form in the temple at Tirupati)

Dhanvantari is a reincarnation of Vishnu. One of the most famous Hindu saints. Shri Raghavendra Swami who performed miracles was a Vaishnavist monotheist.

Theological beliefs and philosophy

Major branches of Vaishnavism include Srivaishnavism, (espoused by Ramanuja) who advocated Vishishtadvaita, Dvaita (espoused by Madhvacharya or Madhva] and Gaudiya Vaishnavism (espoused by Shri Chaityana.) Please also see the article on Vaishnavism

The Hare Krishna movement or ISKCON adheres to Gaudiya Vaishnavism school.

External links

• http://www.vaishnava.com/aboutvaishnavism.htm
• http://www.dvaita.org/docs/srv_faq.html (Who is Vishnu? and the Nature of Him.)
• http://www.dvaita.org/shaastra/gita/gita_sara/gs-007.html
• http://www.srivaishnavan.com/srivaishnavan/servlet/section
• http://www.prapatti.com/index.html
• http://www.harekrishna.com/~ara/col/books/BG/tsem1.html

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