Vishnu

Lord Vishnu is the protector and sustainer of the universe and he is the second member of the triple Godhead of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. Vedic texts refer to Lord Vishnu as the highest truth and most supreme state of existence - Tad Vishnoh Paramam Padam. The ancient mythological literature contained in the Vishnu Purana and the Bhagavata Purana depict the glory of Lord Vishnu while the Mahabharata epic gives us the famous one thousand names of the Lord, the Vishnu Sahasra Nama Stotram, which are full of deep spiritual meaning. The word Vishnu means 'one who pervades and has entered into everything.' Thus his is the power by which all things, both immanent and transcendent, exist. He is also very popularly known as Narayana, which means 'one who is the home and final goal of all beings.' Vishnu is often depicted as lying asleep on a great serpent, Ananta, who floats on the vast ocean of milk. These are the causal waters from which spring all life. The whiteness of the milk is absolute purity, amritam (the nectar of immortality) or nature in its original undifferentiated state. The serpent, in the yogic tradition, represents spiritual power. Vishnu's sleep is one of perfect calm of the inner soul. It is sweet, undisturbed and perfect. His dream is one of the next cycle of creation and thus a lotus springs from his navel. The creator, Lord Brahma, is seated on it. When Vishnu awakes he will allow Brahma to start his creation. He is known for his incarnations on earth. The ten best known are: Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (man-lion), Vamana (dwarf), Parasurama, Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, Lord Buddha and finally Kalki who will incarnate at the end of the present dark age, the Kali Yuga.

Lord Vishnu has two consorts, the Earth-Goddess, Bhumi, and Lakshmi, the goddess of spiritual wealth, self-knowledge, beauty, light and splendour. In his four arms he holds the sankha (the conch which stands for the five elements and also the ego), the cakra (the divine discus which represents the cosmic mind and the Lord's infinite power to create and destroy the universe), the gada (the mace of cosmic intellect) and the padma (the lotus of the evolving universe). His vehicle is Garuda, the divine eagle, symbolising the knowledge contained in the Vedic hymns which lift one to a higher state of consciousness. Vishnu is described as Nilameghashyama, (of dark blue colour like that of rain clouds) like the infinite empty deep blue sky. Thus Lord Vishnu, the all pervading cosmic power, is rightly a deep shade of blue.