B-tira

Vishnu or Vishnou - in Sanskrit Viṣṇu - also called Hari , is a Hindu god , associated with the conservation and protection. He is the second god of the Trimurti (also called the Hindu trinity ), with Brahma and Shiva. It is a divinity of life-death-rebirth.

The trimurti represents the cycle of the life:

  • Brahma is the creator;
  • Vishnou is the guard;
  • Shiva is the destructor.

Vasu. During posterior time, it was identified with Bhumiya. --> Vishnou is often depicts as having sat or resting on a lotus. His wife is Lakshmi, the goddess of the richness and good fortune, her mounting Garuda, the eagle. Vishnou, with the assistance of the Rishi S, negotiated the truce between Vritra and Indra. The Earth, Bhūmi or Bhû Devi, are also sometimes regarded as his wife. Vishnu saved it indeed water under its misadventure of Varâha. Its matrimonial bonds bind the god to the Royauté, the Earth (Bhūmi) and fortune (Lakshmi) being the two principles attached to the king. Indeed, one of the terms to appoint the king in Sanskrit is bhūpati , which can mean " maître" or " époux" Earth, the term suffered being ambivalent. The Miter of which it is capped confirms this royal function and shows that in the post-vedic Hindouisme, even if Indra always has the title of king of the gods, it is in Vishnu fact which operates really this function. This preeminence is confirmed besides by many myths where Vishnu or one of its misadventure humiliates Indra. It is in particular the case in the episode of Krishna raising the mount Govardhana.

Representation or Mûrti

  • the conch is the symbol of creation, it comes from the paramount Ocean, its internal spiral expresses the expansion, the sound which it produces and the image of the paramount sound.
  • the disc Sudarshana - pleasant to look at - comprises six rays like the six petals of the flower of lotus. It symbolizes the power of the spirit.
  • the lotus symbolizes the deployment of creation, but also the purity
  • the arc , the instrument which launches probes of intuition within the illusion.
  • the arrows and the quiver , capacity of the directions and the reserve of the capacity to act.
  • the bludgeon , capacity of the knowledge from which derives all the others, physical or mental.
  • the jewel Treasure-in-the Océan or Kausthubha , which shines with the chest of the god, universal conscience made up of the consciences of all the beings.
  • the tuft of hairs Expensive-with-the-fortune or Shrî-vasta , located above the left center of the god, all which enjoys the conscience represents.
  • the Garland-of-the-forest or winnowed Mâlâ is the image of Mâyâ, the illusion.
  • both earrings which represent the two ways of knowledge, sânkhya , intellectual and yoga , intuitive. They have the form of Makara, a marine monster.
  • the bracelets which symbolize the three goals of the life: perfection of oneself, success, the pleasure.
  • the crown , unknowable reality.
  • the yellow veil or will pîtâmbara carried around the size represents the Veda S.
  • the cord crowned , composed of three bits, the three letters of the syllable AUM .
  • the tank , the mental one is its capacity of action on the world.
  • the color sinks , color of Immanence, the substance of space.
  • the Drive out-flies , symbol of the Dharma
  • the éventail' represents the sacrifice, it is used to poke the flames.
  • the flag
  • the parasol , symbol of the royalty of the god, his pole is the axis of the world, the Mont Meru.
  • the sword and the sleeve , knowledge and the not-knowledge which recovers it
  • the bird Garuda
  • the snake Vestige or Shesha Nâga , that on which puts back the god when he sleeps awaiting creation.
Vishnou adopts ten different forms to save people of dead (in water for example, it chooses kurma the tortoise)

Misadventures of Vishnu

It is incarnated regularly, when the world is threatened by the chaos. Its more famous incarnations on Earth are Rāma and Krishna. The Bhagavad-Gita considers that it appeared on Earth in ten misadventure S:
  1. Matsya, the fish
  2. Kurma, the tortoise
  3. Varâha, the wild boar
  4. Narasimha, the man-lion ( Nara = man, simha = lion)
  5. Vamana, the dwarf
  6. Parashurama
  7. Râma
  8. Krishna (significance “darkness” or “black”)
  9. Siddhartha Gautama, Buddha (some versions consider that Balarâma is the ninth misadventure). The integration of Buddha in the Hindu Pantheon appeared rather tardily, probably at the 8th century; this process altogether rather bold is the expression of the brahmanic Counter-Reformation to the Bouddhisme, started to the II E.
  10. Kalkî (“time”), which must be still expressed: an apocalyptic figure

Chaitanya is also regarded as misadventure of Vishnu as an incarnation of Krishna.

One does not know clearly when and how the worship of Vishnu started. In the Veda S, Vishnu is enumerated as a minor god, strongly associated with Indra. It is only later in the Hindu history that he became a member of the trimurti and one of the most important divinities of this religion. Vishnu is the principal god of the Vaishnava.

Simple: Vishnu

Random links:Genealogy of Valois | Giga- | Physalaemus | Gulf of Rīga | Insomnia (2002) | Pascal Caffet