For the Love of Vishnu
Omnipresent and Sensual Incarnate
Religions are not concrete. They shift focus with the changing needs of the believers. The diffusion of cultures inspires religious innovation. In Hinduism, three main gods are worshipped based on their role in the upholding of the universe. Brahma is the creator, Shiva is the destroyer or transformer, and Vishnu is the preserver. Worship of the ‘all pervading’ Vishnu has transformed from his initial presence in the Vedas to his incarnations in the Itihasa epics and Puranas. The change in identity and understanding of the deity has changed in unison with the shifts in belief about salvation, dharma, and the class system.
Followers of Vishnu are called Vaisnavas. They recognize him as the Supreme Brahman, lacking any smidgen of evil. He uses his unrivaled superiority and invincible power to accomplish his will on Earth. He is a very attractive deity because he is not only an ultimate ruler who maintains universal order, but a personal and loving god. When pictured in temples, he sits or stands usually with his wife Sri Laksmi. He has blue skin and wears royal yellow garments. Popular images of Vishnu show him reclining on the coils of the serpent Adi Sesa while he sleeps on a cosmic ocean. His vehicle is the eagle Garuda and his heavenly home is Vaikuntha. Like other deities worshipped across Hinduism, Vishnu goes by a variety of names, including Hari, Narayana, Kesava, and Purusottama.
Vishnu inhabits five forms. He is supreme (para), cosmic (vyuha), the inner controller (antaryami), an image (arca), and lastly, divine incarnations (avatara). His avatara forms include Matdya the fish, Kurma the tortoise, Varaha the boar, Vamana the dwarf, Narasimha the man-lion, Parasurama, Balarama or Buddha, and Kalki (Mittal and Thursby 30-31). The most prominent incarnations that he inhibits are Rama and Krishna.
The Rg Veda is the primary Hindu text of ritualistic, priestly matters. It was composed orally from 1500-1200 BCE and it reached its present form as late as 400 BCE. It focuses on ritual sacrifice and symbolic readings. In the Brahmana Veda, Vishnu is called the ‘highest of the gods’ and is acknowledged with the act of sacrifice (Mittal and Thursby, 31). Elsewhere in the vast text, Vishnu is mentioned very little except for his starring role in the myth of Three Strides where he determined the lengths the earth, mid-worlds and heaven. The myth says, “Thrice Vishnu paced and set his step uplifted out of the primal dust; three steps he has paced, the Guarding, the Invincible, and from beyond he upholds their laws.” (Mittal and Thursby, 31). In the Rg Veda he is a distant preserver of the universe, without contact with man. He is portrayed as “the Bull, who dwells upon the mountains,” (Heehs 45).
Vishnu is born and reborn into humanity through his avatara forms whenever unrighteousness hinders the existence of the universe. This begins in the epics of Itihasa, being the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The Mahabharata was written between 200 and 500 CE and tells the story of a Great War between the sons and grandsons of a king called Bharata, Pandu and the blind king Dhrtarastra. Dhrtarastra’s sons, the evil Kauravas, try to cheat the sons of Pandu, the Pandavas, out of their inheritance of the kingdom. The war eventually leads to the ruin of the human race. Krishna, an incarnate of Vishnu, is on the side of the Pandavas. He is the friend and brother-in-law of the greatest warrior of the land, Arjuna. As his charioteer, he gives Arjuna advice and reveals his Supremeness, instructing him on dharma and salvation.
Arjuna is stricken with grief on the battlefield. He struggles with his duty as a warrior because he must fight his fellow family members and friends. He wishes to run from the battle but Krishna scolds him and gives him advice. “The truly wise mourn neither for the living nor the dead… Bodies are known to end, but the soul that is embodied is eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable,” (Bhagavad Gita 2.11, Mittal and Thornsby 47). He reveals that the Supreme Soul is none other than himself. He says, “abandoning all dharmas, take refuge in me alone. I will free you from all sin and error,” (Heehs 149).
Vishnu also plays the hero in the Ramayana, an epic written shortly after or during the same time as the Mahabharata. Vishnu takes on the form of Rama in this epic. Vishnu worshippers, or Vaisnavas view it as a clarifying scripture of absolute surrender to God (Heehs 44). It is a reference for how to live a righteous life and complete the duties of the perfect man, as portrayed by the prince Rama. King Dasaratha exiled his son Rama, the heir to his throne, to the forest because of a promise he made to his wife. Rama’s wife and brother, Sita and Laksmana join him there in the wilderness until Sita is abducted by a demon-king named Ravana. Rama and his allies defeat Ravana and rescue Sita but subjects of the kingdom question whether Sita was able to maintain her chastity during abduction. Rama banishes her and she births two sons.
The traditional author of the Ramayana, Sage Valmiki, begins the epic with a story of observing the painful side of life. He sees a pair of lovebirds sitting together on a branch. The male is shot dead by a hunter and the female cries with sorrow and fright. This occurrence inspires him to write this epic of parting and separation. Dasaratha, Sita, and Rama’s brothers experience this parting from the Vishnu incarnate throughout the plot of the Ramayana.
Rama embodies perfection. This Vishnu avatara is the model of the ideal son, husband, brother, warrior, and rule. He and Sita’s relationship sets the ideal for conjugal love. He and his father’s relationship portrays the perfect filial love. The relationship between he and his brother Laksmana is the perfect fraternal love.
The Puranas were written between 300 and 1000 CE. The work deals with the creation, destruction and recreation of the universe, the lineages of gods and their corresponding deeds, and the cosmic ages (Heehs 210). The Puranas are an important source for bhakti and provide perspective into ascetic life through stories. It portrays Vishnu as mild and approachable in his Krishna form.
In the Bhagavata Purana, the writer tells of Krishna’s childhood as a cow-herd. The female cow-herds, or gopis, adored him for his physical beauty and his skills with the flute (Heehs 213). The story has sexual undertones, describing the “unspeakable joys of union” that the gopis felt upon Krishna’s return to them after a period of absence. The story is very sensual in its description of the relationship between Krishna and his devotees. The gopis surround him and he shares a lesson on love. “My friends, those who love in reciprocation are striving only for their own ends. There is no friendship, no dharma in that, merely serving ones own ends and nothing else,” (Heehs 215). In the this story, he is referred to as “a love god for the god of love himself, incarnate before their very eyes.”
When the Mahabharata was written, vedic dharma and sacrificial standards had been virtually abandoned. With regards to ritual practice, the text says this: “In the Ramayana, everyone knows what to do and how to do it,” (Mittal and Thursby, 46). By the time of the Purana’s composition, the identities of Vishnu’s avataras are well-known. The time between the present compositions of the Rg Veda to the Puranas is almost 800 years. Not only has the portrayal of Vishnu changed, but also restrictions of the class system and the path of salvation.
The basic principles of Hinduism have changed from the priestly Vedas to the epics. The Vedas focuses on dharma and states that the universe can only remain in order if dharma is followed. The priests are the wardens of ritual knowledge, sacred lore, and wisdom (Lecture 2.2). Salvation was in the hands of the Brahman class, but the power shifted to the individual with the composition of the Itihasa. No longer does it matter what class system a worshipper is born into. In the Mahabharata, Krishna tells Arjuna, “whosoever takes refuge in me, whether they be born in sin, or are women or traders or even labourers, they also reach the highest goal (Bhagavad Gita 9.32, Heehs 149). The Mahabharata extenuates inclusive salvation through devotion, or bhakti, to Krishna. The path is open to all human beings, not just those of the higher class.
The portrayal of gods changed with the shift from ritual to bhakti. The gods of the time when sacrifice was central to religious activity are more remote, as seen in Vishnu’s three strides. He is more humanized in the epics and later writings. Krishna shares in the pains, temptations, and pleasures of man. When he embodies Krishna in the Mahabharata he takes part in the human struggle. He is not a transcendent spectator of the Great War, but involved with his role as charioteer and advisor to Arjuna. The Ramayana humanizes the deity to teach humanity a lesson in dharma and coping with the pain of separation. Throughout being exiled and losing his wife, Rama remains righteous. The Purana takes this humanization of Vishnu the furthest with its use of sex. The gopi’s love for him goes beyond bhaki, they also feel a physical love and attraction for him. “They sang out with impassioned voices as they danced, thrilled at Krishna’s caresses, in love with love,” (Heehs 216). Just as man and wife and lover and beloved share in intimate relationships, so does incarnated Vishnu. Because he experiences these human emotions, he is relatable to his followers and sets an example of devotion. Krishna also gives the gopis advice, as he does to Arjuna on the battlefield.
Although Vishnu’s image of Supreme deity has remained the same, his relationship to humanity has become more subjective. Even the medium for devotion has changed. Worship no longer only includes sacrifice and ritual, but became an emotional commitment as well. He not only preserves the universe, but preaches about strength and love. He does not only judge humanity, he becomes a part of it to lead an example in dharma. What the Vedas commands, Vishnu exemplifies in the Itihasa epics and the Puranas. The god who was once known as “the Bull, who dwells upon the mountains,” shifted roles from omnipresent overseer to a living paragon for man.
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Heehs, Peter. Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience. New York: New York University Press, 2002. Print.
Mittal, Sushil, and Gene Thursby. Religions of South Asia: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 2006. Print.
