The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2

Vishnu
Vishnu as depicted in a granite carving, Hampi.
from God to make devotion possible;
liberation is seen not as loss of identity,
but as eternal communion with God.
For further information see John
Braisted Carman, The Theology of
Ramanuja, 1974; and Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore
(eds.), A Sourcebook in Indian
Philosophy, 1957.
Vishnu
(“all-pervasive”) Along with Shiva and
the Goddess, one of the three most
important deities in the Hindu pantheon.
All three of these are notable for
being almost unmentioned in the
Vedas, the earliest Hindu religious texts,
and the ascendancy of these three and
the gradual eclipse of the Vedic gods
points clearly to a definitive shift in
Hindu religious life. Of the three, Vishnu
has the most significant presence in the
Vedas. Many of the hymns in which he is
mentioned describe him as a helper to
the storm-god Indra, the primary Vedic
god, and one of Vishnu’s epithets here is
Upendra (“junior Indra”). Yet he also
appears in some of the late hymns as an
independent agent, who is associated
with marvelous deeds for the good of
the cosmos, such as taking three steps to
measure out the universe. Vishnu is also
associated with the sun, both in his ability
to move through the heavens, and to
fall on (and thus “observe”) all things.
In the divine triad of Brahma-
Vishnu-Shiva, Vishnu is identified as the
sustainer or maintainer of the cosmos.
One manifestation of this can be seen in
a common creation myth, which begins
with Vishnu lying on the back of his serpent
couch, Shesha, in the primordial
ocean at the time of cosmic dissolution
(pralaya). A lotus sprouts from Vishnu’s
navel, which opens to reveal Brahma,
the creator, who begins the work of creation.
Vishnu presides over the creation,
and when the time for dissolution comes
again, the entire process reverses, and
the universe is drawn back into Vishnu,
who is thus seen as the source of all.
The other way that Vishnu sustains
the cosmos is through the action of his
avatars or incarnations, who come into
the world to restore balance to a universe
dangerously out of equilibrium,
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