Vishnu- Hindu GodDeity"The Preserver"

The Cosmic Dreamer

Between the dissolution of one universe and the birth of the next, Vishnu sleeps. He reclines on the coils of Shesha, the infinite serpent, upon the Ocean of Milk, Lakshmi at his feet. From his navel grows a lotus, and upon that lotus sits Brahma, who will create the new world.

The Vishnu Purana describes him with four arms, clothed in yellow silk, his complexion the deep blue of a rain-laden cloud. In his hands he holds the conch Panchajanya and the blazing discus Sudarshana. On his chest gleams the Kaustubha gem, said to contain the souls of all living beings.

The Three Strides

In the Rigveda, Vishnu crosses the entire cosmos in three paces: earth, atmosphere, and heaven. His highest step reaches a place "where the gods rejoice," a realm beyond mortal sight. Three strides, and all of existence belongs to him.

The Churning of the Ocean

When the Devas lost their strength to a curse, Vishnu devised a plan: churn the Ocean of Milk and extract the nectar of immortality. He persuaded the Devas and Asuras to cooperate, using Mount Mandara as the churning rod and the serpent Vasuki as the rope. When the mountain began to sink, Vishnu incarnated as Kurma, the cosmic tortoise, and held it on his back.

The ocean yielded its treasures. Lakshmi emerged radiant and garlanded and chose Vishnu as her consort. The poison Halahala rose and threatened to destroy everything until Shiva swallowed it, his throat turning blue. Last came the nectar itself, carried by the divine physician Dhanvantari. When the Asuras seized it, Vishnu took the form of Mohini, a woman so beautiful the demons forgot their quarrel, and tricked them into surrendering the nectar to the Devas.

Lakshmi

Lakshmi chose Vishnu at the churning of the ocean, and she followed him into every incarnation: as Sita beside Rama, as Rukmini beside Krishna. The Vishnu Purana describes them as inseparable. Where Vishnu is meaning, Lakshmi is speech. Where he is dharma, she is righteous action. In Sri Vaishnava theology, Vishnu has two consorts: Sridevi, goddess of fortune, and Bhudevi, the earth he rescued as Varaha. In Vaishnava temples, Lakshmi always stands at his side, and no prayer to Vishnu begins without invoking her first.

The Temples

The Tamil Alvars, twelve poet-saints who composed the Divya Prabandham between the sixth and ninth centuries, ignited a bhakti movement that swept north across India. Their passionate hymns to Vishnu became the foundation of Sri Vaishnavism. Pilgrims today travel to Tirupati, where Lord Venkateswara's hill temple draws millions each year, and to Srirangam's island temple in Tamil Nadu, where the deity reclines on Shesha just as in the cosmic ocean. During the annual Brahmotsavam at Tirupati, the processional deity rides golden chariots through streets filled with millions.

The Descents

The Bhagavad Gita gives the doctrine in Krishna's voice: "Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises, I manifest myself. For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, I come into being age after age."

When a great flood threatened all creation, Vishnu became Matsya, a golden fish who grew until he filled the ocean. He towed Manu's boat through the deluge with a rope tied to his horn, preserving the Vedas and the seeds of life until the waters receded.

As Varaha the cosmic boar, he dove into the primordial waters where the demon Hiranyaksha had dragged the earth. They fought for a thousand years before Varaha lifted the earth on his tusks and carried it back to the surface.

The tyrant Hiranyakashipu had won a boon that made him invulnerable to man or beast, indoors or out, by day or by night. His own son Prahlada worshipped Vishnu, and for this Hiranyakashipu tried to kill the boy again and again. Vishnu found the loophole. He became Narasimha, half-man and half-lion, appeared at twilight on a threshold, and tore the demon apart on his lap.

As Vamana, a humble dwarf brahmin, Vishnu approached the demon king Bali, who had conquered the three worlds through legitimate sacrifice. Vamana asked for three paces of land. Bali agreed, despite his guru Shukracharya's warning. The dwarf grew to cosmic proportions. His first stride covered the earth, his second the heavens. With no room left for the third, Bali offered his own head. Vishnu pushed him to the netherworld but honored his devotion by making him its ruler.

As Parashurama he avenged his father's murder, destroying the warrior class twenty-one times with his axe. Rama and Krishna, his seventh and eighth descents, became gods in their own right, each the center of vast devotional traditions and scripture. The Bhagavata Purana names the ninth avatar as the Buddha. The tenth, Kalki, has not yet come. He will ride a white horse at the end of the Kali Yuga, sword blazing, to end the age of darkness and begin the world again.