PRINCIPLE PRINCIPLE GODSGODS

Śiva Vişnu

(Rāmā Kŗşna)

VişnuVişnu

• Vişnu is the deity primarily responsible for the maintenance of dharma; in it’s cosmic sense.

• Many devotees regard Vişnu as “the god”.

VişnuVişnu• Iconographic

representations of Vişnu focus upon his beauty & attraction to mankind.

Vişnu AvatārasVişnu Avatāras• Because of his interest in preserving dharma, on

occasion Vişnu descends into the human world as an “avatār” (descent. This is when dharma is threatened, and he acts to restore it.

• There are ten universally recognised avatārs of Vişnu, and many traditions recognise more (22, 26, or even an infinite number; Gandhi, and even Jesus have been acclaimed as avatārs.

Vişnu Vişnu AvatārasAvatāras

MatsyaKurmaVaraha

NarasinhaVamana

ParasuramaBuddha

RamachandraKrishnaKalki

NarasinhaNarasinha• Slew the tyrannical

demon Hiranyakashipu who could not be killed by day or night, by man or animal, by weapon, indoors or out.

• As the man\lion, he slew him on his threshold at sunset, by ripping him apart.

RāmāRāmā• Hero of the

Ramayana, came to earth to slay the demon Ravana, and rescue Sita.

• Portrayed as the ideal of king, and of man.

KŗşnaKŗşna• Kŗşna means “All attractive”, and is the

most popular god in Hinduism.

• One reason for this may be that devotees can approach Kŗşna in any one of a number of forms, through which to experience love for the divine: as a child, as Kŗşna gopāla (the cowherd), as a lover, as the warrior.

• As a child Kŗşna was brought up in hiding from a demon who had sworn to kill him. He was very naughty, and his mother caught him stealing butter, when she looked in his mouth, she saw the whole universe.

Kŗşna gopālaKŗşna gopāla• Kŗşna steals

the clothes of the gopis of Vrindravan.

• Their nudity symbolises the soul’s nakedness before God.

• The sound of Kŗşna’s flute enchants the gopis, who steal away from their husbands to dance in the forest with him. Each one believes that she alone is dancing with him, just as each believer has a unique relationship with God.

Radha

• Kŗşna’s favourite gopi & consort is Radha, who steals away from her husband to join Kŗşna’s dance.

Kŗşna the warrior kingKŗşna the warrior king• In the mahabharata,

Kŗşna drives the chariot of Arjuna, the warrior prince, and speaks the Bhagavad Gita, to him on the battlefield of kurukshetra