The external sphere of the universe constitutes his eye socket, his eye is the
Sun and the faculty of sight. His eyelids are the day and the night, and the
Devas such as Brahma reside in the movements of his eyebrows. His palate
is Varuna, and the essence of everything is his tongue. The Vedic hymns are
his brain and his jaws are Yama. Affection is his teeth, and the mesmerizing
illusory energy is his smile. Modesty is his upper lip, desire is his chin,
religion is the chest and irreligion the back. Brahma, who generates all
beings, is his penis and the Mitra-Varuna are his testicles. The ocean is the
waist, and the hills and mountains are his bones. The rivers are the veins,
the trees the hair on his body, and air is his breath.
The ages are his movements and his activities are the reactions of the three
gunas. The raincloud are the hair on his head, the passage between the day
and night is his clothing, and the supreme cause of material creation is his
intelligence. His mind is the moon, and Rudra his ego. His face is
represented in human society by the brahmanas, his arms by the kshatriyas,
his legs by the vaisyas and his feet protect the sudras. All the worshipable
Devas are parts of his body. One who sincerely wants to obtain liberation
must meditate on this universal form of the Lord."
"Instead of dreaming about the heavenly pleasures of the celestial planets,
we should minimize our needs and meditate on the Supreme Lord. While
some people meditate on the universal form of the Lord, others
contemplate him in his form of Paramatma or Supreme Soul, the fourarmed
form of Vishnu who resides in the heart of each living being -
starting from the Lord's feet and going up towards his smiling face, where
one can find the true happiness of the soul. This meditation is in fact a
scientific procedure, by which we can control the life air and the mind, and
leave our body in full awareness.
God manifests in many forms through the functions of the personalities of
the Devas, each one personifying a particular quality or blessing. However,
the worship of the supreme form of Vishnu bestows the blessing of
transcendental awareness."
Parikshit was very eager to hear more about Lord Vishnu, and he prayed
Sukadeva to talk to him about the activities of Vishnu in this world.
Sukadeva immersed himself in meditation on the Lord and offered him his
respects before answering to the questions. "God is the Supreme Soul of all
souls, the personification of the Vedas, worshiped by all those who are free
from false identification.
This is the teaching that Brahma, the first living being and creator of the
universe, offered his son Narada, who had asked him how the material
world is created and preserved, and who controls it.
Brahma replied that his work of creation is subordinate and subsequent to
the primary creation, that directly emanates from Vishnu in the form of his
radiance. This original Purusha is called Mahavishnu or Karanarnavasayi
Vishnu because he remains reclining on the Causal Ocean, that mahat tattva
or non-differentiation great Reality that contains the germ of all existence.
Then time comes into existence, and the three gunas or qualities of matter -
sattva or goodness, rajas or passion, and tamas or ignorance.
The movement of these qualitie creates material identification and the
necessity to act on the manifested level, which in turn produce the subtle
and gross material elements - space, the gaseous elements, the liquid
elements and the solid elements. Then the archetypes or personifications of
the various universal manifestations appear, in the form of the various
Devas."
From the inconceivable and transcendental body of Mahavishnu the
universes emanate like innumerable bubbles, and within each evolving
universe the Lord manifests as Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, also called
Hiranyagarbha, the radiant fetus inside the universal uterus, sleeping within
the amniotic waters of creation. From this transcendental form of the Virat
Purusha originates the particular Brahma who is in charge of the physical
construction of the universe under his control. But apart from the
manifestation of the Purusha avataras, the Lord also appears in the material
world in other specific forms, according to the precise functions that
constitute his divine mission. For example Varaha, Suyajna the son of
Akuti, Kapila the son of Devahuti, Datta the son of Atri, the four Kumaras,
Nara and Narayana the sons of Murti, king Prithu, Rishabha, Hayagriva,
Matsya, Kurma, Nrisimha, Vamana, Hamsa, Dhanvantari, Parasurama,
Ramachandra and Krishna. The Lord also descends as Vyasa, Buddha and
Kalki."
