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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00023 Apr 2004

 
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Hi,
vishNu means "one who pervades" from the sanskrit root "viz - to 
pervade". In Rg veda, he appears as yonger brother of Indra and 
lauded for making "three steps". Traditionl Indian scholars 
interpreted this as sun's daily movement across earth, firmament and 
sky. European scholars generally accepted this, but proposed other 
theories of sun's annual movement instead of daily one.

However, in shathapatha brAhmaNa of shukla yajurveda the equation 
vishNu = sacrifice appears. If you read my previous post, beheading 
of vishNu appears in the context of pravargya rite, in which the 
sacrifice loses its head. The same story with variations occur in 
taittriya samhita & maitrAyaNIya samhita. It is connected with a 
parallel legend of dadhyanc AtharvaNa learning to fix the head of 
sacrifice from Indra and teaching it to Ashvins.

vishNu as omnipresent, omniscient, all-powerful is a purANic concept.
{Moderator's note: The above statement is an opinion of sri. Anshuman, and does 
not seem to be supported by our AchAryAs; Sri anshuman - please preface your 
opinions as such, and do not make general statements like the above)

Regards,
KK

P.S.
Thanks for pointing out my deficiency in sanskrit. I've seen trishtub 
as trishtup only in compounds like trishtup-chanda: etc.







--- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Vishnu" <vsmvishnu@xxxx> wrote:
> Hi amshuman,
> 
> Vishnu means ominpresent. How do we behead or break something which 
> is infinite?
> 
> --- In ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "amshuman_k" <amshuman_k@xxxx> 
wrote:
> > Hi List,
> > 
> > The first legend about "beheading of vishNu; dadhyanc AtharvaNA 
> > story" was posted earlier.
> > 
> > This legend occurs during the explanation of darsha-pUrNamAsa 
ishti 
> > in S.Br.
> > 
> > Once there was a clash between asuras and devas and the latter 
were 
> > worsted. The asuras started dividing this earth among themselves 
by 
> > spreading out ox-hide from west to east. When the devas saw this, 
> > they also wanted a share of this earth. They went to the asuras 
> with 
> > vishNu as their head, as vishNu is verily the sacrifice, and 
asked 
> > for a share. The asuras grudgingly agreed, but allowed a share 
> > corresponding the the size of vishNu.
> > Now this vishNu was a dwarf (****). The devas didn't care anyway 
> and 
> > agreed to the condition. They enclosed vishNu with gAyatrI metre 
on 
> > the south-side, trishtub on the west-side and jagatI on the 
north. 
> 
> It is not trishtub but trishtup. We are supposed to recite dwayam, 
> gAyatrI etc. correctly and know the basic differnece bewteen 
sanskrit 
> letters pa, pha, ba, bha etc. before writing on sandhyAvandanam, 
> vEdas etc.
> 
> Again how something which is infinite can be enclosed?
> 
> Regards
> Vishnu





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