लोकाध्यक्षः सुराध्यक्षो धर्माध्यक्षः कृता-कृतः ।
चतुरात्मा चतुर्व्यूह:-चतुर्दंष्ट्र:-चतुर्भुजः ।।
134. Lokadhyaksha
Adhyaksha means one who oversees everything .
Loka refers to our universe and the people who inhabit it.
He is the one who witnesses his entire creation.
Also the word Lakshmi originates from the root 'luk' meaning goal.
In the ‘loka’ or universe, everything is in continuous movement,
and nothing ever stops.
The Lokadhyaksha oversees that this movement doesn't stop and goes
on without hindrance.
135. Suradhyaksha
asura means demons or evil powers
sura means devatas or the divine powers
He is ‘lokapaladhi suranaam’
He oversees the working of the devatas and ensures that they do not
falter.
We might wonder, why only devatas, and why not us?
The devatas or divinity is present in our body itself. He looks after
devatas who looks after us.
136. Dharmadhyaksha
He keeps an eye or oversees the dharma and adharma of his creations
Dharma sansthapana arthaya sambhavi yuge yuge
And he has also promised us that in order to ensure Dharma, he will take
form again and again.
137. Chaturatma
Chatur means four
He is the one who is present in all the four life forms, hence he is chaturatma.
Every atma has 4 stages that we have seen earlier- jagruta, swapna,
sushukta, turiya
We can see the world only in jagrutha stage and it is called Vishvatma
We take rest in swapna stage. The mind is still working though all
indriyas are at rest. We are said to be in taijasa stithi and it is known as Taijasatma.
We take complete rest in Sushukti where the mind also does not work. Only the prana is working. This is Pragnya
stithi and is known as Praagnyatma
When we have no sense of anything, we are in a state of suspended breath for a fraction of a second. We are in turiya stithi and it is known as Turiyatma.
In fact, we also have 4 kinds of body-
The Sthoola sharira. It is how we perceive ourselves and everyone
perceives us . it is our Gross body and is called the Annamaya Kosha.
When the Sthoola sharira falls off only the Shookshma sharira or Causal
body remains. It consists of the Pranamaya Kosha (Vital breath or energy),
Manomaya Kosha (mind) and Vijnanamaya Kosha (Intellect).
The third is the Karana sharira which is the Anandamaya Kosha. It
carries the information or knowledge acquired during the previous births and
the current lifetime.
It carried this ‘anubhava’ and leaves enters another Sthoola sharira.
In addition, there are 4 life forms created by Him-
Jarayuja which is born from the ‘garba’ or womb.
Andajawhich is born from an egg.
Svedhaja which are born in water, sweat, and moisture
Udbeeja that is born from a seed.
The Vishnu Purana - eg. In the creation of sristi four aspects are required 1. brahma - creation power, 2. prajapati daksha ( the first tool to carry forward the creation) 3. time 4. existing creatures.
For stithi again 4 aspects are required 1. vishnu - vyapnoti energy, 2. rules and regulations – manu, 3. time 4. existence creatures.
For laya too, 4 aspects are required - shiva -destruction energy 2. yama 3. time. 4. existence creatures
He is the energy required for the 3 stages and is called Chaturatma
138. Chaturvyuha
Vyuha means formation
(We come across the word ‘chakravyuha’ in the Mahabharata that means wheel formation”)
It means that Vishnu performs different functions in different
formations. This table might make it easier to understand-
|
Vyuha |
Vasudeva (unmanifested) |
Pradyumna (manifested) |
Aniruddha (manifested) |
Sankarshana (manifested) |
|
Guna |
aishwarya |
aishwarya |
shakti |
Bala |
|
|
veerya |
veerya |
Tejas |
Jnana |
|
|
shakti |
|
|
|
|
|
tejas |
|
|
|
|
|
bala |
|
|
|
|
|
jnana |
|
|
|
|
results in |
|
creation or sristi |
protection or stithi |
destruction or laya |
|
state |
turiya |
swapna |
jagrutha |
Sushukti |
|
represents |
Chitta |
Manas |
Ahamkara |
Buddhi |
|
ayudhas |
lotus |
chakra |
Gadha |
shankhu |
Vishnu has 6 main gunas due to which he is called Vashatkara. As we have
seen earlier they are: aishwarya, jnana, tejas, shakti, bala, and veerya.
He also has 4 vyuhas or formations which have all the gunas but some gunas are more prominent in particular Vyuha.
Vasudeva Vyuha is the unmanifested tattva of Vishnu. It has all 6 gunas
but they are unmanifested. This Vyuha can
be seen in turiya state and represents chitta
In the Pradyumna vyuha, the gunas of aishwarya and veerya is manifested. This results in creation or srishti (incarnation of kamadeva in pradyumna) and denotes the creative potential of Vishnu. This vyuha can be seen in Swapna state and represents the mind or manas.
In the Aniruddha Vyuha, the gunas of shakti and tejas is manifested. This results in protection potential or stithi. This vyuha can be seen in the jagruta state and represents ahamkara.
In the Sankarshana Vyuha, there is ‘akarshana’ or attraction and it pulls everything into itself. The gunas of bala and jnana are manifested and it represents laya or destruction potential. This vyuha can be seen in sushukthi state and represents buddhi.
We must understand that ultimately all the vyuhas are also present within us. If we have to connect to God then we have to look within and not search for him outside.
As per the Puranas, Vasudeva’s son is Krishna. Krishna’s son is Pradyumna.
Pradyumna’s son is Aniruddha. Now if we connect the above with the story we
have read, it becomes easy to understand why our Puranas have been written in a
certain way. We also understand the cryptic nature of the Puranas!
139. Chaturdamshtrah
Damstra means canines.
This reminds us of Narsimha avatar and the Chatur
damstrah Narsimha.
He is also the Adi Varaha avatara.
The four canines signify the four purusharthas: dharma, artha, kama, and moksha which are our goals in life.
We have to move from adharma to dharma, from desire to desireless state, attachment to detachment.. etc
Hiranyaksha was the brother of Hiranyakasyapu.
His name Hiranyaksha means golden /wealth (Hiranya)
+ eye (aksha)
He was someone who had an eye on accumulating wealth (worldly pleasures).
This story tells us that we cannot achieve Purushartha if we are lost in worldly pleasures. In order to achieve our goals we must kill this asuri force (or demonic energy). The Lord took the form of the Varaha.
Hiranyaksha is therefore present in us. The Lord can destroy the asuri bhava in us and help us to take our mind away from the worldly pleasures so that we may achieve our goal.
140. Chaturbhuja
Bhuja means arms and chatur means four.
He is the one with four arms. We have seen the various ayudhas or weapons that he holds in his hands.
But this would just be a very saguna roopi description of the Lord.
But to look deeper into the meaning of this word, the ayudhas are not just meant to destroy the evil forces in the world but also to destroy the negative forces present in us.
Shankha the conch signifies sound. This sound comes from inside us and is our inner consciousness. This comes from its own intelligence and experience (buddhi and anubhava)
Chakra, signifies the wheel of time. If we don’t heed to the voice of our inner consciousness, the wheel of time or kala chakra gives us an alert or warning.
Gadha, signifies that if in spite of punishments if we don’t mend our ways, ‘gadha prahara’ or harsher punishment is in store for us.
Lotus signifies Moksha. When we learn from our mistakes and correct ourselves, he also gives us moksha.
The ayudhas that Vishnu holds in his arms therefore
have deeper meaning.
Hence the Shankha represents buddhi
Chakra which is always in motion represents manas
that is never still.
Gadha represents ahankara or ego (hurting the ego
can destroy a person)
Lotus represents chitta
The chaturbhuja also represents the 4 gunas : sattva, rajas, tamas, ahamkara
Incorporate the values of these four ayudhas can cause a positive transformation within us, to realise the God potential in us.
The Bhagavad Gita chapter 15.14 says,
ahaṁ vaiśhvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ deham āśhritaḥ
prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pachāmy annaṁ chatur-vidham
Vaishavanara means the digestive fire
It is I who take the form of the fire of digestion in the stomachs of all living beings, and combine with the incoming and outgoing breaths, to digest and assimilate the four kinds of foods.
Chaturvidham means four types and annam means food. Food is categorized into four types:
1. Bhojya -
Foods that are chewed, solid food
2. Peya - These are mostly liquid
or semi-solid foods which we have to swallow or drink.
3. Kośhya - Foods that are sucked
4. Lehya - This includes foods that
are licked
Jai Shri Krishna!
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