Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purānic . the following passage from the Padma Purana,it is taught that Vishnu is the supreme cause, thusidentifying him with Brahma, and also that his spe-cial work is to preserve ;— In the beginning ofcreation, the great Vishnu, desirous of creating thewhole world, became threefold; Creator, Preserver,Destroyer. In order to create this world, the Su-preme Spirit produced from the right side of his bodyhimself as Brahma ; then, in order to preserve theworld, he produced from his left side Vishnu ; and in•order to destroy the world, he produced from the middle•of his
Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purānic . the following passage from the Padma Purana,it is taught that Vishnu is the supreme cause, thusidentifying him with Brahma, and also that his spe-cial work is to preserve ;— In the beginning ofcreation, the great Vishnu, desirous of creating thewhole world, became threefold; Creator, Preserver,Destroyer. In order to create this world, the Su-preme Spirit produced from the right side of his bodyhimself as Brahma ; then, in order to preserve theworld, he produced from his left side Vishnu ; and in•order to destroy the world, he produced from the middle•of his body the eternal Siva. Some worship Brahma,others Vishnu, others Siva ; but Vishnu, one yet three-fold, creates, preserves, and destroys : therefore let thepious make no difference between the three. 117 n8 THE PURAN1C DEITJES. The essence of the teaching of the Vishnu Puranais given in a few lines.* Listen to the completecompendium of the Purana according to its world was produced from Vishnu ; it exists ins n, w q. him ; he is the cause of its continuance and cessation;he is the world. Immediately afterwards is a hymnaddressed to him which commences as follows:—Glory to the unchangeable, holy, eternal, supremeVishnur of one universal nature, the mighty over all; * Vishnu Purana, p. 607. VISHNU. , 115 to him who is Hiranyagarbha (Brahma), Hari (Vish-nu), and Sankara (Siva) ; the Creator, Preserver, andDestroyer of the world. As will be noticed later on,Siva is commonly called Mahadeva (the great god).By those who make him the supreme object of wor-ship, Vishnu is commonly called Narayana, thoughthis was originally a name of Brahma. These, gene-rally, to a large extent, disregard his incarnations,and address their praise to him as the greatest of frequently he is indicated by the word Ishwar(God), as though he were the God. But this term isfar more frequently employed for Siva. The word Vishnu in the Puranas is generally saidto be derived from the ro
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