Symbolism of Garuda

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SYMBOLISM OF GARUDA,THE EAGLE –MOUNT OF LORD VISHNU

 

 

" At the entrance of the highway leading to Guruvayur temple there

is a banyan tree and an enormous figure of Garuda , the eagle-mount

of Lord Vishnu. The word `Vishnu' means omnipresent-the infinite

Cosmic Intelligence. The colour of Vishnu's body is depicted as blue,

the apparent blue tinge of infinite space. Thus, space is the body of

Vishnu. And that all-pervading Cosmic Consciousness is the Source of

space. Einstein says that space looks suspicious because everything

originates from it and returns to it. So, the so-called empty space

is not nothingness. The space is the invisible factory that creates

the universe and absorbs it. The great sages discovered that

transcending space there is the Cosmic Intelligence. Krishna

says: `I, the unmanifest pervade the whole universe. " Like a living

materialization of the mysterious space the eagle floats in the sky.

How apt it is to figuratively describe the bird in such intimate

relation with the sky as the very mount of Lord Vishnu! Let us probe

still deeper. The eagle is apparently always in a state of motion in

the blue sky. It is through ceaseless motion in the subtlest sub-

atomic and grossest material levels the phenomenon of the universe is

created and maintained. Without motion there is no time or material

manifestation. Garuda represents this motion behind which is the

changeless Reality, Lord Vishnu. Therefore, Garuda, symbolizing

motion, is depicted as the mount of Vishnu. In the epic the Ramayana,

Garuda approaches Sri Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, at a stage

of his war with Ravana, the demon king. When Rama asks about his

identity Garuda replies that he is Rama's own power of motion, a

statement which emphasises this symbolism. "

( From Power In Temples By Srikant-published by Integral Books,

Anandashram, Kanhangad,Kerala-page46)

 

saseedharan