Lord Vishnu on the cover of Sri Isopanisad

[suchandra]

What actually is the meaning that Lord Vishnu is standing in the water of the Garbhodaka ocean and not lying on Sesa?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

I believe it is probably a misunderstanding of the statement that Garbhodakasayi resides in the universe which is half filled with water (Garbhodaka). It is possible they interpreted this to mean He was physically standing in the water, when in reality He is lying on ananta sesha.

[Guest guest]

It seem s Prabupad had maybee n requested this pose of vishnu as the version i have in enghish has the same pose but a more modern painting, as well the version my grandmother had in gujarati has the same pose

[suchandra]

Thanks so far, prabhus! Now I just found an old looking dipiction of Lord Sri Garbhodakasayi Vishnu even in more deep water. Prabhupada obviously didnt create something new but adopted from trustworthy source.

[suchandra]

Thats what Jadurani dd wrote when she was told by Srila Prabhupada to paint Lord Vishnu - Vishnu is standing in the Causal Ocean.

 

.........A few days later I presented the finished painting to Prabhupada. Several devotees were in his room, and they all awaited his verdict. Although technically speaking the painting was crude, Prabhupada was encouraging. He said, smiling, "Now who can look at that and say it is not God?"

All the devotees cheered.

I looked again. "It is beautiful," I thought intoxicated by the encouragement of Prabhupada and his disciples. I now wondered whether I could ever do another painting that well again, and I was determined to try.

An hour later Prabhupada asked me to come into his greeting room, where he handed me a handwritten list of the twenty-four main Visnu incarnations. Alongside each name he'd listed the positions in which They hold Their hand symbols:

Name, Lower Right, Upper Right,

Upper Left, Lower Left

Kesava: lotus, conch, disc, mace

Narayana: conch, lotus, mace, disc

Sri Madhava: mace, disc, conch, lotus

Sri Govinda: disc, mace, lotus, conch.

He then asked me to make twenty-four paintings-one of each of these Visnu manifestations, and said that each Visnu form should be standing in the Causal Ocean. He wanted me to send the first one to San Francisco. His married disciples Mukunda and Janaki had been in the New York temple before I had begun coming, and they had also left before I began coming, to open the second of Prabhupada's temples there. The painting would be used in their new San Francisco temple for worship, meditation and prayer. I didn't think to ask him where the other paintings would go, but I had faith that he had a plan.

 

 

[gHari]

<img src=http://www.thekrishnastore.com/catalog/BSI.jpg>

[gHari]

Excerpt from The Teachings of Lord Caitanya chapter 7:

In the SiddhArtha-saMhitA, there is a description of the twenty-four forms of ViSNu, and these forms are named according to the position of the symbolic representations in Their four hands. When one describes the positions of objects in the hands of the ViSNu mUrti, one should begin with the lower right hand then move to the upper right hand, upper left hand and, finally, to the lower left hand. In this way, VAsudeva may be described as being represented by mace, conch shell, disc and lotus flower. SaGkarSaNa is represented by mace, conch shell, lotus flower and disc. Similarly, Pradyumna is represented by disc, conch shell, mace and lotus flower. Aniruddha is represented by disc, mace, conch shell and lotus flower. In the spiritual sky the representations of NArAyaNa are twenty in number and are described as follows: SrI Kezava (flower, conch shell, disc, mace), NArAyaNa (conch, flower, mace and disc), SrI MAdhava (mace, disc, conch and flower), SrI Govinda (disc, mace, flower and conch), ViSNu-mUrti (mace, flower, conch and disc), MadhusUdana (disc, conch, flower and mace), Trivikrama (flower, mace, disc and shell), SrI VAmana (conch, disc, mace and flower), SrIdhara (flower, disc, mace and shell), HRSIkeza (mace, disc, flower and conch), PadmanAbha (shell, flower, disc and mace), DAmodara (flower, disc, mace and shell), PuruSottama (disc, flower, shell and mace), Acyuta (mace, flower, disc and shell), NRsiMha (disc, flower, mace and shell), JanArdana (flower, disc, shell and mace), SrI Hari (shell, disc, flower and mace), SrI KRSNa (shell, mace, flower and disc), AdhokSaja (flower, mace, shell and disc), and Upendra (shell, mace, disc and flower).

According to the HayazIrSa-paJcarAtra, there are sixteen forms, and these forms are named differently according to the situations of the disc and mace. The conclusion is that the Supreme Original Personality of Godhead is KRSNa. He is called lIlA-puruSottama, and He resides principally in VRndAvana as the son of Nanda. It is also learned from the HayazIrSa-paJcarAtra that there are nine forms protecting each of the two PurIs known as the MathurA PurI and the DvArakA PurI: VAsudeva, SaGkarSaNa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha protect one, and NArAyaNa, NRsiMha, HayagrIva, VarAha and BrahmA--protect the other. These are different manifestations of the prakAza and vilAsa forms of Lord KRSNa.

 

There seems to be some discrepancy with this information, in that SrIdhara and DAmodara are described the same. And it is difficult from the paintings to know which arm is the upper arm. However, in the newer Sri Isopanisad, I seem to fondly recall that the cover is described as Lord Kesava within the book. Then of course, these descriptions of the 20 representations of Narayana may not relate to the 24 Visnu forms, although they do seem to match the ones given above in another post.