"Outgrow the beast to discover the divine."
- Vishnu's stories can be divided into two sets:
- Those who function in a timeless realm
- Devas and Asuras
- Battle deals with wealth, creation, emotional security, and intellectual growth
- Devas live in sky - Asuras live under the earth (which means battle is aligned vertically).
- Between celestial realms and nether regions
- Those who function within time
- Manavas and Rakshasas
- Battle deals with appropriate social conduct, ethics, and morality
- Both Manavas and Rakshasas live on earth (which means battle is aligned horizontally)
- Between culture and nature, between dharma and adharma
- Rama - the only avatar of Vishnu to be worshipped as king
- The story of Prithu and his father Vena
- Vena - a king who plundered the earth so much that the earth ran away in the form of a cow
- Nature mourned, and the sages decided to pick up a blade of grass, chant magical hymns, turned the grass into a potent missile, and use it to kill Vena
- The Rishis removed all savageness in the dead king's corpse, creating a new, purified king Prithu (who is a form of Vishnu).
- Prithu went to the earth-cow to ask to get milk for his people. When she refused (because she was still upset at Vena), Prithu threatened to shoot her with an arrow.
- "If you kill me," said the earth-cow, "then all of nature will be destroyed and so will all life."
- Prithu argued that he couldn't feed humanity without domesticating nature (EX: turning forests to fields to farm)
- Cow said to do so in moderation, and he promised to institute dharma as well.
- Prithu is named the first responsible king of earth.
- Four Stations in Society:
- Brahmana - involved with spiritual activities
- Kshatriya - involved in administrative activities
- Vaishya - involved in wealth generating activities
- Shudra - involved in service providing activities
- Four Stages of Life (Ashramas):
- Brahmacharya - the student stage
- Grahastha - the householder stage
- Vanaprastha - the retirement stage
- Sanyasa - the hermit stage
- Vishnu has make sure everyone is following the four stations/stages
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| Rama |
Bibliography: Devdutt Pattanik's "Seven Secrets of Vishnu"
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