Why vishnu has 4 arms

World View. More From Reference. The Most Destructive Environmental Disasters of the s. What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Sports? What Is Social Location in Sociology? What Are Alphanumeric Characters? Nothing in between? Thanks — Sai. Creator Sahasraksha means a thousand eyes, from Sahasra meaning and Aksha meaning eye. Sai Yes, of course Vishnu is omnipotent, so he can assume any form he likes. But he has some established forms that he generally uses for specific purposes. Like he assumes the thousand-armed Aniruddha form when he gives birth to Brahma, as I discuss in this question: hinduism.

So it just seems odd that in this instance he would choose to give himself eight arms, unless that's an established form that I'm not aware of. Show 16 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Yeah, of course Vishnu can have as many hands as he wants to. But does the fact that he assumed an eight-armed form when he fought Kali have any relation to him having an eight-armed form when Krishna and Arjuna saw him?

Are there any scriptures that describe Vishnu having an eight-armed form in Vaikuntha? By the way, the Wikipedia article said that Saraswati sent a snake, not Kali, although of course Kali could have turned into a snake: en.

Keshav - Well, it was goddess Kali for sure. Maybe she also sent some snake, i am not sure. But, Goddess Kali i am pretty sure. Now, coming any relation ship between the eight handed form in Vaikuntha and defeating Kali, i am not sure. Maybe some well versed Srivaishnavas might explain?

Keshav - Because, whereever Lord Vishnu is, that place in general is called Vaikuntha. Tirumala, SriRangam etc are considered bhu loka vaikuntam. But, it is not the Paramapada-Vaikuntham where the Supreme Para-Vasudeva resides with all his infinite paraphernalia. If you're in contact with some well-versed Sri Vaishnavas, I'd appreciate if you could ask them. Anyway, I wasn't aware that the ocean of milk is lower than Parama Pada.

I think in U. Velukuddi Krishnan's Upanyasams, he says that Vaikuntha is a city, within which there is a palace called Paramapadam, and within the palace is Thiruparkadal. In any case, if you're correct, what form does Para Vasudeva have in Paramapadam?

Does he also recline on a serpent? That's how it's depicted here: srivaishnavam. Show 11 more comments. Suresh Ramaswamy Suresh Ramaswamy 2, 2 2 gold badges 10 10 silver badges 34 34 bronze badges.

Add a comment. First of all, that statue is labeled in a diffeerent photo as simply Vishnu rather than Mahavishnu: tripadvisor. The whole point of my question was to find whether this eight-armed form is discussed in Hindu scripture.

And in any case, the doctrine you're talking about, where there is a being called Mahavishnu and then he generates beings called Kshirodakshayi Vishnu in each Brahmanda, is a doctrine unique to Gaudiya Vaishnavism. And I don't think Gaudiya Vaishnavas say that Mahavishnu has eight arms either. Again, I'm looking for what Hindu scripture says on the subject.

Are you saying that concept of mahavishnu does not have scriptural backing in traditional hindu texts Before Chaitanya? I thought mahavishnu and brahman both are same. I never said that , I have scriptural quotes to back my answer. What I quoted was merely my observation.

Most of people dont know the difference between Mahavishnu and vishnu. They use it interchangeably. Angkor wat vishnu temple is always referred as mahavishnu temple — tekkk. The concept where there's a Vishnu who's limited to our Brahmanda and then there is a Mahavishnu from whom he arises is all specific to Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

The things that are there in Hindu scripture are the distinctions made in Pancharatra: en. See this chapter of the Shanti Parva for more information: sacred-texts.

My answer here should clarify things: hinduism. Ankit Sharma 6, 6 6 gold badges 36 36 silver badges 77 77 bronze badges. Prasanth kumar s Dr. Prasanth kumar s 11 1 1 bronze badge. Please cite sources for your answer. Also, copy paste answers are discouraged. If you would kindly go through the passage you can see that the sources for the material have been duly cited. If you are familiar with the srimadbhagavatha mahapurana, you may refer the episodes detailed in the particular skandhas that I have referred to in the passage and corroborate.

As a matter of fact, I am also not favourably disposed towards copy and paste tendency. I am a tad surprised that you got such an idea at all.

I would be much obliged if you would kindly substantiate your surmise. For me the conch represents emanation material birth and the Sudarshan Chakra represents termination physical dissolution or death.

Beyond these is the operation or action of consciousness in the divine realm. We can see this in all the episodes in Puranas, especially the Chakra being used by lord Vishnu to annihilate. The mace representing the action of subjugation or conditioning of the ego and the lotus represents divine wisdom, through which true self realization takes place and these two representations are the operation or action of the consciousness in the manifest realm.

The Cosmic quadrants are in space-time and are purely in the realm of the manifest or in the domain of the human perception. The reason we need a deeper interpretation is that though there could be metaphysical dimension from which we arrive at a particular symbolism as has been explained above, but we need a psychic dimension for a specific archetype as this is the route through which the Vedic seers and sages attempt to communicate the unmanifest, to the limited consciousness of common man, through a subconscious path.

This model is the more esoteric interpretation of the swastika and the four arms of Lord Vishnu. The most desired representation which evokes a very meaningful symbolism is Lord Vishnu reclining in the ocean of universal or cosmic consciousness and his four arms in various positions, representing the actions in the manifest consciousness. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments via e-mail. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.

Learn how your comment data is processed. Thanks for posting information regarding hinduism, we, hindus are mostly ignorant of our religion but we must give honour to hinduism because of its profound depth, beauty, diversity and secular character. Enter your email address:.