Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

KRISHNA, RUDRA, AND VISHNU. 131
the dwarf Vishnu. 1 But he is also Hari himself, and Hari CHAP,
is Narayana, ' the god who transcends all, the minutest of .
the minute, the vastest of the vast, the greatest of the great.'
In short, the interchange or contradiction is undisguised, for
'he is the soul of all, the omniscient, the all, the all-know-
ing, the producer of all, the god whom the goddess Devaki
bore to Vishnu. 2 Elsewhere Krishna speaks of himself as
the maker of the Rudras and the Vasus, as both the priest
and the victim, and adds,
6 Know that Dharma (righteousness) is my beloved first-
born mental son, whose nature is to have compassion on all
creatures. In his character I exist among men, both present
and past, passing through many varieties of mundane
existence. I am Vishnu, Brahma, Indra, and the source as
well as the destruction of things, the creator and the anni-
hilator of the whole aggregate of existences. While all
men live in unrighteousness, I, the unfailing, build up the
bulwark of righteousness, as the ages pass away. 53 As such
he is not generated by a father. He is the unborn.
The character of Rudra, thus said to be sprung from Krishna
Krishna, is not more definite. As so produced, he is Time, andRudraand
is declared by his father to be the offspring of his
anger. 4 But in the character of Mahadeva, Rudra is wor-
shipped by Krishna, and the necessary explanation is that
in so adoring him Krishna was only worshipping himself. 5
Rudra, however, is also Narayana, and Siva the destroyer.
There is no difference between Siva who exists in the form
of Vishnu, and Vishnu who exists in the form of Siva, just
as in the form of Hari and Hara Vishnu and Mahadeva are
combined. 6 He who is Vishnu is Rudra ; he who is Rudra
is Pitamaha (Brahma, the great father) ; the substance is
one, the gods are three, Rudra, Vishnu and Pitamaha. . .
Just as water thrown into water can be nothing else than
water, so Vishnu entering into Rudra must possess the
nature of Rudra. And just as fire entering into fire can be
nothing else but fire, so Rudra entering into Vishnu must
possess the nature of Vishnu. Rudra should be understood to
1 Muir, Sanskrit Texts, pt, iv. p. 221.
3
lb. 235.
4
lb. 205.
K 2
2
lb. 224.
5
lb. 225.
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