Category:God's Holding
Theme Analysis
The philosophical essence of this category explores both the symbolic and the literal omnipotence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's holding. In His localized feature as Paramātmā (Supersoul) and His various expansions as Lord Viṣṇu, the Lord is eternally manifested with four hands. The arrangement of the four symbols He holds—the conchshell (śaṅkha), disc (cakra), club (gadā), and lotus flower (padma)—determines His specific name (such as Vāsudeva, Nārāyaṇa, Govinda, etc.). These symbols are not merely decorative; they have distinct purposes. The lotus and conchshell are held for the protection and blessing of the devotees, while the club and disc are held for the annihilation and ultimate liberation of the demons. Beyond these personal emblems, the Lord's holding power sustains the entire cosmic manifestation. As Lord Kūrma, He effortlessly held the massive Mandara Mountain on His back during the churning of the milk ocean. Most profoundly, as Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa (or Anantadeva), He holds the countless planets of the universe on His hoods. What modern scientists vaguely term the "law of gravitation" is, according to Vedic science, the supreme, inconceivable grip of the Personality of Godhead preventing the planets from scattering like dust in the wind.
- The Four Symbols of Viṣṇu: The Lord is eternally manifest in His four-armed form, holding a conchshell, disc, club, and lotus flower. Yogīs meditate on this specific form within the core of their hearts to achieve devotional ecstasy.
- The Twenty-Four Forms: There are twenty-four principal forms of Lord Viṣṇu, all possessing four hands. They are named differently (e.g., Mādhava, Keśava) solely based on the specific arrangement of the four weapons They hold.
- Auspicious Weapons: All of the Lord's arms and weapons are auspicious. The hands holding the lotus and conchshell bless the devotees, while the hands holding the disc and club kill the demons, granting them liberation in the spiritual world.
- The Cosmic Maintainer: The Lord's inconceivable strength literally holds the universe together. As Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa (Śeṣa Nāga), He effortlessly holds millions of planets on His hoods, considering them as light as mustard seeds.
- The True "Law of Gravitation": Modern scientists describe the suspension of planets in space as the law of gravitation, but Vedic philosophy identifies this holding force personally as Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa. Without His supreme grip, the planets would scatter like dust.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God's Holding - The Divine Emblems and Cosmic Support.
Subcategories
This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total.
Pages in category "God's Holding"
The following 44 pages are in this category, out of 44 total.
A
- Adorned with a crown and earrings, He held His characteristic conch, disc and mace in three of His hands and a white lily in the fourth. He glanced about in a happy, smiling mood whose sight captivates the hearts of all devotees
- Ajita, taking the shape of a tortoise and holding the mountain known as Mandara on His back, churned the ocean and produced nectar for the demigods
- All of the Lord's arms are auspicious, whether they are holding conchshells and flowers or clubs and discs
- Anantadeva, who was calmly holding all the planets on His hood, was moving in this way and that due to the transcendental vibration from Krsna's flute, which penetrated through the covering of this universe and reached to the spiritual sky
G
- Generally the Visnu form is manifested with four hands holding four objects (a conchshell, disc, club and lotus flower). However, here (SB 4.30.6) Lord Visnu is described as possessing eight arms with eight kinds of weapons
- God expands Himself in innumerable forms, but all of them are nondifferent from one another. Visnu has four hands, each hand holds a particular item - either a conchshell, wheel, club or lotus flower. Of these 4 emblems, the cakra, or wheel, is the chief
H
- He (the lotus-eyed Lord Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead) resembled a bluish rain cloud with flashing lightning, and in two of His four hands He held a conchshell and disc
- He holds no one as very dear and no one as inimical. He has no one for His own relative, and no one is alien to Him. He is actually the soul of the soul of all living entities. Thus He is the auspicious friend of all living beings
- He pleases His personal associates, the heads of the demigods, by the sweet vibrations emanating from His mouth. Dressed in bluish garments and wearing a single earring, He holds a plow on His back with His two beautiful and well-constructed hands
I
- I request You to conceal this four-armed form of Your Lordship, which holds the four symbols of Visnu - namely the conchshell, the disc, the club and the lotus flower - Devaki requested the Lord to assume the form of an ordinary child
- In this way, when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu saw Jagannatha, He saw that the Lord was with His sister Subhadra and was not holding a flute in His hand
L
- Lord Adhoksaja holds the lotus, club, conch and disc. Lord Upendra holds the conch, club, disc and lotus
- Lord Visnu's four hands hold four kinds of weapons, and the extra four hands hold an arrow, bow, trident and snake. Sri Viraraghava Acarya describes the eight weapons as sankha, cakra, gada, padma, sarnga, sara, etc
M
- Manifesting Himself with thousands of hands, the Lord then appeared on the summit of Mandara Mountain, like another great mountain, and held Mandara Mountain with one hand
- My dear Lord, in this way You once protected me by rescuing me from the water, and consequently Your name has been famous as Dharadhara - He who holds the planet earth
S
- Sesa Sankarsana, who holds all the planets on His heads, expands Himself in different bodies to render service to Lord Krsna
- Some yogis meditate within their heart on the localized Visnu, who is four-handed and who holds 4 symbols: conch, disc, mace & lotus. The yogi who thinks of the four-handed Visnu becomes absorbed in devotional ecstasy & evinces the symptoms of that state
- Some yogis think of the Lord within their hearts as measuring about six inches. The Lord has four hands, in which He holds a conchshell, club, disc and lotus flower. Those who worship this form of Visnu within the heart are called sagarbha-yogis
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu called all His devotees together and, holding them by the hand, humbly informed them, "You are all more dear to Me than My life. I can give up My life, but to give you up is difficult for Me"
- Sri Hari holds the conch, disc, lotus and club. Lord Sri Krsna holds the conch, club, lotus and disc
T
- That same Lord Visnu, in the form of Lord Sesa, holds the planets upon His heads, although He does not know where they are, for He cannot feel their existence upon His heads
- The citizens of Mathura continued, "Krsna held up the great Govardhana Hill in one hand for seven continuous days and saved all the people of Gokula from incessant rain, hurricane and hailstorm"
- The demons killed by Lord Visnu's cakra disc and club are elevated to the spiritual world, just like the devotees who are protected by the hands holding the lotus flower and conchshell
- The four arms of Lord Visnu have different purposes. The hands holding a lotus flower and conchshell are meant for the devotees, whereas the other two hands, holding a disc and mace, or club, are meant for the demons
- The four forms (Vasudeva, etc.), the twelve (Kesava, etc.), and the eight (Purusottama, etc.) all together constitute twenty-four forms. The forms are differently named in accordance with the placement of the weapons They hold in Their four hands
- The Lord appeared as a tortoise to support the great mountain. Ksitir iha vipulatare tava tisthati prsthe. The Lord held the great mountain on His back. Kesava dhrta-kurma-sarira jaya jagadisa hare
- The Lord is a person, He wears a garland of flowers, and He is eternally manifest with four hands, which hold (beginning from the lower left hand) a conchshell, wheel, club and lotus flower
- The Lord's appearance is described here (in SB 3.28.13) as padma-garbharuneksanam. His eyes resemble the inside of a lotus flower, and in His four hands He holds the four symbols: conchshell, discus, mace and lotus
- The procedure for counting begins with the lower right hand and goes to the upper right hand, the upper left hand, and the lower left hand. Lord Visnu is named according to the order of the weapons He holds in His hands
- The SP of Godhead, He told something which is to be understood by the interpretation of a mundane scholar? Do you think it is reasonable? No. Whatever He spoke, that is all right. And that is clear. There is no question of interpreting in a different way
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is always the unlimited. Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His body as a tortoise, held on His back the largest of mountains, Mandara-parvata, He did not feel any inconvenience
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is holding millions of planets in space without any support; similarly, Prthu Maharaja would not have had any difficulty supporting all his citizens and himself in space without the help of the planet earth
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead thought it wise to catch hold of the dangerous part of the snake and allow the demons to hold the tail, which was not dangerous, but with a competitive desire, the demons thought it wise to hold the snake near the mouth
- The word svarupa refers to sarupya-mukti - going back home, back to Godhead, and remaining the Lord's eternal associate, having regained a spiritual body exactly resembling that of the Lord, with four hands, holding the sankha, cakra, gada and padma
- They (Bhuta-yogi, Sara-yogi and Bhranta-yogi) saw the lotus-eyed Lord Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, mounted on Garuda and holding Laksmi, the goddess of fortune, to His chest
- They say: "Law of gravitation", we say Sankarsana. Sankarsana. So He is holding every planet, and it is said that all these universes are resting on the hood of Sesa-naga just like a small grain of mustard
W
- Were the planets not held in the grip of the Personality of Godhead, they would all scatter like dust in the air. Modern scientists can only impractically explain this inconceivable strength of the Personality of Godhead
- With His (the Lord's) strong, glorious arms, which award fearlessness throughout the universe, He took hold of Vasuki and began churning the ocean, using Mandara Mountain as a churning rod