Category:God's Four Hands
Theme Analysis
The philosophical essence of this category focuses on the majestic, four-handed form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, commonly known as Lord Nārāyaṇa or Lord Viṣṇu. This form eternally holds four specific symbols: the conchshell (śaṅkha), disc (cakra), club (gadā), and lotus flower (padma). The Lord expands into countless vilāsa forms in the Vaikuṇṭha planets simply by rearranging the order of these four items in His hands. These four hands serve distinct purposes: the lotus and conchshell are meant to bless and satisfy the devotees, while the disc and club are meant to punish and vanquish demons. For practitioners of the mystic aṣṭāṅga-yoga system, the ultimate goal of meditation (samādhi) is to focus the mind exclusively on this four-handed Paramātmā (Supersoul) situated within the core of the heart. While this four-handed form represents the Lord's absolute majesty and opulence, it is an expansion of the original, two-handed form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Ultimately, devotees who desire liberation through devotional service (sārūpya-mukti) are promoted to the Vaikuṇṭha planets, where they attain spiritual bodies with the exact same four-handed features as Lord Nārāyaṇa, living in eternal opulence and association with the Supreme Lord.
- The Four Symbols: The four hands of Lord Viṣṇu eternally hold the conchshell, disc, club, and lotus flower. The specific arrangement of these weapons determines the different identities of the Lord's expansions, such as Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha.
- Protection and Punishment: The items in the Lord's hands perfectly represent His dual nature in dealing with the conditioned souls. The lotus and conchshell offer grace and peace to the pure devotees, while the club and disc serve to annihilate demonic forces.
- The Goal of Mystic Yoga: Authentic yoga is not a physical exercise or meditation on a void. The true goal of dhyāna (meditation) is to see the four-handed Viṣṇu form seated within the heart. So-called yogīs who do not focus on this form are misguided.
- The Original Form: While less intelligent scholars claim that the four-handed Nārāyaṇa is the original God and the two-handed Kṛṣṇa is merely an incarnation, the śāstras reveal the opposite. Kṛṣṇa is the original source, and the four-handed Nārāyaṇa forms expand from Him.
- Sārūpya-mukti: When a devotee achieves sārūpya liberation, they return to the spiritual Vaikuṇṭha planets and are granted an eternal, spiritual body that exactly resembles the four-handed form of Lord Nārāyaṇa, reflecting the Lord's supreme opulence.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: God's Four Hands The Form of Visnu Within the Heart.
Subcategories
This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total.
C
G
K
V
Pages in category "God's Four Hands"
The following 55 pages are in this category, out of 55 total.
A
- A person who has lived in Dvaraka for six months, for one month, or even for one fortnight, there is awaiting elevation to the Vaikuntha-lokas and all the profits of sarupya-mukti (the privilege of having the same four-handed bodily features as Narayana)
- A spiritual form like the Lord's, either two-handed or four-handed, is attained by the devotees of the Lord either in the Vaikunthas or in the Goloka planet, according to the original nature of the soul
- Above them (those who desire to merge into the Supreme Spirit Soul) are the mystic yogis, who by meditation see within their hearts the four-handed Visnu form of the Paramatma, or Supersoul
- Actually yoga meditation means to see the form of the Lord, four-handed visnu-murti within the heart. That is real meditation. Now these rascals, they have manufactured so-called meditation. That is not meditation
B
- Balarama, Krsna’s vaibhava-prakasa, is eternally situated in Gokula. From the quadruple prabhava-vilasa, twenty-four forms of the vaibhava-vilasa are expanded. Each has four hands holding weapons in different positions
- Brahma said, "They (the four-handed Visnus) were being worshiped by all elements and all demigods, including myself. Again They were all wound up, and You remained alone as You were before. Does this not mean that You are the Supreme Lord Narayana"
G
- Generally in the four hands of Visnu there are a wheel, club, conchshell and lotus flower. These four symbols are seen in the four hands of Visnu in different arrangements
- 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 (Vasudeva) could immediately understand (by seeing a newborn child decorated so nicely with valuable garments & gems) that the Supreme Personality of Godhead had appeared, not as an ordinary child but in His original, fully decorated, four-handed form
- He was dressed in yellow robes and wore earrings and a helmet on his head. He had four hands, and His chest was marked with the lines of the goddess of fortune
I
- In the temple of Bindu Madhava there are Deities of four-handed Narayana and the goddess Laksmi. In front of these Deities is a column of Sri Garuda, and along the side are deities of Lord Rama, Sita, Laksmana and Sri Hanumanji
- In the Vaikuntha planets, everyone is four-handed like Narayana, and everyone is equally opulent. In Goloka Vrndavana, Krsna and the cowherd boys are equally opulent
- In Vaikunthaloka the Supreme Personality of Godhead has four hands and decorations like the Srivatsa mark on His chest and the gem known as Kaustubha
- It is generally understood from revealed scriptures that Lord Visnu appears with four hands, but in this particular sacrificial arena (of Daksa) Lord Visnu arrived with eight hands
K
- King Indra said, "Even though we are accustomed to see Your four-handed Visnu form, this appearance with eight hands is as real as the four-handed form
- Krsna comes in His original form... Original form is two-handed. It is also accepted in the Bible: "Man is made after the image of God." So God has got two-handed. Even the four-handed Visnu form is not the original
N
S
- Sarupya means attaining a four-handed form exactly like that of the Lord, sarsti means attaining opulences like those of the Supreme Lord, and sayujya means merging into the Brahman effulgence of the Lord. These are the five types of liberation
- Some of the transcendental bodies of the Lord are blackish, and some of them are whitish. Some of them are reddish, and some are yellowish. Some of them are four-handed and some of them two-handed. Some of them are like the fish, & some are like the lion
- Some scholars argue that because Narayana has four hands whereas Sri Krsna has only two, Narayana is the original Personality of Godhead and Krsna is His incarnation. Such unintelligent scholars do not understand the features of the Absolute
- 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 see the four-handed Visnu sitting within the heart, and therefore in their case also the Supreme Lord is invisible. Only for the devotees is the Lord visible
- 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
- Sometimes he (the yogi who thinks of the four-handed Visnu) cries, and sometimes he feels separation. In this way he merges in transcendental bliss. The result of all this is that he becomes entrapped like a fish
T
- The devotee, who wants to enjoy the association of the Lord, enters into the Vaikuntha planets, which are innumerable, & the Supreme Lord by His plenary expansions as Narayana with 4 hands & with different names associates with him. BG 1972 Introduction
- The expansions of the Lord (Krsna) who manifest such bodily differences (such as Sri Balarama's bodily color and Sri Narayana's four hands) are known as vilasa-vigrahas
- The form of the Lord as four-handed Narayana is the object of meditation for the followers of yoga-marga. In the modern age there are so many so-called yogis who do not target their meditation on the four-handed Narayana form
- 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 goal of life is to know Krsna, who is situated within the heart of every living being as Paramatma, the four-handed Visnu form. BG 1972 purports
- The kind Supreme Personality of Godhead, due to His affection for His devotees, appeared before King Nabhi in His unconquerable and captivating form with four hands
- The Lord has innumerable expansions of His transcendental form, and according to the different positions of the symbolical representations in His four hands, He is known as Narayana, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Vasudeva, etc
- 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 is not impersonal; He has His eyes, legs, hands and everything else, and because we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord we also have these things. But His hands, legs, eyes and senses are not contaminated by material nature. BG 1972 purports
- The Lord was enriched with four hands, earrings of molten gold and eyes blood red with fury. As He loitered about, His club constantly encircled Him like a shooting star
- The thirteen meanings of the atmarama verse mentioned here are based on the following meanings for the word atmarama: (8) sagarbha-yogaruruksu, a yogi meditating upon the four-handed Visnu form and desiring yogic perfection
- 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
- The yogis, by meditation, they try to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth by seeing the Visnu form, four-handed Visnu. Dhyanavasthita-tad-gatena manasa pasyanti yam yoginah - SB 12.13.1
- The young Lord with four hands is nicely decorated
- They (Narayana and Krsna) are in fact the same person manifested differently, like a high-court judge who is differently situated in his office and at home. As Narayana the Lord is manifested with four hands, but as Krsna He is manifested with two hands
- This Personality of Godhead (Sri Krsna) has two hands and holds a flute, whereas the other (Narayana) has four hands, with conch, wheel, mace and lotus
- Those so-called yogis who, although engaged in meditation, are not broad hearted cannot find the four-handed Narayana form, even though He is seated within their heart
W
- We may doubt whether Lord Ramacandra could be in the same category (of visnu-tattva), since He was carried by Hanuman, not by Garuda, and had neither four hands nor the sankha, cakra, gada and padma
- When Lord Krsna took His birth, He appeared outside the womb as four-handed Visnu. Then Devaki and Vasudeva offered their prayers to Him and asked Him to assume His two-handed form
- When Lord Sri Krsna was present on this planet, a person named Paundraka imitated the four-handed Narayana and declared himself the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He desired to compete with Krsna
- When the Lord manifests His (Krsna's) vilasa expansions they are all somewhat different in their bodily features. Lord Balarama is the first vilasa expansion of Lord Krsna, and the four-handed Narayana forms in Vaikuntha expand from Balarama
- When Vamanadeva appeared from the womb of His mother, He appeared in the form of Narayana, with four hands equipped with the necessary symbolic weapons, and then immediately transformed Himself into a brahmacari. This means that His body is not material