Learn this mantra Thursdays in February and March, 2025! Live class at 7 am CST, recordings available. Audio and text tools to support your personal practice, and 1:1 support when you send in a recording of your practice. $160.
I think of Viṣṇu as he-who-shows-up-when-needed. It is the pervasive, penetrating nature of divinity. In this hymn, we learn how Viṣṇu is constantly creating the path by which we can reach Nārāyaṇa, who is the ultimate source, the truth of who we are, and the final destination of all souls. Viṣṇu infuses the whole universe, unveils its laws and maintains the universe under these laws. Learning this hymn is akin to aligning ourselves with the universe’s natural order and feeling a sense of rhythm, potency, belonging, and harmony. True balm for a world in which the majority of us are lonely, lost, and feel powerless.
Viṣṇu in the Vedic mantras precedes the heroic and mythical teachings of the Puranas in such a way that anticipates or creates the entirety of divine mythology and symbolism. Viṣṇu is thus all ten avatars of the Vaisnava tradition, but also more than the ten avatars. Viṣ is the pervasive, immanent, immaculate divine in this material world, always showing up to protect and uphold dharma. Viṣ in the Veda is both a verb (enter, enter in or settle down on, go into, pervade) and a noun (a settlement, homestead, house, dwelling, home, land). Viṣṇu creates a home out of ordinary walls, a meaning in crisis, and a divine teacher in life.
A personal, intimate relationship with the divine happens by the grace of Viṣṇu; the Viṣṇu sūktam sits like a jewel in the center of the garland of all teachings and rests in the heart of the heart of all devotees. This is god showing up in history, in a teacher, in crisis and in revelation. Viṣṇu is the embodiment and personification of a noble, spiritual path we can take through this troubled world, in our own personal lifetime.
Viṣṇu creates the laws of the universe - interpersonal, physical, emotional - and upholds those laws, showing up in the world when dharma is threatened. Through personal relationship, he reveals these laws to us constantly: he creates a home for humanity and a sacred path for us to follow. Throughout the ages, spiritual renewal has come to humanity through God manifesting in human form. The Sanskrit word “avatar” literally means “descent of God.” Most of the world’s religions have been given impetus and direction by these spiritual giants—the incarnations, prophets, and messengers of God. Jesus and Buddha, Rama and Krishna, Moses and Muhammad, Chaitanya and Ramakrishna—all have been torchbearers in the world of spirituality, pouring new energy into religions that were sliding into hypocrisy and self-indulgence. Incarnations come to pour spiritual fire into a world sinking into religious mediocrity, hope into a life of difficulty. No matter where the avatar appears on earth, the entire world is uplifted and regenerated by his advent.
The Bhagavad Gita:
When goodness grows weak,
When evil increases,
I make myself a body.
In every age I come back
To deliver the holy,
To destroy the sin of the sinner,
To establish righteousness.
Avatar or incarnation is central to this tradition. Divine consciousness descends into the material world to assist us in our journey of ascension to the hights of our potential. This relationship offers solace, guidance, and reassurance: we are not alone on the path.
Learning this mantra offers us an opportunity to touch the divine.