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RE: Vishnu in Rig Vedam

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Krishna K • October 21, 2002 


> To rephrase: if Vishnu paratva were so easily established 
> based on these Rg Vedic hymns, why did Ramanuja turn elsewhere?

Dear Sri Mani, 

I do not think Vishnu's 'paratvam' or His Supremacy can be deduced from
the quoted Rks that extol his 3 famous strides (as Gonda or MacDonnell
would put it). What on the contrary are needed are such hymns which do
one of the following:

a. Call Vishnu as para-brahman in no uncertain terms.
b. Establish Vishnu's unique-attributes or marks (linga), Brahman's
attributes and a relation between two.
c. Compare Vishnu to other gods and establish His Supremacy.

The 'trivikrama' hymns do none of the above. But the ones in
Narayanopanishad (which contains parts of the Uttaranuvaka), Narayana
sukta and later upanishads.

1. Narayana sukta says: "nArAyaNam paraM brahma". Point (a) is met.
However this is insufficient because Rudra is also praised thus.
2. Uttara-anuvaka talks of Brahman/Purusha's having Lakshmi as a wife.
Vishnu's wife is Lakshmi (as established in Rgveda Khila's Srisukta).
Point (b) is met.
3. Aiteraya Brahmana (agnir vai devAnAm avamo viShNuH paramaH) and
Shatapatha Brahmana (related to yajna, like 5.2.3.6) meet the point 3.

Subala Upanishad, Mudgala Upanishad are also helpful in this context.

Also, there are some Rks in the RgVeda that can do a combination of both
(b) and (c), since (a) is an insufficient criteria

Regards,
Krishna

P.S. I haven't read the Vedarthasangraha.


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