Vishnupurana 1.2.2

The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition 1.2.2

Language: English

1.2.2

Having glorified him who is the support of all things; who is the smallest of the small; who is in all created things; the unchanged, imperishable Purushottama; who is one with true wisdom, as truly known; eternal and incorrupt; and who is known through false appearances by the nature of visible objects: having bowed to Vishńu, the destroyer, and lord of creation and preservation; the ruler of the world; unborn, imperishable, undecaying: I will relate to you that which was originally imparted by the great father of all (Brahmá), in answer to the questions of Daksha and other venerable sages, and repeated by them to Purukutsa, a king who reigned on the banks of the Narmadá. It was next related by him to Sáraswata, and by Sáraswata to me.

1.2.2.n1

Ańíyánsam ańíyasám, 'the most atomic of the atomic;' alluding to the atomic theory of the Nyáya or logical school.

1.2.2.n2

Or Achyuta; a common name of Vishńu, from a, privative, and chyuta, fallen; according to our comment, 'he who does not perish with created things.' The Mahábhárata interprets it in one place to mean, 'he who is not distinct from final emancipation;' and in another to signify, 'exempt from decay'. A commentator on the Káśikhańd́a of the Skánda Puráńa explains it, 'he who never declines (or varies) from his own proper nature.'

1.2.2.n3

This is another common title of Vishńu, implying supreme, best (Uttama), spirit (Purusha), or male, or sacrifice, or, according to the Mahábh. Moksha Dharma, whatever sense Purusha may bear.

1.2.2.n4

Paramárthatas, 'by or through the real object, or sense; through actual truth.'

1.2.2.n5

Bhránti derśanatas, 'false appearances,' in opposition to actual truth. 'By the nature of visible objects': Artha is explained by driśya, 'visible;' swarúpena 'by the nature of:' that is, visible objects are not what they seem to be, independent existences; they are essentially one with their original source: and knowledge of their true nature or relation to Vishńu, is knowledge of Vishńu himself. This is not the doctrine of Máyá, or the influence of illusion, which alone, according to Vedánta idealism, constitutes belief in the existence of matter: a doctrine foreign to most of the Puráńas, and first introduced amongst them apparently by the Bhágavata.

1.2.2.n6

A different and more detailed account of the transmission of the Vishńu Puráńa is given in the last book, c. 8.

Linked texts (1)

Viṣṇupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit