Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c12.115
Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c12.115
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v2.c12.115.1
§ 32. The word Nārāyaṇa is similar to Nāḍāyaṇa, which last is formed by P. IV, 1, 99 and means the Gotra Nāḍāyaṇa. The termination is significative and means in this case the resting place or the place to which Nāḍa or a collection of Naḍas go. So Nārāyaṇa means the resting place or goal of Nāra or a collection of Naras ¹. In the Nārāyaṇīya (XII, 341) Keśava or Hari says to Arjuna that he is known as the resting place or goal of men (narāṇām). The word Nṛ or Nara is also used to denote gods as manly persons, especially in the Vedas, so that Nārāyaṇa may be construed as the resting place or goal of gods. There is a tradition which connects Nārāyaṇa with the primeval waters. Manu (I, 10) and also Hari in the above passage say that the waters were called Nārās because they were the sons of Nara and, since they were the first resting place of Brahmā in the first case and of Hari in the second, the two were called Nārāyaṇas. The Purāṇas, such as the Vāyu and the Viṣṇu, agree with Manu. Again there is a tradition that Brahmadeva sprang from the lotus in the navel of Nārāyaṇa or Viṣṇu (MBh. III, 12, 34 and XII, 349, 18). In the Vāyu-Purāṇa Nārāyaṇa is represented as prior to Avyakta or matter in an undeveloped form, and from Avyakta sprang the mundane egg, and from the latter arose Brahmadeva. All these traditions in various forms seem to go back to RV.
v2.c12.115.2
X, 82, 5 and 6, which may be thus translated: "Prior to the sky, prior to this earth, prior to the living gods, what is that embryo which the waters held first and in which all the gods existed? The waters held that same embryo in which all the gods exist or find themselves; on the navel of the unborn stood something in which all beings stood". In this we have first the waters mentioned; on those waters stood the embryo, which corresponds to the Brahmā of the later tradition, who created everything; and the unborn corresponds to Nārāyaṇa from whose navel he sprang. In this embryo all the gods, it is said, found themselves. This corresponds to the Naras, men or gods, whose goal or resting place was Nārāyaṇa, so that this confirms the identity between Brahmā and Nārāyaṇa mentioned by Manu and some of the Purāṇas. Nārāyaṇa, therefore, who, by the other authorities cited above, is considered prior to Brahmadeva and to the Svayambhū of Manu, is another person and has a cosmic character and is not a historical or mythological individual. This idea of Nārāyaṇa was developed in the period of the later Brāhmaṇas and Āraṇyakas. In the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa (XII, 3, 4) Puruṣa Nārāyaṇa is represented to have sent forth from the place of sacrifice Vasus, Rudras and Ādityas by means of the morning, midday and evening libations respectively, he alone remaining in the place.
v2.c12.115.3
Prajāpati tells him to sacrifice again, and the substance of the whole is that Nārāyaṇa placed himself in all the worlds, in all the gods, in all the Vedas and in all the vital airs, and they were placed in him. This shadows forth the rising of Nārāyaṇa to the dignity of the Supreme Soul, who pervades all and in whom all things exist and who in the beginning sent forth all the gods, being himself their receptacle or resting place as indicated in RV. X, 82, 6. In another place (XIII, 6, 1) Puruṣa Nārāyaṇa is mentioned as having conceived the idea of a Pañcarātra Sattra (continued sacrifices for five days) as the means of obtaining superiority over all beings and becoming all beings. He performed the sacrifices and attained to that dignity. Here also Nārāyaṇa’s becoming the Supreme Ruler and becoming all are spoken of. Nārāyaṇa is represented as the author of the Puruṣasūkta (RV. X, 90). This appears to be as much a fanciful representation, as that of Viśvakarman and others as authors of other hymns. As in these last cases, it has a connection with the deity to which the hymn refers, so that Nārāyaṇa is another name of the Puruṣa, and these two names are associated together, as we have seen, in the above citations from the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa. In the Taittirīya-Āraṇyaka (X, 11) Nārāyaṇa is described with all the attributes of the Supreme Soul, which are usually found mentioned in the Upaniṣads.
v2.c12.115.4
In the Mahābhārata and Purāṇas, he figures as the supreme god, especially in connection with the creation; mythologically he is represented as lying on the body of a huge serpent in the ocean of milk, the original conception of his connection with the primeval waters being still kept to.