Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.25

c8.25

In one Ṛigvedic passage Viṣṇu is called the germ of ‘Ṛita,’ Ṛitasya garbham ; ³ where ‘Ṛita’ may mean moral order or sacrifice. The idea is developed in later times. Viṣṇu also figures in the Veda as a leader in battle. He is specially praised with Indra, the two being looked upon as masters of the world.⁴ His greatness is inconceivable, and he is revered under the title Śipiviṣṭa⁵ meaning ‘clothed with rays of light’ or ‘bald.’ He has three spaces, two called earthly, and one, the highest known only to himself and visible only to Sūris, apparently a class of specially favoured beings, “ like an eye fixed in the sky.”¹ Vishnu’s highest place (*parama pada*) which is a realm (*pāthas, vāstu*) beyond ordinary mortal ken,² which ‘ man apprehends not, nor can the soaring winged birds pursue,’³ ‘ in which god-seeking men delight’ and to which poets pray that people may go to enjoy felicity, may be plausibly described as a realm of departed spirits.⁴ The later popularity of the deity, according to Hopkins, lies in the importance of his “ highest place ” being the home of departed spirits, where he himself dwells, inscrutable. The blessed abode (*paramam padam anāmayam*) of Vishnu becomes the goal of spiritual endeavour in later ages.⁵